Hello, fall

We're a long ways off from sweater weather, but I'm determined that in the middle of a season change, good things happen. There's hope that so easily couples with anticipation, even if the thing anticipated is inevitable.

Fall will truly arrive at some point, and yet that doesn't diminish my anticipation of it.

Here are a few glimpses into our early fall life

• facing the annual dilemma of wanting to decorate for fall, but not wanting to buy more stuff that we have to store (and move with, eventually) and ultimately deciding to just buy a tiny white pumpkin
• wearing handknit sweaters, like my Mae sweater and my Weekender sweater and on warmer days, wearing my Klein dress top
• frequently driving in/running through the rain, since it's rained so much in the last several weeks
• lighting a candle, Nicholas helping me get all set up with his fancy noise-cancelling headphones so that I can write without having to tune out our noisy dishwasher. Tiny things like this make me feel so loved/known by him.
• noticing sunsets, as much as I can (they're all different and I hate to miss one!)
• drinking special tea from Germany
• making smoothies for dinner, knowing it wouldn't be enough food for us for a whole meal and then watching a video about noodles, and then needing to go get some pad thai (obviously)
• enjoying plain 'ole lattes at Houndstooth, one block from the new location of Nicholas' Tuesday meetings. I visited this coffee shop a lot when I was new to Austin, and it feels good to spend some more time here
• Hand-winding yarn for Christmas presents
• Lots of knitting on Christmas presents that I don't want to share yet, because some of the recipients read the blog
• reaching for my jeans and pants more often (and mostly pairing them with sleeveless tops, but still, progress!)
• making a big batch of chili
• avocado toast + scrambled eggs + sauerkraut
• long phone-free walks with Nicholas in 75-degree, breezy weather(!)
• coffee at favorite coffee shops with friends
• making a gluten-free version of my absolute favorite childhood waffles
• hanging three handmade dresses next to each other in our closet (my blue/white metamorphic dress, my orange Klein dress, and my new green/grey metamorphic dress, not yet shared here) and loving how they look together, the significance and appeal of hours of work spent on something handmade, something worthwhile. And imagining all the cold-weather layering possibilities with the newest Metamorphic dress
• anticipating a fun birthday weekend
• reading about my autumn favorites in 2015
• revisiting some slow stitches on the tiny Christmas houses I started forever ago. It's a soothing project, oh-so-slow and the needle makes my fingers a bit sore, but they are going to be so cute!
• re-reading old blog posts of mine and tearing up at the heart lessons I needed to hear again. Specifically this one about contentment and this one about how there's no formula for a perfect day and this one about choosing not to stomp around in ugliness.
• noticing clouds and bright blues and greens in my life around me