November was a challenging month, for many reasons. Even so, there were still plenty of little things to love sprinkled in amongst the hard parts. Here are all the little things I’ve been loving lately throughout November…
READ
We Are All Made Of Stars: by Rowan Coleman. I needed some fiction I could lose myself in after the intellectually challenging, academic, non-fiction nature of my last read. This was definitely easier to absorb but it was less…. light-hearted than I thought it would be. The main plot follows the story of a hospice nurse and a selection of her patients, so, inevitably, there were some sad parts. There were lots of heart-warming moments and words of wisdom sprinkled throughout as well though, and I did enjoy it overall.
Pax: by Sara Pennypacker. I really loved this story. It’s a tricky one to categorise – I’m not sure whether I’d say it’s aimed at older children or adults, and I can’t describe what genre it would fall into either. It’s simply a heart-opening, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, devastatingly beautiful story of love between a boy and his fox, which covers the depth of connection between humans and animals as well as exploring the themes of kindness, nature, nurture, instincts, resilience and wildness. It took me less than a week to finish it and I’ve already recommended it to a couple of people.
All Rhodes Lead Here: by Mariana Zapata. After a tough couple of weeks I wanted to read something fluffy that I didn’t have to think about too much. Nothing on my to-be-read pile was appealing to me so I asked Ella if I could borrow one of her books and what she could recommend that might fit my requirements. She handed me this and it was exactly the kind of unrealistic romantic storyline I needed. The main character did annoy me a little – she always seemed to need to be rescued despite her best efforts at attempting various tasks – and it was maybe a little bit too slow-burn for me (or maybe I’m just impatient!). I did enjoy it though.
All the books I loved in November…
WATCHED
Christmas lights switch-on: The girls and I headed out into the town centre to watch the Big Christmas Lights Switch-On in the middle of the month. It’s always a fun couple of hours. This year there was live music from The Cartoon Kings, a local band, who were awesome. There was also a fireworks display and when the big red button got pushed by this year’s pantomime dame, all the lights turned on as they were supposed to so I’d say it was a success.
The Cartoon Kings at the Big Christmas Lights Switch-On
HEARD
Uni offers: Ella nervously submitted her UCAS application, listing her top five university preferences, at the end of October. We settled ourselves in for a long wait, not expecting to hear back until around February next year once the deadline for applications closes at the end of January. But, within two weeks she’d received offers from ALL FIVE! They’re all conditional offers, which means she needs to achieve the grades she’s been predicted for her A levels, but still – all five! She is over-the-moon delighted and I’m just so incredibly proud of her.
Ella has had offers back from all five of the universities she’s applied to
Ryan Holiday: I headed to London mid-month to spend an evening at The Troxy again, listening to Ryan Holiday give a talk. I have a couple of his books, and I really like his approach & philosophy towards life, so I thought it would be interesting to see him speak live and listen to what he has to say. He was an excellent speaker, very funny and fluid, and he spoke about stoicism & stoic philosophy. I already incorporate a lot of these concepts into my therapy work, and live my life loosely following that model without even really realising it, so it was interesting to pay attention more deliberately. There was also a very thought provoking comparison to CBT as well. I had a great evening – I’d definitely like to hear more of what he has to say if I ever get the chance to see him speak again.
Harrison Storm: I have loved Harrison Storm’s voice and music since hearing his song ‘Change It All’ as backing music in an Instagram story years ago. He’s Australian and still a relatively small artist, so I never really expected to be able to see him perform live. Then Spotify alerted me to the fact that he was doing a couple of gigs over here in the UK, so I immediately got myself a ticket for the London venue, Omeara. I’ve never been there before and it was VERY cool – small and therefore quite intimate, with fantastic acoustics and a good atmosphere. An excellent evening.
MADE
Magic memories in the garden: We always do sparklers in the garden for Bonfire Night – it’s been a tradition since the girls were little. How times change… this year Mimi drew a ‘willy’ with her sparkler and it made me laugh waaaaaay harder than it should have done. I’ll spare you that photo and share the really cool ‘love’ one that we managed to create instead.
Sparkler love
Three teenagers very happy…: …because I said yes to putting up the Christmas decorations in November. I know, I know, I agree with you! Historically, we sandwiched our festive celebrations in between Ella and Lola’s birthdays, at the start of December and January respectively. When Covid happened, we were desperate for any piece of fun and happiness we could get, so I relented and allowed them to put up the decorations in mid-November and apparently this is now our new normal. It brings them immense amounts of joy though, and I’m not going to stand in the way of that.
Putting up the Christmas decorations…in November
WORE
Warm clothes: It had the audacity to snow for a couple of days in November and I was utterly outraged. Layers were most definitely called for.
AND FINALLY…
November saw birthday celebrations for Sophie, although I couldn’t join in as it was one of the nights I was in London. Ella and I also visited Canalside Farm‘s annual Christmas Market and spent a happy couple of hours wandering around all the festive stalls.
Chapter 11, the penultimate one of the year, has now closed and we’re on the final stretch towards Christmas and the end of 2024.
I hope that you found plenty of little things to love throughout November and that December promises to be full of festive fun, time spent with friends and family, and an abundance of twinkly fairy lights.
With love,
Chloe x
