November, one of the greatest crimes against humanity, is here. Although I have to admit the weather has been rather nice in Brussels, so it feels unfair to complain. My work situation continues to be frustrating, but there is only so much I can do about it, so let’s focus on stuff that makes life better.

1. Boxing. Somewhat unexpectedly, I have fallen in love with boxing. Actually, it’s mostly other people who think it’s unexpected, I have found boxing interesting for years*, I just thought I wasn’t well suited for it. Well-suited or not, I definitely enjoy it: I like how it demands absolute concentration, trains your whole body (and the brain) and provides a cardio workout that isn’t desperately boring. To be fair, I have only boxed four times so far – I continue to do three strength sessions a week – but I am extremely excited to continue for the foreseeable future.

2. Celine fragrances. Unlike boxing, fragrance launches largely fail to excite me these days, but there are always exceptions. One of them is Celine’s new fragrance line, produced under the iron-fisted creative direction of Hedi Slimane. There are nine scents (two more to follow soon), the bottles look gorgeous and what I hear from people who have tried them is encouraging. There’s apparently a lot of iris, which cannot be a bad thing. I’m also dying to visit the new boutique on rue Saint-Honoré, where in addition to the perfumes you can also buy such essentials as Celine dice and playing cards.

3. Ben Lerner. I read Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry recently and was impressed. His third novel, The Topeka School, has just been published and seems to also have impressed everyone who has already read it (including Amy who sometimes comments here and has excellent taste in books and perfume). So this is on my list, together with Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House and Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea. André Aciman’s sequel to Call Me by Your Name is also out this month; I am likely to skip that, however.

4. Ivo Nikkolo 25. The iconic Estonian workwear brand turns 25 this year and is celebrating with a winter collection well worth checking out. My favourite piece is this leather-look dress that is selling out fast, but the cashmere sweaters and puffer coats are great as well. Although most of Nikkolo’s clothes are too traditional for me, there is always something I really like in every collection. I had the opportunity to work with them on a social media campaign this month, alongside Marta Laan and Piret Järvis-Milder: you can see the first outfit I chose here, the second is yet to come**.

5. Terminator: Dark Fate. The latest Terminator movie is apparently not doing that well at the box office and I think it’s a pity. While not a masterpiece, it is a decent action movie, if you like this sort of thing. I admit I would probably not mention it, if it didn’t have three female leads alongside the new Terminator (Arnie’s role is relatively limited) and if one of them wasn’t 63 years old. Linda Hamilton reprises her role as Sarah Connor and is, to me, the absolutely best thing about the movie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mature woman as one of the protagonists in an action film before, with the exception of Helen Mirren in RED (also brilliant). I say Dark Fate is worth seeing for Hamilton alone and if enough people do, maybe there’ll be more women like her kicking ass in the future.

What is helping you to get through November?

*It is one of the few sports I find fascinating to do, but not watch. I have strong reservations about competitive boxing, but this is not what I’m talking about here. I’m not about to cause my trainer any brain injuries any time soon.
**Disclaimer: I was not paid for the collaboration, but got to choose a couple of items from the collection. This article is not part of the campaign, I’m only mentioning the topic because I want to.

Image by Krõõt Tarkmeel, makeup Gerda Miller, hair Natallia at Helen Heinroos Hair.