Longing For Fall...

Lately, with the temperatures and humidity we've been having in my neck of the woods (and the rest of the country) I've found myself dreaming of Fall. I love Fall. There's something about cool, crisp weather and football that makes my heart happy.

I think I've been struggling with the realization that since we live in the south now, Fall will most likely be short lived. I'm a Midwestern girl at heart, so I'm used to cool temperatures and changing leaves from about September until November. I have a feeling that we're not going to get much relief from the heat until at least September, and more likely October. Boo. Oh well, a girl can dream, right?

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Who wouldn't love to be strolling (or running) along this path right now? I know I would!

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Oh, football! I love me some college football. Brings me right back to the Saturday mornings I spent tailgating and then screaming my head off for my team!

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I don't think I need to explain how wonderful the seasonal coffee drinks are at everyone's favorite coffee shop.

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To me, there is nothing better than a cool Fall night to have a big bonfire. In the south you almost can't even enjoy a bonfire until the weather cools off at night, and that isn't usually until at least September.

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I love a nice, hot apple cider come October. Yummmmm.

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We carved pumpkins the past two years, but this year I think I want to try something like this for the front porch. We do live in the south now, and southerners love their monograms, right?

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Lastly, I can't wait for Thanksgiving to roll around so I have many excuses to indulge in some of my favorite thing ever, pumpkin pie.

So, what about you? Are you counting down the days until Fall and cooler weather get here? Or maybe you're trying to soak up the final days of summer and sunshine?

A Big Month!

First and foremost, Happy November! Its finally starting to feel like Fall here. I love it!

The tree in our front yard, taken this morning.

As for me, I have a lot of plans this month.

This weekend I'm heading to my alma mater to have a little reunion with all my college roommates. We (all 7 of us) lived on the same floor in the dorms Freshman year and then continued to live together the rest of our four years there. Sophomore year we were in the dorms again and then Junior and Senior years we rented a 6 bedroom house off-campus! I haven't seen (most of) them since last September when Mandy got married!

Me and most of my girls (Mary is missing from the picture) at Mandy's rehearsal dinner, 2009.

I'm super excited to see them all again but I'm leaving AJ home with D for the weekend and I'm already having mini panic attacks about being away from her all weekend! I know that she'll be fine, its not that, its me missing her so much that I'm worried about.

My second big event for the month of November is the 1/2 marathon in San Antonio. To say that I'm worried about it would be an understatement. Not only am I having the same reservations about leaving AJ home with D and his dad (her grandpa) but I'm also worried about being so sore I can't walk after the race. I have just under two weeks before race day and my vow is to get back out there and run the next two weeks. I reall wish that D and AJ could make the trip to San Antonio with me, but we just decided that it made more sense for him to stay home with her instead of spending all the extra money for them to come. With that being said, the weekend should be super fun. The race is part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, which are always a good time. I ran the RnR half in Pheonix in 2007 and had a blast!

My sister and a friend at the expo before the Pheonix 1/2 marathon, 2007.

The next weekend, my baby sister is coming to visit! Its been a long time since she has seen AJ and I think she's having withdrawals. :) My brother lives close to us, but my sister doesn't so she doesn't get to come out here that often. She's getting ready to spend part of her second semester in Australia, so she really wants to get all the AJ time she can before she leaves!

My sister and me in FL, 2010.

After that, we have Thanksgiving! We're heading back to Hometown, USA for the families' annual traditional Thanksgiving festivities. We'll most likely run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with my family, it should be fun!

If you are still with me after all that, I applaud you! Now just imagine how exhausting this month will be. I'm exhausted after just typing it all out. lol Even though it will be a busy month, I'm super excited about all the fun things we have planned.

What do you have going on this month? Any fun plans? Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions?