Hello everyone! Today I’m sharing my October life with you!

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The weather has become much, much cooler, it’s still been pretty rainy, and it’s getting darker so much earlier here in the lovely Chicagoland. I am enjoying it although I do miss the bright, sunny days of summer. Autumn is beautiful too though!

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Lively

Ballet

My ballet classes started up again! The class originally wasn’t scheduled as it’s only usually only offered in the summer. However, we begged for the class at the end of the last session and the instructor put in a recommendation that it be added should another class be cancelled and if an instructor could be found as she couldn’t teach it. It was added for the last 8 weeks of the fall session and so I signed up. I signed up pretty late actually, about a week before it was scheduled to start. I saw that 6 people were required to sign up for the class to run and I was the 6th! Phew! More than 6 people did sign up so a few others did sign up pretty late.

So far we’ve had four classes so we’re half way through. We’re not in the usual dance studio, we’re in a multi purpose class that isn’t just used for dance but also other fitness classes. The instructor is great though, she does the class more like a ballet strength class and does a bit more for technique than I’m used to so it’s really nice. Honestly I was sooooo sore after the first and second weeks! It was amazing! Now, I love my usual instructor dearly but it’s always good to take classes from other people to learn more and change things up so I’m quite happy about it. I really enjoy it and I’m looking forward to the next four classes!

Library Crafts

DIY Nights

First, we made cork pumpkins for DIY night #1 of the month. We did this by first painting the ends of the corks (both ends) while it was all rubber banded together. After they dried it was careful glueing them with a hot glue gun. I did hold them in place while I did that and put quite a bit on so they’d stay together. Then I picked how I wanted the felt leaves and the little cork piece for the stem to sit before using the hot glue to secure them in place as well. Oh, to help dry them a little faster I did use a heat gun on the cork, which really did help but I think it also caused the cork to absorb more paint than it otherwise would have. Either way, it was fun!

The second project of the night was twine pumpkins. It was mostly just spinning the thread around my fingers and then hot gluing them all together with a twig for a stem. I didn’t really like how it turned out as much but it is quite cute.

For the next project we cut out the shapes of an acorn, leaves, and pumpkins on scrapbook paper and glued it onto torn out book pages to turn them into a nice fall banner! I took forever picking the paper and then arranging them. While I’m not 100% happy with how it turned out (it could definitely have been better!) I do still like it and it was fun to work on.

Sewing Class – Learn to sew an apron

Well, I also took another sewing class at the library! It was a three week course to learn to sew an apron, so I signed right up! This class was taught by a teacher in the area, so she was brought in specifically to teach the class (pictured above). The librarians who hosted the class to learn to use a sewing machine previously were the ones who also hosted this one but they also took the class with us. (I signed up for a class tomorrow with them as well but I’ll have to share that one next month.) Here is how the class went though!

For week 1 we learned to read the pattern we were using and cut the pieces we needed. We were all given the same pattern for an apron that had four different variations. I was happy when we picked the one I like the best! We studied it a bit and then cut out the pieces of the pattern. They’re printed on thin paper, like tracing paper, and then we arranged them on the fabric to cut the fabric. After that we left everything together and put them in the little cubbies for on-going projects behind the librarian’s desk in the library makerspace.

During week 2 we started to sew! We grabbed our projects and picked out our thread. Once we had everything we started to sew the pieces. We started with the straps and then started to hem the main piece of the apron. The straps were sewn by putting the fabric “right” sides together so once they were sewn we struggled a bit to turn them inside out so they were “right” side out. This took way longer than it probably should have but that was really all we did for that class before putting everything away.

For week 3 we finished the apron! We finished hemming, attached the straps, put the pockets on, and then finished up the project. We took way longer that night. The classes were all 6:30pm-8pm but that night took up until 8:35 or so. Luckily we did finish and then I took the apron home! I gave it to my mom because she wanted an apron and almost begged me for it so she wouldn’t have to buy one. As you can see, I picked a dark blue fabric with pink flowers and then bright yellow lemons, which I thought was super appropriate for a kitchen. The fabric was provided by the librarians, as was the pattern, so there were a few options and this is the one I liked best. I would have picked a Mickey Mouse pattern or something but this was really cute and I was happy to have a fabric I wasn’t overly attached to for my first project in case it didn’t go well. The pattern was pretty easy to follow so there weren’t too many mistakes but I’m sure the next one will go much better as this one wasn’t perfect. I am planning to get my own machine at some point so I can continue to make stuff.

Entertainment

For games, I have kept playing Hogwarts Mystery. Ava Samwise Quagmire has joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as a Chaser! How fun! She has made three new friends, Skye, Murphy, and Orion, who are a teammate, an announcer, and the team captain respectively. She’s max friendship on all of them already as they seem to be meant for players earlier in their Hogwarts career than Ava Samwise is at. In terms of the main story, well, I’m not super into how slow it is going, but that’s pretty normal. Ava Samwise is currently trying to break into the Ministry of Magic and considering how many friends she updates on her super secret mission, it’s a wonder she hasn’t been caught. Talk about some loyal friends! Oh, she also adopted a Crup puppy and named it Queenie. I do have to say, I love the new update. Ava Samwise turns into an eagle everytime she visits her dormitory!

As for films and tv, I started watching Rotten on Netflix. It is a docuseries that explores different food industries such as avocados, chickens, wine, and more. It’s really interesting to hear about how we get that food and what the “dark side” of that industry is.

I did see the musical Something Rotten for the second time! I did review it so you can click that link if you missed it. This one is just a really fun musical and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

On YouTube I’ve recently discovered Sierra Schultzzie and I’m really loving her content! She does a lot of fashion reviews and just is so positive and seems really friendly. I really like her channel. I’ve also been watching the Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star series. I can’t get enough! Now, I never, ever, ever buy merch or YouTuber make up but I’m all on board and ready to get me some conspiracy palettes in my life. I also impulsively bought a Jeffree Star Cosmetics Halloween Mystery box. As a big fan of marketing (as a business major in college, this is my JAM) I am so blown away by how amazing the series is for hyping up this collab cosmetics line.

Oh, and did anyone else love the NPR Tiny Desk Concert featuring Taylor Swift? It’s up on the NPR website, not their YouTube channel yet (I believe) and it’s worth making the trip to their full website to find it! I really loved all of the songs she showcased and how she presented them.

Favorites

I don’t have any new beauty favorites this month. I’m still trying to use up what I have and so I don’t really have anything else to share just yet. My empties next month is going to be great though. Or maybe that’s scheduled for December, I can’t quite remember. I have been enjoying my Jo Malone perfume in English Pear and Freesia though. I think I might have mentioned this but it used to be my “special occasion” perfume for a long time. As a result, I’ve had it for forever and hardly had used it. Then I heard someone talking about how they don’t save anything for “later” because you never know and might as well enjoy it now! I agree and so I now use it everyday and I really hate when I forget to spritz it on!

Oh! I’ve also kept up with my Duolingo. I’m taking French lessons on there and have reached 100 days in a row of taking lessons! I will occasionally do Spanish lessons but they’re super easy for me since I’m fluent, I just really need to read Spanish books and practice writing instead. I want to eventually do Portuguese as well.

Life

I’ll start with the worst of it… work. I’m a little nervous because I’m not usually so transparent about my work life on here when it comes to the negative. I know I normally only share the onsite fun parts of it and this isn’t that. So the month started out pretty good. I asked my boss last month if I could start working from home two days a week because I just needed the work-life balance. I used to work from home twice a week when I was in school because my manager at the time was flexible enough to let me do that to balance that all out. Since graduating I wasn’t able to do so anymore because I’m “not a parent” and after making a fuss about how discriminatory that was (and getting a new manager) I asked if I could do part of the week at home again. My current manager said yes and it’s been great! I really enjoy it.

The part I do want to mention is that a coworker started swearing at me and refusing to do her job because it would help me book a room for an upcoming onsite in January out of nowhere last week on Thursday. So now I’m dealing with THAT. I escalated it to my manager on Thursday, spoke to my manager on Friday, who then took it to HR, who then said they all talked to that coworker but so far it doesn’t seem that any proper disciplinary action has been taken so I’m continuing to escalate it tomorrow. I mean, honestly she refuses to do her job quite a bit and constantly tries to push work off to everyone else. And if something goes wrong? Yikes, watch out because if you’re standing to close it’s your fault and never hers. I regret not complaining about that before, especially since now it looks like this is the only thing she’s ever done that violates company policies but I’ll keep pushing to get proper action to take place. I’ve also requested not to work with her directly but so far I’m getting push back on that. So unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to continue to work with someone who has now harassed me which really sucks.

My “second job” is better though. I work with my dad on occasion and we finished a huge project this month – a gravel walkway! There was issues with draining near the original walkway and so we fixed it up. I also was allowed to use the chainsaw this month so that was fun! (Not for the walkway, for another maintenance thing.)

My personal life is much better! I spent a day this month with my sister in Chicago! First we started the day off at the Shedd Aquarium in an attempt to see the new baby beluga. I hadn’t been to the Shedd since before the baby beluga was born so I headed downtown on the train and then took the bus from the loop to the Museum Campus. I arrived at around 9am and then realized that other people on the bus were getting off at Soldier Field wearing Bears gear so I told my sister we made the right decision to go early in the day and avoid any game going on. She said that’s why she had wanted to go early, that smarty-pants!

Anyway, I arrived a bit before she did so I sat in the lobby for awhile. I realized the ceiling had turtles on it and then I texted my sister that there was a cute guy in at the front desk. When she arrived she asked me who (she volunteers there still so she knows some people) and I pointed him out also saying “I think he must be a manager because he doesn’t seem to do anything except walk in circles and stare at the ceiling” (he was literally doing that). She confirmed my suspicions and into the aquarium we went! We went through all the exhibits. Unfortunately the baby beluga was not in the pools that we can see (there’s some behind the scenes areas so he was probably back there) but we did see the penguins molting (they look so weird), a dolphin training, a beluga training, and so many awesome sea creatures. We had fun and headed out around 11:30.

We went to Yolk, a brunch chain restaurant. We had to wait for a table and my sister’s friend arrived to have lunch with us. We spent all of lunch catching up and then parted ways. My sister and I had originally planned to also visit the Museum of Science and Industry but the green line that would take us to it was down so we chose to go directly to her place instead. She recently moved so I hadn’t seen the new place yet. When we arrived I was greeted by her roommate and her roommate’s dog Raven which was lovely! Raven seems to finally remember who I am and didn’t freak out when I walked in for once although she did try to smell my butt a few times.

I got a tour of the lovely new apartment and then… the main reason for my visit. My new puppy niece!

Everyone, meet Arya Quetzal, my new niece!!!! I love her so much already. She’s a sweet little Chihuahua (we suspect mixed with a Doxon maybe because she’s a long puppers). Of course, if my sister is around she’s super friendly but if she left then she would ignore us and just sit by the door waiting for my sister. What a poser! But I love her all the same. I bought her a little octopus hat from the Halloween section at Target for dogs (which was a tad big for her) and some dog treats and asked her to please share with Raven. She and Raven are kept apart right now and Raven was not happy about being left out. She kept crying at the door and then when I went to the bathroom she was waiting at the door! She looked up at me as if to say “omg you’re leaving the room? What a coincidence! I was about to go in! Just let me squeeze through…” At that point I went “NOPE” and grabbed her to keep her from running in but I did make sure to give her extra pets before heading back in. I did leave a bit after that but it was so nice to meet little Arya and give her plenty of love and cuddles and pets to welcome her into the family!

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So that was my life in October! I know the month isn’t over yet but I figured this was likely all that would really happen and I do have a fun little post planned for Wednesday so that’s exciting. Let me know how your October went and I hope it was fab!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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