Fall is Coming!

Happy Thursday! You may notice that I get particularly excited about Thursdays because they are my work Friday. I work 4/10's, so I get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Love it. It makes waking up at 4 am totally worth it.

Fitness Report: I've walked about half my regular distance at work this week due to the rain, but am hoping to log some quality treadmill time this weekend. My legs have been feeling good and my back and pelvis have been holding up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Weight Loss Report: Confession time. Some pretty significant depression related to the financial stress I mentioned earlier this week has sort of sucked up all of my emotional energy - which has lead to "I don't care, I'll eat whatever is handy...and cheap." I haven't logged my food for about a week. My weight is up about 3 pounds, although I'm fairly certain this is due to Ramen-related water retention. Hopefully weekend running plus healthier meals will get me back down by Monday and then we can get back to it. I would really like to see a 50 pound loss by the end of the year. That's about 2 pounds per week, which should be very doable.

It has finally cooled down here and has been hovering in the 60's all week with rain off an on. Yay!! Fall is my favorite time of year for several reasons.

1. It is the best running weather. The temperature is perfect, the air is crisp, it isn't quite dark after work, and you get that amazing cold cheeks, warm body feeling once you've gone about a mile. The absolute best week or two for running comes when the larch trees shed their needles and it feels like you're running on sunshine. Corny, I know - but it is really amazing.

2. You know the holidays are coming, but haven't yet admitted to the reality of shoveling snow for four months.

3. You can stop mowing the lawn. I hate mowing the lawn. Hate it. With a passion. I want to be one of those people that loves yard work, but I'm not. By fall, the lawn has usually died and there is no more mowing!!! I have a little party.

4. Seasonal socks!!! What? you don't have a stash of Halloween and Christmas socks just waiting to be color-coordinated to your outfit? I feel sad for you.

Purple witch/owl socks that match my shoes = happiness

5. Sweaters, sweatshirts, and other cozy clothing items!!! Note: these can be color-coordinated with above socks for maximum joy. Sadly, my shirt doesn't match my socks today, but the socks match the shoes. That is enough.

Awkward bathroom selfie? Check.

6.  Fall leaves (the pretty ones out in the world, not the metric ton that falls off the two huge maple trees in our front yard. No joke - one year I got 32 BIG lawn and leaf bags full, but I digress), Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations everywhere, pumpkin scented and flavored everything. I can't wait to take S out and show him all of the fun colors and sights.

7. Speaking of S, I can't even contain my joy at all of the baby sweatshirts and hats. So exciting! I mean, seriously - look at this:

If that doesn't make you smile, I can't help you. Unfortunately he doesn't seem quite as thrilled by the amazing giraffe hat and matching pajamas as I am. We need to work on this.

8. General air of coziness. Of course, our family's favorite activity is to curl up on our massive couch with blankets and watch movies, or play games. While we do this year round, there is an extra cozy factor during the fall.

We even managed to get a dog that loves coziness just as much as we do.

She came for pizza, but fell asleep on a baby butt.

Lola burrito.

What is your favorite season?