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1. I turned 31: Honestly 30 was one of my best years in a long time! I got to spend my 31st birthday with Will and my friends/their husbands (who Will gets along with so well). 3 out of the 5 of us had birthdays within days of each other (the 11th, 15th (mine) and 16th) so we all celebrated together on the 15th with a fun night planned by the other two ladies. We went to a great Thai place in Philly and then went out afterwards.
2. Finn seems to be getting healthier — If you’ve followed along with the whole saga…he’s doing much better. His platelet number is in a healthy range and we were able to lower his dosage on his medicine and we should be finding out any day if his levels stayed up or if they went down with a lower dose. Fingers crossed they stayed steady and we can proceed with taking it down a little lower again. Poor guy is on such a high dose of meds and they do affect him but we are seeing him be more of his silly self again.
3. I blogged probably the least amount I have in years: No really I think I blogged this amount in August of 2012 when it was the month of my wedding. I just needed to take a break, as I said in September when life got crazy with Finn stuff and other mental draining stuff, and it definitely extended into this month in an even bigger way. I’m okay with that!
4. We did some fun Fall outdoor activities: We went to an MLS game and tailgated (the weather was pretty great) and we did a haunted house/hayride at a ski resort with friends. We also went to the Harry Potter festival in our neighborhood which was SUCH a bust this year. They expanded it (which was great) but it was sooooo overcrowded and I don’t think they prepared for the huge crowds. Huge lines for everything and then they ran out of the boozy Butterbeer and then I left after that last straw haha
5. I finished my big book purge: I posted about my big Bookshelf Revamp project way back in March and the first thing on my list of things to do was do one big purge….which I did in very small increments. I just never was really in the mood to do it so I just broke it up over all these months…without meaning to let it last this long. BUT I finished going through every shelf so now I can move on to the next stage which is figuring out how I want to organize them. Please weigh in here. I want to try to create a regular bookshelf cull schedule wherein maybe every 3-4 months I go through and weed out ones? I already put a pile aside that I’ve owned for YEARS but haven’t read and wasn’t sure if I wanted to get rid of them so the next time if I cull and these remain unread…they are gone. And I guess I can get them at the library if I decide I want to read them.
I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !
1. (Pray) Empty Gun — Bishop Briggs
2. Drums — MO
3. Sweet Disaster — DREAMERS
4. Shiver and Crawl — Swimming With Bears
5. New Friend — Ry-Lo
6. White Noise — Ella Vos
Oh man..honestly this might have been one of my favorite monthly playlists in a while and I’m sad I couldn’t fit more.
Honorable Mentions: Everything Has Grown by Colouring, Man on the Moon by Zella Day, Happy Accidents by Saint Motel, Over You by Safia, Think About You by LEON
Check out the rest of my October playlist for more of what I was listening to this month!
I read 7 books this month!
1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas — This book is incredible and I hope it’s all on your TBRs for February!
2. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis: Wow! I love Mindy’s books and this one completely hooked me from the first page and didn’t fail me. I love morally grey characters!
3. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness: ALL THE FEELS!
Wellllll…I only did one “what I’ve been reading” post so YAY that’s the most popular?
“You do not write your life with words…You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.” — The Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Wellll I only posted 6 times and one of those was a giveaway (which is since over) and the other was my September Monthly Rewind. I told you October was my worst blogging month. So let’s just talk about what I did post:
1. 30 Things About The First Year of My Thirties — I had some major reflections on the year that I dub as the best in a while.
2. New To The Queue: A new edition of New to the Queue in which I share what books/movies/shows/podcasts/music I’ve added to my various queues lately.
3. 24 Must-Reads For Your Halloween/Fall list: I shared a list of scary and non-scary books for your Halloween/Fall list which 1) you should save for next year and 2) obviously these are books that can be read any time but they gave off particularly strong Fall/Halloween vibes.
4. What I’ve Been Reading Lately: Shared what I have been reading lately!
I wish my blog got more love from ME haha
1. 7th Annual Broke & Bookish Secret Santa signups: Okay I’m cheating here because this event has been my baby for all these years over at my other blog but signups went up at the end of this month and if you are into bookish Secret Santas you should check it out. Last year I had 400+ people participate….little scared for this year but YAY CHRISTMAS CHEER.
2. Butternut and Red Curry Soup: This looks so tasty and I had to save because I’ve been in such a soup mood!
3. 6 Ways To Boost Your Morning Productivity: I’ve been trying to create better mornings for myself (will likely talk more about that at some point) so I definitely had to save this and think about how I can incorporate these tips.
4. How To Deal With Conflicting Opinions As A Blogger: If I had a “system” of how I have dealt with this as a blogger over the past 6 1/2 years it would be close to this. I have considered all these things when things have come up over the years!
5. 4 Decluttering Epiphanies That Have Changed My Life: As someone who is currently decluttering things in various facets of life this was very relevant.
1. My new face wash and lotion: I have been using Acure’s hair products for a few years now and I decided to switch things up when it came to my face wash and lotion when Whole Foods was having a great sale in their beauty department. But their face wash and day lotion is seriously my new favorite thing. Smells great. My skin feels great. I’m happy.
2. Halal Guys:– I had always heard NYers rave about Halal Guys and they finally opened one near me and it’s a problem because I love it so much that I want to have it always.
3. Lady Gaga’s newest album: I’ve never really can say that I’ve been a Lady Gaga fan…but I’ve not been a non-fan…but her newest album is something I’m really digging!!!
1. Thanksgiving, I guess?: I’m normally excited about Thanksgiving but family things are going to make this a weird one this year. At least I have mashed potatoes w/ gravy and pumpkin pie to look forward to? Literally those are my two favorite parts of Thanksgiving.
What’s one thing that you told yourself you would do this year but haven’t?
(I’m feeling very anxious about the end of the year and looking at what I haven’t done yet so make me feel better okay and then we will accomplish all the things.)
Pick a category (or 5… or all of them) and tell me what went on in YOUR life this month!! What sort of things were noteworthy for you this month? New obsessions? Any new song recs?? Best books you read this month? Great posts I missed on your blog? Answer to my question of the month?
kristen says
gilmore girls! definitely checking out the decluttering link because we are in the midst of moving and need to declutter.
i am more of a purge all at once kind of girl but i doubt i have as many books as you. i do try and keep all my unreads together and on one shelf (even if they are really smooshed in there) and every so often i go through that shelf. but the best thing i ever did was move across the world because books are heavy and it made me really picky about what i took with me hahaha. i am horrible at book organisation. i have all my austen’s together (they take up a whole shelf, for shame) and then everything else is kind of half not organised at all, but it kind of works?
glad finn is doing better 🙂
Jamie says
moving really is the best way to declutter haha. Are you moving far from where you are now??
My problem is I could have probably done it all in one afternoon or at least 2 but I would get motivation and then like 5 minutes have no more so I would stop. And then in the summer I just didn’t even have time. I would think about and be like ehhhh.
kristen says
not really! we moved in with my MIL for a bit while we look for a house, but we are staying in the same city and it’s a smallllllllll city in my opinion so nothing is too far away.
motivation comes and goes, and when it goes, i follow. haha. no point pushing it!
Kailana says
I had planned to catch up with several series and have no unread graphic novels left in my house. I have done neither. lol
Jamie says
Oh man I am with you I had some goals to catch up on series this year and haven’t done a very good job! Maybe we can squeeze a couple in before the end of the year!
Michele says
Hi Jamie. Just wanted to say thanks for mentioning 4 Decluttering Epiphanies. And good luck with your current decluttering projects! M 🙂
Beth @ Betwixt the Pages says
It sounds like you stepping back for the month might have been JUST what you needed. Fingers crossed Finn’s test results come back the way that you’re hoping they will, and that things continue to settle down for you. Also, happy belated birthday!
I’ve been listening to a few songs on a loop this month:
–Stay the Night, by Zedd featuring Paramore;
–You Ruin Me, by The Veronicas;
–Diamond Hard, by Kerli
OH MY PENGUINS, I’m so stoked for The Gilmore Girls revival I cannot EVEN right now! I feel like it might potentially break the world for a few days, though–should be entertaining to watch!
Happy book-ing to you in the future! My October wrap up is right here! if you’re interested, but no worries if you’re not! <3
Angela says
I’ve been slowly re-reading my way through my bookshelves to hopefully get rid of some books I don’t really like or wouldn’t read again (and make room for new ones, of course!).
All year I’ve been telling myself I need to go through all our cabinets and closets and donate some things to the Salvation Army. Now it’s November, and I haven’t done it yet!
Annemieke says
Oh my gosh Gillmore Girls. But I refuse to get Netflix just for Gillmore Girls. Refuse I say!
I did bit of an unhaul in January of this year and I think I’ll do that again in 2017. It is good to go through your books critically and see if you really need to hang on to some of these. Some I keep putting on my tbr but I never pick them up as other books excite me more. It’s sad really but sometimes that just means we have to part ways.
I haven’t quite followed what happened with Finn but I hope things continue to get better with him. <3
Nina says
What a great post, Jamie! I love the whole concept of having a rewind, not just about all things bookish but also other aspects of life. I’m glad Finn seems to be doing better. I’m also excited for The Female of the Species, and the fact that you enjoyed it makes me leap for joy! The most exciting events of October for me was my trip to Milan (Italy) and starting an internship at the children’s and adolescent mental health care services. Haven’t had any 5-star reviews this month but I read more diversely in October than I’ve had in a long time (I usually hang around in my YA fantasy comfort zone). If you’re interested, please check out my October Wrap Up on my blog: http://www.everywordadoorway.com/ninas-october-wrap-up/
Have a great Sunday!