November 2

Just came back from our neighbor's birthday dinner party and I'm nicely tipsy. Interesting conversation, amazing food. It's nice to have good friends, but we don't see them as often as we used to, even though they live next door. We are not "new" to the area anymore and there's a certain comfort that comes from knowing you have many friends, but though we know they are there for us whenever we need them, lately it has been hard to find a balance in our social circles. We go from being over-involved to shutting everyone out, spending time alone with friends or bumming around the house together. I know we are lucky to have such problems, but making sure C and I are on the same page can sometimes be tricky. Things have been better between us, but that's because we've been ignoring other friends. This weekend we plan to fix that though, and our social calendar is booked.. dinner party tonight, dinner party tomorrow, M is coming to sew on Sunday, and we're hosting a Pampered Chef party on Monday. One big sweep to see everyone before the hectic holiday season sets in.

I loved Kelli's post today of how she has laid out her plans to successfully have a full but balanced next 9 weeks.. I may just have to borrow some of her schedule items..
Hand-stamped wrapping paper has always been on my list of things to do, but I don't think I'll get to that this year either. I want to focus more energy on handmade gifts this year. I just hate that inevitable day of spending hours at the mall looking for something that will pass as an acceptable gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on my list. One goal for this season is to try to avoid that. Others include:
+spending less money
+not buying clothes (so far i've resisted a fall wardrobe enhancement)
+staying in contact with people I love
+keeping the house in order
+keeping a positive attitude

Well, that's a good list to start with. What's on your to-do list for the upcoming weeks?