I love the month of November. It’s always so fun. With Thanksgiving, Reggie’s birthday and holiday preparations, this month is always filled with great happenings. This year, there are several things that I’m especially looking forward to experiencing….
- Reggie’s Birthday: Reggie is such a great husband and dad. He is the type of person who always takes care of everyone else, so it’s fun for the boys and me to cater to him on his special day.
- Completing Camp: It’s bittersweet, but I officially let the people who run the camps that I have been administering the last couple of years know that I won’t be returning. I still have some paperwork and budget reconciliations to finish, but I should be completely finished by the end of the month. Although I’m entertaining new opportunities, I’m purposefully not actively seeking out anything new until I tie up these loose ends.
- Completing Chookooloonks Path Finder Course: Actually, I already finished it once. I’m just going through everything one more time. (I like to do things/read books/etc. two or three times to make sure that I’m getting the most out of it.) I’ll be sharing a few of the things that impacted me the most – vision board, life menu, etc. – over the next month.
- Attending some fun blogging/work events: I really have not been attending a lot of events since the school year started. With double drop-offs and pick-ups, coordinating child care is a bear. It’s easier for me to just work from home. However, as the holidays approach, there are a few events that are worth the juggle! I’m especially excited about a couple of events taking place next week. Microsoft is hosting a food/technology event with Alexandra Guarnaschelli. I love her as a judge on “Chopped” and it was fun seeing her compete on “Next Iron Chef” this past weekend (the judge being judged). Later in the week, the “cool” moms from Cool Mom Tech are co-hosting a pre-holiday lunch with CNET. This weekend, friends were over and they were asking me what I had seen tech-wise lately. I’ve been such a homebody (relatively speaking) lately, that I had nothing to share. Hopefully, that will change by the end of next week. As for the kids…if they have to wait for me to pick them up from school late, they will be fine. It will build character and independence. Just kidding…I have pinch hitters :-)!
- Thanksgiving Weekend: We have not decided what we are going to do yet. We are so active as a family that I just like to chill at home during holidays and short breaks, but I have a feeling that we might do the big family thing for the kids’ sake. We’ll see. I do know that there will be great food and movies as part of that extended weekend. (Since we already saw Puss In Boots, Happy Feet 2 and The Muppets are next on our movie menus.)
- Volunteering together as a family: Last night at dinner, we were talking about what we wanted to work on as a family during the month of November. One thing that we noted both boys needed to work on was gratitude. By nature of the parenting writing that I do (in addition to the kind generosity of family and friends), they have and experience so much to the point that they can take things for granted. We’re actively working on helping them s-t-r-e-t-c-h their thinking in regards to what they can give to others. They are very good about taking care of their clothes and toys so that they can give them to charity every few months, but we’re going to take them to physically do something else too this year. (I’m thinking soup kitchen, children’s hospital or homeless shelter-themed volunteering but any other suggestions would also be greatly appreciated.)
- Hidden Valley Ranch Parent Panel: I’m really excited about this one. I started Foodie City Mom four months ago and I signed my first food-related spokesperson contract as “Foodie City Mom” with Hidden Valley Ranch last week. It’s a small start/I’m part of a 10-person panel, but It combines the three things that I’m focusing on in relation to blogging: speaking, consulting and content. Also, my fellow panelists all totally rock! Anyway, I’ll definitely let you know more as the program unfolds.
How about you? Is there anything that you’re especially excited about for the month of November?
