Currently - October '22

A new month, and new Currently host! Jennifer has picked up the reins and is hosting the Currently link up on her blog; you can check it out here. I hadn't read her post before picking out this month's photo, I swear! But it's not like you can have too many fall leaves, and seeing them start to change is always magical.

anticipating - Just 9 more days of work before taking personal leave through early 2023. We'll spend the end of this month on an outdoor adventure before getting serious about packing and getting ourselves across the country in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family (<-- pretty big motivator right there).

admiring - Anyone who has packed and moved across the country. I know this includes me, but it feels like such a long time ago, my mom helped a lot, and there was only my stuff to deal with. It did me good to stumble on the Young House Love blog posts about downsizing and moving two years ago. We don't have a new place lined up yet, but imagining what our stuff might look like in it or could be repurposed in different ways is kind of fun.

spending/consuming - Not proud to admit it, but there's quite a bit of procrastination going on these days in the form of too much time on the couch consuming some of the many things Netflix has to offer. I've watched some good stuff though, including Junior Bake Off and Call My Agent. Another form of procrastination recently has been attempting the NYT crossword most mornings, but a couple of tricky ones over the weekend have broken my streak. 

wanting - To finish a draft report that's been two years in the making before I take leave, but it still needs a lot of work. I also want to fit in at least a few DC 'bucket list' type things before we move. Not working 5 days a week will give me more time for that, right? 

purging/deleting - The living room and both bedrooms each have bags or boxes collecting items for donations. Today I went through and purged picture frames (anything with crystal embellishments or a novelty shape got the boot), but there's still a long way to go. How did we end up with so many books!?!?

Best of September

• End of summer baking - A friend in my knitting group helps test recipes for The Washington Post, and she brought along her test batch of this blueberry poke cake to one of our meet-ups earlier this summer. When the recipe popped up in my feed a few months later, I definitely wanted to try it for myself. The results were quite good, though next time I think I might add some cream cheese to the topping to see if it cuts some of the sweetness.
• Bike rides - Keizo and I revisited a couple of our favorite MD trails for some longer rides "preparing" for our adventure in a couple of weeks. One weekend we did a 20-mile spin around College Park and Hyattsville with a stop at Streetcar 82, and another we did the loop around BWI airport and part of the BNA trail. 
• The last Thursday evening outdoor yoga class - since it's now pretty dark when class finishes at 7:30 PM. So glad I found this series earlier this summer. Even before the pandemic, it had been ages since I'd gone to an in-person yoga class. Being outdoors, this one had the added bonus of bird sounds and sweeping views of the sky and leafy green trees.
• Hyper-local professional conference - My first in-person conference in ages, it was nice to dip my toes back in with a small, local conference hosted by the Montgomery County Planning Department. Most of the sessions I attended were well done, I earned some continuing education credits, and learned about aspects of planning (environmental planning, housing) that I don't deal with often at work.