Some of you are probably very excited about the transition from summer to fall. I will always miss summer. My favorite season is definitely spring – I love how the world ‘wakes back up.’ New smells, sights, colors – I just love spring awakening! But back to reality – it’s fall, and with that comes a lot of fun and exciting activities. I definitely need to start preparing for Halloween – eek! Thank goodness I bought Rocket’s costume last year on clearance.

At the beginning of every month, I set goals for myself. This is something I teach my students to do, so I need to model it. Here are my goals for October:

* Work out 4 times per week
* Stay on budget
* Get to work early every day
* Be in bed by 9 every night
* Collect all Phase 1 data for my dissertation
* Identify all of my students who need reading interventions
* Start planning / budgeting for Christmas
* Complete my Christmas gift for my 2 nieces and 3 nephews (a collection of my hand-drawn pictures of animals turned into a custom coloring book)

Some events I am looking forward to:

* Our first family portrait (Mom, me, my brother, sister, and spouses)
* Jessica and Erik’s wedding
* The Humane Society’s Halloween Party / Fundraiser
* Trick or Treating with my niece and nephew
* Carving pumpkins with my nephew
* Walking Dead!

So what are your goals / plans for October? Anything exciting?