Hello, November!

These trees, full of beautiful red and orange leaves earlier this week, are now a reminder of the impending winter and the holidays that come with it, before which, there is so much to do.

October was eventful and fun, but it flew by so fast, there were a few things on my wish list that weren't fulfilled: fall festivals, pumpkin carving, and pictures of neighborhood Halloween decorations. I look forward, though, to all that November has to offer.

I kicked off the month by taking advantage of the time change and got an early start on hoarding on-sale Halloween decorations for next year.

Armed with window clings, purple and orange lights, glow-in-the-dark pumpkins, eyeball netting, a spooky sound-activated door decoration, and several Halloween-shaped cookie cutters and cupcake pans, I think next year will make up for our lack of holiday spirit this year. ☺

Looking forward, I have several things in the works, the first of which includes getting started on my holiday gifts. I'm hoping to set aside the time to make a good portion of the presents on our list. A firm believer in homemade holidays - both DIY and buying others' homemade goods - I'll be back frequently with some crafty creations. If you're interested in a homemade or semi-homemade holiday, tomorrow's Monday Mentions post will be partially dedicated to some great sites I found over the weekend to help you get started.

In addition to crafting (which will hopefully include some cooking and baking... I don't spend nearly enough time in my kitchen as I'd like), I'm also trying to set some realistic goals for my writing. As of today, I have 8,705 words written (though not all of them are written well). After doing a little bit of research about word count, I'm estimating that it will take somewhere around 40,000 words to tell my story. Thus, I'd like to have ~20,000 on paper by the New Year. *fingers crossed*

In blogging news, my friends April and Kelly piqued my interest in a new class Shimelle is teaching.

Though this blog has become about much more than "just" scrapbooking, I love meeting bloggers and scrapbookers alike, and I'm always up for learning something new. So hopefully, I'll have lots to blog about this month (lucky you).

That does it for me today. I hope your October ended on a great note and that your November proves to be even better.

**Note: I apologize to my email subscribers if you've been receiving duplicate posts. I've been having a few technical glitches, but they're hopefully ironed out now. Thanks for your patience and understanding.