Inspiration Saturday: October is a Magical Month

October was never my favorite month growing up.  Halloween was a wonderful sugar rush, but otherwise there was nothing to bring fame to this particular fall month.  At Sarah Lawrence there were October Study Days, basically a four-day weekend that evened out the Thanksgiving holiday later in the semester by ensuring that each of the weekdays occurred the same number of times in the academic calendar.  But that was mostly a reminder that our semester-long research papers should be transitioning from the ethereal, that could be an interesting idea phase to the checking out books from the library, whipping out the post-its, and panicking just a little bit phase.

But in my grown-up years, October has really had it's time to shine.  For example, it's the month Jeffrey Eugenides came to BookPeople with 'The Marriage Plot', and last time I was in Tokyo, that was October.  I'm still patiently waiting for Eugenides' next novel and reading through my bookshelves here in Texas in the meantime, but there are plenty of other things to look forward to this year.

A few years ago it was 'Spring Awakening', now 'Book of Mormon' is coming to Austin as part of Broadway Across America, and thanks to a friend who is in need of a fellow musical lover to use a spare ticket, I get to go see it on Tuesday!

And then, for the first weekend of the month, my mom and I are going to get to meet up with a fellow Raveler, which is always a lot of fun.  Aside from getting to knit and chat with someone we feel we already know, she's also letting me borrow her Ashford Traveller for an extended period of time.  This calls for another exclamation point for awesome friends!  I'm so ready to start spinning on a wheel, it's going to be very exciting.

The fiber fun won't stop there, because the next two weekends of October are slated for the Hill Country Yarn Crawl.  With two weekends to visit the eleven stores this year, we're going to have a little extra time to plan reasonable routes without worrying about getting to the final stops of the day before they close.  And I already have a frozen yogurt stop identified to go along with each day of Crawling.

Once the Crawl is over, the magic goes on.  There's an SLC alumni meet-up event downtown on one evening that I'm looking forward to.  There's a safety net to this kind of socializing, because even though I'm going alone, everyone there will have at least one thing in common.  And I'm hoping that I might see some of the people I met a few years ago at the last meet-up I went to.  We exchanged Facebook friendings, but I've been lax in following up.

Serena Ryder was initially supposed to have a show in Austin in September, but her touring schedule changed and that was cancelled.  Thankfully, she'll be here at the end of October at Stubb's.  I first saw her opening for the Barenaked Ladies, and it's kind of cool to see her new single, 'Stompa' getting good play.

Having so many events on my social calendar makes me look a little more like a 20-something singleton and less like a crafty spinster in training.  Always good.

And then, it's not technically until after October has left me that I reap the rewards, but the Halloween candy that goes on sale after the trick or treating is over is one of my favorite grocery shopping trips.  Reese's, sour candies, heck, even candy corn.  Because that will be turned into Homemade Butterfingers.

Bring on October!  Is there anything you're looking forward to this month?  Or is there another month where lots of great things seem to gather for you?

There's more inspiration at Woolen Diversions.