Hi friends—Happy end of October!
I hope you’re enjoying spooky season. I’m almost ready for Halloween. I’ve got my candy out for the 2-3 trick-or-treaters who show up, and I’ve decided against worrying about seasonal decor this year and just focusing on cleaning the house up, moving all the rooms around, and getting ready for the baby to arrive.
We’ve finally cleaned out most of the room we’re turning into the nursery, but I’ve still got a bunch of stuff to get out of the closet and put into the garage—thank god for Costco and plastic storage bins (also for a 2.5 car garage—something we’d never have in NJ).
This month has flown by, I feel like it was just last week that we were back in Jersey seeing all our friends and family, telling them about the baby, and eating all the amazing food. Luckily, we’re headed back next month for Thanksgiving and the baby shower, so I can look forward to more amazing food soon!
One of the coolest things we got to do this month is check out the Goetesch-Winckler house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s only about ten minutes from here and they were having an art sale with prints and paintings from the original owners. It’s an amazing house and the details were just incredible. I absolutely loved the full flower beds outside the big windows, their built in dining room table, and the private patio accessible only through the bedrooms.
Other than that, there’s not too much interesting stuff going on—if you want to keep up with pregnancy and baby updates, I created this private newsletter where I talk about what’s going on, how I’m feeling, and all the good things about becoming a mom for the first time. Because the newsletter is private—I do have to manually approve everyone who signs up, so if it takes a few days for you to see everything, I do apologize! Please feel free to follow along—if I don’t recognize your email, I might reach out and ask who you are, just let me know where we know each other from, and I’ll get you right on the list.
Check it out below:
This month’s interesting stuff:
Currently List
Watching
Only Murders in the Building—I’ve enjoyed this season. One episode left! I love that it’s only 30-ish minutes long. It’s the perfect length for watching an episode in the evenings.
Lots of football—and a bunch of other sports too—video games, baseball, soccer, etc. It’s such a great season for sports.
Great British Bake Off—another great show to just chill out and watch on the couch.
I finally started this season of Slow Horses, and I’ve been meaning to start the newest season of Alice in Borderland, but I’ve just not had the mental capacity for subtitles lately.
Reading
A new-to-me book series called The Mirror Visitor. It’s a YA fantasy series, originally written in French, but the translations have been pretty good. I’m on book 3 of 5. I love a good series.
I’m waiting on two new cookbooks from the library, one is
’s—and while I’ve been waiting, I’ve been checking out all the other media she’s been doing lately, including this article about keeping a weekly dinner with your friends.One of my favorite places around here is the MSU Surplus Store—they get the craziest things in, including this 17th century book!
This was a super long, but also wildly interesting read on a bird from the Charlie’s Angel’s movie and the author’s journey to figure out how it all went down.
I’m a huge Danny Strong fan—ever since he was Doyle in Gilmore Girls—and he’s the one who wrote the new book for the revival of Chess on Broadway. This was a great interview with him on how he turned down the Buffy revival for this opportunity.
Listening
I’m listening to a ton of audiobooks lately.
Fourth Wing graphic audiobooks while I’m doing chores during the day.
Harry Potter at night to fall asleep.
Caraval and a few others while I was just doing some admin work, or playing around at my art desk.
We also went to go see Lawrence in Grand Rapids last week, so of course, I listened to some of my favorite songs of theirs to get ready for the concert.
Making
Food mostly. I’m still not eating really well, so I’m making up for it by making some of my favorite foods so I’m excited for leftovers and dinners. Lots of pizza, chicken parm, soups, and other good stuff.
I’ve been really only making Daily Pages lately—my entire studio is in the middle of a major reorganization, so I haven’t felt like moving everything around just to find the stuff I’m looking for.
A few digital scrapbook layouts, since I don’t feel like cleaning up just to create. I’ll get back to scrapbooking eventually.
Feeling
Pretty good. Tired a bunch, but also excited. I’m glad that we’ve finally got some cooler weather, even if it has been super rainy out.
Planning
The baby’s room. Lots of things needed to be changed for that. We’re going to paint and put together furniture next weekend.
Going home for Thanksgiving and my baby shower next month.
Getting ready for the Awesome Ladies Project Virtual Scrapbook Festival in December. We’ve got lots of great things going on for festival including new merch, Awesome Ladies Live ticket sales, and amazing challenges and games!
Loving
Homemade pizza
My couch
My new amazing pregnancy waterbottle from my friend Kira
Playing
Lots of Borderlands 4. It’s my favorite series and I love the new installment.
Power Washer Simulator 2. It’s so zen and relaxing.
With a new website or two—more details in the next few months.
I hope that you’ve all had an amazing October. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my newsletters and join me in this community. I love hearing from you so hit reply and let me know something you learned or found interesting this month!
Talk to you next week!
xoxo,
Kristin
P.S. If you’re enjoying these newsletters, please consider sharing this edition with a friend who might need a little creative boost today.
Loving Slow Horses this season. Such a good show.