Stephany Writes

Categories: About Me

Morning & Evening Routines

I have very specific morning and evening routines. If I didn’t have these routines, I know I could be in bed at a more reasonable hour (and get my day started more quickly, too). But alas, I am a girl who has a multi-step skincare routine and a bunch of little “to-do’s” I like to take care of in the midst of these routines. Since I am someone who struggles with doing one thing at a time (I’m working on it), I’ve built a morning/evening routine that incorporates little substeps within each bigger step. AKA: I don’t wash my face and then swipe on toner and then do my serums, etc. I wash my face… and then I make my bed and tidy up an area of my apartment. Then, I do my toner. I don’t know why I’m like this but I find it enjoyable to mark off a bunch of little steps in the midst of my skincare regimen. Plus, it allows the different products to sit on my face for a longer period of time. Is this effective? I have no idea, but I like to believe it helps a little.

This also means my morning and evening routines take a lot longer than they normally would. My morning routine isn’t too bad (it takes me about 20 minutes on average) but my evening routine takes forever. Usually an hour to an hour and a half from start to finish, but I take lots of breaks during this routine. Usually, I’ll set a timer for 10 minutes, do as many tasks as possible, and then when it goes off, I get 10 minutes to sit at my laptop and work on blog posts/read blog posts/catch up on personal email/etc. I usually need four 10-minute sets to get through the entire routine, so yeah, it adds up!

I want to note that many nights (like maybe half the time?), I do an abbreviated version of my morning or evening routine. Usually, I just don’t have the energy at the end of the night to do the full routine. You’ll see what that abbreviated version looks like at the end of each bullet list.

Without further ado, here are my morning and evening routines! (Like I mentioned above, each big task has two subtasks beneath it. I need to complete those subtasks before moving onto the next big task. AKA, I brush my teeth, get dressed, and empty the top shelf of the dishwasher before getting started on my skincare routine. Then I wash my face, make my bed, and empty the silverware from the dishwasher before doing toner. Etc etc.)

MORNING

  • Brush teeth
    • Get dressed
    • Empty the top shelf of the dishwasher
  • Step 1 of skincare: Cleanser (La Roche Posay Toleriane Purifying Facial Cleanser with Niacinamide)
    • Make bed
    • Empty silverware from dishwasher
  • Step 2 of skincare: Toner (La Roche Posay Effaclar Salicylic Acid Clarifying Toner)
    • Fill up water bottle
    • Empty bottom shelf of dishwasher
  • Step 3 of skincare: Niacinamide serum (The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% with Zinc 1%)
    • Take meds
    • Tidy bedroom and bathroom
  • Step 4 of skincare: Vitamin C serum (innisfree Green Tea Enzyme Vitamin C Brightening Serum)
    • Disinfect CPAP mask and dump out humidifier water
    • Tidy kitchen
  • Step 5 of skincare: Moisturizer (CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Face Lotion)
    • Do hair/makeup
    • Tidy living areas

Abbreviated version: brush teeth, fill water bottle, take meds, and do CPAP duties. Mayyybe empty the dishwasher if I have the energy.

EVENING

*Anything listed with the asterisk is the same as the morning

  • Scoop litter boxes
    • Do one chore (like cleaning the toilet, vacuuming the bedroom, or wiping down the bathroom sink)
    • Tidy bedroom
  • Brush teeth
    • Put on pajamas
    • Tidy main living area
  • Step 1 of skincare: Cleanser*
    • Fill water bottle
    • Tidy dining area
  • Step 2 of skincare: Exfoliator (Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant)
    • Do my nightly psoriasis treatment
    • Tidy dropoff zone (the ledge above my kitchen counter that is right near my front door)
  • Step 3 of skincare: Toner*
    • Fill humidifier with distilled water and click it back into the CPAP machine
    • Tidy bathroom
  • Step 4 of skincare: Niacinamide*
    • Fill in my One Line a Day journal
    • Make tomorrow’s to-do list
  • Step 5 of skincare: Hyaluronic acid serum (The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Hydrating Serum)
    • Tidy left side of kitchen
    • Wipe down counters
  • Step 6 of skincare: Glycolic acid serum (La Roche Posay Dark Spot Corrector Glycolic B5 Face/Anti-Aging Serum)
    • Tidy right side of kitchen
    • Wipe down counters
  • Step 7 of skincare: Moisturizer*
    • Put away any lingering cat bowls/fill up their water bowl
    • Start dishwasher

Abbreviated version: Brush teeth, swipe face with a makeup wipe, fill up water bottle, and make sure any dirty dishes are, at the very least, inside the dishwasher (even if I don’t start it that night).

Do you have ridiculous morning/evening routines or are you normal?

Categories: About Me

Five Senses

It’s Saturday morning and I’m sitting next to Mikaela at Starbucks as we both tap away on our laptops. Every so often, we stop to chit-chat but mostly, we’re focused on our work. I thought I’d do something easy today: a “five senses” post. There’s a lot more happening here than it would be at my house!

See: I see so much! My laptop screen, the people hanging out in Starbucks waiting for their drinks, the baristas bustling around the cafe, my crumpled-up breakfast sandwich bag, my sunglasses, my red Starbucks cup next to my laptop.

Taste: I’m drinking a delicious peppermint mocha! The drink has cooled down a lot as I’ve been at Starbucks for about an hour now. But it’s still delicious!

Touch: I’m touching my laptop keys and my wireless mouse.

Hear: I can hear the conversations happening around me, loud coffee machines making noise, and the pop music playing on the speakers.

Smell: Coffee, of course!

What do you currently hear?

Categories: About Me

Ask Stephany Anything | Part 1

Happy Friday, friends. I’m kicking off another round of Ask Stephany Anything today with questions that people have asked from my form. (If you have questions for me, fill it out! I’m an open book.) Since I’m dedicated to keeping my posts short and sweet this month (when possible), I’m just going to answer the questions San asked me, since I got a bit wordy! These were great questions, San, and I loved answering them.

First and foremost: How are you? Especially now that the election results have fully sunk it?

I am doing okay. I have decided that social media is not going to be where I get my news so I have unfollowed many news sources and muted people who seem to only share political posts these days. I want to be able to go on Instagram to be entertained and my algorithm is very much geared toward cat videos, dachshund videos, funny meme accounts, and comedians. That’s exactly what I want. (I don’t really believe that sharing political things on my Instagram is going to move the needle, considering those who agree with me are already watching my Stories and those that don’t have either unfollowed or muted me.) I will listen to Pod Save America and read their nightly newsletter to stay up on the news, but I may also take breaks from it from time to time. My friend also clued me in to this news source (unfortunately, she’s only on Facebook, ugh), who shares long detailed recaps of what happened the previous day and I plan to read through her recaps once a week.

The fight for democracy is going to be a long, hard one. There is not much we can do now, but I hope to find local organizations that I can give my time and money to.

Do you feel a noticeable difference in your energy levels now that you are using the CPAP?

Oh, for sure! I mentioned in the post I wrote a week after I’d been using CPAP therapy that I had already noticed a difference in my energy levels and that continues to be true. I don’t think I realized how exhausted I really was before starting CPAP. I truly could not get through the day without needing a nap and I felt so terrible about that. I felt like I was lazy and unmotivated and maybe even depressed? Some of those depression symptoms were likely just due to my lack of sleep, not a chemical imbalance. My blood oxygen percentage is also improving (usually staying steady around 95%, which is so close to normal! Before CPAP, I was regularly seeing blood oxygen levels around 90% and sometimes even below that.) Things are for sure on the upswing.

What’s your go-to breakfast right now?

I switch between a bowl of apple and cinnamon oatmeal (the instant kind, from Quaker) and two fried eggs on toast. Easy, simple, and delicious!

What do you like most about your new workout routine?

I like the feeling of pushing myself and working hard. It can be really easy to let myself off the hook when I’m doing a workout at home (for example, I was only using 5-lb weights anytime I did a strength video and now I don’t select anything under 10 lbs at the gym!). I like that I can come to class and the workout is ready for me, but that there’s also a community aspect. I see the same people week after week. I have a trainer who pushes me but also provides modifications if I’m struggling with back pain. I like feeling consistent and excited about working out. It doesn’t feel like a chore, but rather something I look forward to.

What’s your go-to breakfast?

Categories: About Me

36 Questions for Increasing Closeness | Part 1

I believe Elisabeth and Kyria clued me into this very interesting survey: 36 Questions for Increasing Closeness. Apparently, answering these questions tends to make people fall in love (technically, I’m supposed to choose one person in my life and take turns answering questions with them), so I’M VERY SORRY if you find out you’re totally in love with me once I finish answering all 36 questions.

I’m going to tackle just a few questions today (to keep to my word count goal of 500 per post!), so let’s dive in:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer! I want to choose someone I could have an earnest conversation with but wouldn’t be intimidated by. So, with that in mind, at this point in time, I’d love to sit down with Ilona Maher (she plays for the U.S. women’s rugby team and won a bronze medal at the Olympics). She seems so down-to-earth and inspiring, and I’d love to just soak in her energy for a few hours. (And while I don’t think she’s queer, I have a massive crush on her so I’d have fun flirting with her throughout dinner, too!)

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

No, not at all. At one point, I hoped to become a published author and, of course, I wanted to be successful enough for that to be my sole job. But being famous has never been appealing to me. It comes with a whole set of problems that I wouldn’t want to deal with. For example, I would struggle so much with people not liking me. I already struggle with that! But it would be even worse if I was famous and dealing with criticism and hate in an entirely different way. No, thank you!

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

Always! I’m afraid I’m not going to explain myself well and then the person on the other end is going to get frustrated with me. I never want to be a burden – I want this phone call to be quick and easy for both of us. I also struggle with word retrieval in these types of situations, so sometimes it just helps to rehearse what I’m going to say to help with the awkward pauses I do when I’m trying to remember a word.

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

Honestly, yesterday was one of those “perfect” days. I woke up early and went to the gym. Then, I took a shower, got ready, and spent two hours at Starbucks with Mikaela. After that, I came home, ate lunch, and took a nap. Later on, I went to my mom’s house to help with some organizing projects. We also did a bit of shopping at Target (and tried to go to Bath & Body Works but they are temporarily closed, wah!), watched some TV together, and went out to dinner. It was such a wonderful day!

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

The last time I sang to myself was in the car a few days ago! I was jamming out to my Taylor Swift playlist. And to someone else? Hmm… I sang along to a Taylor Swift song while my mom was in the car with me on Wednesday evening. Does that count?

Who would be your dinner guest? 

Categories: About Me

Mail Call!

A quick post today, which is much needed because those Week in the Life posts are no joke! Today, I want to ask a favor of you guys:

  1. If you want to receive snail mail from me, will you please fill out this Google form? I have been the kind recipient of wonderful postcards from other Cool Bloggers, and I want to pass it on. Maybe I’ll even get my life together next month to send Christmas cards (no promises). Even if you think I have your address, can you fill out my form? This way, I have everything in one space!
  2. I want to do an Ask Stephany Anything post (or two) during NaBloPoMo, so if you have any burning questions for me, please leave them in the comments! You can also leave questions in my Google form if you prefer.

That’s it from me today! Oh, Lisa asked for a picture of my brother’s new puppy. Here’s Cici!