FALL IN LOVE WITH AUTUMN

Fall Into Fun

“If I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

– George Eliot

  • Go apple picking or for a wine tasting to start your fall off right. You’ll feel festive and cozy instantly! Now is the time to go to pumpkin patches, get lost in a corn maze, and spend time with friends at your local county fair. Fall festivals and hayrides are also essential activities for fall! Build a fire and invite friends to roast marshmallows. Nature walks are also ideal. Starting your day with a brisk stroll is highly beneficial for clearing your mind and energizing your body.
  • Don’t skimp on the dĂ©cor. This doesn’t mean spending a lot of money; the best decorations are usually found in nature for free. Embrace colors of the season like, russet, persimmon, butterscotch, copper, burgundy, mahogany, and cinnamon. Create a tableau with an autumn theme using your own garlands made from vines and brambles, fallen leaves, pinecones, and fresh rosemary. You can never have enough pumpkins, gourds, or berries (real or artificial) to make your home look festive and joyful.
  • No design scheme would be complete without the resplendence of fall flowers. Potted mums, marigolds, asters, celosia, cockscomb, and dahlias are all abundant this time of year.
  • Indulge in preparing and sharing your favorite seasonal sweet treats, such as nuts, honey, pumpkin spice lattes, apple tarts, spiced cider, mulled wine, freshly baked bread, pies, and cinnamon rolls.

Reap the Harvest

“As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas, and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.” –Vincent Van Gogh

Fall is the season where we reap and enjoy the abundance from the summer months. In autumn, there is less sunshine, prompting us to spend more cozy time indoors baking comfort foods and desserts. Out of all the seasons, autumn is when the hours of light and dark are most even and aligned, making it the perfect phase of the year to celebrate what is known as Mabon (an ancient pagan holiday rooted in harvest festivals). Now is the time to manifest, dream, and find balance while reflecting on life cycles and the changing seasons.

Nourish your body with delicious produce found at your local farmer’s market. For the month of October delight in fruits like shiny red and golden apples, pomegranates, figs, pears, dates, and cranberries. For vegetables, indulge in root vegetables like rutabaga and yucca, sweet potatoes, squash, mushrooms, and pumpkins. It’s also that crisp time of year when leaves crunch underfoot and the foliage is blazing in all her glory, so spend more time in nature collecting tokens such as fallen leaves, acorns, gourds, feathers, twigs, and other ephemera to build an autumnal altar.

Settle Into Self-Care

Get cozy and start unpacking your fall wardrobe. Wear your favorite boots, scarf, and warm sweater. Light candles, hang fairy lights, and put on cutesy socks while curling up with your favorite book. Settle down and get quality rest by the fire, drink your favorite warm beverage—like tea, cocoa, or mulled cider— and dim your lights (overhead lighting can be garish; now is the time for soft, yellow lighting and lots of table lamps). Now is the time to adopt a “whimsigoth” aesthetic! Use rich textured fabrics (like velvet) in deep colors to add flair to your bedroom or living room. Take relaxing hot baths with lots of Epsom salts and bubbles; indulge in novelty bath bombs for whimsy while drinking a glass of red wine.

Get Spooky!

  • Start getting ready for Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos! Samhain is just after Halloween, on the night of October 31st. It’s a traditional Celtic holiday that celebrates the spooky time of year when the veil between the physical and spirit world is at its thinnest (very much like Day of the Dead). This is a time for honoring your ancestors.
  • Embrace vintage Hallows Eve by foregoing screens (unless it’s to watch your favorite scary movies), reading spooky books, and creating your Halloween costume. Use vintage and thrifted items rather than buying generic cookie-cutter getups. Go through your closet and jewelry box to discover old pieces you wouldn’t typically wear anymore and construct a fun and funky ensemble. Trust me: no one else will have your costume at the Halloween party! Try a fun look using statement makeup and garish accessories you wouldn’t typically wear on an ordinary day and turn it into a Halloween look: think haphazard fun meets high fashion.

More festive delights include:

  • Roasting marshmallows
  • Carving Jack-o-Lanterns
  • Bonfires
  • Build your own scarecrow using old clothes and corn husks
  • Prepare and eat seasonal treats like candy apples and s’mores
  • Go apple bobbing
  • Buy candy to hand out for trick-or-treaters
  • Visit a spooky town (like Salem, Mass or Sleepy Hollow) or even a cemetery.

To learn more about Nabila Khashoggi’s philosophy, along with the clean beauty lifestyle of the Nabila K brand, check out the blog.