I have not been OK.

I mean, let me back up: I am functionally OK. I am safe, & I am fed & clothed & dry & for all intents & purposes, I am healthy. Yes, even mentally. I am OK on all the fronts that really matter, overall.

But I am not exactly OK, you know?

Life feels really hard right now.

This year has been busier than any other year of my life. To be honest, I don't know exactly why that is, but it is.

How Do You Measure a Year in the Life? (Happy Second Anniversary to Us!)

Two years ago today, Mike & I said "I do" right here in Cleveland, OH, surrounded by our friends & family & so many of our favorite people in the whole, wide world.

We signed our custom-made ketubah & stood beneath a chuppah held by our wedding party, topped with a tablecloth embroidered by my great-grandmother.

We exchanged the vows we'd written ourselves, & our friend & rabbi declared us husband & wife, in accordance with Ohio law & Jewish law.

We ate pierogis & drank "felix felicis" & danced to everything from Ray LaMontagne to the Beach Boys to Montel Jordan to Justin Bieber.

And then we started the rest of our lives together as a married couple.

What I Read in October

And I'm back in the game! I did a significant amount of reading in October that was still not as much as I could've read, but... well, given how busy I have felt all freaking year, I'd say that six books is a pretty reputable number.

I'd like to be better at relaxing in November - like, truly. And you know what means? More books. In the meantime, here's what I read in October. How 'bout you?

Chip, Chip, Hooray! Attending a Very Fun, Tex-Mex-Themed Wedding

If you follow me on Instagram, you might've seen that this weekend, I attended one of the most fun weddings ever, that of my friends Emily & Ron. They dubbed the entire event #guacdowntheaisle, & it was just such a blast. 

The reception took place at a Tex-Mex restaurant (we'll get to that in a minute), & the festivities included a number of unusual elements that I feel it my duty to share with you, good people of the Internet. How could I keep something this fun & joyful confined to Instagram & my own memory?!

70 of My Favorite Ways to Take Care of Myself

I've been thinking a lot about the ways I take care of myself: not "self-care" in the trendy "treat yo'self" sense of the term that it seems to have become, but in the true "What do I need in order to be the healthiest version of myself?" kind of way. 

There's nothing I love quite as much as a good list, so I recently started keeping track of them all... & thought I'd share them hear with you.

1. Take a really hot shower... & sit down in it!
2. Do a clay face mask. I like this one from Revive, a Cleveland-based company.
3. Lose myself in a good book
4. Buy a plant. I'm partial to small succulents.
5. Put a cold towel on my face.
6. Put a heating pad on my back.

Fun in the CLE: 1970 vs. Now with "Hey, You Punks!"

I haven't done much yet with this idea, but in the last year, I've been thinking about writing a blog post featuring books I've enjoyed written by Cleveland-based authors. The list is longer than I'd expected - I hadn't realized I'd even read so many local books! - & I'm going to keep expanding it for a bit before I write that post.

For now, though, I want to highlight one: Hey, You Punks!, a graphic novel set on Cleveland's West Side - including Tremont, the area where I live. The author, Don Billie, grew up in this area in the late 1960s & early '70s, & he's set his coming-of-age antics into comic form with the help of Cleveland Institute of Art grad Gloria Pridemore.

When Don reached out to ask if I'd be interested in his book, I was excited to see what life was like in this area "back in the day." (Sorry, Don!) If you're a millennial-or-younger who's ever wondered what, exactly, kids did for fun in the days before smartphones & video games, this book is an interesting - if, at times, alarming - look at the shenanigans "young punks" got into back then.

Smile Big: I Got My Two Front Teeth Fixed!

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: