For the Love of Fall

What’s not to love?

Cooler temperatures - It's not too hot, and it's not too cold. Perfect weather for my favorite pair of black boots. And jeans. Add a light jacket and life is good.

Apple  cider – hot OR cold – it’s delicious either way.

A little candy corn. Yum. Those little bits of sugar just scream Autumn! 

Gorgeous colors abound.         

The crunch of leaves on a sidewalk.

Piles of leaves (that you don’t have to rake) that are big enough to jump in.

Oh? And speaking of piles of leaves?

This.

I.LOVE.THIS.PICTURE.

Yes, that is a small child screaming her fool head off, probably scared to death of those ginormous turkeys. That small girl is my sister, and she’s now a perfectly competent (seemingly unscarred) grown adult (who just celebrated her 31^st birthday!). She is well aware of my obsession with this photo. [Which is to say, I don’t feel bad publicly sharing this photo. If she had a fear of large birds, I might think twice. Maybe.] I don’t necessarily have her permission to share it on the blog, but . . . well . . . it is her birthday! J Happy Birthday, Penny!

And Happy Fall to the rest of you!

Side Note: In case you’re wondering, most of these pictures are taken from my tour last week of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Love that I’m surrounded by this beauty every day!

"Ladies, we can do better than this!"

She's right.

We can.

Jenna Fischer (you probably know her from The Office) was on Jay Leno this summer, and I was reminded of a post I "started" when I saw on the news that she had her baby. (I made some quick notes about this post in July, and . . . well . . . we know how much blogging I got done this summer).

While on The Tonight Show, Jenna got up on a soap box that I can really get behind. It’s worth repeating and restating, as apparently it can’t be shared enough.

She started this hilarious public service announcement by sharing that she wanted women to start taking better care of the public bathroom facilities. As a pregnant woman, and through all her many trips to the restroom, she’s noticed a few issues. The first problem is when she leans up against the sink to wash her hands and gets a wet belly. Those signs in airplane bathrooms about cleaning up the sinks? She’d like us to start doing that everywhere. Great idea, Jenna!

And then she addressed my favorite people – the squatters.

You.know.who.you.are.

The freaks of nature who are afraid of getting some kind of disease by sitting on a toilet seat. Or maybe you’re concerned with sitting on some else’s bodily fluids.

You know why that happens?

BECAUSE YOU FREAKING SQUAT OVER THE TOILET. Jenna calls this the “hover and tinkle.”

Just Sit.On.The.Damn.Toilet.Already.

While you might be strenghening your quads, you’re not aiming properly. It’s okay- as women, our bodies are made this way. Just relax, sit down, and keep the seat clean for the rest of us. Otherwise you start a vicious cycle which makes others think they need to squat (or “hover”), thus producing gross toilet seats for the rest of us. Please end this practice immediately.

K. That rant is over now.

If you want to see Jenna’s, go here. It’s pretty hilarious.

Also . . . in case you’re wondering . . . she had a boy. His name is Weston Lee.

You know you're out of control when . . .

I wore three pairs of shoes today.
At work.
Not intentionally, mind you. It just happened.

1. I started with some comfy flip-flops - for driving to work and walking through the construction zone.

2. The heels were for the majority of the day - their inaugural voyage. Gotta get all I can out of this great weather!

3. And then I went on a tour of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. I wasn't sure how often we'd need to go off the path, so I thought it best to cover my toes. Hence, the running shoes.

At the end of the day, I did feel a little ridiculous trying to juggle all these - but what's a girl with cute shoes to do? They can't stay home gathering dust all the time!