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It’s November: a series of observations

November 4, 2016 by Joy the Baker 39 Comments

It's November!

This month marks the time of year when questions like, “What are you doing for the holidays” need to be answered with actual thoughts and plans.  I got about 7 minutes into a plan for Thanksgiving before my crazy-brain fluttered off to something far less important. To beg the question… what are you doing for the holidays?  Will you be googling ‘how to brine a turkey’ on Wednesday the 23rd around 9:45pm?  It’s ok.  People like What’s Gaby Cooking are hooking it up bigtime with Thanksgiving mania.  

I feel like November is the month when I need to manage my expectations. It’s not family expectations… those people are lovely and put very little pressure on me.  It’s mostly my own expectations of work and progress, and seeing everyone on the Internet seeming to do things really very well / better than meeee.  The focus at this point in the year is to hustle (drag?) myself to the end of the year feeling like a champ and not a flop.  It’s all perception and managed expectations and I’m in charge of how my brain interprets those things… dangit. 

•  Speaking of champs: the Cubs won the World Series and that’s how all of baseball ended, and no one ever played again because it’s over now right? We all enjoyed it, amen. 

•  Sometimes I put Sia on really loud and sing along and I’m nearly completely convinced that I am Sia…. and then I wonder how I put out so many great albums so quickly… and then I pat myself of the back. Go MeSia. 

•  Sometimes you have to date someone who can REALLY sing to finally understand that you can not sing at all (but you should still do it anyway in your car/house/shower alone).

•  Happy Birthday who our favorite Scorpios, especially those whom we have dated, fought with, and stopped dating.  Just me?  Maybe that’s just me. 

•  On this day in 1842 Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd.  Peace be with them.  Thanks for all the crap you went through to try to make us better. We’re in an awkward phase right now but y’all knew what fear and anger looked like. We still have some of that. 

•  Is Mercury in retrograde?  Just checking. 

•  I would encourage you to invest in yourself this month by watching the Amazon show, Goliath.  It’s beautiful and surprising and so well done and I LOVE when shows actually take place in Los Angeles… and the music is really great too! 

•  Also consider this: Savory Cheesecake with Roasted Vegetables. 

• November means we are days, hours, minutes away from enjoying the best Sweet Potato Pie (without exaggeration) EVER. 

It’s November.  We’re good. We can look ourselves straight on in the mirror and really believe it. 

xo Joy

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  1. Sonya

    November 9, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    You crack me up!! Keep being you.

    Reply
  2. Karen

    November 5, 2016 at 6:31 pm

    I just saw Sia in New Orleans on Thursday and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen/heard. Your writing gives me similar chills. Thank you for your words and thoughts and food. They are a thing of beauty. Sia would agree, I’m sure.

    Reply
  3. D'Arcy

    November 5, 2016 at 9:06 am

    Joy, I love you. Also, I’m just discovering Sia, which album should I buy first? Anyone? Halp!

    Reply
  4. Sara

    November 5, 2016 at 7:55 am

    I feel like as long as you have the main goal of staying sexy and not getting murdered everything else falls into place. ????

    You have a book you are releasing into the world which gives you the best excuse to do what you can do and no more!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      November 5, 2016 at 6:46 pm

      You know you’re speaking directly to my heart, right?

      Reply
      • Sara

        November 6, 2016 at 7:42 am

        What’s funny to me is I was thinking about how it reminds me of your and Tracy’s podcast and then I saw that on Instagram and fist pumped. It is so hard to explain what makes it so good without sounding weird.

        Reply
  5. Elizabeth

    November 5, 2016 at 7:38 am

    Love reading your blog. Thanks.

    Reply
  6. Lauren

    November 5, 2016 at 2:44 am

    You are one of the people on the internet who seems to be doing everything really very well/better than meeee! Always refreshing to read that the bloggers I follow feel the same way about others on the interweb. Funny how easily we lose our perspective when we look at a screen.

    We don’t have Thanksgiving in NZ, but I usually bake some cookies to take to work anyway. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  7. Kim

    November 4, 2016 at 11:06 pm

    Happy November to you. May it be your best yet. ????

    Reply
  8. Marilyn

    November 4, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    Real life is happening on this post, girl! Embrace Winter! Think fluffy scarves!

    Reply
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