For those who celebrate Yom Kippur: have a restful and reflective day today.

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I have been majorly slacking on my “goodbye [month], hello [month]” posts but I want to revive that tradition on my blog. It’s good to look back and it’s good to look forward. I have been doing it informally, kind of looking at the month that just passed and setting some intentions/must-dos for the upcoming month. But I haven’t been writing about it.

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September was a doozy and felt hard and different from summer (obviously) since we all had to break in our new routines. Nothing terrible happened, in fact, it was quite good, but the feelings of overwhelm were persistent.

In September… we had

~Back-to-School routines, for everyone in our family

~ I started exercising: weights and jogging during kids’ activities and lessons.

~ Back-to-School nights for me and the kids

~ T was traveling so I had a few stints of solo parenting

September seemed to be a “trim the fat” kind of month, where I focused on getting back into the routine of working full time, kids being at school and aftercare, taking them (after work) to their after school lessons (piano and jiu jitsu), moderate but regular exercise for me, and focusing on cleaning the house after our kitchen renovation.

We had no theater plays, no events, museums or restaurants. No dinners out, no friend get-togethers or celebrations. No date nights, no movies in a movie theater.

We mainly stuck to the house/backyard/neighborhood in September. We did order take out a few times. We had a makeshift fall equinox celebration- extremely low key.

I feel fine with September being a low-key month. Not feeling any FOMO either – our summer was full of adventure so September was “back to basics” and I’m happy with it.

New things September brought…

~After a week of being overwhelmed beyond belief, I started my “make your outfits on Sunday” routine. It helped a little.

~ I also instituted the “use that pocket of time to…” during my kids’ lessons. Right now my daughter is at piano for one hour, and I am writing this post. I have also used that time to read, jog and walk (depending on weather), plan, and catch up with friends. To be able to do that, I have to be strategic the night before- take the duffel bag, place sneakers and clean socks into it, pack my Kindle, be sure to have headphones. Be sure that those headphones are charged.

Our weekends have been delightfully free- just gymnastics on Saturday morning.

Reading-wise I was slowly reading Shutter by Ramona Emerson since it is fall, therefore it’s ghost-story time!

In October we have…

~My sister-friend’s 50th birthday

~Fall in New Jersey: apple picking, apple pies, apple sauce

~Halloween block party+trick or treating, they will close our entire street!

~Quite a few instances when T is away so…solo parenting

~A colleague’s (and a good work friend’s) baby shower at work

What I want to continue from the prior month is this:

~ Use pockets of time during lessons to read, plan and exercise; limit phone use unless it’s filling my cup (writing, reading, commenting)

~Exercise regularly and moderately

~ House upkeep – we got it really clean after the kitchen renovation so I really want to maintain that

~ Outfit prep on Sunday’s for the upcoming week

Reinstate:

~ meaningful mornings for me: meditation, some yoga, some weights, some journaling (fell off that wagon at the end of the month)

To have the above I need to

~wake up around 4:45-5:00

To be able to do that, I need to

~ have a set bedtime of 8pm, without bedtime procrastination aka “just one more page…”

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In October I want to have a balance of work and play – I want to celebrate my good friend for her big 5-0, want to enjoy fall, want to exercise, want to have a date night, go see a movie, go out to dinner.

And now…

I’d love to know how your September was and what you have going on in October .