I spent the weekend in good ol’ West Virginia. Equal parts to see my family, go to the Dunbar fall festival and to see my best friend Jasmine for her 29th birthday. We’re all turning 29 in “the group” of girls I’ve known forever, and we like to tease Jasmine, because she’s the oldest and it means 30 is right around the corner for us all. 30 seems so big and scary. I know I will love my 30s, I’ve heard rumors that they’re great, but I’m embracing the heck out of 28 for now. I also feel a lot of motivation to leave my excess weight in my 20s. Me and Jasmine posing at the farmer's market. My hometown feels haunted to me. Every corner has a specific memory, even the outside scent takes me back to the years prior to college. To high school, when driving around with the music up and the windows down, was the height of excitement for us.  I’m not sure what it is about fall, but I feel nostalgic. The scents, the leaves, the chill in the air. It’s magical to me and a feeling I hope I never lose. I have fall rituals, that probably sound silly, but are incredibly comforting. Such as fall scented candles and car air fresheners in scents like pumpkin, cinnamon or fireside. I like wearing hoodies with flip-flops. I have mix

CDs with my favorite fall music going in the car.  I start cooking food like curry and chili for dinner. And I fill my porch with mums, asters and pumpkins. All of these are traditions are incredibly important to me. Am I alone here? Do you have any fall traditions? November! I found out a couple of weeks ago that I will be traveling to Los Angeles the first week of November. I will have more details on this trip, as it is blog related, in the coming weeks. But, for now, I am super excited and motivated to continue with my weight loss efforts. I have six weeks before the trip and I’m setting two goals that go along with my September goals. The first one is to exercise everyday with one day off. This means sticking to my exercise schedule of Zumba, c25k, Jillian’s 30 day DVD and stregnth training. I’m also re-setting the goal of tracking my calories every single day for the next six weeks, including the weekends. I struggle tracking on the weekends, because I’m out and about and not able to track on my phone, but this shouldn’t be an excuse. Ultimately I would like to lose 2-3 pounds a week, but I’ll be pleased with whatever weight is lost from my actions.

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What November May Bring