October.

At long last, my month has arrived.  I woke up this morning thinking about Anne of Green Gables and how she loves Octobers just as much as I do.  I loved this book growing up.  If I had to pick my all-time favorite childhood book, this would be it.  I probably read it at least ten times in elementary school and now have it tucked away on my bookcase with other well-loved books from my younger days.  Anne was always so wise.  She taught me about kindred spirits and how dying your hair was almost always a mistake.  And every October, I think of Anne and this quote from L.M. Montgomery's book that illuminates that sweet, mystical sense of this month.

October is coming at a wonderful time, this year.  I realize it comes at the same time every year, but I guess I mean that it lines up well with my life right now.  I need the fall weather and pumpkin scents to remind me of the calm that I so desire to harness this season.  After a a few months of being all over the place both physically and emotionally, I'm ready to settle down a bit and enjoy this month.  After a September filled with extra classes at work and feeling like I had moved into St. Vincent's, I've very much under-committed to work in the month of October.  This week, I'm taking some time off so that I can enjoy Scott's Fall Break with him, and next week starts an 8-day staycation during which time we're expecting a visit from my dad and brother for the UNC vs. Notre Dame game up near South Bend.  My 8 days off technically still allow me to get in my full-time hours next week and the following week, but I've carefully crafted my schedule to maximize my days off.

With that, we're excited to have finally finished some house projects that we can show off during Dad's visit.  We have two that we are most proud of this month.  One was a planned project- mounting our TV-- which turned out to be WAY more complicated than we ever could have imagined.  We felt so discouraged every time something else went wrong, but we have been enjoying our TV mounted on the wall for about 2 weeks now, and so far, the wall hasn't come crashing down.  Midway through that project, I came home to find our coffee table half-sanded down.  The coffee table project was intended for way later this year, but I'm not complaining now that it's re-stained and polished in our living room.  Here's some pictures we have from the project.

Before

Sanded down

Finished product

The coffee table in action! 

I have some pictures somewhere of the TV project but I think they are on my old phone.  I just switched phones last week so I haven't sorted through all of my files and pictures on the old one yet!  

In any case, I'm anticipating a quiet October with minimal goals and lots of time spent with friends, my husband, and my pumpkins.  Which I don't have yet, oddly.  I'm one to buy pumpkins VERY early, but this year I'm secretly hoping we can make it to a pumpkin patch to buy pumpkins, so I've been holding out for that.  So here are the goals that I've been contemplating for this month.

1. De-clutter the apartment.  I've always wanted to be someone who has a place for everything and who lives with only the essentials, no extra fluff anywhere.  But I also have trouble throwing things away and love picking up items for the home at TJ Maxx and Home Goods, so this will likely never happen for me.  However, I do think that we could live more simply than we currently do, so I've signed up for an e-mail list for this month with a task for every day to de-clutter our home.  I'm going to do my best to follow through with these and am hoping that by October 31st we'll be living in a mostly clutter-free apartment.  

2.  Read two books.  This proved impossible in September, and I only made it through one book (Writing to Find Yourself, which was a lovely, free e-book gem that was recommended by Shannon via Shauna Niequist. So so good), but I'm ambitious with reading in October.  I've already started Donald Miller's A  Million Miles in a Thousand Years and am hoping to breeze through this one, and I haven't quite selected my next one yet.  

3. Write 40 more pages in Small Joys.  With 46 pages written in September, I feel hopeful that there is more to be written in October.  I had set a goal for three chapters this week, but with our coffee table project and picking up some unanticipated hours at work, I'm not sure that this will happen.  In the weeks ahead, I anticipate setting aside a good bit of time for writing, though.  

4.  Read through Hosea in the Old Testament.  I missed the She Reads Truth study on this because I was still catching up from the Ruth study, but thankfully they post all of there studies here, so I should be able to catch up over time.  I loved the book Redeeming Love which is based off of the book of Hosea, so I'm full of anticipation for what God will teach me in this book.  Read it with me?

5.  Run with abandon.  Running in the fall is my jam, and I'm so glad temps are dropping as they leaves are and that I'll be able to run without feeling sticky and disgusting.  Scott and I went on our first little 2 mile Fall run the other day on the Monon trail and it was so so lovely.  I'd like to make a goal of getting up to 5 miles again by the end of October.  I once could run 10 miles at a time through the streets of Chapel Hill and Durham, NC, but presently, 3 feels like more than enough.  

I hope October treats you well.  We're starting our's off with some challenges that we didn't anticipate, but we're hopeful in knowing that God redeems all things and uses all things for His purposes.  We will trust in this and in Him, though the waters seem murky and the way isn't well-lit.  

Sending lots of love & thoughts of warm pumpkin drinks your way today!

Love,

Cristina.