Recurring Series

Three Things Thursday (v. 18)

Three confessions

1) Yesterday was my 13-year work anniversary! Can you believe that I started as a scared 25-year-old and look at me now! It’s uncommon for someone to stay at an agency for as long as I have, but what can I say? I love the stability and freedom that comes with being one of the OGs.

2) Ever since I moved into my apartment in October, I’ve had a short phone cord next to my bed. It’s rather annoying because it means I can’t use my phone in bed, especially if it needs to be plugged in. It took me almost an entire year to realize: Get a longer charging cord, Steph! Such a simple solution. It makes me wonder what other things are causing friction in my life that could be solved this easily.

3) This weekend, Bri and I recorded our 100th podcast episode! I can’t believe we made it to this milestone. Most podcasts only do a few episodes, and while ours isn’t even scratching three figures in terms of listenership, it’s small but mighty. And we have fun with it, which is the most important thing.

Three books I recently bought

1) In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson – I bought this at Book + Bottle two weekends ago because I’ve been intrigued to read a romance by this author. She’s local!

2) The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel – Book + Bottle had a bunch of Kristin Harmel books and I haven’t read anything by her. When I looked at her books on Goodreads, they all had great reviews. I chose this one because the premise enticed me!

3) The Unknown by Riley Sager – This was an add-on with my Book of the Month box because I can’t help myself when it comes to Riley Sager. Plus, the cover is gorgeous!

Three things I’ve said to my cats this week

1) “Oh, is it time for special yum-yums?” I walked out of the bathroom one evening and they were both sitting on the dining room table, staring at me. I knew what that meant! (They love their Sheba Meaty Sticks, so I split one between them a few times a week.)

2) “Are you having hammock time???” Imagine this in a high-pitched voice and accompanied by me collapsing next to my cat to pet her as she sleeps soundly in the hammock by the window.

3) “But why? Why are you so cute?! Who allowed this to happen?!” I say this to my girls a few times a day. At least.

Three more audiobook thoughts

1) Listening speed – I listen to all of my audiobooks on 1.7 speed, but I’ll drop it down to 1.5 if the narrator has an accent (mostly because my ears just need the words slowed down a bit so I can understand the plot). I never listen to my books on 1x speed anymore. I used to, but now that feels so slow.

2) Balancing podcasts and audiobooks – Many people said that they don’t listen to audiobooks because they have a large podcast queue and yes, I can relate! When I had a commute, I would use that time for audiobooks. Listening at a faster speed meant I could usually get through one book a week with my 30-minute (one way) commute. And then 2020 happened and figuring out how to work audiobooks back into my life was difficult! How I do it these days is that in the morning, I finish whatever podcast I had going the day before and then turn on my audiobook. The goal is to finish 2 hours of the audiobook before I can return to my podcasts. (And since I’m listening at 1.7 speed, 2 hours is just over an hour of “real” listening time.) I don’t always do this, as sometimes there are podcast episodes that are calling to me, so I miss a day, but I generally come back to it the following day.

3) Romance novels on audio – One thing I forgot to mention in my post is that one of the genres I refuse to listen to on audio is romance! Y’all, I just can’t do it. I can’t listen to all the sex scenes. No, no, no, no, no. It makes me cringe just thinking about it! (If the romance is by an author that I know writes closed-door romances, I might attempt it, but I still get weirded out by all the love talk.)

Three things I’m doing this weekend

1) Book club – We weren’t able to sync up our schedules to meet up for book club in July, so this is a July/August book club meeting. Our activity for the evening is bedazzling! I may bring my pill container to bedazzle because this is what book club for elder millennials is all about these days.

2) A writing date with Mikaela – I am making lots of progress in my novel! There have been weeks where I struggle to write 500 words and weeks where I am typing away like a madwoman, completely delighted by my characters. I am currently in a state of flow with my novel, so I’m excited to get back to it.

3) Watching a movie – I have a goal to watch two movies this month and I have watched exactly zero movies. It will either be Sleepless in Seattle or The Martian, just need to figure out what I’m in the mood for.

Three things on my to-do list

1) Finalize our New England itinerary – I like to create very detailed travel itineraries (as in, “8:00am – leave hotel and go to SPECIFIC RESTAURANT for breakfast, 9:30am – order Uber to go to THIS SPECIFIC LOCATION). It’s just what I need to feel settled and confident as an anxious traveler! I have a draft of our vacation, but I’m created separate tabs in the spreadsheet for each day, which makes my little organizer heart very happy.

2) Deep clean the girls’ feeders – I wash out the bowl and wipe down the feeder a few times a week, but I only do a deep clean every quarter. It entails taking apart the entire system, washing everything by hand, and then leaving it out to air dry before putting it back together.

3) Write some postcards – I’m a little behind on my snail mail goal for this year, so I need to catch up in August!

Three things we’re doing on our New England road trip

1) Doing a tour of Fenway – Are we baseball fans? No. But are we excited to tour this iconic park? Hell yes! (This was a specific ask from my mom, so her wish is my command.)

2) Visiting Acadia National Park – I am so excited about this. The views are going to be insane, especially in early October!

3) Driving through Smuggler’s Notch in Vermont – It’s one of those quintessential fall road trip experiences, so of course we’re doing it!

Three things on my Etsy wish list

1) Postcards – I love finding fun postcards on Etsy, and I’m starting to run low with my current stack so it’s time to peruse my Etsy favorites to figure out which batch I want to order this time around.

2) iPhone cases – I think I’m ready for a new phone case, and Etsy never lets me down. I have my eye on this black cat/rainbow phone case!

3) Lots of great feminist tees – Childless cat lady? Read books and fight the patriarchy? Stay woke? I have lots of options!

Three things that made me happy this week

1) Snickers pumpkins being back in stock! We are so back, you guys.

2) An excellent mid-year review

3) Watching Lila go nuts over the cat grass I bought. She was so aggressive with it that the pot kept falling off the table!

Three recent searches

1) “claire foy” – she was mentioned on this week’s Patreon episode on The Popcast and I was like, “Why does that name sound so familiar?” Turns out, she played Queen Elizabeth in the first few seasons of The Crown!

2) “what’s a dopamine deficit in relation to ADHD?” – yes, I’m still doing a lot of research and rabbit-holing about ADHD. Do I have ADHD? I have no idea, but at the very least, the strategies that work for people with ADHD resonate so well with me.

3) “why do my airpods keep pinging?” – This happens from time to time when I’m charging my AirPods. Turns out, it’s due to the outlet. I switched to a different outlet and no pinging!

What’s something you’re doing this weekend? What made you happy this week?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 136)

1) Parasocial grief

I woke up on Tuesday morning to see that a new episode of The Popcast’s weekly Patreon episode had downloaded to my feed. The thing you need to know about The Popcast is that I consider this show my emotional support podcast. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I’ll turn on an episode because it will immediately help me get out of my funk (or at least, help me forget about my worries for an hour). I love Knox and Jamie with the kind of parasocial fervor people save for their favorite celebrities. And I love their extended network of hosts and staff, specifically one Erin H. Moon. She co-hosts their reading podcast, Shelf Respect, as well as Faith Adjacent, a faith-based podcast that has really helped me heal some of my issues surrounding the church and my deconstruction.

In the show notes for this episode, there was a note about giving to a charity in memory of Gwen Hicks. No, no, no, no, no, was my immediate reaction, as I clicked over to Erin’s Instagram to discover that her mom had suddenly passed away. Erin was close to her mom like I am to mine. Erin talked about her mom on her podcast the way I talk about mine. Erin is going through the very thing I have spent years and years in therapy trying to unravel. She’s inside my worst nightmare, and I can’t stop thinking about her, about her family, about a community that lost a true angel on earth. Being an empath means I can’t hear news like this and get sad, but then move on. It’s not that I understand the depth of grief Erin and her family are experiencing, but my mind tries to step inside that pain and imagine what it must be like. I start crying randomly as I think about Erin preparing for her mom’s celebration of life. I’ll stop what I’m doing at any point in time and remember what Erin is going through right now and feel immeasurably sad for her. And I am so sad for her. Her mom was young, only five years older than my own mom, and the fact that Erin now has to face the rest of her life without her mom by her side is overwhelming. Because I know imagining life without my mom by my side is overwhelming.

I’m sending all of my love to Erin and her family, and have made a donation to Amarillo Angels, the nonprofit that Gwen founded to support the foster care community in the Texas Panhandle.

2) A week of forgetfulness

Switching topics… I have had an incredible week of forgetfulness. I’m not sure what is going on with me, but I’m starting to get concerned. First, there was the Chewy order. I ordered some wet food for the girls on Sunday and got a notification on Tuesday that the order had been delivered. It was not on my doorstep where they normally leave it, which is when I discovered I had sent it to my old apartment. You know, the place I haven’t lived in 9 months! Ughhh. Thankfully, Chewy’s customer service is top-tier, and when I messaged them about my dumb mistake and asked about a replacement order, they went ahead and shipped me a new box free of charge. I love Chewy so damn much!

Second, there was the Target curbside pickup order. I was running errands and had four things I needed to do: a quick stop at the grocery store, drop off a book at the library, pick up a Target curbside order, and get a prescription at my pharmacy. I did the grocery store and then opened my Target app to say I was coming to pick up my order. I dropped the book off at the library and then… zoomed right past Target to the pharmacy. It didn’t even cross my mind that I had forgotten about the pickup until I was leaving the pharmacy, and had to hurry over to Target where a kind woman was waiting with my items. Sigh.

And the grand finale was when I showed up to my dermatology appointment a whole day early. It was in my calendar as Thursday. I had gotten a reminder text a week prior about this Thursday appointment, and for some reason, I put it down in my planner as Wednesday and didn’t question it. We’re not going to talk about how upset I was at myself. Am I losing my mind? Are the steroids finally getting to me? Is this early-onset dementia? Stay tuned to find out!

3) Graduation

Speaking of my dermatology appointment, I’ve graduated to annual appointments! I had a few years where I continually had abnormal moles that had to be biopsied, so I’ve been getting skin checks every six months. My last abnormal mole was in 2023, which means it’s been almost three years of clear skin checks, and my dermatologist is comfortable with me coming in once a year now. Yay! These skin checks are pretty easy compared to other doctor’s appointments, but anything I can do to be in a doctor’s office less is fine by me.

4) Blog hosting woes

I mentioned last week that it was time to pay my blog hosting fees, which only come around every three years. Well, this time, I was astonished to find out my bill was over $1,000. It’s never been that high, but I thought, well, I’ve had this blog since 2009, and there are an insane number of pictures and posts. My host company told me I had to upgrade to their highest-tier package because of my blog’s size. I wasn’t happy about it, but I figured it is what it is. I love this blog, and I love writing here, so I need to suck it up.

And then I decided… let me just make sure this is reasonable for a personal blog. I went to ChatGPT and put in my stats, and then it had me go through some complicated processes involving my hosting’s cPanel and identifying different files. And from this journey, I found out that my disk usage (basically, how big my blog is) was 70GB, which is quite large for a personal blog. Further investigation led me to my site’s backup. Apparently, I had never correctly set up my backups to be sent to a different place (like Google Drive), so I was saving two full backups of my blog on my hosting server. Once I removed those backups and moved them to Drive (I had to upgrade my Google storage to 200 GB, but that’s only an extra dollar a month), I cleared up almost 40GB!

I was able to message with my blog hosting company and move back down to one of the lower-tier packages, and they refunded me $556! Spending $500 for three years of blogging feels much more reasonable. (Of course, after all this, I ran into all those stupid commenting issues, but I am hopeful things are back to normal now.)

5) Weekend plans

It’s a busy weekend for your girl! Luckily, I’m kicking things off with a mental health day today. I just needed a long weekend, so that’s what I have given myself. I would like to make some progress with my novel, but we’ll see if I’m motivated enough for that. In the evening, I’m going to Bri’s house to record some podcast episodes. Tomorrow, I have a brunch date with my friend Lynn, and we’ll likely hit up a bookstore (or two) as well. And Sunday, I have a writing date with Mikaela and some annoying errands to run. (Writing this all out, I realize this might seem like a low-key weekend for my extroverted friends. But for me, three social events in one weekend? I’m girding my loins.)

What was your last bout of forgetfulness?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 135)

1) Working with strangers

I am slowly becoming addicted to “study with me” and “work with me” videos on YouTube. I really struggle with focus, especially in the afternoons, and I’ve tried so many different productivity methods to help me stay on task and get shit done. Most of these videos use the Pomodoro Technique, which is my favorite productivity method, but I don’t use it nearly as much as I should. But for the past few weeks, when I have a long stretch of work ahead of me without meetings, I’ve pulled up one of these videos and gotten to work. And it really does help me focus! These videos usually have someone either studying or working at a desk (and their surroundings are usually #goals) with soft, ambient music playing in the background and a timer on the screen. You might hear sounds like keyboard tapping, papers shuffling, or pen scratches, so it also satisfies the ASMR part of my brain. I don’t know why they work so well for me, but I’ve become addicted and wanted to pass along this tip to anyone else who may struggle with focus! (I think it would come in clutch for people with ADHD!)

2) Hermit time

Bri and I were supposed to meet up on Sunday afternoon to record a few episodes of our podcast. After getting way ahead in our recording schedule, we are suddenly at a place where we have no episodes ready to go in the queue. Eeps! So, I spent Friday and Saturday working diligently on our outlines and preparing for a few hours of recording time on Sunday afternoon. And then Saturday night happened, and I got the worst night of sleep I’ve had in a really long time. My Oura app was very worried about me. (I should note that I went to bed at 11 p.m., but didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 a.m., sigh.)

I also started my period and was not feeling all that great. I sent Bri a message about how things were going for me that morning, and she told me to do what feels best, whether we record later in the day or skip it entirely. I sat with myself and thought about what I really wanted, and to nobody’s surprise, it was to stay home and hermit. I didn’t want to pack up my things and make the 25-minute drive to Bri’s house, and while being with Bri and recording our podcast isn’t a huge emotional lift for me, it’s still something to do. And I really didn’t want to do anything, much less try to be chipper on the mic. So, even though it meant we wouldn’t have an episode to release on time, I stayed home, and we rescheduled our recording date. Womp, womp. We’ll only miss one episode, though, as we’re getting together next weekend to record, so all will be okay. No episode this Tuesday, but we will be back in your feeds on August 18th!

3) The steroid taper that wasn’t

Ughhhhhh. I was doing so well with my steroid taper. Or at least, physically, I felt like I was. Last week, I dropped down to 4mg, which would be the last test to see if I could officially stop taking steroids, but alas, it wasn’t to be. Over the weekend, I started experiencing pain that I haven’t had to deal with in months. It hurt to stand up, it hurt to cross my legs, it hurt to grip things, and it hurt to get out of bed in the morning. I told myself that if I woke up on Sunday with my shoulder hurting, then I knew it was time to talk to my rheumatologist. Sure enough, I woke up on Sunday with the same annoying shoulder pain that took forever to respond to meds. At least I was able to see how much those steroids have been helping my pain! (And also how little methotrexate has been helping – the pain definitely wasn’t as bad as before I started treatment, but it was getting there.) I talked to my rheum, who wants me to go back to 8mg for the next few weeks, and then try tapering down again after I’ve had two doses of my new med.

Speaking of my new med, it finally arrived this week so I can start the next stage of my treatment journey. Hurrah! I definitely feel precious about these syringes, though, because each one is at least a thousand dollars without insurance. Liquid gold, baby!

4) Another three years of blogging

I always forget that I have to pay blog hosting fees. I only pay them every three years, and it’s always quite the hit to the ol’ pocketbook. This year, the hit was substantial because HostGator wanted me to upgrade to one of their more expensive plans based on the size of my website. Ughhhh. Rude! I need to start a sinking fund for these fees, so I’m not surprised when 2029 rolls around and HostGator comes asking for money again. But hey, this means I’m dedicated to another three years of blogging so I get my money’s worth! You’re welcome?

5) Weekend plans

I don’t have too much happening this weekend! Today, I have a massage scheduled at 5 p.m. Tomorrow, I have game night with the fam. And Sunday, my mom and I might take the dogs for their semi-weekly dog park visit. Next weekend is going to be super busy, so I’m happy to have a low-key weekend ahead of me. Hooray for that!

How do you stay focused at work?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday: Big Purchases on My Mind

I’m always saving for some kind of big purchase. And by big purchase, I mean anything over $100. Sure, I could afford to buy these things without saving up for them, but there’s something fun about having a savings account devoted to these “big” purchases. I have a very specific method for saving for these items, which I’ll talk about soon, but for today, let’s discuss some of the big purchases I have in mind.

1) A new reading chair

This is the next big purchase on my list, as I am really sad to be without a reading chair in my office. Reading on the couch is fine, but as we’ll discuss later, not ideal. The chair can’t be too big because I need it to tuck into a corner of the office, but it does have to have an ottoman. What I really want is one of those “chair and a half” deals because they look like the coziest place to read (or nap, let’s be honest, a lot of napping would be happening). But those are way too large for my office so I have to settle for something smaller but just as cozy! Below is what I have in mind – it’s a little over $300 but I’m not sure about the shipping fees. It’s from Wayfair and last time they shipped me furniture, they just dropped it off at the bottom of the stairs and expected me to bring a 100+ lb box up four flights of stairs myself. (I’ll stop venting about this one day.) However, I think I can select some sort of special “doorstep” shipping for a fee, which is what I’ll definitely be doing.

2) A walking pad

I’ve gone back and forth on getting a walking pad for my office. In my old place, it was a space issue. I know myself well enough to know that my walking pad needs to be within easy reach–if I stored it in my bedroom closet, I would never use it. So it would need to be stored near my desk, but my desk was in my living room and I didn’t want a walking pad hanging out there.

In the new place, it’s more of a, “Will I even use this?” quandary. I’m still not sure. I have a standing desk, although I rarely stand and work because I’m a lazy bitch. And I find it hard to just… stand and work. I think walking while I respond to emails or call into a meeting would be easier, in a sense? That’s what I’m telling myself, at least. And it would ensure I’m actually getting more than… checks Oura app… 3,000 steps a day. (This is not a joke.)

It’s something that’s on my mind, but I need to do a lot more research. I don’t want to spend too much money on this purchase because I’m still not sure I’m going to use it as much as I should, Maybe the key is to buy something that’s on the cheaper side (under $100) and if I can prove to myself that I’m capable of using it the way I envision, then I can treat myself to a more expensive version.

3) Litter Robot

I want one so badly. Everyone who owns one talks about how life-changing it is, and while I don’t necessarily find scooping the litter to be a terrible task, it is a task that I would like to move off my daily to-do list, please and thank you. Alas, these babies are expensive (the one I want is $800) so I’m waiting for it to go on super sale. However, did you know Litter Robot is also FSA/HSA eligible? You just have to obtain a Letter of Medical Necessity for one of their qualifying conditions (and I definitely qualify for a few of them, lolz). It’s something I’m thinking about… not this year, as my FSA is quickly being depleted (wah), but when it’s time to sign up for 2027 health insurance, I might consider increasing my FSA limit so I can buy one.

4) A new bedframe

This isn’t a super pressing need, as I just bought this bedframe a few years ago, but those adorable daughters of mine have ruined it with their precious little claws. They like to stretch and use the headboard on their front paws, and Eloise especially loves using the headboard as leverage to climb on top and then use the top of the headboard as another prime scratching location. They also use the side rail – they get on their backs, hook their claws into the side rail, and then pull themselves down the length of the rail while scratching as much of the material as possible.

What did I expect, though, when I bought a bedframe that doubles as a perfect scratching post for cats? It’s my own fault, really.

Anyway, at some point, I will need a new bedframe and I will probably opt for something that they can’t destroy so easily.

5) New living room furniture

It is time to replace my sectional. It’s a beautiful sectional that I love oh-so-very much, but the cushions are starting to sag and lose their shape. They’re sewn into the couch completely, so it’s not like I can try to reshape them. I can only sit on certain parts of the couch because other sections have no support. And now that I’m in a bigger space, I can also look at buying a bigger sectional. I’d love a U-shaped sectional and definitely something with removable cushions. (I can’t even put one of those couch covers on because of the way the cushions are sewn in!) This purchase will be going on my 2027 goals list, for sure!

Any big purchases on your wishlist?

Categories: Recurring Series

A Wednesday Morning Coffee Date

If we were having coffee today… I’d start by sharing the BEST news of the month: Olive is officially in remission! Many readers may not remember Baby Olive, but she’s my best friend’s daughter, her rainbow baby after numerous miscarriages. Then, at 13 months old, Olive was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Less than ten people worldwide have ever had this type of cancer, and none of them were as young as Olive. She was given a 9% chance of surviving. It was a scary, scary time. But Olive made it through an incredibly dangerous surgery (her only chance of survival, and only one surgeon in the country was willing to do it; they had to travel to Boston, in the middle of Covid, with an immunocompromised baby for the procedure) and so many rounds of chemo, and nothing stopped her. And now, she’s six years old! Mikaela says all the time that watching Olive grow up doesn’t make her sad because there was a very real possibility she would never grow up. And here she is: in remission and one of the lucky ones.

If we were having coffee today… we might need to wipe away some tears before we move on to our next topic of conversation! You might wonder how my psoriatic arthritis journey is going. The good news is that I continue to taper off my steroids with no side effects. Every now and then, I’ll wake up, and my finger will be stiff, or the inside of my elbow will hurt, but it generally goes away within a few hours. I tapered down to 4mg this week, and I’m starting to notice a little hip pain. Nothing terrible yet, but I’m keeping an eye on it. Getting approved for Humira has been a process, though. Of course, insurance denied the prescription, which my rheum told me would likely happen since they want me to try the generic version first. Here’s how long this process has been: my rheum sent the script on June 25, it was denied on July 3, so my rheum sent the generic script on July 6, and it was finally approved on July 16. But does that mean I have the medication? Nope! The specialty pharmacy has to process the prescription, and yesterday, I spent almost half an hour on the phone to set up copay assistance for this med through my insurance. And that’s because this med is expensive (my copay for a one-month supply would have been almost $1,000 without this extra assistance), but now it will be zero dollars. Yay! I’m just hoping I can start my new med before July is over. I don’t feel like that’s too much to ask our healthcare system, is it?!

If we were having coffee today… you might ask about my upcoming New England road trip! I am slowly crafting our itinerary, and it’s mostly complete. I just need to put some finishing touches on the final part of our journey. We have booked our accommodations, which were pricey because a) we are bougie travelers and b) peak foliage season means higher rates. We’re staying at a hotel in Boston (Back Bay area), the cutest B&B in Maine (in Bar Harbor), and a glorious two-bedroom Airbnb in Vermont (near Stowe). We fly into Boston, spend three nights there, and then pick up the rental car and road trip up to Maine. After two nights in Maine, we’ll mosey our way over to Vermont by way of New Hampshire, and then spend four nights in Vermont. Keep your fingers crossed that all those gorgeous fall colors show off for these Florida girls!

If we were having coffee today… I’d be happy to tell you all about the research I’ve been doing to figure out the right hair routine. I have very fine hair with very oily roots. As in, I can take a shower in the morning and by the evening, my roots already look greasy. It’s very frustrating! I spent a full year trying to train my hair to need less washing, but that’s just not how fine hair works, unfortunately. So, if I ever want to wear my hair down, I have to wash it first. (Dry shampoo helps, but it also makes it really flat and lifeless.) The biggest things I’ve learned so far:

Only shampoo my scalp (it’ll clean the rest of my hair when I rinse it out)
Add clarifying shampoo to my routine (especially useful for those of us with oily roots and/or hard water)
Use probably 75% less conditioner than I think I need (I know this, but I kinda go crazy on the conditioner when my hair really only needs a tiny bit at the very ends)

Even with all these changes, though, I’m trying to accept the fact that I’m never going to be someone who can go days without washing my hair and still have it look bouncy and beautiful. My hair just needs a little extra TLC, and that’s okay!

If we were having coffee today… I’d confide that I’m planning on moving forward with an endometrial ablation. I guess I needed a year to come to terms with the fact that it means I’ll likely never experience pregnancy, but since I’m positive I do not want to have children, I know it’s the right decision. I have to get another transvaginal ultrasound to measure my fibroids (it’s been a year since I had the original ultrasound, so I have to go through the process again), and then I’ll meet with a specialist for an endometrial biopsy. After that, the procedure will be scheduled! They only do this procedure once a month, but I’m hoping to get in by the end of the year.

If we were having coffee today… I couldn’t leave our time together without talking about the loves of my life! Eloise and Lila continue to be the most perfect babies there ever were. The cutest thing Lila does now is that she knows when it’s time for her food to be dispensed in her automatic feeder. She will either sit in front of it a few minutes beforehand or come running into the living room when she hears those little pieces of kibble hitting her bowl! A girl after my own heart. Eloise just had bloodwork done and her teefers cleaned, and she’s in perfect health. She also gained a little weight over the last six months, which is great news. She is still under 8 lbs, my little peanut!

What would you tell me during our coffee date?