What would inspire you to live your very best life this fall? Maybe make a ‘little things to love about fall list.’ What’s on it just might change the course of the season.
If you were to make a list, what fall sights and scents, special memories, activities or important traditions would you want to be on it?
In 2008, I wrote a blog post called 20 Little Things to Treasure in Autumn. And many years I’ve shared posts called 20 Little Things I Love About Fall. I wasn’t expecting these posts to be such a huge hit, but lots of people got inspired by it and started posting their own lists of things they loved about the season. Ahhh, I found my people :).
The idea of creating a fall list really struck a chord! Granted, the internet was less overwhelming back then, so simple ideas like this were fun and inspiring.
I’ve heard some bloggers today feel a growing pressure to hire photographers for their home tours and spend thousands of dollars to decorate in order to get more eyes interested in their seasonal home. Oh my! We just made lists of little things we wanted to do and the crowds went wild, LOLOL! (Incidentally, you’re invited to my fall house tour on September 10th!).
But, reminiscing aside a decade later, I have to wonder if focusing on simple fall pleasures wouldn’t bring us just as much (or more?) happiness, peace and contentment today.
Who wouldn’t feel happier just thinking about the cozy textures, scents and traditions of fall? (I hope my kind of people still would!).
Simple joys.
I still think making a list can be an inspiring and productive way to begin a new season. It could even change expectations and inspire meaningful experiences in the season ahead.
I know I can easily look like a squirrel running all over the place and not even looking where I’m going half the time. A list keeps me focused on what I say matters to me and the simple things that will inspire me to live my very best life.
Below is the list I posted a decade ago. Just for fun and maybe to inspire you to make your own, I’m reposting the list just as it was back then. I don’t think I’d change much today!
What would be on your fall list?
Simple joys, friends. That’s what fall should be all about. Let’s remember that.
20 Little Things To Love About Fall
- Quiet dinners by the fire
- Reading mystery novels in darkened rooms
- Flannel sheets at the end of a long day
- Candles Flickering
- Smelling cinnamon, oranges & cloves
- Pumpkins
- Roasts, Potatoes & Carrots
- Fluffy feather beds on a cold night
- Watching movies snuggled in soft blankets
- Cozy socks
- Pie in the oven
- Warm crackling wood stoves
- Squash with buttered brown sugar
- Chili and corn bread smothered in honey
- Wind blowing through leaves
- Glow of lamps through windows
- Laughter filling a room
- Scrabble and popcorn
- Caramel apples
- Family traditions
I’d love to be inspired by your list if you make one, so feel free to post yours in the comments! Or spread the love of a return to simple fall joys! Write your list and share with me and your friends or followers on Instagram with the #fallnesting hashtag (follow and tag me @theinspiredroom!).
Fall Nesting Series:
Happy Fall Nesting!
A Round up of Fall Doormats
Day One: An Autumn Mindset
Day Two: 20 Little Things
Day Three: Cozying Up the House with Shutters
Day Four: How to Decorate Your Coffee Table in Any Season
Day Five: Fall House Tour
Day Six: Embrace Your Style (and adapt as needed)
Day Seven : Cozy Fall Morning Rituals
YAY FOR FALL!
P.S. You can also open the 20 Little Things video in full screen on YouTube.
Fall is my favorite. Feel so energized and yet at peace. Looking forward to the series Melissa
– scented candles with apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice
– using the firepit on weekends
-planting colorful mums in the patio pots
– fall baking with apples, pumpkin (trying for a keto twist this year)
-super-soft blankets on couch to wrap up in while watching football with the dogs
-decorating inside and out with heirloom pumpkins and gourds
-family get-togethers where we can eat outside and play cornhole, enjoying the late season crisp air
-twinkling lights at night
-appreciating that impossibly clear blue sky that comes in late September on a sunny 70 degree day
-photographing the season (for myself) and taking pics of my best friend’s family at the pumpkin patch
-hiking the area parks, hopefully a day trip to Skyline Drive for leaf-peeping
Thanks for getting me re-focused Melissa! I am one of those who saw your post in 2008 and was so inspired by it, same as I am today. Thank you for staying down to earth for us :)
Snapshots … glimpses of my favorite things during autumn on Cape Cod
http://www.lindastoll.net/2016/10/in-which-i-sift-through-autumns.html
Bliss …
I love the cooler mornings, candles to light the evenings, and college football…well, maybe only Auburn football.
Your list covers it. As for decorating my home, I think I have gone less for the store bought things and more for just the regular everyday things such as blankets, candles, my fall stitching and foliage in my vases.
hayrides
hot chocolate
roasting marshmallows
camping trips
walking through the leaves
football games
trick or treat
pumpkins
and more pumpkins
children in costumes
apples
homemade soups
chyrsanthemums
raking
flannel shirts
sweatshirts
long walks
fall festivals
crisp air
trees turning colors
I appreciate your perspective so much. I’m a fellow cozy appreciator and it really doesn’t take much to accomplish that – soft, warm throws, sweaters, a big pot of soup, switching out some throw pillows and a runner for my table and getting out my favorite rustic pumpkin. The obsession with blow-out fall decorating has gotten ridiculous and yet strangely tempting to follow. Thank you for being the voice of reason. And beauty.
A big pot of soup with homemade bread
Cozy throws on the couch
Crisp fall air-I still remember a drive back to college in 1992 when the fall air had just started. I drove with the windows down the 2 1/2 hours and I still get that feeling when fall starts.
Whatever that smell is when fall really starts- earthy?
Pumpkin in as many things as possible
Orange, clove, and cinnamon in the diffuser
Cozy socks
Fleece pullovers
Family time by the fire
Hot tea
Great post, Melissa, thank you.
Here is my list:
– 80 degree Texas weather so that I can paint the new shed in the backyard of our new #ModernBohoCottage
– Baking bread, especially Ciabatta
– Cooking stews, roasting vegetables
– Walking around the neighborhood when it’s no longer 100+ degrees
– Finally getting to work on our landscaping, without dying of heat exhaustion
– Playing my “new” Mata Hari pinball machine (a gift from my pinball wizard husband)
– Getting to contemplate life after our semi-major move
– Enjoying seeing what other people are up to for Fall
Fall feels like a period of slowing down to me…a time to look at things…pay more attention to the comforts around us or those we create:0)
Fuzzy warm pillows and throws…toss in 2 pups on the couch and I’m all in!..Maybe a great movie such as You’ve Got Mail?..ahhhhh…..lovely!
Fall…my favorite!
Sweaters, sweatshirts, boots!!
Chilly mornings and evenings
Watching football, and in our case marching band huddled under blankets, mittens, and hats
Crunching through leaves on a walk
Baking everything!
Coffee or tea lattes; because they are so much better when it’s cooler outside!
Colorful foliage against a beautiful blue sky
Foggy mornings
Reading a good book by the fire, with a warm mug of yummy
Spicy scents everywhere
I suffer from a chronic illness so the heat going away is a blessing and so are layers!!! Also things seem to get more serious and I like that. Not so much grab it, it might go away to blessings counted.
– fires
– chunky blankets
– cozy sweaters
– scarves
– warm drinks
– bakng with my babies
– family
– apples and everthing associated with them
– neighborhood unity on Haloween
– leaves, leaves, leaves
– gatherings
– spiced wine
– fall festivals
Well I love fall especially colorful leaves.
My favorite are:
Quiet dinners by the fire
Reading mystery novels in dark rooms
Sparkling candles
Smelling cinnamon, oranges and cloves
Pumpkins
Roasts, Potatoes and Carrots
I love this post so much. :-) This got me inspired to make a list of my own… My motto this year is ‘cozy imperfection.’ I just want to be with the people I love, in the home I love so much!
Fall is my favorite time of year! Crisp cool weather, football games, mulled cider and the beautiful changing leaves!
Great ideas. Think I will bake a pie.
**chill in the air
**sweaters and sweatshirts
**soup
**pumpkins
**changing color of the leaves
**vacations–always in October
**quiet of the season
**fires in the fireplace with all the lights dimmed (or off)
**how everything just. slows. down.
**scary movies
**bonfires
**fall scented candles
**Oktoberfest
**picking apples
**candy corn
**everything!!!