Use what you have, use what the world gives you. Use the first day of fall: bright flame before winter’s deadness; harvest; orange, gold, amber; cool nights and the smell of fire. Our tree-lined streets are set ablaze, our kitchens filled with the smells of nostalgia: apples bubbling into sauce, roasting squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, cider, warmth itself. The leaves as they spark into wild color just before they die are the world’s oldest performance art, and everything we see is celebrating one last violently hued hurrah before the black and white silence of winter.

shauna niequist | bittersweet

i think i post this quote every year on the first day of fall, but i can’t help it, i love it so much.

though you would never know by looking at the forecast, today is indeed the kick-off to the best season of the year. football is in full swing, spaghetti squash is readily available at trader joe’s, and i just bought my first buffalo check flannel.  soon the days will be shorter, the nights cooler, and my boots will re-emerge from their summer hiatus. there is so much to look forward to in the final quarter of the year –the changing leaves (in some parts of the country at least), the nostalgic flavors of pumpkin and spice, the pending arrival of thanksgiving and christmas. black friday sales. just kidding. but not really.

f. scott fitzgerald wrote in the great gatsby that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall” and in some ways, i’ve always agreed. sure the start of the calendar year may begin on january 1st, but i’ve always equated a clean slate with the arrival of back-to-school season. though my last graduation is now nine years behind me, i can’t help but feel as though we get the opportunity to reinvent ourselves come september. the things we may have neglected to accomplish for the past nine months seem attainable, as if we’ve been given a surge of energy to make the most of the last few weeks of the year.

so with a renewed spirit and the promise that lies within this season, i’ve formed a list of things i’m most excited to do/see/eat/drink/experience this fall. consider it my fall bucket list:

visit a pumpkin patch AND purchase a pumpkin (if you recall last year, pumpkin-hunting didn’t exactly go as planned)

make something in the slow cooker (S & i made chili last year)

go cider tasting in julian (or maybe we’ll just go back for pie)

do a photo shoot at rancho bernardo winery (view previous shoots here & here)

buy a cinnamon broom at trader joe’s 

go to a professional football game already checked that one off the list!

bundle up for a bike ride

invest in a new pair of booties (it’s a toss up between these , these, and these)

make an apple crumble (using this recipe)

read mindy kaling’s new book, why not me

enjoy dinner on the patio under the glow of my new twinkly lights (S and i picked up two boxes of twinkly lights at target last weekend and i can’t wait to put them up!)

wear matching flannel with S

plan a visit to grandma’s house (both S’s grandma and my own)

hand out halloween candy to trick-or-treaters (i’m embarrassed to admit i’ve always been the type to turn off all the lights and pretend like no one’s home, but this year i’m thinking it might be fun to have a bowl of candy at the ready should the neighborhood kids come a-knockin’, plus halloween is on a saturday this year!)

add a new felt hat to my collection (i have my eye on this one and this one)

make homemade soup (leaning toward a chicken tortilla recipe, ole!)

and finally

finish season one of friday night lights (because we’ve been slacking and because i miss dillon, texas)

i’m curious, what’s on your fall bucket list this year? did i miss anything?

happy fall, y’all.

image via pinterest

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