Start-ed to Fall.

Welcome to the very beginning of my favorite season.  The season of burnt orange, rusty red and chocolately brown.  The season of cable knit sweaters, soft leather boots and light weight jackets.  The season of crisp air, fallen leaves and cozy nights.  The season of juicy apples, velvety pumpkin and spicy cinnamon.  The season of family dinners, crackling fires and football games.  The season of perfect weather for no-frizz hair, balanced skin and walking outside without sweating.

There's something about fall that screams 'new' to me.  Perhaps it's the association fall always has with going back to school, buying new supplies and a new wardrobe.  Perhaps it's the obvious sense of change that permeates the air.  Fall allows us all to start over, forget about the somewhat exhausting long summer days and start fresh in the crisp air. 

In fact, I find I make most of my best resolutions in the fall.  Here is this year's resolution:

This year I will make more of an effort to play to my passions: take a cooking course, read about my favorite idols (currently reading Julia Child's memoir and LOVING it), learn more about wine, write in my journal, speak more french, bake a perfect pie crust, keep up with distant friends. 

It sounds easy enough: do what you love.  But sometimes, this can be the hardest thing to achieve.  First, we have to identify what it is that makes us happy, and then find the time to do it.  It wasn't until this weekend, while spending the afternoon nose-deep in Julia's descriptions of how to make an omlette that I realized what I need to be doing.  And so, I put down the book and made oatmeal raisin cookies, zucchini bread, chicken schnitzel and zucchini fritters.

I fell into bed with a full stomach and heart.  Ah, fall.  You're always so good to me.

What is your fall resolution?

I haven't OD-ed on pumpkin, yet.

Just a few things we love about fall...

1.  The Madison Square park fall festival where they serve cold beer and warm pumpkin puffs (chunks of spiced pumpkin wrapped in pastry dough and fried until flaky and golden brown)
2.  Long walks in Central Park as the crisp fall air turns your cheeks the perfect shade of rose.
3.  Waking up to a steaming cup of pumpkin spice Keurig coffee.
4.  Cashmere socks.
5.  Stuffing skinny jeans into broken-in Frye boots.
6.  A perfectly wrapped scarf that serves equally as a brilliant accessory and as practical outerwear.
7.  A little extra wiggle room to enjoy warm, comfort food.
8.  The Halloween costume brainstorming sessions had during Monday night football commercial breaks
9.  Primetime TV in full swing.
10.  The return of creative window displays and a reason to shop again (sweaters and boots and scarves, oh my!)
11.  Brisk air gives you an extra excuse to cozy up to that special someone.
12.  Apples, apples, everywhere!
13.  Not sweating on the walk to work, hair that doesn't frizz the minute you step outside, and lightly moisturized skin tucked under soft layers.
14. The return of red wine.

Recycl-ed.

Past relationships are a funny thing.  After they are over, we do one of two things.  Either we personify our past lovers as everything we hate in the world: “How could I have ever loved such an egotistical, unrefined moron?”  Or, we romantically glorify them, inducting them into our own private relationship shrine/hall of fame, requiring that all future romantic interests live up to the impossible standards we project onto our past lovers, so that no matter how wonderful, the new guy always falls short.  Am I right?

Lord knows I am guilty of both.

So, how do we break the cycle? How do we forget about "dude number one" and accept "dude number whatever" for who he is, or who he might be?  Watch the movie 500 Days of Summer (I saw it this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it) for the answer.  Perhaps all we can hope is that the cycle continues, that after summer there is a fall, that after fall there is a winter.  Perhaps, life without the next step in the cycle is just 500 days of summer.  Perhaps, it's time for fall.