Recurring Series

Currently in May

Feeling… emotional, sad, frustrated, upset, anxious. Two mass shootings within 10 days of each other, one in a grocery store and one in an elementary school, places where we should be able to feel safe. The right to abortion being taken away and draconian abortion laws being put in place. A war that’s still raging in Ukraine. And let’s not forget: climate change, inflation, and rising Covid cases. The world is heavy right now. Or maybe it’s always been heavy and we’re just more attuned to the heaviness thanks to those tiny computers we carry around and ding at us with every breaking news alert.

Watching… Ted Lasso. I’m a few episodes into season 2 and I am loving it. It’s delightful and funny and also very poignant, and exactly what I need right now. Last week, I had a dream that I was dating Roy Kent (not the actor, the fictional soccer player) and was that ever a disappointment to wake up from. Anyway, do yourself a favor and watch this show if you haven’t.

Listening to… Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter. Curious if we really need to be drinking 8 cups of water a day? Does milk really build strong bones? Have you ever wanted to listen to a doctor spend 31 minutes talking about poop? Well, do I have the podcast for you! Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter has been a new favorite listen (and it’s relatively new, so you can get caught up on the backlist pretty quickly!) because I am just fascinated by the body and how it works. Dr. Gunter debunks common medical myths, interviews doctors to get the real truth, and does it all in a light-hearted way. Give it a listen!

Grateful… that Mikaela and I get to do our writing dates again. We meet at Starbucks every Saturday morning. She works on her creative project and I usually spend my time working on podcast outlines or blog posts. Mikaela comes with Eleni who is getting bigger and chunkier as the weeks go by, and one week, my mom came by to snuggle Eleni while we worked. She held her for a solid hour and a half, which allowed Mikaela to get a lot of work done. I love these writing dates with Mikaela—mostly because we spend a lot of our time chit-chatting!—and I am so glad we’re back in action.

Anticipating… my vacation next week! I can’t believe it’s almost here. We started planning this trip so long ago and I’m looking forward to spending a week on vacation with my mom. Plus, the weather looks like it’s going to be insanely gorgeous with highs in the low 70s. !!! We’re planning on spending a day in Toronto, two days at Niagara Falls, a day in a small town called Niagara-on-the-Lake, and a day in Buffalo. I’ve planned out a very detailed itinerary that leaves room for afternoon naps almost every day because that’s just the way we like to do things. Next Wednesday can’t come soon enough!

Loathing… exercise. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that I hate to exercise and I always will. It’s not about finding the “right” method of working out because I’ve tried everything under the sun and I will always choose to lay on the couch and read than work out. While I do feel better after I’ve worked out, I don’t feel like it has a significant effect on my mental health nor do I always feel better after a work out. “You never regret a workout?” Oh yes. Yes, I have. But I know it’s important for my overall health and so, I will continue to try to hit that 30-minute daily movement goal as much as I can and I will continue to try to find ways to make it less awful.

Struggling… to get enough sleep. I’m still averaging around 6 hours a night, according to my Sleep Cycle app, which is definitely not enough sleep for me. It’s no wonder I constantly feel tired! I am trying to get better about starting my nighttime routine at a reasonable time so that I can be finished with it and have about an hour to myself to read in bed before I need to turn out the light. I’m also working on what time I actually go to bed. There were many nights of the past few months when I didn’t get to bed until after midnight. I’ve never been a night owl, so I’m not even sure why I’ve started staying up so late these days. Now, I have a “lights out” bedtime of 11 p.m. (it was one of my May goals) and every month, I want to decrease that bedtime by 15 minutes. So, in June, my new bedtime will be 10:45. Then, in July, it will be 10:30. And so on until I’m turning out the lights by 10:00, if not earlier.

Thinking about… writing a memoir. I was really inspired by a podcast episode with Mary Laura Philpott about the memoir/essay genre, and it got some ideas churning in my head about writing my own memoir. I never thought my life was interesting enough to write about, and maybe it isn’t, but I know I have things to say about some different aspects of my life. I have two ideas I’m ruminating on: familial estrangement (I’ve been estranged from my father for over a decade) and dating/being single in my thirties. I have a lot to say about both topics, and I think I would find a lot of catharsis by writing about these topics and coming to terms with how they have affected me as a person. Who knows what I’ll do, but I’ll continue to let these ideas percolate.

Needing… a new computer, maybe. My personal computer (a PC) has been running slow for a little while now, and I’m not really sure why. I’ve done some system checkups to see if there’s something specific that is causing it to run so slowly, but haven’t been able to pinpoint a source. This PC did a lot of heavy lifting in the early days of the pandemic as I used it all day every day, from work to personal time, until we were allowed to bring our computers home from the office in October 2020. Now I just use it as my personal computer, but I can never just open it up and go. It needs at least a few minutes to gather its bearings before it can respond to any of my commands. I’ve been wanting to switch to a Chromebook for a while (I especially like the Chromebooks that can flip to become a tablet!) because I don’t really need a computer with a fancy-schmancy operating system and it might be time to think about making the switch.

Buying… pool floats and floppy hats. It’s officially summertime here in Florida and this year, I want to utilize my mom’s pool way more than I did last year. My stepdad is constantly working on the pool, too, so we should take advantage of all his hard labor, right? Ha. I bought a floppy hat from Target to protect my scalp and face when I’m outside, and also couldn’t help buying a pool float so I can relax in the pool with a beverage and my book. If we’re going to have 100+ degree days, I’m going to spend them in the pool.

Loving… my short hair! I am so glad I made the decision to chop off my hair because I am really loving the shorter style and how much easier it is to care for. It’s just so much fun to have shorter hair again, and the style and color just feels very “me.” I’m really happy I made the decision to do a big chop!

What are you currently grateful for and watching?

Categories: Recurring Series

Day in the Life: Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Happy Thursday! I thought it might be fun to do a day-in-the-life post, which are some of my favorite posts to write and read. I love doing “Snapshot of My Day,” which is a much more condensed version of day in the life, but sometimes, it’s fun to give you all the boring details of my day-to-day life. 🙂 Enjoy!

5:45 a.m.: My Sleep Cycle alarm starts to slowly wake me up. I have the alarm set for 6 a.m. with a 20-minute wake-up window, so it starts going off when I’m in a lighter phase of sleep from 5:40-6:00. I pick it up, which snoozes the alarm. It’s then I realize both cats have joined me on the bed during the night with one on each side of me. So sweet!

Not the best night of sleep, sigh

5:55 a.m.: I turn off my Sleep Cycle alarm after it goes off two more times, scroll Instagram (which is mostly depressing; I can’t believe there was another school shooting at an elementary school. My heart is so broken for the families.), and then play the day’s Wordle (took me 5 attempts today).

6:10 a.m.: I go to the bathroom, put my hair in a ponytail, and throw on my workout clothes. Then, I head to the living room to spend 30 minutes with my Peloton besties. Today, I’ve queued up a 20-minute full-body workout with Callie Gullickson (she’s quickly becoming one of my fave strength instructors) and a 10-minute arms workout with Ben Alldis.

Afterward, I sit on the couch, bookmark a few more strength workouts to do next time, and play Happy Color.

7:15 a.m.: I make breakfast. Today, it’s scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast, and iced coffee. Yum, yum! I read through some of my email subscriptions while I eat and then start working on this post.

8:00 a.m.: I take a shower. And since I have a few video calls today + plans later this evening, I blow-dry and straighten my hair. But hey, since my hair is now so much shorter than it was last week, it barely takes any time. Win!

8:30 a.m.: I log into my work computer, do a morning check-in with one of my writers, and go through my emails. Nothing too pressing to get to, so I write out my to-do list for the day and then I hit up my team’s Slack channel to say good morning. Every morning, I tag one of my writers for something I call “Sharing is Caring” where they share something that’s going on in their lives: it could be a TV show they’re watching, a restaurant they visited, travel tips for a city they’re visiting soon. It’s a fun way to make sure my team stays connected (and I got this idea from another manager so I can’t take credit!)

After those check-ins, I start my first working block for the day. I tend to work in hour-long sprints and then take a short break. During this working block, I finish a content plan I had started working on yesterday, record a short training video on how to use one of our WordPress plugins, and address some edits made by one of our clients and send them to the content writers working on the account.

9:45 a.m.: I take a short break. I read a little bit of my book on the couch and then wash my breakfast dishes from this morning.

10:05 a.m.: Back to work! During this working block, I edit a few batches of content from one of our contractors and make some notes for my meetings happening later today. I end up writing nearly a whole page of notes (bullet list style), so apparently, I have a lot to talk about today!

Eloise now loves sitting next to me on my office chair when I’m working. How can I deny her anything?!

11:10 a.m.: Break time! I eat a snack, string cheese and fruit, while catching up on Feedly.

11:30 a.m.: Time for our weekly content team lead meeting. During this meeting, we mostly talk about something new that our parent company will be rolling out soon, which is under wraps so I can’t talk about what it is yet. It will mean some changes to our workflow, but I’m excited about it! Afterwards, I spend some time searching for virtual team building games.

12:50 p.m.: It’s time for lunch and I am hungry! I heat up leftover pizza and munch on it while I scroll through Reddit for a bit. During this time, my plans for tonight fall through so I FaceTime my mom and tell her we can watch the Survivor finale together. We were going to have to wait until tomorrow evening to watch it and avoiding spoilers would have been a full-time job.

2:00 p.m.: And it’s back to work for me! I do a little bit of editing work and then I have a meeting with my director to go over some questions I have. We have these one-on-one meetings every week, sometimes they go for an hour and other times, we’re in and out in 20 minutes. This week, it’s a quicker meeting where we discuss writer assignments for June (I’ve taken over assignment duty and it is my favorite thing), an issue I’m dealing with and the best way to address it, and a project I’m working on for the team. Once we’re done, I jump over to Airtable (where our assignments live; it’s basically a spreadsheet database for those unfamiliar) to start organizing the June assignments tab. I can sit there for hours if I’m not careful and I have other, more pressing to-dos on my list today so I give myself 30 minutes to play around with it before I go back to my editing task.

3:45 p.m.: Break time. I spend a little bit of time working on this post and then take myself to the couch to read for a bit. I also tidy up the apartment.

4:30 p.m.: Last working block of the day, yay! I finish up the editing task I was working on earlier, spend a little more time playing around with June assignments before forcing myself to close the browser so I can check off some of today’s to-dos. And for the rest of the day, I work through my to-do list. A lot of boring things: looking over content submissions, answering emails, and reviewing the website posting from another writer to make sure it meets SEO standards. Blah, blah, blah.

6:00 p.m.: I shut down my computer for the day. Work is done – woohoo! I FaceTime my mom to make sure she’s at home and then get ready to head over to her house for the night.

6:20 p.m.: I arrive at my mom’s and the dogs attack me with kisses and excited barking. I always have to sit down on the couch and let them climb all over me, attacking my face with kisses, for a few minutes. They are the best little greeters! My stepdad is watching tennis and my mom is working on a puzzle when I arrive. Chip keeps running over to the patio door and whining, so I take the dogs out. Chip mainly wants to bark at the ducks that love hanging out in the neighbor’s backyard and Lucy wants to make Chip chase her around the yard. Afterward, we come inside and hang out on the couch. There was some snuggling, some kisses, some wrestling (between the dogs).

7:00 p.m.: My mom and I play a quick game of Phase10 together.

7:30 p.m.: Our dinner arrives (we ordered takeout) so we all eat together while the dogs try their best to get any food scraps they can.

8:00 p.m.: It’s time for the Survivor finale! It’s such a good finale and I’m satisfied with the winner. This is only the second season of Survivor that I’ve watched, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I kinda want to watch the other seasons but with 40 seasons to watch, I don’t think I’ll ever get around to that.

10:35 p.m.: The show is 3 hours long (!!!) but the last half-hour is just the cast reminiscing about the show, so I decide to go home because it’s LATE for a weeknight. Whew.

10:50 p.m.: I’m home and the girls are happy to see me. I’m beat and all I want to do is get into my jammies and crawl into bed. It’s been a long day!

11:30 p.m.: Lights out!’

What’s something you crossed off your to-do list yesterday?

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (v. 42)

The high of my week was getting my Warby Parker home try-on glasses in the mail! It’s been so much fun wearing them around throughout the week as I try to figure out which pair I like the best. (The glasses just have plain glass in them, so I wear my contacts in order to wear the glasses around.) I was able to eliminate two options immediately, and I’m now trying to decide between the other three. Here are the options:

I thought I was going to go with the pair in the first picture because both my mom and a friend liked them the best when I asked for their opinions. They fit my face well and aren’t too big. But then when I sent the pictures to another friend, she told me that that pair doesn’t do much for my face and liked the other two better. So then I asked Instagram and the clear winner was the pair in the second picture. I like those a lot, but I worry they’re too big for my face. Tell me, friends, which pair do you like the best?

The low of my week was struggling during my spin workouts. Things just felt harder than normal and I’m not sure why. A part of me wonders if I’m in a phase of my cycle where my energy levels and output are a bit lower than normal. Something to pay attention to! I’ve just been telling myself that moving my body is the goal, even if it means setting my bike to a lower resistance level and cruising at a lower speed.

A blog post I enjoyed was When Possible, Choose Beautiful Things by Elisabeth Frost. I loved this blog post because it gave me a different perspective about my desire to have beautiful things in my home. For example, I love buying books and sometimes, it’s less about having my favorite books on my shelves to return to again and again and more about the aesthetic. I love having a home filled with bursting bookshelves. The aesthetic pleases me so much and brings me great joy, but sometimes I feel a little silly about my love of buying books. Or when I choose to buy an item for my kitchen and spend a little more money to get a style that is more aesthetically pleasing. The plain, understated style would work just fine but I want the pretty version because it would make me happier. I’ve always felt silly about this, but Elisabeth gave me a new perspective that had me thinking about this love of beautiful things in a new way.

When I invested in electric toothbrushes for our family I made a small splurge, spending an additional $9.99 to get the pink version for myself. It’s a subtle colour, but really does make me happy every time I use my toothbrush (and, as a bonus, it helps me avoid using my husband’s toothbrush by accident). Two years later, that $9.99 has bought me a disproportionate amount of daily happiness. Even the knowledge that I spent extra money helps elevate the experience, in essence saying: “You were worth it.”

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Soldiering On and Our Five Rules for Reading on Currently Reading. Ooh, this was a fun episode where Meredith and Kaytee laid out their personal rules for reading. They were very clear that their rules for reading may not be YOUR rules for reading; reading is very personal after all! It was fun to listen to what they put on their list and to think about what my own rules for reading are. Future blog post idea? You know it!

For my workouts, I completed two spin classes and two long walks. I took classes with my favorite instructors, Cody Rigsby and Leanne Hainsby. And I’m enjoying taking my walks a little after sunrise—between 7:30-8:00—before it gets too hot. Soon, even taking a walk at that time will be miserable! Florida summers FTW.

The best money I spent was $0 on more government-funded COVID tests! Did you know that you can order 8 more COVID tests? I wasn’t aware until someone mentioned it on Instagram and you better believe, I ordered them as quickly as possible. I’m going to have a nice big stack at my disposal!

My plans this weekend include a hair appointment this afternoon (will I be brave enough to chop off a significant length?!), a writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning and game night with the fam on Saturday night, and a 5K walk in a local park on Sunday morning. A busy, fun weekend it shall be!

What was the highlight of your week?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 83)

1) A day at the office

On Tuesday, I worked from the office for the first time in 2+ years! Our “coworking” office is officially ready for people to work from, although they still need to work out a few kinks (like getting everyone security passes to get into the office + setting up the workstations). But my director invited a bunch of people to come into the office to work on Tuesday and it was really fun! I like that I can just stroll in later in the day (I did a little work at home in the morning and got to the office around 10) and it was just so, so nice to see all of my coworkers in person after 2+ years of chatting with them virtually. I didn’t get nearly as much work done as I would at home, but I was okay with that. It was nice to chit-chat with my coworkers and actually brainstorm with them about certain work issues in person. When my company announced that they were creating this coworking office (once they decided to switch to a fully remote workforce), I really thought I wouldn’t ever go into the office unless 100% necessary, but now that I’ve done it once, I can see myself going a few times a month just to be around my coworkers in person. There’s a different energy when you’re in the office, you know?

Other good things about this day: going to lunch with two of my coworkers, cracking open a White Claw from the company fridge around 4pm while we all streamed a company-wide meeting, and going to happy hour with a bunch of coworkers after the meeting. SO FRIGGIN NICE!

2) A day off

I followed up my day in the office with a day off! (Listen, I know how to treat myself.) I had two doctor’s appointments scheduled for Wednesday so I just decided to take the day off so I could sleep in, relax, and not stress about fitting in the appointments around my schedule. I had my yearly vision appointment and I’m happy to report that my vision has remained the same from last year to this year! As someone who has terrible eyesight and astigmatism, I’m always happy when my vision doesn’t change too much from year to year. I also had my least-favorite doctor’s appointment on Wednesday: my annual well woman’s visit. Ughhh. I hate it even though it goes by so quickly and my gynecologist is so, so nice and friendly. It’s just, you know, weird to be talking about crazy the gas prices are while her hands are inside my lady bits. But I got it done, everything is working as it should, and I don’t have to worry about that appointment for another year, yayyy.

3) A travel buying spree

You guys, I have been on a bit of a travel buying spree the past week. There were a few “essentials” I wanted to have before my trip next month and so far, I have gotten:

A fanny pack ($19) – Did you guys know that fanny packs are popular again? Woohoo! I can’t wait to wear mine around on my trip. The fanny pack I bought has two large pockets that are big enough for my Kindle (with the cover) to slip into as well as a smaller front pocket for my phone.
Earplugs ($20) – The last time my mom and I shared a hotel room together, I slept terribly because my mom is a loud snorer. (And I say this as someone who is also a loud snorer.) So I bought these earplugs that will hopefully muffle her snoring so I can sleep soundly on vacation.
A portable charger ($40) – I’ve had many portable chargers in my life but I usually buy the cheap ones that you have to constantly keep charged in order to use them (defeats the purpose, right?) This portable charger was brought up during an episode of The Popcast and it’s Jamie’s favorite charger because there are no extra cords to worry about. There is a plug right on the charger so that you can charge the charger right from an outlet, and there are different cords built into the charger for charging a phone (iPhone and Android!) There’s also a mini USB cord so I can easily charge my earphones and Kindle. Oh, and it charges fast, which is exactly what you want from a portable charger.

I also need to get a new passport cover, one that will also hold my vaccination card. I wanted something cute from Etsy (like this), but I waited too long for something personalized. Wah! I guess I’ll just get something off Amazon.

4) A lob, maybe?

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything drastic with my hair. Or at least I think it has. I’m no stranger to changing up my hairstyle. I’ve been platinum blonde and dark blonde and light brown and dark brown and purple. I’ve had short bangs and side bangs. I’ve had long hair and bobs. It’s fun to play around with my hair because I have the kind of complexion where just about any color seems to work well on me. I’ve been loving my blonde balayage, though, so I don’t want to change the color (having my hair colored every 6 months rather than every 2-3 months is… chef’s kiss!) But I am thinking of doing a bit of a choparoo on my length. I’ve kept my hair long for a few years now and I love having long hair but I think it would be fun to go back to a lob (a long bob) for a while. My hair appointment is scheduled for next Friday so I guess I’ll leave you all in suspense for what I end up doing! Muahaha.

5) Weekend plans

I’m looking forward to a nice weekend! The highs are in the mid-80s so the weather will certainly be HOT but that’s what happens when you live in Florida, right? I’m staying in tonight and maybe I’ll watch a few episodes of Superstore and make homemade nachos. Tomorrow, I’m going to do one of my three 5K walks for the month in the morning. And then in the late morning, I have a writing date with Mikaela! That’s right – the dynamic duo is back. We started back with our writing dates last week and most of my time was spent cooing at Eleni in her stroller and then snuggling her when she was awake. I did get some work done on a podcast outline, though, so there’s that! Sunday, I think it might be time to have a pool day at my mom’s house. It’s definitely pool weather around here!

What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday: On Sleep

A few years ago, I wrote two blog posts all about my sleeping habits (part I and part II). I find the topic of sleep and our habits surrounding sleep to be endlessly fascinating. Sleep is something we all do but we all go about it wildly differently. For today’s post, I wanted to continue the sleep conversation with some more thoughts I’ve had about sleep. Sprinkled in this post will be pictures of my beautiful boy Dutch, who was my heart and soul before he passed away in February 2018. I’m reading blog posts from early 2018 for my blog recategorization goal and it’s bringing back so many memories of him. This one broke my heart the most, and I had to snuggle the cats afterward. <3

1) I had a terrible run of insomnia when I was in 6th grade. Falling asleep on my bed was nearly impossible so I devised a plan to start my night on the floor. I would gather my pillows, blanket, and book and place them on the floor next to my bed. And then I would just lay on the floor, reading until I fell asleep. Eventually, in the middle of the night, I would move to my bed (it was always the falling asleep that was hard, not the staying asleep) and sleep the rest of the night on my bed. Whatever works when it comes to insomnia, right?!

2) I really hate getting up in the middle of the night to pee, and I avoid it at all costs. I try to pee right before going to bed, but it never fails that I will wake up maybe an hour or two before my alarm is set to go off, needing to pee. And usually, I will just hold it until my alarm goes off. This can’t be good for my body. I think it stems from taking care of a senior dog. It took a lot for him to go to sleep and if I ever got up from the bed (he slept with me, of course), it would wake him up. Then, I’d have to take him out for a potty break and spend 20-30 minutes trying to get him back to sleep. After he passed away, it took me a long time to realize I could get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break without disturbing him. And I’m still weird about it! It just feels like so much work to get up, even though it’s so much more painful to lay in bed and hold it.

3) While I know that sleeping on your stomach is one of the worst sleeping positions, it’s my most favorite one. Usually, I’ll start the night on my stomach with my left arm tunneled underneath all of my pillows (I sleep with an insane amount of pillows; one-pillow life is not for me) so that my left hand is near the top of my bed frame and my left shoulder is twisted up near my ear. My right arm is usually tucked in close to my body. This position doesn’t sound comfortable, BUT IT IS. I can’t explain it. Throughout the night, I’ll usually end up on my side or on my back and I typically wake up on my back.

4) I am pro-pets sleeping on the bed. Dutch would sleep with me all night long and now, the cats sleep with me. They’re a lot different than Dutch, though, as they jump on and off the bed throughout the night. Usually, Lila will climb into bed when I’m reading and sleep next to me, and then she jumps off when I turn out the light. Eloise will sometimes start the night in my bed but more often than not, she jumps up in the middle of the night. She either settles herself right on my belly (if I’m sleeping on my back) or finds a spot smack-dab in the middle of the bed, causing me to angle my body in a weird way. (I’m used to doing this as Dutch would sometimes sleep sideways on the bed or snuggled in so close to me that I would barely have any room. He took up more room on the bed than you’d think a 10-lb dachshund could take!)

5) Does anyone remember how popular waterbeds were in the 80s and 90s? My family had one, a large waterbed that I think was my brother’s and so did my grandparents. The more I think about waterbeds, the weirder they seem to me. The process of filling up a water bed is WILD to me (hooking it up to a hose from your yard…?) and I can’t imagine they were very comfortable. Or maybe they were the MOST comfortable? I guess sleeping on water would be really nice for some people, like if you have chronic back pain, but I need a little structure to my bed.

Tell me a random sleep habit/memory you have!