<span class=”dcap”>I</span>t’s becoming dark out too early. I’ve stopped ordering my lattes iced. In November “Fourbucks” will have gingerbread lattes again. I don’t know of anything better. Yesterday I wore boots instead of sandals and devoured an apple crumble with the girls. We’ve come up with a new ritual, meeting on Sunday evenings for drinks, which always turn into dinners. Then we disperse, to have second meals with our significant others who’ve been waiting for us to eat. We lie and say we haven’t eaten, but we have. “Gosh, I just don’t have much of an appetite lately.”
We’re approaching noctober which makes me want to grocery shop and build a nest. I want to cook up pots of things. Lamb stew. Hearty earthy meals. I sleep more in this weather. Today, I slept until noon. I was up ’til 3am watching The Notebook followed by 13 Going On 30. I adore movie days, and this gloomy weather inspires me to movie hop. Little Manhattan, In Her Shoes (saw it and loved it), Elizabethtown. I love the hop, especially when I smuggle in a bottle of Jack Daniels to spike my enormous diet coke. Though I only do this on a date, and by our third movie, we need to go home and not watch a movie in bed.
I need to reorganize my closet and donate bags of it away. I cannot find anything anymore. I need more sweaters. Those damn J. Crew leaflets have been arriving in my mail every day. I want to wear knee highs and preppy clothes, to mix up some Maker’s Mark with hot chocolate. To play in leaves and eat walnut honey’s from Young’s Farm in Old Brookville. Instead, I’m here, in this city, in my room, writing on a tight deadline. Riiight. Back to it.
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anonymousbutconcerned,
Seeing as you didn't leave a real email address, I couldn't reply asking what you are talking about?
And I'm here, in this city, in my room, writing on a tight deadline too.
I just took a break to check in, and you came through with the perfect excuse to procrastinate! thanks for that :)
i sleep more in this weather too, and I crave things like acorn squash and sweet potatoes.
I'll see if my love can watch your interview, since he's in NYC and I'm not. At least one of us will get to see it.
Keep writing, I'm right here with ya.
It's getting noticably darker here in California, too. In the earlier evenings, I mean. Oh yeah, and I so have to make time to watch The Notebook, I heard it was a really good romance movie. And I'm like one of those hopeless romantics… except I'm sort of young.
You have a lot of shoes.
Funny how when we want to be somewhere most, most often we're stuck inside of a dreary room, typing away; only dreaming.
I miss East Coast falls. Enjoy it for me. :)
good post!
Ooooo, I love movie days in this weather. And I love the smells from a home cooked meal in the autumn – the warm aroma flittering through the air welling up in my nose. A window is cracked in the the kitchen and you feel the cool air come in and its a sweet contrast to the smells in the kitchen. Breathe in…aaaahhhhhh….mom. Home.
Damn you for mentioning Maker's Mark. It makes me want to come back here and read some of your on-again/off-again drivel now.
Try this film on for size: Kontroll
It's Hungarian.
I like expression noctober. And its contents.
Do you ever wonder if you drink too much? There are so many references to alcohol in your blog. Do your dates ever wonder?
Noctober is the best. Especially in Brooklyn. The pumpkins on stoops and the return of the cozy sweater cannot be rivaled. I totally agree it makes you want to whip up a stew (or oatmeal). Uutumn in New York is the best season ; cozyness rivals outdoor gardens in a good way. I love it.
Good morning Stephanie and all, I personally consider fall to be the ultimate 'f' word – the certain betrayal of summer to winter, and here in Utah, winter is eternal. But then I have to admit, going home from work, donning velvet jammies and fuzzy slippers, eating dinner with the darlings, and cozying up with a pot of hot tea in front of the fireplace as we watch mindless tv is absolute heaven on earth. Gingerbread, home made white bread, stew in the crock pot – ah…bliss.
Thanks for the post – a bright spot in every day.
i recommend going to foodtv.com and searching for a lamb stew recipe by giada de laurentis. made it the other night. my friends were raving about the 'upscale restaurant quality' of the dish. served with lightly toasted sourdough and a lemony vinagrette salad. talk about welcoming the change of season ….
Good movie day. I tend to want to see movies in the theater by myself (I know that sounds antisocial…and it is!). Always one of the things that really makes me happy. The Jack, though, is an even better idea.
It seemed like yesterday was July, and tomorrow the leaves will be falling and I'll be in a peacoat, fighting the wind and wondering when spring will arrive.
I ached all summer long for fall, and now it is here — for all of a week or ten days — before I need to start wearing boots and a 30-second walk to the bus feels like an eternity.
Mebbe the tree-huggers have it right, but in the meantime, I like looking out the window, seeing falling snow, and knowing I've got three or four unwatched DVD's sitting on the coffee table and a few hours to kill on a Saturday afternoon.
Thanks for reminding me :)
Stephanie,
Your posts remind me of 5 early falls I spent in NYC. It's been 10 years ago that I lived/loved/traveled as a single young woman. Now I've evolved and spread my wings even further than I thought had when I lived there. But I'll always remember early fall, the snap in the air, getting the jacket out of the closet for the first time, the BOILING 3rd story walk up that we had to open the windows in to let in the cold air and the smells of fireplaces. I loved it there! Have a gingerbread latte for me! ;) You're my daily "escape" to the city- now that I'm a mom and back in the South.
Amydell
I love days in. It's one of the luxuries I'm afforded now that I work from home. Today, right this moment actually, I've got on 84 Charing Cross Road. I'm wearing really ugly socks and drinking a grande skim no-whip toffee nut latte. Next up, Shrek 2 & Tarnation (tried to watch this at night and had to shut it off… but it was the kind of thing I couldn't really bring myself to turn off) I did though… I will watch it peripherally as I type soon. I love that I'm able to not watch movies as I write. I find a wonderfully warming feeling comes with the background comfort of movies. They keep me company. And Linus stops in from time to time to bean in my lap as I write. I'm so happy today.
as noctober turns ever greyer ever blacker ever colder and you are watching the tank "Captain Corelli's Notebook" ?? at least 13-30 was funnyish .. yes, i too am waiting for the trees in The Park to change before I admit defeat .. and then wait… until lousy smarch weather..
I love reading about your love of autumn. The image of the smell of roasted chestnuts outside the Met still sticks in my head. (I don't know … maybe you linked to it this time, but I didn't check.) Amazing.
P.S. I greatly prefer this photo of you, with the glasses, to the one before it.
I know that fall is coming when my furkid(thanks Stephanie-all of my minions around the barn are starting to work this into their vernacular-excellent!) starts growing hair from every place that is not blanketed, and he is now starting to look like a balding yak. The black and orange wooley bear caterpillars are making a mad dash for the woods, hoping for a place that is dry to make a cocoon for the rainy season. And the days are getting really short-we are about 90 miles from the northern most point in the contiguous 48 states. Last week, it started getting dark around 6.15, and totally dark by 7.00. In 2 months, the sun won't show it's face until 8.45am, and it will die an early death at around 4.45, totally dark. Nights will be filled with hot spiced wine, schnapps, smoked Salmon, and no power in our pacific gales. Aahh…It's nice to have fall back in our midst.
Well done! Just think, you'll be as famous as Marry Blaire soon. She was inteviewed on MSNBC last year. (Ever considered putting your karaoke tapes online btw?) ;-)
Being in Alaska, my summer is just too damn short…I've been having to scrape my windshield in the morning, the snow is creeping down the mountain outside my window…i wish i could sweep it off. Time to break out the candles and merlot for the evening. Time to start thinking of winter-day activities. Plan some mid-winter dinner parties to break up the darkness.
But, I do love the smell of coffee in the dry cold air, someone's fireplace when it's -10, I could get high on the fresh air. I do miss my Vermont fall days though.
Thanks for the post to welcome in the fall!
Those J. Crew catalogs are deadly, aren't they? All of those tweedy jackets and velvety shoes, I must say this year they've outdone themselves – that's always been one thing I've liked about fall, the changing out of the wardrobe. That and making pumpkin bread! And then consuming the entire bread unit in one sitting…
I love the blog, but it seems that your blog often reverts to a wish list of things you can't have…i.e. you can't do little kid things anymore like jump in leaves, have recess, go to school dances, and you don't have kids of your own so you can't experience these activities (and we all love them) through kids. I think you should try to live in the moment, because when you ARE cooking earthy meals in a gourmet kitchen while your kids play in the leaf pile in the front yard I hope you aren't yearning for singledom in your small one bedroom. The grass IS green, but it is never greener.
They also have pumpkin spice latte's at the moment. I love those gingerbread ones too…yummy.
I love Fall and Noctober here in the Midwest. Punkins, going to the apple farm and picking apples, pumpin bars with cream cheese frosting, breads, tater and leek chowder, chili, the crunch and smell of leaves, my birthday. I made a turkey dinner last weekend…just because, it was so yummy with all the trimmings.
Jack and Diet? Why must people sully such fine Sourmash Whiskey, I ask you?
The only way to drink it respectfully is the way Mr. Sinatra did, on the rocks. And not too many either, you wanna drink it, not ice skate on it.
If you want to do one better, take the example of The Mentor's Mentor, Jackie Gleason drank it straight out of a tea cup.
thanks for the jack and coke at the theater tip! I would have never thought of this :) the only things I sneak in are candy and water bottles (how boring). Also, if you feel like donating anything from your closet to me I wouldn't mind it at all (I'm sure I won't have to pay much for shipping).
hey, a girl can dream… can't she? :)
aspartame warning: Stephanie, before you drink one more Diet soda please read the following website:
http://www.lightparty.com/Health/DietCokeAspartame.html
"The poison in Diet Coke is aspartame. As a member of the National Soft Drink Association Coke opposed FDA approval of aspartame for beverages. their objections, running to several pages published in the Congressional Record of 5/7/85, said aspartame is uniquely and inherently unstable and breaks down in the can. It decomposes into formaldehyde, methyl alcohol, formic acid, diketopiperazine and other toxins. In a study on 7 monkeys 5 had grand mal seizures and one died, a casualty rate of 86%.
Coke knew; and knowing, broke their good faith contract with customers, a breach exhibited by the recent plot to program vending machines to raise the price with the temperature. Dissatisfied with selling flavored sugar water plus phosphoric acid, they switched to pushing an addictive formula called "Diet". Addictive substances multiply markets, so Diet Coke soared off the sales charts, spreading obesity in its flight.. We're fatter because aspartame suppresses seratonin and makes us crave carbohydrates."
Aspartame is a slow-acting poison, originally designed as a biological weapon by Searle Pharmaceuticals in the 1970s (the CEO of Searle at the time was none other than present-day war criminal Donald Rumsfeld.) Rumsfeld bribed the FDA to approve aspartame as a sweetener despite its toxic effects on the human body. Not only will it make you crave carbohydrates it will cause migraines, memory loss, cancer, and nervous disorders. (in other words, you'd be better off drinking your Jack straight.) Just so you know. Take care Steph.
I lived the life of which you dream about.