But months? I just don’t really consider them all that much!

It’s an interesting question why not. While various financial things are on a month-long cycle, I tend to live my life in weeks and seasons.

In any case, though, it is a new month. October has a lot of good things going on — a kid birthday celebration (yep, another one), two trips to points north where leaves will likely be seen, hopefully some pretty walks/runs/bike rides. I will be playing a supportive role for my eldest, who is deep into college applications, though we got some good news there. One of our big state universities has rolling admissions, so he got his application in early and we just heard back that he had been accepted. The upside of this is that it makes the whole process feel much less stressful. We know he can go somewhere good.

I have definitely been enjoying fall-themed magazines. Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, and Southern Living all showed up recently, with their Halloween/fall content, and I am here for it. I’m probably not going to make it through any Halloween-themed books, so this is the next best thing…

In other news: In a recent Before Breakfast episode, I talked about a saying I’d heard from Kristen, The Frugal Girl, about work: “I’m here to make money, not to spend it.” The idea is to avoid letting work becoming an unintentional cost center in your life (apparently Kristen was quoting the Non-Consumer Advocate). Kristen heard the podcast and did a whole post on how to spend less on getting to/being at work. Please check it out! There’s an interesting dichotomy in the comments (which I note some in the episode too) — some folks note how silly it is to pay $$ for terrible vending machine food and the like. Others point out that going out and getting a hot meal or a really good coffee from a coffee shop makes a stressful/boring job feel a little less terrible. Both are valid. I think the key is not spending money mindlessly. When you know you’re treating yourself, it’s all good.

I love living somewhere with four seasons. Winter is an acquired taste, and spring feels like winter for quite a while, but fall is often lovely. There are summery days but cooler mornings and nights. Then, in late October, all the overgrown greenery turns bright yellow, orange, and red and the world is just extravagantly colorful. I’m also a big fan of fall flowers: Sunflowers, asters, zinnias, mums. There’s something so unexpectedly beautiful about blue asters or violet zinnias against the red/orange/yellow scheme of fall.

Of course, while fall is beautiful it is also fleeting. By mid-November, the leaves will be on the ground, leaving just the silhouettes of trees — visible for vanishingly few hours of the day as the sun sets by 5 p.m.

So…with that somewhat dreary thought in mind, here are a few things I want to do to really enjoy autumn while I can.

Visit New England…twice! I’ll go to Maine in early October for work. Then in later October my husband and I are going to a destination half-marathon. In both cases, the leaves should be about at peak. My running time may be atrocious if I’m constantly pausing to take photos of leaves! Of course, given the half marathon, I plan to…

Run long. Now is the time to be doing it, with the temperatures in a range that makes miles feel good. I hope to scope out a few new places to run (like within a 5-10 minute drive) as my neighborhood is non-ideal in some ways.

Bike. At least solo, but hopefully as a family at some point since we bought the extra bike.

Hike. Also, at least one longer walk in the fall leaves.

Visit a botanical garden. Possibly Chanticleer or Longwood, or both. People think of going to gardens in the spring, but professional gardeners can really make the fall flowers shine, and with the trees being colorful the visuals should be even more spectacular. I also want to do a picnic at Stoneleigh, given that it’s not that far from my house, and is free and open to the public during the day.

Go apple picking. We need to get on this as the kinds of apples I like (like Honeycrisp) tend to be best now, rather than during the usual October/Fall Fest times. I feel like apple cider donuts should also be involved.

Watch a football game. Probably just on TV, though other members of my family will be going to some live.

Take family photos. We’re actually doing this in a studio in late September, so it won’t be autumnal themed, but it’s something I like to do in fall so we have photos available for our Christmas cards. Doing this will not be “fun,” but I want to have done it. So, onto the fall fun list it goes.

Enjoy BLP Live! I’m headed to Ft. Lauderdale in November, and co-hosting this year as lots of us plan 2025 together. I’m looking forward to yoga on the beach.

Listen to Vivaldi’s “Autumn” part of the Four Seasons. Also, I will write some autumn-themed sonnets.

In other news: A little content round-up for the week….Over at Vanderhacks (my Substack newsletter) my piece behind the paywall was “Laura’s list of easy thrills” — 31 quick, cheap ways to add joy to your life. One of the freebies was to “Build a time emergency fund.” If you enjoy this blog you’ll probably enjoy the newsletter as well, so please consider a (free or paid) subscription.

Over at the Best of Both Worlds Patreon community we’ve been discussing managing household employees’ time, how we’ve spent anniversaries (I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary this week), and task management tools. Membership is $9/month, which gets you access to the discussion forum and monthly Zoom meet-ups (always recorded for folks who can’t make it).

The Before Breakfast podcast covered “How to keep your summer spirit,” and I recommended that you “Don’t decorate with cereal boxes.” Basically, anything someone can see is part of the decor, even if you don’t always see it!