October 2025 Favorites

A few things I loved in October 2025

In AZ and the temperature is below 100, plus we’ve had rain. We’re already off to a great start there, but here’s some things that made it even better for me.

November 4, 2025

Florence and the Machines’s, “Everybody Scream”

It’s the last day of October and I’m inclined to write this today because I just finished listening to “Everybody Scream” and I already know there are songs that will become lifelong favorites.

If I’m being honest, I’ve wanted to start this blog for years. I’ve had the domain on auto renew and the site sat on my computer—complete with a design redone about a dozen of times over. But it was never good enough, it was never “Fortune 500 perfected”.

And then I listened to track 10, “Music by Men” and I thought… yep 🙂‍↕️. So, here I am 🤷‍♀️ writing a silly lil blog post about things I’ve enjoyed over the past month.

Maybe I’ll delete this in a few days. But for now, this is my round up of October 2025 favorites on the heels of this album’s release with it listed as number one in my heart and on this list <3

Here’s my favorites in order (for now—this will surely change over time):

  1. Sympathy Magic
  2. Buckle
  3. You Can Have It All
  4. Music By Men
  5. Everybody Scream
  6. One of the Greats
  7. And Love
  8. Perfume and Milk
  9. Drink Deep
  10. The Old Religion
  11. Witch Dance
  12. Kraken

Aarke Kettle

We’ve had the Carbonator Pro in Stainless Steel for awhile, so we’re already Aarke fans. But, in January I stayed at The TwentyTwo in nyc for a few days & they placed the Aarke stainless steel kettle in my room because I’m oddly dependent on a kettle for my nighttime routine (more on that in this post later). I fell in love with it.

Is it pricey for a kettle? Yes, yes it most certainly is, but it’s one of the only plastic free electric kettles that I am aware of (I’m admittedly annoying about heated up plastic <> food/bev combos) and it is really well made. Plus it’s also beautiful. I love the different temperature settings.

We also drink copious amounts of sparkling water and tea in this house, so the investment in Aarke products were a bit of a no brainer for me. If you want a “buy it once, buy it for life” electric kettle, highly highly recommend!!

“Mind Your Body” by Nicole J. Sachs

If you struggle with chronic pain I really recommend “Mind Your Body” by Nicole J. Sachs. I wish there were referral programs for book recs, because I’ve talked so many people’s ears off about this book. I have POTS and for years have been told by countless docs that I’d be managing my symptoms but never curing them. I’m not saying I’m cured by any means, but this book is the closest I’ve been to it.

In it, Dr. Sachs talks about the mind <> body connection and walks through a 28-day practice to overcome pain. I listened on audio book and it was delightful, compelling, and above all helpful. If an audio book sounds like too much at first, Nicole has a podcast, The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs, LCSW, (hundreds of episodes built up) where she talks with others who have overcome illness. Recommend searching your illness + the name of her podcast (ex: POTS and The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs) to find a story relevant to you.

Here’s how “Mind Your Body” is described on Storygraph:

In “Mind Your Body”, Sachs teaches readers about Mindbody medicine—which helped her overcome her own debilitating pain and dark prognosis. She explains the essential practice of turning inward, using her revolutionary JournalSpeak method, which has enabled countless people to achieve striking mental, emotional, and physical healing. “Mind Your Body” takes chronic pain recovery into its next stage, for a new generation of readers who have been so underserved by our medical system.

Learn how to free yourself from chronic pain, anxiety, fatigue, and myriad debilitating conditions through the transformative process of nervous system regulation in this accessible guide from psychotherapist and leading Mindbody clinician Nicole Sachs.

Oils from Kindred Black

Apologies in advance for putting something that is sold out on this list, but I am in love with this Ishpingo oil from Kindred Black. I purchased this oil ages ago, found it in a recent vanity clean out, and have been obsessed with it ever since.

I keep it on my desk and apply to my neck throughout the day. I love scents for certain functions and reach for this one to try to slow my brain down.

While it is sold out, I highly recommend Kindred Black for scents in general. I love their reusable glass bottles and using them feels really ritualistic. I’ve got my eyes set on a few of their perfume oils like A Woman Is Fire Perfume Oil, The Fall Of The Immortal, Peony Chypre to try next. I’d also love to try their Earthly Body Oil.

The description of the earthly body oil sounds right up my ally:

Pleasantly verdant, Earthly Body Oil is created with base notes of knobby, dark softwoods, cool, dewy morning moss, and top notes of fresh grass, tangled vines, and firm young violet leaves. It is equally a cool woodland dance, an evening walk through the tall, swaying summer grasses, and the sharp smell of earth damp with rainwater on a post storm stroll.

Season two of Platonic on Apple TV

Perfect lil comedy to watch before bed. So many shows lately are so intense, and I’m really trying to avoid that before bed because it puts me on high alert. I usually fall back to Love Island or Taskmaster, but in between seasons of those shows, Platonic is so perfect.

And while it isn’t necessarily an intense drama, main characters Sylvia and Will have me watching with hands over my eye sometimes to avoid second hand embarrassment. I pretty much live texted during season 2, episode 4 aptly titled “Fore!” because it was a wild ride.

Here’s Apple TV’s synopsis of the show:

In this series from the director of Neighbors, a platonic pair of former best friends approaching midlife (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) reconnect after a long rift. The duo’s friendship becomes more consuming—and destabilizes their lives in a hilarious way.

Death Valley nail products

I’ve seen these on instagram for over a year now and always wanted to try them, but kept going back to my stash of nail polishes. They all finally dried up and I decided to treat myself. I got a few colors in addition to a base coat, top coat, and nail polish remover. They worked really well and the colors were super cute. Plus, the nail polish remover worked like a charm without smelling disgussssting. My favorites so far are:

My nighttime routine

What am I without a routine? In shambles, surely. I collect little items into my routine like infinity stones. Sometimes they stay, sometimes they go. But in October the mix was pretty solid.

When the kiddo goes to bed, I lay down on my acupressure mat and play a 15-20 min mediation. After that I drink my tea and tap off the night with a show or an audio book.

Peppermint tea from The Republic of Tea: I buy this in a bulk bag because I drink it so consistently. Though, we grew some peppermint this year and I am going to try to make my own someday soon!

Acupressure mat: I use an acupressure mat from a brand called wthn because I found one on poshmark for a great deal. But you can find these in a lot of places. Any will do, and if you have an HSA card, consider using it for your health related purchases.

A mediation app: As soon as I’m on my mat, I put in my noise canceling ear pods & start a mediation. Here are my favorite apps for them:

  • CHANI app: This is my favvvorite astrology app and I recommend it to anyone that will listen. But on top of the astrology insights, there is a really great “listening” section that includes bedtime stories, affirmations, and mediations. Sometimes on Sunday nights I’ll also listen to “my week ahead” where Chani reads out how the upcoming week’s astrology impacts me based on my rising sign.
  • Open: Love that this app is dark, so when I’m listening in bed at night it isn’t super bright. The mediations are really well done and curated. Plus it has other sections like “breathe” and “move”. I especially like how you can customize your own breath work routine. I have POTS and my doctor has a specific breathing technique they recommend and it is so much easier for me to plug into Open rather than count on my own. I know it seems silly and counting is simple, but taking that mental load off of me for my breath work really allows me to just fully engage in it.
  • Insight timer app: It’s freeeee! There is a paid version but so many great meditations are on here as free. Really recommend getting started with some from Sarah Blondin.

Luca in his snoopy costume <3

What else is there to say? The kid is as cute as could be and is in love with Snoopy. It’s so precious 🥲

Halloween was an absolute blast. My only regret is not putting up more decorations because Luca loved them so much. We were going on lots of walks throughout the neighborhood to see other’s decorations. Definitely going to start putting up more decorations for the rest of the year. Halloween 2026 wont know what hit it!

& if you’ve made it this far, here’s my SHIT list for October <3

  • The combo of (1) lack of funding for women’s health and (2) gaslighting women into making them think that they’re problems are made up.
  • Mosquitoes. Leave me alone xx
  • Days getting darker, sooner
  • ALLL of the streaming services I have to have to watch football.
  • My fridge’s broken ice machine that backs up somewhere in the fridge itself, manages to drip and collect at the bottom of our freezer, and then melts out to our kitchen floor. Then, finding out that it’s backed up only after stepping in the puddle just after putting on a new pair of socks 🙂👍

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