What Went On in October

I wanted so much to lead this October wrap-up post with a “Let’s Go Mets!”

Just before we got married, Fran produced a well-worn VHS cassette (we are so old) and solemnly explained to me that as his wife-to-be, I now needed to watch the highlights from the 1986 Mets World Series. He was a Mets fan in a sea of Red Sox fans in Vermont at the time of the Mets’ last win. I feel bad for him that they didn’t get there again this year, but it was exciting to be in the World Series for the first time in 15 years.

At least we still have the NY Rangers. I hear Alain Vigneault is on a mission this season. #LGR

October is my favorite month of the year. I love Autumn, I love Halloween with little ones, it’s Fran’s birthday month and it’s our wedding anniversary. Here’s what went on in October.

Let’s start with Autumn…in Vermont. Does it get better than that? Probably not. 

We walked (and walked and walked), we played. We went apple picking.

It was just lovely. 

I got to meet up with Allie, who was visiting Vermont with her brother and his family. It was so good to see her! Even though Allie lives in rural CT, we’ve always met up in NYC, so I think of her as part of my New York life. It was kind of awesome to have a friend “from home” to see in Burlington. 

We talked a little bit about how difficult it is to explain how you can be friends with someone through blogging, in some cases never meeting in person and how amazing it is when you do get to hang out in real life. It just sounds weird to non-bloggers, I get it, but I really love this ladycake and so many other of my blog friends.

Fall always reminds me a little of time passing. Way back when I was an art history major in college (gulp, 16 years ago), I wrote my thesis on Mannerism. One of the recurring themes in Mannerism was the insertion of a memento mori in a portrait or painting – literally, a reminder of one’s mortality. It was usually in the form of a skull. I never thought of the memento mori as dark, or macarbe, or depressing. Instead, I thought of it as a reminder of how important it is to enjoy our time, to live for the present while still being aware of its finite nature. That, for me, is what Autumn is about.

My memento mori these days are these two boys. They are growing up so quickly. Right now, Tanner’s favorite person in the world is Roman. And Roman thinks Baby T is so much fun. Watching the two of them be brothers is pretty much a daily heart explosion.

Speaking of the passing of time…big boy bed.

And six months old.

And food that does not come from Mama.

Be still, my heart.

Fran had some actual passing of time, with his 43rd birthday rolling around. He wanted to go bowling, so that is exactly what we did. He also had dude beers with his old high school buddy, Walker, then we all went out for dinner and had birthday cake at home for dessert. 

And it turns out we’ve been married 13 years now! How did that happen? Look at what babies we were on our wedding day:

Halloween was  so much fun this year. Last year was the first year Roman was really into it, but this year he’d been amping up for it for at least a month before the 31st rolled around. Luckily, his choice of costume never wavered.

The Force is strong with this one.

He also decided Baby T should be a monkey. 

We went to a local neighborhood party, where Roman managed to finagle his way into the local fire truck. The boy is a fire truck whisperer.

That night we went to a friend’s house for dinner and trick or treating. I wore my skull-print Spandits, natch.

It’s been lovely meeting new people and getting close with old friends now we’ve moved here, but there are plenty of people I miss in NYC. One of my girlfriends, Emma, sent us a care package from Bklyn Larder this month and it made me miss her so much! (Although, there was chocolate in it, so that made me feel better).

This month we also made an overnight trip to Grandma’s house. I got in a lovely run and guess what? Winter pokes its head out much sooner up here!

Some other friends of ours – actually Roman’s first sitter ever and her girlfriend (who also used to sit Rome) – gave us a membership to ECHO as a housewarming gift. ECHO is this amazing aquarium/science museum right on the Lake Champlain waterfront. We have been having so much fun exploring it!

Another gift that’s had a LOT of use in October has been this amazing Blendtec one of my former Brooklyn clients gave me just before I left. It gets used daily. Smoothies, juices, baby foods, sauces. I love it.

We also finished strong in October with a visit to Ben and Jerry’s factory, in Waterbury, VT. (We figure we need to get a lot of this touristy stuff done while we’re still newcomers here, before we become hardened, jaded…Vermonters.)

And some big exciting news this month is that I’ve been chosen to be a Momentum Jewelry Ambassador! I have loved their jewelry for a while – I already rock their foot notes and wrap bracelets – so this was pretty exciting to be able to represent a brand I love and wear. You guys already know how I feel about them! Here is one of their newer designs, the Evolve Wrap. I chose this mantra, ‘every day is a gift,’ to remind myself of the finite nature of the beautiful moments we experience.

I guess October really was my great big memento mori this year! Stay tuned for November, which I can already give you a spoiler of and tell you that I spent much of the first day glued to NYC Marathon updates and being overly emotional about the event.

What did you get up to this month?

Did the time change throw anyone off?