Recurring Series

TGIF (v. 43)

The high of my week was my beloved Miami Dolphins’ historic win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday! I think my heart rate is still trying to recover from that game. The Dolphins played like shit all throughout the first half and I was just hoping they could go into the locker room at halftime, adjust their strategy, and come out strong in the second half. But as anyone who has been a fan of a struggling team knows, I had very little hope of anything good happening. AND YET. They pulled out a win, overcame a 21-point deficit, and made history. Did you know that teams down 21+ points going into the 4th quarter are 0-711? Well, now that stat is 1-711 because the Dolphins pulled out a W. WHAT A FRIGGIN GAME. Can you tell that I am still on a high, five days later?

The low of my week was a dear friend going through a really, really tough time. It’s so hard when a friend who is usually so sunshine-y and supportive goes through shitty circumstance after shitty circumstance, and there’s nothing you can do to help, other than offer love and support. My heart is really heavy because she’s hurting.

An Internet find I loved was this amazing Tik Tok. I love a good hype girl!

One nagging task I crossed off my to-do list this week was calling my insurance company! When I went to pick up my birth control last week at my pharmacy, I found out that I was charged $36 for a three-month supply. What?! Isn’t birth control free? When I called my insurance company, they gave me the weirdest reasoning: Apparently, I can only get a free fill of my birth control twice a year. If I want to continue getting free birth control, I need to use UnitedHealthcare’s mail-order prescription service. ?!!?!? It’s so weird!

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Adnan Is Out on Serial. AHHH! I was so excited when I saw that Serial released a new episode to discuss the news about Adnan being released from prison. Like everyone else in the world, I was obsessed with the first season of Serial and I came away feeling very certain that Adnan Syed was not guilty. Maybe you feel differently and that’s okay. But after everything that came to light in the past few years and the way the investigation was fully botched by the police department and prosecutors, I am very, very glad that Adnan was freed from prison and I hope he can be fully exonerated soon.

The best money I spent this week was on fall decor for my apartment! Everyone on Instagram kept talking about bringing out their fall decor and how excited they were about it, and I realized that while I have plenty of Christmas decor, I don’t have any fall decor. I had to rectify that so I spent a little bit of money this week on fall signage, pumpkins, candles, and more to make my home feel a little more festive. It’s still disgustingly hot outside, but at least I can light a pumpkin candle and pretend it’s fall.

My plans this weekend include a facial this afternoon followed by a long, satisfying nap, a writing date with Mikaela and Eleni on Saturday afternoon, attending my nephew’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon (we’re playing laser tag!), and then hanging at my mom’s later that evening to watch the Big Brother season finale. It should be a good weekend!

What was a highlight of your week?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 86)

1) I was a bit surprised to find a paper on my door last week about renewing my lease. I can’t believe I have been in this apartment for two years already! I was also surprised to find out that my rent will be increasing by $300 per month. !!! They have never increased my rent that much and it’s a staggering number. I started looking around at rental prices, though, and even with this massive increase, I will still pay $300+ less than anywhere else for the same amount of space. Ugh. So I’m going to renew my lease for one year and start making plans to move out at the end of that lease (November 2023). I’m just not in the financial place to move (nor in the financial place to see a $800 increase in rent!), but if I have 14 months to prepare, I know I can make it happen. I’m already looking forward to the packing/unpacking process! (Not sarcasm; I genuinely enjoy this process.)

2) My big toe that got injured during my tumble down the stairs on my vacation is healing nicely. It’s still a little sore from time to time, but I can walk normally now and I’ve been able to work out again, although I’m trying to take it easy with low-impact workouts. I’m guessing I just bruised the toe; I thought I had broken it because there was a bruise right above the toenail and that’s usually an indication of a fracture, but I think it just got a bit pummeled in my fall and bruised up. I’m just really glad I didn’t have to go to urgent care! There’s not much that can be done for a broken toe anyway, but I would have gone if I was still in great pain/unable to walk after a week. Hooray for saving a few hundred dollars on an urgent care visit. 🙂

3) I had a big dinner failure this week, when I tried to make a grilled cheese sandwich for the first time ever. Can you believe I’ve never had a grilled cheese sandwich? I didn’t love cheese when I was growing up, so it was never something my mom made for me. And most grilled cheese sandwiches use yellow American cheese, which is my least-favorite cheese. But I decided to attempt an elevated version of this recipe, using sourdough bread, sharp cheddar cheese, and this delicious butter spread, cooked in my air fryer. Unfortunately, my grilled cheese sandwich turned out incredibly burnt and disgusting-looking. AND I picked up an unsliced loaf of sourdough bread at the grocery store this week, and trying to slice it up on my own was way harder than I expected. Womp! It was not a good time. I’m going to attempt to make it again tonight, using pre-sliced sourdough bread and bringing down the cook time in my air fryer by two minutes on each side. Fingers crossed!

4) I always listen to audiobooks on 1.75x speed, although I will sometimes bring it down to 1.5x speed, depending on the narrator or book topic. I know people who listen to audiobooks on 2.5x or 3x speed, which seems crazy to me. I’m kinda skeptical that you can really take in a book’s contents when you’re listening that fast, but I digress. I do not, however, listen to podcasts on faster speeds. For some reason, it just felt wrong to listen to podcasts on faster speeds but I’ve gotten woefully behind on my podcast queue so I decided to try speeding up my podcast speed to help me knock out more podcast episodes in less time. I don’t do this for all podcasts, especially ones that are history-based or educational, but the ones that just have people chatting about everyday life? Hey, why not? I’ve been listening on 1.25-1.5x speed for those (and finally utilizing Overcast’s Smart Speed feature to shorten silences). It’s been great! There are a few podcasts that I think sound better on a faster speed, haha.

5) It will be a busy weekend around here! Today, Gladys (my beloved Kia Soul) has her first doctor’s appointment! Last weekend, I got an alert that her tire pressure was low and while I was able to go to one of those drive-up oil change places to get her tires pumped up quickly, I also decided it was time for a service check. (I’ve been waiting until she needed an oil change, but then I found out that I was supposed to schedule a service check after 6 months, which was in May. Oops.) I’m going to do that this morning, since I can work while I wait. I’m also going to retry my grilled cheese sandwich recipe while I watch a comedy special tonight! Tomorrow, it’s another podcast recording day with Bri! We plan on recording two more episodes of season 2. I also have a writing date with Mikaela in the late afternoon. And Sunday is, of course, football! It was so nice having football Sundays back in my life last week. My brother, my nephew, and I spend all day at my mom’s watching the games, and it’s a delight!

Do you speed up podcasts/audiobooks? What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

Everyday Moments | August 2022

1 – Our podcast finally being available on all of the platforms. It’s so exciting to be able to see our little icon in my podcast player!

2 – Officially launching our podcast into the world with our trailer episode.

3 – A bagel and coffee from Einstein’s. So good! Before the pandemic, my company used to get us Einstein’s Bagels every Friday morning, so it felt like old times.

4 – Hanging up my jewelry organizer. I love it so much!

5 – Lila finally using the cat bed that I bought… months and months ago. I have placed this dang cat bed all over the apartment to see if there was a specific location where they would actually use it. Turns out, plopping it right in front of my TV stand is what did it.

6 – A lovely haircut with a stylist I am quickly coming to adore. She’s just so peppy and immediately puts me in a good mood.

7 – A day date with my mom! We went to get her ears re-pierced, had lunch together, and then went to a furniture store to pick out a mattress for the bed in her guest room. Modern Resale has some amazing deals on high-quality furniture.

8 – Texting with my older nephew about fantasy football. So fun!

9 – Our first full-length podcast episode released today! What a momentous day!

10 – Spending the evening at my mom’s. There were dog snuggles, TV time, and chatting with my mom.

11 – Reading a romance that gave me ALL of the happy feels (Weather Girl).

12 – A venting work call with a colleague. Much needed!

13 – Game night with my mom and my brother—the OGs! It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing these game nights for so many years now.

14 – A visit to Trader Joe’s. It was stupid busy, but I always love picking up new-to-me food options.

15 – Rereading a favorite romance… and finishing it the same day I started it!

16 – A helpful therapy appointment, digging into some of the reasons behind this loneliness I’ve been feeling lately.

17 – Finishing work early and taking a nap on the couch.

18 – Episodes of The Office.

19 – Getting Wordle in 2! Only the second time that’s happened to me.

20 – A coffee/reading date with Amber. The coffee was fantastic!

21 – Sleeping in and spending the morning reading on the couch with Chip and Lucy.

22 – A podcast brainstorming session with Bri, during which Tessie (Bri’s adorable greyhound) curled up next to me.

23 – Voting in the primary and the people I wanted to win doing so!

24 – Going into the office for the day. I got to hug a ton of coworkers I haven’t seen since March 2020!

25 – A really good night of sleep after many restless nights.

26 – A facial that included the most wonderous scalp massage.

27 – Brunch book club and our family’s fantasy football draft. We had fun!

28 – A recording day for the podcast. We started recording episodes for season 2, and I’m excited to release these episodes soon.

29 – A lunch date with Mom. The Chick-Fil-A we go to recently remodeled and one of the sections they remodeled has booths that are SO close together. So close together that we cannot sit there. So we joke that that’s the “skinny section.” We tried sitting there today and we were like, “Nope, that’s the skinny section, remember? Gotta go to the fat section.” Tehehe.

30 – A really productive work day where I felt like I was doing a million things at once, but I felt really focused and energized all day. Love that!

31 – Having dinner made by Robert! He cooks for my mom on the nights they eat in (they love eating out, hence where I get my love for eating out) and he made us delicious spaghetti with meat sauce.

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently in August

Feeling… very ready for fall. While Florida will maintain its tropical climate for the rest of the year, most likely, I am still so ready for pumpkins, football, fall drinks at Starbucks, and all of the holidays. (If only I could add cooler weather, changing leaves, and wearing scarves to that list! Sigh.) The last four months of the year are my favorite, and while I honestly can’t wrap my mind around the fact that we are closer to the end of 2022 than the beginning, I am so excited for what the next few months will bring!

Watching… the final season of Superstore! I usually don’t like the final seasons of shows (which is why I’ve put off watching the last season of this show for so long), but this one has been pretty good. I like the way they are dealing with Covid on the show—it’s not fully realistic, of course, but for a TV show, it’s alright.

Listening to… my own podcast! We officially launched our bebe into the world in early August and it’s been so fun releasing episodes every week and seeing them download into my feed! I listen to every episode multiple times because first I have to listen to write down the show notes I need to add to our description and then I just like listening to the episode when it downloads to my podcast player. It’s so fun and I feel like Bri and I have a really great rapport with one another. You can probably tell why I love her so much!

Grateful for… the people in my life (and that includes you, dear readers!) I am so grateful for friends I can talk to about my life and feel that they truly listen. I am grateful that I can come to this blog and be honest about my struggles and feel heard. I am grateful that I have friends who have brought me into their families as one of their own. In my loneliest moments, I remember all of the people in my life who love me and want to be there for me. It means the world.

Anticipating… a Labor Day getaway with Amber and Bri! We’re spending Friday-Monday at a fun resort in Kissimmee. The resort has a big pool, a lazy river, and lots of fun things to do. We’re planning on taking a sunset airboat ride and playing a round or two of mini-golf in Downtown Disney, so it should be a really fun time.

Loathing… all of this anxiety I’ve been having lately. The anxiety has been worse than usual and Lisa brought up a really great point in my coffee date post that it may be time to look at my medication. I’ve been on Lexapro since I start taking anti-anxiety medication and I’m on the highest dosage available. I’ve always taken my meds in the morning but I think I might try taking them at night to see if that helps. My anxiety is always much worse at night than in the morning/daytime, so it might be useful to have higher levels of the drug in my system at night. I’ve also been contemplating taking some sort of CBD gummy at night to see if that helps me, but I’m not sure how it would interfere with Lexapro.

Thinking about… some little updates I want to make to my apartment. I want to change up the entryway wall to add a mirror and a new shelf that I could display cute seasonal decor. I also want to finish up my picture wall in my living room (I need about 8 more pictures). I’ve been wanting to commission pet portraits of Dutch, Eloise, and Lila to hang in my room, right above my bed. And there are some changes I’d like to make to my dining area, mostly wall decor like a clock, some cute prints, and maybe some of those floating bookshelves that I’ve been eyeing for a while. But all of this costs money and I am in a spending freeze for the foreseeable future. So all I can do is continue to think about what I want to do for my home, make wish lists, and hope that I can start plugging away at these updates soon.

Needing… new sandals. I was very close to pushing the purchase button on a pair of Vionic flip-flops but the $75 price tag makes me wince. I know they will be worth it, but I am so used to paying $20 or less for flip-flops, and my last pair from Target have lasted for nearly 5 years! But now they are coming apart at the seams, and I know it’s time for me to invest in a better pair of sandals. Right now, I’m wearing my knock-off Birkenstocks that I got from Target a few years ago. I have rarely worn them since I got them because the breaking-in process was a nightmare, but I’m finding them to be really comfortable lately. I’ll probably wear these for now, and invest in two really nice pairs of sandals after my spending freeze is over.

Buying… not a whole lot this month! However, every pay period, I have a $30 allowance where I can spend money on anything I want. I’m really enjoying the process of thinking hard about what I want! Last pay period, I bought earrings, a foundation brush, nail polish, and a pedicure foot mask. This pay period, I bought a necklace, some headbands, and a new lip color. So fun!

Loving… the way Lila has to make an appearance on every Zoom work call I make (but hides under the bed when company comes to the apartment), when I wake up from a nap to see Eloise curled up next to me, voting in Florida’s primary that will hopefully lead to kicking DeSantis and Rubio out of office, a weekend away with my fur-siblings, fantasy football drafts, and podcast recordings with Bri.

What are you currently anticipating?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 85)

1) Student loan forgiveness

I have to start this post with the best news of the week: Biden announcing student loan forgiveness! I have $7,800 left to pay for my undergraduate student loans, which means I am done paying my student loans for-ev-errrrrr. While I haven’t been paying much towards my student loans because of the payment pause and I get a $100 monthly reimbursement from my company to put towards my loans, this is still going to be a huge weight off my shoulders that I don’t have to worry about these dang loans anymore! For me, student loans were the only way I was able to attend college (I also got financial aid and had some scholarships). And that’s true for many, many people like me who didn’t have parents who could pay for their child’s college tuition (and everything else that comes with college life). But then we get out of college with thousands and thousands of dollars in loans we have to pay back, working at jobs that barely pay us enough to live, let alone put hundreds of dollars a month towards paying off our loans. (True story: my salary was $25,000 for the first few years out of college, and this was in 2011-2013!) This news is such a relief to so many of us.

2) A very social week

It has been a very social week for me, which has been great for my loneliness! I had two friend dates on Saturday, lunch with my mom on Monday and then dinner with Bri that evening, and a day at the office on Wednesday where I got to hug a lot of coworkers I haven’t seen since March 2020 and have lunch with two of my fave coworkers! It has done my soul a lot of good to have so much social interaction, even though I really, really wanted to stay home and not go into the office on Wednesday. But I knew I would enjoy being around people, and I did. (Yes, even though I am your classic introvert, I still need social interaction. All people do!) While the loneliness hasn’t quite gone away, I am putting in the effort to ease it and that feels so good.

3) Becoming a mood reader

I’ve been in a weird place with reading lately. It’s not exactly a reading rut; it’s more that I feel very tender emotionally right now, and I’ve been very wary of reading books that feel too dark or hit me in my emotional feels. Maybe it’s time for me to become a mood reader?! I’ve never been one, but I’m starting to understand the appeal. But I need some logistics here: How do you read based on your moods when you’re a library user? Do you just request a whole bunch of books at one time and then pick based on how you’re feeling? I’ve always been someone who reads based on a very strict TBR, but it hasn’t really been working out lately. But I feel very weird about not using a TBR list to set my upcoming reads. Like, who am I without a reading list? Am I just supposed to peruse my shelves and pick up what sounds good at the moment? I feel like I’m free-falling by not having a strict TBR list that sets out my next read!

4) Internet schminternet

I have been having these weird Internet issues, but it only happens to some of my devices. For a while now, my personal laptop hasn’t been able to connect to wifi unless I restart my Internet modem through my Internet provider’s app. My wifi connection works just fine on my work laptop, my TV, and my phone; it was just my personal laptop, leading me to think it was a problem with that laptop (it’s a bit of an older gal). But now, I can’t get my personal laptop to connect to wifi no matter how many times I reset or restart my Internet modem and my wifi connection has stopped working on Kindle. (I was trying to download an e-book to read, please see above, but I couldn’t! Oh, the horror!) I called my Internet provider but even they couldn’t get it to work, so my next step is to have the modem replaced. I’ve had this modem for a while now (6 years) so it’s probably time for an upgrade. Fingers crossed this does the trick!

5) Weekend plans

It’s going to be a fun and busy weekend for me! Today, I have a facial with my favorite esthetician and I’m baking blueberry muffins for book club tomorrow. On Saturday, we’re doing brunch book club at Bri’s house and later, I’m doing my family’s fantasy football draft, which I am very much looking forward to! And on Sunday, Bri and I are meeting to record a few episodes of season two of the podcast! I’m so excited to get back into the podcasting chair with Bri. 🙂