Intentionally Transitioning into Fall
I’ve always had to put a little effort into getting into the mental state for fall
My favorite season is summer hands down. It’s got my birthday, an emphasis on fun activities, vacation, and leisure, pool time, and watermelon season. I love it.
I love things about the other seasons as well. The holidays of the fall and winter are annual highlights and it’s a delight to enjoy the baked goods and cozy time. But maybe since I grew up in Texas where the four seasons were more of a calendar reality than any distinct difference in weather, I’ve always had to put a little effort into getting into the mental state for fall.
And despite the cultural (and Starbucks-led!) push to get into pumpkin spice earlier and earlier each year, I simply CANNOT make the switch until my pool closes and when we officially remember the 21st night of September and autumn equinox.
Only after that I can begin to transition to the new season.
My transition to fall ritual starts with a musical shift. My friends and I have been curating the perfect collective fall playlist for the past few years and I keep it on repeat all season long.
I’m not a huge candle person (I’m terrified of fire!) but the fall scents are just too good to skip out on. Apples, pumpkin, a woodsy citrus…I keep one burning or in my candle warmer to get me in the mood.
I bake cinnamon-heavy treats and load up on Trader Joe’s pumpkin products. Thank you to my friend Stacey for keeping me stocked in Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancake mix and this year’s new GF/DF pumpkin donut holes!
I plan out a calendar of fun seasonal and spooky events! I kicked it off this weekend with a play at Congressional Cemetery, setting the vibes right for the season, and can’t wait to follow it up with apple picking soon.
I decorate the house in autumn florals and velvet pumpkins. I think through my costume options! Fall including Halloween is one of its biggest selling points!
And I set a few goals I want to achieve in the season ahead. Nothing major usually. Sometimes it is just about the books I want to read, the difference I want to make through my volunteer efforts, or wrapping up a work project.
As an adult, it has felt important to mark the season’s change more intentionally. As a kid, the school calendar dictated seasons and activities, but in adulthood, it is so easy to just keep moving through the same routine – Sleep. Eat. Work. Repeat.
There was magic in starting a new school year each fall that I want to recreate in different ways for myself now.
How are you kicking off fall?
This Week’s Recommendations
On My Shelf
Wards of the State by Claudia Rowe - “A compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth.” I picked this up after seeing it longlisted for the 2025 National Book Awards in Nonfiction and I’m so glad I did. I love good narrative nonfiction and this was so well-researched. You could tell how deeply she had connected with her subjects and I hope this book ultimately prompts change. I learned so much and spent every page feeling grateful and lucky for the circumstances of my birth.
Ladies in Hating by Alexandria Vasti - Bridgerton but sapphic? Say less! I didn’t know this was part of a series, but I think it worked as a standalone really well. The chemistry between the characters was fantastic and I liked how the story all came together.
On My Screen
The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime - Or as I affectionately like to call it, Brother Husbands. I’m a sucker for a teen drama and Jenny Han writes the perfect romances for my millennial heart. This just wrapped up its final season (but there is a movie to come!) and it was a great escape set to the perfect Taylor Swift soundtrack. You must put all incredulity aside. Do not question why she can’t fathom dating anyone other than these brothers. Don’t question how she affords things or how she overstays or gets a visa to Paris or how they traverse from Versailles and all around Paris before dinner. Lean into the vibes and let them take you away! #TeamConrad forever! (And if you have already watched, this piece is a fun read)
In My Tabs
“As I said, civility is a fantasy, because our political discourse never happens in a vacuum. It happens in the beautiful mess of the real world. It is naïve, at best, to believe civility is more important than who we are, what we stand for and how.”
“I have never, so fervently, wished for three men to have to “tough out” a fever.”
RFK Jr’s war on vaccines is about shaming women, not helping kids
How Tradwives Use Sexism, Racism, and Transphobia to Police Other Women
Democratic talking heads are allergic to standing for anything, I guess
I genuinely do not know how to get through to people like this.
A major contender for greatest lede sentence of all time - “The second time I ever came out as trans, it was in an Arby’s drive-through in Alberta on a flip-phone in the height of the oil boom.”
“Our world can be different and better. Imagination is key to make it so.”
It’s been another brutal week of news, but at least it is Fat Bear Week!
And in keeping with the theme of this newsletter, 2000 Poops!
Fat bear week!!! Best week of the year