It’s almost time! San is hosting NaBloPoMo again- here’s the official page, and this year she has a list of “5 Things” prompts in case anyone needs ideas. I decided to get started a little early, and share five things I’m looking forward to right now.
But first- I’m writing this post on a lovely Sunday afternoon. You know how Sundays can really turn on you? You get up, happy to have a day off ahead of you, but somewhere in the afternoon you realize that TOMORROW IS MONDAY, and there will be work, and laundry, and dinners… and the day gets a lot less lovely.
That didn’t happen this time! After a morning of pancakes, a quick load of laundry and trip to the grocery store, I settled down on the couch for football watching and blog reading. It was perfect! The cats were snuggly…
… the Dolphins won, and that extra cup of Earl Grey put me in a great mood that couldn’t be dimmed. Here are five things I’m looking forward to right now:
NABLOPOMO!!!
Of course, I have to mention this first. It’s one of the things that makes November my favorite month. Yes, 30 posts in 30 days sounds daunting, but we can do it! It you’re interested, check out San’s page. She has two different lists of prompts to help everyone out.
PLANNING DAY
I have Wednesdays off of work, and some Wednesdays are packed full of running, appointments, and errands… BUT NOT THIS ONE! This Wednesday I’m taking my planner, notebook and laptop, and I’ll sit in the Barnes and Noble cafe and do all sorts of NaBoPoMo (and life) planning. I love getting all caffeined-up and sitting there as long as I want (bonus that I can also browse books and planners while I’m there).
FALL BACK WEEKEND
The end of DST deserves the status of a holiday (apologies to everyone with young kids, who are yelling angrily right now). I love having the extra hour on Sunday, and the fact that we’ll have daylight an hour earlier in the morning. My plans for the day include a long run, football watching, and a fall charcuterie board. And a lovely nap, obviously.
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
I’ve started! I’ve been keeping a list of gift ideas, and now is the time to start ordering things (to insure nothing I want gets sold out). The first official gift of Christmas was Foxy’s ornament (each of the cats has their own special ornament, obviously) and it will appear on the tree Christmas morning. The second gift of Christmas is this Archer and Olive notebook for my daughter- and I added a sheet of fox stickers as well. I love when mysterious packages start arriving, to be stashed away in my closet until December.
DECEMBER READING LIST
Yes! I have a holiday-themed TBR specifically for the month of December. I just ordered three of the books- which were unavailable at my library- from AbeBooks. More on this coming up!
Welcome to the new Tuesday Topics, hosted by Jenn at Runs With Pugs and Jenny at Runners Fly! Once a week, we come together to share random topics about running, fitness, and life! Use the weekly prompt or write on your own topic!
Nest week’s topic: What makes you grateful for running/fitness?
34 Responses
I love that your cats get a special ornament each!
I’m looking forward to that extra light in the morning- I have to be up early to take my daughter to a competition Sunday, and driving with some sunlight will help.
I’m trying to ignore Christmas shopping- I’ll spend too much if I start now.
Ha, there’s a small possibility that I will spend too much. I’ll have to keep careful records so I don’t get carried away.
Yes- I especially love when we turn the clocks back on a day I’m getting up early. I’m planning a long run on a trail that opens at sunrise- which will feel like 7:15 but will be 6:15 NEW TIME! Love it.
I am so jealous of your cats snuggling together!!! I don’t think this will ever happen in our house sigh..
great plan to think about gifts already, I’m so behind in that. I’ll start planning for it today.
I am looking forward to the NaBloPomo this year. I think I’ll do daily update style, which is how I started blogging almost 17 years ago.
Yay, I’m glad you’re doing NaBloPoMo. Everyone seems to love daily update posts. And… your cats may never get along, but you never know. It took a long time for Muffin and Foxy to get to this point.
It’s so nice to have some unstructured pottering time! We were supposed to have guests last Sunday, but after a mix-up we ended up with no one — which was disappointing… but also blissful. I’ll take an unexpected free Sunday afternoon anytime!
Of course you’re doing NaBloPoMo again — I’d expect nothing less! I’m already looking forward to reading along. Once you’ve picked your topics, do you tend to stick with the plan or swap things around as inspiration strikes?
Ha! I’ve tried having a “theme” for NaBloPoMo but ended up veering from it so much, it was silly. I have certain ideas for posts and things I’ll do, but I’ll keep it loose, because I know I’ll want to be more spontaneous as the month goes on.
You make me want a 3rd cat. Too bad one of mine is so “bad.” I did catch them snuggling last night. LOL
Why is your cat “bad”??? Foxy is VERY rambunctious, too much so a lot of the time, like he’ll jump out and attack us as we’re innocently walking by (and his claws are sharp) but I think he’ll get more mellow as he gets older. And- your cats were snuggling- that’s amazing! See, just give it a little time.
I have been woefully spotty at keeping up with blogs since I got home from Nova Scotia, so I’m equal parts excited and equal parts apprehensive about NaBloPoMo!! But enough people have commiserated lately that they, too, struggle to keep up during busy times and it’s OK and I can just do my best and not make it something to stress about! I would like to participate, though I’m also a little skeptical about my own abilities to keep up, ha. If I do, I’d like to do like what Coco said, and what I’ve done in the past couple years- mostly daily journal/random update style posts, and my own personal requirement was that they had to be less than 500 words.
YES!!! I hope you do NaBloPoMo again- I remember you were really successful when you did it last time. I also try to take a page from your book and keep my posts around 500 words. But, we should all just do what we can, and that might mean not commenting on every single post everyone writes every single day. Last year there were so many people participating, and I wanted to read and comment on them all but it became impossible.
You Sunday sounds quite productive AND relaxing! And how nice that your cats are getting along now! Are they friends or do that just simply tolerate each other while vying for your attention?
I’ve started my Christmas shopping, too!
The cats sometimes tolerate each other, and sometimes they play with each other. The “play” looks a little like fighting, but they seem to enjoy it and no one has gotten hurt, so it’s definitely play- they could really hurt each other if that was the intent!
A three cat cuddle! Even if Miss Charlotte was only there for a little while, it still counts. I love the fox notebook.
It’s been forever since I ordered from them, but Abebooks used to be my go-to. They have everything.
They really do have everything! And it’s so cheap! The books I ordered were used but they look new (just arrived yesterday). I’m going to make my book wishlist for Christmas for AbeBooks instead of Amazon this year.
Yes, the fox notebook is really cute and I think my daughter will love it!
We get a new ornament each year, usually something that symbolizes something meaningful for us. I love that tradition. Some Christmas shopping has started over here as well! Tiny Secret Festive Season starts on Saturday, after all.
Ha, I LOVE your TSFS! Our Thanksgiving decs will come out this weekend, but I’m going to sneak some Christmas-y touches in as well.
I’m so glad the cats are friends now! What a relief!! They look so cozy!
I’m looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and running a 10k that day. We will celebrate Will’s bday that day, too. I am making fall-shaped sugar cookies and the boys and their cousins will decorate them. I’m also looking forward to seeing my younger sister at Christmas. We will go to my parents the weekend after. And then in the spring, Paul and I will go visit her in DC for spring break! I’m also looking forward to my December book club meeting. That’s when we do our end of year celebration and select our 2026 reads! Lastly, I am excited for Halloween on Friday. It’s awesome that it lands on a weekend night and we are already pushing the boys’ bedtimes back so they can stay out as late as they’d like (which won’t be that late as surely they will get tired but we will let them stay out past 8 if they want to).
Your planning day on Wednesday sounds amazing!!!!
Those are some great things to look forward to- the book club meeting sounds really fun. I hope you do a post about it- I want to know how you select the books for the year.
Yay for a 10k on Thanksgiving! It sounds like a super fun day overall. And yes- I’m happy Halloween is on a Friday this year!
As every year, I get exhausted just hearing about NaBloPoMo! Well done doing this every year! I struggle so much writing, no matter how much I love it or want to do it, but I also overthink it a bit too much, which is likely the reason (and also one of the reasons I’m not blogging at the moment).
Your cats look so cute together!
To something completely different – I’m reading some scary news about Storm Melissa hitting Jamaica. Is it known to hit Florida too? Or will you be safe?
Ugh- those poor people in Jamaica. The storm is not expected to hit Florida, which is a good thing for us, at least.
I’ve found that writing more is actually helpful- you don’t feel pressured to make every post “perfect.” Maybe you should join NaBloPoMo! Ha ha… I’m thinking you probably don’t want to do that. It would be a fun challenge though!
That’s good news! We will probably get the remains of that storm, the weather app shows some ugly misery on Thursday.
I think you may be on to something with writing more and even with joining NaBloPoMo… I need to learn to write even if my mind is scattered and with the mindset of, like you say, every post doesn’t have to be perfect. I know I want to blog again, but differently (or rather, I want to use my personal domain name for something else). I’ve set up a photography blog and I know I want to blog about fitness again (and I’m working on something). I’ll separate them mostly for logistics rather than that I think I “have to”. Just that my head is blank at the moment! Perhaps I should do this to make myself write because otherwise I’ll wait too long thinking I have to feel “ready” (which I never do anyway!).
I’m excited for NaBloPoMo, because it means I’ll have your blog to read every day of November!
I’m also excited for the next two months, because I have a lot of time off. In two weeks, I have a 4 day weekend because of Veterans Day, and then there’s a 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving, and then I have off the week of Christmas and the week of New Years! It feels like a long way off still, but I’m sure it’ll sneak up fast. And now I have to start thinking about Christmas shopping…
Aw thanks Ashley! And… yes, all these holidays will sneak up on us REALLY fast. I’m envious of all your time off. I have a few extra days off, which I will definitely be appreciating, but not any big chunks at a time like that.
I can totally relate to your Sunday thing. At my previous job, I dreaded Sundays because they meant I’d be rising & shining (in the dark, the next morning) to head to a job that I did not like. Thankfully, that gig ended and I’m now at a MUCH better place (since August 4th). And, I embrace my Sundays 🙂
I’m very glad to hear that, Kim! Having a job you hate so much that it ruins Sundays is terrible. Sounds like things are much better now.
I can happily say we’ve past the point where I am sad about fall back- hooray!!! And, PLANNING DAY sounds so wonderful. I will want a detailed report! Oh, and Archer & Olive is sooo luxurious and lovely 🙂 I hope she loves it!
Oh really- I’m excited to get this notebook (it’s already shipped!) I’m looking for a more “luxurious” planner this year- maybe I should have ordered one for myself.
It’s only Tuesday, but I’m already looking forward to my day off on Friday. I’m also looking forward to another weekend without a lot of set plans, so I can get stuff done. Curly is almost done with college applications, and I’ve done a lot of nudging and editing and suggesting on this front, so I’ll be glad when that’s over. It’s all a little strange since she wants to play basketball in college. Her school might not be decided for a while yet. Oh, I’m of course excited for Curly’s senior year basketball season, but I will admit that I’m more excited right now about the break between volleyball and basketball seasons.
Enjoy your planning day and glad to see the cats are friends now. Yes, the Sunday feeling is familiar – Yeah a day to relax, and then – bam, time to get stuff done and prepped for the week.
I’m sure it’s very different, but I see a similarity between going to college for basketball and music. It’s not as simple as just applying- for music you have to audition, there’s not “early decision” things happening. I know my son didn’t start hearing back from schools until March of his senior year, and didn’t make a decision until the end of April. Good luck with it- I can see why you’re looking forward to being done with the process!
Yessss!! Someone else who celebrates the END OF EDT!!!! My body stays on standard time, even when they force us to that messy daylight stuff, and I am beyond ready to get back to the normal syncronization. Daylight in the morning: what a novel idea! 😀 Thankfully my chickens are biologically wired to daylight, so I don’t have to worry about locking them up earlier than they’re used to or etc, they’ve been putting themselves to bed earlier and earlier already.
Well, I think we should all look to the chickens, and be wired to daylight. I’ll never stop grumbling about getting up in the dark!
Hooray! I am so glad you’re excited about NaBloPoMo and that you’ll be joining me (and hopefully many others again). You’ve definitely been one of the biggest cheerleaders these last few years, and I appreciate your enthusiasm. I am really hoping it will also kickstart regular blogging for me again!
I love your “Planner Wednesday”… I definitely need to establish a thing like that! I am also looking forward to more regular tea drinking during the cooler months (I mean, I always drink tea, but definitely more in the winter).
Your planning sessions sounds lovely. I love those low key mornings where you can just follow your thoughts and ideas spark.
I know everyone loves the end of DST, but ugh, I just hate how dark it gets SO EARLY. And it’s not even as early here in Florida as in other places. I hate driving in the dark, so I just never want to go anywhere at night during this time of year, lol. But at least it means we are that much closer to the holiday season!
I am looking forward to NaBloPoMo, of course! And getting my new apartment all in order. And figuring out WHAT is causing all of my back and hip pain finally, UGHHHH. I start PT tomorrow and I can’t wait!!