November 2017 Recap | NJ, NYC, & PA

In November, I had the closest thing to a regular schedule than I’ve had in over a year, and I actually really liked it. I felt like I was going to the office every morning, even though “the office” was every library and coffee shop within a 20-minute radius and my coworkers were the woman who works at the doughnut shop in Ocean City, an octogenarian with a MAGA hat, and my 9th-grade English teacher who now works at one of my libraries (Hi, Mrs. B!).

Aside from working, I traveled up to NYC for a few events this month. Sundara, the organization I worked with in Myanmar, held their annual gala which I was on the committee for. I rocked the check-in table with other volunteers and also rocked the raffle, winning lots of things including a $100 candle (?!), a $300 blanket (?!), and a lifetime supply of cookbooks. I’ve been slowly working my way through cooking everything in Chrissy Teigen’s. I’m not a cook so this is worth mentioning because so far I’m proud of the results. I stayed in Brooklyn with friends and worked at Wifey the next day.

The next week I was back up in NYC for the Travel + Social Good event at the United Nations. I reunited there with a few of my blogging friends, including Marie (who I went to the Finger Lakes with), Amelia (who was on my Fathom cruise), Brianne (who I was just in Jekyll Island with), and Julianne (I met both her and Brianne at Bloghouse in Indiana) and met some new faces as well. I stayed with friends in my old ‘hood and worked at my old Starbucks with a view of the Empire State Building.

In between the two trips to NYC, I traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to help a childhood friend pick out her wedding gown. We went to Hershey Park for a few hours on one of the coldest days, went on the swing ride, and waited in line for an hour to get on a roller coaster that I definitely didn’t want to be on. The roller coaster got stuck on the tracks just a ride or two before we would have gotten on and they shut it down because it was too cold. I wasn’t exactly disappointed. I like a lot of different things. Roller coasters are not included in those things.

I celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with my extended family at my parents’ house and was requested by the kids to sit at their table which I was honored to do. Later that night, as is tradition, I went to my second family’s home for a casual after-party with lots of wine and pie which somehow included two poodles and homemade scrunchies from the ’90s. That weekend, I spent more time with my dad’s family, including some who weren’t at Thanksgiving. I’m so excited to spend more time with my family at Christmas and with my second family shortly after that at my friend’s wedding.

Posts on 10 Miles Behind Me in November:

What Else I Wrote This Month:

For December, I’m continuing this “having a schedule” thing in NJ and heading up to NYC every once in a while. This upcoming weekend, Brianne and I will be exploring Asbury Park and Red Bank, two parts of the Jersey Shore I haven’t been to yet.

I also have some exciting things happening in 2018, but everything will be revealed in due time. Wish me luck.