Recurring Series

Currently in May

anticipating recording podcast episodes with Bri over the next few weeks. (We haven’t recorded in two months!)

researching tours to do in Charleston for my mom’s birthday trip in July.

buying a new set of Mixtiles when they were having a great sale—16 canvas tiles for $100. (My mom and I went in together, so we each got 8 tiles for $50!)

thinking about my upcoming move and the fact that it’s only 5 months away! I am so excited to move, you guys. So. Excited.

reading The 1619 Project very slowly. I read one chapter every day or so. It’s dense and heavy, but I’m learning so much.

happy to report that my family member is responding well to cancer treatment. He was on a regimen of chemo and radiation and the radiation worked so well, he doesn’t have to do it anymore!

excited every time I see a blooming crepe myrtle tree in my neighborhood.

using the Pomodoro productivity method as I’m working to make sure I stay on task throughout the day (my focus has been terrible lately).

committed to getting into a better nighttime routine, especially as my psychiatrist was quick to point out that having a soothing nighttime routine could be helpful for my anxiety. (Imagine that!)

hoping that my mole removal on Friday goes well and the residual pain is minimal. I remember the area hurting a lot the last time I got a mole removed once the numbing agent wore off, so I’m prepared for a bit of pain.

loving my new bed. Every time I climb into bed, I am so, so happy because my new bed is so cozy and comfy. I waited so long for a new bed and it was well worth the wait!

needing to replace my running shoes. I honestly can’t remember when I bought the shoes I currently wear, but the soles are completely worn down and it’s really time for new shoes.

proud that I have managed to work out almost every day in May (I took Mother’s Day off because I had a killer headache when I woke up). There’s something about the idea of doing something every day that keeps the excuses away.

relieved that I finally sold my old bedframe. It’s been on Facebook Marketplace for a two weeks now and I’ve had to reduce the price a bunch, but didn’t want to reduce it any further. I should have it off my hands today!

loathing dealing with grown-up issues like having to find out why my water bill is 4x the amount it usually is (pretty sure I don’t have a leak, so it’s concerning)

watching Happy Endings. (I put it aside to watch Love is Blind and Master Chef, but now I’m back.) I started season 2 this week, and it just keeps getting better and better.

preparing to do an Enneagram training with my department at work. I am super excited to introduce everyone to the Enneagram and find out the numbers for all of our managers and our writers. I truly do feel like the Enneagram can be such a powerful tool, as it teaches you so much about your personality, motivations, and fears. And it’s very useful in a work setting, too! I’m looking forward to helping everyone discover their Enneagram number.

listening to the “Goodbye Michael” episodes of the Office Ladies podcast. I put off watching these episodes of the show because they were just going to make me sad, and they did, but I’m glad I powered through, especially so I could listen to Jenna and Angela talk to Steve Carrell about his time on the show.

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday: Lila May

On Monday, it was Lila’s turn to have a birthday! Now, I have two five-year-old daughters. Where does the time go?! 😉 Let’s give Lila some time to shine this week, shall we?

1) Sleep

Lila does not want for places to sleep around my apartment. While she generally doesn’t sleep with me at night, every now and then I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to find her curled up on the bed near me. And she’ll usually jump on the bed after she hears my alarm go off so she can get some good, sleepy snuggles as I’m waking up. It’s really cute. Here’s where Lila sleeps around the apartment:

Her hammock – I was worried that neither cat would use this cute hammock, but Lila adores it. It’s placed right in front of a window so she can watch what’s going on outside and also take naps in the sun when she wants.
Various beds around the apartment – There’s the rainbow unicorn covered bed by the couch, the scratchy gray bed by the window, the pink kitty bed near the front door, and the scratch lounger in the dining room… girlfriend loves all of them and rotates through them throughout the week.
Under the couch – When I got my new couch last year, I was worried that it was too low to the ground and Lila wouldn’t be able to get underneath it. (She hides here when company is over, when she hears a knock at the door, and just to get some introvert time during the day.) But she’s able to get super low and slither underneath for some good under-the-couch naps when she wants them.
Between the coffee table and couch – She loves this little area between the coffee table and the couch. It’s a decent hiding place for her (or so she thinks).
The cat tower – Lila uses the cat tower the most and will usually take long afternoon naps in one of the condos (sometimes with her face smushed against the panel, which makes me laugh every time). She’s even used the hammock a few times, which always delights me!
The couch – She loves a good couch nap! She’ll sleep all over the couch (she doesn’t have one specific spot like Eloise) but is partial to the chaise part of the couch as well as the top of the couch where I keep the blankets.
On my bed – Like I said, she doesn’t necessarily sleep with me, but she will come up on the bed when I’ve gotten settled in for the night and I’m reading my book. She lounges on the pillow next to me, pokes me with a paw so I’ll pet her, and also forces me to give her the inside of my elbow so she can lick it. The girl wants what she wants!
On my used towels, dirty clothes, and smelly running shoes – Listen, I understand the towels and clothes. They smell like me and they’re soft. It’s like cozying up to Mom without dealing with Mom’s exuberant love. But my running shoes? Why, Lila? She loves them, you guys. She will snuggle up to them like they’re a soft, cozy blanket. Crazy girl.

2) Toys

Lila isn’t as into toys as Ellie is, but she has a few favorites:

Crinkle balls – She loves a crinkle ball. Whenever she finds one, she will go to town, batting it all around the apartment. She’ll pick up the ball with her mouth to carry it over to another area of the apartment where she can bat it around.
Lasers – I don’t play the laser game as much as I should with them (it honestly just makes me sad because they keep chasing something they can’t get!), but when I do get out the laser, Lila will run all around the apartment trying to get it. She will literally run Eloise over to grab that laser.
Catnip toys – Every now and then, I’ll find Lila splayed out on her back with a catnip toy in her paws as she rubs her face all over it. The good drugs, man.

3) Treats

Oh, sweet Lila is a girl after my own heart, as she goes nuts for treats. (We call them “yum-yums” in our house.) My favorite thing to do is shake the treat jar when I know she’s under the couch to see how fast she slithers out and comes running over to the table to get some treats. When I’m feeding them treats, I have to piece them out a little at a time because Lila scarfs hers down while Eloise takes her time with each morsel. So I have to wait for Eloise to finish her portion of treats before doling out a second portion, keeping an eye on Lila, because she has been known to swoop in and steal Ellie’s treats. (When Lila has finished her portion of treats, she’ll look down at the table, look up, and give me a meow, as if to say, “I need more yum-yums, please!”) She likes her Temptations and Greenies, but she will go crazy for Sheba Meaty Tender Sticks. Anytime I even open the door to the cabinet that holds the meaty sticks, she will come into the kitchen, meow at me, and then if I get one out, she’ll start meowing really loudly and doing excited circles like she’s a dog. The meaty sticks are an every-once-in-a-while treat, so she gets real pumped when they come out.

4) Squeaky meows

Lila has the cutest, squeakiest little meow that completely melts my heart every time I hear it. She’s not as talkative as Ellie; she saves her meows for very important things, like getting excited about yum-yums. For the longest time, I didn’t hear her meow at all and then one day, she just meowed at me for some reason and it came out as this squeaky little thing that surprised me so much! It’s so different from Ellie’s meows! She will usually give me one squeaky meow when she wants to be petted and sometimes, I swear she’s responding to my question, “Are you my best friend?” (a question I ask the cats multiple times a day) with this soft meow that sounds like she’s saying “Yeah.” I also adore this little trilling noise she makes every time she’s jumping onto the table or bed or couch. EVERYTHING SHE DOES IS CUTE, OKAY?

5) Being her person

Lila is not a cat that gives her affection freely to anyone. When I originally saw her at the shelter, she had a sign on her cage that cautioned me to go slowly with her because she was really shy. But she immediately came up to me when I called to her and rubbed her head all over my fingers. It was love at first sight, truly. While I wish more people got to enjoy Lila’s fun personality and snuggly floof, I am also really happy to be her person. With me, she feels comfortable and secure and happy. She still doesn’t love when I pick her up, but she’ll let me if I need to. She draws comfort from me, and there’s no greater feeling than to make a skittish kitty who probably had a rough go of it in her early life feel like she’s safe with me.

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 92)

1) A new bed

I am so thrilled to report that my new bed is here, and I haven’t slept better in years. On Wednesday, my brother and his work partner came over to deliver my new mattress and box spring. They also took apart my old bed, put together my new one, and dropped my old mattress/box spring at the trash. After thanking them profusely for doing all of that, my brother’s partner said, “Of course! You’re family.” Which just melted me for some reason. My first night on my new bed was amazing. I don’t think I realize how saggy and lumpy my old mattress had gotten until I slept on this new mattress. I am sleeping so soundly on this new mattress and waking up without any aches and pains. It’s a whole new world for me!

2) Charleston in July

My mom and I booked a long weekend trip to Charleston for her birthday! We’ll get in early on Friday (our flight leaves at 7am, oy vey) and leave on Monday morning. We’ll essentially have three full days there to explore, and I’ve already started crafting our itinerary. There are lots of fun tours that we’re looking at, including a harbor tour, carriage tour of the city, and ghost tour. I also want to visit Fort Sumter and I know my mom will want to visit a few breweries.

There are also a handful of plantation tours that can be taken, but the idea of touring a plantation makes me feel squicky. I would like to visit a plantation that centers Black voices and Black stories – not one that whitewashes this part of our history. A lot of the plantation tours do that, so I’ve been trying to do my research and so far, McLeod Plantation might be an option. I’m still not sure about it, though. I need to do more research on how Black people feel about plantation tours and if it’s even worth going.

3) An official title

This week, the woman I’m dating and I made things official! So I officially have a girlfriend, and that feels so exciting to me. We have been really good about having honest conversations about where things are going and how we’re feeling. While I hadn’t been on the dating apps since our first date, a few weeks into dating, we talked about being exclusive and that’s when I officially deleted my dating apps. And now we’re both really in this thing. It’s something I really didn’t expect, but I am so glad I reached out to her on Hinge when I saw she was a bookworm who wanted to date a reader. We have been on so many bookish dates (we’ve had dates at three different bookstores, if that tells you anything about us) and it’s so fun to be able to get really deep into nerdy book talk with her. Anyway, dating can be a drag a lot of times, but every once in a while, magic happens.

4) Birthday girls

It’s birthday time here in our household, which means it’s present time, too! Here’s what the girls are getting for their birthdays:

A new scratching post, from me – This is their favorite scratching post, which I bought way back in 2018 before I had adopted any cats. (I did a huge Chewy order for cat supplies to prepare for my eventual cats!) It’s a bit beat up after 3-and-a-half years of use and they have earned themselves a new one for their birthdays. It’s an expensive cat scratcher at $50 but it’s worth it!
A cat-shaped cat scratch lounger, for Lila, from my mom – Lila loves sleeping on a cat scratch lounger and the one I have in my dining room is a little worn down at this point. I found this adorable lounger on Chewy and sent it to my mom for Lila’s birthday. I think she’s going to love it! (Or she’ll never use it, but Ellie will.) (Or neither of the cats will use it and I’ll be annoyed.) CATS.
Feliner Diner scratch house, for Eloise, from my mom – We all know that Eloise loves a scratch house so I perused Target and Chewy for some options for my mom. She chose this one, which I think Ellie will really like. And I’ll enjoy all the free milkshakes she has to make for me! 😉

5) Weekend plans

This should be a fun, but not too busy weekend for me! Today, I have no plans so I’d like to spend a lot of time parked on the couch reading, as I’ve barely cracked open my book this week! Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela and then game night with the fam. And on Sunday, my girlfriend and I booked an hour in a cat cafe! She’s more of a dog person than a cat person, but she is willing to hang out with some cats for me. <3 We’ll be going to brunch afterward. I predict a three-nap weekend with plenty of social plans, so that’s the sign of a perfect weekend for me.

What are your weekend plans? If you have any Charleston recs, send ’em my way!

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday: Eloise Joy

On Monday, my sweet darling Eloise turned 5 years old! To celebrate, here’s a whole Five for Friday post dedicated to her.

1) Sleep

Eloise likes to sleep in many areas around the apartment. Her favorite places, in no particular order:

My office chair (and if I’m sitting in the chair, she forces me to scooch over so that we can sit there together)
The top platforms of the cat tower
The ottoman under my desk (originally bought so I could have a place to rest my feet but now mostly resides there for Ellie)
One particular spot on the couch (in between cushions 1 and 2)
My bed (she’ll usually lay here all morning long)
Under the quilt on my bed (this happens every now and then, and it reminds me of Dutch who also loved burrowing under blankets)

She doesn’t sleep with me every night but more nights than not, I’ll wake up to find her curled up on me – either my back (if I’m sleeping on my stomach), my hip/thighs (if I’m on my side), or my belly (if I’m on my back). Sometimes she will have wriggled her way in between my legs. I love waking up to find her sleeping on me. I just get to pet a sleepy, satisfied cat while I slowly wake up!

2) Toys

Toys are so individual, aren’t they? Dutch didn’t play with toys at all. Chip just wants to destroy toys as fast as possible. And Lucy loves all of the toys she gets (they just don’t last long, thanks to Chip, sigh). Eloise is my cat that loves a good toy! She most especially loves the small toys that she can bat around the apartment. At least a few times a day, I will hear her meowing in the bedroom and find her happily playing with one of her catnip toys. She bats them around up onto my bed, around the bedposts, underneath doorframes, all around the living room… I honestly find the toys in a different location every night! Right now, this candy-shaped Christmas toy and fish taco are her favorites. These are the toys I bought for, like, $3 at Target on a whim. She also loves the catnip toys from Tacocat Creations (those have been so well-loved that I eventually have to throw them away because she destroys them). And, of course, crumpled-up pieces of paper, hair ties, receipts, etc., are much loved by her.

It brings me great joy whenever I see her playing with these toys. If I catch her in the act, she’ll look at me like she’s embarrassed to be caught and I’ll say in the cringiest voice, “Were you PLAYING?!” She loves it. I know she does.

3) Boxes, bags, scratch houses, oh my!

Eloise is the kind of cat who will jump into any box or any bag that is deep enough for her to sit in. If there’s an empty reusable grocery bag sitting on the floor, she wants to hop into it. Whenever I get a package, I’ll empty out the box and then set it in the living room for her. “Here’s a box for you!” I say to her. She loves to sit in a box and then just stare judgmentally at everyone around her, as if daring you to say something. It’s the funniest thing! Her expression is to die for.

She also loves a good scratch house. She had a taco truck at one point, but it started to get torn up pretty quickly and I eventually had to throw it away. But her groovy bus, that thing has stuck around for years now. My mom bought her this bus for her birthday one year, and whenever she goes inside it, I pretend she’s taking a trip to my mom’s house. The visual of her just zooming along the roads in her bus makes me giggle every time. She’ll use the scratch pad in the groovy bus, but mostly just likes sleeping in its confined space.

4) Conversations with a cat

Eloise is my chatty cat who happily meows at me all the time. I love having conversations with her, although I’m sure she’s annoyed that I’m not actually answering the questions she’s asking me since I don’t speak cat. She tends to be the most chatty right before I go to bed. If I go into my room to put my water cup on my bedside table and plug in my phone, she’ll run into the room after me, jump on the bed, and start loudly meowing at me. “Are you going to bed, Mom? Do you have everything you need? You’re not going to watch those weird ASMR videos again, are you?” Yes, yes, and of course I am. Sometimes, I’ll hear her meow “MAMA?” really loudly. It sounds like she’s trying to find out where I am, and it’s so cute. I’ll say, “What’s up, Ellie?” and she’ll come running over to me from the bedroom. Listen, I know she’s not saying “Mama” and it just sounds like she is, but let me have my fun, okay?

5) Velcro kitty

I call Eloise my “Velco kitty.” She’s never far from my side, always needing to know where I am. Sometimes it feels like she’s literally Velcro-ed to me, such as when she’s sitting next to me in my office chair or sleeping on my stomach at night. Whenever I open the shower curtain after finishing a shower or when I get up from the tub after a bath, there she is: hanging out right outside the bathroom door. If she hears me talking to my mom on the phone, she’s right there, either prancing back and forth on my desk in front of my phone or sitting right next to me, as if listening intently to our conversation. She’s needy for pets at all times and will even poke me in the middle of the night if I’m sleeping instead of petting her. But honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love our bond and I love that we’re so connected like this. I really didn’t expect to have such a strong bond with a cat. Aren’t they aloof and want their alone time? Nope, just a myth. Eloise (and Lila, too) are affectionate and sweet and desperate for attention. It’s my favorite thing about them.

Categories: Recurring Series

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

This is a series I used to do frequently and the concept is simple: you list out some of the things you did yesterday, plan to do today, and will do tomorrow. Let’s dive in!

Yesterday, I…

Woke up at my mom’s house. I’m puppy-sitting this week and it’s always easiest for me to come over to my mom’s house to watch them rather than having the dogs in my apartment. The cats and the dogs don’t exactly get along, heh. So I spent all day Tuesday with the dogs, including waking up with them!
Had a very easy workday. It was a busy one, but I didn’t have any meetings, which meant I could keep up with my inbox and speed through some of my tasks without interruption. It’s always nice to have a day like that!
Got the sweetest compliment from a client. I don’t write content anymore and haven’t since I became a manager in February of last year. But every now and then, my writing skills are needed for a variety of reasons. Recently, we had a client that was unhappy with the writing on a set of pages and had a lot of edits he wanted us to incorporate. So I offered to help with the edits, which entailed a lot of rewriting and flexing those creative muscles I don’t get to use as much anymore. It was fun and I enjoyed it, and it was even better to receive a really happy email from the client who fawned over my writing. This is a tough client to please, so knowing I made him happy with my writing made me really happy. And hey, I guess my writing skills aren’t too rusty after many months of little to no use.
Had a great date night at a new restaurant that just opened a few weeks ago. The ambiance was… questionable and the food was okay. But we haven’t seen each other in over a week so it felt so good to see her and catch up and just talk about life for a bit.
Released the fifth episode of our season on work! We talked about the 5 Work Love Languages in this episode, and it was really fun.

Today, I…

Will get to spend the day with my cats! I left them on Monday afternoon and I was already missing them by Monday evening, ha. Today, I’ll work from my apartment for most of the day, which means copious cat snuggles (and a nap that won’t involve getting attacked with kisses and Chip trying to steal my blanket).
Will likely hit up Einstein’s Bagels for breakfast before heading home for the day. I’ve been dreaming of an everything bagel with onion-and-chive cream cheese!
Will hopefully hear from my mom for the first time in two days. I miss being able to talk to her 2-3 times a day about every stupid thing that flits through my head. She’s on a cruise with my stepdad and didn’t buy one of the (stupidly expensive) Internet packages while on the ship. She’ll be in Cozumel today and hopefully, we can exchange some text messages at least!
Will call my therapist to schedule an appointment. I had to cancel on her this week and I was thinking that it may be a good time to finally “graduate” myself from therapy, but I’ve been having a rough time this week and… I do not think I am ready for that graduation quite yet. I really hope she can fit me in for an appointment on Thursday. I knew I was co-dependent on my mother but whew, the intense anxiety and loneliness I’ve experienced this week has been eye-opening to say the least.
Will watch this week’s episode of Survivor. I am really engaged with this season and the cast is just so much fun to watch.

Tomorrow, I…

Will have my last full day at my mom’s house. (She and Robert come home on Friday.) Like Tuesday, the plan is to wake up at my mom’s and spend the entire day there since the cats will be okay without me for a day or two.
Will have my first meeting since Monday. It’s been nice to have multiple days in a row without meetings to attend. We will likely have a lot to talk about during this meeting so I need to get my thoughts together on what I want to say.
Will attend book club! We’re having our first “normal” book club of the year: just dinner! Haha. Tomorrow is my friend Amber’s birthday and this is what she chose. I’m excited to give her the prezzies I picked out for her and see all my friends. I’ve missed them!
Will water all of the different plants. My stepdad has gotten into gardening and my mom has picked up a few plants to keep around the house, so I made sure to ask about the watering schedule so they don’t come home to dead plants. To illuminate your garden and be kind to the environment try led festoon lights that use less energy, reducing consumption and household carbon emissions.
Will do “training homework” with Chip and Lucy. As I mentioned on a previous blog post, Chip is doing one-on-one training and has a ton of commands he’s learning each week. While Lucy isn’t officially getting the training, she learns the commands afterwards and is doing pretty well! I learned all the commands so that I could continue their “training homework” while my mom and stepdad were away.

Tell me something you did yesterday!