Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

Seven Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 7)


One. Last week, I started setting my alarm at 4:30am. FOUR. THIRTY. AY. EM. Doesn’t that just sound so wrong? But it’s actually helped! I have to leave the house before 6:30am and by setting my alarm at 4:30, I can get up by 5am, shower, get dressed, get ready, get breakfast, get my lunch ready, get my bag(s) ready, etc. Yes, it’s a process in the morning. But I get it done! Somewhat.

Two. I filed my taxes on Sunday night. I was hoping for a LOT more than I got. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. I was hoping to give a large chunk of it to my credit card that has a large balance but that won’t be happening. So it’s disappointing but after I lamented my misery on Twitter, I realized things could be a lot worse: I could owe money! Perspective.

Three. On Saturday night, my mom and I went out to Chili’s for dinner. And since we spend about 90% of our time together, we usually don’t have a lot to talk about at dinner. We were both trying to think about topics to talk about when she told me the FUNNIEST story of her first date with my dad. Basically, they went out to a nice restaurant and this was the conversation:

(Silence for many, many, MANY minutes.)
Dad: So, those are some nice pictures on the wall.
Mom: Yeah!
(Silence.)

I can’t believe they actually got married after this date! Basically, these were the only words spoken during the entire date. I really couldn’t stop laughing after hearing this. And I hope I never have a date like that.

Four. I went to Arby’s on Sunday afternoon and sat near a mother, father, and their three children. Two of the children happened to be twins, about 9-10 months old. And the mom proceeded to give her babies Dr. Pepper and curly fries doused in ketchup. DR. PEPPER AND CURLY FRIES. And then she was trying to get her children to say the word soda. I don’t know about you, but when I have some babies, soda is not a word I’m going to be teaching them at an early age. I couldn’t believe this mother! Don’t come crying to me when your twins are 50 pounds overweight at five-years-old. Idiot.

Five. I hate my phone. It’s actually my mom’s old phone that she generously gave to me when I lost mine. (She bought herself a new phone.) And it sucks. It’s a BlackBerry that we bought in May 2009. It doesn’t have a camera and cannot play music. It has enough memory to allow for UberTwitter and the BlackBerry App Store. But that’s it. And it’s slow. At least 5 times a day, it will stop working and show that stupid, little hourglass turning upside down over and over again. And I can’t access anything during that time. I can’t make calls, I can’t see texts, nothing. So then I have to take my battery out, wait 10 seconds, put it back in, and then wait 5 minutes for it to start working again. I hate my phone. I’m due for an upgrade in May and I’m so getting a new one! (Did I mention my BLACKBERRY DOESN’T HAVE A CAMERA?!)

Six. On Monday night, I had a fantastic phone call three-way with two of my favorite bloggers, Nanny and Kaitlyn. We had our first phone chat in September, where I was half-dead and super boring from moving all day. And we had a really deep and heavy chat about faith. This time, I tried to be much more interesting, except I was working on an awful project and trying to get all my stuff ready for tomorrow. Anyway, I love these girls and they are awesome. Especially when I sent my project to Nanny and she helped me with a part I was having trouble with. And the fact that they didn’t laugh at me when I told them I’ve never heard a Lady GaGa song.

Seven. Who are you rooting for in the Superbowl? If you know anything about me, you should know that I have an unnatural crush on Peyton Manning. He may not have the charm of Tony Romo, the looks of Tom Brady, or the ruggedness of Brett Favre. But he holds a special place in my heart with his country-boy twang, lanky frame, and insane football knowledge. So, yes, I’m rooting for the Colts!

Categories: Recurring Series

Seven Quick Takes Friday (vol. 6)

One. When I wrote my list on Friday, Chelsea mentioned “Seven Quick Takes Friday,” which is something I’ve done before but haven’t in the past few weeks. Honestly, I forgot about this little weekly feature! So it’s back! For good!

Two. I went, reluctantly, to my newspaper meeting on Monday. I was still bummed about my freelance status and could not, for the life of me, think about topics to write about. (Well, I could…until I realized those topics were more blog-related, than newspaper-related.) But I went to the meeting because I knew I had to. And grabbed a weekly feature! One of the staffers suggested doing a Professor Profile and when the editor asked who wanted to do it, I raised my hand. Yes, little ole me. I’ve been super-duper quiet in the meetings but this was my chance and I took it. Sure, it’s not much but it’s much more than I expected, and something I’m excited about doing!

Three. Can I just say how much the red team on The Biggest Loser annoys me? I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to slap Melissa across the face during Tuesdays episode. And her comment to Alison was so petty and unneeded. I mean, the green team annoys me, too, with their emotional disconnectedness but Melissa is someone I can’t wait to see go home.

Four. My grandma had her surgery to remove the tumor in her lung on Wednesday. I didn’t find out until 2pm that the surgery went well. I was so nerve-wracked all day! Luckily, the doctor only had to remove a wedge from her lung (instead of a whole lobe). So we are blessed! Mom and I went to visit her that night and she was looking great. I took a picture but she might murder me in my sleep if I showed it on this blog. Seriously. Yesterday was a rough day for her and she was super, super, super nauseous all day, which is always worse than throwing up. I’m not a big fan of throwing up, but at least you get the tummy ache over with! But she’s still doing good and I’m happy with how well the surgery went.

Five. I feel like my phone phobia might be cured soon, due to my internship. On Thursday, I had to call over 20 businesses for a promotional item. It was nerve-wracking, especially since I’m in a cubicle and the entire office seemed so quiet when I was calling so I felt like everyone was listening in on the new intern, making phone calls. Which they weren’t because they were busy enough with their own work! But I did it and it was actually kind of fun! I liked interacting with some of the people and I lost a lot of my nervousness as I got more into the phone calls.

Six. There is only one good thing about my Communications Law class is that almost everyone else in the class is as lost as me. We have to write a term paper on a First Amendment media issue/case/personality. Coming up with a topic was so flippin’ hard but I have no idea how to write it. We had to give him an outline of what we want to write and include 10 sources. (TEN!) I struggled with it a lot…but so did everyone else! I’m just hoping to get lots and lots of good pointers to figure out how to even begin this paper.

Seven. As many of you have noticed (and liked!), I changed my blog layout. I was getting sick of the old one and I now have pages! I’m working on a blogroll but it’s a lot of work! I do have a question for all you web-savvy people. I want to put up some social media buttons (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, RSS Feed, GMail, etc.) but I’m not sure how I can do it and make them line up nicely in one row. (I’m anal like that.) Anyone willing to help a blogger out? I will love you forever and ever and ever and ever.

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten on Tuesday (vol. 11)

1. What accomplishment are you most proud of?

Graduating with my high school diploma and two-year college degree, all in the same month! I went to a progressive charter high school where I took college classes that counted as high school credit so had my two-year degree at the age of 18! Of course, I should have graduated with my four-year degree in 2008 but let’s just not talk about that, shall we?

2. How much did you weigh when you were born?

Five pounds, even! I was a tiny, little thing!

3. What is your favorite perfume?

I don’t really have one. I don’t wear much perfume. What I like to do is buy my mom perfume for Mother’s Day, her birthday, and Christmas and then use her old perfume when she starts using her new perfume. Yep. That’s how I roll. I’m currently using some sort of Victoria’s Secret PINK perfume and it smells yummy.

4. How many siblings do you have?

Just my brother, who is one of my heroes. He’s 14 months older than me and we fought like cats and dogs growing up. Basically, we were each others best friends and worst enemies. But now we’re pretty close and I look up to him. A lot.

5. How many children would you like to have? (Or how many do you have?)

My golden number right now is four. And I know I’m kidding myself with this because, hello, I enjoy sleep and freedom! And birthing four children? Holy crap. I can barely handle period cramps. How am I going to get through labor? (Although I like to fool myself into thinking doctors will have devised a magical, natural pill that takes any labor pain away!) But I do want to have a few kids. Maybe.

6. What’s the best class you took in college?

Funny as it sounds, Introduction to Education. Although I ended up failing out of teaching, it was such a fun class that taught me so much. I felt that I had finally found my purpose and passion with this class. And, a requirement of the course, was to volunteer for 20 hours in a school so I was able to go back to my old elementary school and volunteer with my most favorite teacher EVAH, which was such a fun experience.

7. What was your favorite game to play when you were a child?

As an outside game, kickball. I loved the team aspect and the easiness of the sport. It was a fun game to play. As a board game, I was most definitely a Clue girl. I still love that game to this day. And now they have so many different types and I want to buy them all!

8. What character on Friends are you most like?

I’m definitely a Chandler. I know, I know. I should be a girl. But I’m not as flighty as Phoebe, as crazy as Monica, or as pretty as Rachel. I’m a Chandler. I’m funny and goofy like he is.

9. Are you a phone person? (ie: Do you like talking on the phone?)

NO! I hate it, hate it, hate it. I’ve never liked talking on the phone. I always get nervous when the phone rings and have an allergic reaction to calling people. (Sweaty palms, beating heart, body heating up.) I just want to text or e-mail everyone.

10. What was the best vacation you ever took?

My trip to Virginia/West Virginia when I was 12. It was my first time seeing snow and going skiing. The trip up there wasn’t too much fun with seven of us crammed in a van with ALL of our luggage. But when we arrived in Virginia, it was snowing. It was my first time ever seeing that in real life so 12-year-old Stephany was amazed. I sucked at skiing but it was still a lot of fun. (I ended up dropping a pole once and then a SKI once on the ride up the mountain.) And after four days in Virginia, we traveled to West Virginia where we went to another ski resort to ski at night. This is also the state where I learned of the circle of life when my grandfather killed a deer.

Categories: Recurring Series

Another List for Friday

One of these days, I’m going to think of a catchy name for this. I was thinking on it a few days ago and thought to myself, “Oh! How about Five on Friday?!” And then I realized how familiar it sounded. So…yeah. Still thinking.

  • My grandma went in for a PET scan last week. Her last 3 have been clean, although on her last one, they found a spot of something on her lung. Since the doctors didn’t know what it was, they weren’t too concerned. Well, that spot has grown and is now cancer. Boo. There is good news, though. The cancer is small and treatable. It’s only 10 millimeters long and she’ll have to have surgery to remove it, and then take a chemotherapy pill. (Yes! A pill!) Luckily, the chemotherapy won’t be as strong as it was her first time around so she won’t be as incredibly sick and weak as she was before. Still, it’s scary and I’m not very happy about this!
  • I’ve run into a big problem this week: lunch. I’m not a girl who likes to skip meals. I like to eat and get extremely cranky and weak if I don’t get my nourishment. But I didn’t seem to schedule enough time between work and classes and my internship to have time for lunch. The two days I’m having the most trouble with are Tuesdays and Thursdays when I go straight from work to a class and then have about 30 minutes between the end of class and the start of my internship. Only I have to use that time to change from Preschool Teacher (i.e., uniform, no make-up, messed-up hair) to Professional Intern. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to eat lunch. I know I need to start scheduling my time better, because this can’t continue! A busy girl needs food!
  • I’m really, really interested in buying my own domain. And I want to move this blog over to WordPress. I talked to two girls about it and am fairly certain of how to make the switch. But I need your help! Who would you recommend me buying a domain from? I’ve only really heard two names thrown around: Go Daddy and BlueHost. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE give me some ideas! I will love you forever and ever, amen.
  • Well, I’m now a freelancer for my school’s newspaper. I was really upset I didn’t make it on as a full-time staffer but this is probably a better situation for me. As a full-time staffer, I would’ve had to write 2 stories a week but a freelancer only has to write 2 stories a month. It’ll probably be much easier to handle, but now I have to think of something to write about! Yikes!
  • Also, for all you football fans! GO COLTS this weekend! I’m not too picky on the NFC Championship game because it would be great to see Brett Favre in another Superbowl but then the Saints deserve a Superbowl trip, too! Both are extremely great football teams and I’m looking forward to a good game! (Although, I could care less about a good game with the AFC Championship game. I just want the Colts to beat up the Jets!)
Categories: Recurring Series

Ten on Tuesday (vol. 10)

Another edition of Ten on Tuesday! Also, Chelsea is having another (and final! For now!) giveaway where you could win adorable labels for your mail! I don’t send out much snail mail but these labels are enough to make me want to! Head on over to her giveaway post where she has FIVE ways to win. And she’s picking 3 winners this week!

1. Favorite book(s) when you were a child and why?

I was probably the biggest fan of The Baby-Sitters Club you could ever meet. Funny thing is, I’ve only babysat maybe twice in my entire life. But I loved this series because of the characters. After just reading the first novel, I grew close to Kristy, Claudia, Mary-Anne, Stacey (who was sophisticated. Can I just tell you how much I loved that word when I was eight?), Mallory and Jessie. And then Dawn was introduced and later Abby. I loved these girls and felt like they were my closest friends. A part of me really wants to re-read the series!

2. First “grown-up” book you remember reading (i.e. written for adolescents or with adult themes, such as The Outsiders or Catcher in the Rye).

OK. This is weird to admit. And I’m taking the adult theme a little far, maybe. But when I was in middle school, I was over at my dad’s house one weekend and didn’t have anything to read. So he found a book of my grandma’s to read. Only it was an adult book, as in adult themes. As in, kissing and sex and naked bodies. I devoured that book and probably read it 3 or 4 times in the next few weeks. It definitely wasn’t a book a 13-year-old should be reading and, honestly, I don’t know why my dad ever thought it was a good idea for me to read it!

3. Favorite movie that came from a book (even if you didn’t read the book and just love the movie).

I would have to say The Notebook. I never read the book but loved the movie so, so much that I’m a little scared to read the book. I know books are usually better than the movies but still, this movie was so good! Also, laugh all you want, but The Princess Diaries. Books were AMAZING and the movies were cute as well.

4. Movie that you loved so much that you WISHED there was a book out so that you could find out more about the movie.

Hm…can I say Leap Year? I just saw the movie so it’s fresh in my mind. And I thought it was such an adorable chick flick and can’t stop thinking about it. Man, this is a bad answer. Moving on…

5. Worst book you’ve ever read?

There are so many! Mostly, those corny chick-lit/romance novels that are so cheesy and use stupid words that nobody uses anymore.

6. Book that everyone raves about that you either a) haven’t read and feel slightly dumb for not having read it or b) have tried to read and hated and so feel slightly dumb that everyone is getting something you don’t.

Twilight. The Harry Potter series. And most of Emily Giffin’s books. I only really liked Something Borrowed and Baby Proof. Her other two haven’t really done anything for me. She takes so darn long for the story to get started and my attention span just can’t stay with a book until Chapter 12, when everything really seems to get interesting.

7. If you were forced to choose only 3 books that you could read for the rest of your life, which ones would they be? (Or if you were stranded on a desert island, which 3 books would you want there with you?).

Miss Match by Erynn Mangum for a fun, pleasure read; Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy to keep me centered; and The Bible because it’s a pat answer that I should write, right?

8. Name one book that if you could recommend that everyone you know read, what is it?

I don’t know about everyone, but one book I would recommend to any girl to read is Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy. It’s such a radical book that transformed the way I thought of God and a relationship with Him. I’ve read it multiple times and I could read it again and again. I love it.

9. What is your “guilty pleasure” reading?

I read a lot of trashy romance novels. You know the type: guy meets girl, guy kisses girl, guy takes girl’s clothes off, guy and girl have sex, guy and girl realize they’re in love with one another, guy and girl get married and live happily ever after. There’s no literature value to it but it helps me escape. Ha!

10. What book (excepting the Bible or other major document of your religion/faith) has changed your outlook on life the most?

Refer to Question #8. I can’t talk enough about this book! It really transformed my life. The main message of the novel is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whom she calls our Prince. And the book focuses on how much God loves us, pursues after us, and desperately wants a close, intimate relationship with Him.