Well the month is almost over and I'm not 100% certain where it went! I'm linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share my monthly What's Up Wednesday post and hopefully help us both gain a little insight into October. ;)

What I’m eating this week:

A little of this and a little of that. I’ve missed eating Whole 30/Paleo and have decided to go back to it. It just feels better to me and for some reason I preferred it to eating without guidelines. I didn’t have any improvements nor any major setbacks while eating Keto nor while eating what I affectionately call a “free for all”. It’s frustrating. In general I eat to be healthy and its essentially taken me 2 decades to eat as healthy as I do. That being said, with the last 6 months of intense hormone imbalances & thyroid fluctuations I shifted away from Whole 30 in an attempt to shock my body and lose these pesky pounds I’ve gained from the health issues. To no avail, nothing has helped - no amount of exercise, no amount of strict eating, and no amount of poor eating. I’m stagnant - which is 100% to be expected with the health issues I’m sorting out and I guess staying stagnant is better than continuing to gain weight? Oh-well. What and how you eat should be a lifestyle, not a “diet”. So I am excited to get back into my "lifestyle".

Recipes will be shared eventually:

Coconut crusted baked chicken and charred broccoli with tahini "dressing".

Pumpkin-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (Paleo except for the oats!).

What I’m reminiscing about:

Everything about last October. What a difference a year can make. As I typed that last sentence words started rushing through my mind and pouring out of my heart and brain, repeating verses over and over until I finally opened a separate Word doc to type them out and it resulted in a new poem called Dance with the Devil. It always feels good to get the words out. Kind of like a whirl pool. They'll just keep circulating in there until I do.

Anyway, I did thoroughly enjoy my trips to Tennessee & Portland last October. Praise God for family & friends. You can't put a price on unconditional love and cherished memories.

What I’m loving:

Glorious sunsets. Can you believe these colors?

And also this photo that Rach sent us last week from our trip to Romania in November 2015. We toured around Transylvania for four days, picked up the fabulously fun hats, and made some great memories. And yes, those water bottles are full of wine. =) The restaurant topped us off before leaving lunch and since we had a driver we figured we might as well! We celebrate our trip to Turkey & Romania every November by going to eat Turkish food. I can't wait!

What I’ve been up to:

At the end of September/beginning of October, the BF and I went to Colorado to escape the heat and I didn’t want to come back. There’s something magical about Colorado. We were supposed to go to Mexico City but switched plans last minute after the earthquakes and I pleaded my case for somewhere colder. It was glorious!

It snowed as we drove through Boreas Pass to Breckenridge and naturally we had to rev up the Christmas music.

We celebrated The BF's birthday earlier this month with a lot of fun activities around town spread out over a few days. I’ve visited with family and friends who came to town – going to my fave restaurant Ruggles Black for lunch and enjoying some dinners out and also at home.

My friends and I had a wine night to celebrate two of their engagements as well. I think everything came together quite nicely and we really enjoyed the evening catching up.

Aside from that work has been beyond hectic and I need a long vacation.

What I’m dreading:

Nada.

What I’m working on:

It’s been a fruitful month at work with longer hours and less down time to get anything personal done. So my blog “work” is WAY behind what I wanted to accomplish this month but I am going to take it easy on myself during November to give myself more time. If things don’t slow down soon then I may have to put blogging on hold for a bit. This is not what I was anticipating nor what I want, but unfortunately I cannot make it my priority right now. In some ways it has reduced a bit of stress to not have to worry about drafting blog posts and sharing pictures on social media which at the end of the day sort of lures me back into my reclusive ways and I love that! As a deep rooted introvert, parts of the blogging requirements and posting pictures all the time is just-not-my-style. But, it is what it is and we’ll see what happens next!

I did revamp the blog theme/layout and I’m pleased with that progress. It is not 100% what I want, but that’s only one thing so far (having a thumbnail photo next to the blog posts in the blog page feed) and the rest is falling into line with the format I wanted.

What’s new:

1) You can select just recipe pages instead of going through the blog feed, and you can select from various drop down categories I’ve created so far. I’m still adding the recipes to the sections and have to add each one to each section as applicable so it’s a little tedious. Ex: if a recipe is Paleo and Whole 30 then I have to add it to 2 different sections.

2) The categories and subcategory tags now show directly under the blog post title on the blog feed. This will be helpful if you want to search for something in the similar category.

What I’m excited about:

November! I am ready for cooler weather (please, Lord), Christmas music, decorating for Christmas (my annual birthday treat to myself), and celebrating Thanksgiving. We’re entering into my favorite seasons, holidays, and time of year. I can literally get up from my chair and do a happy dance just thinking about it.

I have a fascination with hedgehogs.  They're so cute! — I have a fascination with hedgehogs. They're so cute!

What I’m watching / reading:

Watching: Not much lately. My evenings seem to consist of plans or rushing around doing errands or working on to-do lists or work emails and before I know it it is time for bed. ={ I have hopes to reconnect with this little thing called relaxation and down time that I am so desperately missing. I will most definitely tune in to the Hallmark Christmas movies this year though!

Reading: Not much lately. See above. I have started reading The Meaning of Marriage a second time on the treadmill and I am keeping up with my One Year Bible that can’t rave enough about it. This month we finished Isaiah, Philippians, Jeremiah, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Philemon, and will start Lamentations and Hebrews as October ends. Psalms and Proverbs is included every day of the year. =)

My thoughts – Isaiah and Jeremiah: good heavens were those books long. All of the books Paul wrote: I just can’t get enough of his scriptures/letters. He writes so well and the words fill my heart with a joy and love that I cannot explain. God is so good.

**Christmas is around the corner and these would make EXCELLENT gifts! I truly love both of these, and am eternally grateful to have received the One Year Bible for my birthday last year.

The One Year Bible NIV Buy on Amazon

By Timothy Keller

Buy on Amazon

What I’m listening to:

I found a radio station 100.7 The Word earlier this month by accidentally hitting the seek button on my steering wheel and fell in love with this station! I am stoked to have found it. It’s a Christian talk and teaching radio station that plays sermons. Hello, hello! I get tired of the same songs I hear on the radio (KSBJ and Air 1) and don’t always connect my Bluetooth. I listen to sermon podcasts every morning while I get ready for work and find it to be the best way to start my day. Now having the ability to listen to fruitful information on my short commute to/from the office thrills me!

My podcast feed: Hope City, Joyce Meyer, Breakaway Ministries, Bayou City Fellowship, Marriage Today.

What I’m wearing:

Cashmere & boots any time that I can! And that’s not very often just yet… I mentioned these racer back cashmere sweaters in last month's WUW post.

I love this sweater from Ann Taylor! So feminine and pretty.

I officially own this skirt in four colors. I am loving it. It's comfortable. It has a stretchy band so there's no digging into anything. It is roomy and has pockets! It's a great length for work to wear with flats or knee high boots, too.

What I’m doing this weekend:

I am ecstatic that I have not make definitive plans and I have high hopes of doing mostly nothing but visiting with our families, relaxing, and sleeping! Although, there is talk of helping a friend sample engagement rings so that will be fun if she decides to go this weekend. =) I wish Halloween fell on the weekend because I would have loved to hand out candy to children dressed up in the BF's neighborhood.