Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | July 2025

BOOKS

Reading Stats of July

  • Books read: 9
  • Number of pages read: 2,993
  • Average star rating: 4.3
  • Average time to finish a book: 6 days
  • Format breakdown: 44% e-books, 33% print books, 22% audiobooks
  • Genre breakdown: 89% fiction, 11% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 0
  • Audiobook reading: 15 hours, 2 minutes (actual listening time: 8 hours, 41 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of July

  • The best book I read in July: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • The book romance I read in July: Back After This by Linda Holmes
  • The book I didn’t expect to love as much as I did: Wild Love by Elsie Silver
  • The book that lived up to the hype: How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
  • The book with the most beautiful writing: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (e-book, 2025) ★★★★★
  2. No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear by Kate Bowler (audiobook, 2021) ★★★★★
  3. Back After This by Linda Holmes (e-book, 2025) ★★★★★
  4. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (e-book, 2022) ★★★★☆ 1/2
  5. Wild Love by Elsie Silver (print, 2024) ★★★★☆
  6. Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara (print, 2024) ★★★★☆
  7. The Wedding Pact by Katee Robert (print, 2016) ★★★★☆
  8. How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★☆
  9. People Person by Candice Carty-Williams (print, 2022) ★★★☆☆ 1/2

MEDIA

  • MasterChef, season 14 (Hulu) – This season, the theme was “Generations,” and I was very happy with the millenial representation.
  • Survivor, season 12 (Paramount+) – Cirie’s first season! (She’s the GOAT of Survivor, in my opinion.) They began this season by dividing the castaways into four groups: young men, young women, old men, and old women. Cirie, at age 35, was placed in the old women’s tribe. *dies*
  • The Amazing Race, season 5 (Paramount+) – This was a great season and I was pleasantly surprised by the team that won. This was the first season where they didn’t have a super athletic male/male team, which really opened up the field.
  • Big Brother (Paramount+) – It’s Big Brother season! Yay! I am enjoying this season, even though the gameplay has been pretty abysmal. I’m hoping things pick up in the second half.
  • Destination X (Peacock) – This reality TV show popped up on my iPad as something to watch, and since I can’t get enough of competition reality TV, I decided to give it a try. It’s about a group of people traveling around Europe in an RV and they use clues to guess the city they are in. It was an interesting concept, but I’m not sure I’d watch another season.
  • Superman – What a friggin movie. I wasn’t even planning on seeing Superman until my mom asked if I’d like to see it with her, and now it’s my entire personality.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of July

Poolside cabanas at the hotel. These cabanas were $50 per day, and my mom and I couldn’t help ourselves! They were shaded, comfortable, and in a separate area, so we didn’t have to be around splashing kids. It was so nice to live our bougiest lives with our poolside cabanas.

Most delightful little indulgence of July

Strawberry watermelon seltzer (Polar brand). I am obsessed with this flavor of seltzer! It is the perfect drink for summer—crisp and fruity with a sweet aftertaste. I love it and seek it out every time I’m at the grocery store.

Most regrettable purchase of July

So many Ubereats orders. It was a bad month, and I am not looking forward to reporting on my Ubereats total for July.

Number of books purchased in July: 6

  • It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan (Target)
  • Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet by Samantha Allen (Target)
  • The Ghostwriter by Julia Clark (Target)
  • What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon (The New Romantics)
  • Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver (The New Romantics)
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (The New Romantics)

Best recommendation

Stitch Fix. I am really glad I re-started my Stitch Fix subscription in July. I loved almost everything I received, and I’m looking forward to what my stylist will choose for me next month (I asked for clothes for my London trip!).

BLOG/PODCAST

On the blog, I wrote about the reasons I love traveling with my mom, which was written after our Orlando vacation, which is a good sign that we had a great time together. I gave an update on my 2025 goals. I took you through my first colonoscopy and that terrible, no good, very bad prep day. And I shared my Stitch Fix items, my first box in more than three years!

On the podcast, Bri and I talked about bucket lists and how bucket lists can be different depending on your personality type. We released an episode about our favorite and least-favorite food combos and then did a weird food taste test, which was horrible! We started with ketchup on popcorn and it only got worse from there. And then we sat down with our dear friend Kim to discuss what it was like to lose her home during Hurricane Helene, mere months after closing on it.

JOURNAL

Samples from my One Line a Day journal

  • July 2, 2025: Abdominal ultrasound. Results came back with nothing. Everything looks fine. Back to the drawing board.
  • July 8, 2025: Mom’s birthday vacay! We went to the Orlando aquarium and then checked into the hotel. We went to Disney Springs to have dinner at a steakhouse.
  • July 11, 2025: Ben Schwartz and Friends was amazing! What an incredible show. And 1,500 people showing up to see improv? So cool!
  • July 17, 2025: Colonoscopy prep day. It was horrible. I was so hungry and threw up multiple times. Ugh. What a terrible day.
  • July 18, 2025: Colonoscopy day! No polyps, ruled out Crohn’s and UC. I was in and out within two hours.
  • July 20, 2025: Cried with Mikaela at Starbucks while reading her book. It’s so beautiful but so hard.
  • July 21, 2025: I’m leading a Salesforce 101 training tomorrow and I am so nervous about it! I know my stuff, but always worried about stumbling over my words.
  • July 25, 2025: I cannot stop looking at Superman/David Corenswet memes and Reels. I am obsessed.
  • July 27, 2025: We did alpaca painting today! It was a lot of fun, although my painting did not turn out great.
  • July 30, 2025: My mental health is on the struggle bus. Is it anxiety? Depression? Both? Whatever it is, it sucks.

Previous years:

  • July 2, 2022: My mom has Covid and I feel so guilty. I know I gave it to her.
  • July 7, 2023: First day in Charleston! We got to check in early and did a harbor tour. We had dinner at a brewery.
  • July 31, 2025: My last 1:1 with Sara. Next week is her last week. I’m so depressed.

SUPERLATIVES

  • This month’s chapter title: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
  • Weather notes: Hot and humid, as per usual. We also broke some long-standing heat records like hottest temperature and hottest heat index. Things are fun here!
  • Favorite meal/snack: That sausage egg mcmuffin after my colonoscopy (!!!)
  • Something I learned: That I can access Google Photos through my Chromebook*
  • An unexpected delight: David Corenswet (and basically the whole press tour for Superman)

*This was a WILD discovery and I feel really dumb that I didn’t know about it until now. To add photos to my blog posts, I always had to email them to myself first, and often, if I tried to send too many photos in one email, it would take forever for the email to go through. So I’d usually email myself 2-3 photos at a time. And then as I was helping my mom set up her Chromebook, I realized that she has the Google Photos app… so my Chromebook likely has it, too. Sure enough – I had it all along and now I just have to download the photos from the app to add them to my blog posts. I mean, DUH. But also – adding photos to blog posts just got 1000x easier.

How many books did you read in July? What would you name this month, if it was a chapter in a book about your year?

Categories: Life

My First Colonoscopy

On Friday, I had my first colonoscopy! It was quite the experience, and I am going to write all about it in this post. Be warned that I am going to talk a lot about bodily fluids, so if that isn’t your jam, you might want to skip it! (Also, I’m sorry this post is so damn long. I had a lot to say!)

(As a reminder, the reason that I got a colonoscopy before the recommended age of 45 is that I’ve had chronic diarrhea for about five months. Even though my grandma had colon cancer, the guidelines state that it has to be a first-degree relative to get an earlier screening. In any event, I’m happy I was able to “sneak” around the guideline because I’ve wanted a colonoscopy for a few years now. Not because I thought it was going to be a fun experience, but with my family history and seeing more and more people under 40 diagnosed with colon cancer, I felt it was important.)

A Week Before the Procedure

On Friday, July 11th, I had to start following some necessary protocols:

  • No popcorn, seeds, or nuts
  • No ibuprofen, naproxen, or aspirin (Tylenol is okay)
  • No iron supplements, multivitamins, or fish oil

All of these were fine! I was a little worried I would accidentally take a dose of ibuprofen if I got a headache, but I never needed pain reliever, so I didn’t need to worry about that, thankfully. I was also worried about accidentally eating something with seeds. Bottom line is that these kinds of recommendations are not great for people with anxiety.

Two Days Before the Procedure

On Wednesday, July 16th, I was asked to take my first dose of Dulcolax, which is a stool softener. It was just two tiny pills, and while I had a little bit of stomach pain and diarrhea following the dose, it wasn’t anything major. I guess the benefit of dealing with chronic diarrhea for five months leading up to colonoscopy prep is that I have become used to all of that!

When I had my original appointment with my GI doctor and she ordered this colonoscopy, I was sent home with some paperwork on how to prepare. There was nothing in this paperwork about following a low-fiber diet in the days leading up to prep day. However, everything I read online said that you should eat low-fiber foods the day before. It’s all very confusing! I decided to do a low-fiber diet on Wednesday, even though I had not planned for it at all.

I didn’t eat as much as I should have on Wednesday because I didn’t really have the right foods stocked in my apartment. I had my typical eggs and sourdough toast for breakfast, a freezer meal for lunch (only ate about half of it because I had to pick around some of it due to my restrictions), and had chicken and rice for dinner. I stopped eating around 7 pm.

One Day Before the Procedure (AKA, Prep Day!) (AKA, The Worst Day Ever) (AKA, Everyone Who Told Me Colonoscopy Prep is “NBD” is a LYING LIAR)

Prep day was one of the worst days of my life. I hated every single minute of this day, and I cannot believe people told me it’s “not that bad.” (Thank you to Engie, who was very honest about how bad prep day can be!) My experience was more similar to hers.

I started the day with another dose of Dulcolax, and around 9:15 a.m., I had a delicious breakfast of lime Jell-O. Yummy! It did help curb some of my hunger pains, and I was able to do a little bit of work in the morning. (I took the day off, but since I had already been on FTO the week before, I wanted to be online and available for as much of the day as possible.) Then, around noon, I had lunch! This time, it was a lemon Popsicle. After that, I decided to try to ward off some of the hunger pains by taking a nap.

Around 3 pm, it was time to mix up my first Gatorade bottle! I had a 28-ounce bottle of lemon-lime Gatorade and my bottle of prescription Miralax. I had to pour 7 capfuls of Miralax into the Gatorade bottle. It would be useful to have a funnel during this process, which I didn’t have on hand. Instead, I used a small teaspoon to scoop out a little bit of powder from the capful at a time to pour into the bottle. (Which, yes, means it took forever to do this process.) I put the bottle in the fridge until it was time to drink it.

At 5 pm, it was time for my first drink! I had to drink 8 ounces of Gatorade every 15 minutes until I had finished the whole bottle. I used a mason jar that has ounce measurements on the side, so I knew exactly how much I needed to drink. I’ll admit that I was feeling A-OK after this process. I didn’t find it all that difficult to drink the whole bottle. I set an alarm on my phone for every 15 minutes, put on a YouTube video, and did some coloring while I waited for the alarm to go off. I could usually gulp down the 8 ounces within a few minutes, which gave my stomach time to settle before it was time for the next drink.

It took around an hour to get down the first bottle, and I was feeling just fine afterward. I decided to take a shower so I’d be fresh and clean for the doctor tomorrow (very important!) and then sat on the couch to watch an episode of Survivor. I should also note at this time that I was in the bathroom frequently. The goal for colonoscopy prep is to have light yellow or clear poops, which started happening early in the day (honestly, even before my first dose!), and by this time, it was just completely liquid and honestly felt really weird. It’s not normal to poop liquid!

At 7 p.m., I mixed up my next mixture of Miralax and Gatorade.

Annnnnd… this is where things started to devolve. I started feeling pretty awful, so I decided to eat a lime popsicle to see if that would settle my stomach. I only ate around half of the popsicle because it was just making me feel more terrible, and then I got incredibly nauseous. I stood over my kitchen sink with my head in my hands, trying to take deep breaths and hoping the nausea would pass. Usually, when I have these bouts of nausea, I can take sips of water to settle my stomach, but this time, I couldn’t even move because the nausea was so intense.

Thankfully, the nausea passed with some deep breathing, and at that moment, I thought about making myself some broth to settle my stomach, but when I realized a cup of broth was only 10 calories, I was like, “Not worth it.” In retrospect, I probably should have made the broth because it might have helped, but my brain cells were not working that day. Instead, I got some lime Jell-O, hoping that would help. At the very least, it had more calories than broth.

Reader, it did not help. Within minutes of finishing that Jell-O, I was violently ill. I am not a vomiter, so this was quite the ordeal for me. (The last time I vomited was 2020, and I was hoping to continue my streak for much longer.) However, throwing up did make me feel a lot better. I’m not sure why it happened, perhaps just too much sugar in my system at once (between 28 ounces of Gatorade, multiple cans of Dr. Pepper, and the Jell-O) or from the intense hunger pains. Plus, I’m hypoglycemic, so I often get nauseous when I haven’t eaten in a while.

Anyway, soon 8 p.m. rolled around, which meant it was time for my next Gatorade-and-Miralax mixture! This time, I went with orange Gatorade, hoping the different flavors would make things feel less terrible. The first two doses went fine. It was a little harder to get it down, just because I was so tired of drinking Gatorade by this point. My body wanted solid food! But then I took the third dose, and within minutes of finishing it, I was extremely nauseous and again got violently ill. By this point, I only had 8 ounces to drink, but I was really concerned if I was going to throw up that dose, too. Was it even worth doing it? I was pretty sure my digestive tract was cleaned out by this point, based on what was happening in the bathroom, but I’m also a rule follower and didn’t want something crazy to happen. Like what if I did all of this, only to find out they couldn’t do the colonoscopy?! (Which was a real fear of mine, made even worse when my mom told me it happened to her!)

I needed to finish the mixture by 10 p.m., so I still had about an hour to do that. I decided to give myself a half-hour break before drinking the last 8 ounces. I slowly sipped the last 8 ounces starting around 9:30 and thankfully, kept it all down. Whew.

After that final dose, I started needing the bathroom more frequently, so I parked myself on the toilet with a Survivor episode on the iPad and let things devolve as they needed to.

I did not sleep well that night. I was up every hour to use the bathroom, and then around midnight, I started to feel a headache coming on. NOOOO. I was instructed to stop all eating and drinking after midnight, and while I think I probably could have taken a Tylenol dose with a tiny sip of water, I was truly worried that if I did that, I would somehow delay my procedure, and I wanted to get it done ASAP. Plus, Tylenol doesn’t always work for my headaches, so the worst would be taking a dose and still having a headache. I decided to suffer.

Procedure Day

I was up early the day of my procedure. It was scheduled for 7 a.m., and I highly recommend scheduling a colonoscopy as early in the day as possible. That way, you’re not dealing with delays!

I barely slept the whole night and finally, at 4:30 a.m., I let myself get up and watch an episode of Survivor. Then I got ready and tried to tidy up the apartment (that was just a mess of Dr. Pepper cans and Popsicle sticks and Jell-O containers, lol) while I waited for my mom to arrive.

We arrived at the endoscopy center at 6:30 a.m., a full thirty minutes before they opened. Oops! We sat in the car for 10 minutes before we decided to go in and see if I could get checked in early. Thankfully, the center was open, and I was getting whisked back before 7 a.m. Yay!

The nurse checked my temperature, blood pressure, and pulse, and then had me give a urine sample. I was very nervous I wasn’t going to have any urine to give since I hadn’t had anything to drink in 8 hours, but my bladder came through just fine!

Then, I was put in a room where I undressed (I was told I could keep my bra on, but I went full birthday suit) and put on a gown. I stowed my clothes in a bag that was placed under my bed. Then the nurse came in and wheeled me straight into the procedure room. He got an IV going for me, which hurt a lot because he chose a vein on the top of my hand. He also added a nasal cannula, which would get me extra oxygen and help me relax.

And then we waited.

Because, you see, I had arrived so early that the doctor who was performing my colonoscopy hadn’t even arrived yet. LOLZ. What can I say? I was ready to get this over with so I could have solid food again! Thankfully, it wasn’t too long until he arrived (maybe 20 minutes) and then, the anesthesiologist was telling me to “think of a good dream” as she added that sweet, sweet sleeping juice to my IV. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a post-op room with a different nurse who was asking me to wake up.

Y’all. People are not lying about that colonoscopy nap. I was out and don’t remember a single thing. And the crazy thing is that once the nurse woke me up, I wasn’t even that groggy! The nurse told me my results—no polyps, no IBD (which rules out ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, thank God!), and they took tissue samples to test for microscopic colitis. (Different from ulcerative colitis; it’s basically inflammation of the large intestine.) She gave me privacy to get dressed, and then led me over to a chair and handed me a Nutrigrain bar and a cup of ginger ale. OMG, that Nutrigrain bar was the best thing I have ever had in my life!

The nurse walked me out to the waiting room where my mom was, and helped make sure I got into her car without any issues. And then we were off! It was around 8:30 a.m. at this point, so the entire process, from start to finish, took less than two hours. And that, my friends, is why you get the early appointment. I was first in, first out, no delays!

My mom said I could have anything I wanted for breakfast so of course I chose the best breakfast on the planet: McDonald’s! I had been dreaming of that post-colonoscopy sausage egg McMuffin for dayssss and I just wanted it ASAP. We went back to her house to eat and then I took a lovely 3-hour nap. (My mom wanted me to stay with her for a few hours after the procedure, as the anesthesia wore off, and I was happy with that plan, too.)

I am very happy to report that I had no problems after the colonoscopy! I didn’t even have all of the gas that is common after getting air pushed into my colon! I was sleepy (I took another 3-hour nap later in the day), but my appetite came back immediately, and I even had a bowel movement the same day. So even though prep day was horrible, at least I recovered quickly!

Final Thoughts 

There were a lot of mistakes I made when it came to my colonoscopy prep that I will hopefully rectify in five years when I will have to do this all over again. (With my family history, I will need a colonoscopy every five years, and I have to do the traditional procedure—no “poop in a box” option for me!) First, I will eat much better the day before. I did not prepare for a low-fiber day and did not eat nearly enough calories to keep me fueled through prep day. Next time, I want to amp up the protein as much as possible so that I won’t be at a calorie deficit on prep day. Second, I will absolutely ask for a Zofran prescription to help with any nausea. This is something I want to recommend to anyone preparing for a colonoscopy. Even if you don’t think you’ll need it or aren’t prone to nausea/vomiting, just get a prescription and save yourself from feeling like shit all day long.

I’d also be better prepared with my food. While I bought broth, I never made it because I just didn’t have the energy to do so. Next time, I might prepare little Tupperware containers that I can zap quickly in the microwave. I’d also have ginger ale on hand to help with any lingering nausea.

What I will say about prep day is that drinking the mixture and cleaning out my colon wasn’t a huge deal. The powder dissolved pretty easily in my Gatorade bottle and was flavorless, so I didn’t taste it at all. And it didn’t feel chalky or anything like that. I should have gone for a lower-sugar variety of Gatorade, though, since I think all of that sugar in my system really affected me. And since I’m used to using the bathroom a lot on any given day, all of the pooping was a little annoying but not very bothersome. I didn’t deal with any booty pain, either. I’ve dealt with hemorrhoids before, and that was 1000x more painful than anything I experienced on prep day.

Anyway, as you can see, I am very open to talking about bodily fluids and what it’s like to have a colonoscopy! If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask. I never want to do this process again, but I also know I will do this process again and again and again, because I’ve seen what my grandma went through during the eight years she battled stage IV colon cancer, and that’s way, way worse than anything I went through last week.

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | June 2025

BOOKS

Reading Stats of June

  • Books read: 10
  • Number of pages read: 3,701
  • Average star rating: 4.1
  • Average time to finish a book: 6 days
  • Format breakdown: 50% print books, 40% audiobooks, 10% e-books
  • Genre breakdown: 80% fiction, 20% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 2 (On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen and Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage)
  • Audiobook reading: 39 hours, 54 minutes (actual listening time: 22 hours, 59 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of June

  • The best book I read in June: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
  • The book I didn’t expect to love as much as I did: This American Woman by Zarna Garg
  • The book I thought I would love more than I did: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
  • The book that lived up to the hype: Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin
  • The book that taught me the most: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (print, 2021) ★★★★★
  2. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren (print, 2024) ★★★★☆ 1/2
  3. Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin (print, 2025) ★★★★☆
  4. The Takedown by Lily Chu (e-book, 2023) ★★★★☆
  5. Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (print, 2016) ★★★★☆
  6. This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg (audiobook, 2025) ★★★★☆
  7. The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons (audiobook, 2020) ★★★★☆
  8. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (audiobook, 2011) ★★★★☆
  9. Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena (audiobook, 2023) ★★★★☆
  10. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆

MEDIA

  • Survivor 37: David vs. Goliath – I’m on a mission to watch older seasons of Survivor to prep for Survivor 50 next year. (As in, getting to know the returning players. This is not an announcement of being on the show because LOL NO.) There are three returning players from season 37 (Christian, Angelina, and Mike). I fell head over heels for Christian, couldn’t stand Angelina, and grew to really like Mike (who, coincidentally, is the famous Mike White of The White Lotus fame!). I’m excited to see all three of them play again, though!
  • The Amazing Race, season 4 – I just finished this season of The Amazing Race yesterday! It was a pretty boring season, though, and there weren’t any standout teams. I did find it interesting to learn that one of the contestants ended up dating Lance Freaking Bass a few years after the show!
  • Brooklyn 99, season 2 – Rewatching my beloved Brooklyn 99! I love this season because it’s when Amy and Jake have their flirtmance and eventually get together. So cute!
  • Clueless – It’s the 30th anniversary of Clueless, so I went with two friends to see it in a movie theater. It was so much fun and ugh, the movie is just perfection.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of June:

Hoop nose ring – I replaced my stud nose ring with a hoop, and then said a little prayer that my CPAP mask wouldn’t bother it. (I had to remove my nose ring last year when I started using a CPAP machine because the pressure of the mask against my nose made the piercing hurt.) And good news – it doesn’t! So now I can have my cute lil hoop nose ring and sleep deeply at night. A win/win!

Most delightful little indulgence of June:

ThermaCare heat wraps – I have always struggled with using a heating pad for period cramps because of my belly. So I picked up these heat wraps on a whim. They are designed specifically for menstrual cramps and you just attach them to the inside of your underwear and within 30 minutes, you’ll start feeling the steady heat against your body. It feels so good! You can wear the heat wrap for up to 8 hours, too!

Most regrettable purchase of June: 

Pride cat scratcher – I love this cat scratcher and I think it’s so fun, but the cats have not used it a single time since I put it out a few weeks ago. Are my cats homophobic?!

Number of books purchased in June:

ZEROOOOO. I should celebrate by buying some books!

Best recommendation: 

Period underwear – I can’t believe I waited so long to buy period underwear, but you guys: it’s life-changing! It feels almost like a security blanket, as I wear it as a backup on my heavy flow days. I’m a fan!

BLOG/PODCAST

On the blog, I told you all about my medical woes happening right now. I also took you on a journey through other Junes of my life, starting with 2008, the year I lost my beloved dog Minnie. I told you how I use Goodreads and The StoryGraph, and gave you a snapshot of a regular day in my life.

On the podcast, we interviewed our dear friend Lynn, who lost her home after Hurricane Helene in September 2024. This was an emotional interview, and I hope it shines a light on how these natural disasters can affect people in big and small ways.

Then, we lightened things up a bit and released an episode about our pets’ personalities! This was a really silly episode where we talked about our pets (Bri has two greyhounds) and then typed them according to our favorite personality frameworks. (I typed Eloise as an Enneagram 6, The Loyalist, and Lila as an Enneagram 4, The Individualist.)

JOURNAL

Samples from my One Line a Day journal

  • June 2, 2025: Started the week with a great morning workout. I should do this more often.
  • June 3, 2025: Melting Pot night with Amber, Lynn, and Kim. <3 It was so good but so expensive!
  • June 4, 2025: We booked our hotel and a lot of our excursions today for London. Whee!
  • June 8, 2025: A very productive day! I got all my chores done and then afterwards went to Mikaela’s to hang out with her and the girls.
  • June 10, 2025: Saw a GI doc finally. I need so many tests. Blood tests + abdominal ultrasound + stool sample + colonoscopy. I am overwhelmed.
  • June 11, 2025: Book club! Our dolphin cruise got rained out so we went out for ice cream instead.
  • June 12, 2025: Eloise’s dentist appt! She did so well. But she was a maniac when she got home. Anesthesia’s got nothing on her.
  • June 15, 2025: Father’s Day. I was very melancholy all day and stayed off social media.
  • June 21, 2025: A lovely day where I got to read a lot! The dogs were very receptive to my snuggle and read agenda.
  • June 26, 2025: Gyn follow-up. Best option for my heavy periods is ablation, which would mean I can’t ever get pregnant. Having a lot of feels about that!

Previous years:

  • June 13, 2022: Today, we went to the American side of the Falls and there, I had the best experience of the vacation: Cave of the Winds!
  • June 9, 2023: Bri and I had a wonderful lady date to celebrate 9 years of friendship. <3
  • June 22, 2024: Big day! I went to the best bookstore ever with Kim and then we went to the Popcast Live! What an incredible show.

SUPERLATIVES

  • This month’s chapter title: In My “I’m Falling Apart” Era
  • Weather notes: Hot and humid, with lots of afternoon thunderstorms. We’re also officially in hurricane season, although things don’t get “exciting” until September/October.
  • Favorite meal/snack: Melting Pot! Is there anything better than cheese and chocolate fondue? I think not!
  • Something I learned: The proper way to take a passport photo at home
  • An unexpected delight: This Instagram page. I would die for this cat and I’m not being dramatic.

What was your favorite book of June? What was your favorite meal or snack last month?

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | May 2025

BOOKS

Reading Stats of May

  • Books read: 9
  • Number of pages read: 2,891
  • Average star rating: 3.4
  • Average time to finish a book: 7.6 days
  • Format breakdown: 44% audiobooks, 33% print books, 22% e-books
  • Genre breakdown: 78% fiction, 22% nonfiction
  • # of DNFs: 1 (When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon)
  • Audiobook reading: 36 hours, 13 minutes (actual listening time: 21 hours, 33 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of May

  • The best book I read in May: The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
  • The worst book I read in May: Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly
  • The book I thought I would love more than I did: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
  • The book that lived up to the hype: Look Closer by David Ellis
  • The most disappointing read: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

  1. The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
  2. Look Closer by David Ellis (audiobook, 2022) ★★★★★
  3. The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation by Suzanne Stabile (e-book, 2022) ★★★★☆
  4. Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean (e-book, 2010) ★★★★☆
  5. The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆ 1/2
  6. Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆ 1/2
  7. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (print, 2023) ★★☆☆☆ 1/2
  8. Lease on Love by Falon Ballard (audiobook, 2022) ★★☆☆☆
  9. Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (audiobook, 2023) ★☆☆☆☆

MEDIA

  • The Amazing Race, seasons 2 and 3 (Paramount+) – It’s been fun to revisit the early seasons of The Amazing Race. So much drama and fighting! And so much old-school technology. In one episode of season 2, one of the contestants convinces a woman to give him her cell phone and said he would mail it back to her. Damn! (I also giggled during one challenge where the contestants used a digital camera to get a picture of themselves in front of a landmark, and then had to find a photo shop to print out the photo.)
  • Survivor 47 (Paramount+) – I was satisfied with the winner of this season, even though I really wanted someone else to win. But it was a fun season, even if superfans found it a bit boring.
  • New Girl, season 2 (Hulu) – I finished season 2! Nick and Jess, Nick and Jess! A Taylor Swift cameo! I’m looking forward to moving on to season 3 soon.
  • Dirty Dancing (Fandango) – All of the heart-eyes for this movie! I understand why so many people love it, and young Patrick Swayze can get. it.
  • Over Under Achievers (podcast) – I had deleted this podcast from my feed a while ago since it seemed like all of their episodes were behind a paywall and I didn’t feel like coughing up the money. But they must have changed course because now all of their episodes are free again, so I’m very happy to listen to them talk about sports and pop culture and Survivor and other nonsense.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of May: 

The girls’ newest scratching sleeper – I don’t know what to call these items, other than a scratching sleeper. It’s basically a big scratching pad that had a small indentation in the middle, perfect for curling up and sleeping. While I personally do not think sleeping on a scratching pad would be particularly comfortable, the cats definitely do. They use the sleeper daily and sometimes fight over who gets to sleep in it. So I bought a second one with flamingos all over it, and they are very happy. You can see both sleepers in the picture above. Eloise is lying on the new flamingo sleeper, and the other one is behind her. (I usually find these at Home Goods or TJ Maxx, FYI!)

Most delightful little indulgence of May: 

Felt-lined dice cup ($7) – We love playing Yahtzee during game night, but I despise how loud the plastic cup is when you’re shaking the dice around. Plus, in the game we recently bought, the cup can’t even stand up on its own! (Design flaw.) So I paid $7 for this felt-lined dice cup, and it makes those Yahtzee games so much nicer.

Most regrettable purchase of May: 

Boxing gloves cat toy ($9) – I bought this toy as part of the girls’ birthday present, and they could care less about it. I hung it up and tried to get them to play with it, but they just looked at me like I was crazy. Win some, lose some.

Number of books purchased in May: 8

  • The Names by Florence Knapp (BOTM)
  • Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin (BOTM)
  • The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (BOTM)
  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Barnes & Noble)
  • The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi (Barnes & Noble)
  • Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (Barnes & Noble)
  • The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (Barnes & Noble)
  • People Person by Candice Carty-Williams (Barnes & Noble)

Best recommendation:

Mystery coloring book ($10) – I mentioned this coloring book in one of my TGIF posts, and I am here to give it my whole-hearted recommendation. I am obsessed with this coloring book. It is so much fun to use and I keep it open on my dining room table so I can color a little bit at a time. I will say that the boxes that you need to color in are quite small, so it could be aggravating for some people to use. But I’m loving it so much!

BLOG/PODCAST

On the blog, I gave you some of my mundane bathroom details, based on a post from Diane. I wrote When Hard Work Pays Off, which is about what I did to help improve my bloodwork numbers. I also invited you to take a tour of my bookshelves and shared my new Admin Sundays routine.

On the podcast, we released two episodes. First, we released an episode about motherhood from the perspective of two childless women in their thirties. This was a very spicy episode because neither Bri nor I are interested in having children, and we have some very particular ideas why. I was heartened that two friends (who are mothers themselves!) reached out to say how much they loved the episode. I was really worried we were going to hurt some feelings!

And we released an interview with one of Bri’s friends, Jackie. She’s an enneagram 4 and a surgeon, and I was very surprised when I learned her enneagram number! (Enneagram 4s are the “feelers” of the enneagram and tend to be more creative types.) This episode was interrupted multiple times by Jackie’s cat, Tootles, and he was very pleased with his podcast debut.

JOURNAL

Samples from my One Line a Day journal

  • May 1, 2025 – My bloodwork came back! Fasting glucose is normal, A1C is down, and cholesterol is normal. Oh, happy day!
  • May 2, 2025 – So much anxiety last night. I wonder if my Lexapro taper is kicking in? Starting Prozac today.
  • May 10, 2025 – Saw a horrific accident near Starbucks. I hope everyone is ok.
  • May 12, 2025 – Met up with Amber and Mom to do more London planning. The itinerary is coming together.
  • May 18, 2025 – My first drag show! It was so much fun and so beautiful to see the queer community celebrated.
  • May 19, 2025 – Vet appointment for Eloise. She gained a pound – yay! But she needs dental work – boo.
  • May 21, 2025 – New fave routine: HIIT class and then going into Publix for a Dr. Pepper and candy bar.
  • May 24, 2025 – A fun day with Mom! We did a lot of shopping and then ordered pizza and watched Dirty Dancing. <3
  • May 27, 2025 – Met Moose, Mark’s new dog! He is so sweet and lovable. He kept bringing us toys to play with!
  • May 28, 2025 – Eloise’s is officially a Banfield cat! $650 a year for their wellness plan, which includes dental cleanings.

Previous years:

  • May 3, 2022 – Grandma would have been 80 today. I miss her so much. I can’t believe she’s been gone for 6+ years.
  • May 10, 2023 – Met up with the girls to celebrate Katie’s birthday. Told them that I’m bi and have a girlfriend!
  • May 30, 2024 – We saw Nate Bargatze! He was amazing!! We also explored NOLA – aquarium, brunch + drinks. A good day!

SUPERLATIVES

  • This month’s chapter title: New Experience, New (Fur) Nephew
  • Weather notes: HOT. It’s summer in Florida. Most days have highs in the low 90s with 60% (or greater) humidity.
  • Favorite meal/snack: I had a delicious sandwich at a new-to-me place this month. It had this amazing aioli spread and then the bread itself was so good. Yum, yum!
  • Something I learned: The best way to remove period stains from fabric (ugh).
  • An unexpected delight: My brother adopting another dog! They didn’t expect to, but Moose fit in so well with their family (and other dog, Cici) and needed a loving home.

What’s the best book you read in May? What has the weather been like where you are?

Categories: Life

Musings on a Monday

I don’t have any specific post topic for today, so instead, let’s gather ’round for a random assortment of topics!

1) Chasing Her Smile

My friend Mikaela is working on a book. I’ve been lucky enough to be by her side (quite literally) as she has written this book, and have listened to her read aloud each chapter to me. Mikaela is a phenomenal writer and I know this book is going to touch so many people. (For newer readers, Mikaela’s daughter, Olive, was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer when she was only 13 months old. She’s only the sixth known survivor of this type of cancer, and she was given the smallest chance of survival. There is a happy ending to this story, though, as Olive is a happy and healthy five-year-old now!)

Anyway, I would love to share this excerpt from her book, published on Her View From Home. It’s called Chasing Her Smile and is about the first day of chemo treatment, and all of the emotions that day evoked. Please give it a read, if you’re so inclined!

2) Dirty Dancing

I finally watched Dirty Dancing this weekend! You guys, IT WAS SO GOOD. Young Patrick Swayze was just delicious to look at and all of the dancing scenes were just so damn fun. I immediately wanted to rewatch it once I had finished it, so I can definitely understand why so many people love it so much. I thought the themes of classism and abortion were so timely, and I really appreciated the way the abortion plotline was handled. It wasn’t sensationalized or made to make us feel any sort of way about the topic. It was cut and dry, and a decision this character needed to make for her life.

What’s even more special about when I watched this movie is that I was listening to Kelly Bishop’s memoir, and had just listened to her talk about being cast in this movie and what it was like to be on set. What a fun connection! I paid particular attention to her scenes and, as always, she killed it.

Final thoughts on Dirty Dancing is a) it definitely holds up and b) 80s fashion is making a comeback because none of the clothes felt dated to me. Usually, the dated fashion can be distracting when I watch an older movie but I just kept thinking about how much I would have loved Baby’s wardrobe!

3) Carpal tunnel

A few weeks ago, I went to an orthopedic to discuss the carpal tunnel pain I’ve been experiencing for about six months now. It was really bad earlier this year, and I talked with my doctor about it. She gave me some suggestions (hand splint at night, topical lidocaine, etc), and we’d reevaluate in a few months if my symptoms weren’t improving. While things got slightly better, I was still dealing with a lot of pain, burning, and numbness and tingling, especially in the pad of my thumb and my first three fingers. It was time to get things looked at!

I was feeling a little silly at the ortho office, especially sitting around people in full casts and such. I mean, I was having pain but was it really that bad? Was I just wasting this doctor’s time with my silly little complaint? But I was there and hey, I’ve met my deductible for the year so this visit and all treatment would be free! What was the harm?

Thankfully, the visit was a very positive one! I got X-rays done on my hand and then the physician’s assistant came in to discuss some treatment options. We decided to move forward with getting a nerve conduction test, which will show my doctor how severe the carpal tunnel damage is. Unfortunately, they are pretty booked up for this test so the earliest appointment I could get was near the end of July. I also asked for a steroid shot, which hurt like hell and for a few hours afterward, I could barely use my right hand because the pain at the injection site was so bad, but once that wore off, it has helped relieve my symptoms almost 100%. I’m still having a little tingling every now and then, but it’s so minimal compared to what I was experiencing that I don’t even mind it. I also met with a physical therapist who gave me some exercises to do while I wait for the nerve study. All in all, I’m feeling pretty good about this new treatment plan!

4) Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

Remember how I couldn’t find my charger for my Waterpik? And how I looked everywhere in my apartment for it? And then I finally bought a new charger because I was convinced I had somehow lost the charger?

I found the charger. In a bin where I keep all of my extra coloring books and markers. I have a lot of questions for Past Stephany.

5) Spiraling anxiety

I’ve been on Prozac now for four weeks, and I’m still waiting to feel the difference. I know it takes time for a body to get used to a new medication, but I am really tired of having spiraling anxiety every morning. It usually dissipates by mid-morning, which makes me wonder if my medication dose has just worn off by the time the morning rolls around, and that’s why the anxiety feels so bad in the morning. Or maybe I need to start taking it at night. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist in two weeks, and I figure if I’m still not doing well, we can discuss additional options. But hopefully, my body is just taking its time to adjust, and this week is when I’ll hit that sweet spot of feeling amazing! (Trying to be that glass half-full girlie.)

Your thoughts on Dirty Dancing? What’s the last thing you lost and did you know if you replace it, you’ll miraculously find it again?! What’s something you’d like to muse about today?