Friday 31 August 2018

Best (and worst) of August

August was intense. I started my new job, lived in a hotel for a week, moved into what I thought would be my permanent part-time home, only to move out of it 8 days later (more about that below). We went from a blistering 40 degrees Celsius for the first half of the month to barely hitting 15 in the second half. There was a (thankfully small and easily contained) fire close to our house.
We decided to quit the guinea pig business and sold all of them. I started book #2 in earnest.
Rich had a cold for a week and lost his voice. I started boxing. It was a lot!

Here is my 1-second-a-day video:


The good:
We got kittens!
As a former die-hard dog fan I still can't quite believe how much I love our new kittens. I obviously don't have to tell all you cat lovers out there how great they are, you already know; so I'm addressing my fellow dog people. You and I both know that dogs are the BEST (they are!), but honestly, so are cats! Or at least kittens, from my current level of knowledge. Turns out, you can love them both! Who knew.

My new job
When I decided last month to start a new job that would have me live away from home a week at a time, twice a month I was apprehensive. Leading up to it there were tears. I may sound like a baby, but leaving Rich and the farm for 50% of the time seemed daunting. And there are definitely days where I miss him so much I want to jump into my car and just drive home, call be damned.

But the job is lovely! I really like my new co-workers, I enjoy the locals, and the docs are a great bunch too. There are trees all around the hospital teeming with deer, sometimes I go to a sweet little coffee shop (two minutes away by car) for lunch, and I started a new hobby: boxing! Once a week I sweat it out for an hour, and if you would have told me that I would start boxing one day and enjoy it, I would have never believed you. But I did (start) and I do (enjoy it), and the best part is that it gave me the much-needed kick in the butt to start exercising again in general! I'm walking more again and doing yoga regularly, and I'm ecstatic about it!

Yoga
Yes, I'm finally back to a routine, and it feels so good! I already feel myself getting stronger, and my energy is way up. Yay!

Praise for Let's Pretend This is Normal
August was a good month for my book! My friend Samantha did a wonderful blog post and review about it on her blog, it's amazing! 
Another blog friend, Suzy, did a review as well - it legit made me cry. She's a writer, so it's not surprising that she has a spectacular way with words, but seeing her describe something I made so beautifully is quite the experience. 
I also did an interview with Suzy, my first one! It was so much fun, I greatly enjoyed that experience.

I also want to take a moment and thank everyone who took the time to message me, review the book on Amazon, or tagged me in photos. It means the world to me! If you're thinking of leaving a review but you're worried about what to say, don't be! It can be just one sentence, or even just clicking on the stars. It may not seem like much, but we writers work mostly in solitude with little feedback, and our inner demons like to take over and tell us how crap everything we're writing is. Self-doubt is our most faithful companion, and it never fails to make us feel warm and fuzzy to hear something positive to keep us going.

Thank you!!

The bad:
My first place didn't work out
As mentioned above, I moved out of the place where I only lived for 8 days. I won't get into the details, but it wasn't a good fit for all parties involved. There was an incident that felt strongly like a precursor of things to come, and when someone on Instagram shared these words with me: "A little shows what a lot will be" I knew that I had to leave.
Fortunately I found something else right away, and will move into that place next week Thursday!

Smoke and fires
Large parts of BC are on fire 😢 and most of the month was really smokey. The air quality was terrible, people had trouble breathing, and one terrifying day we had a fire between Merritt and our home, which resulted in the road being closed for a few hours. But thanks to the quick response of our firefighters it was contained quickly, which was a huge relief for all of us.

August was an intense and emotional month, and I'm looking forward to a calmer September. I will work a lot less than I have this month, be more at home, and hopefully settle into a routine in the new place.

TGIF!

xoxo Miriam
  


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2 comments

  1. I cannot believe August has come and gone already - crazy! Mine had so many ups and downs, and for professional reasons I can't post all of them (boo). I'm looking forward to seeing more from your new place, though - glad the job is going so well :) Definitely sounds like overall you had a great August.

    Happy September!

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    Replies
    1. Same to you! It looks like September will be a month of settling into new places and routines for both of us - and I'm really looking forward to that.

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