There are a lot of things I dislike and if you are a persistent reader of this blog, you will know that this list includes bees, needles, water, and jerks with clipboards. However, today I’d like to talk about something I LOVE in order to change things up and to also engage those audience members who actually like things.

I love Autumn. It is simply the best time of year, and to prove that point I’d like to invite you to take a look at the list below of all the things that make the Fall worthy of this title

Pumpkins

Let it be known that I believe Pumpkin Spice to be the most amazing flavor anywhere in the world. Sure, it doesn’t taste anything like actual pumpkin. Sure, it’s basically just an assortment of sugar and nutmeg but when this delightful flavor finds itself onto the shelves of every bakery and coffee shop in the city, I can’t help but lose my mind a little bit. I’ll be walking down the street and suddenly black out, only to awaken inside a cafe holding a coffee cup marked ‘pumpkin spice.’ This year, a donut seller near work released a pumpkin pie donut and all regards for my health fell to the wind as I took to eating one a day. Thank God I gave up the M&M’s…

I also love pumpkins. They really are the cutest. Wouldn’t you agree? They look like a chubby child and if they weren’t already friggin’ adorable, we carve even cuter faces into them, giving them only one or two teeth. In real life, we would see this as severe tooth decay but in pumpkin form it’s as cute as a button. The best part is right before Halloween when every store has a different cute little pumpkin face in their window and I get to happily greet them all on my way to work.

The Food

Pumpkin is a good start, and I love a good pumpkin muffin or pumpkin pie. But there are plenty of other foods that deserve mentioning around this time of year. One example is stew. Last year I had the good fortune to have my friend Melanie teach me the art of stew making and I have been obsessed ever since.

The problem is that summer time does not really warrant a good hot bowl of anything. Yet now, as the weather starts to chill, I feel the need for it again. Fresh carrots and potatoes along with some beef and squash. I throw them in with some vegetable stock and add some apple cider vinegar and finish it off with spinach and broccoli to add a little greenery and then I soak it up, loving every bite. Often times I also make this with grilled cheese because, well, do you really need a good reason to eat grilled cheese?

I also want to give a shout out to Apple Cider. Sure, it’s not a pumpkin latte, but it is still one of my favorite things around this time of year. There is something about the smell of cider that just reeks of fall and the changing season and makes you remember that all those magical holidays you love are just around the corner. Speaking of holidays…

Halloween

This is the big one. If you are thinking of befriending me in the near future, you should know that Halloween is my most favoritest holiday that has ever been a holiday. I love haunted houses and scary movies and dressing up and seeing what your friends dress up as. I love going to a party where you drink and eat every kind of fall food after it has been forcefully mixed with alcohol.

I love seeing little kids dressed up and mercilessly dragged through the cold, just to get a little candy. I love fake spider webs and deals on sweets in November. I love monsters and witches and drinks that look like smoke is coming out of them. It is a holiday that is so narrowly focused on just having fun and going a little crazy for a day and I think everyone needs that once in a while!

Cold Weather

Living in NYC, I have noticed that most people do not care for the cold. I, however, am from Colorado and relish the cool air. The cold means I can wear all my favorite sweaters, BUT it also means that every dog in the city start to wear their sweaters. If you are new to this blog, I think it’s time we had a talk. Dogs in sweaters are amazing. It is one of the absolute best things that can happen in a day. It comes in just slightly behind dogs in raincoats, but a step ahead of dogs in boots.

This year, my mother sent Izzy a sweater that shows off her pride. You’ll see from the picture below that this shirt makes her exactly 3.68 times cuter than normal. I conjecture that this proves that dogs in sweaters are that much cuter, making cold weather that much more of an improvement over the warmth of summer.

The cold weather also forces the leaves to turn all the beautiful shades of orange, yellow and red that we love so much. The world transforms around us and leaves litter the ground, creating that perfect ‘crunch’ as we walk down the street.

In Conclusion

Obviously you can see that Fall is the best time of year. There is no other time where we get all these amazing flavors and cute dog sweaters and perfect food. What? You’re still not sold on Autumn? What if I added that the cold weather makes the bees go into hibernation so we don’t have to deal with them for a while? Still no? I suppose you’re one of those Christmas people. No? Well, either way I still invite you to crunch some leaves, eat some stew and sit in a park and watch the costumed children and bundled up pooches stroll by and then try, just try, not to love fall. Something tells me you’ll crack under the abundantly cute pressure.