HELLO FALL

I am such a summer girl. Give me all the lake trips, light-til-10pm-nights, iced drinks and volleyball games. But I'm growing to love the fall. Especially in the Pacific Northwest, there's kind of nothing like it.

It's like I'm living in HD; every sense is heightened and aware. The colors look brighter, the smells and tastes are stronger. At the beginning of the season, the change is the most noticeable. My wardrobe shifts along with my coffee drink; from ripped shorts to thick sweaters, and from cold brew to piping hot. I turn on the oven, I bake, I light candles. I'm cozying up for the winter and settling in.

One nice benefit of all those things is I'm largely slowing down. If the summer is a sprint, then fall is a water station. Time to sit, be still, get refreshed. I naturally lean towards a fuller schedule, I love plans on plans; leaving one event early to arrive at the next event late thrills me. Summer weekends are booked to the brim, with showers and weddings and birthday parties galore, sometimes all three in one weekend. The fall is calmer, with more time, more space, and more breathing room to just be. I'm learning to embrace this pace of life over my hyper-speed of the last three months.

There have been so many wonderful signs of fall already: fires in the fireplace, dinners in the slow cooker, nights at home instead of out. I'm looking forward to a pumpkin patch trip and tailgating at our college football games. I'm suddenly pumped for fall and all that is has to offer, instead of morning the loss of summer. I think I needed this change of pace, more desperately than I even realized.

In this season, the slow life is the good life.