Recurring Series

Friday Questions (v.4)

1) What does the first hour of your day usually look like?

If the first hour of my day could be explained in one word, it would be: chaotic. I like to sleep as late as I possibly can before getting up and getting ready for the day, so I don’t have one of those slow and relaxing mornings where I make myself breakfast and a cup of coffee and read for a little before getting ready for the day. Nope! Once I’m up, it’s go time. I have to take Dutch on his first morning walk and then feed him, take a shower and get ready for the day, make coffee (which usually entails turning on the coffeemaker, since I typically prep it the night before), take Dutch on a second walk (which is usually a little longer since he’s more alert), and then trying to get out the door by 7:30. It is what it is, ya know. I could wake up around 5am and have a slower morning, but that extra hourish of sleep is worth it for me, especially since I can’t always count on going to bed at a decent time with Dutch’s nighttime problems.

2) What’s your favorite breakfast?

Can I admit this without being shamed? I’m not much of a breakfast person. It’s just not one of my favorite meals! There are some breakfast foods that I like, but I never crave them and if I never had them again, I think I’d be ok. So, with that said, if I could choose to have any breakfast I want, I’d probably choose chocolate chip pancakes. Every now and then, I get a craving for some chocolate chip pancakes (usually from IHOP, because truly, they make the best chocolate chip pancakes), but that’s about as far as my breakfast tastes go.

3) What’s the thing that you seem to have to keep learning and re-learning?

I wanted my answer to be deep and introspective, but what I kept coming back to is this: I do not love running and I need to stop pretending I do. I was even thinking about trying to become a runner again in 2018! But I have tried over and over and over again to fall in love with running and it is just not for me. I want to love it because so many of my friends do, but there’s nothing about it that makes me happy. I would much rather take a spin class or go for a long walk or take a heart-pumping kickboxing class. Those fuel me and make me happy way more than a run ever has, and I need to accept this about myself and move on.

4) Who are some of your favorite people to follow on social media?

So many, but I’ll refrain from listing everyone! These accounts are perfect if you ever need a pick-me-up after a crappy day:

Crusoe, the celebrity dachshund, because he posts the funniest videos (and it doesn’t hurt that he looks exactly like Dutch).
Orlando Sorio, mostly for his Instagram Stories, which always make me laugh out loud:
Maya and Winston, two dachshund siblings who are so goddamn cute and I watch their Instagram Stories whenever I need a smile.
Kristen Bell because she’s honestly the best and now that she’s doing Instagram Stories more frequently, she’s even better.
Dogs Being Basic because who doesn’t love a funny dog meme? I know I do.

5) If you could go back and change one thing from your past, what would you change?

I know the common answer here is, “Nothing! It all made me who I am today!” But nah. I’d change some things. The biggest thing I’d change is to be more assertive with the men I dated. I have a tendency to want to make them happy at the expense of my own happiness and to not speak up when I’m uncomfortable. It’s a behavior pattern I’ve noticed in myself and something that is super hard to change, but I’m trying.

Who are your favorite people to follow online? Would you change anything from your past?

Questions taken from the Real Talk Radio podcast.

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently in December

Loving… my sweet pup. My mom and I took him to this fun little place in downtown St. Pete this weekend, so he could have a picture with Santa. It’s called “The Dog Bar” and you can bring your dog there, even inside the bar area! It has an outside dog park for the dogs to run around and plenty of open seating where you can drink a beer with your dog by your side. Santa held Dutch in his lap and all Dutch wanted to do was bite his beard, ha, but we managed to get a good photo of him (albeit, not the highest quality. Ya win some, ya lose some). He did so well hanging out at the bar! (Although he was totally falling asleep on me as we were getting ready to leave.) Dutch has been having so many good days lately and that gives me hope that I still have lots of time left with my favorite little dude.

Loathing… that I fractured my right ankle again. It happened two weekends ago when I was helping a friend move. I was carrying two boxes stacked on top of one another, and I couldn’t exactly see where I was going, so I stepped off a curb when I wasn’t expecting to and my ankle twisted and I fell hard on my left knee. I went to urgent care after it happened to get the ankle x-ray and the road rash on my left leg taken care of. I ended up with a tetanus shot due to the abrasion, nearly crying in the exam room when the nurse cleaned up and bandaged my wound, and an X-ray showing that my ankle had fractured. Last week, I saw an orthopedic about the fracture and it appears I fractured it in exactly the same place I did previously (a fracture that never fully healed). Since the place I fractured it is a non-weight-bearing bone, I can walk on my ankle without needing a cast or walking boot. I was in an air cast for a few days after the injury, but now I can walk without pain, so I’m just wearing an ankle wrap. The real problem, though, wasn’t the ankle fracture; it was the road rash. Holy hell, it hurt. For the first two days, it stung constantly and there was nothing I could do to get it to stop. I couldn’t even expose it to air for the first few days because the wound was so raw. I had to keep it tightly wrapped in bandages and change them twice a day. Just putting on the prescription ointment brought tears to my eyes. It wasn’t until Friday night (nearly a week after the accident) that I was able to sleep without the wound being bandaged. It was so damn painful and hard to even walk on my left leg because the wound made it so sore. So crazy! Lesson learned: don’t help friends move. 😉

Reading… Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I have to admit: I’m not loving it. But I’m just going to power through because I’m reading it for my challenge to read four “classic” novels this year, and this will allow me to mark that goal complete. So, in order to power through, I’m reading a romance novel alongside it. Their Eyes Were Watching God is short – less than 200 pages – but I swear it’s going to take me all of December to finish it.

Watching… Mad Men! I’m halfway through season one and I adore it. I never understood why women were all gaga over Jon Hamm until I started watching him as Don Draper and guys, I get it now. Even though he’s kind of a shit. But he’s a handsome shit.

Anticipating… our annual book club Christmas party at The Melting Pot this weekend! This is our third year doing this and it’s probably one of the things I most look forward to during the holiday season. We enjoy some ridiculously good food (The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant) and have our Secret Santa gift exchange. I caaaaan’t wait. I’m just hoping this week passes quickly so I can enjoy some good food and good laughs and good gift-giving with my girls!

Thinking about… my goals for 2018. I’ve already started plotting some of the bigger goals I want to achieve next year and they are the typical goals you’d expect: losing weight, paying down my debt, finishing my novel. I’m nothing if not consistent, right? I just hope to have better action steps to actually make my goals a reality in 2018. I want it to be an amazing, life-changing year.

Needing… another bookshelf. I currently have a three-shelf bookshelf that I also use as a pseudo-nightstand that sits on the right side of my bed, and I think I’m going to get the same bookshelf for the other side of my bed. I need more space for my books, as it appears that I’m now a collector of books. Between my Book of the Month selections and things I decide to buy on a whim and ARCs from publishers… I need the space. I’ll have to wait until after Christmas, though, because my Christmas tree currently has the spot next to my bed.

What are you currently reading and anticipating?

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (the Asheville Edition)

Hi, friends! It feels like it’s been a while, but I didn’t want to let this week slip by without a post. Since I was in Asheville from Saturday to Tuesday, publishing blog posts hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind. But I didn’t want to let this entire week slip by without a post, so I thought of revamping my normal TGIF posts with different prompts that relate to my Asheville vacation. I have a few posts planned for next week where I’ll talk about everything I did and ate while in the gorgeous state of North Carolina. But, for now, here’s a teaser!

The high point of my vacation to Asheville was sitting outside on the porch in a rocking chair, reading my book and marveling at the beauty of fall. It’s such a simple thing, but it was so glorious for me. I got to enjoy my favorite leisure activity (reading) while taking in the sights and sounds of fall in the mountains. I’ve never actually witnessed fall with my own two eyes – trees bursting with reds and oranges and yellows and pinks – so it was so magical for me.

The low point of my vacation to Asheville was hitting my introvert wall hard on Sunday night. We had a full day on Sunday that I’ll be talking all about next week and didn’t end up getting back to the cabin until after 11 p.m. and I was just completely done. And yet, I stayed out in the living room and chatted with my friends for a while after getting back when what I really needed to do was go straight to bed. I was overly sensitive, overly emotional, and not my best self… to put it lightly. Oh, well. It happens!

While on vacation, I read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and I got 40% of the way finished with Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis.

The most interesting thing I learned while in Asheville was that Asheville used to be considered “Little New York” based on the way it was built by rich white dudes who were from New York. So, it has streets named Broadway, Lexington, Battery Park, etc., and the big city feel in downtown. (I actually cannot find anything online about Asheville being called “Little New York” but this is what the guide on my ghost tour told me, so I’m taking his word for it!)

Oh, and the fact that women can be topless in Asheville! You can’t disrobe in public, but if you leave your house topless, you can’t be charged with a crime. So, there’s that.

The best meal I ate during my vacation was brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. I got a strong mimosa (seriously – I felt all sorts of tipsy from just one!) and split the fried chicken and biscuits meal with a friend (I smothered mine with gravy). We also got the baked mac ‘n cheese as a side. Such a Southern-style meal, right? And man oh man, it was incredible. I’m super picky about mac ‘n cheese, and Tupelo Honey’s was perfect and the only thing I want to eat until the end of time.

The best money I spent in Asheville was $30 on a t-shirt and magnet from Malaprop’s, Asheville’s independent bookstore. The t-shirt says “Eat. Sleep. Read.” on the front and has the Malaprop’s logo on the back, while the magnet says, “Let’s stay home.” Both are so me that I couldn’t help but to purchase them!

The picture that means the most to me is this picture we took at the Biltmore. What I love about this picture isn’t the picture itself, but it’s the way we all reacted to it. First, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at it because it really did come out fantastic, and then we realize that in the background of the photo is a naked statue. And then as I tried to take a “superzoom” video of the statue’s nether regions for Instagram Stories, it zoomed in on our faces in the most hilarious way that we were all crying from laughter. And that, my friends, is what makes a picture worth a thousand words. Because every time I see that picture, I’m going to remember laughing so hard that tears rolled down my cheeks and my sides hurt.

Categories: Recurring Series

Week in the Life: Sunday, October 29

8:30 AM // I wake up naturally and lay in bed reading until Dutch wakes up and lets me know he needs to go out and he needs to go now. We go on a morning walk and it’s another beautiful day – in the low 60s and sunny. This weather feels so amazing. I want it to stay around forever.

9:07 AM // Once inside, I feed Dutch and then make coffee and eat a bowl of cereal. For the next hour or so, I just putter around the house. I finish yesterday’s Week in the Life post and publish it. I also make my grocery list and set my football picks for the week.

10:20 AM // I take a trip to Target to pick up some stuff for the apartment, but I get sidetracked by looking at winter clothes. It’s actually not going to be too cold when I’m in Asheville (highs in the upper 60s/low 70s), but I have thin Florida skin, so I want to make sure I am ready for any temperature dips, haha. So I end up buying a cozy hoodie, a long-sleeved tee, and a sweater, along with a few toiletries and necessary cleaning items. My total comes to $125. Oops.

11:15 PM // I fill up my car with gas and then do my weekly grocery shopping at Publix. I don’t need a ton of stuff this week, since I’ll be having pizza leftovers for lunch and have dinner plans for three out of the five days.

12:05 PM // I get home and find that Dutch has had two accidents in the house while I’m gone. I probably should have taken him out before I left, since he ate breakfast, but it slipped my mind. Oh well. Thankfully, he did it on the hardwood, so it’s easy to clean up! Then, I unpack my groceries and Target bags.

12:35 PM // I drive to my mom’s with Dutch in tow!

12:50 PM // I arrive at my mom’s and find a parking spot and then slowly walk with Dutch to her apartment. Dutch is very, very slow on these walks because he has to sniff everything! It takes us about 8 minutes to walk the 100 steps into her apartment.

1:00 PM // Time for football! My brother is here, so my mom, my brother, and I all settle in for a few hours of sitting back and watching some football! It’s a lovely afternoon with just the three of us. (Sometimes, my older nephew joins us, but he had a playdate planned this afternoon.)

5:00 PM // We order pizza and my mom bakes pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies as our treat for the late afternoon game.

7:15 PM // After a long day of watching football, Dutch and I head home. It’s perfectly chilly outside – 61 degrees – and feels like “football weather,” as my brother and I call it.

7:30 PM // We’re home and I give Dutch his nightly meds right away. Here’s hoping this helps him settle down quickly tonight!

7:40 PM // Time for a hot, relaxing bubble bath and reading time. So, so lovely.

8:00 PM // I get into my jammies, turn on Sunday Night Football, and settle in for some more football watching. While the game plays, I also try to take care of some tasks, like working on this post, sweeping and mopping my floors, and washing my rugs (Dutch had an accident on one of my rugs today, so into the wash it goes!).

9:30 PM // Dutch is getting antsy, so I bring him to bed and rub his neck until he falls asleep.

10:00 PM // I leave Dutch sleeping on my bed and go into the living room to continue watching the game. And not five minutes later, I hear Dutch whining again, so I go back into my bedroom to lay on the bed and rub his back until he falls back asleep.

10:20 PM // I leave Dutch sleeping on my bed and hope the second time’s the charm. I go into the living room to watch the football game, but I’m pretty tired at this point, so I decide to shut the game off halfway through the third quarter, do my nightly routine, and then read for a bit.

11:00 PM // Lights out!

And that’s another Week in the Life in the books! I’ve had so much fun taking you guys along throughout my days and hope it’s been fun to read about. I can’t wait to do it again.

Sunday a year ago, two years ago, three years ago

Categories: Recurring Series

Week in the Life: Saturday, October 28

7:30 AM // My alarm was set for 8AM, but I wake up naturally around 7:30 and use the extra time to read and scroll through Instagram.

8:05 AM // I take a shower and get ready for the day while listening to an episode of the Book Riot podcast.

8:40 AM // I wake up Dutch and we go on a walk. He’s super slow this morning! Silly munchkin.

8:55 AM // I pack up my laptop and head over to Starbucks for my weekly writing date.

9:10 AM // I order a dark mocha Frappuccino and a breakfast sandwich and then try to get to work on my novel, but it’s quickly apparent that it’s going to be a struggle. It’s funny, my writing partner, M., and I have been doing these writing dates for years, but it’s only in the past year that we’ve actually started opening up to each other and now we spend half of our writing dates just chit-chatting and catching up. Ha. I only manage to write about 150 words today, so it’s a supremely unsuccessful writing date, oops.

11:10 AM // I leave Starbucks and drive to get my car washed. I just go through one of those car wash machines that does all the work for me while I sit in the car. I’m being lazy today. I also return a few books to the library.

11:40 AM // I’m at my hair salon for a hair appointment. I’m getting my roots touched up and also a trim. The next time I get my hair cut (which will likely be at the end of February or beginning of March), I’m going to be chopping it all off to donate it, so we don’t do anything exciting this time around.

1:15 PM // After my hair appointment, I had planned on going to Target, but I’m tired and need to check in on Dutch, so I opt to just head home instead.

1:25 PM // I’m home and excited to see that part of my Amazon order arrived while I was out. This includes a few things for my Halloween costume and some new markers for coloring. I’m mostly excited about the markers.

1:30 PM // Dutch and I go for a walk outside and he’s a bit more chipper and energetic on this walk.

1:40 PM // Dutch and I come inside and I decide to experiment with feeding him a few spoonfuls of wet food mixed in with his dry food. He hasn’t been eating much lately (about half of what he normally eats) and I usually have to hand-feed him, and he’s lost about 1.5 lbs in the past few months, so it’s concerning to me. So I am pleased as punch when he chows down on the wet/dry food combination. He even licks his bowl clean! Hooray! This is the solution, I think, to his food problems. I am so, so relieved.

1:55 PM // I take off my makeup and get into comfy clothes. And then I bring Dutch up to bed with me and read my book for a little while.

2:10 PM // I turn off my Kindle and plug in my phone. Time for a nap!

2:20 PM // Just as I begin to drift into dreamland, my mom calls me. We have a lot to talk about, though, so I answer her and we chat for a while.

2:45 PM // Nap time, take two. This time I fall asleep and stay asleep.

6:30 PM // I wake up from my nap and feel so refreshed. I love really long naps – this one was almost four hours long! Decadent. As I wake up from my nap, I read my book and scroll through social media.

6:55 PM // I take Dutch out, but it’s raining so he doesn’t want to go very far.

7:00 PM // I feed Dutch dinner (more wet/dry food!) and he scarfs it down like it’s going to disappear any second. While he does that, I order a pizza from Dominos. I have a free pizza that I can redeem, so it’s a cheap dinner for meeeee.

7:10 PM // I start working on this post while I wait for the pizza to come. Hurry up, pizza. I’m hungry!

7:35 PM // Pizza is here! I decide to turn on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as tonight’s entertainment. A comfort movie watch is the perfect option for this rainy, Halloweeny night. While the movie is playing, I eat pizza and do some coloring. I also pause the movie halfway through to take Dutch out when he gets a little antsy.

10:15 PM // Movie is over and it gives me all sorts of happy feels. And then I do my budget for these next two weeks and the happy feels dissipate, ha. Oh, budgeting. I also work on my fantasy football lineups, so those are ready to go.

10:45 PM // Dutch is whiny and barky, so I bring him to bed and he takes forever to settle down. I didn’t give him his anti-anxiety pill until 8 tonight, so I’m hoping that’s why. I need to set a reminder to give him his pill by 6:30 because I think that does wonders at helping him settle down quickly at night.

11:15 PM // I pick up around the apartment, do my nightly routine, and settle into bed with my book. Dutch finally falls asleep around 11:45 and I am so grateful for it.

12:00 AM // Lights out!

Tell me something great about your Saturday!

Saturday a year ago, two years ago, three years ago