September was a fairly excellent month. I had several photo shoots, launched a few websites, and made nearly as much with Little Leaf as Mike and I combined (I mean, yes, our salaries are small, but things are happening, you guys, and I am so excited about it!) This meant the house was rather messy much of the month, of course.
[September Updates]
Train for a half marathon. Err. I guess technically, yes. But the past two weeks, I haven’t been able to do my short runs, just the long ones. I am mildly terrified about what this means for my race on Sunday, but I am going to try to only think positive things about the race. I honestly believe I have the physical ability, but I need to overcome my mental hurdle of insisitng I must do the training plan perfectly in order succeed. Flexibility is good and all that.
Meditate a few times. Oh man, you guys. Sitting in silence with your eyes closed in the morning is hard. I’d wake up a bit early to meditate, but then my mind would just freak out that I wasn’t going to be ready for work in time. So. I did it a few times, but I am still not very zen about it.
Create fall traditions. Heck yes. We went to an orchard and I made lots of applesauce. I made our first pumpkin pie of the season from scratch with a pie pumpkin (however, we finished the pie before I got whipped cream, so I obviously need to make another). I also swapped out my clothes for some long sleeves and darker colors (maroon and brown, so nice to see you, again!). I happily put away Gabe’s outgrown clothes, since we all know how out-of-control his closet can get.
Clean the essentials (make the bed, do a load of laundry, keep the kitchen sink clean, wipe down the bathroom and toilet, 10-minute clean up before bed, and clean up after myself). Having a manageable list of concrete to-dos is a giant step in the right direction for me. I still didn’t do all the things every day, but a 10-minute clean up really does wonders for the mess-level in our apartment. As does a very awesome husband.
Wake up by 6:30 during the week. Well, I ended up changing my work schedule to be out the door by 7 am four days a week, so this is sort of a null point. But have I told you how obsessed I am with the Sleep Cycle app for my iPod? Like, I will rifle through the apartment like a madwoman until I find my iPod so I can go to sleep. Anyway, the point is that this app is great and helps me wake up early without being a super grump since it wakes me up when I’m in a lighter stage of sleep.
[October Intentions]
Look for the good in others. Be a nicer person, give people the benefit of the doubt, don’t participate in disparaging people, let go of anger. I’ve had some challenging situations…and I want to deal better with them.
Look for cheaper groceries and only spend $100 eating out. Our food spending has increased 46% in the past year compared to the year before, compared to spending only 11% more on gas and 4% more on rent (thanks, Mint). Clearly, this means I need to investigate cheaper grocery stores (Aldi?) and, um, not eat out so much this month. Because restaurant spending has increased by a whopping 135%, which is insane, because I certainly don’t feel like we’re eating out all the time.
Find a book that I love and read it. I haven’t read a can’t-put-it-down book since Little Bee. I like the book I’m reading now, but I don’t adore it. I want to read a book I adore.
Enjoy this moment. Don’t think about winter coming. Don’t just worry about what will come next with your family or work or the weather or reaching that deadline. This is the best time of the year, soak it up. (But also, reach that deadline.)
Here’s to the best month of the year!
Have you read any of Sarah Jio’s books? I just read her new one Blackberry Winter and I couldn’t put it down and read it in a weekend. Might be worth considering although I was not a big fan of Little Bee, so perhaps we have different tastes in books haha :)
That picture of Gabe COULD NOT BE cuter. Seriously.
Also I think food has gone up in price because we have spent more too without really changing anything at all! I swear :) And finally, I can’t meditate because I’d be exactly like you in the morning, thinking about what I should be doing instead of meditating and then it would be not zen at all. Oh well.
Little Bee was a bit sad/dark for me, BUT I couldn’t put it down. I’ll check out Blackberry Winter!
This post’s this-and-that list of things in your mind makes me think we are (scarily?) alike. Applesauce Day coming up here this month. A favorite dish without just the right garnish definitely means another needs to be made pronto. But running? Uh, no. Unquestionably, no. I am an ADMIRER of runners, but that is all. :)
Are you saying I’m scary? ;)
Laughing…
(Should I say that it’s scary that your question is just the kind of thing I would ask???)
Just this morning I was thinking about going back to your blog post on the 10-minute clean-up. I’m a new mommy (my little girl is 7 weeks old), and I feel really out of control with regards to our housework. We have been travelling quite a bit since her birth, and only THIS week will I finally be spending an entire week at home! This means I have NO idea what my child’s routine looks like, besides for her bedtime routine which has been consolidated for the past 3 weeks :-) Even figuring out when she’ll be asleep in the morning so that I can fit in a quick shower is a challenge!
I agree with Kelly, Gabe looks BEYOND CUTE on your photo! Great one! He is growing up so quickly!
Hope that all your budgeting and planning works out :-) Have a good and fulfilled October!
10-minute cleaning really does work! You are a super star – travel AND she is only 7 weeks old? Go easy on yourself! Gabe didn’t even have a real bedtime until he was three MONTHS old. :)
(And that post was here.)
Reading your intentions for the month makes me feel so motivated and excited! Now I want to write my own list too! As far as good books go, I’m reading Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed and it’s amazing. It’s not fiction and some parts are heartbreaking and intense, but I love it. It’s probably my favorite book I’ve read this year.
You know, I requested that book and forgot to pick up before my hold expired. Ha. Oops. I should try again!
Gabe looks SO GROWN UP in that photo!
The price of groceries going up has been a decent-to-big story this year, so inflation might be a big culprit in your grocery bill rising, especially if the price on a few regularly purchased items jumped. (Ive noticed this at my Walmart.) Doesn’t really change reality, but it makes ME feel better when I remember this, like it’s not MY fault for overspending or not planning properly. Same at restaurants where I tend to think it’s easier to raise prices on the sly since I’m not at the same place weekly.
I’d heard about the prices going up, but wasn’t sure it’d be THAT much. (Though we do eat a lot of peanut butter, which is $$!)
Oh, the price of peanut butter going up completely changed our grocery bills. (Yes, we eat it a lot.) I highly recommend shopping as much as possible at Trader Joe’s to save more money — there isn’t one around here and it’s sad.
Is the 46% food increase just groceries or groceries + restaurants. If the ladder, then it’s probably restaurants that’s skewing the number way up, and trading restaurant meals for home cooked meals is the easiest way to bring it down. I also wonder if you simply buy more food because Gabe eats more food?
I’ve thought about this quite a bit. I found the simplest way to lower a grocery bill is to stop buying meat and fish (but you already do this). On the flip side, I recently discovered that the price of Morningstar faux frozen chicken is $8 per pound! Boneless skinless chicken breasts are closer to $5, I think. And a whole chicken can be had for a little over $1, even less when on sale.
The next thing you can do is play the sales heavily. This can get tricky because some weeks have better sales than others. If you buy exclusively stuff on sale, sometimes that means having a weird hodgepodge of groceries that you have to be creative with. For a while I tried shopping at two different grocery stores, taking advantage of various sales to get the best prices from both, but this quickly became tedious and I gave it up.
Gabe is getting SO BIG! What a cutie.
I’m impressed that you made an entire pumpkin pie from scratch! I have a pie pumpkin from Trader Joe’s sitting in my office right now, haha! Maybe I’ll try to turn it into a pie soon :)
Do it! Just make sure you don’t make it with the peel. I did that the first time I made a pumpkin pie from scratch our first fall married. Haaa. It was so gross.
I love these intentions posts. It always amazes me, when I don’t keep track of my food spending, how quickly it goes up! When payday comes I have been taking out cash just meant for food and that way I can see where it is going and I have to pay attention to how the stack of cash is shrinking.
I am a bit behind the times with reading Three Cups of Tea but it is a pretty good read about looking outside of yourself and doing good for others.
Developing a mediation habit is one of my 2012 practices/intentions, so I can’t resist commenting! I think that one of the biggest misconceptions about meditation is that you’ll quickly/automatically reach a state of bliss. Not true. The mere act of getting yourself to sit – whether it’s for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, is significant. I also recommend the i-Q1 timer app. You can set it for your planned meditation time, and here a lovely chime at the end. I know that if I can trust the timer, then I don’t worry about running late. And lastly (longest comment ever) – check out the book Being Zen about bringing a meditation practice to your life.
I always love your monthly updates. This year, I had a bunch of intentions, too, but I might adopt your method next year of setting goals the month ahead. It allows for changes in life without feeling like you’ve failed.
Wohoo! Your story is keeping me inspired!
I love that picture of Gabe! We’ve been struggling with our grocery budget lately – I think we budget a really high amount, but we’re still consistently going over! Maybe we need to invite ourselves over to our in-laws’ more? Either way, I’m seriously considering switching to a cheaper grocery store! I haven’t read a book I couldn’t put down in months – I keep starting books but can’t get past the first few chapters.
Have you read In the Woods? I just finished the follow-up to it (The Likeness) and I can’t get over the brilliance of Tana French. That woman was born to tell (incredible, powerful, can’t-stop-thinking-about) stories.
I haven’t. Thanks for the recommendation!
I really liked The Forgotten Garden and recommend it to everyone. As for your eating out bill – we all need ways to unwind and have some fun. I know that you aren’t a “stuff” purchaser, so maybe eating out is your way of having fun? Don’t scrimp so much that you can’t even enjoy some meals out with your friends and family :)
Oh, don’t worry. I don’t turn down meals out with friends because of our budget! :) I’m reasonable. I promise.
It’s really frustrating to not adore a book you’re reading, i keep coming across that problem too. however if you haven’t already read The Glass Castle or The Book Thief i’d give them a shot, those were two books i very much adored. also, The Color of Water, a very fascinating amazing story.
and for groceries, oh man. i feel ya. i’ve been trying to only buy things on sale and search for coupons and use coupon sites and that’s been helping a bit but oy, food is not cheap, ha.
Life is too short to not like the books you’re reading! But I like the one I’m reading now enough to enjoy it, just not get LOST in it, you know? I’ll put those recommendations down on my ‘to read’ note. Mike actually just read The Color of Water and liked it!
Ah! Little Bee was horrifying. I couldn’t handle it and never finished it. Read Tell The Wolves I’m Home.
Have you read The Night Circus yet? The concept is kind of out there, but I’m in the middle of it and can barely put it down. Best book (so far) that I’ve read in ages.
October is definitely the best month.
I read Little Bee about a year ago and still think about it. That was kind of a tough one.
I think I’m going to investigate that alarm app…
About meditation…there is a group at St. Hilary called the Interfaith Silent Meditation group…definitely based on zen meditation but some people had an issue with the name “Zen Meditation Group” so it’s not that anymore. Anyway you might like to check it out :) Tuesday evenings in the church from 7:30-8:30 PM! See you soon and if I don’t talk to you GOOD LUCK on your half marathon this weekend!!!!
Those are great October goals :) Especially the last one. Living in this moment is SO important :)
I LOVE Sleep Cycle! I’ve been using it for over a year and I really think it works!
Also: I love Mint, although it’s very unforgiving. It tells you all about your budgeting fail :)