September 2020 goals

Hello to my favorite month, September! It’s when we got married, that back-to-school freshness is thick in the air, and the weather in New England is my absolute favorite (it’s not too shabby in NC, either!). August was wonderful to our family, and there’s so much to look forward to this month, too.

On my calendar this month:
— The first day of fall! We’ll bake apple cider scones for our family and June’s teachers, a tradition we started four years ago.
— Our annual camping trip with the Rays
— Our eighth wedding anniversary!

What I’m loving right now:
— I don’t have a ton of seasonal decor (even for Christmas!), but these wicker pumpkins (one more size here) were too good to pass up.
— I’m late to the party, but John and I watched The Last Dance (on Netflix) while on vacation in Connecticut and it was excellent. It might be my Enneagram 5 showing, but give me a well-done look at almost any subject and I’m hooked. Michael Jordan is a FASCINATING human, the storylines are compelling, and the editing is so good. I’ll dock a few points for strong language but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it.
— We aren’t beyond the realm of full-on parental supervision yet with the ages of our kids, but I’m glad that there are a growing number of options to help facilitate the kind of “free-range childhood” many of us grew up with. This article lays out several of them.

As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

What I read in August:
— The Giver of Stars | This came highly recommended (and was my August EFM book club pick!) but I thought it was good, not great. The characters felt a little two-dimensional all the way through, and Alice’s husband and father-in-law were so awful that the first half of the book was kind of hard to read for me.
— The Paris Wife | This novel was enjoyable, but knowing only a little about Hemingway and his first wife, I felt a general sense of dread hanging over me the whole time I was reading, knowing that I didn’t know what was going to happen but that things wouldn’t end well. If I had known Hadley’s life turns out in the end, I think I would have perked up a little :) Also, I assume the more Hemingway you’ve read, the more interesting you’d find this book! (I’ve read very little.)

Revisiting my August goals:
Begin reading Mark with John
Book our camping trip for this fall (Now just praying for good weather!)
Sort through my SCC secretary responsibilities and make an easy-to-follow yearly checklist
Watch Just Mercy with John now that I’ve finished the book (The movie was great – but the book is 1000 times better. I think I’m going to write a post about both to convince any of you who haven’t dipped your toe in yet to do so! :))
Buy a new handbag (Done! Went with alllllmost the same thing, just with a longer strap and in navy.)
Edit June in June, Volume 5 (Done! Worldwide premier coming soon!)
Complete four more Advent ornaments (FIVE! The ball ornament, mitten, stocking, tree, and star!)
Post all three parts of my photo organization guide (Parts one and two are live; part three will post later this week!)
Clean out downstairs craft supplies once kids go back to preschool (Oooh I am SO HAPPY to have this done! Here’s a before and after.)
Do something fun with at least one friend couple (With two, actually! :))
Mock up a design board for our upstairs bathroom (Not only mocked up, but progress is underway!)
Ride our stationary bike Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (This experiment helped me ride more than last month, but sometimes I used the excuse of it not being a M, W, or F to not ride, which was counterproductive. Trying something new this month!)

September goals:
— Film Sheptember, Volume 2
— Read a marriage book in honor of our anniversary
— Complete our upstairs bathroom renovation
— Complete four more Advent ornaments
— Ride 50 miles on our stationary bike or out in the wild
— Add plants to the master bathroom
— Begin family “by-laws” in a Google Doc (more to come on this!)
— Adjust the styling of EFM’s H1 headers so I can use them!
— Send a care package to a former babysitter who’s a college freshman (ideas for that here!)

Alright, let’s hear it: who wants to fight me on The Giver of Stars? :) Otherwise, I’d love to hear your favorite month of the year (and why!)! OR your favorite marriage book!

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