Dear Fall, I Miss You!

I woke up feeling sad this morning because I basically only have a week left of summer. Then I remembered that once fall starts, I become so incredibly happy, that summer becomes a distant memory that I never miss. So to help myself remember how much I love fall, and to keep myself from feeling sad about summer being over, here is a post devoted to fall. 10 of my favorite things about it. Get ready for a picture overload. But if you are anything like me, these pictures will have you smiling from ear to ear in giddy anticipation of what is to come in the next few months!

1. Pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks...probably my favorite drink ever. It's like autumn in a cup

2. White House Fruit Farms. I like this market anytime of year, but even more during fall.

3. Speaking of White House, I also love their apple cider doughnuts with cinnamon frosting. Best doughnuts EVER. Especially when we sit out by the lake and enjoy them with the beautiful scenery at White House.

4. The beauty of fall. There are always those 2 weeks during fall when the leaves have completely changed but haven't fallen yet. The skies are blue, the air has a chill, and you can even smell the crisp leaves when you walk outside. Perfection.
5. Football season. I think I only like this one because Luke loves it so much. But it is fun to go down to an Ohio State game at the horseshoe (that is, as long as you're not deathly ill, and your car doesn't break down on the way. Because that is what happened to us last year :-P)

6. Baking. As soon as the weather gets cool enough to spend time in the kitchen with the oven on, I love to bake up a storm, making the whole house smell like cinnamon, pumpkin, or apple.
Pumpkin cream cheese muffins...yum!


7. Decorating my house for fall. I love it. I love coming home when my house has such a cozy, fall feel to it. Especially when it smells like Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin (my favorite scent. From Bath and Body Works).

8. Halloween. In a purely innocent, childlike way. I had so much fun last year decorating a trunk for our church's trunk-or-treat night. Luke and I also had fun watching Halloween reruns of our favorite shows, like Home Improvement, Friends, etc. And the highlight was definitely carving our pumpkins :-)

9. Thanksgiving. My second favorite holiday. Although sometimes I wish we didn't have quite so many destinations to try to make it to in one day, I love spending so much time with family. It does not hurt that the day after Thanksgiving is basically the first day of the Christmas season.

10. The beginning of the Christmas season. Now, I start listening to Christmas music so early in the year that fall and Christmas are kind of intertwined in my mind. But on the day after Thanksgiving, we officially start celebrating Christmas in our house. We usually get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and at that point, my Pandora station is always playing Christmas music. We start shamelessly watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie at this point, also. I love how my favorite season sort of makes way for my favorite holiday :-)
I feel so much better now! I am no longer sad about the summer ending. In fact, I just can't wait for fall to get here! I didn't realize how much I missed it until I thought about these things :-)