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October Small Goals

My FAVORITE month of the year is here! It's hard not to love your birthday month, but October was always such a fun month for me growing up. This may sound weird but I absolutely LOVED junior high and high school. I was very active in sports and school activities (voted Most Class Spirit) and October was such a big month for those events. Football season, pep rallies, red ribbon week, volleyball season, homecoming, Halloween, my birthday and tons of friend's birthdays. Every year October is JAM packed with activities and I love it. I will be traveling to Dallas two weekends out of the four this month.


September I spent a lot more time at home as my mind, body and schedule needed a break. We spent two weekends away from home. One at Tapatio Springs for Labor day, and this past weekend I went to my hometown while Alex had a guy's trip with his college buddies. A few highlights of my month were having a date night with Alex my friend/co-worker's wedding, attending the Loot Finer Goods event (combined with SoulCycle and a Drybar blow out), and Turner starting soccer lessons at Soccer Zone. I had a lot of fun photo shoots with Walt and Whitney for Halloween, and when I say fun I mean crazy stressful but the photos are adorable. I took the photos myself and am pretty proud of my work lately.

I accomplished all five of my goals in September!

SEPTEMBER GOALS

1. GET ALLERGY TESTED
Wasn't a fan of doing this but I crossed it off my list. I found out I'm extremely allergic to cedar, which is absolutely terrible because Austin has and extremely large population of mountain cedar trees! WHY?! Cedar trees pollinate from December through March. I'm also allergic to mold and a few other trees. I chose to forego the allergy shots and drops and will start to use Claritin daily and Flonase. We'll see how this cedar season goes. If it's terrible then I might start the drops.

2. PLAN TURNER'S 5TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
This one was pretty easy because I found out we're going to be of town the weekend after Turner's birthday, and my in-laws are going to throw him a mini celebration. I'm still going to take him to Chuck-E-Cheese on October 19 (Thursday night) but it will be very low key.

3. FINISH "THE SHACK"
Eh...I wasn't really a fan. I've read business books that have kept my attention more than The Shack. I plan on watching the movie soon. Next book I'll be reading is Option B by Sheryl Sandberg.

4. PLAN A WOMEN'S EVENT
The date is set! Now I just need to gather vendors and send out the invite!

5. SAY NO
I feel I had a good balance of saying no and yes to things. I definitely did less in September, but had a few very stressful photo shoots with babies. Ugh...why do I sign up for them?

Moving on to my favorite month! Here's what I hope to accomplish in October.

OCTOBER SMALL GOALS

1. PLAN A HALLOWEEN PARTY
This will be the 4th year Alex and I host a big Halloween costume party at our house (adults only), and this year the theme is DECADES! I'm so excited to celebrate my favorite holiday with my neighbors and friends. I need to decide what food and punch I want to make and serve. I'm not going to go all out with décor because one of my goals this year is to not spend money on holiday décor. Basically I stay away from the Target dollar spot section at ALL times.

2. PRACTICE SHOOTING MANUALLY
Another camera goal to add to the list! I thoroughly enjoyed taking a photography and Lightroom workshop at the Paper + Craft Pantry last month and want to continue the momentum and learning. I will never shoot manually if I don't get comfortable with the settings so practice, practice, practice!

3. RESEARCH CHARLESTON, SC
My mom, sister and I are going to Charleston for a long weekend at the beginning of November and I'm extremely excited to see what FALL really looks like! I want to make the most out of our time there so a goal of mine is to start researching things to do, sites to see, and places to eat! Any recommendations?

4. CELEBRATE 31
My 30th year of life had its ups and downs. I aged A LOT (grief and children). I felt my face and body went through some serious change. Thank goodness for Botox and Purebarre ; ). I won't be taking an extravagant trip or anything to celebrate, but I will be spending a kid-free day/night in Dallas with my college friends and I'm very excited for that!

5. PLAN OUT CHRISTMAS PRESENT PURCHASES
I want to list out who I need to purchase gifts for this Christmas and start making purchases if I can. This year I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my in-laws and Christmas with my family. Do you switch off holidays with your family? We don't live close enough to see both families on the same holiday. My hometown is almost 7 hours away from my in-laws. We usually draw names on both sides to save money.

There you have it! What are you up to in October? 

2 comments:

kelsey williams said...

Happy October!!! :)

Talk to me about allergy testing! What does it entail? I have some sort of seasonal allergies and they seem to be getting worse :(

I want to see The Shack, too (I haven't read the book). I wish we lived closer so we could rent it and watch together! :)

Sheryl is awesome and her book sounds perfect for you!!!

CHARLESTON is amazing. Boone Hall Plantation is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The oak trees that you drive through on your way in are just breathtaking, and the house there was in the movie The Notebook. If you have time for church, Seacoast Church is wonderful – our best friend Garrett is a worship leader at the Mount Pleasant location. The Battery/White Point Garden is a beautiful walk along the water and amazing homes. Check out Rainbow Row for colorful historic homes (very Instagramable). And Jeni’s Ice Cream (on King Street) – can't go wrong! :)

Arwen McGilvra said...

Happy Birthday! I too have a October birthday, and am a huge fan of fall. Also way to go with those September goals.

My Sept wrap up and October goals if you'd like to take a look. http://books.thetechchef.net/september-wrap-up-and-october-goals/