Monthly Life Update, October 2021

moody fall photography of sailboats in Seattle, Puget Sound. A quick life update about my health, our cabin, our pets, my business, and more.

Wow, how did October go by so quickly?? I can’t even believe it. While it still sort of feels like the 22nd month of 2020, I know that it’s not… but damn this year has really been wild. We are fully in the throes of a VERY wet Pacific Northwest fall right now and it’s kind of putting me in the doldrums. I’m definitely not looking forward to the season where I get up and go to work and it’s dark… only to leave work and it’s dark again. Anywho, let’s dig into this month’s life update!

The Tiny Zoo

The zoo is great! We established them at a new local vet recently and I love them. It’s shockingly hard to find a vet that has availability right now. I was not prepared for that! But I am glad that we ended up where we did. Diamond is getting better and better at going for car rides and not going crazy in the car… and her leash skills are improving every time we visit the city. That’s a major relief.

My Health

No news is good news, right?? I’ve been stable and healthy pretty consistently since my pneumothorax 2 years ago so I’m really stoked about that. The only real update about my health is that I’m getting my booster vaccine soon!

Business + My Blog

I am SO INCREDIBLY busy right now and it’s great!! This is definitely the time of year when content creators and influencers make the most money, so I’m doing my best to choose campaigns that resonate the most with me (and hopefully with you!). I’m also working on a lot of really exciting holiday content that I’ve wanted to share — including my holiday decorating plan for the cabin this year! Remember the Christmas tree forest from last year? This year’s going to be even better.

I’ve also been busy busy with mentoring small business owners and I absolutely love it. Each session brings me so much joy and allows me to get even more creative by helping brainstorm ideas for other businesses. It’s so fulfilling.

Us

We’re great! I went to Seattle to get my hair cut last week, so I got to stay on the boat with Sean again and bug him during the week. I always love doing that! It’s such a treat to order delivery and watch a movie mid-week with him. Just normal stuff that I miss now that he splits his time between the cabin and the city.

The Cabin

Our main focus with cabin stuff as of late is winter prep. So a lot of firewood chopping and stacking, stowing stuff in the shop, that sort of thing. There are a ton of little projects that need to be completed around the house, but it’s also the first time our home has been truly settled since we moved in a year ago… so I sort of don’t want to bust out the tools and paint to tackle those! It’s been really nice having a clear dining room table.

But on the other hand, some of the unfinished things are starting to bug me. Like I’d really love to have a sink that works in our bedroom suite. Outlet covers would be really cool, too. The other day I was thinking of coming up with a list of all the tiny tasks that need to get done that would actually finish various rooms in the house… and then assigning them a day and tackling one per day for a month. Almost like a challenge. I shared that idea on Instagram and a lot of people seemed into it! Let me know if you’re interested in that. To me, it feels like a good January project. t

So that’s a snapshot of what life’s been like for us in the month of October! As always, thank you so much for following along on our journey and being so wonderfully supportive of everything I share here and on social media.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

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