Stephany Writes

Categories: Goals

10 Goals for the Rest of the Year | A Recap

In early November, I set 10 goals I wanted to complete by the end of the year.  While there are still six days left of 2025 (omg), I wanted to do a check-in before I start going crazy with my “Best of 2025” posts, so here you go!

1) Figure out a new home organizational system. Complete! I still think this organizational system can be improved, but at least for now, everything has its place and I know where to find the things I need.

2) Read two books that are over 500 pages. Complete! (Well, almost.) I listened to Generations, which was 560 pages, and I’m almost finished with 11/22/63. I will definitely have that done by the end of the year to complete this goal.

3) Visit The Book Lounge. Complete! My friend Amber and I went to The Book Lounge the day after my birthday and I spent over $100 on books and bookish goodies. Oops! It’s such a cute place and I’m so glad it exists in my community.

4) Finish the Taylor Swift reading challenge. Complete! All done. I’ll show the whole list in my 2025 goals recap post.

5) Get a handle on my finances. Not complete. You guys, I have not updated my budgeting spreadsheet since September. I’m calling the end of the year a wash and restarting everything in January. Everything is getting paid and I’m not going crazy when it comes to spending money, but I just haven’t felt the inclination to update my spreadsheet.

6) Find relief from my back and hip pain. Not complete. I did say that “this may be a lofty goal outside my control” and that’s definitely true. I tried a round of steroid shots in both of my hip bursae, which gave me about 18 hours of relief before everything went back to my new normal of chronic pain. I’ve decided to see a rheumatologist in the new year to find out if I have psoriatic arthritis. All of my symptoms point to this condition, and I can’t lie: I will be incredibly relieved if this is the diagnosis because hopefully it means I will start to have some relief from my chronic pain. More to come!

7) Do one Christmas-themed local event. Complete! I actually did three Christmas-themed local events. I went to Christmastown at Busch Gardens, Putt the Pier in Downtown St. Pete, and A Drag Queen Christmas.

8) Have a “planning day” to create goals for 2026. Not complete… yet. There is still time to complete this, although I’ve already come up with most of my goals for 2026. I still want to set aside a morning or afternoon to set up my 2026 planner and finalize my goals. I might do that tomorrow!

9) Develop a “40 Before 40” list. Not complete. I totally forgot that I made this goal. I’m still on the fence if I want to do a “40 Before 40” list. Probably not.

10) Bake one new-to-me Christmas-themed dessert. Complete! I made peanut butter balls, some with peppermint sprinkles and some without. They were a hit at my book club gathering, yay!

Six completed, one that was outside my control to complete, one that will likely be completed by the end of the year, and two that fell off my radar. I’m happy with that progress!

Categories: Goals

10 Goals for the End of the Year

I’ve fallen off my goal-setting bandwagon. My last goals post was in August and looking back on that list, I did not accomplish many of them. I’m also not doing spectacularly on my 2025 goals, although I do owe you guys a Q3 update. That’ll come sometime this month.

There are two months left of the year, which is wild. How are we at the endpoint of yet another year? Eeks! However, this is also my favorite time of the year and I really want to savor and enjoy the holiday season. I want to do some planning for 2026. And I want to continue settling into my new home.

So, here are 10 small goals I have for myself to guide me through the rest of 2025:

1) Figure out a new home organizational system. When I started unpacking and putting things away in their proper place, I quickly realized I needed to revamp my organizational system. There are so many little bits and bobs that need a proper home, but I don’t really have a good place for them. I’m not even sure where I was storing them before! Anyway, right now, I’m putting anything that doesn’t have a specific home into its own bin and once everything is unpacked, I’ll start figuring out my new home organizational system.

2) Read two books that are over 500 pages. This is one of my 2025 goals. I need to read two books to mark this goal complete, so I’d better get cracking!

3) Visit The Book Lounge. A new bookstore/community space opened up in my area, and I desperately want to visit it!

4) Finish the Taylor Swift reading challenge. This is another 2025 goal. I have two prompts left: read a coming-of-age story and read a story featuring music. I’m feeling confident I’ll complete this!

5) Get a handle on my finances. Things are pretty dire right now thanks to moving costs, paying two rents for two months (at pro-rated rates, but still), and the London trip. But thankfully, I don’t have to pay rent in December or January (the leasing office was running a very generous special when I applied!) so I feel like I’ll be able to catch up. Right now, my mom has been helping me stay ahead and I am very much looking forward to paying her back. My credit card balance is also a bit scary, ugh.

6) Find relief from my back and hip pain. This may be a lofty goal that’s outside my control, but I’m hoping it’s doable. I’m doing twice-weekly chiropractor sessions, twice-weekly PT, and I’ve started to do some gentle workouts at the gym (mostly the elliptical and recumbent bike). I also want to do nightly heat therapy and be a good PT patient and do my stretching/strengthening exercises on a daily basis.

7) Do one Christmas-themed local event. I’m not sure what I’ll do yet, but I definitely want to do something.

8) Have a “planning day” to create goals for 2026. Maybe with some friends? And probably after Christmas, during that lovely in-between time between Christmas and New Year’s. The perfect time to make some plans for 2026!

9) Develop a “40 Before 40” list. I turn 38 at the end of the month and that got me thinking about creating a “40 Before 40” list to complete over the next two years. I just need to think about the things I’d like to accomplish before my 40th birthday!

10) Bake one new-to-me Christmas-themed dessert. I’m not sure if I want this to be peppermint-flavored or gingerbread-flavored. Stay tuned!

What’s something you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year?

Categories: Goals

Monthly Goals | August 2025

July was a lot. There were a lot of doctor’s appointments, my first colonoscopy, a vacation with my mom, and a weekend away with friends. I pared down my goals list to just five things I wanted to accomplish, but even so, I only accomplished two of the five. I’m not feeling confident I’ll do any better in August (at least until my mental health improves), but I’m still going to make some goals and see what happens.

July Goals

1) Get through all of my medical appointments. Complete! I have one more medical appointment to get through (a follow-up with my GI doctor). The hard part is over for now, although I still need to do follow-up bloodwork with my primary doc and schedule carpal tunnel surgery. So the fun continues!

2) Start taking birth control. Complete! Although I believe my birth control is causing a severe depressive episode, so I stopped taking it. Ugh.

3) Watch Working Girl. Not complete. I was going to watch it this weekend, but I wasn’t in the right headspace for a movie.

4) Change my email address with my bank + all of my subscriptions. Not complete. I just didn’t get around to completing this goal in July.

5) Send the rest of my postcards. Not complete, again.

August Goals

Intentional Action

  • Declutter four spaces in my home. My goal is one space per week and it can be as simple as one container or bin. I don’t need to overcomplicate this.
  • Change my email address with my bank + all of my subscriptions. Rollover goal.
  • Spend 10 minutes every week working on Facebook photo organization. One of my yearly goals is to download all of my photos on Facebook so I can officially delete my account, and it’s going to be quite the project. Not only do I want to download these photos, but I also want to put them in their rightful categories on Google Photos and make sure they’re dated correctly.
  • Watch Working Girl. Rollover goal.

Healthy Routines

  • Eat three servings of fruit/vegetables every day. This always feels like a stretch goal for me, even though it shouldn’t be. But maybe I can get myself together in August to eat like a proper adult.
  • Do a gluten elimination diet. After all of the tests to figure out what’s causing my chronic diarrhea, I think the culprit is ultimately a gluten sensitivity. I am glad I did all of the additional tests to make sure there wasn’t something serious going on, but without any sort of diagnosis, I am left with potentially a gluten or dairy sensitivity. I strongly suspect it’s gluten. I have a follow-up appointment with my GI doctor on Friday, and I’m going to discuss a gluten elimination diet with her.
  • Be compliant with my CPAP. Truth time: I have not been great about wearing my CPAP mask at night. In order to be compliant, I need to wear the mask for at least 4 hours a night, 21 days a month. In August, I am determined to be compliant.

Nagging Tasks

  • Pay off London. Our London trip is so soon! (We leave September 30th.) I want to pay off the remainder of what I owe my mom so I don’t have that hanging over my head anymore.
  • Go to afternoon tea with my mom. For Mother’s Day this year, I gifted my mom afternoon tea at a cute local place. She loves tea, but has never done one of these outings, so it’s beyond time for it to happen.
  • Send the rest of my postcards. Rollover goal.

Do you have any goals for August?

Categories: Goals

2025 Goals | Q2 Review

It’s time to do a review of my 2025 Goals. Something I like to do during the halfway point of every year is to take stock of the goals that have seen no movement and decide if I want to revamp them. I decided to do so for a handful of these goals, and I’m feeling much more inspired to complete them now! This is your reminder that goals can be fluid and you can choose to let go of the ones that no longer suit you.

HOME

1) Itemize everything in my home. Burn through one candle every month. I am changing this goal because I am just not going to itemize everything in my home. I’m just not! I will take videos if a hurricane threatens and deal with the aftermath if the worst ever happens. Instead, I’m bringing back an oldie but a goodie: burning through one candle every month. I love collecting candles, but I am so bad at lighting them! This goal makes sure I get into that routine.

2) Buy a new area rug, coffee table, bookshelf, and throw pillows. On track! In Q1, I bought a new area rug and in Q2, I bought new throw pillows.

3) Move to a two-bedroom apartment. No progress made. My lease is up November 1st, so this will be a Q4 goal.

4) Stick to a weekly cleaning routine. Gah, not really. I complete the most pressing tasks every week (laundry, vacuuming the floors, wiping down the bathroom), but I’m not sticking to my weekly routine like I wanted to.

5) TBD Declutter one space of my home every week. This is asking a lot of me, but if I’m going to move at the end of the year, then I need to start the decluttering process now. I am pretty good at decluttering regularly, but now I need to declutter with an eye toward packing and moving my stuff. (And this can be as small as decluttering one cabinet or bin!)

ADULTING

1) Change my primary email address. In progress. I have changed over a few accounts to my new email address.

2) Spend 50% less in online takeout from 2024. My goal is to spend less than $100 a month in online takeout. I have been failing BIG TIME.

  • January: $78.38 ✅
  • February: $205.51 ❌
  • March: $173.07 ❌
  • April: $131.79 ❌
  • May: $172.49 ❌
  • June: $179.77 ❌

3) Pay off my LASIK bill. Complete! This was only possible because I got a bonus this year.

4) Save $3,000 in my emergency savings. In progress. Last month, I set up an autodraft to my emergency savings fund of $25 every Friday. While it’s very unlikely I will be able to save $3,000 by the end of the year, at least I’ll get to half of my goal.

5) Complete the “I’m Dead. Now What?” book. No progress made.

HEALTH

1) Improve my posture. No progress made. I need to get better about doing posture breaks and stretching exercises, but let’s be honest, this goal has fallen to the wayside as I deal with my slew of health issues.

2) Lose 20 lbs. I’m down 15 lbs from the beginning of the year!

3) Move my body every day. Nope. I work out regularly (at least 4 workouts a week at the gym), but I don’t move my body as much on my non-gym days.

4) Work on my daily routines. Blah, no. This remains a struggle.

5) Be able to do a sit-up without help. In progress! I am getting better, but I am just in awe of people who can just plant their feet on the floor and do a sit-up without needing all that much momentum. I definitely need to use my legs for momentum in order to do a sit-up. I’m working on it!

HOBBIES

1) Read one 500+ page book every quarter. (2/4)

  • Q1: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (★★★☆☆)
  • Q2: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (★★★★☆)

2) Go to at least 6 Silent Book Club meetings. Download and organize all of my photos on Facebook. I am finding it very hard to sync up my schedule with Silent Book Club, so I’m going to abandon this goal in favor of a new one. I want to download and organize all of my photos on Facebook (dating back to 2006, when I originally got my account!) so that I can officially delete my account for good.

3) Read 125 books. (61/125) I am 6 books behind, so we’ll see how things go with the second half of the year.

4) Remove all the spammy links that have been added to my blog. I believe this is complete, but I need to go through some recent posts and make sure.

5) Complete the Taylor Swift reading challenge. (18/25) Easy, peasy! I’m still fulfilling these prompts by the books I choose myself (so maybe I chose a very easy reading challenge for myself?), but we’ll see how easy it is to knock off those last 7 books!

FUN

1) Watch four movies – one from 1987, one from 1988, one from 1989, and one from 1990. (1/4)

  • 1987: Dirty Dancing (loved it!)

2) Take a trip to London. My mom and I are spending the first week of October in London, so this will be completed in Q4.

3) Watch the entirety of these series: Suits, New Girl, and a TBD series. Try my hand at three different baking recipes: cookie dough cupcakes, a three-layer cake, and some kind of pumpkin treat. Okay, let’s just call it: I am not going to watch the entirety of these series because I am just BAD at watching TV that is not competition reality TV. So we’re revamping this goal and I’m challenging myself to bake three different desserts.

4) Repierce my nose. Complete! I got this done in February!

5) Do one new thing every month. Making progress!

  • January: Tried mushrooms, decided I didn’t like them
  • February: Visited a romance bookstore
  • March: Went to a new-to-me grocery store, Aldi (successful trip, although there are definitely certain items I’ll still need to use Publix/Target for)
  • April: Cheesy JC Penney photoshoot with book club
  • May: My first drag show!
  • June: Tried a whole lot of weird food combos for the podcast

What’s something new you’ve done recently?

Categories: Goals

Monthly Goals | July 2025

June was a weird month because I had a lot of health issues and doctor’s appointments. July isn’t going to be any better with more doctor’s appointments and follow-up testing and my first colonoscopy. So I’m making July the month of kindness. I am going to be radically kind to myself and give myself the grace I need to get through these medical appointments, which will hopefully give me answers to all of my health concerns. I’ve pared down my July goals to just five things I want to try to accomplish, and most of those are small, easy goals.

But first! Let’s take a look back on my June goals.

June Goals

Intentional Action

  • Buy new throw pillows – Complete! I was at Home Goods this weekend and found exactly what I was looking for. Woohoo!
  • Change 5 email addresses – Mostly complete! I changed the email addresses for my electric company, gym, car loan, and phone. I wanted to change the email address I use at my bank, but I wasn’t able to do it online and didn’t feel like making a phone call.
  • Finish Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi – Complete!
  • Watch Working Girl – Not complete. Maybe this will be my “recovering from a colonoscopy” movie, hmm.

Healthy Routines

  • Eat fruit with breakfast and a veggie snack, Monday – Friday – I did not track this in June, but I would say my completion percentage was under 10%.
  • Five workouts at the gym per week – I am regularly doing four workouts per week: three HIIT classes and one spin class. I feel like that’s enough for me. If I can keep up this momentum, I’ll be a happy camper!
  • Eat a salad twice per week – LOL, no. I started getting tired of my salads in June, so I stopped eating them.

Nagging Tasks

  • Schedule a follow-up visit with my gynecologist – Complete! I do indeed have fibroids, which is why my periods suck. Blergh.
  • Send the rest of my postcards – Not complete. I was very lazy in June.
  • Do a Goodwill drop – Complete! It felt so good to get rid of so many things!

July Goals

1) Get through all of my medical appointments. It will be another busy month of medical appointments. Let’s review: abdominal ultrasound, routine dental cleaning, colonoscopy, nerve conduction study (for carpal tunnel), and a follow-up with my orthopedic regarding next steps with my carpal tunnel pain. The colonoscopy is going to be the big appointment to get through and I will be happy to have that behind (heh) me.

2) Start taking birth control. I have decided to start taking hormonal birth control to see if it helps regulate my periods. I have never had an issue with birth control (actually, I’ve been one of the lucky ones in that I usually don’t get a period when I’m on BC), so I hope it does the trick.

3) Watch Working Girl. Rollover goal.

4) Change my email address with my bank + all of my subscriptions. I will have to call my bank to get my email address changed, but it should be easy enough to change the email address attached to all of my subscription services.

5) Send the rest of my postcards. Rollover goal.

Do you have any goals for July?