1) NaBloPoMo 2023
I am so glad I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo for the third straight year (and, of course, thanks to San for being our fearless leader once again). I had a lot of fun this month and I tried to take the pressure off to read and respond to every single blog post. I was really delighted with the response I got to my Week in the Life posts. I have so much fun writing those posts and I’m glad to know that you guys enjoy reading them. They’ll be back in 2024, don’t you worry!
2) Continuing to recover from LASIK
It’s been 6 weeks since I had LASIK and my vision continues to improve. A few weeks after I had the procedure, I was still waking up and immediately reaching for my glasses to put them on… only to realize I didn’t need them anymore! What a fun way to wake up! I’m dealing with a bit of dry eye, but nothing too concerning. I try to do artificial tears a few times a day, which helps. I continue to sleep without my ceiling fan, which is a pain, but hopefully at my appointment in February, I’ll get the all-clear to sleep with the fan again. All in all, things are good on the eyeball front!
3) Pet portraits
I am so glad I finally had these portraits done, and they turned out so well!
Ignore my drywall holes. They need to be patched and I’ve been way too lazy to do so.
Here’s what I did:
- First, I bought the portrait commission on Etsy and sent the artist a few pictures of my pet. She responded in less than 48 hours with the portrait. She allows for unlimited changes to the portrait, but I loved each one from the start!
- Second, I bought 11×14 black frames from Amazon to hang the portraits.
- Third, I sent the files to my local Fed-Ex store for printing. I had the portraits printed on heavy cardstock paper and they all came out really great!
- Fourth, I framed the portraits (I had to trim them a bit) and hung them up on my wall.
The portrait commission was $9 per portrait, the printing was $9 for all three portraits, and the frames were $8 each. So, all in all, the portraits were $20 each from commission to frame, which is not a bad deal at all!
4) Decorating for Christmas
I used to be someone who waited until after Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas, but ever since the pandemic, I’ve been all about decorating early. It’s just nice to have more than a month of holiday cheeriness in my apartment! (I’m also someone who is ready for all my Christmas decorations to go away by December 31st, ha.) I slowly decorate, too, so I would just put stuff up here and there and by the time Thanksgiving week came around, the apartment was fully decked out.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not putting up my Christmas tree this year since I’m leaving for our cabin vacation the day after Christmas. It’s a little sad not to have a glowing tree in my apartment this year, but I’ll admit that I didn’t hate skipping that blasted fluffing process.
5) A helpful appointment with my psychiatrist
It was serendipity that I had a psychiatrist appointment right as I was starting to feel a depressive episode creep in. We talked through some of the symptoms I was experiencing and developed a plan to help me stem the tide. I’m feeling better now than I did then, and I think that’s mostly because I was able to talk with someone about what I was experiencing and didn’t let it fester in my head for days or weeks.
6) Thanksgiving
I had a lovely Thanksgiving this year with my family. My cousin hosted us and made a delicious meal. I was mostly there to snuggle her cats, but also made sure to talk to the actual humans there, too. My uncle hung in for a while, but eventually exhaustion got the better of him. I’m glad he was able to be with us for a bit of time, though.
7) A birthday eve celebration
My mom and I had a fun day for my birthday eve, as we both were not working. We started with breakfast and then took a trip to two different stores to look for Christmas decor. I was also able to find a few things for my Secret SANta partner, which was exciting! Afterward, we played mini-golf. It was a very competitive game and I was trailing my mom by one point when we were on our last hole… and I ended up beating her by a point! A birthday miracle, indeed. It was a fun day with my mom and I’m glad we got to enjoy the day together!
8) Day of Stephany
I’ve already detailed my Day of Stephany on the blog, so I won’t rehash it all here. It was a good day and I went to bed feeling very satisfied.
9) November book club
We had book club this month at my favorite local pizza place where we enjoyed Greek salad, cheesy bread, and delicious pizza! And we had a really good discussion about our book this month (Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer, which everyone gave 4 or 5 stars). There was a lot to discuss: female friendship, sexuality, marriage, infidelity, etc. I’m glad the book was such a hit since it was one I suggested!
10) Spotify Wrapped for the podcast
My heart was so full when Bri shared our Spotify Wrapped for the podcast with me. It was cool to realize we have listeners in multiple countries (even Australia and Ireland!) and that our podcast has seen some growth over the last year, even though I didn’t really feel like that happened. There is a lot of growth I’m hoping to see in 2024, and this infographic just made me all the more inspired to make that happen.
Tell me a highlight of November for you!
Those pet portraits are adorable – I love how you can see their personalities!
Right? I feel like the artist NAILED their personalities in these photos. She did an amazing job!
Those pet portraits are amazing! What a thrifty way of getting them done.
There is nothing better than picking a book for book club that everyone likes. I’m a bit nervous because I recommended the book we’re reading for our next meeting and I hope it goes well! I mean, at least we should have a good discussion, right? Even if everyone hates the book, but the discussion is robust, I count it as a win.
What a great November you had! I’m so glad your eyes and your mental health are looking up – you deserve to be healthy!
There is nothing more validating than suggesting a book that everyone ends up loving! I hope you are able to have a great discussion about your book.
Oh my gosh, those pet portraits!! How sweet. That would make an awesome gift for a pet lover.
They came out so well! I was really happy with them and now just want to get them done for everyone’s pets, haha.
Those pet portraits!!!! And I’m so glad we both managed to get eye surgery in 2023. I feel like I’ve FINALLY turned a corner with PRK and the first time I went into a coffee shop after being out in the cold and didn’t have glasses to steam up was AH-MAZING.
I’m so glad you’re finally feeling like you’ve turned a corner with PRK – what a crazy journey that has been for you.
Well, speaking of podcasts, it was a sweet highlight for me that I GOT A SHOUT OUT. Anyone else need nail polish recommendations?
I love all of this of course, but particularly your fantastic Christmas decorations and your psychiatrist appointment. I am so proud of you for knowing how you’re feeling and then reacting to it – you are doing so well!!!
I was so excited for you to hear your shout-out! Thanks for being such a wonderful loyal listener. And for the amazing nail polish rec!
Yay! Congrats on growing the podcast like that. And, I love those pet portraits- I can’t believe how inexpensive they were.
Sounds like you had a pretty great month overall. And I’m glad you’re feeling better!
They were so cheap that I wasn’t expecting them to be great quality, but they totally are! And they make me really happy to see in my apartment. <3
Your Christmas decorations are very festive!! I think putting them up early makes total sense; the longer you get to enjoy the sparkle, the better. My Mom has a plethora of decorations and she puts them up little by little as part of the joy and then leaves them up for a long time after Christmas to soak it all it. We each just have to do what makes us happy!
I love the little-by-little process of decorating! It makes the process a little less overwhelming and it’s fun to see the home come together slowly like that. <3
I love it when everyone loves a book. That doesn’t happen very often, at least in our club. I do want to check that book out, even though it deals with infidelity!
Oof, a November highlight… November was HARD so this is a bit tough. I would say briefly seeing my family on Thanksgiving. It was great to see Paul playing with his cousins. He’s quite a bit younger than them but they love playing with him. I suppose it gives them an excuse to be silly and play with toys they might not otherwise!
Surprisingly, it’s pretty common for all of us to like a book! We’re all fairly similar in our reading tastes. It’s good for this enneagram 9 who doesn’t like contentious book discussions, haha.
I’m glad your older nieces and nephews love to play with Paul. There’s something so special about that relationship, too!
I loved this post! It’s so wonderful to reflect back and see what we accomplished, struggled with and went through each month. I need to reflect back to November, too. Lowlights: T travelled and I was solo parenting for a bit. Highlights: Thanksgiving! L’s birthday! Christmas tree! New leggings for moi 😉
Solo parenting has to be so rough! But you made it through! AND nailed NaBloPoMo while you did it. Amazing!
I loved reading this so much. Your focus on your well-being is inspiring. I particularly love how you took action as soon as you felt yourself slipping into a depressive episode. Yay, you. And, wow, you realize those podcast stats are amazing, right? Look at the growth in listeners! Woo hoo! 🙂
What a great November. I was so happy that you participated in NaBloPoMo again (!), I know you were excited to get the LASIK surgery, and it was your birthday! And I am super-excited that your podcast stats. You must be so stoked!