It's November.

November.

Meaning the year is pretty much over. That is insane. I hate how the holidays are so close together, like there's all this time to prep for Halloween but then it comes to Thanksgiving then Christmas. So when exactly is the window of time to prep for Christmas?! 

I normally start Nov 1st, but with the girls more aware of time, we don't want to confuse them. We have made some moves towards prepping for Christmas but we also still have a long way to go. Hell this post is way later than it usually is. 

I would say that I'm not going to pack my November with an insane amount of goals, but it's November, let's be real. My November's are usually crazy.

 Plus, it's Wicked movie month and this family has already gotten their Wicked wardrobe's together thanks to Bubba. Literally so excited.

| Christmas prep

Obviously. This includes the girl's room and all the TV stands. I really want to get Nutcrackers at the door, but with these kids? Not possible. Sadly. I do plan on having fairy lights literally all over the place. The ones with timers cause fuck electric bills in Texas with its clueless weather. Plus with daylight saving being what it is, and how it takes me forever to adjust to it, I figure this would be a fun way to do that.

Bubba lined the under part of the counter with an LED strip that we keep on at night, it's super pretty.

| Find something to bake

I really want to attempt macarons but that's going to take some time. And maybe a day to myself. I also want to find something to bake with Tums, she's been asking to bake something with me. She's been in such a helpful mood lately, I have no idea how I got so lucky with her. But I'm glad I did. She's an awesome big sister and she definitely makes everything much easier.

The least I can do is find something fun for us to bake on the weekends.

| Find Thanksgiving outfits

I usually just stay home on Thanksgiving and let the girls and Bubba go to his family's. But this year I've been trying to make it a point to be around more. I appreciate everything his family has done for me the last year and all they ever ask is that I share my time with them, esp on the holidays.

Bubba is usually in charge of finding the girls their Thanksgiving outfits. But since we're skipping Disney World this year (me and Tums are very sad about this) I figure it gives more room to spend that money elsewhere, especially for the holidays. 

As for me, I think I already have my outfit.

| Work on Christmas stickers

To be honest, Christmas doesn't really make my list of favorite holidays. So when it comes to designing things for the shop, I typically skip the holiday themed stuff. If anything, I only have Filipino holiday themed products. Only because it helps me feel a little closer to home, I guess. I do need to do a better job of exposing the girls to Filipino holiday traditions, just not sure where to start.

I do plan on working on some Final Fantasy holiday stickers... mostly because I want Final Fantasy holiday stickers for myself lol.

| Work on shop 2

 Shop 2 and I have a very complicated relationship right now. It is doing a great job of highlighting the things I still have yet to learn about everything. And while that is helpful, it's also very... frustrating. As is everything you're learning for the first time. I enjoy learning new things and I actually enjoy the frustration that comes with it.

So far I'm having a lot of fun with putting together Shop 2, it's just when I run out of idea's that I start to feel like an ant who's lost its colony and has no idea where to even go.

| Launch shop 3

Shop 3 is almost ready for launch. Actually, no, no it's not. But I really do want to launch it this month.

| Reorganize closet

This one is gonna take awhile. There's a lot to go through. And while my closet now has more open space, I don't feel it has... space. If that makes sense. I'm trying to find ways to make my stuff easier to find while still looking nice. The bigger problem is that I don't have anywhere to display my Loungefly bags the way this closet is set up. I'll figure out a way, somehow.

| Launch social's for new blog.. launch new blog

Due to some fucked drama that happened earlier this year, I've been finding less and less interest in Facebook and Instagram. I lost interest in IG a few years ago, but this event just made it so much worse. I actually lost access to the hazearella IG account, like, foreal. So there goes 14 years of work and building relationships and networks and... sigh. I take it as a sign that I needed to start over anyway, move on to something else.

I launched social media accounts for this blog elsewhere. On other platforms that encourage more engagement without being filtered.

The recent drama also forced me to start new blogs; I still hold on to this one because there's a lot here to look back on. But I've also launched a new review blog that I want to build, the 2024 way. It's been 10 years since I started hazearella and social media and blogging has changed a lot since then. I'm excited to start this new blog with the changes that the internet has made since starting hazearella.

| Read 3 books... please 

I wasn't able to do my annual October reading challenge this year, and that's fine. I wasn't going to stress myself about it. This year has been Hell. Not as much as 2023 was, but a fraction of it. I'm set on taking the healing process more seriously from now until 2025, the girls deserve to have the best version of me and I deserve to find the control of my emotions again and the joy of the things I love.

With that said, I want to read at least 3 books this month. At least enough to complete my 2024 reading challenge. Without the restriction of sticking to a certain genre. 

| All the recaps

I didn't have very many favorites this year, sadly. But I still want to get a start on getting my recap posts done and catching up on my Yelp, NetGalley and Amazon reviews.

| WATCH WICKED

I watched Wicked for the first time in 2009. Wizard of Oz has always had a special place in my life. Since then I've watched it a total of 14 times across 3 different states. I'm still friends with both the Fiyero's who played in the SF production from 2009-2010. Wicked changed my life for good. And I am so excited for seeing Wicked in a new way. And I love Ariana Grande! I'm so happy she landed the role of Glinda.

I met Bubba 8 years ago, what caught my attention was he was singing Defying Gravity in the voice chat. Since then he's built me a Wizard of Oz and Wicked shrine in every apartment we've had. And as I mentioned earlier, he's built me and both the girls a Wicked wardrobe since Wicked merch has released. 

I actually have not bought one Wicked themed merch since they started coming out. Bubba has bought them all for me. From the makeup to the clothes to the pj's to my Emerald City hairbrush. At this point, I'm about to defy gravity myself.

Oh he also got me cupcake mix where it'll either turn pink or green. I'm super excited to get into those!

Hopefully I can get through most of these this month. Here's to a hopeful chill, cozy and relaxing November.

Do you have any goals for this month?

• Do NaNoWriMo (I don't have a word count goal just yet... though I suppose aiming for 50k wouldn't be a bad idea, right?)
• Keep up with homework
• Craft Penny's gift 
• Craft Penny's backup gift
• Post 2 blog posts a week
• Continue to attempt to finish that October reading list
• Set up for Christmas
• Pack for trip
• Organize bedroom/bathroom
• Save money
• Work on business stuff
• Organize living room --- foreal

What are your goals this November?