It's October, So Let's
Your monthly invitation to savor the season.
Hello friends and happy October! If you’ve been following along on my instagram, you’ve likely seen my monthly poem series. This series has received a lot of attention since I started it in August, and I’m so grateful you all love reading them as much as I love writing them. It really feels like such a treat. So I’ve decided to expand on it and offer a monthly Substack post (in addition to my monthly “Written by a Woman” posts) where I delve deeper into the offerings of the season with a fun little newsletter.
At the beginning of every month I’ll share my “Let’s” poem of the month (same one shared on my instagram) along with various season-based lists and musings. Think: playlists, reading stack, recipes, activities, movies/shows, and anything else relevant to embracing the month ahead.
Written by a Woman is a newsletter that celebrates the art of noticing, and this series really walks the talk by inviting us all to slow down and savor the season.
Let’s dig in! Here is October’s poem.
You can purchase the limited edition print below! It’s available only for the month of October.
Playlist on repeat:
More than any other season, entering into October is a transition that requires a bit more coddling than usual for me. I was born in the dead of winter but I’m a summer girl at heart, and each year I mourn the end of summer pretty hard. Living in Seattle certainly doesn’t help that since it’s gray most of the year. Having learned this about myself, I try to create fun and meaningful rituals that help to ease myself into the season ahead. I love to have music playing in the background, so having a good playlist to get me in a cozy state of mind always helps. This is my current favorite.
My bookstack:
There are some amazing books in this stack— a mix of both new and classics that I’m excited to get lost in this month. I’m currently in the middle of The House of the Spirits and I'm really loving it. There’s a devilish hint of magical realism that is doing a thorough job of setting the mood for October. I typically read a fiction book and a book of poetry at the same time, and I’ve been taking my sweet time reading The Carrying because I just don’t want it to end. Once I finish these two, I’ll likely pick up Chocolat or Garden Spells for a nostalgic moment and pair either of those with Ephemera. I feel like The Comfort of Crows will end up being a standalone read because it’s giving me Braiding Sweetgrass vibes, and that masterpiece of a book required my full attention, so that’s the energy I’m bringing for this one. I’m not gonna lie, it’s bold of me to include Intermezzo on a list that already consists of a few decent sized books, but I had to add it because 1) I’m feeling optimistic and 2) this is my real life bookstack, not just a curated list… maybe it’ll end up making another appearance in November’s bookstack if I can’t get through it.
To make it easy, here is the full list.
Activities:
Make a cinnamon stick garland. A few years ago I started making seasonal garlands to fill an awkward space in my home and the practice stuck. I just love the intentionality behind the process and the result is always so cute and cozy. I’m someone who loves gifting handmade when I can, so I always end up making a few extra to share with the people I love. This year, I’m going to make a cinnamon stick garland. Here is a great tutorial. Note: I’ll probably space the cinnamon sticks out a little more than what the tutorial shows. I’m not much of a candle person—they tend to be overpowering and artificial smelling—so I’m really excited to walk into my home and be greeted with the smell of fresh cinnamon.
Watch Gilmore Girls. I feel like there has been some Gilmore Girl slander lately. Apparently people think this show is boring, but I would argue that they’re missing the point. It’s cozy. It’s familiar. It’s relatable, yet not cliche. It’s witty and the cultural references are *chef’s kiss*. The dramas are grounded and realistic to what you or I might experience in our own lives. We all know (or are) a Rory. We’ve all dated a Jess. We all have an Emily. I love that the show assumes the watcher is intelligent— it doesn’t over-explain or justify everything to the audience, which I’m finding is a growing pet peeve of mine in books/tv shows/movies these days. The love interests come and go, but the focus relationship is between mother and daughter. Blink and you’ll miss the tiny swirl of magical realism running throughout. Watching this show feels like coming home. I can’t say enough good things about it.
Carve a sugar pie pumpkin. My dedication to October’s imagery was top tier because I actually carved the cute little pumpkin in this month’s collage. I couldn’t find a good enough stock image, so I made one myself and it was actually a blast.
It was my first time carving a small pumpkin (why do I always feel like I have to GO BIG OR GO HOME when choosing a pumpkin?!) and I have to say it was a lot more fun than the usual pumpkin carving experience. It was less mess, easier to carve, and less waste when it inevitably starts to melt into the front porch steps. I know it’s not as flashy as getting out the butcher knife and carving a giant pumpkin, but I was surprised by the amount of fun I had when usually it feels like more of an October obligation. As Halloween nears, I’ll definitely be doing this again.
Make a sea glass trinket dish. One of my favorite hobbies is collecting sea glass from the beach near my house, (I know this isn’t the most October-themed activity but I'm at the beach all year long) and lately I’ve been trying to find ways to use them other than just displaying them in jars. I had the idea to create a trinket dish out of air dry clay (fun fact: I once took a pottery class and was so frustrated by the whole process I didn’t even go and pick up my “bowl” lol) and before it dries, press my favorite pieces of sea glass into the clay, almost like a mosaic. I’ll be sure to post on my instagram stories when I start in on this one. This is the pottery kit I ordered! I’m not following a tutorial here because I couldn’t find one for what I want to make, so wish me luck.
Collect a nature flag. I’ve seen different variations of this idea and the “nature flag” is my favorite. Basically, you take your child (or yourself) out on a walk and collect leaves and flowers in some sort of cute little vessel (tape flag, cardboard vase, etc). My daughter is just under two years old, so she’s finally at the point where we can do fun activities like this. I saw this nature flag reel the other day and decided this is the month to try it out.
Recipes:
My best tip for successful home cooking is this: find a few staple recipes you love and memorize them (or keep the instructions in the notes of your phone, or on a sticky note on your fridge or, like me, scribbled in an old moleskin from collage that I now use as a recipe notebook for this exact purpose). Having a few go-to meals that I always know to get the ingredients for takes the pressure off of dinner. That being said, I am a woman who likes variety. I can’t eat the same meal for months on end otherwise I’ll get sick of it, so I’m constantly rotating meals in and out of our monthly staples. This month, I’m adding back in a classic in my family, chicken adobo. It’s amazingly easy, so tasty, and requires minimal ingredients. This is a recipe my mom got from a co-worker years and years ago and my entire family has been making it ever since.
Chicken Adobo - serves 4ish
2 lbs chicken thigh (bone in)
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
8 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari or liquid aminos)
3 bay leaves (dried, whole)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Instructions: In a large pot, pan sear chicken for 2 minutes in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients. Let it boil for 20-30 minutes, until cooked and chicken falls apart easily. Serve over white rice.
Another recipe that comes back into rotation is Salish spiked hot cider. I am not a drinker, but this recipe is an exception. I got this one from a resort my husband and I stayed at and this was the drink they offered in the lobby (it was so fancy and now when I make it I feel so fancy!) and we’ve resurrected it every fall since. It’s actually a halloween tradition to have friends over and enjoy this spiked cider around a fire while we hand out candy. Something about the Cointreau and the bitters combined with fresh cider just makes this such a cozy drink. Plus, it’s really easy to make non-alcoholic so you can enjoy it even if you’re not drinking.
Salish Cider - serves 2
1 1/2 C fresh apple cider
1.5 oz whiskey
.25 oz cointreau
2 dash of bitters
honey to taste (start very light)
orange peel
Instructions: Combine all the ingredients except honey and orange peel in a medium pot (you’ll likely want to double or triple this recipe). Heat on stovetop until it reaches a yummy temp. Stir in honey last and garnish with a swirl of orange peel. Note: if making non-alcoholic version, simply omit whiskey and cointreau.
Other random things I’m excited about this month: Wearing sweaters again. Jeans too. Heck, even leggings. It’s been a hot summer in Seattle so for a while there it was shorts and tank tops and I got super bored of that.
I’m not much of a PSL girlie just because they’re a little too sweet for my taste (hehe callback to this poem, iykyk) but just as my October poem states, I’m excited to infuse the flavors of the season into everything. Pumpkin bread, cinnamon and clove in my coffee (I have an epic Christmas coffee recipe I’ll share in December!!), apple crisp, roasted butternut squash.
In the summer I only want iced drinks (besides my morning cup of coffee) so I totally neglect all the beautiful loose-leaf teas hidden away in my kitchen. With the cooler weather starting to blow in, I can feel that hot tea season is upon me and, dull is it might be, there’s nothing quite like a cup of hot chai on a cool October day.
I want to hear about your October essentials in the comments! What books/activities/recipes/etc are you looking forward to savoring this month?
Aw, I really enjoyed reading this!! And your recipes sound so good. I'm saving this post to try them out!
And the Gilmore Girls slander is irking me too. I started my annual rewatch and I need the GG thought pieces to leave me aloneeee (as I click and look because I'm curious). And I too got super frustrated with a pottery class and never went back for what I made either (it was so horrendous I can't be sure I can even call it a bowl) so that was hilarious to me.
This was such a delight! Have you finished A Bit Much yet?! I loved every page 🫶 (also I totally saw today that Lyndsay Rush shared your poem in her Stories!)