September 2019

The cute li'l town where I live and work, captured under a cotton candy sunset.

Back in my grade school days, the Back to School blues hit me hard. I fell into a low grade seasonal depression every September, mourning the lackadaisical freedom of the prior two and a half months. For me, the excitement of a new classroom lasted only the first week and a half, and then came a slow but sure slump into boredom. By mid-October I was X'ing off the calendar days until Thanksgiving break.

Not so as an adult.

This year, the Back to School season brought with it a deep, calming breath that I didn't realize I needed in the middle of summer's chaos. A mostly good chaos, yes, made up of work and family events and volunteering and more family events and more work... but chaos nonetheless. I've never been one to thrive in chaos. I like structure in my schedule, a solid idea of what each day will bring with just enough room for spontaneity here and there. My introverted soul needs time to rest, to reflect, to figure out what's working and what's not so I can make the appropriate changes. (This is a skill I've only just started to learn in my mid-twenties, so don't lose hope if you're still figuring this out for yourself!)

Plus, I was over 99% humidity on 90 degree days.

So if nothing else, 2019 has redeemed September for me. No small feat for a month that used to be associated with crying over math homework.

xo,
kati lynn

Currently...

writing: I had two articles published this month! Yay! What's even cooler is that I wrote them for organizations that have a lot of personal meaning to me. (Changing Libraries and Significance in the Smallness, in case you're interested.)

reading: I'm currently in between books, but I just finished The Librarian of Auschwitz and it was just as heart-wrenching as the title sounds... but with a note of hopefulness woven throughout. It was originally in Spanish and I found the translation to be a little awkward, but I still highly recommend.

watching: I went to see Scary Stories in the Dark in theaters, and it was actually less scary than my memory of reading the stories in a friend's treehouse. Specifically "Harold." #ifyouknowyouknow

listening: My "in and out" workout playlist because I'm running my first 5k in a little less than three weeks!

eating: Just enjoyed a traditional Hungarian dish of pörkölt (beef stew) over nokedli (egg noodle dumplings) made by my mama :)

drinking: Starbucks' Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew