1) Getting LASIK and having an easy recovery. I am so glad I made the decision to get LASIK and so pleased with how everything turned out. My recovery has been so very easy with very few side effects. It’s so fun to be glasses-free! Even if I do need reading glasses later in life, that’s much easier to handle than glasses I have to wear all the time or else I’m blind.
2) Returning to Silent Book Club. I took a brief hiatus from Silent Book Club in August and September. Mostly because the timing of the events didn’t line up with my schedule. Thankfully, they’ve added a second book club meeting on Monday evenings, and I can typically make those meetings. It’s a nice way to kick off the week!
3) Escape room book club. We had our second escape room book club of the year! We went back to the same place we went in August, this time to do their harder escape room. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the last one; the other one had better puzzles to solve, IMO. But we did escape (with 3 seconds to spare!) and had a good time together.
4) Getting my flu + Covid shots and having no side effects. Every time I get the new Covid booster, I expect to have a day of feeling shitty, but I keep lucking out! I don’t know what it is about my immune system; maybe it knows I’m such a big baby that it gives me a pass? HA. I got both the flu shot and booster at the same time and felt just fine the next day. Hooray for that!
5) Monitor arms and excellent customer service. I bought monitor arms for my desk and installing them was quite an adventure! First, I realized that my monitors do not have VESA screws so I had to buy a bracket adapter from Amazon. Then, I had to apply the adapter (it’s an adhesive) and wait 3 days to install my monitors. And then when I tried to install the monitors, it seemed like my monitor arms had been installed backward. This would have been a manufacturer issue, so I contacted them. Within THREE MINUTES of sending them an email, they had responded and asked me to send photos/video. So I did and we had a few back-and-forth emails until everything was installed! My monitor arms are from Rocelco and while time will tell if they are high-quality, I will say the customer service is TOP-NOTCH. They were very patient and helpful with me, even when I had really silly questions. And now I have monitor arms! They aren’t quite as wide as I want them (they cut off my laptop a bit), but I do enjoy having the monitors off my desk.
6) My ladder bookshelf. I’ve had a vision in my head to create a “favorite books” bookshelf and I finally got to make it a reality in October. I ordered a ladder bookshelf from Wayfair, which was super easy to put together, and styled it one weekend. It makes me so happy to look at it every night as I go to sleep and every morning as I wake up!
7) Recording all of our episodes for season 7. Bri and I got together three times in October to record all of our episodes for season 7 of the podcast. I really loved these episodes and had such a great time discussing all sorts of mental health and personal subjects with Bri. Our trailer is releasing on Tuesday so make sure you’ve subscribed to The Friendship Paradox to start listening!
8) An impromptu dinner date with my bestie and her girls. I am not someone who says yes to same-day dinner plans, but I decided to let myself be a little spontaneous when my best friend texted me to see if I was up for dinner with her daughters. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and it was a really lovely time! I’m glad I said yes.
9) A six-day staycation. I took a nice staycation from work in October and it was much needed. My last day off was in July! (And we have flexible time off, so there’s no excuse.) Honestly, I didn’t do a lot during my staycation (well, aside from my LASIK procedure, ha, which happened on my second day of staycation). I took lots of naps, did some organizing around my apartment, and read a lot of books. It was perfect!
10) Favorites of the month.
- Favorite book: Drowning by TJ Newman
- Favorite romance: The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
- Favorite purchase: Fresh Balsam candle from Bath & Body Works
- Favorite podcast episode: Fall Extravaganza on The Girl Next Door podcast
- Favorite post: My LASIK Experience
What did you love about October?
STEPHANYYYYYYYY! I was just thinking TODAY “I wonder when they are going to drop their new season?” and here, my questions have been answered. Looking forward to that as always.
I loved all of these things, what a great October you had! New vision, fun with your friends, time off, what’s not to love!
Thank you for always being such a great cheerleader for our show! New season coming SOON!
Ha, I was just at Bath and Body Works yesterday and I was smelling that candle! I’m still in fall mode and it seemed Christmas-y, so I didn’t get it- YET. I’ll probably go back sometime this month and buy it.
So, thank you for turning me on to The Girl Next Door podcast. I’ve worked my way back and am now in the middle of their very first Fall Extravaganza episode. They are SO FUN. I notice they also have some other holiday-themed episodes, and I’m going to listen to them as well.
Sounds like you had a great month! Yay for Lasik! And yay for a staycation- it sounds perfect.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying The Girl Next Door podcast! They are such a fun pair, and I love listening to them.
I think a lot about impromptu versus planned events. I love having planned events on the calendar, but I’m much more likely to say yes to a random Saturday afternoon meeting than I am to plan one. Interesting how different personalities work at things like that.
I’m so excited that Lasik worked out so well for you. It must be amazing to be able to see things in the middle of the night.
What’s funny is that with a planned event, I spend all my time getting worked up about going to the event. With an impromptu one, I don’t have time to have my usual social anxiety panic. So I should do more impromptu stuff!
What a great month, Stephany! So happy that LASIK has been so successful for you! And I love your ladder bookshelf.
Your podcast project is so cool — seven seasons!!!! Would you consider posting about the behind-the-scenes of putting it together and what you’ve learned since you started?
That is a GREAT blog post idea, Suzanne! Adding it to the list for NaBloPoMo!
I have trouble with impromptu also, but I ask myself if I will regret saying no. If I won’t regret it, I don’t go, but often that question gets me to yes pretty quickly.
It sounds like you had a great October!
Yay LASIK!!! You brought back the memories of those early days when I realized that I was FREE. Yeah 10 years after surgery I went from 20/20 to 20/40 where I still am – that’s a lotta years with no glasses.
You have some fun book club meetings. What a great October. It’s so good that your LASIK went smoothly. The highlight is starting out big trip to the US.
So glad you got the LASIK surgery done and are recovering so well. For someone who hasn’t needed glasses, I often forget and can only imagine how liberating it must be to be able to see without them.
I love your ladder bookshelf and the monitor arms are a genius idea. My desk is very small and the monitor stands definitely take up a lot of room.
Yay for impromptu- dinner dates with friends (I wish I could do this more often) and for getting all your podcast episodes recorded. I need to make time and listen again!
So happy that your LASIk was such an amazing experience. Must be wonderful not needing the glasses to get around.
That book shelve looks really cute.
And you know I am so intrigued by the silent book club. Such an amazing idea.
I’m so pleased that your Lasik went along with no difficulties. I like your bookshelf, very much. Your break in October sounds like it was just what you needed.
Stephany, I leave comments here and they disappear. I don’t know if that is intentional, or if the system is eating them. Fingers crossed this one goes through.
So weird – I think your comments are going through (you have one above!), so I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe try refreshing the page after leaving a comment?
I love your October list! Especially all the time with loved ones and a successful LASIK experience! And I love hearing about companies with great customer service. So often people only take time to vent and it’s nice to hear the other side too!
Your staycation reminded me I am going to swap my bonus for leave this year. I need to do that in our HR system. Ya girl plans to travel a lot next year!
I loved all our time with loved ones in October! We saw friends and family and I made new friends!
Oh, I envy you your willingness to be impromptu! I… am not. 🙂 Planned or it does not happen.
Also so happy to hear that LASIK recovery continues to go well! I can’t even imagine… Wow. Enjoy!
It doesn’t happen that often. But every once in a while, I let myself do it and I’m always rewarded by a good time!
You had a great month! I’m so glad lasik went so very smoothly and you are happy with the results.
So I think your ex also went to the silent reading book club…. Does that mean you will see her at that going forward? Or did you discuss who would continue to go? I had to ask!!
Honestly October sucked. So much illness and exhaustion in our house. I didn’t test positive for the flu but the doctor I saw on Monday said she feels I had a more mild case of it. I am getting better but this cough is wearing me out!!
So far, we’ve been going to different SBC meetings – she goes to the Sunday meetings and I go to the Monday night ones. It wasn’t intentional, but just the way things have worked out so far. I do want to go back to the Sunday meetings (probably will when football is over), and we’ll see how things go from there!