One of the many photos of our amazing wedding day! This was taken by Amanda MacDiarmid, owner/operator of Stellar Exposures, November 2015.
Happy Anniversary, Al! It’s been five years today since we said “I do.” Wow!
All year long, we’ve looked at each other and kind of marveled at this year being five years of marriage.
We still love our house. Two big things have happened in 2020 – We replaced our washing machine, begrudgingly at first. It was a great Maytag. The appliance guy was sadder than we were! But, we love our Speed Queen! We also replaced our roof in July. I am a less nervous wife now!
Phineas and Ferb have been wonderful additions to our lives for almost two years. A friend encouraged me to enter a local pet portrait studio giveaway during the summer. I figured, “Why not? I never win anything.” Well, we were one of the runners-up, so we scored a free portrait session and an art credit. We splurged on a wall print of the boys, and we got a photo album as well. It was our joint wedding anniversary and Christmas gift to each other – Well worth it!
Portrait Credit: Bonilla Pet Studio
I celebrated a year with Sentara in September! This year of 2020, as I told my mom recently when discussing Thanksgiving over the phone, has truly been “the year of extraordinary circumstances.” With the COVID-19 pandemic, our work lives were altered, and now we’re holding our breath as we enter into the holiday season and beyond. Above it all, I’m incredibly grateful that we both have remained healthy, kept our jobs, and learned to navigate this “new normal” together. And – We’ve stayed married, and still like each other!
The holidays will definitely be different – No large family gatherings – but I’m excited to make my first turkey for Thanksgiving! And there will be chocolate mousse, as always.
Publish a post about my July Camp NaNoWriMo session. — Did not accomplish.
Keep up with my pen pals! — Did not accomplish.
Put away all the clean laundry. — Did not accomplish.
Go through my fall/winter clothes. — Did not accomplish.
Designate what clothes to donate. — Semi-Achieved.
Publish my regular TBR Recap post. — Accomplished!
Continue work on the filing system. — Semi-Achieved.
Clean off the couch in my office. — Did not accomplish.
Complete my American Girl re-organization project with my blue storage cubes. — Did not accomplish.
Prepare for NaNoWriMo 2020. — Did not accomplish.
Help my former professor by reviewing and giving feedback on her book. — Accomplished!
Send my completed second draft of my novel to my readers. — Did not accomplish.
October was even worse than September, if that’s even possible. Working took everything out of me, and the weekends were spent doing other things with the house and trying to keep my mental health together. I’ve gone through a ton of guilt, stress, anxiety, worry – The whole nine yards. I’m trying so hard not to complain though – We have remained healthy and still have our jobs!
With all that said, I’m determined to set up a firmer schedule to stay on top of the blog, and finally clear out the literal clutter surrounding me. I’m so tired of looking at it!
To preserve my mental health, I decided to not participate in NaNoWriMo in November. It was a difficult decision, but I’m really glad I stepped away. As soon as I said it out loud to Al over dinner during the last weekend of October, I felt a lot better. I’m looking forward to Camp in April!
I really enjoyed helping Dr. W. with reviewing and giving feedback on her book. That was a really nice change. She was so appreciative, that she sent me the sweetest thank-you card and a very generous gift card on top of it. That was awesome!
I’m writing this on Friday morning because I’m off from work today for the first time in quite a while, and it feels good!
Also, in major celebration news, I finally paid off one of my credit cards. That feels amazing! I’m determined to be more responsible with it going forward, as well as using the 2X points feature on certain purchases (gas and the occasional dining out/takeout) to my advantage.
It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away now. It seems like the holidays seem to accelerate time!
What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of October?
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