5 favorite things about autumn

It’s fall, y’all! I love this season so much. As I wait for the Indian Summer to make way for more autumn appropriate weather, here are 5 of my favorite things about this season. What are yours? Leave them in the comments. <3

1. 

   The changing leaves. In Northern California, we don’t go through the drastic fall colors that places like the midwest experience. However, we do get some glorious color changes of our own. My favorite is when the vineyards turn from green to gold. It hasn’t happened here yet, but any week now we’ll be seeing golden hillsides of vines. (The photo to the right is of a vineyard in Santa Rosa, taken by Kent Sorensen. I used it for the cover of The Road to Hope).
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2. A burning fire in the fireplace. If I could, I’d use the fireplace every night, all year long. Of course, our weather on the North Coast is pretty warm most of the year. But once the cold weather comes, our fireplace is roaring and I’m sitting right in front of it. The only time we don’t have a fire is when we’re going through a Spare the Air Day (thanks, drought), or we’re experiencing a warm November night.
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3. My birthday! Now, my birthday is in December, but it’s on the 7th which is technically still autumn.
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4. NaNoWriMo! November is National Novel Writing Month, and I’ve participated and one for the past 6 years. Now I’m eagerly anticipating year 7. Now that I’ve started school and I still work full-time, I’m trying to figure out how I can also write a novel at the same time. But I already have a plan in place (a sequel novel to The Road to Hope!), and I’m really excited to start writing it.
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5. Soup weather! I eat soup all year long, but I especially love it in the fall. Soup is the perfect meal, because you can make it out of pretty much anything. My favorites are pureed soup. I make a pretty mean Carrot Sweet Potato Soup, and my kids love when I make my Detox Veggie Soup (filled with so many vegetables!). Add some sausage or chicken (or don’t), and you’ve got a complete meal. (here’s my go-to recipe)

Things I don’t love: pumpkin everything – especially Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good pumpkin soup or pumpkin curry now and then. But I’m just not obsessed. And don’t get me started on PSLs. They’re just too sweet to drink. But then again, I’m a black coffee girl.