Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

Three Things Thursday (v. 4)

Who’s up for another Three Things Thursday blog post? I had fun putting this one together. 🙂

Three confessions:

1) My mental health hasn’t been great lately and my motivation to blog has been waning. I know I could give myself permission to step away from the blog for as long as I need it, but I’m so worried that if I do that, I’ll never get back in the habit of blogging. Ugh.

2) Even though the Bucs are my hometown team, I’m rooting hard for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

3) I have this recurring dream that I’m grocery shopping and I’m the only person in the store wearing a mask. It feels so scary! And I get so mad at all of these imaginary people. “We’re in a pandemic, people!” Sigh. Is this what my dream life has come to?

Three recipes I’ve recently made:

1) Mini BBQ cheddar meatloaves from Iowa Girl Eats.

2) One-pot garlic parmesan pasta from Damn Delicious.

3) Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken from Skinnytaste.

Three books I always recommend:

1) In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero. While this isn’t the most well-written book, it gives a personal look into immigration and the struggle to become a citizen. Diane was only 14 when her family was deported. Since she was born in the U.S., she wasn’t deported with them, leaving her alone in a strange land. It’s a heartbreaking book but it forever changed the way I viewed immigration reform.

2) The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. This is my go-to romance recommendation, and it stands out still as my favorite romance novel of all time. I’m so excited this book is being made into a movie (with Lucy Hale as the female protagonist which is just such excellent casting).

3) Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski. I think this is a book every woman should read, whether you think you have an awesome sex life or if you struggle with it. I’m part of the latter camp, someone who has never had a huge sex drive and always felt like there was something wrong with me because of it. This book made me feel so seen and understood and it transformed the way I viewed my own sexuality. It’s a must-read!

Three iPhone apps I recently downloaded:

1) Book of the Month. BOTM has been telling me to download their app for months and months, and I finally did so this week.

2) Tile Master. One of those silly iPhone games that I downloaded because it looked interesting from an ad I saw on another game. That’s how they get you!

3) Patreon. I became a patron of the Currently Reading podcast and needed to download Patreon so I could grab the special RSS code to put in my podcast player so I could listen to special episodes.

Three TV shows I’m watching now:

1) Superstore. This sitcom makes me cackle with laughter. It’s so good! I’m halfway through season 1 and it’s been the perfect show to bring me down from my Bridgerton high.

2) Younger. I started watching this show because so many people rave about it and it definitely feels like a show that’s in my wheelhouse. I’m about six or so episodes into season 1 and I’m not completely in love with it yet. But I’m going to keep watching to see if it gets better!

3) The Office. I’m watching one episode a week to follow along with the Office Ladies podcast. And yes, this means I had to subscribe to Peacock to keep watching since The Office was taken off Netflix. Ugh. At least it’s only $5 a month.

Three of the newest podcasts I’ve added to my feed:

1) The Bible Binge. I didn’t know I needed a pop-culture version of the Bible, but this podcast is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Knox and Jamie of The Popcast fame recap stories of the Bible but in a really fun, engaging way. Every Bible character gets their celebrity counterpart and the hosts bring in the historical context surrounding each Bible story, which I find really interesting. (There are so many Bible stories that I know by heart but have no idea what was going on historically during them.) They even have a Bible scholar review their episodes and give a “gentle rebuke” about anything they got wrong. If you want to learn about the Bible in a really fun way, listen to this podcast!

2) 10 Things to Tell You. I’m currently making my way through the backlist of this podcast and I like it a lot. Every episode really makes me think. The episode is about digging deep into life’s big questions and sharing the messy, hard parts of ourselves. The host, Laura Tremaine, asks really pointed questions to get you thinking, stuff like, “What do you assume about others?” “What do you do when you’re lonely?” “What were your family rules growing up?” It’s a little navel-gaze-y, but then, I have a blog where all I do is gaze at my own navel soooo. It’s right up my alley!

3) Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata. I love this podcast! It makes me burst out laughing in every episode, and that’s rare for me to do! Each episode is about an hour long and is really just Nicole and Sasheer chit-chatting about what’s going on in their lives. They also answer a friendship question from a listener, and I really love their approach to friendship and the advice they give. It’s the kind of podcast I’m always excited to turn on because I know it will be an enjoyable hour of listening.

Three big purchases I want to make this year:

1) A new TV. Gosh, I am so ready for a new TV. I’ve had my tiny little 28-inch TV for about six years now and it’s time for a change. I have my eye on this gorgeous 50-inch smart TV but I will be patient and sock away some money every month until I can afford it.

2) A new mattress (and really luxurious bedsheets). My mattress is more than 10 years old, which is around the time that it needs to be replaced. But mattresses are so expensive! And I don’t want to go cheap here. Provided those magical $1,400 stimulus checks come through, I’m planning on using mine on a new mattress as well as some luxurious bedsheets.

3) A spin bike. I’m not exactly sure where a spin bike would fit in my apartment, ha, but I’d really like to get one so I could finally jump on the Peloton train. I’m not going to shell out $2,000 for a Peloton, but I’m thinking a cheaper spin bike (in the $400 range?) and using the Peloton app would work just fine.

Three recent Amazon purchases:

1) A new 2021 daily calendar. I bought a daily calendar at the beginning of January but I don’t really like it. I thought it would be fun because each day is something different (like movie trivia, or a random fact, or a crossword puzzle) but it’s actually kinda silly and I’m not loving it. So I bought a different calendar titled “365 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You,” haha. One of the facts on the box was about how our pinkie toes can just self-amputate for no reason, which I thought was wild! I love crazy facts like that so I’m hoping I enjoy it!

2) Selfie ring light. We’re expected to be on camera now during meetings at work and I quickly realized I did not have a good lighting setup where I’m sitting. There’s a big window behind me and it backlights me. I bought some room-darkening curtains for the window (even closing the blinds doesn’t help the lighting problem) as well as this ring light to upgrade my lighting situation. Here’s hoping it works!

3) A set of 11×14 picture frames. One of my goals for this quarter is to frame all of the Etsy prints I bought in November, and I wanted some bigger frames for some of those prints.

Three TV shows I will never watch:

1) Game of Thrones. My sensitive little heart would not be able to handle all the gore and violence!

2) Breaking Bad. Another show that would be a bit too dark for me.

3) This Is Us. I watched half of the first season of This Is Us and it was way too emotionally manipulative for my tastes.

Three things I’m doing this weekend:

1) Getting a massage. I have a feeling I’m going to really enjoy this massage because I’ve had some muscle soreness due to a strength workout I did over the weekend. Yay!

2) Visiting a cow farm. My friend Briana and I are going to take a trip to this adorable cow farm on Saturday morning, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week!

3) Naps on naps. This is looking to be a three-nap weekend, even with all my plans, and that’s basically the best type of weekend for me.

Tell me one book you’re always recommended and/or a TV show you’re currently watching!

Categories: Recurring Series

Five For Friday (v. 64)

1) The best news of the week: My dining room table was assembled on Wednesday! I am so glad I splurged on the professional assembly services because I really did not want to worry about putting it together. (Of course, the technician who came in made it look so easy!) Wayfair has very strict COVID policies in place (he wore a mask and gloves the whole time and we stayed six feet apart) so I felt comfortable having him in my apartment. And I’m just so, so happy to have a beautiful dining room table to stare at all day (haha—it’s in my line of sight when I work!) I already have some cute Christmas decorations on the table because that’s the kind of person I am. 🙂

2) Eloise’s “gotcha” day was on Tuesday! I can’t believe it’s been two whole years with this bundle of love. I went back through some of the first videos I took of her and they brought back so many great memories. She was a sweetheart right from the beginning and I love thinking about how shy and uncertain she was with me in the beginning. Now, she’s my feisty, chatty, lovable little lady who is never far from my side. I just love her so!

3) I took a spill yesterday when I was bringing one of my bar stools down to my car (sold those bad boys quickly!) I was trying so hard to be extra careful while I was walking down the stairs, stepping both feet on a stair before going to the next. But I ended up falling while almost near the bottom and landed right on my knees. Thankfully, my ankle survived the fall without getting injured but my knees are definitely not happy with me. They’re just skinned up and bruised, so nothing major, but they hurt something fierce. I also pulled a muscle in my left calf so I’m just hobbling around like an old woman. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I wasn’t always so scared of getting injured. Literally, the first thing I said when I fell was, “I knew this would happen!”

4) I didn’t realize until this past weekend that I never received my car registration renewal in the mail last month, and I’ve been driving around with an expired tag for over a week! Ooooops. I’m not sure why it never came through—I changed my address with the DMV immediately when I moved. When I tried to do it online, the system told me that the tax collector doesn’t have my insurance information on file, which is weird, because I’ve had the same car insurance for over two or three years now. I have an appointment this afternoon at the tax collector’s office to get it all sorted out, so I’m hoping it’s a quick fix.

5) I purchased an at-home food sensitivity test that I’m excited to try out. I am fairly certain I have some food sensitivities, given the way I (ahem) digest certain foods and feel extremely bloated after some meals. I am guessing I will have some sort of sensitivity to dairy, gluten, and citrus foods but we’ll see if anything interesting pops up! I am a little worried about doing a finger prick blood sample, but my cousin is a nurse so worst-case, I’ll have her help me out. 🙂 I haven’t been feeling great lately, health-wise, and I’d like to start experimenting with cutting out certain foods/food groups to my diet to see how it changes the way I feel. So having this information will just be a helpful step in the right direction!

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 63)

1) The saga of my dining room table. Did you know that I’m still waiting for my dining room table to be delivered? I ordered it in August and while I was understanding that my delivery would be delayed due to COVID, it started to get a bit ridiculous. First, I was told my dining room table would be delivered in early October. That date changed to late October, then early November, then mid-November… until I called the furniture store last week to find out the new date was mid-February. SIX MONTHS AFTER I HAD ORDERED IT! So I canceled the order. I’m not too sad about it because I had a tiny bit of buyer’s remorse about the purchase. (Which I didn’t want to admit to anyone, ha. But I definitely wasn’t super excited about the dining room table.) Instead, I found a gorgeous dining room set on Wayfair that will be here in early December and I treated myself to a professional installation. (A lot of the reviews said it took a long time to put it together, and I would just prefer to not deal with that.) The bad news is, I still do not have a dining room table. The good news is, I will have one in a matter of weeks—and I don’t have to install it myself!

2) A new bookshelf. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my big, beautiful IKEA bookcase this week. As much as I loved that bookshelf and the aesthetic it provided, it just wasn’t very functional for me. The backing was constantly moving out of place and the shelves weren’t sturdy enough to hold my books. After three of the four shelves collapsed on me while I was trying to decorate the bookcase for Christmas, I was done. It was time for something new. So, I bought a cube bookcase! I already have one of these bookcases (it serves as my TV stand and holds most of my Book of the Month books) and it definitely seems sturdy enough to handle my book collection. (It’s also incredibly easy to put together—it takes, like, 20 minutes tops.) As you can see from the below picture, this bookcase is already full (mostly filled with books I haven’t read and favorites that I want to keep) so I’ll probably buy another cube bookcase soon to hold more books and other odds and ends.

3) Hurricane/Tropical Storm Eta. Last week was a bit of a doozy! I woke up on Wednesday morning to all these crazy weather alerts and the real possibility that we could get hit by a hurricane by the end of the day. Thankfully, Eta shifted north and all we got was a ton of rain and wind, but I don’t think I got anything done that day work-wise! I was spending time panic-scrolling through my phone, getting constant weather alerts about tornados and storm surges, and trying to make a plan for what to do if I needed to evacuate quickly. (My apartment is located in the first evacuation zone.) It made me realize that I need to have an actual plan for evacuating with my cats! Like, I’m not going to actually carry their huge litter boxes with me, right? (I panic-bought disposable litter boxes on Wednesday morning when things were looking bad, lol.) It’s time to put together a hurricane prep kit so if I do have to evacuate quickly, I’ll have everything I need. (You’d think I, a Florida native, would have a hurricane prep kit but I most assuredly do not.)

4) Christmas. I started decorating for Christmas last weekend, which is the earliest I have ever decorated! I used to be a very strict “no Christmas until after Thanksgiving” person, but I just needed the cheery energy in my home. I bought a fake, pre-lit Christmas tree this weekend and it makes me so happy to see it all lit up at night. I started putting out all of my decorations, and I have even more than usual since I brought home the Christmas decorations I kept at work (I used to decorate my desk every December). I’m also planning on putting lights on my balcony and around my windows. I bought the Balsam Fir candle from Bath & Body Works this weekend (their three-wick candles were $10 off!) and have been lighting it every evening so it’s definitely cheery around these parts!

Oh, and how are the girls handling the Christmas tree? They were very curious about it when I brought it home and I’ve found Eloise climbing up the inner pole of the tree a few times, but they mostly leave it alone. Sometimes they’ll nap under the tree and use it to hide from each other when they’re playing, but so far, no ornaments have been destroyed. Of course, anything breakable is up high and I think I’ll add a few “soft” ornaments (stuff they could play with) at the bottom so they can indulge in their biggest cat fantasies, hehe. So far, so good, though!

5) Weekend plans. My weekend should be a lot less hectic than the last few weekends have been. I haven’t even had time for napping! Tonight, my friend is taking me out for a pre-birthday date. We scheduled a 30-minute in-person shopping visit at one of our local indie bookstores and then we’ll go out to eat somewhere nearby. I’ve been meaning to visit this bookstore but just never got around to it so I’m excited to spend time in a bookstore. (And try my best to adhere to my spending limit.) Saturday, I have my writing date and not much else, which is just what I want. And Sunday is for watching football with the fam!

Have you decorated for Christmas? What are you up to this weekend?

Categories: Recurring Series

October Recap

We’re nearly halfway through the month of November already so this post is comin’ at ya LATE. But let’s take a look back on October, shall we?

READING

It was another great month of reading for me! I read 13 books for a total of 129 for the year. This means I’m just 6 books away from my goal of 135! I really thought that was a stretch goal for me this year, but apparently not. My top-three for this month are:

WATCHING

  • The Good Place, season 5 – I watched the final season of The Good Place and I really enjoyed it. The finale was a wee bit triggering for me (as someone who is so very scared about death), but all in all, an excellent show! JANET 4EVER
  • Big Brother – This season of Big Brother was rather boring with one big alliance running the house the whole game, but at least we had a satisfying winner, right? I hope the producers make some changes to the game for next season, though.
  • The Amazing Race – It is so lovely to watch The Amazing Race right now. This season was filmed sometime in 2019 (they were filming another season early in 2020 that had to get shut down due to covid) so it’s a beautiful representation of the “before times.”

LISTENING TO

BUYING

  • Etsy prints ($16) – I bought a handful of cute Etsy prints early in October that I still need to get printed so I can hang them up. Originally, I was planning on hanging them up in my little office nook and I might still do that, but I also might put a few on my gallery wall. Inhale/Exhale | Writing | Books | Words
  • Painting supplies ($51) – My mom and I have grand plans to paint a bunch of ornaments we found at Michaels. She bought the ornaments and paintbrushes and I bought all of the paints. I really hope this project doesn’t turn out horrible, haha.
  • Command strips ($20) – I put up my gallery wall this month and I needed to purchase a whole bunch of Command strips to do so. I love how it turned out and it definitely has room to grow!

Highlights

> After all the hubbub around mail-in voting, I had no trouble with getting my ballot received and counted in less than a week. My mom and my brother also mailed in their ballots (my brother did it 10 days before the election) and there were no issues!

> I helped my brother register to vote! Yes, he should have been registered to vote a loooooong time ago but at least he did it for the most consequential election in our lifetimes.

> I spent a week detailing my life in a series of Week in the Life posts and had so much fun with that. Those posts always get a great response, which I’m happy about because I love doing them and glad you all love reading them!

> I finally got my hair cut! It had been almost six months since my last cut, which may not seem that long for most people, but I’m used to getting a trim every 3-4 months. I went to a cosmetology school for the haircut to save some money ($12 vs $60, ya know) and it was a good experience. While it took fooooorever (two-and-a-half hours!), I really enjoyed the stylist I worked with and watching the education process. Would I go again? I’m not sure. Saving so much money was really nice but it took so long for such a simple haircut.

> I purchased a new desk and was super grateful for my stepdad and mom coming over to help me put it together. It’s so much bigger than what I had previously!

> I went to my office this month to pick up my desktop. My company announced early in October that we would be moving to a remote workforce (based on how productive everyone has been working from home and the fact that we all want to continue doing so, even when things go back to “normal”). Our office will switch to more of a coworking space, which means every employee has to pick up their work desktops (previously, we’ve all been remoting into our desktops in the office through our laptops). Getting my desktop set up at home was easy and my work life has gotten so much better. Hooray!

> I had a lovely lady date with my girl, B. We used to have a standing monthly lady date, but that fell by the wayside with the pandemic. But we’re both feeling pretty comfortable going to restaurants and seeing people right now, so we’re baaaaack. This month, we had a delicious meal at a restaurant downtown and it was so nice to have two hours of uninterrupted time with her.

> My writing partner, M., had a birthday this month, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect as we decided to bring back our in-person writing dates a few weeks before her birthday. We meet at Panera and I suggested that we surprise her at the end of one of our writing dates! She was completely shocked, which made it all completely worth it. 🙂

> I haven’t been dating since the pandemic began (er… or before it, lol) but I had the best friend-date with my friend, A., this month. I told her it was the best date I’d been on in a long time, haha. We started at a cat cafe where we spent 45 minutes petting cute cats that were up for adoption, went to a nearby park to read by the water for 30 minutes, and then went to a local restaurant for dinner. If all of my actual dates could be that perfect, I would love dating!

> October is a hard month for my family, as it’s the month that Grandma and Pops died. We marked five years since Grandma died on the 9th and two years for Pops on the 28th. Those griefstones were horrible, but on Pops’ anniversary, my cousin suggested meeting up for dinner at his favorite restaurant and that was so very needed. I haven’t been around family all year long with the pandemic and such, so it was really nice to reconnect.

> Halloween 2020 was a weird one! I usually spend all month planning out a “punny” costume to wear to work but not this year. The only plan I made was to go to my mom’s house to help pass out candy. We weren’t sure if people would be out trick-or-treating, but we saw 27 kiddos (yes, we kept count, haha) and they were oh-so-cute. My mom and I sat on the porch, wore masks, and sanitized our hands between each candy drop so it was as COVID-safe as it could possibly be. Hopefully next year COVID-19 will be a thing of the past and we’ll see lots more kiddos!

Categories: Recurring Series

Week in the Life: Sunday, October 18

morning // After not going to bed until nearly 1am, I have a very lazy morning. I don’t get out of bed until almost 10 and it feels incredibly divine to just drift in and out of sleep all morning. Eventually, though, I know I need to get my day started. My mom FaceTimes me and we make a plan for this morning, and then I make an easy breakfast of cereal and iced coffee. I eat while reading over yesterday’s Week in the Life post and publish it. Then, I get ready and drive to my mom’s. I pick her up, and we drive over to Michaels to find a pillow form. She has an old shirt of Pops’ that she wants a friend of mine to sew into a pillow, so the friend just asked us to get the size pillow we want, and she’ll do it. We also wind up finding all of these paint-your-own ornaments and Christmas decorations and decide to give ourselves an art project for the holidays. I spend FIFTY DOLLARS on paints, ooooops. I definitely did not mean to do that!

afternoon // After our trip to Michaels, my mom and I stop by Publix so I can pick up a sub and then head back to her place for a day filled with watching football! My brother and older nephew arrive soon after we did and after eating lunch, I get cozy in an armchair and proceed to watch football while talking with my family and playing games on my phone. So relaxing! My mom bakes a delicious pumpkin treat as well as double chocolate cookies, so we munch on those goodies all afternoon and into the early evening.

evening // We order pizza around 5 and eat while watching the late afternoon game. And then there’s more lounging around, chit-chatting, and watching football. I love football Sundays with the fam! I leave halfway through the fourth quarter (since it’s obvious the Packers aren’t going to pull out a win, wah!) and arrive home around 7:30. The girls are very happy to see me and I sit down with them for a bit, giving them pets and some treats. Then, I take a relaxing bubble bath and read my book. Afterward, I work on this post and then do my nighttime routine. I’m in bed by 9:30 with my book and super tired, so I don’t think I’ll get too far before it’s lights out. 🙂

Sunday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago

Thanks for coming along with me this week! It was super fun taking you through a regular week in my life, even though it was busier than usual with social plans. I’m definitely experimenting with what feels comfortable to me in terms of being out and about right now, and I think that’s true for a lot of us. I hope this was enjoyable for everyone to read, and I encourage you to do it on your own blogs or social media. It’s a lot of work, but really fun to look back on (especially since all the other times I did “Week in the Life” Dutch was still alive and taking care of him was such a bit part of my daily life! So different this time around with two cats and working from home full-time).