Ahhhh, September. How did you get here so fast?
I have such mixed feelings about the end of summer. I mean, I do love fall… who doesn’t get excited about colorful leaves, cooler temps, and pumpkin spice everything? But I also love summertime, with the lazy mornings, long afternoons at the pool, warm nights on the deck with friends, and once upon a time… vacations to the beach and the lake.
But while I love the long, lazy, hazy days of summer as much as the next girl, there is certainly something to be said for fall and getting back to a structured routine.
Of course, this fall, that routine is going to look a lot different than in years past. We won’t have nearly as many activities vying for our time, and I won’t be getting my house back because no one is leaving the house. ever. again.
At least, that’s how it feels most days.
While I love the crisp fall days and chilly nights and all the cozy sweaters, it also means winter is coming…
Which, I don’t mind, really, except for bundling up to run. But I do hate spring in Pennsylvania. It’s such a tease and never arrives on time.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Let’s rewind a few paragraphs to the colorful fall leaves and pumpkin spice everything.
Has anyone noticed that the poor apple has really been getting the shaft in recent years? It used to be that September was for apples and mums and scarecrows, and we didn’t bring out the pumpkins and candy corn until October.
But these days, Starbucks is selling pumpkin spice lattes in August, and everywhere I go, the pumpkin decor is mingling with the apple.
I say, let’s give the apples back their rightful month.
And honestly, I miss apples… apple turnovers, apple pie, Jewish apple cake, apple crisp, hot apple cider. It’s all so good.
So, I’m on a self-appointed mission to bring the apple back. I actually ordered a few things from Pottery Barn to start sprucing up the house for fall, and I made sure to order apple scented decor, not pumpkin. The pumpkins can wait.
Of course, the elephant in the room is COVID.
I don’t know what this fall and winter have in store for us, but if it means lockdowns and rising Covid-19 cases, I’m not a fan. Can we just hold onto summer for a little while longer? Maybe until we get a reliable vaccine… #novaccinedebatesplease #itwasajoke
Anyway, I don’t know how this will end, but I do believe it will end. Or at least morph into something manageable so that we can return to some semblance of normal.
For now, all we can do is keep plugging along, and try to take appropriate precautions without getting obsessed with it all. That’s where I am right now.
I’m half dreading this fall, half curious to see how the school year pans out, and what happens when we are all forced inside.
It always comes back around to Covid, doesn’t it? Le sigh…
In other news, I enjoyed hearing your comments on my outfit evolution in yesterday’s post. I always feel a bit weird putting those out there. I mean, who really cares what I wear to dinner with my BIL and SIL, and all of the outfits were fine, just not great. And I think there was some confusion over the color of the jeans, lol!
Yes, they really are black. Here’s a link. I didn’t realize I didn’t link them in the post. #duh
So thank you all for always validating my outfit dilemmas and not pointing out how many more important things there are to talk about. I mean, I know this is a fashion blog, but there are days when I’m like, This is all so trivial. Get a life, Jo-Lynne.
I didn’t even get to tell you about our week, and visiting the high school with R, but I need to hop off here and get my run/walk in before church. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Cyndi and I will be back tomorrow with day 5 of 22 Days of Fall Fashion, and I’ll be sure to update my Labor Day Sales Guide first thing in the morning because I expect some retailers will up the ante and deepen their discounts before all is said and done.
Have a relaxing and blessed Sunday!
56 Responses
Thank you for writing this about pumpkins … apples… and winter 😫…. it was like you were in my head !!!! Maybe people are just hoping things will change if we move things along faster ???? I don’t know …just getting tired of all of it like a lot of others !!! Anyway …. (thanks for letting me vent) I’m sure you’ve done this before but could you do a review on cozy joggers and tops (maybe longer ones) … I don’t know why but I have the hardest time putting comfy things together … UGH … I’m just more structured with my dressing… thank you for all you do for us !!!
I think the key is to keep the joggers structured. 🙂 Top them off with a denim jacket, or wear a matching set. Did you see this post? https://jolynneshane.com/10-ways-to-wear-the-zella-live-in-joggers.html
Jo-LYNNE, I look at it like this, if we weren’t interested in fashion we wouldn’t be dropping by. There’s a hint of Fall here on the Gulf coast this morning, 75 degrees with only 68% humidity. I hadn’t planned a walk before church, but I can’t resist how wonderful it feels out there!
Our family is planning a trip to the mountains of N. GA in October. We will be visiting our favorite apple farm🍎🍎🍎
That sounds LOVELY!
Good morning, Jo Lynne. If you think the “powers that be” push pumpkin everything early, then don’t go into a home store yet! I went into our local At Home and there was Christmas trees and decor ALL OVER the store already! Ugh!! We’ve really gotten a taste of fall here in IN this weekend and it’s been great. Enjoy your long weekend.
UGH. That drives me bananas. I get it, for people who craft, they need supplies early. But for household decor, let it wait. #bahumbug
Talk about apples getting their time, how about Thanksgiving ever getting its time. There are Christmas decorations already out in some stores. That is crazy!
I know, it’s nuts!
I’m in Cape Charles, VA for the weekend. We went to a socially distant concert in the park last night and I wore jeans, BECAUSE IT WAS COOL OUTSIDE! It was actually fun to wear jeans and a T and sandals. I never go anywhere inside anymore so I haven’t worn jeans all summer. My favorite season is fall so while I’m going to enjoy the warm days we have left, I am looking forward to wearing jeans and drinking a pumpkin latte.
How fun! Yes, this weather is insanely beautiful. I want it to last forever.
This is my favorite post always! It brings validation to my thoughts and feelings. I’ll jump on #teamapple with you! I wish we could go to church too! But with attendance of around 300, we’re deciding to stay online until we get an immunization. Yup, I said it, can’t wait to get an immunization!😂😂😂
Wow, that’s large. Our services are limited to 50.
Did someone say Christmas trees?!? Please not yet!! I started getting excited about decorating for fall. Target yesterday was picked over. Anyway bought some bath and body fall candles etc. and buying mums today. So unclear with the covid. My 89 yr old mom is coming over today and I’m telling both my daughters they must wear masks if they are inside and not out on the deck. Ok that was a lot! Have a fun weekend!
Better safe than sorry, I guess. I hope you had fun with her.
Yay apples!!!!! I love crisp apples, a check ribbon bow on a fall door wreath, and mums on the porch. October is black cats, scarecrows and well, crows! September is apples, cinnamon, and fall mums. Plenty of time for each to enjoy their own month.
Yes! 🙂
Thanks for your honesty. I am looking forward to fall but not the politics, I live in a swing state so we are always inundated with ads, politicians visiting and snarling traffic etc. Praying for our country. It will be warm here for months still but we do get a cool day or two occasionally which is so refreshing. Our church is finally regrouping for in person services next weekend – yeah! I’m just trying to live life as normal as possible with frequent hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing where mandatory (not in a car by myself ha ha) Have a wonderful week!
Ugh, I am NOT looking forward to election season.
Thank you so much for all of your posts and thank you for sharing all of your sources!! I cannot tell you how much you have helped me find clothes that work for me. I am a stay at home mom in my mid 40s with two young boys and for years (since I have had kids) I have felt frumpy and have hard time finding my style. But your blog has helped me find clothes that work for me and my age and lifestyle. Please keep posting! Love your style!!
That is so great to hear!
Happy Sunday!! Yes, lets bring back apples for September. I love decorating with pumpkins and the smell of pumpkin spice candles but ever since we moved to central TX I have had the hardest time switching to fall decor when it is still summer like weather and the leaves do not change until late November/December. Apples are the perfect solution! Have a wonderful week.
I think that would be so weird. I have only ever lived in VA, MA, and PA. They all have 4 distinct seasons, and I love that.
Now that I think about it, you’re right! The 🍎🍏are getting pushed to the side for the pumpkins. I do love pumpkin spice iced coffee though and I don’t think I’d like apple flavored iced coffee. With all three of your kids doing online school for now and Paul teleworking, I bet that you and Caroline, oh, and Savannah, are really going to miss the old routine where the three of you had the house to yourselves during the day. At least David and Becca don’t require parental supervision. Because we decorate for Christmas In October (its our favorite time of year), I do very little decorating for Fall. It was actually 69 when I got up this morning and there was a tiny touch of fall in the air. The meteorologists here have said that we are not done with the 90’s. Dang it! Have a blessed a Sunday!
Yes, I’m so glad my kids are independent with their schoolwork.
Thanks for your post. We tune in to your blog for a welcome break from the news and reality…. Please don’t ever put yourself down and think this is all so “trivial”. We enjoy your posts! It is nice to read about what others think in your community of lovely women. Also laughed at your clothes piled up on the bed: I do that too when dressing up and wonder if others struggle to get dressed. 😂
While I love fall, its our shortest season and winter (ugh snow) begins usually by end of Oct so I am sad to see the end of patio weather coming and a long winter ahead. Will also miss socializing with friends outdoors. Keep telling myself that this isn’t forever and this too shall pass.
Yeah, I am sure your winters are long. I’m so glad I don’t live any further north than this.
I have to agree with you about apples, and with the person who said Thanksgiving gets short shrift. Fall has always been my favorite season, but with COVID and my health this year, it will be difficult not to hurry it along. I began chemo September 1st, and it will be once a week for 12 weeks. My husband has already made me a chart to check off the weeks. I am going to try to enjoy the season regardless. Here in Indiana it felt like Fall yesterday, and I was finally able to wear the Rag & Bone Cate jeans I bought probably 6 weeks ago. They are soft and stretchy, but did not bag out. I can always depend on your recommendations. Thank you for all you do, including getting our minds off the heavier things in life.
I hope the next 12 weeks go by quickly for you and the side effects aren’t too severe.
I have the same jacket and a similar blouse. Would not have thought of putting them together but I loved the combo on you. The blue ( looking)jeans were bugging me so much though. It’s just weird how clearly blue they look in your pics. I tried them with ripped black jeans and the combo was AH-mazing!
By the way, the link to the off black jeans is my working for me. I believe you that they are black but bizarre how they look super blue.
I just added the links today. 😊
I’m reading sitting by the lake watching our seven-year-oldgranddaughter swim while the 9 and 3 year-olds enjoy a boat ride with Grandpa. There is a nip in the air which winks to the change of seasons on the horizons. However, for today, the kiddos are enjoying the last days of Summer with no need to rush. The apples and pumpkins, candy corn and apple cider will arrive in their own time.
Whether consumerism and corporate greed or our own impatience and restless need for the next big thing are to blame, may we all seek to recapture that childlike wonder which comes with finding joy in the moment.
Happy Sunday!
That sounds lovely!
I love this Apple month idea. I feel like making an apple crisp!
Me too! I may have to make one for our get-together today.
🍏 I’m going to make an apple pie for our Labor Day barbecue tomorrow! Over the past few years I haven’t decorated much for fall, but I am now inspired to go through my boxes of fall decor, clean them out, and maybe head over to Target to get a few new things. Loved reading your thoughts today! There’s so much negativity out there around us right now, so your blog and the discussion of outfits is such a nice distraction.
That’s nice to hear. And yes, I’m all about frivolous distractions. It’s the only way I’ve survived this year.
Great post! You write really well! I enjoyed reading it! 😊 Also wanted to mention that your roundup of the Labor Day sales was great.
Thanks, I’m so glad it was helpful!
Thanks for being a place we can go to get away from Covid and politics! We can’t bury our heads in the sand, but reading that stuff 24/7 will make us all bonkers. On a lighter note, I read somewhere that we should just put up our Christmas decorations, get out our NYE noisemakers, and get 2020 over with!
Haha! That’s one way to look at it. 🤣
Hi Jo-Lynne! I read your blog everyday, but haven’t commented in awhile. Yes! There are many things going on in the world right now beyond fashion. However, you help get our minds off those things, without trivializing the things that are going on… if that makes sense.
I’m with you on apples. Bring the apples back!
As always, i love your fashion, and enjoy seeing what you’re wearing.
Thank you for keeping it real, it’s always a treat to read your blog!
Thanks, Julie. It’s good to hear from you!
I’ve never tried the Victoria Emerson bracelets. Looking at them I am wondering about the clasp? Can you easily put this on by yourself and hook it? I’ve had a few bracelets that have a difficult clasp and you have to have help. Just wondering and would appreciate your input thank you.Also, your blog is my break and my relaxation from all of the craziness that is going on in the world. I think we’re all feeling the same way and it’s nice to just relax for a little bit and forget about the United States and its problems.
Hey! I have several Victoria Emerson bracelets and the clasps are magnetic and easily go on. No help needed!
They are pretty easy. The boho cuffs are magnetic and the wraps kind of button. I can fasten them all on my own but sometimes the wraps require some patience the first time – after that, they are easier.
Yes to apples! A lot of my friends have already put out pumpkins, fall stuff, and even Halloween! I don’t do any fall decor until sometime between Patriot Day and October 1. We don’t really decorate for Halloween, but go a little pumpkin and gourd crazy and they stay out until Thanksgiving! We have been back in school for four weeks, so we are doing nothing but resting on our long weekend!
Same, I don’t really do Halloween, but I love pumpkins and gourds and bales of hay and cornstalks. I don’t do much with them, though, b/c I’m not good at it, and the one year I did get bales of hay, it made such a mess, my husband made me swear never to buy them again, lol! So I just enjoy everyone else’s decor, and I put out a few mums and pumpkins and call it a day.
Oh, just reading about a change in the weather anywhere gives me hope. Here in Northern California it is 111 degrees today, with smoke in the air and warnings that our power company will suspend power for a day or two due to fire danger. Summer is always my least favorite season, and the nip in the air is still way in our future. It’s wonderful to see that, for some of you, the transition to fall has begun.
Wow, that sounds dreadful. I hope it clears out and cools down soon.
I agree that this fall seems a bit off & odd – no matter how we’d like to make it like every other falls we’ve had. COVID, shelter in place has certainly caused 2020 to be an unusual year.
As a person of faith, I have to say that while life has been different, we have had to remember God is to be trusted & when life takes an unusual turn, He is still to be trusted. I find comfort in knowing that none of this has taken Him off guard – and that He will allow good things to come from this season.
I have to say that I’m ready for apples, pumpkins, gourds and the like. Would you believe that our weather here in the Texas panhandle for Tuesday – next Monday ours lows will range from 32-52. Brrrrr for this time of the year.
Have a wonderful Labor Day!!
“…none of this has taken Him off guard – and that He will allow good things to come from this season. ” Yes, amen to all that.
I can’t believe your temps are going that low! I wonder what it will be like here. I need to look ahead. I’m not ready for COLD, but I am definitely enjoying this mild weather.
OK, OK apple it is!!
I’ve been feeling like baking, And looking at a can of wayward pumpkin with a September 21 expiration date, trying to figure out what to do with it…..
but….Apple really does sound better.
Hey, maybe I’ll even find and apple pumpkin combo online.
Thanks for making me laugh.
There ya go, way to keep everyone happy. 😉
I agree with all our lovely ladies’ comments here. Your blog is a definite escape but it would be that anyway, if there wasn’t the 2020 doom and gloom. I like the new Coffee Talk pic and noticed that it was evidently used before. Anyway, like the rust color top and jeans combo. On a personal note we actually did some fun stuff this weekend – went to a community theater play of Sister Act and laughed (whoop whoop) and then drove over to the coast and parked and watch rich people go by in their yachts, then out to a delicious seafood meal. It was great to be out and about. However, it still feels like we are so alone without the social interaction. But it is coming back, and soon.
Yes, this pic is from last year. 🙂 I haven’t had time to get a new one yet, and I liked it, so…
Sister Act sounds like fun. I miss live theater. Some day….
Yes, let’s do more apples!