Weekly Good Things: Week 39
a book, great neighbors, and good food
Happy Sunday! Lots of variety this week in Good Things, but the highlight has to be writing a chapter in a book (Kindle is up, paperback goes live hopefully tomorrow morning!)
Until dahlia season is over, you’ll be getting a lot of these beauties here. I’m still waiting on any of my five grown-from-tuber plants to sprout some flowers. I am yet again thankful to past-me who got myself my dahlia share which I pick up each week around the corner at Rancatore’s.
Walktober kicks off today, with my daily goal of 5 miles over the next 42 days. Challenging but doable!
Good Things don’t always look how you imagine them!
I’ve always thought of myself as a writer, in which I generally mean ‘a person deeply compelled to write’, rather than a ‘good writer’ which is a skill that you work at. Over the past decade and a half, I’ve practiced writing intentionally at some amount of volume to at least become a better writer. The only way you get better is by putting in the reps.
I’ve always hoped that I’d have a book in me, and typically the progression in my mind is book idea > book query > agent > publishing house > book draft > years later: your first book (which may or may not tank).
While I still would love to participate in a traditional publishing cycle (glutton for punishment?) over the years I’ve seen that digital writing and non-traditional publishing are also a viable path.
A few months ago, even that seemed out of reach, but then, as luck would have it here I am with a chapter of a book launching this week!
The book is called ‘Creating Space: Discover the stories of ten purpose-driven women entrepreneurs as they carve out space for growth, joy and transformative change in both business and life’. You can get a copy here! Proceeds go to Dress for Success.
My chapter is “Creating Space for Cornerstone Habits”. It’s wild seeing it out in the wild!
Two things I’ve learned from this:
“You know how you could do that??” Sometimes things fall in your lap when you least expect them, do not look how you assumed they’d look, and are easier than you expect them to be.
The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. If you have a big, nebulous goal without a path to get there, start smaller. Now that I have a chapter in a book, and my author page is up on the internet, I see much clearer paths to doing this again.
This Week in Good Things:
Neighbors
Get yourself neighbors who will assist with removing your dead bird, and feed you chicken piccata. I can’t express how nice it is to have neighbors who you truly enjoy spending time with. And, neighbors who grew up in farm country and are not afraid of some circle of life experiences. To those who are curious, I suspect a kitty had deposited a gift of a small finch right on my front stoop.
In a delightful coincidence,
has moved from Ohio with her family for new adventures to three blocks down the street. How many friends do you have who are Vet-Vets (and food safety experts)? We met up for a short walk (Walktober prep!) and for slim pickings at the Farmers Market. (We tried Marini Farms cider donuts. Generally light, fluffy, and pleasant.)
Work
Getting Specific with Quarterly Goal Setting. It’s always good to go into the end of the year with strong goals - I think this is the most specific our goals have been! I’m particularly excited about building out our new signature programs at Ompractice, challenges for our students, and new ways to bring together our community.
Writing Brings Good Things. Good things come when I’m myself (and I share about my adventures). One quarterly goal I have around visibility is to post 1x/week on LinkedIn. Similar format to this; Friday Good Things. Evergreen: I’m also practicing “asks”. People can’t help you if they don’t know what you need. (Some of the things we need - connections to Corporate HR folks who might be interested in bringing Ompractice to their teams, blogs or podcasts we should connect with.)
Visiting the Massachusetts Statehouse. I got a chance to participate in democracy!
Assorted
Got my nails done in Day Dreaming Dazzle Dry. It’s a slightly brown and purple dusty rose color. Like usual, the color on my hands looks nothing like what was in the bottle, but I like it!
Watched the first episode of the new season of Great British Bake Off. Matt Lucas is gone, Praise Be.
Winter gifts? If you are looking for something cozy for yourself in anticipation of a cold winter, look no further than the LL Bean Cozy Sherpa Throw. With pockets!
More Good Things:
💰 Up-level your Finance: several friends were chatting about finance this week. After a few years of finance book club, my three most generally useful book recommendations are: I Will Teach You To Be Rich - Ramit Sethi; John Bogle’s Little Book of Common Sense Investing (read that before getting managed investments) and ‘Quit Like a Millionaire’ by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung - slightly more next level strategies - you will enjoy her nerdy-ness. Want to play with projections? Try this. (Thank you, CL!)
🦉 They said you sound like an owl. A compilation.
✍️
: 100 Things I Know. Not your usual list.🍁 Fall Plant Edit in the works this week. Mini Pumpkins acquired, and I’m likely going to head to Volante Farms for mums, carrot cake whoopie pies, and joy.
The Weekly Meal Plan:
Sunday: Tandoori Chicken, basmati rice, roasted cauliflower, tamarind sauce, cilantro chutney. (So good last week I’m eating it again.)
Monday: Grilled pork chops with mojo sauce, grilled zucchini with pine nuts & parmesan, salad.
Tuesday: Satay chicken with peanut sauce, broccoli rabe with garlic.
Wednesday: Rice bowl with tinned fish, pickled ginger, bok choy.
Thursday: Pollo Guisado.
Friday: Pizza Friday. Cape Cod Mushroom Pizza; add your own pepperoni.
Lunches: chicken rice soup, TJs quick grab burrito, Greek salad with chicken souvlaki and braised artichokes, lemon yogurt and granola.
Snacks: hard boiled eggs, overnight oats, cottage cheese, yogurts.
That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!
xo, Sam