Hello, Fall!

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Welcome to my favorite time of year -- fall!  I am not a summer person.  I much prefer the shorter days & cooler temps of fall & winter.  I love a cup of steaming, hot coffee on a cool fall morning & a pot of soup simmering on the stove for dinner.

Fall clothes are the best.  Hello, tights, boots & scarves!  Tennessee summers are so hot, us runners really take a beating.  But fall is the time of year when our pace improves & we remember why we fell in love with running in the first place.  Pinterest & Starbucks are almost, almost ruining this for me, but my love of all things pumpkin knows no bounds.  I literally got up from the couch on Sunday afternoon, drove to Target & bought a pumpkin candle, just because I wanted my house to smell like pumpkin while I cooked dinner.

Last, but not least, fall includes my two favorite holidays:  Halloween (!!) & Thanksgiving.  I've had my Halloween costume planned for months & it won't be long before the Thanksgiving issues hit the newsstands.  Living & Bon Appetit tend to be my favorites.

Recently, goop included in their newsletter a piece written by Jill Kargman, a writer & humorist.  In Ready for the New Year, Kargman describes how the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, correlates with the beginning of fall.  I highly recommend reading the whole piece, but here's an excerpt:

But long before an interest in the new stylish threads emerged, I always loved that back-to-school feeling. Fresh school supplies, a new book bag, grade level and classroom are not a distant memory to me - they’re all a lovely hangover from the ghost of student past, in sync with my Jewish New Year experience as well. I'm not entirely great at sitting still in temple (in fact I am so into my Soulcycle class, I call it Spinagogue). That said, I crack out new duds, sit with my family and basically listen and think. My mind often obviously drifts to other places but in this insanely tumultuous chaotic world it's nice to press the pause button and feel that momentary beat between seasons. Rosh Hashanah is like the top of the roller coaster after slowly inching my way up through an interminable August. And then (deep breath!) we go speeding gleefully into fall, hitting the ground running in heels to meetings, dismissals, activities and parties. And I love it all. Maybe when winter’s sniffles start and I'm blizzard-weary I'll have a fleeting pang for summer's snail's pace. But knowing my ants-in-my-pants, sun-loathing vampire self, I highly doubt it. So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 5774.

I don't know about you, but I really identify with this idea of starting over in September, as opposed to January.  I am neither rested nor refreshed in January.  I'm road weary, on the verge of getting sick, broke & missing routine & order.  In January, I am in no mood to look at my life & re-evaluate anything.  I am tired.  But in September, now that's a different story, especially this September as I'm coming off a busy, successful triathlon season & facing dressing a body that is *20 lbs smaller than the body I dressed last fall.

*I had my annual physical yesterday & according to my medical records, I've lost 18 lbs.

Looking at this time of year as a point of reflection & change, I'm re-evaluating some things that either aren't working, or need more attention.  I'm making good progress on my goal of Fabulous By Forty & I intend to keep trucking along on that front.  I'd like to add more strength training & yoga to my exercise regimen.  I'm debating quitting Hell Class & either hiring a trainer, or learning a weight routine I can do on my own, closer to home.  The drive to & fro the Margaret Maddox Y is killing me.  As I transition into longer distance running & training for a half marathon, I need to take care of my joints & re-introduce yoga to my schedule.  I could also stand to chill the eff out a little, which yoga will also help with.

I'd like to pay more attention to my finances.  I'm fine with money, but I could be better in terms of saving & planning.  We need a bigger house - John needs more studio space & I need to not live next door to a motorcycle bar.  So we need to figure out what we can afford & how long it'll take to get there.  Also, I want to travel.  I'd like to start planning & saving for legit vacations.  Note to self:  renew your expired passport.

I'm in a good place.  I'm excited about fall & I'm ready to change a few things up.  But mostly?  Mostly I'm ready to start planning our Halloween party.

Happy fall, y'all!