Tag: dailyprompt

What are your favorite 5 apps on your phone?

If you ask my screen time to round it up, it would probably just say Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

I know the prompt says FIVE favorite apps, but let’s be real… those are the main three I’m constantly bouncing back and forth between. Instagram → TikTok → Facebook → back to Instagram because apparently I have nothing better to do with my time.

At this point, that’s basically what I use my phone for anyway. So I guess my five would be those three plus Calls and Texts, because apparently I’m a very exciting person with a very exciting phone life.

Honestly, if there’s an app I forgot, it’s probably because I haven’t opened it in six months.

P.S. I’m pretty sure I’ve answered this prompt before, and I’m positive my answers have changed. Now that I’m not working, barely leaving the house, and am basically on pregnancy quarantine, I don’t even really use my music app anymore. And my music app was my favorite app because we have Apple Music which I do not play about.

I used to listen to music when I was driving, working out, going on walks, or even reading. And apparently I haven’t really done any of those things since June, so… that explains a lot about my current screen time.

If the salary was the same, what job would you be doing right now and why?

I’d write. I’d overthink. I’d romanticize it. And, ideally, I’d put my thoughts, feelings just everything, all in a book.

Like, actual books. Hardcover. Chapters. Maybe a dramatic little dedication page. The whole thing.

I love writing blogs, but if we’re being honest, a blog sometimes feels like handing someone a cute little appetizer when I really want to serve the entire seven-course emotional meal.

I want to write the kind of books that make you stay up way too late because you need to know what happens next. I want to make people laugh, feel seen, maybe cry a little (respectfully), and occasionally question why they’re emotionally attached to fictional people who don’t exist.

There’s something so romantic about taking a completely unhinged thought, turning it into 80,000 words, and somehow calling it a career.

What’s the weirdest coincidence you’ve ever experienced?

Every time I start thinking, Maybe I should change the baby’s name, something weird happens.

We picked a gender-neutral name, and I still haven’t shared it online. Partly because I’m still holding onto it a little, and partly because apparently I need to question myself about it every few weeks.

The funny thing is, our name is technically a nickname. It’s one of those names that ends in “-ie,” and while I love it as a name, I’ve wondered more than once if we should choose a longer, more traditional name instead.

And every. single. time I start thinking maybe we should change it, I run into a woman with the name.

Sometimes it’s a real person. Sometimes it’s a female character in a movie, TV show, or book. And what makes it even more interesting is that the women I encounter actually have the nickname as their legal name.

Which is oddly validating.

It’s like the universe is casually reminding me, Hey, people really do have this name. You don’t have to change it just because it’s technically a nickname.

But also… the timing is suspicious.

Because it doesn’t happen when I’m confidently in love with the name. It happens when I’m questioning it. Every time I start wondering if we made the wrong choice, there it is again — another woman with the exact name we picked.

Maybe it’s confirmation bias. Maybe it’s coincidence. Maybe I’m just suddenly paying more attention because the name is on my mind.

Or maybe my baby’s name is just going to keep finding me until I stop second-guessing it.

Either way, I’m taking the hint. For now. 🤍

What’s a book you never finished but still think about?

I really wanted to love A Discovery of Witches. It has witches, vampires, magic, history, forbidden romance—the whole package feels like exactly the kind of series I should enjoy.

And yet… I couldn’t finish it.

I’ve started the book, put it down, picked it back up, and tried to convince myself that maybe I just wasn’t giving it enough attention. Maybe I needed to slow down and really let myself get absorbed in the world. Maybe I wasn’t thinking about it enough. There are definitely books that take a little more effort before they click, so I kept giving it another chance.

But then I realized something: I didn’t finish the TV show either.

At some point, I have to wonder if the problem isn’t that I’m reading it wrong or not paying enough attention. Maybe I’m just…not that interested.

And interestingly, I feel almost exactly the same way about the Outlander series. I’ve started the books. I’ve watched the show. I’ve enjoyed parts of both, but somehow I never make it all the way through. And I think about both A Discovery of Witches and Outlander surprisingly often. They clearly have something that sticks with me, which makes me want to go back and try again.

Maybe that’s what keeps me forcing myself to continue. These are the kinds of series I feel like I should love. They have so many of the things I normally look for, and I genuinely want to be swept up in them. So I keep wondering if I just haven’t given them enough time, attention, or thought.

But maybe the simpler answer is that I’m just not that interested.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that we should like something because the premise sounds perfect, everyone else loves it, or it seems like exactly our kind of story. But liking the idea of a series isn’t necessarily the same as actually wanting to read or watch it.

So maybe it’s time to stop trying to force it. Maybe A Discovery of Witches—and Outlander—can just be those series I think about from time to time without ever actually finishing.

And honestly? I think I’m okay with that.

Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in?

Narnia was the first thing that popped into my head, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that’s probably not what I actually want for a vacation because I would literally just want to stay there forever.

Then I thought of Naboo because it’s gorgeous and peaceful, which sounds pretty perfect. But then I remembered that most of it was filmed in Spain or Italy, so if I saved enough money, I could just go visit those places in real life. And aside from that one scene, we really don’t know that much about Naboo anyway.

Then I thought about Doctor Who, and I finally made my decision: Darillium, famous for its Singing Towers. Except then I remembered that a single night there lasts 24 Earth years. So… probably not, because I’d come home and literally everyone I know would be elderly or dead.

Hector was like, “Wow, I’m surprised you didn’t say Oz.”

And I love The Wizard of Oz, but when do we actually get to see Oz as the wonderful, peaceful utopia it’s supposed to be? It feels like I’d have to go before the Wizard gets there, but then I wouldn’t get to see any of my favorite characters, like the Tin Man or the Scarecrow.

I even started thinking about Kingdom Hearts worlds. I would LOVE Twilight Town because of the constant sunsets, but it’s not exactly the safest place. Destiny Islands would be paradise, but as much as I’d love to treat it like a beach resort, I like sightseeing. I like going out to eat when I’m on vacation. I need things to do.

So after thinking about this way too much, I decided that Genovia from The Princess Diaries would probably be my dream vacation destination.

Because honestly, Genovia in the movie is basically exactly what I want from a vacation. It’s beautiful, green, European, and ridiculously picturesque. You have the palace, the little streets, the countryside, the gardens, the fountains, and all these cute places that make it feel like a fairytale without actually being a fantasy world where I have to worry about being eaten, cursed, kidnapped, or accidentally sent 24 years into the future.

I’d spend a week there exploring the city, eating at cute little restaurants, walking around, visiting the palace, and taking in all the scenery. And yes, I would absolutely be looking for the places Mia visited because if I’m going to Genovia, I want the full Princess Diaries experience.

I also love that Genovia is supposedly somewhere in the general vicinity of France, Spain, or Italy. It has that perfect European setting that feels both familiar and magical. It’s basically the kind of place where I could spend a week pretending I’m the main character in a cheesy early-2000s princess movie.

Honestly, Genovia might be the safest choice for me. Because apparently my first instinct with every fictional vacation destination is figuring out how I’m going to permanently relocate there.

If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be and why?

I had two Disney tattoos all planned out, and technically, one of them was the 1997 animated movie Anastasia, which wasn’t originally Disney. But I guess it counts now since Disney owns Fox! 😂 I had everything set up: my tattoo artist, my appointment, and even my rate. I was completely ready to get it done.

Then I got pregnant, and those tattoo plans were put on hold. The second tattoo was going to be Star Wars themed—a little battle droid with the words “Roger Roger” underneath it. I still think that would have been such a fun tattoo!

The reason I wanted these tattoos is because I eventually want an entire sleeve filled with things that have shaped me and incorporated themselves into who I am as a person. Disney was a huge part of my childhood, and so many of those stories, characters, and memories helped shape who I became. So, having pieces of that represented on my skin feels really meaningful to me.

How did you meet your significant other?

I originally met Hector in high school, but there was obviously zero attraction happening then. We were just two people who happened to go to the same school and knew of each other.

Then, when I was 23, we somehow crossed paths again—but this time through Tinder. Yep. Good old-fashioned online dating.

Although, I’m pretty sure at some point we collectively decided it sounded better to just say we “reconnected through a mutual friend.” Which isn’t technically a lie because we do have mutual friends from high school. But the truth is much less romantic: we swiped right on each other.

And somehow, it actually worked out.

It’s funny looking back because after I had left California and eventually moved back, I definitely wasn’t expecting to end up with someone from high school. If you had told me when we first met in school that years later, after I’d left and come back, I’d run into him again on a dating app, marry him, and build a whole life together, I probably would have laughed.

So much for having a cute “how we met” story. 😂

What’s the last movie that made you cry?

The last movie that made me cry was Hamnet, because I had read the book and then decided to rewatch the movie. And obviously, knowing what was coming did absolutely nothing to prepare me for it.

But before that, it was The Sheep Detectives, which honestly caught me completely off guard. I was not expecting to get that emotionally invested in a movie about sheep, but apparently that’s where we are.

Lately, though, I’ve been avoiding certain movies like Voicemails for Isabelle, Girls Like Girls, and Remarkably Bright Creatures. And I’m sure there are more sitting on my list that I’m conveniently pretending don’t exist.

Because I KNOW these movies are going to make me cry, and I just don’t think I can handle crying at 8 months pregnant. I’m already emotional enough without voluntarily putting myself through a two-hour emotional breakdown.

At this point, I need movies that are funny, mildly entertaining, and emotionally safe. If the main character loses someone, gets sick, finds an old letter, reunites with a long-lost family member, or has any sort of beautiful emotional realization, I’m OUT. I have a baby to grow and enough hormones to deal with.

What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable?

I’ve always found conspiracy theories fascinating because they make ordinary things seem suspicious. And, honestly, there’s one conspiracy theory I genuinely believe: mattress stores are money-laundering fronts.

Think about it. How can there be so many mattress stores when you rarely see anyone actually buying mattresses? You can drive down a major street and somehow find multiple stores selling essentially the same giant rectangles of foam and springs. Yet they stay open, often with enormous showrooms and almost no customers. Where is all that money coming from?

I know there are perfectly reasonable explanations. Mattresses have high profit margins, stores don’t need constant foot traffic, and people tend to replace mattresses infrequently. But that doesn’t stop my brain from connecting the dots.

Maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe mattress stores are just legitimate businesses with terrible locations and suspiciously empty parking lots. But until someone convinces me otherwise, I’m keeping an eye on those mattresses.

What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult?

The first time I felt like a real adult was when I had to set up and pay my first utility bill. I remember feeling completely overwhelmed because I honestly had no idea where to start. I didn’t know how to set up utilities, what information I needed, when the bills were due, or even how I was supposed to pay them. It was one of those moments when I realized that being an adult comes with a lot of responsibilities that nobody really teaches you about.

After figuring it out, I felt proud of myself. It may seem like a small thing, but learning how to manage my own bills made me feel independent and responsible. It was definitely a learning experience, and it taught me that sometimes being an adult simply means figuring things out as you go. That first utility bill was a small step toward becoming more confident and independent.