Recurring Series

Currently | February 2022

Loving… my new role at work. It has been quite the change to shift from a writer to a manager this month. After 8 years of working on deadlines and writing taking up the majority of my tasks, I’ve relished having different tasks to accomplish and settling into my role as a manager. At the beginning of the month, I spent a whole day engaged in hour-long conversations with each person on my team (I have five people), which was exhausting but also really exciting. There is so much potential on my team, and I’m really looking forward to helping each of my team members grow. There is a lot I have to learn about how to be an effective manager, but I’d like to think I’m well on my way to that.

Loathing… new job jitters. I really didn’t expect to go through the rigamarole of new job jitters, considering I’m not at a new company but whoa, did they hit this month! While I am still as busy as I was when I was a writer, I’m busy in an entirely new way, in a way that makes me look back at the end of each day and wonder if I accomplished anything. I know I did, but it’s hard to measure my accomplishments the way I could when I was writing full-time. I’ve also had these random anxiety spirals that I’m going to get fired at any moment, which is fun! Now that I don’t have any writing tasks to show proof of my value to my company, I’m all “do I provide any value at all anymore?!” which is just DUMB all around because hello, I was promoted because I provide a ton of value! It’s so silly, but that’s how my brain works.

Watching… The Olympics! Well, I watched the first week of the Olympics and then I lost interest. I’m not sure why. I think I just wanted to do something else with my evenings than watch Olympics coverage. But I did get to see Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim win gold medals, and I really enjoyed the men’s snowboard half-pipe. There were some truly astonishing tricks!

I’m also still working my way through Brooklyn 99 (halfway through season 6!) and Younger (nearly finished with season 3).

Listening to… Mall Talk. It’s a podcast all about the mall, nostalgic memories of the mall, and the stores we shop in. While I don’t spend a lot of time in malls these days, this podcast has brought back so many memories for me! The mall was just the place to be when we were young, wasn’t it? I’m diving into the archives of this podcast and enjoying it a lot!

Grateful for… a benign mole. When I went for my skin check earlier this month, my dermatologist found a mole on my lower back that was a little worrisome to her so she took a sample to biopsy. Thankfully, it came back benign and all is okay! I think that I’ve had to get a mole biopsied every single time I’ve had a skin check (my back is very mole-y) so this is standard procedure for me, but I’m always relieved when nothing worrisome comes back. And this is just another reminder of how important regular skin checks are!

Anticipating… a four-day weekend next week. My mom and stepdad are going away and asked me to watch the puppers for a few nights, which I am so excited to do! The two of them haven’t gone away since they got Lucy, so it will be my first time with both dogs and I can’t wait to spend copious amounts of time snuggling them and getting covered in dog kisses. I always sleep over at their house when I’m dog sitting since it’s easier than bringing the dogs to my place (my girls would be MOST unhappy!) and I just decided to give myself a little work reprieve while I was at it. Why not?! I don’t have anything planned for this weekend, but I’m sure I’ll find plenty of ways to fill up my time.

Researching… sit/stand desks, still. I am definitely going to buy one, and probably soon! I have my eye on this desk from Amazon, which has nearly 8,000 reviews. It’s only $240, too, which feels so cheap for a sit/stand desk (why did I think these desks were thousands of dollars?!) Plus, I think I could sell my current desk for a pretty good price to offset the cost of the desk.

Planning… our Niagara Falls vacation! I love the planning phase of a vacation, and I am having a blast developing our itinerary. Our tentative plans at this moment involve flying into Buffalo on a Wednesday and driving right over the border to Canada. We’ll spend three days at Niagara Falls (probably longer than we need, but we love slow-paced vacations where we only do a few things during the day and have low-key evenings), one day in Toronto, and one day in Buffalo before flying home on a Tuesday. If you have any recommendations for restaurants or things to do in any of those locations, I’m all ears!

Thinking about… Ukraine. The photos and videos coming out about what’s going on there are horrifying and scary. I feel so helpless when I watch the news and see what these people are going through. The uncertainty of what’s to come has to be terrifying. Jessica Yellin posted this really sobering clip of a subway station in Ukraine being used by citizens as a bomb shelter. Her caption was really poignant: “You’re going to hear a lot about Putin, Biden, sanctions, world oil prices and more. Let’s also remember the lived reality for Ukrainians. Yesterday was work, school and life. Today, bombs, checkpoints, and praying for safety seeking shelter underground in the subway.”

Wishing… that our cool weather had stuck around for just a bit longer. Ugh. It’s now officially “too hot to take a walk in the middle of the day” weather. We’re regularly seeing temps in the mid-80s, which would be a nice cool down in September or October but in February, it just feels wrong. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted, right? And I know many of you are wishing for sunshine and warm weather, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

Buying… a floor lamp! I was at Target last weekend and was shocked to find that the floor lamp that I’ve had my eye on and has been out of stock for months was back in stock! Whaaaat. I had an alert set up on my Target app, but it never let me know. Unfortunately, when I put the lamp together and placed it in a corner of my living room, I… kinda hated it. It’s a little too short and doesn’t give off as much light as I’d hoped. I’m going to return it and get this one instead. I’m hoping it meets my needs better!

Feeling… relieved after a period of my blog being down last night. I think I was just trying to access it during a time when GoDaddy was renewing my domain, but it threw me for a loop! I was furiously looking up my domain registration on Google and logging into HostGator (where my blog is hosted) to figure out what was going on. And then I decided to just step away from it for the night and believe it would all work itself out. Of course, I also started spiraling a bit, wondering if this was it for my blog. It was all going to be gone forever. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal, I could start a new blog if the worst came to worst… or maybe I would just stop blogging entirely. Maybe this was a sign. But the palpable relief I felt when I pulled up my blog and everything was working fine was the actual sign that this blog means the world to me. I’m so glad it’s up and running again. Whew.

What are you currently loving and loathing?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 79)

1) Valentine’s Day

I mentioned this on Instagram, but Valentine’s Day was a hard day for me. It usually is. I know it’s a silly, made-up holiday and that you can celebrate all kinds of love on Valentine’s Day, but there is still this part of me that feels sad and lonely to be partner-less for yet another Valentine’s Day. One of my friends who is also single checked in on me on Monday, and we both commiserated about how hard the day had felt. It felt good to express my sadness to her and to be understood. I also read an Instagram post from another single person who talked about how hard Valentine’s Day can be for single people. I know many couples don’t celebrate this holiday in any meaningful way, but that doesn’t take away how lonely the holiday can be for so many people. It’s different not doing anything for Valentine’s Day when you’re coupled up and happy in love, and not doing anything for Valentine’s Day because you don’t have a romantic partner to celebrate with, you know? And while it can seem like a silly holiday, I know my feelings of sadness and loneliness are not silly. They are true to my experience, and it’s okay for me to get sad and wonder if there will ever be a Valentine’s Day I get to spend with a romantic partner.

2) So much to do, so little time, part II

When I talked about my inability to keep up with my blog reading last week, I certainly didn’t do it so that you could all tell me that it’s okay if I don’t comment on all of your blogs all the time. But I really appreciate your grace and kindness during this very busy time in my life. I’m still trying to get my bearings with my new role and figuring out how to fit in all of my hobbies into shorter windows of time. I’ve even found that I have less time to listen to podcasts. I just started working through episodes that were published at the beginning of this month, whew. But it’s good to be busy, good to have too many hobbies to pursue. I’ll figure it out in due time and right now, I am going to try to extend the grace you all gave to me to myself.

3) In case of my death

Suzanne wrote a really fascinating post this week about death—I know, it sounds so morbid, but it was a really interesting discussion about what would happen to her blog, how would her loved ones inform her blog readers, etc. Once my grandfather passed away unexpectedly in 2018, my family quickly found out how hard it is when untimely death occurs and nobody is ready. We didn’t have access to his bank account, or certain bills he had set up, or his email account. It was really difficult to get what we needed to do something as simple as shutting down a bank account or phone. Since my grandmother had already passed away, it was up to my mom to figure it all out as the executor of his estate. Anyway, ever since that happened, I’ve wanted to have some sort of document for my loved ones to access where they can find out all of the important information, between financial information and passwords to my email accounts, social media accounts, and my blog. And I guess I need to figure out who could post to my blog to inform people of my death. That’s not really something I want to put on anyone, but I guess one of my friends could handle the job. I think? This is so morbid, I know, but I think about death a lot (since I’m always worried about people dying—believe me, if you regularly post to your blog and go a week or so without a post, I’m convinced you’re probably dead) and I feel strongly that it’s good to have these plans in place. I hope to outlive my blog, of course (will I really be blogging in my 80s? Time will tell, I guess), but if I don’t, I want people to know what happened.

4) An update on my facial rash

Onto a less morbid topic. I have good news: my facial rash is effectively gone! Finally! There’s still a little bit of redness in the area, but it’s not as itchy or annoying as it was in the past so I’m considering it healed. I’ve started to implement a low-key skincare routine—cleanser, toner, and moisturizer—and it’s been going well so far. I’m going to continue this low-key routine for another week or so and then add one new thing every few weeks to make sure my skin doesn’t react. Next up: I’m going to add in my twice-daily niacinamide serum. Fingers crossed everything goes well, and this was all a flukey skin thing!

5) A melatonin jump-start

My sleep hasn’t been the greatest this week, and I’m not really sure why. It just feels like I can’t get comfortable and I can’t shut my mind off (usually, I’m just thinking about everything I need to do the next day). I’ve been taking melatonin right before bed this week and it has helped tremendously, as it always does. Sometimes, it feels like my body just needs a little extra dose of melatonin to jump-start its melatonin production. I never need to take it for very long, maybe only a week or so, and then my body seems to naturally go back to its normal state of falling asleep very easily. (<– And believe me, I don’t take that ability for granted!)

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 78)

1) Annotating what you read

Do you annotate what you read? If I’m reading a particularly dense nonfiction book, I’ll highlight and tag important passages to go back to later, but I rarely highlight or keep track of quotes when I’m reading fiction or non-dense nonfiction. Meredith and Kaytee, hosts of the Currently Reading podcast, talked about annotating what they read in a recent episode and it really got my mind churning. Meredith has a great system where she will spend a few minutes every morning collecting the quotes she highlighted from the previous day and writing them down in a notebook. I like the idea of doing this myself (sometimes I will take pictures of quotes that speak to me if I’m reading a print book, or use the highlight feature if I’m reading an e-book), and I’d like to interact with what I’m reading and the quotes that impact me in a deeper, more meaningful way, and this seems like a really good option. But then… what do I do with all of these quotes? Do I just have them in a book to flip through every now and then? Would I ever actually do that? I don’t know! It’s something to think about.

2) A new coffee table

On Friday, I ordered my new coffee table and it arrived on Tuesday! It was super easy to put together and I love it so very much. I have all of my coloring supplies in the basket (I love my adult coloring books and color in them every night!). And I have an easy place for my one-line-a-day journal and planner so that they are within reach at all times. It also provides a much better view for my video calls, since my camera faces in its direction. Now, if only the floor lamp I’ve been eyeing wasn’t out of stock! I need that final piece to tie my entire living room together.

3) So much to do, so little time

I’ve felt very stressed lately about keeping up with blogging. My Feedly is out of control right now, and I am so behind on reading blogs. I’m trying not to put too much stress on myself to read blog posts in a timely manner—I know that I do not mind when people comment on blog posts that are a few weeks old—but it’s hard. At this point, the best I can do is write 3 posts a week, try to respond to comments within a week, and read as many blog posts a day as I can (which is usually just a few). I could try to set aside one hour a day for blog reading, but some days, it can be really hard to find an entire hour of free time that doesn’t eat into all of my other hobbies (like reading).

I think the other reason I feel like I’m falling behind with blogging is that, with my new role, work feels remarkably tiring in an entirely different way. During a meeting I had with my supervisor, she made a comment that it’s almost like I’ve started a brand-new job where the first few months are spent in an information overload. I really feel that way! While there isn’t a ton of new stuff to learn, the cadence of my days is so different. I have at least a few meetings every day, I’ve had to get real good at monitoring and responding to emails, I have to make lots and lots of decisions… I could go on. It just feels very different, and I end each day feeling completely exhausted. I’m finding it hard to take my lunch break, mostly because it seems all of my meetings fall during the lunch hour, between 11 and 2. And during the day, I’m just so busy with tasks that I barely come up for air to take a break and read some blogs. When I do take a break, I want to step away from my desk, take a walk, do a chore, take a shower. At the end of each workday, I just want to lay down on the couch, read my book, play on my phone, watch TV. Opening up my laptop does not appeal to me.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. Maybe I just wanted to have a reason for why I’m commenting on some of your blog posts two or three weeks after you published them. Maybe I just needed to get this off my chest, to say I’ve been feeling a bit stressed about how to fit in all of my hobbies into a busy life.

4) The week everything broke

Okay, well only two things broke this week but let me have my drama! On Monday, I accidentally broke off my entire kitchen faucet when I pressed down too hard on the button that switches the water stream from a steady stream to a rainfall-type stream. (Who knew I had Hulk strength?!) I was without a working kitchen faucet for a day and had to start washing some of my dishes in my bathroom sink. That was fun! Thankfully, it got fixed on Tuesday. (And before you ask, while I do have a dishwasher, I have never used it because it’s much easier for me to wash things by hand since it’s just me and I dirty so few dishes every day. As such, I do not have any dishwasher detergent on hand.)

On Tuesday morning, I filled up the girls’ cute flower water fountain and later on, noticed water all over the floor. Apparently, there’s something wrong with the water fountain and it has stopped draining properly. Ughhh. I just got this water fountain in July and it’s already stopped working? So disappointing! I’m on the hunt for a new water fountain, but I’m feeling a bit peeved at how quickly this one stopped working. If you have a favorite water fountain you use for your pets, let me know.

5) The Olympics

Are you watching the Olympics? I know some people are boycotting due to the Games taking place in China, but I’m watching them. And I’m so very tired from staying up late every night! I was up until 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday night because I wanted to watch the end of the men’s free skate and see if Nathan Chen would win the gold medal. It was so worth the wait! His free skate was amazing. There is just something so inspiring to witness these athletes, who have worked so hard for so long, seeing their dreams come true. Ahh!

On the other hand, it breaks my heart to see the athletes who don’t see their dreams come true, especially those who come into the Olympics with such high expectations. I’m thinking of Mikaela Shiffrin here who DQ-ed two of her races and how disappointing that must have felt! The mental health of Olympians is something that just isn’t talked about enough—thankfully, Simone Biles started the conversation during the Olympics last summer—and I just hope Mikaela has a great support system by her side. (I’m so very glad her mom is part of her coaching team and is at the Games with her; you need your mom during times like these!) There are such high expectations on these athletes (don’t even get me started on social media and the way people talk about athletes!) and we need to talk more about how that can affect one’s mental health.

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently | January 2022

Loving… our January weather. This is the time of year that makes living through the humid, hot summer months worth it. Our weather has been phenomenal. My A/C has been turned off for most of the month, I’m finally getting to wear some warm winter clothes, and I can wear jeans in the middle of the day without dying. It’s been amazing! Most days, we’re somewhere in the 60s or low 70s and most nights, we get down into the 40s or 50s. I am just really hoping this cooler weather stays around in February!

Loathing… anxiety spirals. It’s been a really tough month for my mental health. Things started off really rocky but have started to improve as the month has progressed. I am so grateful for that. Having an anxiety disorder can be so tough—what’s scarier than your mind working against you?—but I worked through the anxiety spirals, got back into therapy, and am hopefully on my way back to mental health stability.

Watching… Only Murders in the Building, which got off to a slow start for me, but quickly got so intriguing that I watched the last 4 episodes in one sitting. (I rarely do this!) It was an excellent show (aside from some upsetting animal content) and I’m excited for season two.

In January, I also watched season two of Younger and kept marching through my rewatch of Brooklyn 99. The Amazing Race came back, which I was so excited about! This season happened in the midst of Covid; the players were able to do two legs before production had to shut down. Thankfully, though, after a 19-month break, they were able to resume production! Not all the teams were able to return (including my favorite team, wah), but I’m so glad the players had the chance to resume the race. And, finally, I’ve been watching this season of The Bachelor, but it’s so borrrring. I’m only watching so I can listen to Knox and Jamie’s recaps afterward.

Listening to… The Dropout. I originally listened to this podcast back in 2019 or 2020, which covered Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. I’ve been loosely following the trial but didn’t know that The Dropout was covering it until way later in the trial. I decided to wait until the trial had concluded and the verdict read to dive back in. It’s a lot less stressful and aggravating to listen to all the ways Elizabeth Holmes defrauded and hurt people when I know she was found guilty! The Dropout does an amazing job covering the trial and bringing in experts to discuss the way these kinds of trials go, and I’m slowly working my way through the episodes.

Grateful for… staying healthy this month. It really seems that Covid is coming for all of us. In 2020, I didn’t know anyone close to me who had gotten it. In 2021, I started hearing about cases of those close to me and near the end of the year (specifically with Omicron), it seemed like everyone was getting it. I’m honestly super surprised that I haven’t gotten Covid and I don’t really think it’s anything I’ve done right (because you can do everything right and still get it!) I think I’ve just gotten really lucky.

Anticipating… kicking off a fun creative project with my bestie, Bri. We met last month to start brainstorming what we want this project to look like and what we needed to get started, and I left feeling so inspired and excited. And also a little scared—which I’m seeing as a good thing. It’s good when things feel a little scary! Trying something new, wondering if it will be a complete failure, being unsure if you have what it takes to take a concept and make it come to fruition… man, that’s where the magic happens, isn’t it? I’m excited to give this a try and see what happens! It could flop or it could be a success or it could fall somewhere in the middle, and I’m excited to put in the work and see where it goes.

Thinking about… how to lower my triglycerides levels. I talked about this on Friday so I won’t belabor the point, but my numbers are way beyond the normal range. I think the three big things I can do to lower my triglycerides are to eat less sugar, exercise more, and eat fewer carbs. I’m going to focus on the first two more than the carbs goal, at least right now. I am already working on lowering my sugar intake (starting with soda!) and I think I’m going to bring back my daily step goal, which will entail going for more walks. More to come in my February goals post!

Wishing… for a sit/stand desk. I’ve long wanted a sit/stand desk, but I always thought they were super-duper expensive. I found a couple options on Wayfair for under $400, and now I reallllly want one. They have programmable settings so you can just push a button when you want to raise or lower the desk, and they get great reviews. While I want to prioritize other home purchases this year (like a new mattress!), I am definitely adding a sit/stand desk to my list of things to save for.

Buying… not too much this month, thanks to my spending freeze. (Oh boy, am I glad it is over tomorrow!) I have spent a lot of money adding to my household supplies and toiletries, but I think I’ve talked enough about that lately. One purchase I bought this month (which I bought with a gift card, so I didn’t cheat!) was a pair of canvas hangers. I received a huge canvas world map for Christmas and wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to hang it up, but during a search of how to hang a canvas painting, I came across a video of CanvasHangers. You simply hammer this little contraption into the corners of the canvas (the nails are super tiny); each contraption has a sharp pin that you push right into the wall. I was pretty convinced the hangers weren’t going to hold my canvas, but I was delighted that it worked! Much easier than hammering nails into the wall and trying to get the canvas to hang straight.

Feeling… excited about the changes February will bring. I am going to officially step into my role as content team manager, which means, for the first time in 8+ years, I won’t have monthly content to worry about! I’m looking forward to having one-on-one meetings with the people who will be on my team and learning about the best ways to support them on a day-to-day basis and in terms of career growth. It’s going to be a new challenge for me, but I’m so ready for it.

What are you currently watching and anticipating?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 77)

1) Bloodwork Results

Last Friday, I got bloodwork done. (As expected, they had to bring in their “expert” phlebotomist because I have really deep veins.) I got my results on Wednesday and I was relieved to see that my glucose and A1C levels are normal. I definitely want to improve my numbers (my glucose has remained steady on the high end of normal for two years now), but I’m glad I don’t need to be too concerned about prediabetes. What was super concerning, though, were my triglycerides which were astonishingly high. Triglycerides are part of the cholesterol panel that determines one’s risk for heart disease. While my total cholesterol was normal, my triglycerides were not. Thankfully, all of my other cholesterol numbers improved, even if some of them still aren’t in the normal range (HDL and non-HDL, but they are just a few points away from normal). Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of research about lowering one’s triglycerides levels and I’m trying to come up with a plan where I can work towards healthier cholesterol without putting myself on a strict diet. I know I will need to continue limiting sugar as well as red meat and carbs, and I want to make sure I’m doing so in a way that aligns with my values and isn’t seen as a punishment. Lots more to come on this!

2) Eczema

I am pleased to report that my eczema/dermatitis (whatever this thing is) seems to be improving. I’ve been applying hydrocortisone cream twice a day and I’ve started to notice a real difference in the way my skin looks and feels. Hooray! I’ll keep applying the cream until the flare-up is gone, but I’m hoping I can restart my skincare routine sometime in February. I’ve really missed doing my skincare routine and I’m excited to get back to it.

3) My Backup Supplies Shelf

Look at my new backup supplies shelf in my hall closet! I am so proud of this little area of my home. I was running low on a lot of my supplies—conditioner, mouthwash, tampons, eyeglass wipes, laundry detergent, and the special sensitive laundry detergent I use when I wash my bras—and it was quite scary to see how much money I was going to spend to double-up on everything I needed. And then Target was running a sale—if I bought 3 boxes of tampons, I could get a $5 coupon; and if I bought 4 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, I could get a $5 coupon. Normally, I would say “no way!” Three boxes of tampons?? What am I, the queen of England?! But I took a deep breath and added 3 boxes of tampons, 2 bottles of conditioner, and 2 bottles of shampoo to my cart and pushed the purchase button. It was scary, but I did it! I’m proud of myself and I feel a lot of joy in looking at my shelf filled with supplies. Lisa commented on my post last week where I talked about the under-buyer/over-buyer conundrum, and said she sees herself as a “just-right buyer” and I think that’s what I’m aiming for. I’ve been an under-buyer because spending a lot of money at one time scares me, and my goal is to become a just-right buyer who has backups of her normal supplies and toiletries, but I’m not, like, stockpiling for the end of the world out of panic.

4) Niagara Falls

My mom and I have started planning our 2022 trip! We thought about taking a cruise, but neither of us is totally comfortable going that route just yet. Maybe in 2023? Instead, I did some research and presented her with three options: Arizona to visit Sedona and the Grand Canyon, Canada to visit Niagara Falls, or an all-inclusive resort in Costa Rica. I was so pleased when my mom picked Niagara Falls! Of course, it all depends on the COVID situation, but we’re not planning on going until the summer so we should be okay. (Hopefully.) My plan is for us to fly into Buffalo, rent a car and drive over to the Canada side of the Falls, spend a few days in Canada exploring the Falls (and possibly a day trip to Toronto?), and then driving back over to Buffalo to explore the Falls from the U.S. side. I’ve always wanted to visit Niagara Falls, and I’m excited to tick a new state (New York) and a new country (Canada) off my list, too! Seasoned travelers, please let me know if my loose itinerary sounds ridiculous. 🙂

5) Weekend Plans

I don’t have a lot going on this weekend, which I’m taking to be a good thing. This afternoon, I’m meeting up with my mom so that we can take the dogs to go get their paw prints done. One of the artist studios near us is offering this fun event where pets can come into the studio, get a clay impression of their paws, and then the studio will make a custom painting incorporating their paw prints. Isn’t that such a great idea? I can’t wait to see what they do for Chip and Lucy! (And no, I’m not taking my girls because I think it would be way too traumatizing for them, haha.)

Saturday, I have no plans other than getting caught up on blog stuff and work stuff. And then, on Sunday, it’s the AFC/NFC championship games! I am so excited! While my team didn’t even make the playoffs, both my brother’s favorite team (the 49ers) and my nephew’s favorite team (the Chiefs) are playing. A few years ago, the 49ers and the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, and that got very contentious, so while I want both of their teams to make it back to the Super Bowl, I don’t know if I want another tense game like that! So we’ll see how it goes.

Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? What are your weekend plans?