Hello, hello it has been a hot minute since I’ve posted. I took a bit of an unintentional hiatus because of a couple of factors, but I will get into that below. I thought that by doing a 12 Things: October 2020 Edition (a throwback from the earlier days of my blog), I could explain what’s been happening lately, the future of posts to come, and would be the perfect transition back into posting on here weekly!
If you’re new here or haven’t yet read a ’12 Things’ post, it’s more of a personal post series where I talk about 12 different things that have been happening in my life or that I’ve been loving and that sort of thing. If you want to check out some of my other 12 Things posts, I have one from April 2020 here and March 2020 here.
Anyways, let’s get into it!
12 Things: October 2020 Edition
1. I started nursing school!
Probably the biggest reason that I haven’t posted is because I started nursing school last month! I was originally going to do a first week of nursing school post but never got around to posting it. I’m updating it and will be posting my first month of nursing school recap by the end of this week (when my official first month comes to an end).
Nursing school is a TON of work. Endless assignments, labs, Zoom meetings, and clinicals. But so far, I’m loving it!
2. I moved out!
Danny and I got an apartment together and it’s been a ton of work to buy the things we need, put together furniture, and put things away. When I was buying things, I mostly focused on what I needed so now I’m excited to buy the fun things to give our space personality. We have officially been living here for a week. It was kind of a whirlwind thing because we weren’t planning on moving out until January and the apartment we toured had a great deal only a week from that day. So, we had a week to get everything together (but luckily we had already been shopping for some things beforehand).
3. I’ve been binging Haunting of Bly Manor
I was a fan of Haunting of Hill House when that first came out 2 years ago. Haunting of Bly Manor is a spin off of the book Turn of the Screw and it has some of the same actors and the same production as Haunting of Hill House. I have 2 episodes left, so maybe I’m not exactly binging since I’ve been working on getting through the 10 episodes for over a week, but it’s so good! It’s the perfect spooky October TV series.
4. Currently Danny and I are refinishing a kitchen table and chairs
It’s taking a little longer than expected, but we will hopefully finish sometime this weekend! We are moving on a budget since I’m in school full time and I’m not working. Originally, we were going to just buy a small Ikea dining table set but it was not comfortable for Danny since he is so tall. We ended up finding a farmhouse table for $8 at Goodwill and 4 Farmhouse chairs at the Goodwill outlet for $5 each. We had some stain and picked up chalkboard paint so hopefully by the end of it, our dining set will have cost us less than $50!
Danny and I are staining the top of the table and seats a dark walnut color and painting the rest white. You can find the finished result on my Insta sometime this weekend here!
5. Danny can apparently cook *good*
I am usually the one who cooks all of our meals but now that I’m in nurisng school I have lab until 6:00 on Wednesday and also group projects that I need to work on at random times of the day. Yesterday for dinner, Danny cooked us mushroom tacos with a chimmichurri sauce from Short Girl Tall Order and they were SO good! He subbed the portobello mushrooms for baby bella and also added in coconut aminos when cooking the mushrooms. 10/10 recommend that recipe!
6. Tulo Mattresses are the best
We needed a new mattress when moving so we ended up getting a Tulo mattress! Danny’s mom recommended it (Hi Pam!) and it’s the best mattress that I’ve ever slept on! We got the medium and bought it over Labor Day so it was half off. I think it was only $300 for the queen which I think is a pretty good deal. It came in a box and was easy to roll out. There’s a 120 day sleep trial and a 10 year warranty so if you’re looking for a mattress, try Tulo!
7. I’ve almost met *one* of my New Years Resolutions
Okay 2020 is not the best for goals, clearly. It’s a crazy world out there and along with everyone else, I’m home basically 24/7 (unless I’m at school). But what is it a good year for? Reading. Every year I set New Years Resolutions (here’s 2019’s and 2020’s) and every year I set a goal to read 52 books. That’s 1/week! I’ve never met it and the closest I’ve gotten was in 2015, the first year I set this goal. I ended up reading 35 books that year, I think?
Anyways, pandemic reading has really helped me almost reach 52. I was at 48 books last month before nursing school even started. Not sure if I am going to even try to read for pleasure during school (I have to read a textbook literally all the time already) but I’m hoping to get those last 4 books in over break!
8. I’ve been doing Obe Fitness
Okay if you’re looking for a home-friendly workout, this is it! I used to do workouts I found on Youtube and as much as POPSugar workouts are convenient and free, they aren’t this. Obe fitness has a mix of live and On Demand classes that you can choose from. There are all types of classes. My favorites have become Pilates and Yoga Sculpt. They are so much fun and the instructors are great! I actually look forward to doing them everyday and sometimes will go for 2 classes.
It feels like a boutique fitness class but in the comfort of your own home. It’s $27/month, but I’m going to upgrade to the annual subscription because it’s $200 and works out to be $16/month. I don’t think I am ever going to a gym again after finding these workouts and I see results from them in terms of strength, toning, and definition. If you want a free trial, you can click here!
9. Podcasts have become another way for me to decompress
I love a creepy story and in October, these podcasts THRIVE. Here are some of my spooky, creepy, or true crime podcasts that I’ve been listening to this month:
- Full Body Chills (creepy short stories)
- Crime Junkies (true crime)
- The Let’s Read Podcast (creepy pastas read aloud from Reddit)
- Park Predators (true crime)
10. I took a roadtrip to Montana
Okay this happened last month, but I haven’t posted in so long so it’s part of my update. I have some of the pictures on Insta but I went with Lexus! We went to Glacier National Park and it was so pretty. I had never been to Montana before and it wasn’t like I expected. It was a fun trip, though!
11. I guest posted on CamilaVilas.com
I posted this on my Instagram but if you haven’t seen it yet, I posted here on CamilaVilas.com. My post is all about clean beauty brands since I’ve been trying to transition all of my skincare and makeup!
12. I am opening up to Guest Submissions!
I want to provide consistent content that provides value to others. Since I won’t be posting as much as I did through the spring and summer because of school, I’m opening up for guest posting. If you’re interested in writing a post, I made a page outlining my guidelines here!
That’s pretty much all that I’ve been up to the last month and a half that I haven’t been on here! Some upcoming posts that I have planned are:
- Month Recap of Nursing School
- What I Eat in a Day: Vegan + Nursing School Ed.
- How I Plan Out my Day/Week/Month in Nursing School
- Online Learning Tips for College Students
Lots of nursing school related posts are coming up since that’s basically my life right now. I do, however, want to get into posting more on low waste, clean beauty, and vegan content!
To get notified when I post you can like my FB page here, sign up for my email list below, or follow my Instagram here!
Thanks for reading 12 Things: October 2020 Edition! It’s good to be back 🙂
