Thursday Thirteen #32

With November coming to a close this week, I'm taking some time back to reflect on the month that was...a month of Thanksgiving, NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, and so many other things. I give you Thirteen Thoughts about November 2007.

1. I'll start with the bad. The weather turned colder, and there was even some snow. Worse yet, it now gets dark around 4 PM. I am not a fan of the winter, and in fact,suffer from the "winter blues" every year around this time...the less sunlight I see, the less pleasant I become. November is the "introduction" into this dark time and I've already noticed a change in my mood.

2. However, November also means that crisp feeling of Autumn in the air, and the changing of leaves. I really enjoyed driving around this month with the beauty nature had to offer. I got some great photographs too.

3. November also means Thanksgiving. This year I enjoyed Thanksgiving more than I have in years. There was something special about it, though I can't pinpoint it. The family were all in good spirits, and there was more laughter than I can remember in recent Turkey Days.

4. This November was also a return to faith for one of my family members. My brother somehow agreed to attend a religious retreat. The same retreat I attended 15 years ago. A weekend that changed my life such a long time ago, and now it was his turn. My brother found something this past weekend that he'd lost a while back...I couldn't be happier for him.

5. With the change in temperature, I got to bring out my fall/winter wardrobe. This means BOOTS and sweaters. Two of my favorite things. As much as I love summer, I love my fall wardrobe.

6. My tan? The one I was so proud of this summer, from all that time spent at the pool? Almost gone. So sad.

7. Black Friday. Shopping Olympics for someone who is a shopaholic as I am. I got some fantastic deals, and didn't even get hurt (or hurt anyone) in the process.

8. I became an auntie. Sort of. My brother adopted his gorgeous puppy Diamond. She's the cutest girl ever, and I'm such a proud auntie.

9. Comcast still sucks. OH, you thought I was done with hating them? Not so much, I've just decided not to focus on it too much. Let's just say that I now have YET ANOTHER reason to hate them. This one involves Tivo and how they've decided to screw all their customers who have Tivo so that we'll get their dvr's instead. Long story short, their customer service is anything but, and as soon as Verizon Fios becomes available in my area, I'm jumping ship.

10. My condo fee did not go up. Good news, 'nuff said.

11. NaBloPoMo - What a fantastic thing this was. I posted every day, I met some fabulous new bloggers, and discovered some great new blogs, and I had a blast blog-hopping and celebrating with other participants. I didn't have nearly enough time this month to visit others as much as I wanted to, and for that I'm sorry, but it was still a wonderful month to be a part of the blogging community.

12. And then there's NaNoWriMo. I didn't so much "quit" as I just didn't focus all my energies on it. After the "crash", I lost my muse, my momentum, whatever you want to call it. I know I could have gotten it back if I had just "focused" but I got distracted by other things, and somehow it just didn't seem important enough to finish that novel in November. I'm still working on it, slowly, but surely, on my own time, but I've never been a fan of deadlines...I knew it wouldn't work...maybe next year. Maybe not. I don't know if I should be more disappointed or upset about this, but I'm really okay with it. It wasn't for me this time around.

13. And the strangest thing about this November? It was all about my past. I found some old journals and spent some time reminiscing about old boyfriends. I revisited old stories about childhood and even encountered some mementos from that time period with my cousin at Thanksgiving (it was all about the New Kids on the Block stuff, my friends), I reconnected with friends I hadn't seen in nearly a decade when my brother went on his retreat, and I even found out some scary stuff about a man I almost dated.

What a month it's been. I'm looking forward to finding out what December has in store, aren't you?