Happy Halloween!!!
As you’re reading this, I might be out running on the first cool morning of the season! Perfectly timed for Halloween… The first dip into the 50s is always a cause for celebration in South Florida- it reminds me of the first spring day up north. We can breathe again, after all the hot mugginess of summer. We can OPEN THE WINDOWS! I wish the 50s would last a little longer- but we’ll have more coming our way. So! I had a lovely planning day on Wednesday! I sat in Barnes and Noble for several hours. First I looked at the school calendar and put the important dates in my planner… And then I did some NaBloPoMo planning. I don’t have a lot of posts planned in advance, but I did go through the calendar to see which days are already spoken for, with Weekly Rundowns, Coffee Dates, Tuesday Topics, etc. I’m taking a page from Kae’s book this year, and will be striving to keep my posts around 500 words. I think everyone should write whatever they want- but I know it’s hard for people to read really long posts when so many people are posting every day. Then I browsed around the bookstore. I contemplated getting this: I don’t usually love short stories, but it could be just the thing for a busy season. We’ll see how I do on the books I’ve already picked out for December, and I may come back and get this. Then I looked at planners: How is it possible for them to have so many (there are just as many on the other side of this display) and for them all to be wrong??? Here’s my biggest pet peeve: Most of these planners were 17 month planners. WHY. WHY??? The majority of people shopping for planners probably already have one for 2025. Yes, there are people who don’t currently use a planner, but would like to buy one and get started RIGHT AWAY. For the rest of us, why would we want all those extra pages (the 17 month planners start in August of 2025)? Other reasons for rejecting a planner include- I don’t want spiral bound, and again, that’s what most of these were. I want a nice big space for each day, but I don’t need hourly segments. And I want Saturday and Sunday to be a full day each, not a half space. Is this really too much to ask? Apparently the answer is yes, if you’re shopping at Barnes and Noble. (Afterwards I went online and currently have my eye on this one. The only thing I don’t like about it is, it’s undated- but I can deal with that). After Barnes and Noble, I went to Trader Joe’s! Here’s a photo, and I’m not including it because I look good (what’s up with my hair?) but so you can see my Halloween shirt: Here’s my Trader Joe’s cart- I got the usual staples and some things for our charcuterie board on Sunday: …and I had to add these at the checkout. Later in the day I had time for this… I hope everyone has a fun and spooky day! Do you ever use a 17 month planner? Do you dress up for Halloween? – I don’t, but I have a couple Halloween shirts and a Halloween hair clip.
Books!
Well, I finished this: Nope. I still didn’t like it. I mean- I didn’t hate it, but I just didn’t get why I was supposed to be interested in who killed the princes in the tower. I did learn how to pronounce “Plantagenet,” but not from the book- I googled it. I’m not mad I read it though- a lot of people really like this book, and now I don’t have the feeling that I’m missing out. Now I’m reading this one: I REALLY like it! It’s a mystery involving secret societies on the Yale campus, and there’s lots of dark magic going on. The thing is, I can’t seem to find any big chunks of time to read, so I feel like I’m crawling slowly through this book, when I just want to sit down and inhale it- very frustrating. I’m planning to find the time to finish it this week, before Spooky Season is over. Next up will be the new Robert Galbraith- I’ve been saving it for weeks. And, three of the books on my December TBR have arrived from AbeBooks: I learned about Murder on the Christmas Express from this post on The Farm Wife Reads. A Holiday by Gaslight was recommended by Meredith on the Currently Reading podcast. And I can’t remember where I heard about Mystery in White? Somehow it ended up on my TBR. Now, it’s entirely possible that none of these will be great literature, but that’s okay. I don’t have a lot of bandwidth for reading during the month of December, so I just want something fun and Christmas-y. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is also on my list for December, so that should elevate things a little. Have you read any of these? Do you have any fun Christmas-y books to recommend? – I’m open to suggestions! Top photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash
5 Things…
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? You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter What are you looking forward to right now? Top photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash
Weekly Rundown- Yoga to the Rescue
Hello!!! Welcome to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!) I had a pretty good week overall- a bit of low back pain, but nothing a little yoga couldn’t cure. Let’s get right into it. Monday A 4 mile run that was dark and spooky! Well- not really, but I’m trying to get in the spirit of Halloween. Tuesday I started the morning with the Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout, and hip stability exercises. Later in the day I did Adriene’s yoga for lower back pain. I need to do this every single day! Wednesday I had a great long run! I returned to the scene of the crime, aka the park where I DNF’d my long run two weeks ago. The plan was 14 miles- I went 14.5 and felt like I could have kept going. In the middle of the run I felt my SI joint, but that went away and my only complaint at the end was that both hips felt tight. Later in the day I did yoga for low back pain again. Thursday I woke up feeling good- nothing was really sore, so I headed to the gym for leg day. As usual I focused on squats, and I decided to add wall sits to my routine (EGADS- on second thought, maybe I don’t want to do wall sits the day after a long run. Ouch). Later in the day I did Adriene’s yoga for lower back and hip release. This felt GREAT. Friday 3 mile run, and I apologize in advance for this photo. Then I did another Yoga with Adriene video- lower back love. And at night we had a football game! It was Senior Night, so the band didn’t do their halftime show. It was still fun. This was our last home game until playoffs! Saturday 4 mile run and… oof. It was like the fatigue from that long run and the squats finally caught up with me. Nothing hurt- I just felt tired. Later in the day, upper body strength, finally. I will NOT end up looking like a T-Rex! That was good, but I didn’t do any yoga, and I missed it. Sunday On tap for today- sleeping in! Waffles! And… yoga. WHY is it so hard to fit everything in? I don’t think I ever have a week where I feel like I nailed the running, strength, and yoga. But I need all three, so I’ll continue to try. How was your week? Are you looking forward to turning the clocks back next week? – I AM!!!