Week 19: What's your favorite season and why?

This one is easy for me. It's fall. In honor of Week 19, here are 19 reasons I love the fall.

1. I'm a white girl.

2. It is my whole personality from September through November.

3. I have this pumpkin mug saga that is both boring and dumb and extremely important to me.

4. I was born in early October.

5. Everything smells better in the fall.

6. Even thinking about the slightly cooler weather, the beautiful foliage, apple pie, and cider, fills my whole body with joy.

7. Hiking in the fall is my favorite.

8. By the end of summer, I want to burn all of my summer clothes. Shopping for shorts, bathing suits, and summer tops is the bain of my existence. But on that first, crisp fall morning, pulling on my softest pair of jeans, my Bean boots, and a cozy sweater... I can't be stopped.

9. The foliage. I mean... come on.

10. All of the back-to-school excitement. I work in higher education, and there is something refreshing about a fall semester. Maybe it's the optimism of a new start. Maybe it's that studios and classrooms are filled with students once again. Maybe it's the sounds of football on the tv on Saturday mornings. I'm not really sure, but it makes my heart happy.

11. Hot beverages getting top billing on coffee shop signage once again.

12. I curate my annual fall playlist. Here's my 2021 Playlist.

13. It's not at all weird to dress like Han Solo.

14. Scarves and boots and all the cozy clothes.

15. Campfires, restaurants with firepits, any excuse to curl up by a fire.

16. Fall cooking—baking with apples and pumpkin, soups, and chili. Mmmm

17. Coffee mugs, blankets, and pillows. This is a year-round obsession of mine, however, it's more widely accepted in the fall.

18. Halloween and Thanksgiving. I don't like scary movies, but I love Hocus Pocus, playing dress-up, and eating all the mini Snickers I want. Thanksgiving is also a literal food holiday. I know it has a nasty past, but I don't celebrate it for its past. I celebrate it with a heart full (and stomach full) of thankfulness for my present.

19. Fall is a season of change. I'm actually pretty good with change. In fact, I like it once in a while. Change gives me hope. Change awakens that part of me that feels suppressed, stale, or empty. Change is opportunity. Not all change is good, and change can be heartbreaking and soul-crushing. But in an attempt to stay positive, hope can thrive during seasons of change if you let it. I'm not an "everything is terrible" kind of person, even when maybe everything is terrible. I'm more an "Okay then, what's next?" kind of person.

Currently, it's summer. It's hot. It's loud. I hate summer clothes and cold/iced/cold-brewed coffee is barely tolerable. It's my least favorite season. So it might not surprise you that my sights are already set on fall.