Monthly Personal Update

As promised, here's the delayed monthly personal update.

I'm typing from my bed and fully plan to turn off the lights and computer once this post is done to go to sleep, so I'm already in my pjs and everything. That's a pillow behind me, instead of the usual couch. I just took that picture, and am impressed how though my hair is messy right now, it turned out ok.

Anyhow, October I moved to a place only about half the size of my previous place. Since the middle of college, I've had a group of boxes that move along with me even though they haven't been unpacked. They followed me for six moves, with more and more boxes being added in this group. It got so bad that at my last apartment, a one bedroom and den (the den was very large and could definitely be used as a second bedroom), I used the whole spare room for these boxes. There wasn't much floor space in that room to walk between the boxes. Well, I finally went through each and every one of these boxes and threw out what was now trash, and reorganized the contents I wanted to keep in boxes according to what they were. Now some of those are in storage and some are with me. I donated most of my furniture to the Salvation Army, and have several boxes (currently living in my car) to donate to a food bank, Toys for Tots, Dress for Success, and Goodwill. I was awful stressed during the whole process though.

A few family members celebrated birthdays in October. My ultimate team ended our regular season losing only one game at the very beginning. I played a session of bridge at the Silver Spring Sectional, and one at the local unit game one night. Some dear friends came into town for a conference, bringing their two kids. I took the oldest of the kids to see the National Archives, the WWII memorial, FDR memorial, and paddle boating in the tidal basin.

For Halloween, I dressed up as a gypsy at work and brought in candy for everyone. I also baked cupcakes and gave those out to my fellow coworkers also in costume. The best was Pee Wee Herman.

The last weekend of October I went hiking in the Shenandoah. Also stopped by Luray Caverns, which I hadn't gone to since I was a little girl, and The Garden Maze. The website claims the maze to be one acre. Looking at it from the outside, I was disappointed because it didn't seem like an acre, but once inside, it seemed huge, and it was certainly of good relative difficulty. You could kind of see through the hedge to the path adjacent to you, but that didn't help you get there in the slightest. Next time in Luray, I would def suggest trying it even though it looks gimmicky. And look for the stamp stations (there are 4 landmarks to find). If you have younger children though, be warned that I saw many poor parents whose kids had run ahead be terribly lost and unsure of how to get to their kid that appears to just be a few feet away.