September Goals

We are one week in and I am loving the weather this month! Cool mornings and hot, sunny afternoons - the perfect transition into the autumn season.  

On Saturday, we went up to Smith Mountain Lake, which is where I've been low-key looking for a lake house since 2019. Two houses went on the market in August that I thought had potential. In a shocking turn of events, after driving up there on Saturday (which is a beautiful drive I might add), I went away feeling like maybe I don't actually want a lake house! This was a pretty big surprise to me.

While spending time at the lake is truly one of my favorite things in the world, I've had multiple opportunities to do just that. We've been to Lake Gaston, Lake James, Falls Lake and Smith Mountain Lake in the past 6 weeks. These were some of the best days of my summer, along with our week spent in the Outer Banks. It made me realize that perhaps I don't want to be tied down to owning a lake home, at least not in our current phase of life. Brian is rather indifferent about the whole thing, which makes it harder to justify if he isn't excited for it. 

I'm not ruling it out altogether, but I did come away feeling a bit disenchanted and with a better idea of what makes me happy. I don't want to give up my vacations! :)

On the Calendar This Month:

1. Our annual weekend at Myrtle Beach with friends. I'm leaving late morning on Friday so we can make time to stop at one of our all-time favorite spots: Alligator Adventure! I've taken Cam so many times that I've lost count, but Brooke has never been. 

2. A kid-free Friday night! No specific plans yet, but Brian and I at least have the opportunity thanks to willing grandparents.

3. Apple-picking at Millstone Creek Orchard. I took Cam to this u-pick apple orchard in 2017 with my mom and sister. Excited to check it out with our expanded crew of four kids. It's expensive and I'm not sure it will be worth it, so I am keeping expectations low.

4. Our dog Sasha's 6th birthday!

Our dogs are our life. :)

5. A random Tuesday off school for Cam/PTO for me. I decided this year to prioritize taking the day off when he is out of school. There's a lot of teacher workdays sprinkled throughout the school year, and since Brooke is in day care, this will give me the opportunity to do fun things with just my oldest.

What I Read in August:

1. Love You Home Again: Organize Your Space and Uncover the Home of Your Dreams.  I loved this book! Similar to how I spend time each year of reading cookbooks, I also love reading books on interior design and houses. I find so much inspiration and it gets me in the mood to focus on my home and what makes it so precious to me and my family. I think so much of our moods (and also parenting) can be influenced by our environment. I know how I want my home to feel and how I want our kids to feel when they are here at home, so I enjoy reading books like this one.

2. Holy Hygge: Creating Space for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow.  I also loved this book and it kept with the "home" theme. This book focuses on hygge, which is basically the Danish term for cozy and pairs it with the Gospel in an interesting way. It's about leaning in to what you already have versus wanting more. Make the most of your right now. Make the most of the colder months. Think candles, blankets, warm dinners, friends, firepit. How can I make my home a welcoming place?

What I'm Loving Lately:

1. The Taylor Swift guest episode on Travis Kelce's podcast. I've watched the first hour, so still need to finish.

2. Remember the Duke headshots I mentioned last month? Well, I used the image and downloaded an app to sample hairstyles prior to my hair appointment last week. 

After watching the Taylor Swift podcast mentioned above, I decided I needed Taylor Swift's bangs.

Thankfully, the night before my appointment, I thought to use AI to see how my soon-to-be bangs would look. After playing around with the images, I came to an immediate conclusion: ABSOLUTELEY NO BANGS!!! They looked terrible, ha! I was also planning to go lighter with my color as I've done in the past, but after playing around with the images, I decided my current brown suits me best (top left is my actual headshot).

I did not save the AI images with bangs, but here are some other styles and highlights that I saved to show my stylist. The app was called Facetune. We decided to leave my hair its current color and continue growing it out. She also suggested the Bed Head "Wave Affair" tool, which I bought on Amazon, and it gives the same loose curls as the photo on top right.

3. The Billy Joel documentary streaming on HBO Max and Hulu. I'm about two hours into this and highly recommend!

September Goals

1. Continue no caffeine (I'm on week 7 and I can honestly say this has been life-changing! haha) and going to the gym for strength training at least 3x/week.

2. Investigate research opportunities and studies I can participate in related to Alzheimer's Disease. At my primary care appointment last month, I was elated that all of my results came back perfect! I was feeling like the epitome of perfect health. But then, about two weeks later, my genetic testing for Alzheimer's results dropped into my chart: I am APOE 4/4. The worst possible outcome. I'm in the 1% of people with this homozygous genotype that correlates directly with increased risk and earlier onset of Alzheimer's. Unless research and treatments change drastically over the next couple of decades, I'm headed towards an almost guaranteed outcome of having Alzheimer's in my 60's. And I now know my children both carry at least one copy of APOE 4 as well. Once the initial shock wore off, I haven't been anxious or depressed about the results; I'm simply motivated now more than ever to help be part of the cure and do what I can do prevent this disease.

3. Complete Cam and Brooke's baby books!

4. Clean my closet and ruthlessly pare down my wardrobe.