A week in bullet points
Coffee Grinds #20
Monday, February 17th, 2025
I wake up already dreading the day because today is Dermatologist Day. Also my eye is freakishly itchy. I’ve been working myself into a tizzy since I discovered a slightly irregular, itchy freckle on Thursday. Has the freckle always been there? Probably. I spent half of Friday trying to determine when this freckle appeared in case they ask. (They did not). Do you know how hard it is to find photos that clearly show the freckle pattern of your upper thigh?
Drive into Brookline office thinking this will be A) easier than downtown Boston office and B) quick since it’s a holiday. It is not. Because I’ve forgotten to get fuel I spend 3/4 of the ride panicking, choose the worst exit for gas, get turned around, end up in the sketchy part of town and hope I don’t die.
Ready to claw my eye out it is so itchy. Eyedrops, useless.
Arrive at Dermatologist with three minutes to spare. Somehow go in the wrong office building. Now am late.
Finally find my way in. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” is playing. The receptionist is grooving. It’s that one part I really like “Cuz I’m a singerrrrr”
Probably it’s not melanoma, the doctor says. But we’ll biopsy it anyway.
Get home, phantom freckle still itches.
Spend rest of the afternoon in a funk trying to work. Eye still extremely itchy.
Tuesday February 18th, 2025
Wake up with the knowledge that today is writing day and immediately feel lighter. This is mainly because I’m not yet writing and it’s just easier to be excited about writing when I’m not doing it.
7:20am: Prep for my morning workout, contemplate a run, and decide it’s still too icy. Better to exercise inside than slip and die. Pretend to be upset about this, but really, I’m glad for the excuse. Listen to Pod Save America as I do cardio and weep.
11am: Break to have important work call. Client reschedules and I accidentally end up spending twenty minutes working on an IG post for my business. I throw a small fit because I love community, but I hate (business) social media posts.
4pm: Finally hit a wall of writing exhaustion. It’s been a good writing day, with two chapters fully revised and looking good.
7pm: Collapse onto the couch and catch up on The Traitors (S3 E4) while husband is out. Look forward to the hellish outfits Sandoval wears and wish Wells was back. Eat buffalo quesadilla for dinner.
Wednesday February 19th, 2025
5:45 am. Husband wakes me up: “Hey have you seen this new app that can turn your photos into AI? Look, I’ve been making cartoon Sawyers! They keep getting his paws wrong though…”
Me: you know we have actual photos of our pup right?
9am: Coffee in, workout done, quick email scan, Substack post sent and it’s a writing day again. I promise I do work, but I just had two campaigns end and I’m taking advantage of the quiet before the next start back up.
11:30am: Realize I’ve hit that dreaded part of edits where I no longer know where I’m going and thus, have started getting up every five minutes, complaining about being hungry, scanning emails, and generally not being productive at all. Feel guilty about wasting this time and spiral into angry eating.
Become convinced soundtrack is problem; change to Lofi Girls LEGO building beats.
Soundtrack was not the problem.
3pm: Pickleball! Lose roughly 27 games to husband but do win three and that’s a personal best!
Decide it’s finally time to act on year-long brownie craving. Brownies are one of those things I do not, can not, will not keep in the house or else I will eat them all. At roughly 5:57pm I decide to test that theory.
Lick a not insignificant amount of batter off a spatula. “hmmm, is it really fully mixed?”Stir stir. Lick lick.
Look it’s not going to get any more exciting than the brownie indulgence so let’s just end it for the night here, ok?
Thursday, February 20th, 2025
Start the day in one of those frantic sort of “I have lots to do and no idea when I’ll do it but also nothing is interesting and so I’ll just float around for a bit on the internet” moods. This leads me down the Kibbe rabbit hole. Do not recommend.
Decide to finally act on my dream of doing more freelance book editing. I’ve been in beta groups for a while, helped one friend tweak her query letter to land her a few requests including a full, and did line edits/developmental edits on a book that currently sits on GoodReads with a 4.09 rating, so this isn’t totally out of left field. Decide to launch a Fiverr to get started, despite hearing Fiverr is dead.
On Thursdays I take horseback riding lessons and today was a really good one. I got to canter several times around the ring + go through a set of poles at the canter, in preparation for learning to jump. It was very cool!
Spend roughly 40 minutes packing for upcoming trip, and am v. excited to try out my new Quince suitcase and compression cubes for the first time!!
Compression cubes are magic!!
6:09pm: Exhausted. You will get no more from me tonight, my energy is GONE. Time to read with a glass of lemonade an wait for it to be dinner time. Night Night.
Friday, February 21st, 2025
The very best day of the week for Fridays are WRITING DAY!! I know what you’re thinking—Angela, hasn’t every day been writing day this week? Kind of, but on Fridays I don’t feel guilty! It’s also pizza night, get to hang out with my mom night, and two days before trip night. So this Friday is a REALLY good one.
ALSO a good one because this morning brought me a new (repeat) client and the release of their song which has major Warped Tour 2010 vibes and I am OBSESSED.
2pm: Come up for air after spending about 1.5 hours writing one very bad chapter. The hardest part about revisions is realizing how much you need to change and the fact you can never unsee a better path than the one you’ve currently written.
4pm: Worry because doctor never called me back about biopsy. hmmm.
7pm: Watch Gabby Petito documentary while eating homemade pizza. Weep.
Saturday, February 22nd, 2025
Brunch with mom and husband at one of our favorite Greek restaurants! Had an absolutely delicious French toast with baklava granola and maple whipped. AMAZING.
Lounge around, paint nails electric blue, hang with mom. Is there anything better than a lazy Saturday bookended by food you love?
Not much else to report here, it was a lazy day! Watched the latest Severance with our favorite take out because tomorrow is TRIP DAY!!!!
Sunday, February 23rd, 2025
By now it’s Sunday and you’re reading this! So I’m doing a little future predicting but if I know myself I’m drinking coffee, trying to relax, and actually freaking out about somehow fitting my 9000 sweaters into my suitcases before we leave tonight for our trip to the Alps. I am SO EXCITED! Stay tuned for beautiful photos and lots and lots of fondue pictures. Hopefully a few new Substack pieces too. <3
Thanks for reading! I know this was a long one but I hope you liked this week in bullet points!
Love this Angela! Hope you have an amaaazing trip and fingers crossed your biopsy comes back clear too <3