Looking Back at October

There are things I like about October like the changing leaves, that brief week where it's comfortable to wear a jacket and sweater without sweating or freezing, and seeing my kids (and really anyone) dressed up.  There are also things I don't like about October such as driving to school drop-off in the dark, how stinking cold it is by the end, and Halloween greediness (I have THOUGHTS on Halloween).  It's a conflicted month, for sure.

I've been posting regular fall foliage pictures over on Instagram and I have SO MANY MORE to share.  I have an "to IG" album on my phone that is almost 50 pictures strong.  I will be posting fall foliage, interspersed with Christmas prep, until Thanksgiving and that makes me happy.  So I limited the fall foliage pictures here but of course still had to stick in a few.  Even just coming out of 2 days of rain, we still have a lot of beauty outside!

Looking back:
1 year ago: {11} Christmas Things to Think about NOW (2018 me was a little more on top of things, although I have started many of these)
2 years ago: Running and RA
3 years ago: Sewing Clutch Time (I was JUST thinking about sewing another one of these for myself, by Sunday.  Which probably won't happen.)
4 years ago: DIY Coconut Oil Face Scrub (I still use this every day!)
5 years ago: 6+ Weeks on Crutches (I've SO enjoyed having a 1½ year old this fall without being on crutches!) 
6 years ago: A New Bench for a Simpler Look
7 years ago: Embrace the Conflict
8 years ago: Miami!
9 years ago: NYC! (Look at me posting about trips within weeks of taking them unlike our June Michigan trip that I still plan to blog about but haven't yet!  Although I have, finally, in the last 24 hours, finished sorting and organizing the pictures!)

1) What passed for fall color at the beginning of the month.
2) I FINALLY got a blue morning glory!  I planted at least 2 blue packets and always do but if I do get blue ones they don't show up until October.  It is not a stretch to say finding these completely makes my day.
3) What I do to take pictures of said blue morning glories when they bloom at the top of the trellis.
4) Sunrise at my parents' house.  The me that didn't yet have a kid in school would be SHOCKED to be anywhere besides home at 8:11 in the morning.
5) Finally throwing out the last our wedding favors.  We've been married 13 years.  I think I had these saved to eat on our 10th anniversary but then we were in NYC for that and I forgot to take them along.  And then forgot to throw them away for another 3+ years.
6) A fall hike through the woods.
7) Buying pumpkins with Sam.  He LOVES pumpkins.
8) Sunrise at morning drop-off.
9) Fall color!  It's SO PRETTY.
10) Sun and fall color on a beautiful walk/bike ride with the boys.
11) Reading in the backyard on a sunny day, it was nice.
12) More beautiful fall color!  This is one of my favorite trees (I have favorite trees for fall color around the neighborhood.  This is normal.)
13) Sam wearing the dinosaur costume I made for Luke while I was on crutches!
14) Luke's Darth Vader costume complete with a mask that makes noise.  I did not purchase and do not enjoy this (why does it only seem to have a "loud" volume option??)
15) Up at the lake for closing, a task I always dread but at least we had a beautiful day for it.
16) Fall color downtown on a bike ride over fall break.  It was 60° and beautiful.  And 4 days later I can't feel my toes (inside socks and slippers) inside my house.

Books finished: 17, 4 of those in the past week (thanks to 2 middle grade novels and a read aloud with Luke we had started earlier in the month).
Miles ran: 1.2 with Luke to finish his kid's marathon final mile.  I've been fighting what I strongly suspect is a stress fracture in my foot so I haven't been able to run otherwise!
Currently watching: Matt and I finished Friends from College and have been watching The Good Place's new episodes each week.  We bought a season of House Hunters Renovation from Amazon for $3 (really, free, thanks to all the times I take $1 digital credit for slower shipping) and have been watching those as they are sporadically released.  And we started The 2000s doc (which will probably show up on a Things I Like list because I like feeling smart from saying I've watched a documentary) on Netflix.  This sounds like a lot of tv but really it's like 1 episode a week of each of those things.  Oh and I'm almost caught up on this current season of Grey's Anatomy thanks to working extra hours during Sam's naps.  Maybe then I'll start catching up on last season of This is Us.

Most read post this month: Quick Lit - October and then Fall 2019/Winter 2020 Shopping List.
Luke's current favorite song: I'm going to say Don't Go Breaking My Heart by the Backstreet Boys, because of how often he'll break out singing it, much to my pride and Matt's dismay (I continually laugh over how much more Backstreet Boys Matt's adult life has than what he probably expected 20 years ago.).  I refuse to say Old Town Road which I've honestly never heard but Luke apparently has heard other kids sing it at school because he's been singing that one too. 

Now the holiday season has begun!  I love these last 2 months of the year!