Take a day to unpack your warm clothes from storage. Wash the ones that smell, and fill your closet with the others. Do some outfit idea pictures, since the clothes will feel new and exciting from being in storage, then you can refer to these once you are tired of them mid-winter.

Pack up your lightest summery clothes. Make sure they’re clean, then store them far away where you won’t see them till spring. Take this opportunity to clean out the stuff you never wore all summer, and send it to Goodwill. Your closet will feel fresh and your house cleaner without the stuff you don’t want in it.

Put a fluffy duvet on your bed instead of your light summer quilt, if you haven’t yet.

Since the weather is so nice, eat at LEAST one meal a week outdoors. Your balcony, the park, wherever.

On a grocery run, stock up on spiced cider and spicy teas to sip every evening as you wind down for the night. This is a good time of the year to create a comfortable bedtime routine- plug in some string lights, sip that tea, moisturize, take deep breaths.

Bake banana nut bread and gingerbread pancakes and apple cinnamon muffins and caramel apple cheesecake and pumpkin bread and… need I go on? You could have a party where everybody brings their favorite fall dish to share, although you might want to schedule an extra long gym session the next morning.

Make mulled wine and invite me because I want to try it.

Put your tiniest kettle on the stove on very low heat (or use a tiny crockpot on low)  with some whole spices in it. Cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, that kind of thing. Your house will smell amazing.

Collect pretty branches and leaves from the great outdoors and place them around your house in pitchers and jars. Or honestly, get a few fake ones at the dollar tree, super cheap, and they’ll still look darling in small quantities. (Don’t tell any of your fancy friends I told you to do that.) Buy a few pumpkins to set about as well- maybe paint them if you’re feeling ambitious.

Using copper spray paint, paint some real, dry leaves. It turns them into gorgeous decor, strung up in a row, or laid about on bookshelves.

Go all out for Thanksgiving. Make a gratitude tree, or if that’s not your thing, simply roast the biggest turkey you’ve ever seen, and go crazy on the side dishes. If your family doesn’t do much for Thanksgiving, fill your house instead with the strays from your community. Definitely do take time to make a gratitude list, because gratitude will change your life. Thanksgiving is da bomb!

If you have your own household, this is also your chance to sit with your partner and decide what holiday traditions you want to have for your own little family. Make a few quirky ones and do them every year, starting with this one. Few things can evoke good feelings as well as the power of traditions, and the beauty of them is that if you didn’t grow up with great traditions, there’s nothing to say you can’t start this very year.

Autumn has the most restful spirit of all seasons; I think it feels a bit like falling into bed after a long and busy day with a weary and delighted “Ahhhh”, much like Heaven will feel. After the colorful chaos of summer, it is our chance to wind down and contemplate, and to drink in great gulps of the crisp, clean air which makes one feel like anything is possible, after all.

A Year Ago:

Book Review: War and Peace