The Doll Sweet Journal.: November 2024 Randoms + Quick 2024 Wrap-up

My boss Meg sent me a nice little gift package as part of a recently started new branch of her company that I'm an inaugural member of.

My Facebook story on Halloween. Aren't I cute? 😄

As you can see in the picture on the right above, I finally figured out how to curl my hair. Literally about a week later, there was an article in The Wall Street Journal about how wavy hair is on its way out. What!? But I just figured out how to do it!

I disagree with this article—this is a classic look! And I'm going to keep making waves (in more ways than one! 😉).

A pretty twilight (twilit?) sky in my neighborhood.

This is a beautiful room in my town library where I work. Before the library got renovated, it was one of the main rooms of the original library with bookshelves lining the walls. I spent quite a bit of time in here when I was growing up. Now it's an open space conference/event room.

Originally, it was as church. I bet you never would have guessed. 😄

The festive decorations were coming out in stores by mid-November, and it made me happy!

{I want to go to London and the rest of England so much!}

Here was one of the best things about November. When I was walking in the woods, I saw a beautiful barred owl up in a tree! This is very rare, and I was so happy to not only see it but to also be able to get a picture of it! 😍

I snapped this picture from my spot at the Circulation Desk at the library when I was working there on a Friday afternoon. I took it because my co-worker and I had selected, printed out, and hung up the pictures of those book covers on the glass doors. I was proud of our work!

The arched doors on the left lead into that big pretty room I mentioned earlier. It really is a lovely library, and I'm thankful that I get to work there! I'm still a substitute and it works really well with my schedule as an editor and mother.

Speaking of special places of learning, growth, and wisdom, here's the best one of all!

The temple bathed in the light of a new day—the best way to start a day!

A cute screensaver photo on my laptop. I wish it would let me save my favorites but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that.

A delicious mocktail drink from dinner out with two of my friends.

I was kind of tempted to get this fun ugly Christmas dress at Kohl's. It would be so cute with my Christmas leggings! Alas, I resisted and took a picture instead.

Here's a WSJ article that I liked. I'd already been thinking about getting a weighted vest so this article was helpful. I'm going to get one to wear when I work out on the treadmill and go for walks.

"...sales are up, especially among women over 40 who are becoming increasingly aware of the advantages of staying fit as they age." Yup, that's me! ✔

Here I am in my blue-light blockers! I wear them when I'm working at the computer for awhile—they really do help cut down on eye strain. I got them on amazon.

And here I am without them!

This is probably my last post of 2024. I can't believe the year is already over; where did it go!? It was a good year, and these are the highlights that come to mind first:

it was my first full calendar year divorced and on my own
feeling true contentment, joy, and peace on a regular day-to-day basis. It's been so nice to have the stresses that I'd been dealing with be gone!
great growth in my professional work:

I conducted interviews for the first time and hired someone to work under me (I'm a literal boss! Of one person, but still!😄)
I ran two virtual writing groups and did live office hours
I helped get a bunch of op-eds published in newspapers around the country
I became the editor for an additional website that I get to make many of the decisions for
My writing was published in a local Boston-area magazine that gets sent out several times a year

John got his mission call, received his endowment in the the temple, and left on his mission. This is one of my greatest accomplishments so far as a mother.
going on a fun cruise with the boys on our own for the first time
I tried something new that I'd always found too scary to do, but I ended up loving it: ziplining!
I don't know how, but the pageviews for my humble little blog have gone waaaay up this year (some months it's been over 100K!)
Violet passed away. That was one of the hardest things that happened this year.