October Goals & September Successes

I accomplished 4/5 of my September Goals! 

When all was said and done I participated in 23/30 Blogtember prompts and I blogged a couple more times during the month that weren't related to Blogtember. I published 26 posts in September meaning I only took 4 days off, October will be a little lighter on the blogging. 

I read five books in September. One was pretty short (The Giver) but I would still consider it a novel of enough substance to make my reading total five.

I printed photos and got to work scrapboking my summer!

I didn't mail any packages. Or even purchase anything to put into packages...this is going to be an October goal. 

I got all my paperwork sorted out and this year I'll be Girl Guide leader for a Sparks group! I've also volunteered to help out at a Girl Guide camp in October and possibly at a couple of other events. 

With September gone it's time to focus on October Goals!

I got through four books last month so I'd like to challenge myself to read 5 this month. Reading for 15-20 minutes before bed instead of scrolling through Buzzfeed and social media is a habit I want to maintain. And knowing that I want to read five books will help keep me motivated to read instead of scroll!

This will be the month I'll get those packages in the mail and en route to their destinations! Or at the very least some 'just because' cards.

This is the loftiest goal on my list but I would love to have Spark meetings planned and prepped up until Christmas. We only meet for an hour each week so planning that many meetings isn't all that over whelming. Especially once I factor in a Thanksgiving Day theme,  Halloween Party, Remembrance Day, regular badge work and some fun activities it should be pretty easy to figure out the rest!

Two dates doesn't sound like a whole lot, but there's going to be a lot going on in October. Including a couple of weekends when I'll be away so two dates seems reasonable. And to clarify by dates I don't mean watching whatever happens to be on TV and eating ice cream on the couch. I'm confident we will see each other more than twice this month, I just want (at least) 2 of those times to be planned dates!

After Blogtember I'm experiencing a little bit of blogger burnout. I don't want to lose momentum though so I think 15 is a good number.

I was feeling pretty anxious in September and I found myself journalling more regularly again. I'd like to make this a daily habit because it really does help me to process things and move things out of my head. 

Mountains, Sky, Seals & Goals

My first weekend back in the real world was surprisingly busy. I thought I'd spend most of it watching Netflix and snacking but I ended up venturing out into the world! Friday night I went for a walk and then came home and watched a few episodes of Mind of a Chef. I know I've mentioned it here before but I feel the need to mention it again (the third season is on Netflix) it's so interesting to see how chefs interpret ingredients and how intertwined food is with culture.

Saturday evening J. and I went to an exhibition hockey game and then out to eat. I continued my quest for delicious chicken tacos and was pretty satisfied with the ones at Boston Pizza.

Sunday J. and I were tourists at home and went for a drive. I was hoping to take lots of great photos but it turned out to be sort of a hazy, foggy day meaning the views weren't overly spectacular. 

We were lucky enough to spot some seals playing in the waves at one look off. It was definitely the highlight of my day! It was hard to snap a photo because the waves were a pretty decent size and they were pretty far away. My lens is good, but it's not that good! 

Sunday night I had a Skype date with H. & R. and was in bed by 10:30. The weekend really consisted of a lot of driving which is why there's not many photos. What I do have is September Goals! I took a break from setting goals this summer because I had enough to do without worrying about reading five books or anything above and beyond getting my work done and taking a few minutes for me every now and then. 

Now that September is here and camp is over I'm ready to set some goals and get some things done!

I'm going to participate in Blogtember  this month but I know that I probably won't write everyday or follow all the prompts. I'm aiming to participate in 20 out of the 30 days. That gives me enough flexibility not to feel guilty if I miss a few days but also enough of a challenge to get all 20 posts published.

I've been reading a lot more lately and I want to maintain that. I have quite a few books on hold at the library and a few more that are just hanging out on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

I need to get prints of all the photos I took this summer. Very self-explanatory, it'll probably take the better part of an afternoon to sort through all the photos and decide which ones to order but it's something that needs to happen!

J.'s sister is studying in Ireland so I want to add her to my usual list of snail mail recipients! I'll also send some thanksgiving mail to H. & R. since neither of them are coming home for Thanksgiving. If I get them mailed out by the end of September they should arrive on time for Canadian Thanksgiving in October.

I'm working on getting involved with Girl Guides again but if for some reason that doesn't work out I'd like to find another community organizations to get involved with a few times a week. 

Tomorrow is the beginning Blogtember so I'll be jumping in with that first thing tomorrow!

Today, I'm linking up here and here!