Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

Wine and Love, V.7

Hosted by the fabulous Walking With Nora. Link up at her blog!

Filling up my wine glass…

Stomach problems. My stomach felt funny all day yesterday, leading to a not-so-pleasant night. In an effort to not be too TMI, let’s just say I wanted to cry when I found out the Pepto-Bismol bottle in my bathroom had expired a year ago. My stomach still feels funny today, but I’m hoping this little bug will pass soon. It feels better if I don’t eat but I still have an appetite so it makes it hard not to eat.

Mom’s injury. My mom ran a 16-mile trail race on Saturday and sustained some minor injuries due to a fall around Mile 9. The left side of her ribs have hurt since race day and she couldn’t raise her left arm above her head for most of Saturday. We think she bruised her ribs, or at least that side of her body, because it just hurts when she lays on it (no breathing issues so we’re pretty positive she didn’t break anything). Her arm is feeling better, but is still a little sore. It’s slowed her down a little this week and she has a 15K coming up on Sunday. Say a little prayer she feels 100% for it because it’s a tough course!

A jury summons. I received my first-ever jury summons in the mail yesterday. I always thought I would be excited about it, but I’m not. I’m a little nervous, but mostly just dreading it. The summons also comes two days before my 90-day probationary period is up at work. Lovely. (AND my job doesn’t pay for jury duty. So now I need to find out if I can get it postponed until I can take paid time off.)

Filling up my life with love…

A week of package deliveries! Yesterday, I received a new iPhone case and running armband (the current one I use is ripping apart from the seams. It’s also 2 years old so it was time for a new one, anyway). Today, my wristlet from Vera Bradley should arrive. And tomorrow, dun dun DUN, my iPhone arrives! Brand-new, sparkly, and beautiful. Can. Not. Wait. This week has felt like Christmas for me.

The Dolphins had a bye week. If you follow professional football, you should know the Miami Dolphins are, once again, the laughingstocks of the league. We’re 0-4 currently and we play the New York Jets (coming off 3 bad losses) on Monday night. It was really, really nice to have a week where my heart didn’t have to break as they give up yet another game.

Making birthday weekend plans. My birthday isn’t until the end of November, but I’m already trying to decide what to do. Last year, I did it up big with a weekend in Orlando and it was one of the best birthdays of my life. There is a part of me that wants to do it again, but another part that doesn’t want to shell out the money. We have passes to Aquatica and Sea World so the only expenses would be the hotel, food, and, of course, outlet shopping. (It’s a must when visiting Orlando!) Thinking about an Orlando trip fills me with so much excitement and happiness, but I wonder if I need to make a smarter financial decision.

Comments and messages. When I published yesterday’s post, I turned off comments because I was scared about the response. I was scared people would write off my worries as nothing major, and that I was thinking too hard. But I turned them back on within 30 minutes and had to mentally prepare myself as I read each comment. I am so glad I did. Your comments and messages were amazing and solidified my decision to seek help and figure out how to control this fearful side of me. My fears aren’t irrational, but they are affecting my day-to-day life and that is not normal.

What are your wines and loves for this week?

iPhone users, what are your must-have apps?

Categories: Recurring Series

50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind, Part 8

I always forget about these questions until I see Melissa do a post on hers. I’ve been doing these since July of 2010 so that should give a good indication of how fast I’m progressing through these. Ha!

36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?

Isn’t this what sets us apart from other animals? Our moral compass? I think we know, inherently, what is good and what is evil. What will lead us on the right path and what will take us down the wrong one? I do believe there are a lot of grey areas between good and evil, of course. And we all have our different definitions of it. So I guess my answer is yes and no, which really isn’t an answer, is it?

37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?

Yes. I would probably start graduate school, though, because I know I would get so bored without something challenging me.

38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?

I’ve never thought of myself who can say they are not afraid of hard work. I wish, but I think my weight would be in the normal zone, I would have run those half-marathons I signed up for, and have more published articles to my name, if so. That said, I’m finding I enjoy being busy. I thrive on it and am more productive this way. When I don’t have much to do, I end up taking longer to complete tasks and cross items off my to-do list. I would rather do more of the things I enjoy. More writing, more reading, etc. If I could fill my life up with work I enjoy, I would be a happy lady. (And I have no idea what’s stopping me from doing this, other than pure laziness.)

39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?

No, not at all! That’s what is so enjoyable about my job. Every day is different. Every day is filled with different projects and tasks, different problems to overcome, different meetings and conversations. When I worked at the preschool, the days differed but they were the same week after week. Mondays were slow and an easy breakfast to pass out, Tuesdays were for hurrying through breakfast and clean-up and supervising karate, Wednesdays were for getting through breakfast even faster to supervise dance, Thursdays were another slow day but a big breakfast to make, and Fridays were always up in the air. Every single week. The same thing. Over and over again.

I am so glad I no longer work there. (Although I do miss some of the kidlets and my co-workers.)

40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?

I feel like I march in the dark with a lot of things I strongly believe in. Saving myself for marriage, waiting until I’m married to live with my husband, being pro-life, being a Christian. But I’m comfortable being alone. I’m an introvert, I thrive on being alone. Hopefully, I’ll grab a few friends along the way who believe in these ideas as well. And if not, that’s okay. I’ll keep on marching.

I want to know: would YOU quit your job if you won a million dollars? Why or why not?

Categories: Recurring Series

Everyday Moments: September 2011

September. What can I say about September? Nothing extraordinary happened. I finished boot camp, celebrated my brother’s and nephew’s birthdays, and started to feel more at home in my new job. I no longer sit in meetings and have no clue what’s going on and the spreadsheets are not intimidating me anymore. I’m getting to know our contacts and they are getting to know me. It’s a good feeling.

My eating habits weren’t the best and my weight loss has really stalled. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it, but it’s very hard. Still, I’m trying and that’s all I can ask of myself.

I’ve been debating all month if I want to try my hand at NaNoWriMo in November. My life was always filled with midterms and tests that I could never accomplish it years prior. But if I keep saying I don’t have time to write, I’ll never get a book written.

Without further ado, though, here are the little things that made me happy this month. (Inspired by Kathleen.)

1 – Shopping trip at Target

2 – The “launch” of my new blog theme

3 – Finally cleaning out my junk drawer and my closet. It felt awesome to get rid of so much stuff I have no need for anymore.

4 – Spending a few hours at Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando.

5 – Finishing the Harry Potter series.

6 – Coming home after a full 8-hour day instead of spending an hour at the gym. For once, it was a nice, relaxing evening!

7 – Fresh-baked cookies.

8 – First game of the NFL season and it was a good one.

9 – Having a delicious strawberry-mango margarita with dinner. Best margarita I’ve ever had!

10 – Lunch date with my old work BFF. Also, Pinkberry peanut butter and chocolate froyo with every unhealthy topping I could fit in my bowl. SO MUCH YUM!

11 – The first Football Sunday of the NFL season.

12 – Finishing boot camp! Without a smile on my face, but I finished.

13 – My first Body Pump class in 6 weeks. It was tough, but such a good change.

14 – Rachel winning Big Brother!

15 – Celebrating my brother’s 25th birthday

16 – Deciding to take a break from Twitter and Facebook, and keeping up with a strict blogging schedule.

17 – Baking homemade chocolate cupcakes.

18 – Another Sunday, camped out on the couch, watching football. No. There isn’t anything better than that. (Also? Hi, future husband. My name is Stephany and I am SUCH A CATCH. Geez.)

19 – Going to bed at 9:45pm. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve gone to bed THAT early!

20 – Being so busy at work, I needed to make a to-do list to keep track of everything. I reserve the right to complain about being TOO busy one day, but for now, I love it. It’s so much better than not having much to do/not knowing what I need to do.

21 – One of our freelance designers dropping off yummy treats from a bakery. I ate what was quite possibly the best brownie I have ever had.

22 – The new fall TV schedule. I’m not sure how I’ll keep up with it, but it’s nice to have my shows back.

23 – Carrabba’s for dinner

24 – All of Dutch’s routine blood work coming back normal.

25 – My nephew running around Chuck E. Cheese dressed as Spider-Man during his third birthday party

26 – Winning Fantasy Football this week. I’ve done terribly the past two weeks, but I caught a break this week! Woo!

27 – Cookie dough. There’s nothing in the world like it.

28 – Finishing The Help. The movie was fantastic and so was the book. (Review to come!)

29 – Emails and messages from friends who get it.

30 – Laughing with my nephew. I am SO excited about this new age he’s in. So much fun!

Happy October!

Categories: Recurring Series

Wine and Love, V.6

Time for another round of Walking with Nora’s fun “Wine and Love” series. Write your own post on what made you reach for the wine glass and what you’re loving from this week. Link up at her blog!

Wine-ing about…

Boot camp. Only one class left after last night’s! Wednesday nights are so disorganized and chaotic and I feel shoved aside for the more fit people. I know I’ve talked about this before in a Wine and Love series. It hasn’t gotten better and I’m ready to give a full complaint when it’s over. Mondays are slightly better, but are much more intense and make me want to wish I was dead. Still, yesterday’s was pretty awful in the way we were treated and the way it was run. I would never, ever do another boot camp from my gym.

Anxiety. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get past my performance anxiety, especially since I deal with the emotions from my failed internship on a daily basis. It doesn’t help that something major happened last week that revved up my anxiety to full load.

Loving…

An under-control grocery bill! My mom and I headed out Monday evening for a toiletries visit at Target (we went about $10 over budget, but we’re getting there!) and a grocery visit at Publix (where we came in just shy of our $100 budget). We only picked up one pack of meat to last us for three meals. (Two being meals and one being leftovers.) As long as we keep out of any grocery stores until our next visit, I think we’re headed in the right direction. I still want to work on getting the bill lower (we spent $17 on snacks! What!) but baby steps first.

Relaxing after work. Ever since I started my job, my life has been jam-packed. After putting in a full 8 hours at my job, I head straight to the gym for an hour which usually involves boot camp or spin class (neither which are low or even medium intensity). It’s nice to get a sweat session in and get the endorphins flowing after being in front of a computer screen all day, but it can be a bit too much. So last night, I came home after work, took a hot bubble bath, and read for about an hour before making dinner. It was SO nice to just relax and take it easy. I think I need to do this at least one night a week.

The NFL season kicks off today! Are YOU ready for some football?!

Finally getting my room organized. I spent Saturday on an organizing rampage. I went through my junk drawers in my room and cleaned out my entire closet, including getting rid of a lot of “skinny” clothes that I know I wouldn’t wear even if I could fit into them. We don’t have a lot of space in our apartment so we really need to use it wisely. We’re not packrats in the least so I have no problem throwing things out that I haven’t used in a few months. It took a few hours but everything is finally organized and easier to access. Feels so good!

What are your Wine and Loves for this week?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five For Friday

1 – In my area, Big Brother didn’t tape until ONE THIRTY A.M. due to a ridiculous Bucs-Redskins preseason game. Now, look, I am a huge football fan. Honestly, I am. But I’m sorry, a stupid, meaningless preseason football game over the craziest show of the summer? It’s no question. So, today, my mom and I woke up at 5AM so we could watch the show before she went for a run. As for the show, I’m very happy with how everything played out, to say the least. (Also, I guess this is one of those “You know you’re addicted when…)

2 – As most of you noticed already, I have a new blog theme. I like it a lot. Also, I have updated almost all of my pages. Now I actually have some information as well as links to all my letters and future husband posts. I also have a new Resolutions page where you can see how I’m doing on the resolutions I made in January.

3 – The advice on my grocery store conundrum was amazing. I will say that it wasn’t anything I didn’t already know, but it drove home the point of meal planning, eating more simply, and saving toiletries visits for Target/Wal-Mart. I know we need to be smarter about what we’re eating and how much of it we’re making. Leftovers are great, but when you make enough leftovers for 3 days four days in a row? Well, then it becomes too much. But the advice was exactly what I needed to get more serious about our grocery budget.

4 – Last night, I was attempting to make breakfast for dinner. I was cooking hash browns and forgot to turn the heat down after heating up the oil and managed to make the fire alarm go off three times and our entire place get smoky. The hash browns were ruined and in the process of trying to take care of that problem, I burned the sausage. It still smells like burnt hash browns in our apartment. Blech. I should never be allowed in a kitchen.

5 – I’m excited about this upcoming three-day weekend! Saturday, I’m prepared to tackle a long to-do list which includes a lot of cleaning (I’m so behind!) and seeing my nephew. Sunday, my mom and I are planning to head up to Orlando for the day to hit up one of the water parks that we have a pass for. And Monday involves a boot camp at a community center and trying to relax as much as possible. What are your holiday weekend plans?

Happy Friday, friends!