November. It happened. The front half of the month was work-focused and the back half was family-focused. We were surrounded by good energy most of the time. So the year is winding down and I’m getting ready to round out a year of resolution tracking. Here goes….

Things I want to do weekly:

• Exercise 4x a week: 17 things. Particularly proud of working out while we were on vacation. We logged a few days of long hauls around Washington, DC. It was an active month.
• Give kids weekly allowance: Nope. Reframing for 2018.
• Do one act of kindness each week: This was a great month for kindness. Sent a surprise gift to a friend. Made dinner for our friends going through medical issues.
• Read one full length article in a magazine every week: This has been a challenge–I do so much either short form reading or novels that the long form gets lost. So, nope.

Things to do every month:

• Regular library trips: The library is a part of our routine now.
• 2 Yoga classes: Zero yoga classes.
• Read 2 books: 2!
• • The G-d of Small Things by Arundathi Roy
  • The Dinner by Herman Koch
• Write 2 blog posts: A few weeks ago a friend suggested we try NaNoWriMo–the National Novel Writing Month. So I wrote no blog posts but I wrote over 12,000 words. And I’m not proud that I wrote only 12K words because a novel is closer to 60K words. But a blog posts is typically 1K so it’s like I wrote 12 blog posts for just me. And, I started to think about how it feels to write fiction and I’m not sure what i think about it. So, I know I can get into a writing routine and on the days I haven’t been writing, I feel itchy. That’s a good thing.
• Choose outside: We spent much of the month outdoors. We had great, albeit chilly, weather for a few days in Washington, D.C. with the girls. The girls had a great outdoor running fundraiser at their school, and we fit in a nice hike.
• 1 date night: double date night did happen but a just us night did not happen.

Some other great stuff that happened this month:

• Gave a big speech at work (and husband caught the tail end)
• Dog-sat the cutest dog ever (and watched my littlest swoon non stop for two straight days)
• Had an incredible family photo session
• Went to DC for family bar mitzvah and vacation
• Hosted Thanksgiving
• Made my 5th and final blood donation of the year
• Got back to crocheting: Made some hats (for a buddy and two babies) and almost done scarves for the girls

Lincoln Memorial close to sunset

My daughters and all of their cousins on Thanksgiving Day. Basically, a dream come true.

1st helping of a gorgeous Thanksgiving meal with my family.

5th blood donation of the year!

Freedom–the statue atop the Capitol Building. Freedom is a woman.