OCTOBER '26
A mood board for my favorite month — Halloween creeping in, candles lit, and the slow return of that '90s childhood coziness.
STOP.
Before going any further, put on "Autumn In New York" (I frequent Billie Holiday's version) and light a Vanilla Pumpkin candle.
Hopefully it's somewhat crisp wherever you are reading this. Here, not so much. But I can pretend. Despite always considering myself a summer girl, there's just something about October that makes it my favorite month. Forever chasing that cozy feeling I had as a kid while reading or watching Harry Potter. Spooky decorations starting to go up. Playing at the end of our dead-end street with the neighbors after school. Discovering Gilmore Girls. Looking at my mom's fall Pottery Barn catalogs and hitting up Williams-Sonoma at the mall for samples of Pumpkin Spice Bread. I would hang out in our front yard and obsess over the shadows and light coming through our big tree with changing leaves. I realized I was probably a witch. It was pretty dang idyllic, that '90s/early-2000s October.
When you're a kid, things start to slow down around this time of year. And if you're an adult, with a little intentionality, things can slow down for you, too. My daughter being born in October was the ultimate stoppage of time. So present and sweet despite being so tired and demolished. She'll be 3 this year and the obsession with Halloween decorations and costumes has begun. We recently watched Hocus Pocus together and she decided she's going to be a purple fairy. In fact, we're all going to be purple fairies. And I'm starting to relive that childhood feeling all over again.
