a FRESH start

     Fall is my MOST FAVORITE season of the year, and for that I am thankful that I live in a place that gets to experience all of the changes throughout the year. Fall however, for me is just a clean, crisp fresh start to all things pertaining to my life. I have cleaned out my summer clothes boxed them up, sent some to Good will, It's a fresh start for football season which the Panthers totally need each year, I have organized all of my tupperware and they are anxiously awaiting the day I make pots of chili and fill them for the freezer on a colllllld night, I have somewhat turned Asian in the way that I have been studying like a pshyco for my upcoming GRE test November first (I'm keeping all 20 little limbs crossed that this will lead to another fresh start of beginning Graduate School), I got a Brita from Jordan for my Birthday and have just started a new thing where I add either oranges, lemons, or limes each week for a hint of flavor to my purified water... and it is beyond refreshing! I just signed up to help with the Raleigh Rescue Mission downtown, to help prepare lunch for the homeless,(Taking part in helping the homeless during this time of year is not only very rewarding but this is when I feel they need it most and we need to help prepare them for the Winter! I have opened my windows and it is pretty amazing to turn off the air finally, and to wake up to the wind blowing in your room, and going to bed like that as well, again REFRESHING!
     Those of you who know me well, know I'm pretty much a happy girl, but I sware Fall season I'm just a little extra, and full of vitality (go with it...its a GRE word and I practice every second I get, for those of you who don't carry around index cards with vocabulary on them in your purse or wallet, the word means ENERGY). There is much anticipation about things to look forward to in my eyes about the fall and here they are:

-wearing my Uggs and sitting by a fire
-Santa is coming soon (I dont care who you are 5, or 80... the man is cool.)
-Clark, my soon to be nephew will be born in January!!
-Drinking hot chocolate and sugar cookie tea (yes they have it I promise...)
-waiting for the leaves to change color and fall so that I can make place card names for the Thanksgiving Table
-Pumpkin carving (PS invest in some vaseline, if you put it around the edges of your carving it lasts longer, for real)
-Toasting Pumpkin seeds
-Roasting marshmellows
-Grilling on the patio with the fam all bundled up with blankets
-The smell of any and everything pumpkin
-Christmas cups at Starbucks
-My first Best Friends Wedding
-Watching kids play and jump in the leaves (It just reminds me of my childhood, is 25 too old to participate?!)
-Home made apple cider in my crock pot (I always turn into a super Betty Crocker in the fall...)
-Playing with our NEW cornhole that Carolines dad made for us, and Laurens bean bags that she will soon sew! (THIS is realllllly exciting in our household, now I won't have to scrumage around and put rice or flour in bags as if those would suffice.....because lets be honest, they DONT!)
-Halloween Jokes, the kid ones, like: Why didn't the skeleton go to the party? Because he had noBODY to dance with........ha!
-Making Pumpkin desserts for my boys I nanny for (I am learning a TON about being a mother by the way..)
- our second annual girls carving party accompanied by spiked/non spiked pumpkin lattes and hot chocolate!

     I am sure there are more, but those are mostly what makes me happy about Fall and the season to come! As I was saying before, referring to Fall being a Fresh start for me for a lot of reasons, There is one thing that I think would be an awesome idea for me personally to do and maybe you should do with your family also. Before you go to bed, think about the best thing that happened to you that day, or one good thing that happened that day. Obviously there are plenty of crappy days throughout the year that we all have, so on those days I would advise your answer to simply be that you woke up alive, breathing and healthy that day. Now that I keep talking about this, I think I'm gonna pull a "Brady Bunch" and get Caroline and Lauren to play this little task with me when were cooking dinner or just hanging out at night, "What was the best thing that happened to you today, and what was one bad thing that happened" (your pretty stellar if you don't ever have a bad thing, Go you!) So cheers to my new assignment and the beginning of Fall!

I will start: Good thing(s): I had a major Fall clothes clean out/swap out, I killed a cockroach on my deck... Bad thing (s): This blog is taking to long to write and its exceeding my break limit for studying, I saw a few left over school things I had made under my bed for my previous classroom while cleaning and it made me sad.

I will leave you with a picture from our last years girls carving party, can't wait wait for this years!! PS, my hair is SOOOOOOOOOOOO short in this picture, seriously it takes a year to grow an inch and a half, what the heck man?!