Can you feel it?

I'm an autumn girl. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year for me....

I love the crisp smells. The bite in the air. The apples, the pumpkins, the breeze, the amazing colors, the feel of fall...the hint of what's to come.

I know that autumn is the dying off of the old, the hibernating until spring. But to me, it's a rebirth. A time when everything hunkers down and burrows in and you gather everything you love around you and hold it close until the sun warms you again.

You bake food that produces wonderful aromas. You light a fire in the fireplace and gather around the kitchen table in warm amber light and you talk, and you laugh....

You think think about the holidays. You prepare for them. The three months of anticipation leading to Christmas are heavenly.

I have always loved fall. I love winter too - I love snow - but that's a post for another day.....

This is my third autumn in our house. The house takes on a different feel. It feels "homey". It feels warm and inviting. It feels welcoming.

Maybe it's because we moved here in September, so this time of year feels special to me and makes me love my home even more.

Maybe it's because I got married in September and it brings back such wonderful memories to me.

Maybe it's because I spent a lot of my childhood in New England, of which I have such amazing memories and where autumn is Nirvana....

I don't know.

But I do know that I feel energized. I want to be outside as much as possible and take big, deep, lung filling breaths.

I want to smile all the time.

I feel content.

Maybe it's my rebirth every year. With the hope of such wonderful things to come.....