I’m in Love! : October
General Recap
Welcome back! Listen, your girl needed a bye week & then I ended up traveling at the end of last month & beginning of this month, so, you’re getting my October Loves a little late. Better late than not at all.
October is the start of my favorite time of year. It’s like waking up from a slumber. I have never been the biggest fan of summer so naturally, the -ber months are typically when I find that I thrive. This last month was one that was ruled by action more than anything. Truly, I found as I was creating my list of things that I loved it was more of things that I did rather than what I consumed.
Hopefully, you spent your last month enjoying yourself & finally Fall weather. Here’s what consumed most of my last month.
Food & Drink
Cooking
Feta Sheetpan, Eggplant Parm, & Creamy Tortellini Soup
I told you this month was one ruled by actions more than things themselves. October made me fall in love with cooking again.
Fun fact: I wanted to become a chef for most of my younger years. That was my dream.
Over the last few years, I became very comfortable cooking the same few things on rotation because between work & getting my Masters, it just made it easier for me. Just simple dishes without much fuss. But, this past month, I have forced myself into a new routine of cooking at least one new dish a week. Sometimes cooking for one can really deter me from cooking different things but I really started not to care. Leftovers can be so yummy.
My favorite dishes I cooked were this very simply feta sheetpan which includes feta, cherry tomatos, & chickpeas seasoned and baked, I ate it with quinoa & tzatziki for a quick mediterranean dish. Another dish I loved cooking was eggplant parm. It’s one of my favorite Italian dishes & it was one that really pushed me in terms of prep. I made the sauce from scratch, a quick one, but it was so good. Overall, was so delicious & I think this was one that made me the proudest of myself. Finally, the creamy tortellini soup. I think any soup is so easy and simple to make. This one reminded me a lot of home. Strictly based on smells. Living in a very Italian dominant household, this one placed me right back into my Papa’s kitchen & the kitchen at my parents house, where the argument of who is more Italian is probably raging on as we speak. My Italian mother or my Irish German father who married my Italian mother. I should create a poll.
Entertainment
9-1-1
Hozier
Dance Parties
Documentaries
Much like when I awake from my summer slumber, so do certain artists for me. The primary among them being Hozier. While he certainly is never out of rotation for me, he just begins to rule my playlists in the Fall. I adore this man, his music, & his message so deeply. I would sell a vital organ to see him live. He also created one of my most favorite covers of any song ever. Bless his soul. Some of my most favorite of his songs (ever changing & evolving list): Would That I, I,Carrion (Icarian), Like Real People Do, Swan Upon Leda, & Say My Name cover.
On the topic of music, I have been enjoying hosting a dance party for 1 (me, myself, & I) at the end of each day during my closing shift in my apartment. I turn on some of my favorite songs like anything from the Mamma Mia soundtracks, Sabrina Carpenter, or just anything super upbeat that I am vibing with that day. It really does improve my mood no matter what happened throughout that day, I spend the end of my day laughing at myself as I dance horribly around my apartment cleaning. Some of y’all take yourselves too seriously & I am prescribing you at least one dance party a week. It can be while you clean, get ready, take a break while working from home, whenever you choose. But I promise it will improve your mood drastically.
Now, to me Fall is synonymous with documentaries. I wrote a blog about some of my favorite 30 for 30’s at the beginning of last month because I truly love a good doc. This month I enjoyed watching one on Netflix called Churchill at War. So extremely fascinating since during school I spent a lot of my time on the United States pov in both WWI & WWII that I didn’t get to dig in on the other Allied powers. That man is so extremely complex & just enamoring. Dad, next time we are in London can we go to the war rooms? If anyone has any other documentary recommendations for me, please let me know.
Guys. Guys. I need someone to binge 9-1-1 on Hulu so you can start watching on Thursday’s with me. This show is about a firehouse in L.A. along with Angela Bassett as a cop & Jennifer Love Hewitt as a dispatcher who is sister and wife to firefighters in the show. It has action & suspense while also giving so much for the characters outside of the on the job drama. Mix in a little bit of camp with the choices of emergencies they choose to put on the show. You better believe I am sat every Thursday at 8 pm with twitter pulled up reading live reactions during commercials. Y’all, I need someone to watch this with me. It’s lonely out here having no one to talk to about this.
Misc.
Thrift Shopping
Saturday Morning Walks
Holiday Decorating
In October I was really on a mission. During my lunch hour when I work in office, I go on walks in the neighborhood & I am extremely lucky to have second hand bookstores near by. I spend my time browsing them in hopes of finding some new titles. But, what last month brought me was a new quest. Finding titles of my favorite books from when I was younger. Growing up I was big on checking out books from the local library & I owned a Nook as well so many books were either digital or returned. Well, now I am a big girl with a big girl job & big girl money. So, while I was perusing one day in the thrift store, I found 3 books from a series I majority checked out of the library & only own the last one. Naturally, I purchased them & have plans of hopefully finding the remaining 2 in the wild as well. While my parents were visiting, we went to a bookstore that has both new & used books. During our time in this store, I found 2 hardcover copies of books in a series that I had checked the first out of the library & then read one on my Nook but own the rest of them. I managed to finally complete the series for a steal of $10 for each one. Like, I’m sorry but $20 TOTAL for 2 hardcovers? In this economy? Pure robbery. So, this long winded flex about my book thrifting abilities is to say: buy books second hand when you can. Check out books from your local library. It is all just as important as buying from independent bookstores or book companies in general. It keeps the book ecosystem alive and well. From your aspiring bookstore owner with love.
Fall obviously means crisp air with a bit of a chill in the early mornings. This obviously makes for the best Saturday morning walk weather. Whether its a HGW or just a leisurely stroll. Saturday morning walks through the park, to get a matcha, or just around the neighborhood. It is really the best time to do it. Leggings & your comfiest sweatshirt & tennis shoes before anyone else in your neighborhood wakes up is a magical time. Living in the city, it’s something that makes me feel like I have a little ritual just me & Miss NYC herself. It’s typically so quiet & still. I adore that alone time with her.
Finally, decorating for the holidays. A major part of why I love this time of year is the holidays. Since I spend so much around this time of year going back and forth between here & home. I don’t get to enjoy having my apartment decorated for the holiday season as long or as much as I want. I spent October decorating for Halloween but also prepping for my Christmas decorating. I want it to be known I didn’t decorate for Christmas before November. I wanted to be decorate & enjoy it as much as possible so my little tree & all my decorations are up now. It brings me so much joy everyday to see it all set up. I recommend decorating as soon as possible.
Well y’all. That’s pretty much my October. I am surprised I had as much to say as I did. I was worried the words would fail to find me. But, thank goodness they didn’t.
Sending you fantastical energies & hoping your November is off to an amazing start.
Talk soon.
