Pumpkin Spice fall is over. Enter: Cinnamon fall.
I don’t have any strong feelings about early holiday decorating, but I do know and accept that as I wander around the hallways of my neighborhood - the grocery store, the gas station, etc - the bandaid ripped off at 12:01 on November 1. ‘Tis the season baby! We’re in it.
But then I read this wonderful thing - and boy do I wish I could remember where I saw it - but rather than Halloween being the end of spooky season, they suggested it was the beginning. Because what is more spooky adjacent than November, with its dead trees and gray pallor? If you’re not ready for Christmas yet, this is a fun mindset. It’s cinnamon fall. Dark, gothy fall. Rain on the windows fall. Oxblood lipstick and black nail polish fall. It’s a vibe, no?
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1. A slam-dunk read for staying in: Believe me when I say that I cannot put down I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai. A literary mystery, this one scratches a lot of itches. We follow Bodie as she returns to her elite, New England boarding school to teach a couple of classes during the “mini-mester” - a very boarding school coded two-week stretch between Christmas break and the winter semester. During her own senior year, a girl was murdered and the case was seemingly solved quickly. A class project turns into a personal reopening of the case, turning up some questions that were perhaps not as resolved as she thought.
2. A very good playlist for low-key ambiance: cozy fall jazz with fire crackling sounds for two hours (!!!). Time to lock in girls.
3. Extremely important: What Thanksgiving Dish Am I?
4. Striped Cups: I’m going with insulated because I’m a year-round hot coffee drinker, but the candy stripes on the tumblers are SO good.
5. Speaking of stripes: how fun are these pillow covers?
6. An anti doom-scroll activity: 1000 pieces will take me a few weeks, so I better get cracking on this Thanksgiving scene.
7. A podcast to enjoy while you’re puzzling: Right Answers Mostly, where the message is that history is just gossip. Consider me hook, lined, sinkered.
8. PSA: You can leave your pumpkins out. It’s still seasonally appropriate in November.
9. Related: Witchy Side Quests for the month of “darkness and mystery”
10. Time to be thankful.
11. Pumpkin Trifle: My cooking is extremely mid, but this recipe is my shining star. I make it every Thanksgiving and people think, for a few minutes anyway, that I have kitchen skills.
12. Sephora Sale Scores: I grabbed the Soft Services Buffing Bars and Glossier Balmdotcom in a new toasty flavor. The tiered sale always gets a lot of hype, but I find that Sephora runs plenty of one-off sales through the holidays, so it’s worth keeping an eye on anything you were interested in.
13. Don’t romp on my dingdong.
14. Watch: Thanksgiving movies are few and far between, but may I recommend Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
15. A seasonal playlist celebrating Sweet Potato Pie, family and A Thing Called Love.
16. A personal wander down memory lane: Thanksgiving Past.
17. Relevant: The Best and Worst Fall Products I’ve Seen So Far, featuring pumpkin pie vodka and pumpkin spice scented garbage bags.
18. Autumn has the best treats, no? I’ll be on the couch with my caramel apple pops and cranberry fizz.
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What are you enjoying this month? Roll call in the comments!
PS -
Just, you know, enjoying things over on instagram.
Even if you missed the Sephora Savings event, there’s usually some good holiday sales all season long. Here’s my picks.
Enjoying October - if you’re enjoying the fall vibes around here.