Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

September & October in Pictures

Typically, at the beginning of every month, I write a detailed recap post where I talk about everything I read and bought and watched and all that jazz. Since I didn’t write one for September and didn’t feel like recapping two months at once, I’ve decided to just take you through the last two months in pictures. This is mostly an excuse to show you some cute photos of the girls and reveal Chip and Lucy’s Halloween costumes. You’re welcome!

Let’s kick things off with a very cute photo of Lila mid-yawn. I love taking photos of my cats like this because it looks like they’re screaming!

Eloise loved this little castle. Sadly, it had to be torn down during the move (there was no way a cardboard castle was going to survive a move!) Fear not! I already have a different cardboard scratching house ready to be assembled. It’s Christmas-themed, so I’m waiting a few weeks to set it up.

My brother turned the ripe old age of 39 in September. I can’t believe we’re going to be in our 40s soon. Where did the time go?!

(Also, please do not judge my brother for wearing a Nick Bosa jersey. We do not support him, but we do support the 49ers!)

Our September book club fell on Bri’s birthday. Even though Bri doesn’t love celebrating her birthday, we made sure to shower her with lots of love (the same way she does for us on our birthdays!). We had book club at Top Golf and decorated the whole bay with unicorn-themed decorations and balloons and party hats. It was so much fun to surprise Bri and make her wear a birthday sash all night long, hehehe.

Lila continues to enjoy the weirdest sleeping positions; this time, it’s against my iPad. So cozy!

Mikaela and I went to the No Kings protest in October. We had a pretty good turnout in our neck of the woods, which felt really inspiring. It was just nice to be around people who are as angry about the current administration as I am. And while plenty of people gave us the middle finger as they drove by, way more people gave us waves and thumbs-up signs.

It’s a cat in a box! Well, a bin. Eloise loves sitting in any sort of enclosure, so she was very happy when I put this empty bin on one of my kitchen chairs so I could load it up with items to take over to the new place. (This was in mid-October before the move.)

Such a beautiful photo, huh? One day, a few weeks ago, I heard this strange popping sound, and then a few minutes later, my apartment filled with smoke. Scary! I couldn’t see any sort of fire, so I figured it wasn’t a get-out-immediately emergency. I called my apartment complex, and they told me they would send someone out to take a look soon.

I was concerned about how smoky my apartment was, though, and my smoke detector kept going off, which was annoying, so I tried to ventilate the space by keeping my patio door open. I also turned off my AC at the thermostat and breaker box. A few hours later, maintenance came by to take care of the issue. What happened? I don’t know. He mumbled something about this happening at a bunch of apartments recently, so I’m assuming it has something to do with an older HVAC system. Whatever he did ensured I could turn on my AC again, yay!

The Sausage Superheroes! We were hoping to take Chip and Lucy—excuse me, Superman and Supergirl—to the Halloween meetup for the Tampa Bay Weens, but my mom was still recovering from her illness so we had to miss it. Such a bummer, but how cute are they in their costumes?! At least we’ll be all set for Halloween 2026!

Here’s a quick sneak peek of my new apartment. A full apartment tour will be coming once I’m all settled in. 🙂 I’m just loving all of the natural light I get!

What’s the last photo you took on your phone?

Categories: Life

It’s That Time Again

Happy November 1st, and happy first day of NaBloPoMo, also known as National Blog Posting Month. This will be my fifth year participating (thanks as always to our fearless leader, San!) and after a quiet month of blogging in October, I am so ready to get back into the swing of things. I know NaBloPoMo can be a lot for everyone—the people participating and the people trying to keep up with our blog posts. Here is your permission to skip any posts that don’t interest you (which you should be doing anyway!) and to limit your comments. You do not need to comment on every blog post I write! Of course, I love receiving comments and I love connecting with everyone in this lovely blogosphere of ours, but your feed readers are about to become unruly and I don’t want this to feel like a stressful time for you. Blogging is supposed to be fun, so let it be fun!

For today’s post, I thought I’d do a quick check-in on life lately:

The Move

The move is done! Well, the hard part is over at least. It took almost 4.5 hours for the movers to get everything out of my old apartment (on the third floor, no elevator) and into my new apartment (also on a third floor with no elevator). It probably wouldn’t have taken as long if my dining room table hadn’t decided to become a menace. It wouldn’t fit through the door to the new place as-is, so one of the guys had to spend far too long unassembling the entire thing and reassembling it. It was quite the headache, especially since it meant he was busy with that task for a good 30 minutes (maybe longer), and it slowed down the moving process. Ah, well. I kept reminding myself, “It costs what it costs,” because having them do all the heavy lifting was well worth the price.

Once the movers had finished up, I went back to the old place to rescue the girls from the bathroom where they had been closed up in for almost 6 hours (eeks!). I brought them over to the new place in their carriers, and as I did, it felt like this huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. I had been very anxious about this part of the moving process—keeping the girls locked up in the bathroom and making sure they were safe during the move—and I was just so happy to finally bring them home.

As expected, once I let them out of their carriers at the new place, Lila went straight into hiding underneath the couch while Eloise quickly started to explore the new place and lost her goddamn mind when she saw the screened-in patio! I left the door open so she could go in and out, and she was in heaven. I put their cat tower by the patio door, and when she wasn’t on the patio, she was sitting on the tower and staring outside. So cute!

Lila has been venturing out from under the couch here and there. She’s still a bit apprehensive about the place, so she prefers being in her safe place under the couch, but every day, she gets a little braver!

As for me, I’m doing good! I’m not having as much of the post-move anxiety as I expected. I think it’s because I was coming here on a near-daily basis for a full three weeks and I got used to being here. I was so ready for it to be filled with all of my furniture and to bring the girls over! It doesn’t fully feel like home yet, but it’s getting there. I think once everything is unpacked and I have everything in its rightful place, I’ll feel even more at home.

Aches and Pains

I am still dealing with back and hip pain, ugh. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor twice a week for about three weeks now and while I have seen slight improvements, I’m still in incredible amounts of pain. I feel like I’m 105 years old every time I have to stand up because I can’t stand up quickly—I have to place both feet firmly on the ground and then oh-so-slowly straighten my body to a standing position. And even then, my muscles feel so stiff that I have to walk with a limp until the stiffness goes away (usually after a few minutes).

I met with an orthopedic a few weeks ago and got X-rays that showed no degeneration in my spine, which is great news! It doesn’t explain all the pain I’m having, though. For now, I’m on a prescription anti-inflammatory, a muscle relaxer, and ibuprofen. I take all of those twice a day. I start physical therapy on Monday, and I’m continuing my twice-weekly chiropractic adjustments. We’ll see what happens! I have a follow-up appointment with my ortho in mid-December for further testing if things don’t improve.

NaBloPoMo Plans

I’m excited for this year of NaBloPoMo. Just like I have done previously, I’m planning on taking you guys through a week in my life, so stay tuned for all the minutiae of my super exciting life! (/sarcasm) I’m also finally going to recap my trip to London. Even though it wasn’t exactly the vacation we planned, we still had a good time and made tons of wonderful memories. And I want to fill you in on some goings-on about the last few months, recap my latest reads, and write some blog posts based on ideas from podcast episodes I’ve recently listened to. And then there’s my annual birthday post, as my birthday falls on Black Friday this year! It’s been quite the year, so I have a lot to recap.

Who’s ready for another 29 blog posts from me this month?! LET’S DO THIS!

Categories: Life

Stitch Fix | The London Edition

It’s time for another Stitch Fix fashion show! I ordered this Fix a few months after my summer fix, and I specifically asked for warm clothes that I could wear while traveling around London. It’s going to be on the chilly side for this Florida girl (right now, highs are in the mid-60s), so I needed some options that would keep me warm. I was really hoping for a lightweight jacket, but it wasn’t included in my preview (despite asking for it, argh).

I ordered 8 items for this Fix and if I would have kept every single item, the total price would have been $370. LOLOLOL, no. The items in this Fix were all pretty pricey (nothing under $50), so I had to be pretty brutal with what I decided to keep and return because I didn’t want to spend too much money.

Will I keep doing Stitch Fix after this? I don’t think so. I think this could be something I do once or twice a year when I’m ready for a wardrobe refresh, but it’s just a lot of money to spend otherwise. Anyway! Let’s get into the items:

Cosmic Blue Love Gianna Mid-Rise Ankle Skinny Jeans ($89)

These jeans felt like butter. They were so smooth and stretchy, almost like jeggings. And since I’m a shortie (5’2″), the ankle length means that they fit me perfectly in length! I also loved the color – dark gray – which is different than every other pair of jeans I own. While I have never spent so much money on one pair of jeans in my life, I decided to keep them.

Market & Spruce Lily Cozy Crew Neck Brushed Knit Top ($49)

I really liked this top! It was very comfortable and give me anything that’s black and striped, please and thank you. I wanted to keep this shirt, but when I had to remove something from my bag to bring down my overall price, this was the shirt that didn’t make the cut. Wah! Return. 

Market & Spruce Jackson Waffle Crewneck Sweater ($49)

This sweater was so cozy when I put it on! Sometimes these kinds of sweaters can look cozy but actually be very itchy, but that was not the case. I loved the color, loved the fit, and loved that it wasn’t too warm/bulky. It’ll be a perfect addition to my London wardrobe. KEEP!

Liverpool Abby Skinny Jean ($89)

I loved these jeans when I put them on. Just like the pair before them, they felt almost like jeggings. Unfortunately, I didn’t want to spend nearly $200 on two pairs of jeans. (I knew I was only going to choose one pair of jeans, even though I selected two options for my Fix.) Since I liked the other pair of jeans better, I decided to return these.

Market & Spruce Joey Henley Cozy Brushed Knit Top ($49)

I really liked this shirt! It fit me well and I love the little detail with the buttons – it gives it a different look than most of my long-sleeved t-shirts. I always have good luck with the Market & Spruce brand from Stitch Fix, too, and most of their shirts last a long time. This one was comfortable and I really loved the fit, so I decided to keep it.

Lety & Me Vittoria Pointelle Sleeve Sweater ($49)

What a fun top! I loved the lacy sleeves—and they weren’t itchy like lacy sleeves can sometimes be. A long-sleeved shirt like this with some breathability is perfect for Florida winters. I also really liked the color – it’s rare for me to pick out a bright red top on my own. Alas, it wasn’t the right choice for my London trip, which is the whole reason I did this Fix, so I decided to return it.

41 Hawthorn Aubree Fine Gauge Crewneck Sweater ($49)

This sweater was a little tight on me. At first, I liked the way it seemed to just wrap me in a cozy hug, but the longer I wore the shirt, the more it started to irritate me. I could have sized up, but since I needed to keep this Fix to just two shirts, this was an easy return.

Love Ellie Jamison Long Sleeve Sweater ($59)

This sweater was so cozy! I loved it the minute I put it on. It was lightweight, but felt like it was be the right style for London. Unfortunately, the sleeves were so long! They came all the way down to the tops of my fingers, and something that annoys me to no end are long-sleeved shirts that I have to keep rolled up because the sleeves are too long. I also wasn’t going to spend $60 on a sweater, so I wasn’t too sad to return it.

***

In the end, I kept three items and I still paid over $200. But I’m happy with the items I kept, and thankfully, my cold-weather clothes tend to last me a very long time since I only need them for a few months out of the year! I think I’m pretty much set on my London wardrobe, so that’s exciting! Today marks the 20-day countdown. Eeks!

What’s the last piece of clothing you bought?

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | August 2025

BOOKS

Reading Stats of August

  • Books read: 10
  • Number of pages read: 3,597
  • Average star rating: 3.8
  • Average time to finish a book: 8 days
  • Format breakdown: print (6), audiobook (3), e-book (1)
  • Genre breakdown: mystery/thriller (30%), romance (30%), fiction (30%), nonfiction (10%)
  • # of DNFs: 2 (I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue and What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon)
  • Audiobook reading: 31 hours, 21 minutes (actual listening time: 18 hours, 17 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of August

  • The best book I read in August: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
  • The book I didn’t expect to love as much as I did: Heartwood by Amity Gaige
  • The book that lived up to the hype: The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
  • The buzzy book that did not live up to the hype: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
  • The book with the most “WTF” moments: Bad City by Paul Pringle

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (print, 2025) ★★★★★
  2. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (print, 2025) ★★★★★
  3. Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels by Paul Pringle (audiobook, 2022) ★★★★★
  4. Heartwood by Amity Gaige (audiobook 2025) ★★★★☆
  5. Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (print, 2025) ★★★★☆
  6. The Address by Fiona Davis (print, 2017) ★★★★☆
  7. The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen (print, 2023) ★★★★☆
  8. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (e-book, 2022) ★★★☆☆ 1/2
  9. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (print, 2025) ★★☆☆☆ 1/2
  10. The Last One by Will Dean (audiobook, 2023) ★☆☆☆☆

MEDIA

  • Next Level Chef, season 2 – The winner’s edit on this season was easy to spot, but I still really enjoyed watching and rooting for my favorite chefs.
  • Survivor, season 16 – I’m nearly finished with season 16, which is titled “fans vs favorites.” There are two tribes: one filled with people playing Survivor for the first time and one filled with returnees like Cirie, Parvati, Ozzy, etc. I’m thoroughly enjoying myself!
  • Big Brother – We’re still in Big Brother season and things have definitely improved from the first part of the game. It’s still not a season filled with great strategists, but at least there have been some great blindsides and messy gameplay that keeps things interesting.
  • Brooklyn 99, season 3 – I started watching season 3 of Brooklyn 99 when I was going through a depressive episode and needed something lighthearted to watch. It was exactly what I needed!

MONEY

Favorite purchase of August

Afternoon tea with Mom. I gifted my mom an afternoon tea experience at a local tea shop for Mother’s Day, and we finally coordinated our schedules to make it happen this month. We enjoyed our tea (I’m learning that a good peppermint-type tea is drinkable for this non-tea drinker!) and sandwiches and desserts, so it was a good time had by all.

Most delightful little indulgence of August

Pumpkin spice creamer. I was so excited to see that pumpkin spice creamers made their way back onto the shelves at my grocery store this month! I couldn’t add a bottle to my cart fast enough!

Most regrettable purchase of August

Automatic card shuffler. We play a lot of games in my family and I was hoping this automatic card shuffler would make things easier for us, but alas, it did not work as promised. It was a big disappointment, but I spent less than $13 on it so I guess you get what you pay for!

Number of books purchased in August: 1

  • Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Target)

Best recommendation

Desktop vacuum cleaner. My desk is always filled with cat hair and crumbs and all sorts of dust, so I finally bought this adorable desktop vacuum cleaner to deal with all of that. It’s perfect!

Blog/Podcast

On the blog, I took you through a day in the life, one photo per hour style! I gave you my current thoughts on motherhood and being childless at 37. I also talked through some of my highs and lows of my week and posted a fun three things Thursday blog.

On the podcast, Bri and I talked about our TV and movie watching habits as well as gave some recommendations and spicy opinions on popular shows/movies that just aren’t for us. And then we did a superficial deep dive on the Primal Question, which is a personality framework that was very interesting to talk through!

JOURNAL

Samples from my One Line a Day journal

  • August 2, 2025: Mom and I did our TSA pre-check today and it was so easy. As I was leaving Mom’s house, though, I was nearly knocked down with an immense wave of sadness. Ugh.
  • August 4, 2025: Appt w/ my psychiatrist. She’s putting in an order for a new med to add to Prozac. Let’s hope it works.
  • August 5, 2025: Insurance approved the prescription and my copay is $0. Some good news finally.
  • August 7, 2025: I woke up today and nearly felt like my old self. OMG – it is good to be back.
  • August 10, 2025: I’m definitely out of my depression. I think the birth control messed me up. Gah!
  • August 12, 2025: Mom and I met with Amber and spent an hour working on our London itinerary. We leave in 7 weeks!
  • August 16, 2025: Took Chip and Lucy to the dog beach. They both did so good! Chip really enjoyed running around with all the other dogs.
  • August 21, 2025: I feel another cyst growing in my armpit. OMG. Will they ever stop?
  • August 24. 2025: Mom and I went for afternoon tea, which was a lot of fun. And then I took a lovely long nap!
  • August 30, 2025: Got a pedicure today and almost witnessed a pregnant woman faint! Thankfully, she was fine. Scary!

Previous years:

  • August 9, 2022: Our first full-length podcast episode released today. The reception has been amazing.
  • August 30, 2023: Hurricane day! Idalia made landfall way north of us. I didn’t lose power + no flooding around me. What a relief.
  • August 29, 2024: My first night using my CPAP! It was awkward and hard to fall asleep but I know things will get easier.

SUPERLATIVES

  • This month’s chapter title: The Quiet Month
  • Weather notes: So much rain! We had a few days where it rained nonstop, which is unusual for us.
  • Favorite meal/snack: My favorite comfort food, what we call in our family “hamburgravy.” It’s basically deconstructed shepherd’s pie where you just mix up ground beef, mashed potatoes, corn, and any type of gravy together. It’s one of my favorite meals.
  • Something I learned: The definition of lint and why it collects so much in the dryer
  • An unexpected delight: Getting a sweet postcard from Birchie and Nicole, where they expressed how much they enjoy my podcast! It was such a sweet card to receive!

Tell me something good about August for you!

Categories: Life

Highs and Lows of This Week

Last week in my TGIF post, I couldn’t think of a single low point and I was really happy about that! Of course, the Universe decided I was feeling a bit too comfortable so it decided to throw some curveballs my way. I’m going to start this post going through all of the different low points of my week, and then I’ll bring us back up with some good things!

The Lows

1) Over the weekend, I had a really bad reaction to the new medication I’m taking for depression. I didn’t realize I shouldn’t take it on an empty stomach! But I did, both on Saturday and Sunday, and experienced terrible heartburn or acid reflux. I’m not really sure what was happening in my esophagus, but it was awful. Ever since, I’ve been waiting to take it after I’ve eaten and let the food settle, and I’ve been fine. Lesson learned!

2) I’ve been dealing with a weird joint pain issue. I’ve had this pain before, but it usually goes away quickly and then doesn’t come back for many weeks. This week, it’s stuck around for a few days and doesn’t seem to be getting better. It’s the joint in that first crease on my pointer finger near my fingernail, and I don’t know if I’m dealing with a trigger finger issue, some sort of tendon strain, or something more serious (that I don’t want to even contemplate because it makes me panicky). The problem is, I use my damn pointer finger for so many things! Tapping on my phone, clicking my mouse, typing, tying my shoes, opening jars, locking my door… it’s making everyday life very difficult. (I’ve been trying to switch to using my middle finger and ring finger when using my mouse, when I usually use my pointer finger and middle finger, and it feels very awkward.) So far, I’ve been trying to do heat + ice therapy and taking ibuprofen when my finger starts aching. I may need to go back to my ortho to figure out what’s going on (and I still haven’t scheduled that damn carpal tunnel surgery, so I’m going to feel like a student who forgot to do their homework, lol.)

3) I think I need to change my bed situation. I have always loved sleeping with numerous pillows (seriously – I have SIX on my bed for ONE PERSON), but for the past week, I’ve woken up with neck pain and it’s likely due to my head being tilted at a weird angle thanks to all of my pillows. (I only sleep with three of them under my head, but that’s still too many pillows.) What I probably need to do is invest in some really good pillows that are more supportive, but ugh, the expense! For now, I’m going to try to transition to sleeping with just two pillows and eventually one pillow. Plenty of people only sleep with one pillow! I can do this! (Maybe.)

4) Lila sometimes gets matted fur, which always makes me feel like the worst cat mom. She is typically very good at grooming herself, but homegirl is a little… erm… fluffy… and certain parts of her body are hard for her to reach. She hates being brushed, even though I keep trying to get her used to it. Usually, I can get in about 15-20 seconds of brushing when she’s sitting on my desk before she runs away, and I was doing that this week when I noticed a really tough part of her fur. And it was a little section of matted fur that I needed to snip out. Of course, do you think it’s easy to get this girl to sit still so I can use scissors to cut her fur? Absolutely not. I was finally able to do it when she was snoozing in one of the caves on her cat tower because she physically couldn’t move. Muahahaha! I would love to take her somewhere maybe once a quarter to have them really brush her good to avoid these issues, but if you think it’s hard to get her to sit still and be brushed, imagine what she’s like when I bring out the cat carrier.

5) And I’ve saved the worst news for last: I found out on Wednesday evening that my favorite HIIT instructor has been let go. I don’t know the details surrounding his departure, but it came as a shock to all of us and I’m really, really upset about it. He is the reason I have been going to HIIT for almost 18 months now and his classes are the best. And that’s because he’s not just a group fitness instructor. He really and truly cares about his people and takes the time to get to know them. He knows when to push me and when to let me do the modification. He knows our limitations and when we’re ready for the next step. I am where I am today in my fitness journey because of him, and I am just hoping this was all a big misunderstanding and he can come back. Otherwise, I will be following him to wherever he goes next!

The Highs

1) Yesterday, my mom and I got a great email from our travel advisor! Thanks to her connections, she was able to get us into an upgraded room at our hotel and secure an early check-in of 10am. Since we arrive in London right around 8:30am, that’s perfect timing for us (it’ll take at least an hour to get from the airport to our hotel). It means we can settle into our room right away, which is much appreciated!

2) Fall is coming! YESSSS. Okay, we won’t get any of the delicious fall weather, but it’s almost time for fall drinks at Starbucks, football, and to get all of my autumnal decorations out of storage. I’m also excited to experience some fall-like weather while we’re in London. It’ll be nice to be able to wear long pants and maybe even a long-sleeved tee or jacket! Those clothes don’t see the light of day until late November here in Florida.

3) I’m having a lot of fun with my decluttering project. It’s nice that I made it so easy for myself, as it only takes a few minutes each week to go through a box or a bin or a cabinet and figure out what I should donate or throw out, and how to reorganize what is left. So far, I have decluttered my shoe basket and a bin that holds extra purses/wallets/bags. Next on my list is one of my kitchen cabinets that has been looking extra cluttered recently.

4) After some spicy opinions of my last few reads, I’m happy to report that things have definitely gotten a lot better. I will have three great reviews for you next week and the books I’m reading now (Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez and Heartwood by Amity Gaige) have been excellent. Let’s hope this trend continues!

5) I’m really excited for this weekend! Today, I have a facial scheduled. Tomorrow is a writing date with Mikaela, a pedicure, and my family’s fantasy football draft. And on Sunday, I’m taking my mom to afternoon tea. This was her Mother’s Day gift from me, and I can’t wait!

What were the highs and lows of your week?