September Goals

Happy fall! It is unquestionably my favorite season, and I have lots to look forward to this month. I will be turning 30, and while birthdays have never been that big of a thing for me, I’ll take any excuse to celebrate with the people I love. And eat cake!

I really want to get a lot of swimming in this month, in three different ways: working out at the Caltech pool, idly splashing in our apartment pool, and, hopefully, heading out to the hot tub some nights after dinner. September is still plenty hot around here, so I hope I can squeeze it all in.

And, the office. I shall not show you a picture, but just imagine great disarray. The problem is that I don’t have much of a system for organizing my art supplies, so I plan to come up with one. And implement it.

Eric and I leave for Istanbul in early October (yay!), so I want to do a bit more reading before we go. I’ve always thought that when you travel somewhere, you really go three times: when you steep yourself in the history and culture before you go, when you’re actually there, and when you relive it all through your pictures and writing. I still have a bit of time left in that first trip, so I want to make the most of it. I have read this book, which is wonderful, and I am now reading some essays and poetry, and, maybe, if I feel like I can stand the exquisite heartbreak, I might reread Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence  before we go. It is definitely one of my favorite novels ever, and a very strong contender for the one that moved me the most. (As a small side note to this goal, I would like to add: Buy good walking shoes. And break them in!)

This month, I should have a lot more time free than I did in the summer, so I am looking forward to developing a schedule for working on my Big Project. Even just this weekend, I had some ideas that I’m really excited about. Yay Project!

And since I will have that free time, I really want to try some group classes at the gym. Yoga is something I really should be doing for my back, and Zumba has always seemed like fun. We’ll see how it goes!

And of course, the eternal goals, updating the 365 project and taking tons of pictures. Just little reminders to myself of the kind of virtues I want to cultivate!

I will check in in October to see how I did. I have updated my June, July, and August goals, which was really fun. I love seeing how fleeting ideas were turned into reality!

Update, October 2012: This has been, in some ways, a really low key month, and also a weird one, as I transitioned into working from home. A weeklong cold put the kibosh on my swimming and yoga plans, but I did make it to the pool with Eric once, and that’s better than nothing. Also, unbelievably, it is still 100 degrees here, so I will have some more chances. My birthday was lovely, and I definitely got some more Istanbul reading done. Can’t believe this time next week we will be there! The office was gloriously organized, and it is awesome! I have definitely made some Big Project progress this month, and I’m proud of that. Each time I work on it, it gets a little easier. More of this coming next month! Unless I miraculously catch up on my 365 project before we leave town, I will be about a month behind when we get back, but that’s about how I am usually running anyway. It’s not really the pictures that are the issue, it’s taking the time (and remembering!) to upload them. I miss the rhythm I used to have before I started my blog, but, at the same time, I kind of like these intensive sessions I’ve been having with it this summer. And I have some exciting plans for when I finish the third year. And, if anything, that testifies to the fact that my eternal goal has been fulfilled: lots and lots of pictures have been taken!