Stephany Writes

Categories: About Me

10 Things About Me

Thanks to NaBloPoMo, there are quite a few new readers here and I thought I would take the time today to do a little “get to know me” post. Here are 10 things about me:

1) I’m a cat mom.

My darling girls are named Eloise (tuxedo) and Lila (calico). I became a cat mom at the end of 2018 when I adopted Eloise, who a kind woman had taken in but couldn’t keep. It was my first time owning a cat and I had a lot to learn! A few months later, I adopted Lila from a local animal shelter. They are both 7 years old and I am completely obsessed with them. They are so affectionate and adorable and funny. I don’t know what I would do without them!

2) My mom is my best friend, my favorite travel companion, and someone I talk to multiple times a day.

My parents split up when I was in fifth grade, and since there was domestic abuse involved, it was the kind of separation where I was just relieved we were getting out of that situation. My mom worked so hard to establish a healthy living environment for my brother and me, and she was my safe space throughout my life. As I grew up, our relationship changed, and now she’s my best friend. We talk on the phone multiple times a day, and it’s rare for us to go more than a few days without seeing each other in person.

She’s my favorite travel companion, and we’ve done a dozen cruises together, two international trips, and numerous domestic vacations. We work very well together when we’re on vacation, although we’ve been known to have some epic fights.

Since my mom is my favorite person, she’s also my #1 anxiety trigger. If I call her or text her and don’t hear back immediately, I assume something is wrong. She now knows to text me a quick “I’ll call you back” if she can’t answer the call because she’s in a meeting or out and about. I’ve trained her well. 😉

3) I have an older brother, and we are both estranged from our father.

My brother is 14 months older than me, and we are fairly close. He is married with two kids and lives nearby. Growing up, we operated a bit like frenemies and bickered constantly, but we grew out of that as adults.

We are both estranged from our father who is not a good man. In 2010, I tried to explain all of the ways he had hurt me and affected my well-being through a letter, and his response was incredibly hurtful and demeaning. I knew I needed to sever our relationship as a radical act of self-love and care for myself. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make (I was only 23 at the time), but it was ultimately the right one. I still hold out hope we can reconcile, but I also know there is a very slim chance of that ever happening. It took a lot of therapy to come to terms with this estrangement and develop my own sense of self-worth separate from my dad.

4) I live in Florida and have lived here my whole life.

The politics here suck. The weather is abysmal from May through October. And hurricane season is no joke (my area got hit with back-to-back-hurricanes last year). But god I love Florida even still. I live in the Tampa Bay area, which is a more progressive part of Florida, so that helps a bit.

If I could live anywhere else, I’d probably pick North Carolina. It would allow me to experience all four seasons, but winters wouldn’t be too miserable for this thin-skinned Florida gal.

5) The past two years have been filled with physical ailments.

It started in April of last year when I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea, recording over 40 apneas (aka, periods when I stop breathing for 10 seconds or more) an hour. I started CPAP therapy in September of that year and noticed a difference almost immediately in my energy levels!

This year has been one ailment after another. Let’s recap:

  • Diabetes – When I got bloodwork done at the beginning of the year, my A1C was very high and my doctor gave me 3 months to work on my diet and exercise habits to see if that would help bring down the number. And it did! So no official diabetes diagnosis, but I was still in prediabetes range so I need to continue working to lower my A1C.
  • Carpal tunnel – I have moderate carpal tunnel syndrome, which means I’m a candidate for surgery. I’ve put off the surgery for now, but it’s likely something I’ll do in the next few years.
  • GI issues – I went through a gauntlet of tests to figure out why my GI was so messed up. I did a stool sample (SO GROSS), extra bloodwork, an abdominal ultrasound, and a colonoscopy. Everything came back clean, and a few weeks after the colonoscopy, the GI issues cleared up. A part of me wonders if I “reset” my GI with all the prep work?!
  • Fibroids – I started having really heavy periods with extremely painful cramping sometime last year. I talked about it on this blog, and Michelle recommended getting tested for fibroids. Lo and behold, all my period pain is because I have two fibroids in my uterus! The solution is endometrial ablation, but that would mean firmly closing the door on getting pregnant (I’m about 85% sure I do not want kids, but it’s that nagging 15%…). I tried hormonal birth control but that dropped me into a severe depressive episode and I’m not keen on trying something else. The other option is an IUD, which I’m considering.
  • Trigger finger – I developed trigger finger in the index fingers of both hands. I went to the ortho, got steroid shots, and now the right finger is starting to show symptoms again. Ugh. I can get two more steroid shots before I have to consider surgery.
  • Chronic back/hip pain – This is what I’m dealing with now! It started with pain in my thoracic spine that became trapezius strain that became hip/IT band pain. It’s a whole mess. I’m doing chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy, and some prescription meds for now.

6) I came out as queer a few years ago.

It was a long road to come to terms with my sexuality. I grew up in the evangelical Christian church, and during the 90s/early aughts, it was all about purity culture and saving yourself for marriage. I didn’t even think of my sexuality as a thing that could be explored until my late twenties, and as I did, I realized that I did not only want to date men, but I also really wanted to date women. I identify as bisexual, and I have had a lot of fun exploring the queer side of myself over the past few years!

7) I co-host a podcast about personality with my best friend Bri.

It’s called The Friendship Paradox! I am an introvert and Bri is an extrovert, and we talk about all the ways our personalities intersect with our lives. Bri and I are very different and very similar in many ways. This podcast is not very popular and there are ways we could try to spread the word about it to get more listeners, but right now, we’re just enjoying ourselves with this little passion project. It’s also a fun way for us to connect with each other!

8) I work a 100% remote job in the digital marketing field.

I looooooove working from home. Before the pandemic, I was going into the office four days a week with one work-from-home day. And then the pandemic happened, everyone started working from home, and my company learned that everyone was just as productive (if not more!) while working from home. They never did any sort of return to the office mandate; instead, they sold our big office in Tampa, downsized to a smaller coworking space, and announced that we were going to be 100% remote. Oh, happy day!

I enjoy what I do (content marketing) and I don’t let myself get too stressed out about it. I’m not client-facing, so that helps with the stress levels for sure!

9) I live alone and love being single.

I have been living alone for 9 years now, and I don’t know if I ever want to live with another person ever again. I mean, I hope I will one day find someone who is worth living with, but it’s not pretty out there in the dating world. I love having my own space. I love that I can decorate exactly the way I want and nobody is messing with my organizational system or eating my food. I love that I don’t have to deal with other people’s energies while I’m at home. I don’t have to deal with other people’s routines and habits and smells and belongings. It’s quiet and peaceful and my safe place. It is so, so nice to live alone.

10) I’m a voracious reader and have read more than 100 books a year since 2017.

Reading is my favorite hobby, and I take my identity as a reader very seriously. I keep a detailed reading spreadsheet, manage multiple TBR lists, and update my Goodreads and Storygraph accounts daily. I am very proud that I have read more than 100 books for 8 years in a row, simply because it means I am making time for the thing that brings me the most joy and peace and happiness: reading. It’s not really about the number. It’s about engaging in something that makes me feel the most like myself.

I’ve written more than 1,600 words about myself (omg), but hey, if you have any other burning questions to ask me, fill out my form and I’ll do a Q&A later this month!

How long have you lived where you live?

Categories: About Me

Never Have I Ever…

I’ve enjoyed all the “Never Have I Ever…” posts that have been floating around blogland lately, and I thought it was beyond time for me to do one of my own. I also remembered that I have done these posts before – November 2011 (I was nearly 24) and August 2016 (I was 28). And now it’s been a whole THIRTEEN YEARS since that original post. It was really fun to look back on those lists and see everything that I’ve accomplished in the years since.

So, I’m going to break this post into a few parts: my current Never Have I Ever’s, “And Now I Have…” (those “nevers” that I’ve accomplished), “Still Haven’t… and Probably Never Will” (“nevers” that will probably stay that way), and “Never Say Never” (“nevers” that I’d like to accomplish at some point in my life).

Let’s dive in!

My Current “Never Have I Ever’s”…

  • Hosted a dinner party

Even thinking about hosting a dinner party gives me anxiety. First, there’s the whole ordeal of cooking food and planning a menu and making sure everything comes out at the same time. LOL, NO. Then, there’s the idea of being a hostess and greeting people and making sure they have a drink and a place to sit and whatever else they need. I am not good at that! And lastly, the mess that would be left behind! The mess! After spending all of my mental energy thinking about the logistics of the dinner party and then having to be “on” during the party and then afterward I have to clean??? Absolutely not.

  • Traveled further west than Chicago

This feels WILD to me, but it’s true! I really have not explored the western part of my country as much as I should. I would love to do a Grand Canyon vacation at some point and explore Arizona. I want to visit Seattle and Portland and Los Angeles and Austin. Of course, it is my dream to do an Alaskan cruise and spend some time in Hawaii. It’s hard to fit in all of the travel I’d like to do while also being a single person who also needs to make rent. Bah.

  • Sang karaoke

I really want to do this! And there have been two specific times (on cruise ships, no less!) where I have nearly gone for it, but I’ve always chickened out. We have a place here where you can rent out a room to do karaoke with friends, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I think that would ease me into real karaoke!

  • Been on a jury

I’ve only been called for jury duty one time, and while I did go through the whole jury selection process, I ultimately wasn’t selected, so I got to leave early. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to be part of a jury, but other times, I don’t know if I could stomach the whole process of sending someone to prison.

  • Joined Snapchat

I was in my mid-to-late twenties when Snapchat took off, so the craze definitely missed me. I have never had a Snapchat account and think I would get very overwhelmed by how it all works.

  • Had braces

We didn’t have the money for braces when I was growing up, even though I desperately wanted them so I could be “cool” like all my friends. These days, I feel very self-conscious about my teeth and my smile as a whole. I often smile without my teeth because my teeth are small and I think I look weird when I smile with them. I’ve considered some sort of veneer option to improve my smile, but the cost is fairly high.

And now I have…

  • Owned a car – Three, in fact. (Laila, my xB; Gladys, my Soul that was flooded during a hurricane; and Ruby, my current car)
  • Kissed a boy – And some women. 😉
  • Painted a room – I helped my mom paint her office when she moved into her home.
  • Owned a cat – I’m a proud cat mom of two!
  • Gone parasailing – My mom and I did this in the Bahamas on one of our cruises, and it was SO MUCH FUN.
  • Gotten a tattoo – I have five and want more.
  • Flown on a plane – So many times, but I didn’t take my first plane trip until I was 24.
  • Been inside a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods – I’ve only been inside Whole Foods once, but TJ’s is one of my fave places.
  • Been drunk – My favorite experience being Bri’s wedding where book club shut down the dance floor.
  • Met a celebrity – Does Taylor Jenkins Reid count? I’ve also met some NFL players.
  • Been completely financially independent – Young Steph would be really impressed with Current Steph who is not only financially independent but lives alone.
  • Been to Chicago – I’ve been twice now!
  • Read anything by Jodi Picoult – Surprisingly, the only Jodi Picoult book I’ve read is The Storyteller.
  • Cut my own hair – I cut my own bangs regularly when I had them. Does that count?
  • Played the lottery – Before 2020, when I went to an office full-time, I participated in a big lottery pool with coworkers. Sadly, we never won.
  • Swam with dolphins – Did this on a cruise excursion and it was a lot of fun!
  • Been to a wine tasting – Only once and it was fine. Wine isn’t my drink of choice so I can take or leave it.
  • Flown internationally – I’ve only flown once internationally (to Ireland), but will be making that twice in a few weeks.
  • Gone to a bachelorette party – Bri’s bachelorette was a lot of fun!
  • Gotten a facial – Lots of them!

Still haven’t… and probably never will:

  • Watched Game of Thrones – Too graphic for this highly sensitive person!
  • Gotten a spray tan – I just don’t see the point.
  • Participated in Black Friday – Now that we can do Black Friday online, why would I ever do it in-person?
  • Run a marathon – HAHAHAHAHA no way.
  • Gone bungee jumping or sky diving – I don’t think I’m brave enough for either of these thrill-seeking adventures.
  • Been a Maid-of-Honor – I’m in my late thirties. I don’t think this is happening for me.
  • Climbed a tree – I am way too risk-averse for this.
  • Smoked a cigarette – Just ew.

Never say never…

  • Traveled solo – It’s something I want to do, but right now, I’m perfectly happy traveling with other people.
  • Gone to a professional basketball game – I think this would be fun! But I’m just not into pro basketball, so it’s not something I would seek out myself.
  • Used a moving company – I will hopefully mark this one as complete in October!
  • Eaten ribs – I’m not opposed to them, but they don’t appeal to me on a menu.
  • Watched an episode of Seinfeld – I should definitely watch this series at some point.
  • Been to Washington D.C., New York City, or L.A. – I’d love to visit all three of these destinations!
  • Lived in another state but Florida – Listen, I want to get out of here. This state sucks. And with the way climate change is progressing, I don’t think there will be all that much left of Florida in another few decades. I should probably get out when I can!
  • Been in a long-term relationship – I very much desire this, but I also very much hate dating.

Have you ever been on a jury? Is there something on this list that surprised you?

Categories: About Me

Some Thoughts on Motherhood, as a Childless Thirty-Something

A few months ago, Bri and I released an episode of our podcast about our thoughts on motherhood. We’re both childless women in our thirties, one of us is married and the other is not.

In that episode, I was pretty clear about my thoughts on motherhood. I will be 38 this year and I don’t envision any scenario where I will have children. I don’t love the idea of being an “older” mother and I really, really love my childless life. I’m single, and I have been single for my entire adult life, aside from a few short relationships here and there. I don’t feel any compulsion to be a single mother, which means in order to become a parent, I’d need to find my forever partner. And y’all, things are just not going well in that department so it makes motherhood feel like even more of an impossibility.

After we published that episode, I had an appointment at my gynecologist’s office. Typically, my gyn appointments happen at a different office, and at that office, it’s rare for me to see pregnant women or women who have just had babies. It’s mostly just women like me going for their annual well-woman’s checkup. However, this office had ultrasound machines, so it was where I had to go to get checked for fibroids.

The first thing I saw when I stepped into the office was a young couple, planning out their next few obstetrician appointments. She was a few months pregnant, and it was pretty adorable to see how excited they were. As I took a seat in the waiting room, I saw another pregnant woman waiting with her husband.

And it was then that I started to have some complicated feelings about motherhood and pregnancy.

I grew up as an evangelical Christian, and there was an expectation for girls that we would grow up, get married young, and have babies. And, of course, those babies would be white, heterosexual, and also want to further the kingdom of God. Growing up, I always thought that was my path. I would get married to a strong Christian man and start having kids in my mid-twenties. I envisioned having three, maybe four, children. (FOUR CHILDREN CAN YOU IMAGINE.)

But that’s not how my life worked out, and I am ever so grateful for that. First, being single and childless allowed me the space to deconstruct my faith and figure out what I truly believed. Second, it allowed me to come to terms with my own sexuality and my queer identity. And third, it gave me time to discern if I really wanted children at all. Did I care about being a mother? Did I want tiny humans running my life?

As my twenties turned into my thirties, and then my early thirties turned into my mid-thirties, and then my mid-thirties had me inching closer to 38… I began to acknowledge that perhaps motherhood wasn’t to be my path. And maybe that was a good thing. I looked at my friends with kids and realized how hard their lives are. It’s a good kind of hard, and it is filled with incomparable love and affection, but it’s still hard. It’s exhausting and never-ending and sometimes boring and very, very expensive.

Was this a defense mechanism? Was my brain just trying to protect my heart from my true desire? As a woman, shouldn’t I have a biological drive to procreate? Until recently, I didn’t consider any of that. I’ve never felt the ticking of any biological clock, I never get baby fever, and I feel really awkward around most children. And do I really want to bring children into this world? Who even knows what our planet will look like in 30 years when today, it feels like we’re living in a dystopian novel with every extreme weather event that happens.

It is the ultimate womanly experience, though, isn’t it? Which is very heteronormative, I understand, but sometimes my cavewoman brain breaks free and I think in these black-and-white dichotomies. Pregnancy is something I always thought I would experience. I didn’t think I would love it, but I did want to experience it. The feeling of growing a life inside my own body and going to appointments to hear my baby’s heartbeat and creating a nursery for this new person who would rock my world. I didn’t long for the whole giving birth part of motherhood because it sounds pretty horrific and I get anxiety just thinking about leaving the hospital with a baby I’m supposed to take care of and keep alive and watch 24/7. But thinking about having this tiny human that is mine and calls me mom and that I could give the same level of safety and comfort that my own mom gives me… that feels beautiful. That feels like the purpose of life.

But maybe that is all societal conditioning. Society tells women that they are biologically designed to be mothers, that it is the most important job in the world, that to not want to have kids is weird and wrong and misguided. For my childless women out there, how many times have you been told that you just cannot understand love until you have a child? Because I’ve had people say that to me many times. (Which is truly a rude thing to say, and can be especially hurtful for women who are trying to conceive, but aren’t having success. Stop saying that!) This societal conditioning is what keeps us stuck. The idea that all women should want to have kids and if they don’t have that desire, they’re lying to themselves, is wrong.

I struggle with regret. Not regret of things I have done in the past, but anticipatory regret. I think about being 10 years older, 20 years older, 30 years older than I am right now. What will my life look like? Will I regret this decision I made in my thirties to not have kids? Will I feel like something is missing from my life? Right now, I don’t have any regrets about not having children. And I firmly believe that if I don’t regret it now, then I won’t in the future. Because if I really and truly felt that pull toward motherhood, I would find a way to make it happen. Even if I had to be a single mother, I wouldn’t let that stop me.

But the truth is that I love my childless, partner-less life. I am happy with my decision not to have kids, even though this was not the life my younger self envisioned for me. She would likely be really sad I never got married and never had those four children! I love being single and living alone. I love that my money is my own and my time is my own. I love that I can come home to a silent apartment and take naps when I want and that a whole day of doing nothing is something I get regularly. I love being a cat lady and I love being Auntie Steph and I love that I have so much free time to engage in my hobbies.

And I love that there is nobody in my life who is pressuring me to get married and have kids. On the podcast episode, I mentioned that my mom has never pressured me because she got married and had kids young, and then got trapped in an abusive marriage for more than a decade. She didn’t want me to make the same mistakes. But when I talked about this with her, she gently pushed back. “It’s more that I don’t think you have to follow the same path as everyone else. If you are happy being single and childless, then that’s all I want for you.”

It’s been weird to have these complicated feelings about motherhood, especially since I thought I had come to terms with all of this years ago. The truth of the matter is that sometimes I think about what I am missing from the human experience by not being a mother. I think about the fact that my mom doesn’t get to be a grandma to my children. I worry about getting older and not having anyone to take care of me in my old age.

I think it’s completely normal to have these complicated feelings about motherhood, even for those of us who have come to terms with our childless state and aren’t interested in changing it. Society thrusts so many expectations on women, and becoming a mother is certainly near the top of that list. (And not just being a mother, but being the best mother.) I don’t think, as women, we are designed with a biological desire for procreation. I think we are designed with a desire toward connection and love, and that can take many forms. It can come from children, but it can also come from romantic partners and best friends and family members and community groups.

As I type up this post on a rainy Tuesday night in my silent apartment, I feel so grateful for my life. I am grateful for my kitty cats (even though they are hiding right now, thanks to some scary thunder!) who let me be “mom” in a completely different way. I am grateful for the messy kitchen where I spent time tonight making a meal for myself (and no one else). I am grateful for the candle glowing on the counter and the books filling my bookshelves and the blog posts I’ve bookmarked to comment on. I am grateful that I am going to schedule this post and then Facetime with my mom, and then do my nighttime routine while listening to a podcast without headphones. I am grateful for this life, even if it looks different than the life I imagined, because it is mine and it is a good one.

Categories: About Me

Stitch Fix, Summer 2025

I haven’t used Stitch Fix in more than three years, but on a whim, I ordered a Fix to be delivered this month. I was ready to refresh my wardrobe with some new items, so I let this be my present to myself for making it through all of my doctor’s appointments over the last two months. Stitch Fix isn’t necessarily a cheap avenue for clothes, but I have had surprisingly good luck with my Fixes, and I find it to be so fun to do a fashion show (fashion show, fashion show at lunch!) whenever the box arrives.

So, without further ado, let’s get into my items!

Nine Britton Striped Knit Top ($29)

I love a striped top, so I was eager to try this on. I liked it a lot, but I was worried it was a little too short, length-wise. I like shirts that are a smidge longer because then I’m less worried that they’ll shrink when I wash them. But the cool thing about Stitch Fix (and I don’t remember this being a thing when I was getting Fixes a few years ago) is that you can now send back a top for a different size! I opted to keep this shirt and size up, which was a great decision.

Staccato V-Neck Knit Tee ($39)

This was another shirt that felt a little short on me, and didn’t make me feel super comfortable. While I don’t love the color (I feel like it washes me out), I did really like the material and pattern. I was going to return this one until I found out I could size up, so that’s what I did. The larger size feels a lot more comfortable!

Market & Spruce Twist Sleeve Knit Tee ($35)

I really liked this shirt! It was super comfortable and I loved the twisted sleeves. What a fun detail! I would have preferred this shirt in another color (I don’t love the blue jeans/blue shirt combo), but this one was an easy keep for me.

Staccato Roll Cuff Dolman Tee ($29)

I was on the fence about this shirt. On the one hand, I loved the color and the material was super comfortable. On the other hand, it felt a little clingy, emphasizing parts of my body that I’d rather not emphasize. Alas, I decided to keep this shirt because of reasons I’ll get to later.

FORTUNE + IVY Mixed Material Shirt ($45)

I really liked this shirt right off the bat! I loved the color, the material, and the detail. It went right into the keep pile. Unfortunately, the first day I wore the shirt, I learned that it gapes a bit and one of the buttons kept coming undone throughout the day. (Not great for my confidence level!) I probably should have sized up, but I didn’t test out how the buttons would hold up when I was sitting down. Sigh.

Market & Spruce Sweetheart Neckline Dress ($59)

Oh goodness gracious, I loved this dress! I am not someone who wears a lot of dresses and I’m not exactly sure when I would wear this dress, but I couldn’t turn it down. It felt so good on me, it had POCKETS, and it’s lightweight enough to wear during the summer. This was a no-brainer: KEEP.

***

As you can see, I ended up keeping all of these items, even though some of the tops weren’t exactly my favorite. That’s how Stitch Fix gets you! You get a 20% discount on the full order if you keep all items, so it was only going to be about $40 cheaper to keep 4 items than to keep all 6. It made more sense to keep everything, especially since there wasn’t anything I straight-up hated.

My next Stitch Fix order will be in mid-September where I am going to ask for clothes for my London trip in early October. It will likely be cold when we’re there (50s/60s), so I definitely need some warmer clothes to get me through.

Have you ever done Stitch Fix?

Categories: About Me

Junes of Years Past

We’re continuing my “Years Past” photo project, and this time, I’m taking you through some of my memories of Junes of years past. (Check out February, March, May, and July!) I use photos from very old Facebook albums as well as my own iPhone photos to compile these memories, and for June, I was able to go all the way back to 2008!

June 2008

This is Minnie. She died in June 2008 from cancer. She was my first dog and my very best friend. She was a beagle/terrier mix, adopted from our local SPCA at just a few months old, and I adored her.

June 2010

And thus begins our trip down memory lane of all my hair changes throughout the year. In June 2009, I decided to do something crazy and cut off all my hair and went blonde. I loved this adorable bob!

June 2011

More pictures of me with my bob. Apparently, I really loved taking selfies at this stage in my life. (I mean, I was in my early twenties so it makes sense.)

June 2012

Remember the days of early Instagram when we would filter our photos to death? I think that’s what happened with this one. But look at my nephew! He’s 16 now and has a job and a car, and it still feels like he should still be this cute little 3-year-old.

June 2013

It’s Dutch! For newer readers, Dutch was my soul-dog. He was the sweetest miniature dachshund that I adopted from my aunt when Dutch was 6 years old. He was my everything and he died in February 2018, after which I became a crazy cat lady!

June 2014

What a cute collage! The photo of Dutch was taken on the morning we did Take Your Dog to Work day at my job. It was a small office so it worked out, and Dutch did so well! (Aside from pooping in the CEO’s office; yes, I am still scarred by that.) My nephew is 5 years old in this photo and helping my mom bake cookies! And I have always loved this photo of my book club girls. We did a pool day!

June 2015

One of my favorite photos of the two of us! Dutch is mid-yawn, but it looks like we’re both giving big surprised faces to the camera! (Apparently, nothing else was happening in my life at this time as it’s one of the only pictures I have! The other is a picture of a grocery cart, so I chose the much cuter option.)

June 2016

More Dutch photos! Can you blame me? He’s so cute! We did some fun adventuring in June 2016, I guess. And I love this photo of me and Pops. This was the first Father’s Day after my grandma passed away, and I remember wanting to get as many photos with him as possible. I had so many photos of grandma and me, but fewer of Pops and me. I had no idea I’d only get two more Father’s Days with him. (He died unexpectedly in October 2018.)

June 2017

Two great photos here! The first one is when my mom and I took my nephew to a Rays game. He was (and is) a huge baseball fan and made us stay for the whole game, even though the Rays were losing badly the whole time. (My nephew is 8 in this photo!)

And I got my first tattoo! It’s a book tattoo, and my friend Mikaela has a matching one. I had been longing for this tattoo for so long and was so happy to finally get it done!

June 2018

Puppy Chip! He is 3 months old in this photo collage and has already perfected the art of the dachshund side eye, as evidenced in the middle photo. Chip was such a rambunctious puppy, but has majorly mellowed out in the past few years.

June 2019

It’s time to bring in some cute photos of my little ladies, finally! I am now officially a crazy cat lady. I had adopted Eloise (tuxedo) in December 2018 and Lila (calico) in February 2019, so we were now one happy family. These photos remind me that the girls used to be much bigger snugglers than they are today. Wah!

June 2020

My mom and stepdad bought a house in June 2020! Since they were part of my “bubble,” it worked out perfectly that their new home came with a pool. While public pools/beaches were not shut down (reminder: Florida was the wild west during the pandemic; beaches reopened in MAY!), I was definitely not visiting them. It was nice to have an option to beat the heat during the summer of 2020.

June 2021

In 2021, we were doing sporadic book club meetings where we would meet at a local park, socially distanced on our own blankets, and bring our own picnic. We would eat and talk and laugh and reminisce about the good ole days! Our June 2021 book club meeting was made even more special by Olive’s presence. She is just a month away from finishing her cancer treatment here, and she was in really great spirits!

June 2022

June 2022 was our big trip to Niagara Falls! This was such a fun trip with my mom. We went to Toronto for a day, spent a few days at the Canadian side of the Falls, and then went to the U.S. side! I have such great memories of this vacation, even though I was an anxious mess about crossing the border into Canada!

June 2023

I went to my first Pride parade in June 2023, and it was such a beautiful time! It was such a happy, welcoming atmosphere and I really enjoyed myself.

June 2024

Last June, I was with Kim in Illinois! We had tickets to see The Popcast Live and made it a great girls’ weekend complete with bookstore visits, cat cuddle time, and rock painting. (I debated between photos of us and photos of Kim’s cats. I went with photos of us, but I’m unsure if it was the right call.)

June 2025

And now we come to today. June has been a weird month for me, filled with a lot of doctor’s appointments and not feeling my best. But rather than show you the inside of a doctor’s office, you have Eloise helping me with laundry, Lila helping me with reading, and then a giant ice cream cone I had during book club last week.

What’s the last photo you took on your phone?