OCTOBER FAVES '17
October was a pretty busy month for me and ohmygoodness did it just fly by. For the month of October, I found myself pretty established into my new work routine (work including both my full-time job, my blogging, my YouTube, and a couple of creative side projects). I also took on a bit of extra freelance work towards the end of the month, making my life even more hectic than it normally is (I might need to start admitting to myself that I am a bit of a workaholic). But despite all the work, I managed to find time for one of my favorite October traditions: a trip out the pumpkin patch. Next year, I might am to also make it to a corn maze.
I was not strictly zero waste this month and found that towards the beginning, I was great and sticking to most of my zero-waste ways, but as the month got busier? I most certainly slipped on more than one occasion. My love of shopping at Trader Joe's has gotten the best of me at least two weekends in a row (oops!). My goal in November is to create a guide for shopping at TJ's that helps me stay on track with my zero-waste goals, so keep an eye out for that, as well as a few other zero-waste tips I have planned for the upcoming months.
October has also been my last full month of being sober. As I write this post, I'm only about 3 days away from the end of my 100 Days Sober project. October came with plenty of new challenges on the sober front: Halloween parties, pumpkin beer festivals, wine tasting, and more. While there will be another post right after I've finished my 100 days reflecting on my time being sober, I wanted to talk a little about wine tasting sober. I went down to Oregon wine country with my coworkers for an office team-building and it was absolutely beautiful. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, and fall out at the vineyards was definitely worth the trip even without the drinking. I was a little nervous leading up to this trip, not that I'd be tempted to drink, but that I would be bored winery hopping while not drinking. I'm happy to report that I was not bored at all. I actually think I might have had more fun than the last time I went wine tasting and actually drank the wine.
(Note: for the sake of the project, I didn't do any form of tasting; however, if you find yourself out wine tasting and don't want to actually drink, it is totally acceptable to have a sip of the wine and then utilize the spit bucket. It isn't considered rude or weird and is a nice option if you want the tasting experience without consuming alcohol).
Check out my video below for my monthly favorite picks: This month includes some book favorites, thoughts on Taylor Swift, fall candles, Stranger Things 2, and the new Google Home Mini.
Have some of your own favorite things from October? Books, cosmetics, tv shows or music you think I should check out? Leave them in the comment section below. I'm always happy to hear what things other people are loving right now.