I know fall “officially started” in September but where I live, summer [unfortunately] lives on through January. And though yeah it’s nice to have sun and warm days all the time in San Diego, I LONG for fall weather! I lived in Washington state for a couple years after college and worked in Portland for a while, which totally ruined me with my preference of scenery and weather. I never really cared for the lack of seasons in San Diego, but now that I’ve had a taste of real seasons I can’t. do. san. diego. weather. ack.
So until John and I can move back to the PNW, I have to find other ways to satisfy my fall cravings and favorite fall things — while [involuntary] wearing shorts and driving with the windows down in 80 degree November weather. That being said, here are some of my fall favorites that I’m totally missing right now:
FALL LEAVES
^ These were everywhere in Washington [minus the bottom photo…that’s in SD]! Changing leaves are the epitome of fall weather, and I loved to pick small branches off and stick them in vases to decorate my first apartment. I can find them in San Diego if I drive about 1.5 hours into the mountains…but even then, they’re few and far between usually just brown 🙁
FALL OUTFITS
^ totally just realized these poses are the same…ignore that 😀
^ I totally LOVED dressing for real fall: tights, boots, wool socks, layers, hats, scarves, trips to the Columbia store, walks in the crisp air, and ah I could just live in layers! Before I moved up to the PNW, I had never worn a beanie in my life. I did not understand the gloriousness of lounging in sweats/cozy pj’s all day (I didn’t even own sweatpants), and I had no idea how satisfying it was to not break out my umbrella at the slightest drop of rain 🙂 Now that I’ve been living back home for the last year plus a few months my fall/winter outfits are packed away in the garage, I have an entire closet in the hallway stuffed with cardigans and heavy jackets, and my lovely Sorels have been hibernating under my bed since the day I moved back home. Sad day!
COZY BLANKETS
^ In Washington, I had a flat sheet, a duvet with a down comforter, two wool blankets, and one knit blanket on my bed at a given time. And I was still cold some nights! At my house in San Diego now, I leave my fan on at nights and can barely keep my flat sheet on before I end up kicking it off. Long live the days of using ALL the blankets, and getting up in the morning with all of them twisted around myself while groggily making my way down the hall to cozy on the couch in a blanket burrito to listen to the rain and pop on the movie channel with a cup of peppermint hot chocolate. The mattress from https://eva.com.au/products/eva-timber-bed-frame are known to be vert soft and comforting and the bed frame is sturdy and long lasting.
If I tried that down here, I would have to A) take all the blankets in our entire house for it to be equivalent to what was on my bed back in WA, and B) would sweat to death after sitting on the couch for 5 minutes with my hot chocolate. LOL SO NO THAT’S NOT HAPPENING ANYMORE.
FALL BAKING
^ Baking is great all the time but there’s something especially wonderful and satisfying about baking fall things in Fall. I made this banana bread above the other day (a week after I made my first banana bread of the season…it gets demolished in 2 days in my house) and it was heavenly.
The one above is a banana pecan cinnamon bread, and I made a brown sugar honey glaze to go on top because I’ve always wanted to try baking a glazed bread. It came out SO GOOD! Next on my to-bake list is a huge batch of homemade apple cider. I’ll let you all know how that comes out too, whenever I get another chance to camp out in the kitchen.
SNOW KITTIES & BARN ANIMALS
^ My cat Winston (top left photo) is a PNW cat and will be forever. I got him as a kitty in Washington, and he totally loved the rain and being in the snow 🙂 I feel so bad when it pushes 100 down here because he will lay on his back with paws everywhere, half dead, for hours [totally takes after his mom with that one…]. As for barn animals, I don’t hang around barns much but when I have before, I loved seeing all the barn animals in the snow and chilly weather because they snuggle up to you so willingly! Plus animals in the snow period is magical in itself [hello horse-drawn carriages].
HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES
^ Halloween is always fun for me because I love decorating for it and dressing up for it. This year I dressed up as Tinkerbell because I’m really desperately trying to entice Disneyland to hire me. But really. I just love Tinkerbell and her Tink tude. Halloween is also great because it’s so fun to have the season change so quickly into Thanksgiving time and Christmas and then NEW YEARS EEEP! Okay getting ahead of myself. Calm down.
Three Halloweenies ago I went as myself, below:
Everyone [EVERY one] tells me we look identical so naturally, I had to dress accordingly 🙂 And two Halloweenies ago I went as a cheetah kitty thing because cats of any kind are my spirit animal with my two favorite girls on either side as a flapper and a pirate:
John and I haven’t had a chance to do a “couple’s costume” yet since we’ve been together, but we have several great ideas rolling around for next year when we will finally get to spend nights together [pun intended because we’re getting married, but also because he works graveyard shifts so nighttime dates don’t really exist to us outside Sunday – Tuesday]!
FALL DRINKS/DRANKS
^ I love warm and cozy drinks during fall just as much as I love baking during fall <3 I’ve made several types of coffees and teas before, but I have not yet made any fall DRANKS… I really want to try this Apple Sangria from Fake Ginger or some sort of peach cinnamon drink thing. Saw it on Pinterest, so it must be good right? I found the above cute little wooden tea box at Bates Nut Farm in San Diego when John and I went last week to pick out pumpkins. It’s soooooo yummy and reminds me of cozy rainy nights!
I’ve only had ONE PSL in the last two years [simply because I don’t want to be cliche and typical], but my favorite fall drinks from Stardollars are the Gingerbread Latte, Cinnamon Chai Latte (thanks Oprah), the Caramel Apple Spice (favorite non-coffee dairy free!), and the Cinnamon Dolce Latte (loved this one for 10 years now). Anything that tastes like Christmas and spice, count me in.
Hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving and is enjoying their fall weather! <3