24 Week Bump Whattup

I am so reluctantly letting go of October. I think it’s pretty rare that our best expectations are met for a month, and how fitting that I’m filled with gratitude for that just in time to enter Thanksgiving Month!

Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday and November has traditionally been a pretty boring or difficult month for me. Teachers know what I’m talking about. Your first term is over and with it so is the magic and novelty of the school year. You’re coming off of Halloween and suddenly the beautiful leaves are dead and their corpses litter the ground. You have several weeks of uninterrupted responsibility to trudge through as it gets darker and grayer and colder outside. It can be tricky.

But I am feeling really good lately and have a lot of cool things in the air, so November is looking much more interesting and fulfilling to me than I could have expected.

In November

• Self-Portrait Photography Challenge – I read A Beautiful Mess’s Photo Idea Book in October and really, really liked it. I asked for a digital camera for my birthday when I was pregnant with Reese, and I’ve used it on and off but never felt like I’ve known what I was doing or gotten much better at it. I don’t quite feel ready for a DSLR, but I think I could better utilize the digital camera I have (Nikon CoolPix). After reading this idea book, I decided to take their 30 day challenge – I’m taking a picture of myself everyday in November. It supposedly forces you to get to know your camera, get creative to avoid repetition, and helps you learn what you like/don’t like and how to take better pictures of yourself and others. So I’m doing it!
• I’m gonna read 3 books, per usual. I picked up Gemina yesterday at Barnes & Noble and I’m STOOOOOOKKKKKEEEEDDDD for it. My cute sister-in-law got me the 5 Love Languages of Children and I am very excited to read that as well. I was on such a self-help kick in October that I think I’ll shoot for another light fiction to round out my 3 books.
• Write gratitude cards! I do this every November and it helps me be more mindful of how grateful and fortunate I am. I buy a cute set of greeting cards, usually from Target of course, and write as many cards as I can to people I appreciate.
• Take family pics and create our Christmas card!! Family pics are this weekend so if you could all send good vibes that I finally figure out our outfits and that the toddler and her toddler-maturity level (when it comes to photoshoots, anyway) father cooperate.
• Pull off our Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them private screening without a hitch! So excited!
• Finally get around to making Reese’s First Christmas book. I took a bunch of really cute, styled, planned pics of Reese’s First Christmas last year with the intention of making them into a nice photobook that we could pull out and admire every year. I want to get it done now so it’ll be ready for us to admire this Christmas!
• Start Christmas shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• My Planning Class! Yesterday I booked the venue and bought the door prizes and I am SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY TAKE IT. It’s at the end of the month and I have a lot of cool things to put together for it and the corresponding e-course I’m hoping to create. More to come on this.

Do you feel like Christmas has already arrived? Because I kind of feel like that. I’m gonna try my best to focus on what November has to offer before I throw myself completely into the Christmas festivities. I may not make it until Black Friday, but I will certainly try.

Come on November. Be as cool as your big sister, October.