September flew by!

I can’t believe it’s October. I’m super excited. It’s my favorite month. I’m from the east coast so October always brings me thoughts of cooler weather, warm sweaters, pumpkins and Halloween!

Let’s see how I did:

Books, Books, Books

I bought four books for myself. One was Vengeful by V.E. Schwab. I went to the signing with T from Nite Lite Book Reviews at The Grove and had a wonderful time! I can’t wait to dig in.

I also bought The Half Drowned King and The Sea Queen by Linnea Hartsuyker. I have wanted to read these two for a while and honestly, they seemed perfect for me so I’ll be diving into these in November when I’m away.

I also broke down and bought The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner at the Vroman’s over the weekend. It was the cover. My eye caught the cover and that was it. I am a sucker. (It also sounds great.)

Knit Knit Purl Purl

I did make some progress on my lovely Find Your Fade shawl, but it’s such a large project I doubt anyone would notice if I showed them. I have been on a yarn diet for a while now and I continue to shop my stash which has been good. (Especially since all of my extra money went to Halloween decorations for a party for my daughter this year!)

Finally, here is a picture of the Honey Cowl I finished. Hope you like it!

Hygge

I live in Southern California so I’m sadly not going to get autumn weather anytime soon. (Currently, we’ve been in the high 80s, low 90s!) But that doesn’t mean I can’t pretend! I decided to explore my tea stash. I have a lot of tea and I usually reach for the same old thing. But this month I’ve been trying to find hidden ones in the back of the cabinet and it’s been lovely.

I also did some Halloween decoration shopping in Sept. Early, I know, but I wanted to get a good idea of what I had and what I still needed. I’m really enjoying purchasing fun decorations that I know will last me more than one year. I’ve been purposefully buying items that I can reuse over and over. This goes into my desire for thoughtful consumerism and I am pretty proud of myself. I’ve returned a few items that I didn’t love.

I’m also over halfway filled with another box for a giveaway so look out. Sept./Oct. was the month I started this blog (many many years ago!) so I’ll be doing a giveaway this month to celebrate! I started the blog in 2011 (7 years and counting!). Sometimes I want to chuck it all. Sometimes I’m really grateful I have it. Either way, 7 years is something to celebrate!

Health

On the plus side, I am dealing with my anxiety much better. I still have episodes, but I’ve been able to calm myself down. I’ve lost the few pounds I gained the month before so feeling good about that, but still have to be healthier.

I recently bought the Self journal which is a goal focused journal for 13 weeks. It comes tomorrow and honestly, I’m really looking forward to trying it out. The one thing I don’t have a lot of is time and I find myself losing hours of it on social media. I like Instagram as much as the next girl, but it’s not really healthy for me to spend that much time zoning out on my phone, especially when I have actual goals I need to achieve and limited time for me to do them! I’m really hoping that this new way of thinking will really help me focus and achieve.

I’ve also learned the importance of my lunch break. I go out to lunch too much, wanting to get out of the office. Recently, I have been focusing on bringing lunch and eating upstairs at the kitchen table where I can read or knit. I’m productive, I get to unwind and it’s less expensive. I try to do it now at least once a week and it has greatly reduced my stress.

How was your September? What are you most looking forward to in October?