Nights are getting cooler and indoors are getting cozier! Here’s the perfect Early Autumn Tag to get into the fall spirit 🍂

Hello my beautiful friends!
Lately, in this early September days, I started to get a little (read: a lot) excited because I can tell that my favorite season is – if not yet upon us – soon arriving. I know that for some of you it’s a bit too early to talk about Fall, but to be completely honest I’ve started celebrating Autumn as soon as September 1st arrived… so I am ready!

I don’t know about where you live, but here the nights are getting cooler and indoors gets cozier. So I’ve taken the first opportunity to dig into my wardrobe and take out my fall-colored sweaters: mustard yellows, rusty browns, dark oranges, the colors of the changing leaves – and get all cozy to write about Autumn.

source: Pinterest

I’m inviting the following people to participate to this tag: Fabien at feub.net, Anais at My Happiness Passport, Francesca from Separate Sky. Go check them out and show them some love & support :)

If you, too, are an Autumn/Fall Lover, feel free to leave your answers in the comments below or if you have a blog, write a post about it and tag me, I’ll be happy to read your answers ♥ I’ve made an image that you can pin/share to spread some Autumnal love around :)

And here are the questions in text format in case you want to grab them for your blog:
1- Favorite thing about Autumn?
2- Spooky Autumn or cozy Autumn?
3- Haunted house or Halloween party?
4- Carve pumpkins or paint pumpkins?
5- Go apple picking or go on a hay ride?
6- Pumpkin spice lattes or mulled apple cider?
7- What did you dress up for Halloween last year?
8- Falling rain or a crackling fireplace?
9- Have you purchased any fall decor yet?
10- Favorite photo that you took last fall?
11- Favorite Autumn-themed movie?
12- Favorite color to wear in Autumn?
13- Favorite Autumn-themed book?
14- Best way to spend a rainy day?
15- Favorite Autumn food?
16- Favorite Autumn quote?
17- Favorite Autumn leaf?
18- Favorite Autumn activity?
19- Favorite Autumn scent?
20- Is your birthday in Autumn?

But now grab a cup of coffee, a hot cocoa with a dusting of cinnamon or apple cider and let’s just jump right in, like you would jump in a giant pile of fall leaves.
I hope you enjoy!

via GIPHY

1- Favorite thing about Autumn?

Impossible to pinpoint one single “thing”. To me Autumn is a state of mind, a sensation of feeling euphoric and nostalgic at the same time. The deeply rooted connection to earth and its cycles, the celebration of the harvest (both literally and figuratively),  a time to express gratitude, complete projects and create balance.
And everything looks amazing when it’s Autumn: the sunsets, the rainy days, the colorful trees, the warm layered clothes… I also love the smell of Autumn, the wet leaves, the misty mornings. Not to mention the perfect temperatures: not too warm, not too cold… oh c’mon what’s not to love about Fall?!

2- Spooky Autumn or cozy Autumn?

Definitely Cozy Autumn for me. I understand spooky, I love spooky, but for me this is not a completely “spooky season”. That would be too reductive. Autumn is more poetic than spooky. Ok, there is a spooky period leading up to Halloween, but for the most part every day in Autumn has a cozy (or hygge) element to it – be it a cup of warm coffee, a comfy sweater, reading a book on a rainy afternoon under a checkered blanket, lighting candles around the house…

3- Haunted house or Halloween party?

I prefer a small Halloween gathering, friends dressed up watching horror movies and playing games, while enjoying lots of delicious Halloween Vegan food or even better, a Harry Potter Halloween party :)
We don’t really have Haunted Houses (of the amusement genre I mean) here and as much as I’d like to visit one, I also think that a big crowd doing the same thing at the same time breaks a bit the spooky atmosphere, if you know what I mean?
Now…. if instead I could visit a real haunted house on actual All Hallows’ Eve, where real paranormal activities happen… that would be a totally different, totally scary story.

4- Carve pumpkins or paint pumpkins?

Definitely carve. I love to carve big and small Jack o’lanterns and put candles in them. They look so amazing when they glow at night in the dark.

5- Go apple picking or go on a hay ride?

Apple picking all the way, and this year I can do it directly in our cabin’s garden at The Burrow ♥ we have apples that are just about ready.

6- Pumpkin spice latte or mulled apple cider?

Pumpkin spice soy latte, but for me it will be homemade (remember that I live in the middle of nowhere) because I don’t drink cider, sorry! But my husband does, and he opened the first bottle of the season just last night :D

7- What did you dress up for Halloween last year?

I actually didn’t dress up last year :(

8- The sound of falling rain or a crackling fireplace?

Either are lovely, but as dreamy as a crackling fireplace sounds, I love rain too much! And to get that glowy, cozy aspect of a fireplace I can just light a multitude of candles, while you can’t fake a magical thing like a soothing rainfall and the gentle pitter patter on the leaves. Also distant thunders fill my heart with joy. Anyone else?

9- Have you purchased any fall decor yet?

No, not yet! I was about to get orange candles last week but I resisted… and then regretted it because I have to make sure I have some in time for Mabon – and it’s not like we go to home decor stores very often… But I also don’t just buy loads of stuff, remember I’m trying my best to live a sustainable life. Rather than many plastic pumpkins, I’d prefer to get real gourds as soon as they will be available at the grocery store. And next year I’m definitely going to grow some in our mini-vegetable patch.

10- Favorite photo that you took last Autumn?

I guess I will have to go with a photo from a truly magical, eerie hike Fabien and I did on a cold November day. We literally walked on top of mountains that were shrouded in clouds, and everywhere was covered in fallen leaves.
The combination of these 2 factors resulted in a dreamy atmosphere. You can see what I mean here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Francesca 🌙 Vegan + Boho life (@francesca_sevenroses) on Nov 18, 2018 at 3:28am PST

11- Favorite Autumn-themed movies?

Surely, undoubtedly all the Harry Potter movies, and I mean all of them. Each fall we re-watch all of them and soon after I feel I have to start reading all the books again. Gosh, my husband must be a saint. But he says I’m Harry Potter-obsessed, I don’t see why.
A special mention goes to Dead Poets Society: the first time I watched it I fell in love, cried, wanted to run away into the world and just live, create, write, exist. But mostly, I knew I had to live somewhere where the leaves change color.
But give me any fall-related episode from Gilmore Girls and I’ll be a happy gal.

12- Favorite color to wear in Autumn?

For so many years I used to wear only black all year long, no matter the season. I might have ventured into dark purple (hello gothic years!) but that was it. While now I’m so happy to pair blacks and denims with the aforementioned changing leaves’ colors, so mustard and rusty orange plus jewel tones, maroon, brown and beige. I guess what I’m trying to achieve is to camouflage into an Autumnal forest? :D
Oh and let’s not forget the dark red of checkered shirts!

13- Favorite Autumn-themed book?

Besides all the Harry Potter collection, I guess I can add any Brontë sisters’ books (currently reading Jane Eyre but Wuthering Heights would be perfect as well).

14- Best way to spend a rainy day?

Either driving on back roads, listening to good music, then taking a quiet walk in a forest, surrounded by enchanted colors and smells, or painting / reading at home with my husband,  soaking the serenity of the moment. Or just watching a good movie :)

15- Favorite Halloween candy?

Any homemade treats from my Fun & easy Vegan Halloween treats recipe collection :)

16- Favorite Autumn quote?

Tough question for a fall AND literature lover… Let’s go with a classic that embodies well how I feel about this season (just change Octobers in Autumns):

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

17- Favorite Autumn leaf?

I think that during Fall Foliage season all leaves are enchanting, but the Sycamore maple, Japanese maple and Oak autumn leaves are my favorite. You also have to know that I collect autumn leaves when they are on the ground, I’ve been collecting them for years and every now and then I’ll find one between the pages of a book, in a notebook, a bit everywhere. In our backyard or in the forest, I love to pick all the different shades – but not too many leaves at once, as dead leaves play an important role when it comes to building healthy soils!

18- Favorite Autumn activity?

Gosh I would love to go to a pumpkin patch (Hagrid’s perhaps?) but we don’t have any here in France. BUT in a couple of weeks there is going to be a “Pumpkin Festival” in a small nice town not far from where we live, so that’s something I’m really looking forward to :)

19- Favorite Autumn scent?

When it comes to essential oils I would say anything woodsy like pine and eucalyptus. When it comes to candles: patchouli, orange, cinnamon, all-spice and vanilla.

20- Is your birthday in Autumn ?

As a matter of fact, yes it is. I’m a November child and I’ve always felt a deep connection to this month and this season. But not because I had birthday parties then (which I always hated as far as I can remember, yes even during childhood!). I’m talking about a sensation of belonging to this season, if that makes any sense. This hasn’t changed through the years and I don’t think it ever will.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments if you love Autumn, and leave your answers below, I’ll be delighted to read them.
And don’t forget to share & pin this post to spread some Autumnal love ♥

I wish you a love-filled day