Happy Halloween! Hope your kids get a lot of your favorite candy so you can steal it. Here’s this month’s roundup.
Quote I loved this month:
“You have to take risks. You have to be brave. You have to step into the unknown. You have to jump off the edge of the cliff… I don’t judge myself. I used to do that so much… ‘That’s not good enough. You could’ve done that differently. You could’ve done it better.’ That gets in the way of spontaneity and real feeling coming into something… I’m braver now.”
—Patrick Stewart (rest in peace)
Books I read:
Lots of good ones! My favorites are listed below.
Favorites:
Klara and the Sun. This has been on my list for a while and I finally read it in anticipation of seeing the movie (which I’ve heard is amazing). What a weird, poignant story.
Wreck. Catherine Newman is one of my favorite contemporary authors. She manages to write about the difficulties of life and relationships with such humor. I did this one on audio and it was like a good friend talking to me.
The One. I read this for a book club I’m in and went in completely blind. I love stories with multiple characters and this did not disappoint. As the title suggests, this book gets you thinking about the concept of “the one” (which I think is silly and I hope we discuss this at our club meeting).
Mattering. What I liked about this book is that it didn’t just focus on how YOU mattering, but how you can help others realize that THEY matter. I think about this book daily now and try to find opportunities to make people smile whenever I can.
Actually, Nevermind. Taylor Tomlinson is one of my favorite comedians so I got this book the minute it came out. Loved it. Highly recommend on audio.
The Wild Edge of Sorrow. My therapist recommended this book to me when I told her that I’ve had lots of waves of grief lately (this time of year does it with my dad’s birthday and holidays coming). It’s such a beautiful book. It makes you see that grief is embedded in being alive.
What I’ve been watching:
Lioness. Took me a while to find this show but now I’m hooked. Highly recommend.
Youth. I am a huge fan of Sharon Horgan and was very excited for this show to come out. So far, it is living up to my expectations.
Nobody Wants This. Season 3 is here. Kristen Bell’s character drives me absolutely crazy (I think she’s supposed to) but this show is good for something light.
Unabomber. I’ve seen lots of documentaries about Ted Kaczynski but this movie brought to life some things I didn’t know.
Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald. You’ll laugh a lot… and, if you’re like me, you’ll also cry.
The Housemaid. I read the book by Freida McFadden and liked it, so finally got around to watching the movie. It followed the book well. Enjoyable.
Forgotten Island. Took my daughter and nephew to see this kids’ movie. I wasn’t into it but they seemed to enjoy it.
Writing news:
My latest book is with my publisher, so we’ll see what’s next with that. I have a new book I want to write, but waiting on a few life things to mellow out before I dive in.
Interesting things I learned this month:
- A group of ferrets is called a business
- Mathea Allansmith holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to complete a marathon at 92 years old. The oldest man was Dimitrion Yordanidis at 98!
- In 2023, 30% of workers reported using AI as part of their jobs; in 2025, that rose to 76%
- Catherine Breed, 33, became the first human to swim the entire length of California, an 890-mile voyage
- On average, an American eats 80 bananas per year
- In just 10 months, North America’s largest wildlife overpass (in Colorado) has reduced animal-vehicle collisions by 91%
- The first three letters of Sweden and Denmark spell Sweden. The remaining letters spell Denmark
- In Japan, a new trend called Jucy Book Rave has people going to nightclubs just to sit quietly and read books while a DJ plays music. Sign me up
What I’m grateful for:
- Firefighers! We had quite the scare in my neighborhood a couple weeks ago. Huge fire. I was right outside the evacuation zone and my sister had to evacuate. A handful of homes were lost, but it’s truly amazing so many communities were saved
- My daughter’s birthday. We celebrated for about two weeks straight. Mom-daughter ear piercings and permanent bracelets, a huge sleepover (never again), mani-pedis, indoor pinata when it rained—it was epic
- My birthday. Celebrated another trip around the sun this past week. Had a nice Palm Springs getaway on the weekend, dinner with family, and lots of love from friends. I really don’t dread getting older. I’m so grateful to be healthy
- Seeing a baseball playoff game. I LOVE post-season baseball and was so lucky to see the Padres beat the Brewers (now world champions!) in San Diego. What a night
- My first time off-roading in the desert. So much fun (and zero motion sickness)
- Easing back into some running. I have absolutely no desire to train for any kind of race, but I’m really loving running when I feel like it and keeping mileage low
- Backyard renovation! This has been over a year in the making and it’s slowly coming together
Snapshots:
Top to bottom: Padres vs Brewers; indoor pinata for the win; reading time; dog walk shenanigans; back to my running route; desert views; weeknight beach fun.
