Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

One Picture Per Hour | Monday, July 15, 2024

6:48AM: I’m up and so are the girls. They still don’t beg me for food, even though we’re now on a feeding schedule, which is very nice. Such polite ladies I have! I feed them and then sit on the couch for a few minutes playing Happy Color.

7:21AM: I’m finishing up a walk outside and lest you think this happens often, I honestly can’t remember the last time I went outside for a walk around my apartment complex. I haven’t even taken my yearly photos of all the blooming crepe myrtle trees around me! The travesty!

8:08AM: I have a hot cup of coffee and a full to-do list, so it’s time to power through my day. I spend some time working through my inbox and handling anything that needs an answer. Then, I check in with my contractors (one sent me content to edit and send out, but the others haven’t sent anything to our shared drive so it’s going to be a quiet day on the contractor front!) I decide to post some contractor content to our clients’ websites while I watch an episode of Suits. Ahh, perfect! It’s a mindless but satisfying task; perfect for Monday morning.

9:46AM: I took a shower and then sat down to play some games on my phone and wasted 15 minutes. Oops. Time to get up and finish my morning routine!

10:46AM: Eloise checks out what’s going on outside while I work. I’m doing meeting prep for the back-to-back one-on-ones I have with a few of my direct reports later.

11:46AM: (Listen, I don’t know how I took three photos in a row at the EXACT SAME MINUTE.) I get all the ingredients for Santa Fe Chicken in the Crock-Pot during my lunch break.

12:50PM: Here’s a different view of my “office.” (Please check out the extremely well-done drawing of the Olympic rings. I am available for all of your drawing needs.) Let’s see… what am I doing at this time? Clearing out my inbox, responding to some Slack messages, and finishing up my meeting prep. At 1pm, I jump into my first of four back-to-back meetings!

1:32PM: A quick snap between meetings for the blog. I do these one-on-one meetings with each of my direct reports (I have nine right now) every month and try to do them in batches, which is easier for me. The meetings can be quick (sometimes I’m done within 10 minutes!) but are scheduled for 30 minutes and sometimes we need the whole time. Today, the meetings range between 10-30 minutes. I’m finished with my 1:30 meeting with enough time to finish up some notes I wanted to make for my next two meetings.

2:45PM: Meetings are done! Some of the meetings were unexpectedly hard as two of my direct reports let me know about difficult things going on in their lives. I also had to bring up an issue with one of my writers, which is never my favorite thing to do. (But also, I feel very proud of myself when I do! Like I said when I called my mom between meetings, “I’m proud of myself for doing something I’m supposed to do.” Being a manager can be a difficult endeavor when you’re as conflict-avoidant as I am. But it’s also my job! Ack.) Anyway, Lila was there after my meetings for cuddles so that was nice.

3:10PM: I take a cleaning break! I am trying a new cleaning routine right now and we’re not going to make a big deal about it, so I don’t get scared off. OKAY?! The new routine is that I’m trying to clean one area of my floors every day. I feel like cleaning the floors is the most arduous task ever but I also love when my floors are clean, so by doing it this way, I can keep them clean on a more regular basis without it feeling so difficult. Today, I swept and mopped the dining area.

4:50PM: I’m trying to work on an email but Ellie has decided she must get pets at this moment EMERGENCY. So I have to stop everything I’m doing to make sure she gets her much-deserved head scritches. She’s very happy when I’m scratching her and very annoyed when I stop.

5:35PM: Dinnertime! It’s very rare for me to eat dinner this early but I was hungry and have a 6pm virtual dietician appointment, so it made sense to eat dinner beforehand. I serve it over brown rice and it’s soooo good. It makes a lot of leftovers, too, which is great!

6:00PM: It’s time for my monthly dietician appointment! We chat about breakfast ideas (I’m very much done with oatmeal for the time being), how to add more veggies to dinner, and making sure I’m eating every few hours (why is this so hard for me??).

7:51PM: Nothing like following up a dietician appointment with a plate of cookies! HA. Actually, my dietician would encourage me to eat these cookies so I don’t feel any guilt. I made a small batch and watched an episode of Survivor: Tocantins. Can you spot the cat in this photo?

8:18PM: I’m doing my nighttime routine and tidying up the apartment while Lila sits on the table and meows sadly at me every time I walk by. She wants extra treats and I try to hold out, but how can I resist those big green eyes? She knows she holds the upper hand here.

9:52PM: Nighttime routine is finished (I took a break for about 30 minutes to Facetime with my mom, which is why it took me so long). I sit down at my dining room table to fill out my One Line a Day journal and planner (which I only really use to track goals/daily habits).

10:20PM: I’m finally snuggled up in bed (with Lila!) and reading my book. But I’m also playing on my phone so I only manage to read 20 or so pages before it’s lights out. Oops.

What would you have taken a photo of on Monday?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 105)

1) Read later FTW

A few weeks ago, Elisabeth talked about how she uses the “read later” function on Feedly to mark the blogs she’s read and wants to comment on. She usually reads blog posts on her phone and then waits to comment until she’s in front of a computer. I thought this was a such a great idea! First, it opens up the world of reading blogs from my phone. It’s something I never do because I don’t like commenting from my phone, but now I can just hit “read later” and voila, problem solved! Second, it allows me to read blogs faster because I don’t have to worry about commenting right away. I just click “read later” and come back to it when I have time to comment. Elisabeth, you are a genius!

2) A special birthday

My mom had a very special birthday on Monday, and my brother and I got to celebrate with her on Sunday afternoon. I booked us time at The Candle Pour where we could make candles (this is my third time making candles. I made a coffee-scented candle this time that smells amazing). Then, we went out for dinner in downtown St. Pete and got ice cream at our favorite local shop. It was a great day celebrating the best person I know! It was also really special to have my brother there; we didn’t think he’d be interested in making candles with us but when my mom asked if he wanted to come with us, he said yes. What a delight!

3) Anxiety, my old friend

I haven’t had a major anxiety spiral in quite a while, so I guess I was due for one. This anxiety spiral happened because I couldn’t get ahold of my mom on Saturday so I was convinced she died in her sleep overnight. When these anxiety spirals happen, logic just does not work for me. Sure, I can tell myself that my mom is in good health (better health than me, even!) and she likes to sleep in on Saturdays, and there is a super small chance that she’ll have a brain aneurysm and die suddenly. But it’s that small chance that my anxiety brain will clamp onto. And clamp it did.

Here’s what happened: I texted my mom at 11:00 a.m. to tell her I had booked the workout class we were taking tomorrow. She usually texts back immediately, especially for something like this. Then, I recorded a podcast episode with Bri, all the while keeping an eye on my watch to see if my mom had texted me back. When we finished recording, it had been an hour since I had texted my mom so I Facetimed her. No answer. After 30 minutes, I Facetimed her again. No answer. I was already spiraling, but I started spiraling even more. Thankfully, I was spiraling at Bri’s house. I had come over to record a couple of podcast episodes, and we took a break after the first one to have lunch. Somehow, I managed to choke down the tacos Bri had cooked (not a slight to Bri! I was just so deep in my anxiety that it was hard to eat), and then I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything productive until my mom called me back. This isn’t the first anxiety spiral Bri has witnessed from me, so she knew the drill. We sat in front of the TV (her husband was watching the EuroCup, which was a great distraction) and Bri also distracted me with conversation. Even though I didn’t contribute much to the conversation, it helped me step outside myself for a bit. In a recent book I read (Abby Jimenez’s Just for the Summer), the author talked about how the main character would get “small” when she was going through a mental health crisis, and that was accurate for me. I felt like I was fully curled up within myself, safely hiding inside my shell, as my brain conjured up all sorts of terrible scenarios. I am so glad I spiraled with Bri because she was able to give me the support I needed.

Eventually, though, my mom did call me. It was only 2 1/2 hours since my original text, which I know for most people isn’t that long to wait for a text back. Sometimes, I take that long to text back! But my mom and I have a different sort of relationship (some may call it co-dependent…) and while I have been doing better about not spiraling when she takes longer to call me back, sometimes the brain is having an off day. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant about my mental health and the next time it happens, to make sure there’s a friend who can be there for me. Being with Bri and Sean made this spiral a bit less stressful and terrible.

4) A decade in the making

Yesterday, I noticed that I had a comment on one of my Goodreads reviews from a long time ago – a whole decade ago, in fact. It was a pretty scathing review for a Harlequin romance, and while I don’t think I would leave such an unkind review today, I was shocked to learn that the author of the book left a snarky comment on my review. Listen, I stand by my review. While I don’t remember anything about this book, if I felt like it was terribly written, it probably was. I didn’t attack this author personally in the review; I was simply honest about how I felt about the book. I don’t leave reviews like this anymore, but 2014 was a different time in the book world. Let this be a lesson to authors: stop reading reviews of your books! Do not under any circumstance read 1-star reviews of your books! And remember, Goodreads is for readers, not authors. *steps off soapbox*

5) Weekend plans

This weekend should be a good one! Tonight, I have plans with a few friends to go see Inside Out 2 (yes, we’re in our thirties without children, and yes, this is what we choose to do on a Friday night). Tomorrow, I have my writing date with Mikaela and then game night with the fam. And Sunday, all I have on the agenda is a workout class. Yay!

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 104)

1) I had a lot of social anxiety in the lead-up to my weekend with Kim. This has nothing to do with Kim and everything to do with the way my brain works—it didn’t matter who I was going to be spending the weekend with, the social anxiety would be rampant. (Okay, not if it’s my mom because, well, she’s my mom.) Even though I felt really silly having such an emotional response to something that was going to be fun, I have gotten a lot better in recent years of acknowledging that my brain works differently than other people and it’s okay to have anxiety about things that don’t make other people anxious. And guess what? You can be anxious and still do the thing! The moment I saw Kim at the airport, all of those silly anxieties floated away. Just seeing her smiling face made me immediately feel at ease!

2) Let’s do a scalp psoriasis update, shall we? I went to the dermatologist last Wednesday for my annual skin check and my psoriasis follow-up. Something you should know about me is that I have this tendency to downplay how I’m feeling. Even when I was going for regular chiropractic adjustments, I would tell my chiropractor that I was feeling fine when I wasn’t. I don’t know why I do this. I guess I just don’t want the doctor to feel like they’re failing at their job because I’m not feeling better, lol. I’m such a goddamn enneagram 9 it hurts. Anyway, at this appointment, when the nurse asked me how my scalp psoriasis was doing, I told her, “Terrible.” And proceeded to talk about how bad it had been these last few months. I’m proud of myself for being honest! When my dermatologist came into the room, we talked about all the different options available to me. She still feels strongly that we should try to treat this at its source rather than doing a systemic treatment that has lots of additional side effects. Since the topical steroids weren’t doing their job, I opted for injections. Essentially, this entailed injecting steroids right into my scalp to hit the deeper skin layers that a topical steroid can’t really get to. I was admittedly apprehensive about getting injections in my head but after a month of pretty excruciating psoriasis pain, I was ready to try anything. Getting the injections wasn’t pleasant, of course, but it honestly wasn’t any worse than what I’d already been experiencing. She stuck the needle into multiple spots where I have the dry skin patches, and since then, I have seen some improvements in my condition. The patches haven’t cleared up completely but the itchiness/pain has reduced considerably. I’m still using steroid treatment (I started a new one, calcipotiene, which is formulated specifically for psoriasis) and hopefully that does the trick to clear up the patches completely.

I have a follow-up appointment in two months—the injections often provide relief for up to 6 weeks, so it’s something I may have to get done frequently. For now, I’m happy with how the injections helped my itchiness/pain, but I may have to look into a different treatment if the dry skin patches don’t clear up.

3) Remember how I talked about how weak I felt during my workouts a few weeks ago? Every workout felt like it was taking everything out of me and was so challenging. This week, I have felt so strong! During my regular Tuesday evening class (which is a 20-minute weights-based full-body workout), I was able to complete all of the exercises without feeling like I was going to die, and even felt like I could push myself a bit further than I would normally go (which I did, and then felt like such a badass, lol). I even felt strong during my Wednesday evening HIIT class and felt like I didn’t have to modify nearly as much as I normally do. I’m getting stronger! It’s a good reminder that I’m going to have weeks where things just feel harder and there can be myriad reasons for that. On those weeks, it’s best to listen to my body and do whatever feels right, whether that’s reducing the weight, taking the modifications, taking more breaks, etc. Odds are, I’ll be back at my best the following week.

4) Last night, Bri and I went to a really fun book event in downtown Tampa. There were tons of vendors, local authors selling books, a book swap, and some bookmobiles. It was a crowded event, too, which made me really happy. I loved being surrounded by all the bookish people—so many great bookish t-shirts and totes! I also counted seven dachshunds, which delighted me to no end. We donated some books to the book swap and then Bri and I stood in line to check out the two bookmobiles that were there. One was for a bookstore that is hoping to open a brick-and-mortar location soon in Ybor called Bookends. I bought a cute bookmark and a new edition of Red, White & Royal Blue (my current one is an ARC that I got for free from a Goodreads giveaway, and I’ve been wanting to replace it). We also visited The Sated Bookworm, which was a romance-centric bookmobile. We got there a little late, so all of the good stuff had been picked over (which is awesome for the vendor!) but I did buy a book from her. And I’m now following her account on Instagram so I can keep an eye on her location. I feel like I missed out on some seriously cute items, so I want to visit her shop again soon!

5) This weekend should be a good one. As of right now, the only plans I have are a girl’s night in tonight, a writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning, and a HIIT class on Sunday morning. I’m hoping to fill up the rest of my weekend with reading, napping, and getting some chores done. A restorative weekend it shall be.

What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently in June

Loving… all the time off work I’ve had recently! I had 6 days off work at the end of May/early June and this week, I took Wednesday-Friday off. We already get Wednesday off for Juneteenth and then I was going to take Friday off to travel to Chicago… why not give myself the gift of a five-day weekend? No sense in working on Thursday! I’ll probably log into work today and tomorrow just to clear out emails/Slack messages and handle some of my daily tasks, but otherwise, I’m taking it real easy!

Loathing… scalp psoriasis. I’m sorry to be a broken record, but it’s truly my biggest challenge these days. Today, I finally have a follow-up visit with my dermatologist to figure out next steps. (It was supposed to be on May 1st, but I had to move it and her next availability was 6 weeks out, argh.) I have been taking photos of my scalp on an almost daily basis to show her the cycle (it goes from dormant to dry patches to red patches, over and over again) so I am just crossing my fingers she has a solution for me. I am at the point where I will gladly get injections in my scalp (because yes, that’s an option) to make it all go away. I’m also going to schedule follow-up appointments every 2-3 weeks with her until I go into maintenance because I can’t go this long between appointments anymore! Blergh.

Reading… the same books I was reading on Friday. I have a few hours left in The Rose Code by Kate Quinn and I’m about halfway through Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (it has a very triggering element for me, so it’s not the breezy romance I was expecting). I expect both books to be 4 stars, but we’ll see if that changes!

Watching… Suits, where mainly I drool over Harvey Spector. I’m nearly finished with season one and I have enjoyed every single episode so far. I can’t wait to keep going!

Listening to… no new music right now. Confession: I am two months behind on my goal of listening to one new album every week. Every time I think about starting a new album (I’m thinking my next one will be Billie Eilish’s newest release), I just throw on my TAYLOR playlist and jam out to my favorite songs I know backwards and forwards. I think I just want something familiar and comforting right now, and that’s what my TAYLOR playlist gives me. But I will hopefully get back on track with this goal soon!

Anticipating… my weekend in Chicago with Kim! She has dubbed it Stephany & Kim’s AMEOWZING Popcast Weekend, and I am so excited! Kim gave me a detailed itinerary, which I am much appreciative of because I am a details gal. I fly into Chicago in the morning and fly out on Sunday, so we’ll have most of Friday and all of Saturday together. And, of course, I am super excited to go to the Popcast Live! I get to see my best friends (parasocially, of course) live and in person! I think it will be a raucous evening and I am really looking forward to it. And I am really, really looking forward to seeing Kim’s cats and forcing them to fall in love with me. That’s how it works, right?!

Thinking about… Pride posts. I’m a glutton for punishment so I can’t help but click on the comments of any business that puts up a Pride post. It’s always a cesspool, as one might expect. A lot of American flags with comments like, “This is the only flag I care about!!!!” And a lot of “ew, why do people have to shove this in our faces?” Of course, nobody ever says that when we see a heterosexual marriage proposal or wedding or “gender” reveal. It’s ignorance, I know, but it still makes me really sad knowing there are so many people who hate the queer community. What is it hurting you if we get to love the people we want to love? Ugh.

Buying… Pretty Litter. I’ve used World’s Best cat litter for the entirety I’ve been a cat mom, but after Eloise’s health scare, I realized there’s a lot I don’t know about the girls’… erm… bathroom habits. When I had a dog, it was easy to understand if he was peeing a lot more than usual or had weird poops. It’s a lot harder to know that with cats. Pretty Litter purports to monitor a cat’s health by changing the color of the litter (it starts off white) when they pee. As long as the litter stays yellow or olive green, things are good. But if there’s an issue like a UTI or kidney disease, the litter will change to blue or red or orange. I’m trying it out for now, and we’ll see if I like it enough to keep using it!

Grateful… to have so many wonderful Little Free Libraries around me! Within 10 minutes of where I live, there are at least 15 different spots. On Sunday, I made a list of all the different addresses and went around town dropping books off in different libraries. Some of them were so cute and curated! I know I’m lucky to have so many nearby and I’m glad I was able to leave some good books in these libraries.

What are you currently watching and grateful for?

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (v. 64)

The high of my week was starting Bridgerton! I held off on watching season 3 until all of the episodes were released, and now I am firmly entrenched in the world of my favorite fictional family. I have been waiting for Penelope’s story because she is by far my favorite character, and it has not disappointed. I’m only a few episodes in and I’m savoring each episode because I know the length of time between seasons is looooong. (I saw a Thread that it takes two years between writing, filming, and editing each season, which means we probably won’t get season four until summer 2026? Ugh!)

The low of my week was difficult workouts. I did a circuit training class on Tuesday that felt so hard and I really struggled to catch my breath during the routine. And then on Wednesday, I had my regular HIIT workout class and felt like I was going to just plain die. My heart rate was high and my muscles felt so fatigued. Have you ever had weeks where your body just feels like it took three steps backward? Oof. I’m trying to remind myself that I’m not a robot and I can’t be expected to work out at the same level of intensity every week, but wah. I want to see progress!

One nagging task I marked off my to-do list was um, nothing? Oops. I have a whole list of things I need to get done, but I guess that’s going to have to happen this weekend!

I’m currently reading two books. On audio, I’m almost halfway through The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. It’s a WWII novel about code-breakers and it’s fascinating! I also just started Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez.

A Reel I loved was this very excellent joke from a stand-up comedian. It made me laugh a lot!

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Go West Young Man on Good Christian Fun. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much listening to a podcast episode. I was in tears at one point! I still giggle to myself when I think about the part of the episode that had me cry-laughing. So good!

The best money I spent was $23 on this adorable “Purride” shirt on Etsy. I couldn’t help myself when I came across it!

My plans this weekend include not much! I have a podcast recording date with Bri (our last recording date was over a month ago!) and a video chat with Kim to discuss our plans for next weekend (!!). I may drive around my city and drop some books off in Little Free Libraries. I have a big stack of books in my closet that need to go to new homes, so I think this weekend is the perfect opportunity to do just that.

What was the highlight of your week?