Weekly Wrap-Up (v. 1)

Hi, friends! Like I mentioned on Monday, I’m starting a new Friday series called “Weekly Wrap-Up.” Here, I’ll talk about my highs and lows for the week, the books I finished, the money I spent, the goals I made progress on, and some recommendations. I hope this becomes a new weekly series I do for years and years (like my “What I’m Reading” series was!) but we’ll see how I feel after putting these lengthy posts together week after week, hehe.

Highs & Lows

The high of my week was receiving two really sweet shout-outs from coworkers at a company-wide meeting. It takes a bit of effort to make these shout-outs (anyone can “shout out” an employee using a Google form, and the shout-outs are read during our monthly meeting), so I was really touched by their kind words! It made my day, for sure.

The low of my week was getting my period. Womp, womp. I only get a period about once a quarter due to the birth control I’m on, and I always forget how much it can change my whole mood! I was annoyed with myself for feeling so tired and unmotivated and crabby, and I had to keep reminding myself that all of this was likely due to my cycle and it’s okay if everything feels a bit hard this week. Why is it so hard to give ourselves the grace we’d gladly bestow on a friend?

What I Read

• Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese (★★★☆☆) – This college-aged romance had a lot of heart, but there was just something missing in it for me. Perhaps it was Willa, the female protagonist, who made a lot of aggravating choices (then again, she’s 21). Perhaps it was the pacing, which seemed a little off. Perhaps it was the fact that this book is being billed as frenemies-to-lovers but… uh… these two are not frenemies. They are friends who like to tease each other, but always with an undercurrent of admiration and flirtation. But there was also a whole lot to love about this novel, like Willa’s NCAA soccer career, watching Willa and Ryder (the male protagonist) fall in love, and Ryder’s family. I could have done without the mom-with-cancer subplot, though. It was a good romance, but not a great one. (Open-door romance.)
• Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (★★★★☆) – What if Hillary hadn’t married Bill is the premise of this novel, and it’s a fascinating exploration of women in politics and the effects of the decisions we make. I loved this version of Hillary, a woman who dated a very charismatic man named Bill Clinton in her twenties but broke up with him because he couldn’t be faithful to her. It was hard to parse out what was fact and what was fiction… and a little weird to imagine their sex life, tbh. But the novel really took off once she was free from him, and we follow Hillary’s trajectory over the next four decades. A fascinating read, and one I’d definitely recommend!
• The Push by Ashley Audrain (★★★☆☆) – This thriller is getting so much buzz, and I was so excited to pick it up because a ton of trusted sources raved about it. And it was just… fine. I think it was unique enough to stand out from all the other cookie-cutter thrillers on the market these days, but it was really very depressing and the ending was deeply dissatisfying to me. It’s about a mom (Blythe) who has a baby and doesn’t connect with her at all. In fact, there is something seriously wrong with her daughter—or so that’s what the mom thinks. The novel loops back in time to discuss Blythe’s experience with her own mother and Blythe’s mother’s experience with her mother, but nothing ever really came of these different subplots. (Other than to show the ways in which Blythe was destined to fail as a mother?) Anyway, I didn’t love this novel but I feel like I’m in the minority here, so give it a read if you love a good thriller!
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller (★★★★★) – What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? It’s incredible, difficult to read, inspiring, and heartwrenching. Chanel was known as Emily Doe in the Brock Turner sexual assault case, and here, she relives what it was like to go through every step of the process, from waking up in a hospital and going through a rape exam to the court case that delivered a just verdict but an unjust sentence. I knew this book would be hard to read, and it was, but it’s a must-read. It’s a wake-up call to the brutality rape victims go through, not just the physical act itself but everything that comes afterward.

What I Spent

Friday, March 5th

• Target (tampons, ibuprofen, eye drops, laundry detergent, a mouth guard, and a big bottle of multivitamins) – $100
  • Note: I bought $53 worth of laundry detergent since Target was running a deal of spending $50 on laundry products to get a $15 gift card.
• Phone bill – $122
• Electric bill – $89
• Water bill – $51
• Candy Crush – $7

Saturday, March 6th

• Lunch from UberEats – $18
• Dinner from UberEats – $26
• Spotify subscription – $11

Sunday, March 7th

• Lunch from McDonald’s – $8
• Chewy order (gifts for Chip’s birthday, litter, and food) – $79
• Groceries – $45

Monday, March 8th

• No-spend day!

Tuesday, March 9th 

• No-spend day!

Wednesday, March 10th

• Paula’s Choice (cleanser and moisturizer) – $37
• Publix (Pub sub, ground coffee, chocolates, and a Dr. Pepper) – $23

Thursday, March 11th 

• No-spend day!

Final Tallies:

• Bills – $262
• Food – $120
• Toiletries – $100
• Pets – $79
• Beauty – $37
• Subscriptions – $11
• Entertainment – $7
• And $15 added to my no-spend fund! (I add $5 every time I have a no-spend day.)

Monthly Goals Progress Report

• Log 10 Peloton workouts. So far, I’ve logged 3 beginner-level cycling workouts. I love the app so much! (I’m “stephanywrites” on there if you want to follow me.)
• Start using MyFitnessPal to record what I’m eating. Every day, I think about doing this, and then time gets away from me and I get overwhelmed about inputting everything I’ve eaten for the day. Oops.
• Log 3,000 steps a day on my FitBit. I am achieving this! There have been many nights of walking around my apartment to get those last 500 or so steps, and it’s also forcing me to get out of my apartment during the day for a quick 10-minute walk. But it hasn’t been too difficult so far.
• Spend less than $100 on personal purchases. I’ve spent $75 already this month so the last few weeks of March are going to test my resolve!
• Play with the cats every day. I’ve only done this twice over the last 11 days, but we’re working on it!

What I’m Recommending This Week

• A meat thermometer – I bought a meat thermometer last month when I read a blog post (all about the right way to cook delicious, juicy baked chicken—this system works) that said they are crucial when cooking meat. Why did I not realize how important this little kitchen tool is until now?! While I’ll usually slice into the chicken breast to make sure it’s cooked all the way through, that method is really a no-no when it comes to cooking meat (it releases the juices or something?). So now I just poke my thermometer into my chicken breast to check that it hits that 165° threshold and I’m good to go! It’s so simple and I can trust it a lot more than my own two eyes.
• Heaven Bent podcast – Season 1 of this podcast followed a revival at a church in Toronto and it brought back soooo many memories for me, as my own church went through a revival when I was in middle school. Sometimes, I’ll think back to that experience and how weird it was (but how, in the moment, it felt so normal). There were people lying all over the church “slain in the spirit,” people getting “drunk” on the Lord, people speaking in tongues, fire and brimstone preaching. It was a wild time, and I loved that this podcast showed both sides of the equation: the people who truly believe in revival and the healing/hope it brings and the people who were incredibly skeptical about it. (Season 2 is all about Bethel Church, which has its own kind of wild flavor.)

What was the highlight of your week? What are you reading now?