Life – Page 13

Categories: Life

Stitch Fix | Spring 2022

It’s time for my quarterly Stitch Fix post! I was really happy with this Fix, even though I only kept 3/5 items. This time around, I bumped down my sizes by one and I thought most everything fit really well. The shirts were a little on the small side, but I think that may have to do with my stylist choosing petite tops. Petite sizing is a must for me in dresses and pants, but not so much in shirts. So I hope that by switching to regular sizing in tops, my stylist will choose shirts that fit me much better. I’m also considering adding some beautiful sorority tops and tunics to my wardrobe.

For now, let’s take a look at everything that was in my Fix this month.

Ribbed Knit Jumpsuit ($58)

I was incredibly excited when I saw this jumpsuit. I’ve never owned a jumpsuit, mainly because finding one that fits me right is hard for someone who is fat and short. This jumpsuit fit perfectly! It was the perfect length and didn’t pull weird in any way. It was sooo comfortable, too. Even still, I was torn on whether or not to keep it. Would I really wear this? (I’m usually a jeans-and-tee kinda gal.) And we’re firmly entering summer season here in Florida so wearing long pants is growing more and more uncomfortable. I decided to wear it around for a bit to see how I felt about it, and gradually, I discovered that the waist was quite heavy and sat awkwardly on my stomach. In the end, I decided to return it.

Brushed Knit Dress ($48)

I asked for a fun dress in this Fix, and I was thrilled with the piece my stylist selected. It’s lightweight and I love the flirty skirt. I felt really good in it. It’s a little “booby,” which is what I call anything that has a low neckline and shows off a bit too much of the girls, but I’d probably wear a lightweight jacket/cardigan over it if I were to wear it out somewhere. This was a very easy keep! However, I’m planning to buy red dresses for HOCO online that I’ll be wearing in our next homecoming.

Khaki Cargo Shorts ($78)

I loved these shorts so much! I only have two pairs of shorts right now and one of those pairs is quickly developing holes. So I need more shorts! I was really excited to see these in my Fix and even more excited when I put them on. They fit perfectly and feel great. While they are way more than I would ever spend on a pair of shorts, I know I will get a ton of use out of them. Keep, keep, keep!

Knot Front Knit Tee ($34)

I wasn’t sure about this shirt before I tried it on, but once I did, I was in love. It’s so comfortable and fits great. The little knot at the front is a fun detail. And I love the scoop neckline. This one was a very easy keep for me.

Ruffle Back Knit Tank ($48)

I was pretty sure this shirt wasn’t going to fit me and it didn’t. I think the shirt is a smidge too small for me, but I also think it’s supposed to be a tighter fit with the sides hitting right above the hips. I prefer my shirts to have a looser feel and hit me a little below my hips. I didn’t even have to think about this one—an easy return.

While I didn’t keep everything in my Fix, the pieces I did keep are going to be lasting additions to my wardrobe, and that’s all I can ask for! In my next Fix, I asked for another sundress, maybe a romper, and another pair of shorts. It should come right before my trip to Niagara Falls, so hopefully I get a few pieces to take with me!

Categories: Life

Two Years Later

For me, March 16, 2020 was the start of the pandemic. It’s when things got really real. It was a Monday and the Friday before, my company held a company-wide meeting to discuss shifting to remote work for the time being. At first, it was only going to be for a week… and then maybe a month… and then maybe until July… and now, here we are, two years later. Still in a pandemic, still working from home.

I’ll be honest with you: The pandemic hasn’t been too hard on me. There are a variety of reasons for that, all of which point to my incredible privilege:

I was able to easily do my job from home.
I didn’t lose my job or even worry about losing my job.
I genuinely enjoy being alone and didn’t have trouble adjusting to a WFH lifestyle.
Nobody close to me got seriously ill or died from Covid.
As far as I know, I did not get Covid. If I did, it was an asymptomatic case.
I don’t have kids, so I didn’t have to worry about remote learning or trying to work when daycares were closed.
I was able to easily access the vaccine when it became available to me.
I am not immunocompromised so I know the vaccines and boosters protect me pretty well.
My mom lives close by and is not in a high-risk group, so I was able to keep her in my bubble and see her regularly. (Same goes for my brother.)

Another thing to note is that my anxiety disorder hasn’t been impacted too much by this pandemic. I don’t know why, but after the first six months of the pandemic when things felt especially dire and the medical community kept changing guidelines constantly, I entered this state of “what will be, will be.” Again, this is likely because I’m not high risk and do not have high-risk parents to worry about. I am very, very lucky in this regard. I understand my role in protecting the immunocompromised community, however, so I wore my mask even when mandates were lifted. I got vaccinated and boosted. And I tried to be as safe as possible when I was out in public (no big gatherings, quarantining when necessary, etc). I know a lot of people struggled with a fear of being in public where even a trip to Target could trigger an anxiety spiral, and that had to be so hard. With the way my anxiety can be, I am very grateful this wasn’t something I had to worry about too much.

One of the most difficult parts of the pandemic for me has been weighing decisions. At one point, everything I did felt like a moral decision. If I go to that restaurant, does that make me a bad person? If I expand my circle just a little bit, does that mean I’m not taking Covid seriously? If I attend this event, will people judge me? Is it ok to travel, or will people think I’m being selfish for being on a plane during an outbreak? Everything felt so fraught, every decision delivering a moral implication.

It’s been two years and it finally feels like there’s a light at the end of this very long tunnel. I’d like to believe we will enter an endemic phase of Covid sometime this year, but of course, that’s hard to predict. Most scientists don’t seem to think that’s coming anytime soon, especially with variants continuing to circulate. I am hopeful, though. And that’s something I didn’t have this time last year.

It’s been a hard two years for so many people. My heart aches for the people who lost loved ones to this virus, for the immunocompromised population who still feel really scared and unsure of how to protect themselves, for the kids who had their lives upended (graduations and school dances canceled, rites of passages put on hold), for the healthcare workers who took care of Covid patients at the detriment to their own health, for the frontline workers who delivered our food and supplies when we couldn’t leave our homes. I don’t know how we heal from the trauma of these past two years. The scars of the pandemic are going to live in us for a long, long time.

For me, the scars have less to do with the function of living during a pandemic and more to do with watching how people I know and love have reacted. Those who have refused to get vaccinated, citing conspiracy theories and unproven research. Those who didn’t take the pandemic seriously at all, not because they thought it was a hoax but because they just wanted to live their lives without taking into account other people. It was especially disheartening to see how churches reacted to the pandemic. Not all churches of course, and I’m not sure why I expected better from Christians (many of whom still support Trump), but adhering to CDC guidelines is not “living in fear.” Trying not to spread a deadly virus by masking and not gathering in large groups and getting vaccinated is the least we can do.

It’s been a long two years. It’s hard to remember what life was like before COVID-19. Sometimes, I think about the end of 2019 and how we kept hearing about this strange virus making its way through China. I never thought it would be something that would kill millions of people, put life on hold, and change the world as we know it. I never thought I’d live through a global pandemic. I never thought it would become normal to see people in masks as I’m grocery shopping or to meet up with friends and not be able to hug them.

I have a lot of hope that when March 2023 rolls around, we won’t still be living through the pandemic phase of this virus. Normalcy has begun to slowly return to our lives and it’s starting to feel less and less weird to walk around without a mask on, to gather in larger groups, to travel, to make plans. So, here’s to two years and to no more crazy variants to worry about and hopefully an endemic distinction from the WHO. Who knows what this next year will bring, but I’m going to hold on to my hope that things will be better than they are today.

(Of course, I wrote this whole post over the weekend, only to find out on Tuesday that a new variant similar to Omicron has caused massive lockdowns in China and is already circulating globally. So. I guess we’ll see what happens.)

Categories: Life

My Ideal Schedule

I’ve been struggling with my schedule for a long while now. Working from home was always my dream (as someone with high sensitivity and social anxiety, being able to control my environment and not be around people all the time has done wonders for my mental health). While I never thought a global pandemic would be the reason I started working from home full time, that’s just what happened and I am thankful that I really, really enjoy WFH life. I also realized that work from home devops jobs, as the remote work trend creates opportunities for individuals worldwide, fostering economic growth and inclusivity.

But my schedule? It’s been all over the place since March 2020. At first, I wasn’t worried about giving myself some sort of schedule. We were all struggling through the scary early days of a pandemic and just making it through each day was enough. But it’s now been almost two years of working from home and it’s more than time for me to have a better daily schedule/routine.

Before I talk about what I envision my ideal schedule being, let’s first discuss what my schedule looks like these days:

6:30ish: If it’s a workout day, I’m up around 6:15-6:30 to do my workout. It’s either a 30-minute spin class followed by a 1-mile walk or a 1-mile walk followed by a 20-minute strength class. (All on the Peloton app.) My goal is always to be up and out of bed by 6, but I usually snooze my alarm until 6:30.
7:30ish: Breakfast time. I make eggs (either fried or scrambled) and cinnamon toast. I usually have iced coffee, too. These days, I read blogs while eating breakfast.
8:30ish: I wash all of my breakfast dishes, brush my teeth, and do my skincare routine. Sometimes I run out of time to do all of this, so I have to do it during a work break.
9:00-6:00: Work! Throughout the workday, I take lots of breaks. (Typically, I work for about an hour and then take a 15-20 minute break and continue to do that throughout the day, depending on the meetings I have.) The break may entail reading on the couch, doing a cleaning task, reading blogs, or working on a blog post.
6:00-6:45: I’m usually wrapping up my workday sometime around 6, maybe closer to 6:30 if I get caught up in a work task. And then I need a moment to veg on the couch before starting dinner. I’ll either listen to a podcast and play Happy Color on my phone, or read my book. Sometimes, my mom and I will FaceTime with each other.
7:00ish: I make dinner and eat it while watching something on TV. I’ll usually watch two episodes if it’s a 30-minute show.
9:00ish: Since I’m usually not sitting down and having dinner until 7:30 or later, I often don’t start preparing for bed until after 9. My nighttime routine involves tidying up my apartment, washing the dinner dishes, scooping litter boxes (I do this every other night), brushing my teeth, and doing my skincare routine. And I am so slow about it! Usually, I’ll set a time for 10 minutes and try to do as much as I can, and then I’ll take a break. (I try not to sit down with my phone because then I’ll get sucked into social media and I’ll be on the couch for dayssss.)
10:30ish: I’ll finally finish up my nighttime routine so I can go to bed! I’ll read for a bit and then turn on ASMR Youtube videos to help me fall asleep.
11:30ish: Lights out.

Kinda chaotic, kinda exhausting, eh? One thing to note is that my work schedule is very flexible. While I need to be logged in and available during “normal” work hours (9am-5pm), I don’t have a specific time I have to start working. I could start my workday much earlier so that I could log off around 4 or 5, but I just really like having a slow, relaxing morning. My mornings used to be so busy and rushed when I worked in an office, and I hated it. Ideally, I’d start my workday at 8 so I can log off by 5, but that just feels very ambitious right now.

Here’s what I want my days to look like:

6:00am-7:00am: Some sort of exercise. It would be nice to make this a normal part of every morning. Three days a week (likely Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), I’d do a “hard” workout: a 30-minute spin or strength class followed by a 1-mile walk. Two days a week, I’d do two loops around my apartment (nearly 1.5 miles) followed by a short, gentle stretching class.
7:00am-8:00am: Make breakfast for myself, eat while reading blogs, and tidy up the kitchen afterward.
8:00am-8:30am: Take a shower, do my skincare routine, and make my bed.
8:30am-5:30pm: Work! It would be nice to log in by 8:30 so I can be done for the workday before 6.
5:30pm-6:00pm: Reading block. I really crave a bit of breathing room between logging off work and starting my evening routine. Having a half-hour to lay on the couch and read would feel so rewarding.
6:00pm-7:30pm: Make dinner. Watch one 30-minute show while eating. Clean kitchen afterward. Instead of spending your precious time scrubbing floors, consider outsourcing this task to a local floor cleaner.
7:30pm-8:00pm: Blogging block. I can use this time to work on a blog post, read blogs, respond to comments, answer emails, etc.
8:00pm-9:00pm: Do my nighttime routine (clean litter boxes, tidy apartment, do my skincare routine/brush teeth).
9:00pm-10:00pm: Get into bed. Read my book and watch ASMR videos on Youtube until I’m sleepy.
10:00pm: Lights out!

Looking at this schedule makes me sigh with happiness. I want this schedule! There are just a few new habits I need to implement to make it work:

First, I need to stop hitting the snooze button. It’s just so tempting to hit snooze and give myself 10-15 minutes to wake up. I’m just not the type of person who can get out of bed right when my alarm goes off. I need at least 10 minutes to wake myself up. How I’m going to solve this: I’m planning on re-downloading the Sleep Cycle app. I used to use this app religiously many years ago, but stopped because it required leaving my phone under my pillow all night long and that was annoying. I did like that it tracked my sleeping habits, though, and had a very gentle alarm that would slowly start going off about 15-20 minutes before I set my wake-up time. The alarm starts going off when I’m in my lightest phase of sleep, so that the wake-up isn’t so jarring. (And with the new version of the app, I can leave my phone on my bedside table!)
Second, I need to stop using my phone in the morning. I’ll usually spend a few minutes in the morning sleepily reading any notifications that came through overnight, scrolling through Instagram, and going through my emails. Then I’ll bring my phone in the bathroom with me as I do my morning pee where I’ll play Happy Color. I’m embarrassed to admit how long I can stay in the bathroom as I try to finish up a picture I’m coloring, but it’s very ridiculous and leads to me not starting my workout until 6:45 or later. So, anyway, I really need to get in the habit of not using my phone in the morning. How I’m going to solve this: I’m going to change my Do Not Disturb settings to last until 8 a.m. That way, I won’t see any notifications when I wake up. I can just turn off my alarm and then not use my phone until my workout is over.
Lastly, I need to work through my nighttime routine in a much more efficient manner. I am sooo very slow with my nighttime routine. In reality, it shouldn’t take me more than 30 minutes, but I can stretch it into an hour and a half if I’m not careful. I need to be more efficient so I can get into bed at a reasonable hour. How I’m going to solve this: With a timer! When I start my nighttime routine, I’m going to set a 15-minute timer and try to get as many things done in that time as I can. Then, I’ll set a 5-minute timer for a short break. And then I’ll set another 15-minute timer. I think setting a timer not only as I go about my nighttime routine but also as I take a short break will help me get through it much, much quicker. (Maybe I will one day get to a place where I can speed through my nighttime routine without breaks, but right now, I need those breaks.)

I really hope that, by figuring out what my ideal schedule looks like and what changes I need to implement to make sure I can actually make it happen (i.e., stop hitting that snooze button!) that I can enjoy a schedule that more closely aligns with my goals and needs.

Do you have any bad habits related to your daily routine that you’d like to change?

Categories: Life

My Budgeting Process

My budgeting process has evolved greatly throughout the years, and I’ve tried a whole range of budgeting tools. Spreadsheets, software, budgeting journals—you name it, I’ve probably tried it. And while there are some great apps like Mint and You Need a Budget out there, I’ve returned again and again to my tried and true method of meticulously detailing my spending on a spreadsheet. I know I could automate my budgeting, but it just works best for me to make it a manual process so I can really see where my money is going and how I need to adjust during any given month.

The first thing I want to talk about is why I detail my budgeting and spending this way. I have a very complicated history with personal finance, as I grew up poor and never learned proper budgeting skills. My father struggled with multiple addictions and my mom’s job as a preschool teacher didn’t provide her with enough financial stability to make it on her own (especially with two kids), so we struggled a lot. We were evicted from multiple apartments, depended on cash advances and family support, and lived with my grandparents for a time while my mom got on her feet after leaving my dad. My mom went back to school after the divorce and the school loans she got were how we survived. (Fun side note: My mom recently paid off all of her school loans! She really never thought she would be able to do that, considering at one point they were in the six figures.)

After graduating college, I started working at a job that paid me $28,000 a year, which is not enough to survive on as a single person. Most of my twenties were spent just trying to get by, saving very little and dealing with massive credit card debt. (So much so that one of my credit cards put me on a forgiveness loan.) And my student loans? I deferred them year after year (my income level qualified me for that).

Suffice it to say, I really didn’t think about budgeting until I was in my late twenties when I finally had some semblance of financial stability. Of course, that’s not to say that those who are struggling paycheck to paycheck cannot budget, they absolutely can. But it just wasn’t something I had the wherewithal to think about. And it’s really, really not fun to budget when all of your money goes to bills with maybe $20 leftover for yourself.

But here I am now: much more financially stable, making a great living for myself, and no longer living from paycheck to paycheck. It’s a great feeling, one I do not take for granted.

Once I got to a place where I needed to be much more diligent about budgeting, I started to think about the best system for me to keep track of my income, my bills, and my savings. That’s when I began to dabble in budgeting apps, different spreadsheet systems, and budgeting journals, eventually settling on a simple but effective spreadsheet system that works for my life and my needs.

Step 1: Plan Out My Paychecks

I’ve always struggled with setting a monthly budget; I’d much rather work in two-week sprints, since that’s the cadence of my paychecks. It’s just easier for me to set up my budget for each paycheck than to take a wholesale look at my budget for the month, estimating what I think I’ll spend. I’ll usually try to plan out my next few paychecks, so I’m not hit by any surprises.

Here’s what it looks like:

For each paycheck, I list out what bills will be due and then I have a color-coded section for other expenses: food, toiletries/supplies, savings, and subscriptions. I budget $300 per paycheck for food expenses and $50 per paycheck for toiletries/supplies. Savings and subscriptions vary. Some of my savings I allot to purchasing gold from the best place to buy gold in Brisbane. At the end of the column, I have a formula that subtracts all of my expenses from my paycheck amount to give me an idea of how much “fun money” I have to play with in a given two-week cycle. I don’t really do much with my budget beyond this. I’m not into zero-based budgeting (wherein every dollar gets assigned out). Instead, it gives me an idea of what I can expect from this pay cycle and how much fun money will be available for me.

To the right of these cells, I have two tables: one lists out all of my different subscriptions with due dates and costs, the other lists out all of my different bills with due dates and estimated (in some cases) costs. I use that to ensure I’m remembering to include the right bills into each paycheck cycle.

NOTE: Almost all of my bills are on auto-payment, which is something I just put into practice maybe a year or so ago. There was a time in my life when having bills on auto-payment was more stressful than helpful because I had to be sure I always had enough money in my account to cover the payment. I’ve overdrafted a lot in my life, and it’s one of the worst feelings. So there’s something really heartening to know I can put my bills on auto-payment and not worry about overdrafting! (The only bill that’s not automated is my electric bill because they make it really complicated and I keep forgetting to call the company to set it up.)

Step 2: Itemize My Spending

Itemizing my spending is probably the most time-consuming part of monitoring my budget. I do this once a week (usually while I’m in a meeting where I don’t need to pay too close attention, lol) and I’ll simply open up my budgeting spreadsheet and my bank account. I like doing this on my work computer since I have two screens. I have a tab on my budgeting spreadsheet that I label “Categories” with the month listed and that’s where I will start to itemize what I’m spending. Here’s what the categories tab looks like:

Click to enlarge.

Each different part of my budget gets its own special box where I can list out what I’ve spent so far. I’ve listed out certain subcategories within the bigger categories, like bills, food, and subscriptions. Everything else just gets listed out one by one. I also have a formula at the top of each box that adds up my purchases so I can keep an eye on how much I’m spending. This is mostly useful for my food spending, since it’s always out of control, sigh. I don’t have every single category listed, just the most popular ones. I keep an “Other” category so I can add purchases that are not as frequent (like my yearly payment to TurboTax to do my taxes!)

It’s really not that difficult to itemize my purchases, especially since I’m doing this weekly. (I get behind on itemizing my spending, though, and it can get a lot more difficult when I have a few weeks to itemize.) Thankfully, so much of what I spend is online (even if I go to Target—since I use their debit card, everything is easily viewed in the Target app) so I can quickly pull up Amazon or Target or Chewy to figure out how much I spent on certain purchases. If I do make a purchase in-store (like if I buy a couple bottles of body wash while shopping for groceries), I’ll just save the receipt and place it on my desk so I can easily review it while I’m itemizing. If I don’t have the receipt on my desk, I’ll know that grocery visit was all for groceries, no supplies.

At the bottom-right corner of this section of my spreadsheet, are two dates with a price and company listed. This just helps me know where I stopped when I last itemized my spending. I itemized my spending yesterday and the last purchase I itemized in my bank account was a $68.90 purchase at Publix while the last purchase I itemized on my credit card was a $21.40 purchase at Second Nature. Now I won’t have to try to figure out where I stopped and which purchases haven’t been itemized yet the next time I do this process.

A new addition to my categories this year is my shopping section:

Click to enlarge

I may end up adding to this category section, but these are my top shopping categories. As you can see, February has been a bit on the spendy side but it’s all good! It’s really interesting to see it all laid out like this so I can get a fuller picture of how I’m spending money and where I’m spending money.

Step 3: Organize All Monthly Purchases Into My Yearly Budget

At the end of every month, I take all of the info from my monthly category tab and input it into my yearly category tab. Here’s what it looks like:

Click to enlarge

This is just a portion of the tab, but you get the idea. I list out some of my purchases per month (second row of boxes) and some per quarter (first row of boxes). As the quarters go by, I will add a new column to the first row until there are four columns marking each quarter. I really like seeing how different my spending is from either month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter so I enjoy this process a lot. Plus, it makes putting together my quarterly budget posts so, so easy.

But that’s my budgeting process! I guess it’s less “budgeting” for the purpose of estimating how much money I will spend in different categories and more a function of tracking my spending, but this is the system that works for me and helps me keep tabs on my spending habits. I always feel a little vulnerable to talk about personal finance because my spending habits are not anything like those of personal finance bloggers who are way, way, way more frugal than me. But I also think it’s good to see the other side of things: someone who does spend money because that’s what makes me happy. I have budgeted $600 per month for food (for one person!) because I genuinely enjoy eating out and I don’t want to limit myself. I have budgeted for spa appointments, book shopping, and a ton of subscriptions because they bring be great joy, happiness, and fulfillment. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Be frugal, be spendy. Do what makes you feel good. Pay your bills, try to save some money, maybe donate a little bit to charity if you can, and do what you want with the rest of it. 🙂

Categories: Life

10 Things I Loved in December

1) A belated birthday date with Bri. The first Friday of December, Bri took me out for my birthday. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant in Tampa where we filled our bellies with delicious apps and pasta. We ordered a side of Brussels sprouts and, I kid you not, I am still thinking about them today. They have to be one of the top-3 foods I’ve ever had. I’d go back to this restaurant in a heartbeat just for those Brussels sprouts. Anyway, Bri spoiled me way more than I deserved and I am so lucky to have someone like her in my life.

2) Making gingerbread houses with coworkers. I got together with three coworkers in mid-December to decorate gingerbread houses. It was so much fun! My friend who hosted has an adorable dog who was so friendly and just wanted us to pay attention to him all night. No problem there, bud! I haven’t seen any of these coworkers since March of 2020, and it was so, so nice to see them and hug them and talk IN PERSON.

3) My promotion. In mid-December, my VP set up a last-second meeting with me. I don’t know about you, but those last-second meetings are always anxiety-inducing. Am I getting fired??? The opposite, in fact! She wanted to let me know that she was promoting me to content team manager in January. !!! This was something we had talked about at length, specifically at my review in January 2021. Over the course of 2021, she had given me lots of management-like tasks to help me hone my skills and explore that side of things. I have loved (and excelled in, if I do say so myself) those tasks, so it was truly an exciting conversation to have. I’m really looking forward to this new role and all it will entail (like no more writing!!!).

4) A sweet package from Kim. You guys, I can’t even tell you how much this Christmas package from Kim meant to me. She spoiled me! She sent me the softest cat blanket, a pair of adorable cat earrings, Christmas dish towels and a sweet toy for the cats that they just loved. But the sweetest present, the one that made me all teary, was this beautiful painting of Eloise and Lila. Look at my babies! I was particularly impressed with how she got Lila’s calico markings just perfect as well as Ellie’s. She even got Ellie’s little patch of white between her eyes and her uneven white feet markings. I have it displayed on a floating shelf in my dining room, and it makes me smile every time I see it. (The painting is by Sunrise Stone Art!)

5) A Christmas brunch. The week before Christmas, I got together with some friends to have a Christmas brunch followed by a Blind Date with a Book exchange and a Christmas movie. It was so much fun! The brunch was delicious and I was really happy with the book I “blindly” picked (it was Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger!) And then we watched Home Alone. While that’s not my favorite Christmas movie ever, it was super enjoyable, mostly because Kevin reminded me so much of my younger nephew!

6) Annual Christmas cookie decorating night. Our annual Christmas cookie decorating night took place on December 23rd (we usually do it much earlier in the month, but we had scheduling difficulties). My brother and nephews came over and we had such a fun time cutting out the shapes and frosting the cookies. My younger nephew was adorable, too, saying things like “I tried my best on this one!” and using up all of the sprinkles on one cookie. He’s six, so he’s still getting the hang of cookie decorating!

7) Christmas Eve dinner. Going out for a fancy Christmas Eve dinner is a new-ish tradition (this was our fifth year doing it!) This year, we went to Bern’s, which is a Tampa establishment, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I always love getting dressed up and having a super delicious meal with my mom and stepdad. Bern’s has a special dessert room (yes, a dessert room) and of course we had to finish off the night with something sweet. My mom and I shared a seven-layer chocolate cake that was to die for.

8) Christmas! I had a lovely Christmas Day with my family. I slept in, lazily got ready, and headed over to my mom’s around 11:30. I played with the dogs while waiting for my brother and his family to arrive and gave them one of their presents, which they promptly set about destroying. Of course! My brother, sister-in-law, and nephews arrived around 1 and we ate a delicious meal that was mostly cooked by my stepdad. He did a great job! Then, we opened presents and afterward, my younger nephew asked if we could get Lucy out to play with. (We always put the dogs away when my younger nephew is over, as he’s timid around dogs.) She’s 1000x more relaxed than Chip and is so, so, so sweet around my nephew. He will even tug on her ears, play with her feet, or touch her snout and she won’t do anything! She doesn’t bark or growl or do anything that would scare him. It’s like she knows he’s not completely comfortable with dogs and alters her behavior to suit him. Anyway, we all headed home around 4:30 and it was a very successful Christmas, if I do say so myself.

9) A week off. My last day of work for the year was December 22nd. It was so amazing to have 11 days off work, and I was really proud of myself for not turning on my work computer once during my time off. A part of me felt guilty for that, but a larger part of me felt very silly for feeling guilty. I have earned this time off! I am not obligated to work! Argh. (Work/life balance was never an issue for me until I started working from home full-time!) Anyway, I used my week+ off to reorganize my kitchen (I pulled everything out of the cabinets!), have a fun day date with friends, meet up with a friend for a coffee date, and take looooots of naps. It was the perfect mix of relaxation, friend time, and productivity.

10) New Year’s Eve. I spent NYE at home for the first time in quite a few years. At one point, I looked at myself in the mirror and had to laugh because I looked like a hot mess. Sweatpants, big t-shirt, hair in a messy bun… I was the epitome of I Give No Shits About NYE this year. I spent the night reading, working on blog posts, and watching episodes of Brooklyn 99. I was snuggled in bed with the cats when I looked at my phone and saw that it was 12:20am—I hadn’t even rung in the new year properly! Ah, well. I said “Happy New Year” to my girls and that was that.

Tell me one good thing that happened to you in December!