Ready For Fall
I am sitting here at the kitchen table where I work sipping a chai tea. I have been drinking chai tea instead of coffee over the last few days because coffee has been tasting weird to me, I don't know why, but I am enjoying the alternative! What does this have to do with anything? Chai tastes exactly like fall to me, and I AM SO READY FOR FALL. It is possibly my favorite time of year...simply because it means the holidays are coming. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I do indeed love Christmas above all, but autumn tastes so sweet to me because it means Christmas is coming.
Here I am, August 31st, itching for fall and ready to talk about all things fall. Since my brother moved to college in 2011, I have been ushering fall in more and more quickly. It has nothing to do with my brother leaving, but I can recall buying an orange and beige striped sweater in August, wearing it, and sweating my face off because I was so ready for fall. To me, September is when fall begins. The air gets cooler and pumpkin spice lattes are available at Starbucks (YEAS KWEEN). I wanted to share some of my favorite things about fall with you because I am ready to celebrate. Fall is even better this year because I have a Hobby Lobby and can buy all of that beautiful fall decor! My poor husband and my poor storage room. Last year I was dying to decorate his house for fall (I added a few fall touches) but I tried my best to respect his space. However, this year it is my space too and I might go a little wild. Just a little.
My sweet husband's birthday falls (haaa) on September 12 (which is fall in my book!) and that is one sweet time. Celebrating the love of my life is so fun for me and I am excited to do better this year (last year was bad...I cried... we aren't talking about it). ! I am planning a few little mushy-new-wife-things that I think he will love. Maybe we will use it as the big fall kick off and hopefully the weather allows me to wear a flannel when we go out. September is also the month that the NFL regular season starts which a significant fall tradition in the United States! I am not the biggest football fan but I do enjoy watching it on Sunday afternoons drinking a hot cup of coffee. We don't have actual Satellite TV (We subscribe to Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime instead) but we try to watch the Broncos games at my parents! #GoDenver! I tried to get my husband and I tickets to a Denver Broncos game for a weekend get-away this Fall but the tickets are so expensive and the whole trip cost was out of our budget for know. Maybe next year!
The soul of why I love autumn is the visual aspects. I love fall decorations with my whole heart. This is probably because my mom is the QUEEN of seasonal decor. I grew up with so much decor during the fall and winter. I am absolutely stoked to have my own home to spice up with pumpkins and leaves and scarecrows and gratefulness. I love the oranges and warm colors that are associated with fall as well as all the colors changing around us. I have no idea how I am decorating *yet* but I am seriously about to go on Pinterest to help plan my trip to Hobby Lobby come September 1st. You better believe I will be sharing all of that with you here! Not only do I love dressing my home for fall, but I love dressing myself for fall. I feel like fall fashion is so much easier and more comfortable than summer. Half of summer fashion consists of booty shorts and crop tops which I am personally not comfortable with. Leggings, cardigans, flannel shirts, big sweaters, and boots?! That is some fashion I can get behind! I also gravitate towards the maroons and burnt reds that fall is about. It makes my life easier when fall is here. (I also have some freaking adorable fall booties that sitting in my closet begging to be worn the rest of the year). I plan on sharing some of my fall fashion favorites soon!
With the Autumnal Equinox comes some people's favorite holiday: Halloween. While Halloween is not my *favorite* holiday (I mean, you don't get the entire day off from work so is it really a holiday?) I do enjoy the time! At our church we will be doing a Trunk-or-Treat so I get to decorate a vehicle and dress up. I am not yet sure what I am going to be, if my husband and I will match or do our own things...I guess I should try to figure it out!
This time of year that is approaching us is great because I think we can all agree that fall flavors are wonderful. Yes, I am a pumpkin spice girl and I am not ashamed to say it! I love baking in the fall. I have been itching to bake anything lately, but the house we live in gets way too hot way too fast in the summer. When it finally gets cool I will be baking everything for everyone. That is why my non-dairy life will only last two months, I need my pumpkin roll! Pumpkin rolls are my absolute favorite fall desert and I have perfected the art of making one. I cannot wait to bite into one and share the recipe with you...and then eat the entire roll by myself in one sitting. The other fall flavor I have just recently indulged in and fallen in love with is a chai tea latte from Starbucks! I got one on last week because my mom and I were talking about them, and oh man! When I took the first sip, I thought that it is exactly what Fall tastes like. I had an iced one and I can't wait to try the hot! I am now craving one so bad. Maybe I will try a homemade recipe to share with you all!
Autumn means Halloween and Halloween means scary movies. However, I am not a scary movie person, they make me anxious and I do not like them. A few weeks ago my husband and I tried to watch Constantine with Keanu Reeves and I was hiding behind a pillow within 5 minutes asking to watch a different movie (thankfully he said we didn't have to watch it). We do have some solid Fall watching traditions that we started last year, though. Of course, the one and only Harry Potter series is a Fall MUST HAVE. I have been waiting all summer to watch Harry Potter because I feel like it is the perfect October movie series. It is spooky enough to go with Halloween but it is also such a good story that isn't overly dark (speaking of Halloween maybe Josh and I will be Hermione and Harry?) Another of my favorites is Stranger Things. If you have not seen Stranger Things yet, I highly recommend watching it this October with your best friend! Unfortunately, from what I have been reading, Season 3 will not be ready to air until next summer. We will probably just re-watch the show though! It is a Sci-Fi show that provides the right amount of spooky and suspense. If I do watch a "scary" movie it is going to be Scream! It is the only scary movie I can take.
One of my absolute favorite parts of Autumn is the weather. There is a crispness that comes with Fall that it so sweet to me. After the bitter heat of the summer the cool breezes are so reviving and refreshing. I love that when I am standing in the sunshine I feel warm, but as the wind blows I feel chilled. I love that Autumn allows me to enjoy hot drinks but also allows me to enjoy evening walks and hiking! The cool weather begins changing the colors of the leaves and fall foliage gets me in my heart every single year. Where I live in Northern Arizona/New Mexico is not the *best* for fall foliage, but a 30 minute drive into the mountains brightens up everything! We rarely get orange trees out here but when I find one it makes my heart so happy. I can't wait to take a trip to the mountains with my love to see the beautiful foliage! The best foliage I have *ever* seen in my life was in Pennsylvania in 2015 (Which is where I got the above photographs!). Pennsylvania knows how to do Autumn. I wish we could take a trip there but the schedules won't allow us. Perhaps we can manage a short get away weekend some time to see the foliage in all its glory.
Autumn, September through December, used to be my least favorite time of the year. I experienced a lot of depression and darkness during that time one year which I carried with my for a few years afterwards. I am so thankful for the freedom and joy that I have in ushering Fall now. The Lord has opened my heart to breathe in the fresh crisp air of freedom. Perhaps that is why I love Fall so much.
Feel free to let me know your favorite fall traditions and activities! Maybe I can add them into my own life!
