Recurring Series

Day in the Life: Saturday, June 5, 2021

In lieu of this week’s reading recap (I only finished one book), I thought I’d take you along on a day in my life! I love doing these types of posts, and while Saturday wasn’t a super-exciting day, it was a pretty normal day in my world at this point in time.

9:45am: I’m up! With nothing pressing for me to do until the afternoon, I planned to sleep in this morning and I most definitely did. It’s uncommon for me to sleep this late, but I’m glad I was able to do so this morning since I’m not going to be able to take a nap today.

10:00am: After scrolling through my phone for some time, I finally get out of bed and feed the girls a special breakfast (wet food!) and then have a bowl of cereal. I read through a few of my email subscriptions while I eat.

10:25am: I sit down on the couch to read my book, but get a call at 10:45 from my hair salon, asking if I could come in at noon rather than 1:45 for my appointment. I say yes and then hurriedly get dressed for a quick workout. (I knew I wouldn’t want to do a sweaty workout after I got my hair done, so it had to get done beforehand.)

10:57am: Spin workout! I do a quick, 20-minute workout which seems to be my sweet spot for spin these days.

11:20am: I take a shower, blow-dry my hair quickly, and get dressed. (Yes, I washed my hair right before my hair appointment. I don’t always do this, but I’m not gonna show up with sweaty roots! Grooooss.)

11:50am: I leave home for my hair appointment! I am getting my color touched up and a trim.

1:40pm: All done with my hair appointment! I am super happy with the results. I stop by Chick-fil-A to pick up a late lunch.

2:00pm: Home sweet home. I eat lunch while reading my book.

2:20pm: I curl up on the couch for a few hours of reading. Once I hit 40% in the romance I’m reading, I switch over to my other book and read 50 pages. During this time, I also Facetime with my mom and play lots of games on my phone.

4:20pm: I run some errands. I pick up a book from the library, do a quick toiletries resupply at Target, and stop by Publix to pick up a prescription.

5:20pm: Home sweet home. I leave a long Marco Polo video for Mikaela, filling her in on my life and my weekend.

5:40pm: Back to the couch to read! This time I work through a section of White Rage (I read about 20 pages per day). Once I finish up the day’s pages, I play Candy Crush on my phone while listening to my audiobook.

6:45pm: My phone dies so I plug it in and then do what I call a “slow tidy” of my apartment that is really just an excuse to get in my steps. I’m only at 3,200 and need to get to 5,000 since it’s a workout day. I basically walk one thing at a time to its rightful place and try to get in extra steps while I do that. It’s ridiculous but it works as I’m able to get in 1,300 steps in a half hour!

7:15pm: I eat dinner (a Publix sub – I picked it up while at Publix to pick up my prescription) while watching an episode of The Crown. It’s an episode that centers around Philip who is such an annoying, melodramatic person so it’s not really enjoyable. I read The AV Club’s analysis once I’m done with the episode and couldn’t disagree MORE with the columnist’s assessment and I’m glad when all the commenters bring up the same issues I had with it.

8:20pm: I spend some time looking up flights to Chicago and building an itinerary. Mom and I have decided to visit there in August! It’s so much fun building a travel itinerary. I also Facetime with my mom to get her thoughts on how long we should spend there (3 or 4 nights) and discuss some of the things I want to do.

9:20pm: Time for my bedtime routine. I tidy up the apartment, scoop the litter boxes, brush my teeth, and then do my skincare routine. My skincare routine takes a bit longer on Saturdays because that’s when I do a face mask, which I have to sit with for at least 10 minutes.

10:20pm: I march around the apartment to get in those last hundred or so steps and then have some snuggle time with Ellie on the floor of my bedroom before climbing into bed to read.

11:00pm: I put in my earbuds and open up YouTube on my phone to listen to ASMR videos for a half-hour until I find myself falling asleep. Then, it’s lights out!

What’s something fun you did this weekend?

Categories: Recurring Series

Everyday Moments of May

1 – Woke up feeling so much better than yesterday (the last day of April, I was down for the count with side effects from my second COVID shot) and I could do a bit of work and tidy up my apartment. It’s nice to have energy!

2 – Today, I feel back to normal! Whew. Those COVID shot side effects are no joke. I was even able to get out to do a quick grocery shop. Felt great!

3 – My mom came over for dinner. She was sitting on the couch, looking around at my apartment and remarked about how cozy it is. I loved getting that compliment! I have really tried to make my space cozy and welcoming.

4 – First day using my new office chair! It is so much more comfortable than my other one. (Eloise agrees!)

5 – Making a baked potato for dinner and it was delicious! (Side note: I ended up having a baked potato for dinner, like, twice a week this month. Such an easy, delicious meal!)

6 – Starting the day with a great spin workout that left me super sweaty and feeling great. Love that feeling!

7 – Putting up my out-of-office! I have five full days off work and, as I’ve been working most weekends for the past few weeks, it’s going to feel so good to fully get away and recharge.

8 – Lila’s birthday! We celebrated with special treats and some Tacocat Creations goodies!

9 – Celebrating Mother’s Day and having Mark, Jenny, and the boys come out to breakfast with my mom and me.

10 – A Monday off! I went swimming, took a long nap, and played with Chip. It was a great day!

11 – I went to the eye doctor today! My favorite appointment. Like always, my eyesight and astigmatism got a bit worse but nothing too worrisome. They also did an X-ray of my eyeballs (or something like that) so it was cool to see what they look like from that perspective. My eyeballs are perfectly healthy, too! Woo!

12 – My last day of my little staycation. I slept in, got a great massage, and enjoyed a swim in my mom’s pool. Perfect day!

13 – A really easy day to ease back into working. I managed to write a good number of pages today, which is always something to smile about!

14 – Finding out the large lump in my armpit is just an infected cyst (and not the terminal cancer diagnosis I thought I was going to receive). Plus, I bought a new trash can and got to sleep in my own bed for the first time in four nights!

15 – Game night with the fam. Always my fave!

16 – A great nap on the couch and spending time reading on the patio.

17 – A very productive Monday where I worked on a long article (3,000 words!)

18 – Lila falling asleep next to me while I read. Love that girl!

19 – Dinner with my mom. We attempted to go to a restaurant downtown but we couldn’t find parking anywhere (life is returning!) So we want to our old fave instead: Carrabba’s!

20 – My friend’s sweet dog, Mugsy, joined us at book club tonight and he was just the cutest!

21 – Having a meeting with my director to talk about the future of our writing department and the pathways of growth that she sees for me.

22 – Chick-fil-A for breakfast (mmm!) and swimming at my mom’s.

23 – Kayaking with Bri! It was so much fun, especially because I could do it as slowly and lazily as I wanted. Plus, we had insanely gorgeous weather!

24 – Being woken up by Lila sitting right on my chest. She let me snuggle her for a good 15 minutes, which is unheard of for her.

25 – PICKING UP LUCY! Oh my heavens, this girl has completely stolen my heart.

26 – Visiting Lucy in the morning before work. I accidentally put my mom’s car keys in my purse (I drove us home when we picked up Lucy so my mom could have some bonding time with her, and forgot that I put the keys in my purse when we were coming inside), so I had to drop them off since she had a morning appointment. BEST MISTAKE EVER! I also swung by Starbucks on my way back to my apartment.

27 – The wrong order was delivered to me from Ubereats, but it ended up being way more delicious than what I ordered. And Ubereats refunded my order for me, so a win/win!

28 – Puppysitting! I got some Lucy snuggles and some one-on-one time with Chip while Lucy was sleeping in her crate. I’m really trying to give Chip as much attention as I normally do, but it’s hard!

29 – I had a really nice, relaxing morning/afternoon to myself where I made myself a big breakfast, did a workout, ran errands, and then laid on the couch and read for most of the afternoon. In the evening, I went to my mom’s for game night and Lucy fell asleep on me! So sweet.

30 – My first maskless visit to Publix in 14 months! WOOHOO! (I know not everyone feels comfortable with this, but I’m trusting the science and it’s something that feels right to me.)

31 – A very lazy Memorial Day for me that felt extra nice. And I got to spend some time with Chip and Lucy, so that was very special. 🙂

Tell me a sweet “everyday moment” of May for you!

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently in May

Loving… my new fur-sister Lucy who is so smol and adorable. She makes Chip look ginormous! I’m obsessed with her and have told my mom she’s only allowed to Facetime with me now when Lucy is with her (sometimes she’s sleeping in her crate—not ok!) Tonight, I’m going to spend some one-on-one time with her (and Chip) while my mom and stepdad go out to eat, and I’ve been looking forward to this puppy-sitting date all week long!

Loathing… how nervous I get before some meetings, especially if I have to lead it. Even if it’s just a one-on-one meeting, I have to do so much prep beforehand to make sure I know what I want to say and then get crazy butterflies in my stomach in the hour leading up to the meeting. Anyone else?!

Watching… season three of The Crown and season five of Schitt’s Creek. This season of The Crown introduced an all-new cast and I’m still getting used to Olivia Coleman as the Queen instead of Claire Foy! But it’s very good and informative. (The third episode of season three, about the Aberfan disaster, was horrifying and something I’ve never heard of before!)

Listening to… In God We Lust, a podcast miniseries about Jerry Falwell Jr and this crazy scandal involving a love triangle between him, his wife, and a pool attendant. It’s fascinating!

Grateful for… really excellent customer service. I placed a big order on Chewy last week and when it arrived, the plastic box of Greenies had split open and spilled all over the box. I immediately sent an email to Chewy’s customer service and within 10 minutes, they had responded and placed a new order for a new box of Greenies for me (at no cost to me, of course)! Their email was super cute, too, and I was impressed with their service! Excellent customer service gives me all of the heart-eyes.

Anticipating… the three-day weekend. While I’ll likely have to do a little work this weekend (mainly editing), I’m going to try to limit it to one hour per day. I plan to spend a lot of time with Lucy, take a long nap every day, and catch up on reading! I feel like I’ve barely had time to read this week because work has been so insane.

Thinking about… some really exciting work changes that could spell major career growth for me. I had a very interesting meeting with my director last week where she discussed some of the growth potential she sees in me, which is really gratifying to hear. I’m so glad I bring so much value to my team and that she’s thinking about ways I could add even more! But it also has me thinking long and hard about the ways I want to grow, not just the ways I can grow. Does that make sense? There’s a difference between what is available for me and what will actually suit my needs and skills.

Wishing… for a new therapist. I think I’d like to go back to therapy (more as a “tune-up” and to talk through some stuff in my life) but finding a therapist is always such a struggle. I may end up going back to my old therapist—she was wonderful, but I also felt a little like we had hit a wall and there was not much further I could go with her in my mental health journey. So that’s why I’m thinking of looking for a new therapist, but ugh, it’s really the most arduous task and I’m also a little concerned about the cost. On my old insurance plan, it was $50 per session, which is doable with my budget. But I’m on a high-deductible plan now so I’d be paying much more (one of my friends who is in therapy is on a similar plan and pays $150 per session, eeks). However, I think I get three sessions free so there’s that! Anyway, I think maybe I’ll make a goal for June to find three therapists I’d like to contact so I can get the ball rolling on this.

Buying… knock-off Airpods. So, my Airpod problem that I hoped Apple would fix for free (some Airpods made before October 2020 have a defect) ended up being another issue entirely. And since I didn’t get Applecare on my Airpods, the cost to replace was $160. Yeah, no thanks. I know it was stupid not to get Applecare (it’s only $30 for two years—what were you thinking, Steph?!) but I just didn’t figure I would need it. JOKE’S ON ME. Anyway, I bought a pair of $30 knock-off Airpods on Amazon and they seem to work pretty well! They turn on and connect to my phone immediately when I put them in my ears, but need to be in their case to turn off (Airpods turn off if you just take them out of your ears, which is really cool). I’ll probably end up buying another pair of Airpods in the future (this time, with Applecare), but these little knock-offs will work for now.

Feeling… happy about Olive’s progress. I haven’t given an update on Olive (my friend’s baby with a rare, aggressive form of cancer) in a while, but she’s speeding through her chemo treatments like a boss! She mostly experiences a lack of appetite and extreme fatigue from her treatments (and sometimes mouth sores, poor thing!). She has two more cycles left before she is done and I cannot wait to celebrate when that happens.

What are you currently loving, loathing, and wishing for?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 66)

1) One of the most exciting parts of my week was buying a new trash can! Yes, a trash can! I’ve had the same old trash can since I moved into my first apartment in 2016 and it was definitely time for a change. A trash can is just one of those things you don’t think about upgrading, you know? At least I don’t. I spent $50 on my new trash can, which feels ridiculously expensive, but it’s shiny and fancy and looks great in my apartment. Yay, trash cans!

2) I spent most of last week in a spiral of anxiety that this lump in my left armpit was cancer. I was pretty sure it was just an infected cyst since I’ve had this lump looked at before and my doctor has reassured me it’s not cancerous (while telling me she will happily refer me to a specialist to have it biopsied if I want). Usually, it’s just a tiny bump under my arm, but it had doubled in size over the last week and grown increasingly painful. So, of course, I googled what it all meant and worked myself into a panic. Thankfully, it is just a cyst and my doctor even proved it to me by, um, squeezing it. (TMI?) I’m on antibiotics and using a warm compress on it a few times a day to help drain it. And it’s gotten so much better from this time last week! I couldn’t even put deodorant on without pain. It’s probably half its size and no longer painful, so yay! I am so thankful it is not something serious because, whew, was I imagining some awful scenarios in my head last week. Health is never something I will take for granted, that’s for sure.

3) Speaking of health, one thing that I have been struggling with lately is my physical health, a la working out. The last time I worked out was Mother’s Day! Whoops. My schedule was all messed up last week and whenever I’m out of my routine, I find that exercise is one of the first things to go. And this week, I just haven’t had any motivation or desire to work out. I even woke up early to exercise yesterday but only did one loop around my apartment complex before calling it quits. Ugh. I just need to get back to it and stop making excuses, but I also don’t want to come to exercise from a place of shame because that’s not motivating or healthy. Maybe I need to do some low-impact Peloton workouts to get me back in the swing of things? I dunno.

4) I bought a new brush for the girls last month because I was taken in by an Instagram ad that promised my cats would love the feeling of this brush on their bodies. Eloise took to it right away and loved getting brushed. She would trill at me and rub her face all over the brush like she was telling it how much she loved it. Lila, on the other hand, was terrified of it. She ran far away from me every time I picked it up and showed it to her. And she is the one who needs to be brushed frequently because she’s fluffy! Very, very fluffy. Finally, I was able to show her how much Ellie loved getting brushed, and then, all of a sudden, she let me brush her and fell in love with it! Now she’s letting me brush her every day. The first time I brushed Lila, I brushed out enough hair to knit a sweater. (Okay, maybe not that much, but it was seriously a pile of hair!) I just love brushing them, though. It’s so soothing! And when they don’t fight me, it’s even better. Now if only I could get them to let me brush their teeth. THAT would be a miracle.

5) I don’t have much going on this weekend, aside from my monthly lady date with Bri. We are going kayaking at a preserve near me and are prepared to do it as lazily and slowly as possible. 🙂 I may also head over to my mom’s for some pool time. It’s Chip’s last weekend as an only child! (Lucy comes home Monday!)

What was the last mundane purchase you got excited about? What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 65)

1) It’s been a crazy week around here, as I have been on Chip duty since Monday. My mom and stepdad left early Monday morning for a lovely island vacation (so jealous!) so I’ve been sleeping over at their house since then. I hate being away from my kitties every night, but I visit them every day and give them lots of treats to make up for my guilt. My mom and stepdad come home tonight so I’m excited to sleep in my own bed and not have to leave the girls alone! It’s been fun to hang out with Chip, though. He’s a good boy, even if his barking can drive me up the wall sometimes. Eeks. Dachshunds, man!

2) I took three days of PTO this week, and it was really lovely! I didn’t do much (I know a lot of people don’t like using their PTO as “staycation” time, but I find it to be rejuvenating!) but I did have an eye exam on Tuesday that revealed very little change to my eyesight (yay!) and a massage on Wednesday where my therapist worked on my lower back/sciatica region a lot. Typically, I like very little pressure when it comes to massage (one of those HSP things: I’m sensitive to massage pressure), but I let her really go to work in that area since I knew I needed it. It wasn’t pleasant but my lower back hasn’t felt tight or achy since! During my time off, I also spent lots of time reading (finished three books!) and swimming in my mom’s pool. It was a great time!

3) My mom has an official adoption date for Lucy: May 24th! I am so excited! I will definitely be taking time off work to go with my mom to pick her up. It’s been really fun to watch her grow from a tiny blob who couldn’t even open her eyes or walk to this feisty little doxie who bites other dogs’ ears and climbs over them to get to food. Eeks! I can’t wait to hold her!

4) Yesterday marked two weeks post-second vaccine, so I am officially fully protected from COVID-19! Wahoo! And the CDC just released guidelines that fully vaccinated people can go maskless indoors and outdoors. I don’t know how I feel about not wearing a mask indoors (will people think I’m anti-mask?! But then, if I do wear a mask, will they think I’m anti-vax?!) but it’s one step closer to normalcy, and that’s exciting to think about.

5) My weekend plans include a doctor’s appointment and spending time with Chip this evening. Tomorrow, I have an appointment to get my AirPods looked at since one of them is having a weird crackling issue (which could be an Apple defect that they’ll replace for free, fingers crossed!) and game night with the fam. And Sunday should be a low-key day at home, where I’ll most likely be doing lots of cleaning. Fun times.

What are your weekend plans?