Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | April 2025

Happy May! I’m going to start this post with some really good news. I had follow-up bloodwork done on Wednesday and received the results yesterday. My A1C is no longer in the diabetic range! (It’s still in the prediabetic range, so I still need to work on lowering it, but we’re trending in the right direction now!) I am so relieved, and this gives me the motivation to continue to work on my eating habits so I can get all of my numbers to a normal range. I talk more in-depth about my bloodwork below, but I wanted to share this very good news upfront.

BOOKS

Reading Stats of April

  • Books read: 11
  • Number of pages read: 3,842
  • Average star rating: 3.9
  • Average time to finish a book: 6.9 days
  • Format breakdown: 55% print books, 37% audiobooks, 8% e-books
  • Genre breakdown: 90% fiction, 10% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 1 (Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll)
  • Audiobook reading: 36 hours, 11 minutes (actual listening time: 20 hours, 40 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of April

  • The best book I read in April: I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams by Jordan Chiles
  • The worst book I read in April: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
  • The book I thought I would love more than I did: Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach
  • The book that lived up to the hype: The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
  • The book with the most unique structure: Confessions by Kanae Minato

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams by Jordan Chiles (audiobook, 2025) ★★★★★
  2. Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez (audiobook, 2022) ★★★★★
  3. The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
  4. The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker (e-book, 2019) ★★★★☆
  5. Autoboyography by Christina Lauren (print, 2017) ★★★★☆
  6. Confessions by Kanae Minato (audiobook, 2014) ★★★★☆
  7. Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen (print, 2022) ★★★★☆
  8. We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆
  9. Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach (print, 2022) ★★★☆☆
  10. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (print, 2022) ★★★☆☆
  11. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆

MEDIA

  • Big Brother, season 3 – My mom and I are having a lot of fun watching older seasons of Big Brother. This season has been talked about a lot, and it’s fun to see all of the gameplay in action. Of course, there is still some troubling language (so much fatphobia and some uncomfortable bullying), but that’s the early aughts of reality TV for you!
  • The Amazing Race, season 1 – On a whim, I decided to start watching The Amazing Race from the beginning! The first episode of this show aired on September 6, 2001 and the contestants started the race in NYC. It’s wild to see the Twin Towers in the background and to know the episode itself aired a few days before 9/11. What a wild time. The contestants are this season are so mean to each other and it’s kind of hysterical to watch!
  • American History Tellers, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI – I am not yet finished with this miniseries on the American History Tellers feed, but it’s been very eye-opening. It’s also wild to compare this time in history (1920s – 1970s) with what’s happening now. Hoover was spying on ordinary Americans and putting a stop to any negative press, and people back then thought he was a god. History seems to be repeating itself with today’s politics, with our president disappearing people who have different viewpoints, trying to keep certain news organizations out of the White House press briefings, and cutting off funding for schools and news organizations that speak negatively about him or his policies. It’s frightening to see the parallels.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of April:

A flight to London – My mom and I booked our flights to London! We’re leaving September 30 and will arrive in London on October 1. We’ll have six full days to explore to our heart’s content.

Most delightful little indulgence of April:

Meat shredder ($6) – I had seen this kitchen tool on a few TikToks and knew I had to have it. All you do is pop the chicken in the device, push down the lid, and then twist it from side to side. Within seconds, you have perfectly shredded chicken. LIFE CHANGING.

Most regrettable purchase of April:

Portable charger ($20) – This charger is fine, but it just doesn’t charge very fast and that’s annoying. It also takes forever for it to recharge itself once the battery is depleted. I’m going to keep it because something is better than nothing, but it’s not a charger I would recommend, unfortunately.

Number of books purchased in April: 4 (*bows*)

  • Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Book of the Month)
  • Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi (Book of the Month)
  • Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes (Tombolo Books)
  • Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Tombolo Books)

Best recommendation:

Book stand ($28) – I love this book stand! Now I can eat lunch and read my book rather than scrolling Reddit forums. It’s a little annoying to turn the pages since you have to slide the page from beneath the right-side clip and then tuck it into the left-side clip, but it’s a small price to pay to be able to read my book at the table without having to physically hold it open. An impulse purchase that I don’t regret for a second!

JOURNAL

  • April 1 – Mom and I bought flights to London! We leave 9/30. 🙂
  • April 3 – Robert and I had a very spirited debate about Trump. I’m really proud of how I handled myself!
  • April 5 – Mom and I did the Fight for Air climb! It was so damn hard. I wanted to quit so many times.
  • April 9 – Checked into the VRBO to start my reading retreat. It’s such a cute space.
  • April 12 – My first pedicure in probably 8 months. My feet look so pretty!
  • April 13 – We had Lynn on our podcast to talk about losing her home to Hurricane Helene. She was fantastic!
  • April 15 – Long day. We had an offsite meeting and it went really well! Better than I anticipated. But it was a 13-hour day – oof.
  • April 18 – God this new HIIT format for Friday mornings is awful! I thought I was going to die by the end of it.
  • April 24 – Bri came over for a girls’ night. We had pizza, chatted, and played Yahtzee. So fun!
  • April 30 – Follow-up lab work this morning. I can only hope I did enough to lower my blood sugars.

Previous years: 

  • April 30, 2022: We recorded the first episode of our podcast. It was so much fun!
  • April 13, 2023: TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!!! What an amazing night. I can’t believe I got to experience it.
  • April 24, 2024: My doctor’s office called me: I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. Yikes. This is a lot to process.

OVERVIEW

What went well

  • The Fight for Air Climb – My mom and I successfully completed the Fight for Air Climb in early April. It was the hardest physical challenge I’ve ever done, but I am so glad I pushed through (thanks to my mom!) and got it done. And I am 90% sure I’ll never do it again. (I mean, never say never, but I’m very close to saying never ever.)
  • A cheesy photoshoot – Our book club experience in April was a cheesy JC Penney photoshoot! We had the best time, and you can see all of the great pictures we got throughout this post. Our photographer had fun with us, too, and even had some pose ideas for us! I don’t know what we’ll do with all of these photos—maybe a hilarious coffee table book?!
  • A reading retreat – I spent a few days at a nearby Airbnb while my tub was being refinished, and my sole goal was to read as much as possible. While I didn’t read as much as I had hoped (10 hours over 2.5 days), that was mostly because I was stressed out about my cats, who accompanied me on this staycation. Lila especially was not having a good time, so I cut the trip a bit short so she could be back home in her comfortable environment.
  • GOOD BLOOD WORK!! – As I mentioned above, I got bloodwork done and the news is GOOD. My A1C has reduced enough that I don’t think my doctor will want to put me on medication. In other great news, my fasting glucose dropped 30 points and is now in a normal range. And my total cholesterol dropped 30 points and is now normal. And while some of my other cholesterol numbers are still high, all of the numbers reduced significantly. My triglycerides were down 15 points, my LDL was down 30 points, and my non-HDL was down 35 points. !!! The changes I made to my diet are working, and it is such a relief to see those numbers trend in a much better direction from January. My doctor also had me submit a urine sample to make sure I wasn’t experiencing any kidney issues from my elevated blood sugars (one of the earliest signs of diabetes, but also a silent one for the most part). And everything for that test came back normal! I think this will further prove to my doctor that I don’t need to be on medication. This was the news I really, really needed, and while I know it wouldn’t have meant I failed if my A1C didn’t decrease from these changes, it feels good knowing I won’t have to add yet another diagnosis to my repertoire.

What was challenging

  • Medical bills – It was a spendy month for medical bills. Between bills for my CPAP equipment and an insurance adjustment for therapy after learning they were under-charging me for the appointments, I spent $500 just on medical bills. That kinda makes me want to throw up. The good news is, I’ve met my deductible, so now I can go to therapy for free. Take that, greedy insurance companies!
  • Work challenges – There has been some leadership upheaval at my organization over the past year and with that comes a level of uncertainty for me, where I wonder if I fit into the new leaders’ vision of the organization and if I will have the support/guidance I need. I was feeling a lot of that uncertainty recently, especially with some shifts and changes. Thankfully, the off-site meeting helped solidify my identity within our organization. I was especially gratified when my boss reached out to me to say that our senior VP had reached out to her to say I really stood out at the meeting, and he thinks I am a real asset to our department. That was what I needed to hear!
  • Digestive woes – I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty here, but suffice it to say that my digestive tract has been unhappy over the past few weeks and I’ve started to feel like one of those people in a commercial for IBS, where I have to be near a bathroom at all times. I’m not sure what is causing this nonsense, but thank god I have an appointment with my doctor next week!

What was the best book you read in April? What was the most delightful purchase you made?

Categories: Life

The Highs & Lows of My Reading Retreat

My first reading retreat is in the books! It was a bit unconventional in many respects because I had to bring my cats along and I quickly learned that all future reading retreats need to be cat-less. Sorry, girls! But it was a great time, making me want to try to do these retreats once or twice a year if I can. It’s a great way to get away from normal life and indulge in my favorite hobby. I’m already scoping out other VRBOs for a future reading retreat!

I’m going to discuss this reading retreat by talking through two lows and two highs of my time.

The Lows

Bringing the cats. 

This was a necessity this time around because we all had to be out of the apartment for at least 24 hours while my tub was getting refinished. And while it was fun to have them around at times, it was also a bit anxiety-inducing. First, there was Lila. She does not do well in new environments and spent most of the time hiding under the couch. She would come out every now and then, but the immediately go back to her hiding spot. I started getting nervous that she wasn’t eating or drinking. I almost googled how long a cat can last without food/water, but eventually she hydrated and ate a little food. Whew.

Then there was Eloise. I was excited to have a fenced-in backyard so she could enjoy some outside time (she loves being on my balcony and rubbing her body all over the dirty concrete, sigh). So on Thursday morning, I let her out into the backyard (I was out there, too, keeping a watchful eye on her.) And then homegirl decided it was a great time to explore the neighborhood because she found an opening in the fence and hopped right through to check out the neighbor’s backyard. !!! The way I was terrified, you guys. It can’t be expressed. I had no idea how to get her back to our backyard, and after doing some running around to try to find her, I eventually had to accept that she would come back to the backyard. And she did, thank god! I found her in the grass on the other side of the backyard, and she tried to run past me when I went to pick her up, but I was able to grab hold of her and unceremoniously dump her back inside. She is officially BANNED from outside time!

(I also feel the need to say that she was only gone from the backyard for 10 minutes, maybe less. But it felt like 10 hours.)

There were other issues with bringing the cats: the litter situation (I brought a disposable litter box but woke up every morning to litter EVERYWHERE), the scratching situation (“these are not our couches, Eloise!”), and Eloise hissing/swatting at Lila every time she got near. (I think Eloise was feeling territorial; she hasn’t hissed at Lila since we’ve been home.)

Anyway, all of these cat-specific things impacted how much time I could devote to reading, so they will stay at home the next time around. (Which I think Lila will be very happy about.)

Not enough reading spots.

I first heard about reading retreats from Meredith of the Currently Reading podcast. She and a group of friends take an annual reading retreat, and when she was talking about how to choose the right place for these kinds of weekends, it’s important to find a place that has a lot of different kinds of reading spots. Ultimately, I was limited in my options for VRBOs because not only did I need a place that would accept pets, but they had to accept more than one pet. (Most pet-friendly VRBOs have a one-pet limit.) While this VRBO was perfect for my needs when it comes to giving my girls and me a safe place to stay while the tub was getting refinished, it was not a great spot for a reading retreat. There were only a few options for reading: a sectional, a banquet table, a bed, and a couch/table outside. (Although I was too traumatized by Eloise’s escape act to sit outside after it happened.) Now, as I search for a VRBO for my next reading retreat, I’m mostly concerned about how many different options I have for reading spots. I want variety!

The Highs

Reading as my sole goal.

Gosh, there is nothing quite so restful as knowing my only goal for the next few days is to read as much as possible. I did not read as much as I expected to, but that’s okay! By the end of the two days, I logged 10 hours of reading time. I finished one book, got halfway through another, and read 75 pages of a third. So I’m happy with that progress. Sometimes I have trouble focusing on reading for a long period of time, so this was good practice for me to put my phone down and let a story envelop me. My goal was to finish four books, and I didn’t get close to that, but this was my first reading retreat, and hopefully I will get better at this type of focused reading in the future.

Not having a reading schedule.

I mentioned in another post that I wanted to make a reading schedule for this retreat. Meredith has talked about the very strict schedule they adhere to on their reading retreats, which I thought I was interested in doing as well. But actually, I liked not having the pressure of a schedule! I would usually read for an hour (or 100 pages) and then take a break to read some blogs or take a nap or play games on my phone. I would have been able to log more reading time and finish more books if I had set a schedule for myself, but I liked taking it easy and letting the reading time unfold naturally. And still, 10 hours in two days is impressive!

Overall Thoughts

It was not exactly the reading retreat I had envisioned, but it was a good practice run. (I ended up leaving the VRBO on Friday evening rather than Saturday morning because we needed to be at home. Lila was especially struggling in this new environment.)

Next time, I will be better prepared. Plus, I won’t have to spend all of my mental energy worrying about what the cats are doing. Instead, I can focus on reading and enjoying the time away. I’m also thinking about how to have a reading retreat at home (inspired by Jenny!). Obviously, it’s harder because there are more distractions (chores! cats! dishes in the sink!), but if I could carve out one day per month where I have no plans, I can use that day as a mini reading retreat. I’m single and have no children, so there’s no reason I can’t do this for myself! This is one of the prime benefits of my lifestyle. I think I can make it happen, and I would love to use that day to just pick up a random book on my bookshelves and read it in one day. More to come on that!

Would you ever consider doing a reading retreat? If you had two days solely to yourself, how would you use them?

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | March 2025

Happy Friday, friends! Today, I’m recapping March in my superlatives-style post. These posts take forever to put together but I love having such a long-winded way to look back on my month, ha. I added something fun to my “Journal” section where I included one journal entry from the previous three years. I always enjoy seeing what I wrote whenever I turn a new page in my One Line a Day journal, and I thought it might be interesting to share some of the “archives” with you all. <3

BOOKS

Reading Stats of March

  • Books read: 8
  • Number of pages read: 2,917
  • Average star rating: 3.75
  • Average time to finish a book: 9 days
  • Format breakdown: 50% audiobooks, 25% print books, 25% e-books
  • Genre breakdown: 75% fiction, 25% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 1 (Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell)
  • Audiobook reading: 44 hours, 16 minutes (actual time: 25 hours, 27 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of March

  • The best book I read in March: Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom
  • The worst book I read in March: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
  • The book I thought I would love more than I did: Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
  • The book that was 100% in my wheelhouse: Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
  • The book that kept me guessing until the end: The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (print, 2023) ★★★★★
  2. The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
  3. Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★☆
  4. The Marriage Contract by Katee Robert (e-book, 2015) ★★★★☆
  5. Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova (audiobook, 2021) ★★★★☆
  6. Caught Up by Liz Tomforde (e-book, 2023) ★★★☆☆
  7. Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell (audiobook, 2024) ★★★☆☆
  8. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen (print, 2011) ★★☆☆☆

MEDIA

  • Next Level Chef, season 1 – Give me every Gordon Ramsey cooking reality show and I will watch it. Inject it into my veins. I hate cooking but I love watching people cook. This Fox reality show has a few seasons but I only recently noticed that they were on Hulu, so I watched the first season last month. It was fantastic! What a great premise – there are three levels of kitchens: a state-of-the-art kitchen with all of the tools a chef could want, a basic industrial kitchen, and the “dungeon” which requires chefs to get creative to put out restaurant-style dishes with next-to-nothing in terms of tools and ingredients. I loved the first season and can’t wait to watch more!
  • The Traitors UK, season 3 – Man, I love The Traitors. It’s such a great reality show! Of course, you can’t help but love all the accents and there was such great strategic gameplay in this season. I found the ending to be very satisfying, too!
  • The Amazing Race, season 37 – The Amazing Race is BACK! I love this show so much and it’s been fun to see all of the staples of the race come back to their true form (they had to limit a lot of things during Covid, obviously). I have my favorite team that I would die for (a set of nerdy gay gamers who are just everything to me), so I feel like normalcy has returned to my life.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of March:

My new rug ($150). I am so happy with this purchase! The area rug I had in my living room was fine but it was a little threadbare and I didn’t like that my sectional didn’t sit fully on top of it. I bought the 9×12 size for this area rug and it’s perfect! It’s also Eloise-approved because not even an hour after I rolled it out did she barf on it. Cats, man.

Most delightful little indulgence of March:

Cheap sunglasses ($20 for two pairs). I broke my two pairs of sunglasses in March. The first pair broke when I was getting out of Bri’s car after our Orlando weekend and the other pair broke last weekend when I picked Chip up for kisses and my sunglasses fell off my head and broke into pieces. (Worth it for those kisses, tho.) Thankfully, I only buy cheap sunglasses because I don’t trust myself to take care of pricier sunglasses, so I hopped right over to TJ Maxx and found myself two pairs for $10 each. Done and done!

Most regrettable purchase of March:

Taxes. There’s nothing I can do about owing money this year, but I’m still salty about it! I can’t say I regret paying this money because I like to remain within the confines of the law, but blah. I could have put that money to much better use!

Number of books purchased in March: 9

  • Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Book of the Month)
  • Penitence by Kristin Koval (Book of the Month)
  • Unromance by Erin Connor (The New Romantics)
  • Birding With Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb (The New Romantics)
  • The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren (The New Romantics)
  • Wild Love by Elsie Silver (The New Romantics)
  • We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida (Writer’s Block Bookstore)
  • The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (Barnes & Noble)
  • The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Barnes & Noble)

Best recommendation

L’Oreal Infallible vitamin C serum ($34). I’ve been on the hunt for a vitamin C serum that doesn’t cause a reaction, and on a whim, I picked this up to give it a try. It doesn’t cause any weird reactions and it smells so damn good. Is it doing anything for my face? Who knows. But at least it smells good!

JOURNAL

  • March 1 – Went to Olive’s first play performance. She did so good and I was on the edge of tears the whole time.
  • March 7 – Major anxiety spiral. Mikaela sat with me for an hour on the phone. <3
  • March 9 – Another high anxiety day. But Mark checked in on me and that was really sweet.
  • March 11 – Season 9 of the podcast started today. It feels so good to be back.
  • March 13 – Had an impromptu lunch with Mom. It was so nice!
  • March 19 – I used the sauna at the gym for the first time to see if it will help loosen up my muscles – def felt easier at HIIT!
  • March 20 – Mom and I had dinner with Amber tonight to talk about a possible London/Paris trip in the fall!
  • March 22 – Busy day! I had a writing date with Mikaela, then recorded 2 podcast episodes w/ Bri, and later – game night!
  • March 25 – Internet was out for part of the afternoon, which meant: nap time!
  • March 30 – Mom and I went to Painting with a Twist to paint portraits of our pets. They turned out so good!

Previous years:

  • March 9, 2022 – More podcast brainstorming! We picked out our intro music + worked on our podcast art.
  • March 12, 2023 – Amber and I did a knives skills class at Sur La Table and it was so much fun! I learned so much.
  • March 22, 2024 – Mom and I joined a gym! I hope this will help me get better bloodwork numbers.)

OVERVIEW

What went well

  • A trip to Orlando – I had a lovely two days in Orlando with Bri and Jackie. I got to meet Jackie’s sweet pets, Tootles and Pascal. And we had such a lovely relaxing weekend! We went to two bookstores, had brunch, recorded a podcast episode, and had afternoon tea where we had the best food. It was a really great weekend!
  • Cashing in Mom’s birthday present – In July, I gave my mom an experience present: Paint Your Pet at Painting with a Twist. Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit to attend the event because they only do this event at one location in our area and only on Sundays, and soon after her birthday, our Sundays were taken up with football. So it was a bit delayed but nonetheless, she cashed it in and we had a great time making portraits of our beloved pets. (And thank goodness for the instructor as she came around at the end to add little details that I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do on my own but really made the portrait 1000x better.)
  • Celebrating Chip and Lucy’s birthdays – I love my fursiblings so much! This month, Chip turned 7 and Lucy turned 4. I wasn’t able to celebrate with Chip as much as I wanted (I was coming home from Orlando on his birthday, though I did stop by to drop off some goodies for him and give him some birthday love), but for Lucy’s birthday, I got to have a fun day with them and my mom. We went to downtown Dunedin where there is an adorable shop that sells ice cream for dogs. They go nuts for it (as evidenced below with Lucy’s ice cream mustache).

What was challenging

  • Anxiety spirals – I had a really bad anxiety spiral at the beginning of the month. I haven’t had one of these in a long time and even though my therapist gave me ideas to help me through these panic attacks (putting an ice pack on my chest, deep breathing, meditating on my five senses, etc.), I could not break out of my panic long enough to even open my Notes app and look at the ideas. I want to stay in “freeze” mode and keep panicking because something about that felt safer than distracting myself. Thankfully, I was coherent enough to text my friend Mikaela and she sat on the phone with me. We talked a little about the panic I was experiencing but mostly she just went about her morning tasks, chattering on about inane subjects and that helped so much. It allowed me to stop thinking about the bad thing I was panicking about and give my brain time to come back “online” (as my therapist says; our brains are fully offline during a panic attack).
  • Work changes – There are some uncomfortable changes to my work life happening, and while it’s nothing compared to what my friends who work for the government are going through, it is affecting my mental health a bit. Nothing dramatic, but just some things that will take some getting used to.
  • Politics – It’s only been three months, you guys, and everything is terrible. I knew it was going to be bad, but it feels so much worse and it’s not going to get better. Deporting people with no due process, taking away green cards from people and throwing them in detention centers, gutting our federal agencies, ridiculous tariffs, fighting with foreign leaders who are supposed to be our allies… the list goes on and on. It’s hard to stay informed because all of it depresses me so much.

What was the best book you read in March? What was something that went well for you this month?

Categories: Life

An Orlando Girls’ Weekend

I spent the weekend in Orlando with Bri and her friend Jackie (whom I’ve met before and love to pieces!), and it was truly a sensational weekend. I don’t say that lightly! These kinds of weekends can be difficult for me because I never know how my social anxiety is going to react to a new situation with new triggers. But I didn’t have to worry about it at all. It was the kind of dream weekend I imagine extroverts have all the time – ha!

Here’s what we got up to!

FRIDAY

Bri and I arrived at Jackie’s house in Orlando right around 5pm on Friday. My first order of business (after saying hello to Jackie of course) was to begin my mission of making her pets fall in love with me. She has a dog and a cat, Pascal and Tootles respectively, and I couldn’t be more obsessed with them.

Pascal is the dog. He’s nearly 80% chihuahua and such a lover boy. He will lick someone’s face nonstop unless you pull him off you. We timed it, even! He made it over five minutes of nonstop kissing with Jackie and only stopped because she needed a break. He could set a world record, I think!

Tootles is the cat. He is part-ragdoll and I could not get enough of his sweet yellow eyes, floofy tail, and soft, soft fur. He’s a bit of a rascal at times, but with a face like that, how can you deny him anything?!

We didn’t have much on the agenda for Friday. We planned on ordering pizza and helping Jackie put together the couch she bought. It’s a Lovesac “sactional” with modular pieces and custom-fit covers that is supposed to be super easy to put together. It took the three of us over three hours to figure it all out and get everything put together, so I wouldn’t necessarily say it was intuitive, but we got it done! We blasted Taylor Swift and powered through box after box. (The most ridiculous thing about this piece of furniture is it came in, like, 10 different HUGE boxes. This would be a mess to deliver to an apartment, that’s for sure.)

After surviving the process of furniture building, we celebrated with ice cream at a local place near Jackie. I got a cookie butter swirl flavor that was out of this world!

Then, we came home, took showers, and collapsed!

SATURDAY

Saturday turned out to be one of my most ideal days. I woke up around 8 and got to have some snuggles with Tootles before it was time to get up and get ready for the day. Jackie made me a delicious latte that I enjoyed while playing my NYT games. I loved on the pets and then right around 9:30, we left for brunch.

Brunch was delicious! We went to Briar Patch in Winter Park and we didn’t have to wait too long considering that a) it was Saturday and b) we had Pascal with us so we could only sit outside. We got a table next to the cutest young couple with their two kids (when it was time to pay, the little girl pulled a plastic credit card out of her purse to pay for the bill! I died.) I hemmed and hawed over sweet or savory for brunch, ultimately going with very sweet and ordering chocolate chip pancakes. My weakness!

The pancakes were incredible – crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside – and I was also pleased with the side of well-done bacon I ordered. (Nothing but crispy bacon will do for me.)

After brunch, we strolled over to a bookstore and I was in heaven. This bookstore was perfection with a great selection of books and also a wide array of other bookish items like mugs, totes, notebooks, etc. I ended up buying a book, a bookmark, and a catnip toy for the girls.

We hopped back into the car for the #1 reason we had planned this girls’ trip: The New Romantics bookstore! When I heard about this Taylor Swift-themed romance bookstore, I asked Bri if we could go pretty please, and that’s when she suggested we make a weekend out of it. This bookstore was hopping and I was really glad to see that they were so busy—I want all of these romance bookstores to be super-duper profitable.

It was a very cute bookstore with a great selection of romance and romance-adjacent books. There was also an area with bookish merchandise and Taylor Swift-specific merch, like candles, stickers, prints, etc. I could have spent hours walking around and taking in all of the different shelf-talkers and collections. It’s a great bookstore and you can bet that I will be back!

I left with four books and the cutest little tote bag! (Oh, and a bookmark but it’s NSFW so I didn’t photograph it, ha.)

After our bookstore shopping spree, we came home and had the most delightful afternoon! We sat in the living room and read our books and then when I got sleepy, I went upstairs to the guest room where I slept and played on my phone for two full hours. OMG. It was everything. I needed this downtime, and I was so happy to have a little quiet time in the midst of our girls’ weekend. I came downstairs when I was ready for people again to find Bri still reading on the couch and Jackie asleep. I sat on a chair and read for another 30 minutes until Jackie woke up.

(I’m obsessed with this cat, if you can’t tell.)

Our evening was a very good one! First, we took Pascal on a 20-minute walk around the neighborhood. Jackie lives in a gorgeous area with so many cool houses with interesting architecture. She told us that they really go wild for Halloween, which makes sense because some of these houses look like they would look perfectly creepy all dressed up for Halloween. After Pascal’s walk, we went to Cow & Cheese for dinner where I housed a delicious smash burger and crinkle-cut fries. I have been craving a really good burger for a while and this hit the spot.

Then, we went back to Jackie’s to pick up Pascal before driving to Lake Eola for ice cream and strolling around. I opted for a mint ice cream flavor this time, but we all agreed that the first place we visited (Kelly’s) was much better. We strolled around Lake Eola, watching the sunset and taking in the sights of the lake and the very creepy “bird island” that I didn’t get a picture of for good reason. It was a beautiful night!

And then it was back home where we just chilled for a bit before heading to bed.

SUNDAY

We had two more items on our agenda for this weekend: a podcast recording and afternoon tea.

We started the morning with coffee and chit-chat and then it was time to get down to business. Podcasting! We have a series on our podcast where we essentially interview our friends about their personalities. Nothing like forcing the people in our lives to talk about their deepest fears and struggles! Muahaha.

Jackie is an Enneagram 4, which is surprising to me because she’s a surgeon and I wouldn’t expect someone in the medical field to be typed as a 4. I expect 4s to be bohemian types who have super creative jobs, but this will teach me to be more open-minded when it comes to the Enneagram. However, the way Jackie talked about her personality—and the ways it can impact her career positively and negatively—was super interesting. I’m excited for everyone to listen to the episode soon!

And Tootles definitely made his podcast debut, too!

After our recording, we loaded up Bri’s car with our belongings (we were going to start the trek home right after afternoon tea) and then headed to Disney’s Boardwalk for our reservation at The Cake Bake Shop. Afternoon tea was a delight! Our server was exceptional, so helpful and personable. The food was *chef’s kiss*. So good! We were each given a ginormous lemon blueberry scone that was to die for. We got to try an array of sandwiches and desserts. Best of all, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed my pot of peppermint tea! (I am not a tea drinker, but perhaps I’ve found my gateway to becoming one?!)

It was a lovely afternoon and we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

And that was my weekend in Orlando! You know it’s a good weekend when you start planning your next girls’ weekend before you leave. We’re going to get together again at the end of July!

Are you a tea drinker? What’s the last piece of furniture you built? Should I have cat-napped Tootles and taken him home with me?

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | February 2025

Hello, friends! It’s time for my monthly recap for February. Before we get into all of that fun stuff, I want to start with two disclaimers:

  1. The “money” category – Yes, I am linking to products bought on Amazon and Target. I know! I am trying to reduce my reliance on them, but I did not work on this at all in February. I am trying to find a good alternative to Target for household supplies/toiletries (maybe Aldi?) as well as all those little items I buy from Amazon that are hard to find in regular stores. I think it’s all about being a more conscious consumer.
  2. The “journal” category – Last month, I shared tidbits from my One Line a Day journal from the month. Since I participated in Elisabeth’s F.I.G. Collective in February, you guys saw a lot of the (shareable) items from my journal. So instead, I thought it could be interesting to look back on what I wrote down in previous years in February. So that’s what you’ll get there!

Okay, let’s get on with the monthly recap!

BOOKS

Reading Stats of January

  • Books read: 9
  • Number of pages read: 3,138
  • Average star rating: 4.14
  • Average time to finish a book: 13 days
  • Format breakdown: 44% print, 44% audiobooks, 12% e-books
  • Genre breakdown: 90% fiction, 10% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 0
  • Audiobook reading: 38 hours, 58 minutes (actual time: 22 hours, 48 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of January

  • The best book I read in January: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
  • The worst book I read in January: Good Material by Dolly Alderton
  • The book I was surprised to love: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
  • The book that taught me the most: Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspe
  • Most deserving of the hype: The Favorites by Layne Fargo

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (audiobook, 1926) ★★★★★
  2. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (print, 2020) ★★★★★
  3. The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
  4. Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar by Jessie Inchauspe (print, 2022) ★★★★★
  5. The Favorites by Layne Fargo (print, 2025) ★★★★☆
  6. The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (audiobook, 2022) ★★★★☆
  7. Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn (print, 2017) ★★★☆☆
  8. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (e-book, 2024) ★★★☆☆
  9. Good Material by Dolly Alderton (audiobook, 2023) ★★★☆☆

MEDIA

  • Big Brother, season 2 – My mom and I watched this very old season of Big Brother together. It aired in the summer of 2001 and I didn’t realize that the last days of the season took place on and after September 11th. It was really sobering to watch the houseguests learn about the terrorist attack. One of the contestants left in the house had a cousin who worked at the World Trade Center and was missing. (Her family later learned that she had died during the attack.)
  • Hollywood Squares – This is a completely silly show and if you’re looking for something mindless and fun, please give this revamped game show a try! Nate Burleson hosts and Drew Barrymore is the center square, and it will really help you take your mind off the madness happening in the United States right now.
  • The Floor, season 3 – Another game show! Am I in my game show era? It’s hosted by Rob Lowe and it has a very simple concept: you are given one piece of the “floor,” which is your expert category. This could be anything – as basic or as niche as you want. (Sports MVPs, agriculture, directors, Fortune 500 CEOs, bathroom products, 20th century inventions, Beyonce songs, etc., are just some of the categories this season.) And then if you get picked to play, you have to challenge someone in a category, so you have to be pretty well-versed in many different topics. It’s fun because some of the categories are really easy for me and others are startling hard!

MONEY

Favorite purchase of Febuary:

A new purse ($24). It was time for a purse upgrade and this one is perfect! I wanted something bigger to hold more items, my smaller belt bags weren’t cutting it anymore. I love how roomy it is and that it has lots of compartments on the outside so I can slip my phone and keys into them and not have to dig around in my purse to find them again.

Most delightful little indulgence of February:

Double-grip hair clips ($9). My mom is my influencer for this product, as she has a set of these at home and I really loved them. They have a comb teeth design that provides a much better grip for fine hair. (Traditional hair clips are fine, but if I’m trying to pin my bangs back while my hair is down, the clip usually slips right out of my hair, which is the opposite of what I want it to do.)

Most regretful purchase of February: 

Game tokens. I love my iPhone games and most are free (or there’s a one-time premium fee, which is usually always worth it so I don’t have to sit through ads). Some of my games don’t have ads but do make things tricky by ensuring you have to buy tokens in order to move forward through the game. It’s annoying, for sure, but I derive great joy from these games and I consider it a way to show my appreciation to the app developers. So I’m okay with spending a few dollars a month on game tokens. Not THIRTY-SEVEN DOLLARS in one month. Unacceptable.

Number of books purchased in February: 12 (omg, I have a problem)

  • Penitence by Kristin Koval (Book of the Month)
  • We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes (Book of the Month)
  • Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Book of the Month)
  • The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (Book of the Month)
  • The Lion Woman of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Book of the Month – but this one was free!)
  • Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (Book of the Month)
  • Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (Tombolo Books, my local indie)
  • Sipsworth by Simon van Booy (Tombolo Books, my local indie)
  • Lost and Lassoed by Lila Sage (Steamy Lit, a romance bookstore)
  • Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison (Steamy Lit, a romance bookstore)
  • The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles (Steamy Lit, a romance bookstore)
  • Done and Dusted by Lila Sage (Target)

Best recommendation:

Nail polish remover ($3). I’m pretty sure I’ve recommended this product before, but since I had to replenish mine this month, I thought I’d do so again. This remover comes in a little tub that’s filled with acetone and lined with a sponge. You stick your finger into the tub and rub it all around to remove your nail polish. So easy!

JOURNAL

  • February 2, 2023 – Book club! We all got permanent jewelry. It was very expensive but super fun.
  • February 3, 2024 – Such a fun day! Amber, Lynn, Mikaela, Olive, and I went to Parkesdale Market for strawberry shortcake and then strawberry picking.
  • February 7, 2022 – I’m feeling really comfortable in my new role, but the cadence of my days is so different. It feels really weird.
  • February 9, 2023 – Mark called me tonight and we talked for 30 minutes. We never talk on the phone!
  • February 10, 2022 – Podcast brainstorming session with Bri. We got so much done, including planning out 30+ episodes.
  • February 15, 2024 – Crazy day! Had a dental filling at 10 and then my lip ballooned triple in size! I think I had an allergic reaction to the topical lidocaine.
  • February 16, 2024 – Lila’s annual vet appt. She gained another pound, ugh. Also – it took 14 mins to get her in her carrier.
  • February 17, 2022 – Book club. We surprised Mikaela with a mini baby shower, which was delightful.
  • February 24, 2022 – Woke up to the news that Russia invaded Ukraine. This is really scary.
  • February 24, 2023 – We started recording episodes of season 4. Yay!
  • February 26, 2023 – Dominic’s bday party. It’s crazy to watch these kids (and their friends) grow up.
  • February 28, 2024 – I was able to get an emergency appt with my derm and have a new treatment plan for my scalp psoriasis. Thank goodness!

OVERVIEW

What went well

  • The Finding Joy in Gratitude Collective – This gratitude challenge was exactly what I needed. Not only was it a good practice for me to sit down at the end of every day and reflect on the good moments, but it was also a breath of fresh air to open Feedly on the weekends and see an explosion of posts about everyone’s FIGs. It was like a blanket of goodness in a bleak time. I am so glad Elisabeth hosted this challenge!
  • Meeting Birchie and showing her around St. Pete – I feel so grateful that Birchie made the long drive to the other coast of Florida to meet me and enjoy some good, ole IRL bloggy time. We had a wonderful time together! It was really fun to put together some ideas that are quintessentially St. Pete. In the end, we decided to do brunch at my favorite spot (The Library), peruse my favorite indie bookstore (Tombolo Books), go to the Dali Museum (which Birchie got us in for free thanks to her museum pass!), and do coffee flights at The Blend. We also chatted books, bloggers, real life things, pets, and sooo much more!
  • Being social – It was a big social month for me, and all of it made me feel good and connected to my people. I needed that! Bri and I celebrated our 10th annual Galentine’s day with dinner and seeing Paula Poundstone. I met up with friends to check out a new romance bookstore that opened up in Tampa and then we went to dinner. Bri and I had a podcast recording date (our first one in six months!). I met up with some friends and their kiddos for a library date. And of course, there was book club where we went to breakfast, made bracelets, and then sat outside to discuss the book.

What was challenging

  • Political turmoil – Do I need to say more here? Things are dark in the United States and we are swiftly moving toward authoritarianism. It’s scary and it’s hard to find peace in the present moment when all I can think about is what our country is going to look like after a few years of this nightmare. I know it’s naive of me, but I really hoped there would be some Republicans in Congress who would stand up to this administration, who would understand the threat to our democracy, but they are all spineless weasels.
  • Parking woes – Ugh, dinging up Ruby due to my own poor spatial awareness in a parking lot was not my finest hour. Thankfully, the scratches are minimal but I would like to get them fixed because she keeps telling me how “embarrassed” she is to be in public looking like a “trainwreck.” Girl cars, man!
  • Carpal tunnel pain – My carpal tunnel continued to be a pain this month. Mostly, I’ve been dealing with a tingling sensation in my thumb and forefinger and a burning sensation in the pad of my thumb. I’ve been trying everything to help it: wearing a splint every night, icing it, using heat, topical lidocaine, using a hand massager, etc. I even bought an ice pack glove that I could use to make sure my wrist, palm, and fingers were getting iced at the same time. It was miserable! But then… I started taking supplements. I swear, the day after I started taking turmeric and fish oil, the pain dissipated. It’s not 100% gone and I’m still wearing a splint to bed, but the numbness and tingling are nearly nonexistent and the burning is happening with less frequency and severity. I am fairly convinced that I’ve had chronic inflammation for a long time now, which is why I’m dealing with so many health ailments, so I’m hoping to continue to figure out ways to lower my inflammation naturally.

Goals for March

A recap of my goals for February: get a new Target card (❌), drop off a Goodwill donation (✅), and hang up my floating bookshelves (❌). (I went through the process of trying to get a new Target card, but they make it so difficult to do this that I just gave up. Ugh.)

  • Create my book nook – I need to hang up my floating bookshelves and add some prints to the walls. FINALLY.
  • Download a posture app – I want to find an app that combines stretching exercises with posture check reminders. Does such an app exist?
  • Watch Dirty Dancing – One of my goals this year is to watch four movies from the first four years I’ve been alive. I was born in 1987 and so many of you recommended that I watch Dirty Dancing, so that’s what I chose!

What’s something you watched in March? What’s something that went well for you this month?