Reasons to be Excited for Fall

I've have a hard time saying goodbye to summer this year.  We had a very busy but near perfect summer.  I told Matt I would literally go back and relive the whole thing, not to change anything but just to enjoy it all again.  Without a kid in school our summer goes until Labor Day and we sure ended with a bang with a week's vacation on the Gulf and a fantastic lake trip with perfect (besides a rain storm) weather.  Because of that, and the fact that it was still 90° the day AFTER Labor Day, I've been in no hurry for fall.  Then we had our family camping trip, the weather cooled off, and now I'm ready.  We still have at least one lake trip and a few jet ski rides in us before summer is gone for good, but here are a few things to make the transition a little easier:

1) Fall Foliage

I didn't get to see much last year besides whatever was outside our windows and outside church.  One of the many downsides of being couch bound for the best parts of fall.  Still, hard to compete with the fall beauty in any form! 
 
2) Boots, sweaters, scarves, skinny jeans

I'm a little too excited about breaking out my sweaters, boots, jeans, and scarves again.  The end of summer is usually so hot that I want to wear as little clothes as possible (we're talking a tank top and shorts here, nothing scandalous) and feeling cool (temperature wise) is usually much more important than any fashion statements.  Fall I think might be my favorite season to dress for, with the excitement of new clothes or old favorites, the cool temperatures that are exciting and not old (like they can be in the spring), and being able to layer again.  I don't have pictures of myself dressed for fall because that's not something I usually do, so please accept these pictures of my feet dressed for fall. 

3) Soup weather

I love soup.  It's a perfect meal and usually easy to throw together.  It's easy to pack in the veggies and most are inexpensive to make.  I will eat soup almost daily September - April-ish and my menu planning is much quicker when I can just throw soup on there about every other meal.  Pretty sure I'll be making a batch of something before too long (supposed to be 80° today though, so not yet!).

4) Anticipation of Christmas/the holiday season

Not going to lie, I love Christmas.  I think I've mentioned that a few times.  Thanksgiving - New Years is one of my favorite times of the year every single year.  I love everything about it and will start prepping in the fall, usually getting my first Christmas cookies in the freezer in October.  I've already started my tentative baking list.  Basically, anything Christmas related gets me excited starting about...mid-August.

5) Being Home
We're very busy people in the summer.  We're at the end of  7 weekends without spending a full one in our beds (lake, lake, vacation, vacation, lake, camping, lake), and only one full weekend at home a month from June - September (that's 4 of 17 weekends).  By the time fall comes we are very ready for life to settle down.  These things are obviously our choice and it's hard to turn down a good lake weekend so I'm not complaining but I will gladly accept weeks (months) off from the constant packing, unpacking, traveling, and getting the house ready (like making sure the dishwasher is empty before we leave so nothing molds (that's happened) and washing diapers before we leave so they don't sit too long).  Basically, we get most of our (non-holiday) socalizing out in the warm months and we're hermits in the fall and winter.  That's ok with me.

6)  That crisp fall air

It's a different feeling in the air once fall is here, right?  I avoid the AC as much as I can at home (I much prefer open windows unless it's 90+ outside) but it's still been on a lot the last few weeks.  I LOVE being able to let the fresh air in again and sleep with the windows open.  It feels good to run in and air out the house and just be outside after the (somewhat) heat of summer. 

I did one of these lists for summer and I'm so glad we live in a place that has real seasons.  As nice as warm temperatures year-round sounds...I think it's easier to appreciate when you only get it parts of the year.  Ever season (including winter although there might be less...) has something to be thankful for.