A few months before Mike & I got married, I chipped one of my front teeth. Again.

That’s right, my front teeth were already slightly chipped, & then I went & made it worse. How, exactly, did I chip my teeth not once but twice? Good question, I have no idea.

OK, I know one of the answers: The first time, I bummed one of my front teeth on one of Mike’s front teeth when I went in for a kiss. On our fourth date. Not embarrassing at all.

The second time, though, I was standing in my driveway, talking to friends, when all of a sudden, I felt a little piece of my tooth come loose. When I spit it out into my hand, conversation stopped. “Did you just chip your tooth?” a friend asked. “And… how?!?!”

My Own Personal Best of CLE(veland Magazine)

Cleveland Magazine's Best of CLE issue is out now, & it's always been my favorite issue of the year - first as a reader & now as a freelancer for them. It's just so much fun, & it's the perfect way to discover new products, people, & places with which you weren't yet familiar.

This year's issue features three of the CLE's own bloggers on the cover, photographed by the talented Angelo Merendino. From left to right, they are: Shibani of Bombay Taxi Boutique, Romance of Hey, Curlie, & Kimberly of Modern Musings. Lookin' good, ladies!

As much as I like seeing local bloggers on the cover, though, the inside of this issue is pretty personally important to me, too, because I did a lot of writing for it - all different, all interesting, all a privilege. Inside this issue, from me, you'll find:

When Instagram Kinda Hurts Your Feelings

I try to be a person who doesn't care about social media numbers, about blog traffic. Someone who is driven by words & connections & relationships instead of by engagement rates & analytics & followers numbers.

But man, sometimes it's hard.

Lately I've felt like I'm following too many Instagram accounts. You know how it is: You fall for an ad, or you follow a celebrity you're briefly interested in, or you enter some giveaway... & before you know it, you're following 500 randos.

To clean house, I downloaded an app that lets me batch un-follow whichever accounts I select (rather than going through & unfollowing one by one, as you have to do within the Instagram app. Who has time for that?!) This third-party app shows me two things: a circular green arrow over "mutual follow" accounts & a one-way orange arrow under accounts I follow that don't follow me back.

"Fine," you're thinking. "What's the big deal?" And there's no big deal, really. Let me reiterate: It is not a big deal.

And yet.

6 Small Goals for October

After missing the mark on all of my August goals, I set three big but vague ones for September in an effort to reset & restart. I'm happy to report that September was muuuuch more chill & emotionally successful than the hectic, crazed month that preceded it.

In all, I feel prepared to set six regular goals for myself for October, like I usually do - which means that September was a successful reset! Here's how things went:

What is Idiopathic Hypersomnia? My Life with a Rare Sleep Disorder

It's been about 10 months - nearly an entire year - since I started medication to treat my idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), a neurological condition that causes my body to need/want more sleep than your average bear - literally, almost like a bear, all my brain wants to do is hibernate.

I now take medication every morning to try to control my condition - & truly, I have never felt better. Are things perfect? No, & I still follow up with my neurologists every two months to address ongoing concerns. But for the most part, things are better than they ever have been, awakeness-wise.

I started to put together a big, long Q&A answering questions about life with IH, but I realized I had more to say than fit into a single blog post. Instead, this post is going to be the start of a long series in which I answer those questions & break them down into smaller, more readable categories.

So today, let's talk about the general gist of idiopathic hypersomnia: what it is, what it does, & how it affects me, in particular. As they say, your mileage may vary.

Sweat It Out: My Experience in an Infrared Sauna with Color & Sound Therapy

I've never been a big salon-&-spa kinda gal. I can count on two hands the number of times I've gotten my nails done in my life; I get my hair cut about once a year, & I have it professionally colored approximately never; I get massages here & there, & I recently tried cupping, but I've never had a facial or done any other kind of spa services.

All that to say that when I had the opportunity to book an appointment with j. bellezza, a local boutique, salon, & beauty lounge, to try an infrared sauna session, I was really excited about it... but I had no idea what to expect. I'd never done a regular sauna session, much less an infrared one!

What I Read in September

September was nowhere near as busy as August, but I didn't get in nearly as much reading as I'd hoped or planned, either. I did get some, though, which puts me three books ahead of my August total of zero books. All three were memoirs - none great but all interesting.

I feel like I'm in the middle of many other books, the most powerful among them Know My Name by Chanel Miller, who was known as "Emily Doe" during the Brock Turner sexual assault trial. I'm listening to the audiobook, read by the author, & it's incredible so far. More on that in next month's round-up, to be sure - but in the meantime, I highly recommend picking it up (& paying for it, because I think this woman deserves, like, a billion freaking dollars for being so strong, so brave, & so in the public eye).

Here's what I got through in September... how 'bout you?

The Good Land: 7 Things I Loved on My First Visit to Milwaukee, WI

At the end of July - which already feels like so long ago, yikes! - I visited Milwaukee, WI, for the first time. I was in town for my friend Rebecca's wedding to her long-time boyfriend (& now husband, obviously), Will, which took place in rural Colgate, WI, a shuttle ride away from downtown MKE.

As much as I love Cleveland & am pro-Midwest, this was really my first time going into the Midwest. Sure, I've been to Chicago, but this was my first time in Wisconsin - & I've still never been to uber-Midwestern states like Minnesota & Iowa. Needless to say, I was really, really excited to get my Midwest on. 

Let’s Get Physical, Physical: My Health Goals for the Remainder of 2019

Who says the start of the new year is the only time to set lofty, meaningful health and fitness goals? Not I. As 2019 begins to wind down (insert “time flies when you’re getting old” sentiment here), I’ve been thinking about a few of the health goals I’ve been pursuing this year – and what I want to work on in the next few months.

1. Wear my mouthguard every night, no exceptions.

I grind my teeth at night, & it’s negatively impacting my tooth enamel, which can become a huge problem if left untreated. For years, I’ve been wearing crappy CVS-brand mouthguards – the kind you have to boil in a pot of water & fit to your mouth yourself – but they get gunky & gummy real fast. Gross.

I'm Not Happy Unless I'm Doing These 3 Things Every Single Week

Remember how I didn't read any books in August? And how I haven't written, like, any blog posts this summer? Well, those two deficits are related - related, that is, to a larger theme of my very busy summer & the lessons I'm learning from it.

There are three things I did none or almost-none of in August: