Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

Monday Thoughts

1) Ch-ch-ch-changes.

I’ve decided to replace my weekly “What I’m Reading” posts with a “Weekly Wrap-Up” post that I’ll publish every Friday. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and trying to put all the pieces together in a way that makes sense and is somewhat interesting to read. My Weekly Wrap-Up post will include my highs and lows of the week, a recap of everything I read, a section to talk about what I spent money on this week, updates on my monthly goals, and one or two things I’m recommending this week (a podcast episode, an article, a recipe, a product, etc). I’m really excited to start these posts with the first one publishing this week. I hope you guys enjoy them as well!

2) Bruxism. 

My dentist recommended I start sleeping with a mouth guard at night because my teeth are showing signs that I grind them when I’m sleeping. This was BRAND NEW INFORMATION to me, but I wake up with headaches on a fairly regular basis, and that might be why. So I bought an over-the-counter mouthguard this weekend to try out. I had to go through a whole process of forming the mouth guard to my upper teeth, which was super uncomfortable since I had to shove the mouth guard and plastic applicator into my mouth and clench my jaw for 3 minutes to get it to set. I have a small mouth as it is and a fairly epic gag reflex, so… it was not pretty. (I’m also still healing from a cavity filling, so it was also kinda painful, too!) Both cats were sitting nearby with concerned expressions on their faces, though, so that was pretty cute. 🙂

I’ve only slept with the mouth guard once and it felt a little weird at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly, which is good! Time will tell if it helps with the headaches.

3) Arm pretzels.

Does anyone else wake up with their arms or legs twisted in the weirdest directions? Last month, I started to have this pain on the side of my right arm, starting near my shoulder, and I couldn’t determine the cause. I finally figured out that it’s because I’m sleeping with my arm twisted above my head in a completely uncomfortable direction. But, like, I don’t know how to fix this. It’s just something I do while sleeping. I’ve tried to be more mindful of it and move my arm to a more natural position if I notice it when I wake up in the middle of the night, but it’s also hard to be very mindful when I’m half-asleep. Meh.

4) Libby.

My one-year membership to my neighboring county’s library system expired last month. It was actually supposed to expire at the end of March 2020, but COVID happened and they paused all renewals. (In Florida, you can only get a library card for the county you live in. I paid $100 to get access to another county’s library system because their eBook collection is vastly superior and almost always has the books I want to read.) I was thinking about renewing, but now their non-resident library cards don’t allow you to access their eBook/audiobook collection. Whaaaaat. Why would you do this to me, HCPLC?! I’d much rather pay them for eBooks rather than Amazon. I’m also frustrated because my county’s online system only allows you to put 5 books on hold at a time (as opposed to 30) and the borrowing period for all eBooks/audiobooks is 2 weeks (HCPLC gave me 3 weeks).

The good news is, I think I can buy a library card online from Orange County Public Library System to access their eBook collection (which seems as robust as HCPLC’s, since it’s the library system for the Orlando area). It’s $125 for a year, but I’m quite sure the card will pay for itself within six months. (And even still, I’d rather pay that amount of money to the library rather than Amazon.) I just have to wait until April to buy it, since I’m on a $100 spending limit this month.

5) The cats.

This weekend, I spent an evening away from the girls as my mom needed me to watch Chip. I’m always happy to do this for her as I love my fur-brother obsessively, but I also really miss my cats when I’m away from them, even if it’s only for a night. I know they are totally fine to be home alone, but I always get a little anxious as I’m preparing for bed, thinking of them alone in a dark apartment without me. Anyone else?

6) What I’m watching.

I’m currently knee-deep into season two of Superstore, which will likely become one of my new comfort watches. It’s so good! Funny and heartfelt and I am here for all the sexual tension between Amy and Jonah. Yes, yes, yes.

Last month, I watched season one of The Crown, which I really, really enjoyed. It’s made me do a lot of googling into the royal family and specifically Queen Elizabeth. Like, I totally didn’t know that her husband is still alive?! And that she’s had four kids?! I’ve never been that interested in the royal family (did not even watch Kate or Meghan’s weddings) so I don’t really know all that much about them. But it’s so crazy to think about becoming queen at 25, just a few years into your marriage. Also, now that I’ve watched this season, it feels like the book American Royals is kinda like Queen Elizabeth fanfic? There are just so many parallels!

I’ve also started rewatching Schitt’s Creek. I remember not loving season one the first time I watched the show because it takes some time to understand the humor and weirdness of the characters, but now that I have that background, I was able to enjoy season one in an entirely new way. It’s just so good! Funny and ridiculous and over-the-top. Love. It.

Categories: Life

A Wintery Coffee Date

It’s been a long time since I posted a life update. Why don’t we have a little coffee date on this chilly Friday morning? I’ll be drinking a peppermint mocha, of course.

If we were having coffee today, we would probably start by talking about the inauguration! And oh, what a beautiful day it was! I basically stopped working from 10am-1pm to watch the event, which I’m sure MANY of us did. It was so great to celebrate this transfer of power. While it was not a peaceful transfer (understatement of the year), the day itself was filled with joy and hope and inspiration. It was so nice to feel that way about our political leaders! Joe and Kamala are not perfect people and they will make lots of mistakes in the coming years, but they are exactly what our country needs right now. They are strong leaders, inspiring people, and will bring some normalcy to the White House. (Imagine! A president who doesn’t make fun of the American people or say derogatory things about every person who disagrees with him!) Of course, like most people, my favorite part of the inauguration was Amanda Gorman reciting her poem. I’ve rewatched it about half a dozen times since Wednesday—she’s such a powerful speaker and brought tears to my eyes with her message of hope and justice. I’m so excited for her and where she goes from here!

If we were having coffee today, I would want to give you an update on Olive, my friend’s baby with cancer. Olive just finished her second round of chemo and while the first round put her in the hospital for a week (some of her blood counts were dangerously low, leaving her at risk for infection, and she wasn’t interested in eating), she’s doing really good right now and is even playing and laughing and talking up a storm. I’m so, so grateful she’s having so many good days in a row. She needed it, and Mikaela most definitely did as well. After the first round of chemo, Olive’s medical team ran some tests and found out her tumor shrank by more than 30%! So that’s positive news indeed, as her oncologist wasn’t sure chemo would work on her type of tumor. And the best news of all is that a surgeon in Boston has agreed to do her surgery! He is one of the top liver specialists in the country and is super confident that he can do the resection without any issues. They’ll relocate to Boston for most of February and then, after the surgery, come back for more chemo. It will be a long, hard year for them but I’m feeling very positive and hopeful that this will be just a minor blip on the amazing, beautiful, inspiring life Olive will lead.

If we were having coffee today, I might spend some time gushing about Bridgerton. You guys, I had no idea I would love this show as much as I did! It was the best show I’ve ever seen, hands down. I had such an insane visceral reaction to Bridgerton, the kind that is hard to explain. It’s just that for the week during which I watched the show and the week or two afterward, it was all I could think about. And I mean, obsessively. If I went more than five minutes not thinking of the show, I considered it a win. Every time I would see a Bridgerton video (like a cast promo video) show up in my Instagram or Facebook feed, I would get these insane butterflies in my stomach. After finishing the show last week, all I wanted to do was restart it from the beginning. But I was also feeling a bit overstimulated from all of my big emotions that I needed a break from my intense, obsessive feelings! While this can be a common occurrence for highly sensitive people (TV shows can affect us at such a different level than they do for other people!), I have yet to have such an experience with a TV show. Was it Rege-Jean Page’s (the actor who played the duke) performance? Was it the great writing? Was it the beautiful sets and costumes? Was it the love story between Daphne and Simon? WHAT CAUSED THESE FEELINGS?! I’m sad that season two isn’t slated for 2022 (*shakes fist*), but damn, if this is what we can expect from Shonda Rhimes partnering with Netflix, I’m excited for what’s to come.

If we were having coffee today, I might tell you that I came really close to booking a November cruise! Oh boy, it was not a good idea to spend some time last week looking at late 2021 cruises. I have missed cruising soooo much and my mom told me that one of her coworkers booked an Alaskan cruise for May, which got my wheels churning. I nearly booked a cruise for the end of November, but stopped myself. Cruise lines are supposed to begin operating again in May (with lots of COVID policies in place, of course!) and I want to see how some of the first cruises go before committing to anything. I want to believe that we will be somewhat back to normal by November (and that my mom and I will have gotten our vaccines by then) but who really knows? I’m going to cross fingers and toes we can somehow safely be on a cruise ship this year!

If we were having coffee today, I might talk about my plans to shift my personal Instagram into a Bookstagram. (Bookstagram = an Instagram all about books!) I follow a lot of Bookstagrammers on my personal feed and I’ve always wanted to dip my toe into this world but felt very intimidated. Plus, thinking of a clever Bookstagram name was difficult! But then I was talking about the Bookstagram world with a friend who is involved in the community, and she told me that my Instagram is basically a Bookstagram since I talk about books so much on there. And it was like a lightbulb went off! Why don’t I just use my personal Instagram as a Bookstagram? I still want to show some lifestyle content (mainly in my Stories) on Instagram, as I think the best Bookstagrammers share a mix of bookish content and life updates, and I think this is a great way to merge my two worlds. I’ll likely change my Instagram name in the future and clean up who I’m following to make room for more Bookstagrammers, but I’m excited to dive even deeper into this world and share even more of my bookish thoughts. (This doesn’t affect anything I’m doing with the blog: this is still primarily a lifestyle blog, with lots of bookish content thrown in.)

And, of course, if we were having coffee today, I’d give you an update on the cats! They are as perfect and precocious as ever. I need to take Lila to the vet soon for some shots and I’m a little worried they’ll comment about her weight. She’s a little on the chunky side with a large primordial pouch that swings from side to side when she runs (which delights me to no end!)—Ellie also has a pouch but it’s not as large as Lila’s. Speaking of Ellie, she’s become a little snuggler lately! Maybe it’s the cold weather, but she now climbs right on my stomach when I’m lying in bed and falls right asleep on me. It’s my FAVORITE thing! Often, I’ll even wake up to find her perched on my stomach or back (depending on my sleeping position). They are the best girls and I am so glad they’re mine!

What would you talk about during our coffee date?!

Categories: Life

November Recap

It’s the last month of 2020! Can you believe it? I’m so happy that this year is almost behind us. I just pray that 2021 is a much smoother ride. A new president and a COVID vaccine should hopefully help us get back to normal. I hope so, at least!

November was a lovely month for me, so let’s recap:

READING

I finished 12 books in November, bringing me to 141 books for 2020! I’m pretty certain I will be able to hit 150 this year, especially since I have the last week of the year off work. 🙂 Here are my favorites from last month:

WATCHING

  • The Amazing Race – We’re nearing the end of this season of The Amazing Race! I’ve enjoyed this season, although a lot of my favorites are already out of the competition and I don’t really like the three teams leading the race. Ah, well. We’ll see what happens!
  • Golden Girls, season 6 – I’m back on the Golden Girls train! I had to take a break after my anxiety was triggered during an episode. This show isn’t always as lighthearted as you might expect! But I turned it back on and found myself falling back in love with my favorite foursome. I can’t believe I’ve nearly finished the series!

LISTENING TO

  • (mis)Representative Democracy on Throughline – These episodes were published in October, but I didn’t listen to them until November, and they were so very good. This is a three-episode miniseries about voting in America. Episode 1 (The Electoral College) discussed how the Electoral College was made. Episode 2 (How We Vote) explored all the ways that voting has changed throughout the centuries. Episode 3 (The Most Sacred Right) examined Frederick Douglass’s lifetime of fighting for the right to vote.
  • Liar Liar (Donald Trump Golf Stories) on Hall of Shame – I looooved the pettiness of this episode, hehehe. In this episode, the hosts explore all of the ways Trump has lied about his golf game, including some insanely childish tantrums he has pulled. If you want an episode where you can laugh at how ridiculous our (SOON-TO-BE FORMER) president is, this episode is for you.
  • How Chelsee learned to love budgeting on Real Talk Radio – After a long hiatus, Real Talk Radio is back with a new series called “But How Though?” which digs into the nitty-gritty of how people met their goals. This episode was especially helpful to me, as it got me thinking pretty deeply about my own finances and how I want to move forward with my money goals and budgeting as a whole. (I also really loved their discussion about how much they spend on food, as it made me feel less insecure about how much *I* spend on food myself, haha.)

BUYING

  • A new Christmas tree ($200) – I’m super happy with my (fake) Christmas tree! It’s so much bigger and fuller than the tree I used to have, and I really love it. Plus, it’s pre-lit so I didn’t have to struggle through the process of hanging tree lights. Turning on the lights every night fills me with such joy!
  • Chatbooks ($46) – I ordered two more Chatbooks of the girls this month! I love having their Instagram photos in a pretty, bound book. It’s a little more difficult to put these Chatbooks together now since the girls have their own Instagram (@eloiseandlila) which is linked under my Instagram (@stephanywrites). For some reason, Chatbooks doesn’t have the functionality to pull photos from a linked Instagram account. (Or if it does, I couldn’t figure it out!) The whole genius behind Chatbooks is the ability for them to just plop your Instagram photos into a photo book, but now I have to do it manually. Anyway, I got a bit behind on ordering photobooks because I had to figure out how to do the manual process and then go back through months of cat photos to organize the photobooks. I ordered two books this month and was so excited to get them in the mail!
  • Christmas face masks ($25) – I found two adorable cat-themed Christmas face masks on Etsy that I’m excited to wear this month while out and about. Who knew Christmas face masks would be a thing to be excited about this holiday season? 1 and 2 (I got style B)

HIGHLIGHTS

> Being a poll worker for the 2020 general election. I’ve already talked about my experience being a poll worker, which you can read about here. I’m so glad I pushed myself to do this and that I had such a fun experience. I’m not sure if it’s something I would do again (just because it’s SUCH a long day!) but it’s one thing I can check off my list.

> A post-election lady date. I took the day after the election off work, knowing I would need a day to sleep in and recover. Thankfully, my friend who also worked her first election did the same and we met up on Wednesday afternoon to chat about our experiences. We sipped delicious frose and snacked on bar food. We both had supremely positive experiences, so it was a lot of fun to talk about being poll workers! Plus, it was a gorgeous day outside!

> Biden winning the election! THE BEST PART OF NOVEMBER! I think I’ll always remember where I was when the race was called for Biden, just like I’ll always remember where I was when Trump was announced as president-elect in 2016. (Two very different emotions there.)

> Hurricane Eta. It’s unusual for Florida to be dealing with hurricanes this late in hurricane season (which ends on November 30th), but we had a bit of a scare as Tropical Storm Eta became Hurricane Eta, gathering strength in the Gulf. Thankfully, the storm weakened and shifted north, so I didn’t have to evacuate or anything. Instead, I got a nice cozy day of rainy weather! I am very grateful for that.

> Friday night dinners. Last month, my uncle was staying with my mom for a few weeks and we got into this fun routine of going out to dinner on Friday nights. It was a nice little kickoff to the weekend and I enjoyed spending time with them! Eating at restaurants these days is definitely a weird experience, but it’s something I feel comfortable doing right now. That may change, of course, but it was a nice way to catch up.

> A lady date and birthday surprise. This lady date was one of my bookish moments of November, so I won’t go into the details of the shopping date and birthday surprise again. But this lady date was such a great one because after spending time in the bookstore, a few of us headed over to my favorite pizza place, Cappy’s, for dinner. We sat outside, ran into an old book club friend, and just enjoyed catching up with each other. It was one of the bright spots of my month, that’s for sure!

> Thanksgiving 2020. I had such a lovely Thanksgiving with my family. I felt grateful that some of us could gather together, even though there were definitely people missing from our dinner table. It was a festive day, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed my big plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and mac and cheese. Mmm! And was happy to take home half a loaf of pumpkin bread to enjoy for breakfast over the next few days. Mostly, though, I fell in love with my cousin’s incredibly fat cat, Muffins, who is 18 lbs of pure sass and adorableness. She strutted her way into the room like she owned the place, and if I could have taken her home with me, I would have. 🙂

> Celebrating 33. I turned 33 at the end of November and had a lovely day celebrating. I started my day with a massage and then a pedicure with my mom. After that, my mom and I visited a local Christmas store to buy some goodies and I helped her and my stepdad pick out a Christmas tree. (My mom wanted a real tree for her first Christmas in her new home.) I met up with my mom, stepdad, and brother for dinner where I capped off my night with a warm cookie. It was such a wonderful way to welcome in a brand-new age!

Categories: Life

We Did It

Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What a year last week was, huh?

I can’t believe I get to type the words that Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. How amazing is that?! Kamala Harris will be the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian-American to be vice president.

I want to pinch myself. I am so grateful and relieved. I feel like a weight has been lifted. We don’t have to endure another four years of Trump. THANK THE GOOD SWEET LORD.

We can make progress on climate change policies and health care policies and criminal justice reform. We can finally have a stable presence in the White House and hopefully get back in the good graces of our allies. We can actually have a plan of action for Covid and get this pandemic under control.

I know things won’t be easy. There is still a Republican majority in the Senate (at least for now—praying the runoffs in Georgia go in the Dems favor!) and an extremely conservative Supreme Court. Democrats lost four seats in the House. And, as a nation, we need to deal with the fact that 70 million people voted for Trump—and more white women voted for him this year than in 2016. There is a problem in our country that this many people were willing to overlook his white supremacist leanings, his lies, his incompetency, and all of the awful policies enacted by his administration (politicizing the pandemic, caging children at the border, trying to get rid of health care for millions of Americans, etc.).

It makes no sense to me, especially knowing so many Republicans who happily voted for Biden because Trump is not who they want as the leader of their party. He does not hold the values they believe in. And it’s because of Trump and the way Republican politicians rallied around them that these same Republicans I know are not even sure if this is the party they want to support any more. The GOP has become something unrecognizable, all because of Trump.

But let’s not forget that Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom of a larger systemic problem in our politics and society as a whole. We have a race problem in America, where Black people worry every single day for their lives. We have a science problem in America, where conservatives don’t believe climate change is real (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and don’t trust the scientists when it comes to our pandemic response. We have an equality problem in America, where the system isn’t designed to help our poor brothers and sisters but rather the rich ones.

I don’t know how to address those problems. But we must if we are to have a United States that works for everyone, not just the white men and not just the rich.

But enough of that. I don’t want to worry about that right now. Right now, I want to celebrate. Because this is a major win for our country. We chose hope over hate, experience over incompetence. I feel such a lightness in my soul right now. I’ve been crying happy tears all weekend as I see memes about Kamala Harris being our first woman VP. I cried during their speeches on Saturday night because, man alive, it is refreshing to hear leaders of our country speak about unity and love and hope and change.

I’m so excited about the next four years.  I am thrilled that Biden finally reached the presidency, after spending so many years fighting to get here, and even more excited for what Harris will bring to our country as Madam Vice President. I am relieved for immigrants and people of color and the LGBT+ community. I can’t wait to see how this new (!) administration will handle the pandemic and put forth policies to help us get it under control.

What a ride. Let’s take some time to celebrate this win… and then it’s time to get back to work.

Categories: Life

My Experience As a Poll Worker During the 2020 General Election

Being a poll worker for the November 3rd election was an incredible experience! It’s one I would do again in a heartbeat. I worked with a great group of people and we processed around 650 voters, which is less than I would have expected for a presidential election, but that’s probably due to lots of people voting early and mailing in their ballots.

My day started super early with my alarm going off at 4 a.m.! Whew. I didn’t need to get up that early, but I didn’t want to be rushing around before I had to leave. So I gave myself plenty of time to get ready, eat a bowl of cereal, and make some coffee before heading out the door at 5 a.m. My polling location was an easy 10-minute drive and I arrived to see a handful of poll workers already there and settling in. At 5:30 a.m., we all took an oath and then set up our stations. I worked as an Inspector during this election (the person who verifies voter eligibility and gives voters tickets that are exchanged for a ballot). Thankfully, I wouldn’t be working alone! There was another Inspector, H., that I would work alongside. I loved H.! She was my age and hilarious and we both had the same type of sarcastic wit, which made working together so much fun. She had also worked the previous election so she knew what she was doing more than I did. 🙂

We worked quickly to set up our station and then got to relax for a bit before the polls officially opened. One of the poll workers brought in donuts, so I wasted no time stealing into the kitchen to enjoy a donut and coffee! (I was really worried about having a hypoglycemia episode as a poll worker, but thankfully, the bowl of cereal, donut, and copious amounts of coffee kept my blood sugars normal. I also took one of the earlier lunch breaks at 11:30, which was right about when I was getting hungry.)

When the polls opened at 7 a.m., we had a long line of voters waiting. (It was about a 30-minute wait, nothing too crazy.) So the first hour went by quickly! Checking in a voter was easy: I scanned the ID, verified that the address was correct, and had the voter sign their name on the signature pad. Checking the signatures could be a little nerve-wracking since it had to match the ID. I hated asking a voter to re-sign! (I was worried they would be confrontational about it, but nobody thought it was a big deal.) I would clear the signature and ask them to sign their name the way it looks on their ID. (I could even show them the ID if they needed to remember how they had originally signed their license.)

There were several Covid policies in place at my polling location. We had social distancing lines to keep everyone six feet apart and had to ensure the polling location wasn’t over capacity. We used disposable Q-tips for signing the signature pad. (Who knew you could use a Q-tip to sign?! Haha. So many voters thought this was ingenious.) And the privacy booths where people would take their ballot to vote were spaced apart for social distancing, too. We also sanitized all of the pens after they were used.

One Covid safety requirement that we couldn’t enforce was wearing masks. All of the poll workers were wearing masks, of course, but we could not legally require mask-wearing since voting is a Constitutional right. (Going to Target, on the other hand, isn’t, which is why they can enforce masks.) Thankfully, our county has a mask mandate so everyone around here is used to wearing masks when indoors so it wasn’t an issue. (I only saw one person come in without a mask.)

After having a rush of voters when the polls opened at 7 a.m., things slowed down right around 8:30 and then we never had more than a few people in line at a time. We didn’t have a ton of downtime (maybe 5-10 minutes at a time) as we had a steady stream of voters coming in. It was enough to make the day fly by without it being super crazy and stressful.

While the check-in process was easy-peasy for most of the voters, it wasn’t uncommon for a voter to be at the wrong precinct. (Always double-check your polling location! It will save you a lot of hassle.) When this happened, I would send the voter off to the clerk (the head honcho who oversees a polling location) who would fill out a form so they could skip the line at their actual polling place and get their ballot immediately. We also ran across voters not being in our system, having an address that didn’t match their ID, and one voter who showed up without any photo ID at all. It was very nice to just send these voters off to the clerk, haha. Not an issue I have to deal with!

Around 3 p.m., right when we were all getting tired from being up early, H. put in a Starbucks order for all of us. We’re not allowed to leave the polling location so thank god for UberEats! That grande caramel macchiato was the punch of caffeine I needed to make it through the next few hours.

I was really worried we were going to get a major after-work rush, but it never got busy in the evening! When the polls closed at 7 p.m., we had two people who were getting things straightened out with our clerk so they could vote (and both were able to vote – yay!), but there was no crazy line of voters. That meant we could start our closing procedures!

As an Inspector, my closing tasks weren’t too difficult. Working with H., we placed all of the materials at our table (signs, checklists, forms, etc.) in a special envelope and then helped to break down all of the privacy booths. We also had to pack up the machines we used to check in voters, carefully placing them in a specialty carrying case, as well as break down the AutoMark machine (which is an ADA-compliant voting machine for people with disabilities). Once we were done with that, our duties were officially complete but we stuck around to help our fellow poll workers with the tasks they needed. I left the polling location at 8:30 p.m.

This post has gotten long, but I wanted to give a really detailed overview of what my day looked like in the hopes that it sheds some light on the voting process from the perspective of a poll worker! And encourage anyone who wants to be a poll worker to do so—it’s a long day for sure, but an incredibly rewarding one.

Would I do it again? While I definitely had first-day jitters in the days leading up to Tuesday, once I got to the polling location and met the people I would be working with, I was completely stoked. I had the best day and it was an experience I will never forget. I loved everyone I worked with and I’m so glad I had the guts to sign up to do this! (It’s hard for me to do new things, especially new social things, with my social anxiety.) I would work another election in a heartbeat, and I hope I get the chance to! It was an incredible day, and so special to be a part of this side of democracy.