Seasonal Inspiration: Fall could fix 2020
My friend Nicole asked me, “but you made us freeze in bridesmaid dresses standing next to you on the top of a mountain so that you could have your Winter wedding, and now Fall is your favorite season?” To that I say back, “Correction- it was only the first week of December which is technically not even winter yet, and yes, my favorite ‘season’ is the period of time between the first week of September through the end of December. Also, you looked beautiful in your fur.’”
Call these four months whatever season you may like!
It starts with my first fantasy football draft that’s typically held at the close of August, and then is further confirmed by my first Pumpkinhead beer with a cinnamon sugar rim while waiting for football to officially kick off by the second weekend of September. And this year, it’s actually started in our own little “Augtober” we’ve been toying with in the Keegan household for the better part of the last month.
It’s been a hot summer so our AC has been cranking, and I’ve been working from home in an assortment of my favorite hoodies and leggings, admittedly very premature. I also get some weird sort of upbeat energy and motivation from a crisp smelling candle so I’ve had a nice birch scent burning everyday too.
Shocking to no one, my pale skin doesn’t exactly fare well in the hot weather. In my opinion, there isn’t a better morning than a bright sunshine but a cool air. The change in temperature gives me much more motivation to leave my Apple Pumpkin scented, white pumpkin decorated house, to go be outside and socialize. Give me visits to friends houses on a football Sunday. Give me a flight of IPA’s on a picnic bench out back of a brewery. Give me Friendsgiving, playing yard games before we socialize over turkey and red wine (Laves, more potatoes next time).
How are we so lucky that a season full of love and thankfulness, occasions to be with friends and family, can also be every bit cozy as it is edgy? The scents are all about warmth; the sweaters and hoodies, boots and chucks, they all scream comfort. But the vibe can be dark too. The colors are blacks and browns, burnt orange, creams and shades of grey. There’s even Halloween! Talk about dark.
This is probably why it’s my season. Because I can leave my house and not feel like I’m some sort of a downer that’s out of place wearing a dark color. You know that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you show up to an event in black with a dark red nail and everyone else is in floral? It’s similar to how it feels wearing white after Labor Day. You can’t just wear a cognac leather jacket to a summer BBQ. You can’t wear suede booties to a shower in May.
All of my flavors, my colors, my textures- they are all Fall, and take me into Winter too! September 1 puts me right back in my element after I’ve fought through a hot and hazy summer just because it’s everyone else’s favorite.
If you’re anything like me, which if you’re reading this blog I’d think you must be at least interested, I hope you’ll appreciate my Fall Inspiration below!
Mountain Top Inn and Resort, Chittenden VT
My Recommendations:
What I’m listening to: Adele “25” and J Cole “KOD,” or for something newer, his latest single “The Climb Back” is just as good. I like to get in my feels this time of year, and nothing is better for a grey sky than an Adele ballad. And if you’re looking for dark and edgy, J Cole hits.
What I’m reading: “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle
You know that age old question, “do you remember who you were before the world told you who to be?” This is it.
What Shane’s sipping: “Midtown” (Black Walnut Maple Old Fashioned)
2 oz. Bourbon of choice (he prefers Four Roses)
1 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
2 spoons of Maple Syrup (50/50 maple syrup and water)
4 dashes Fee Brothers black walnut bitters
Stir (do not shake this one!) and pour over one large ice cube in a short, classic old fashioned glass.
Our home smells like: Yankee Candle- Silver Birch (an alternative to the more classic Apple Pumpkin by YC)
What I’m wearing: The newest fall collection from Bobbles and Lace. This is my favorite time of year to shop at everyone’s go-to local boutique. The belly-bearing cropped tanks are put away, and edgy Bobbles is my FAVORITE Bobbles. Oversized sweaters, sets, denim, the best accessories- all in blacks, greige, animal prints and leather. I knew this year’s selection would be fire when I saw @msfreni’s Instagram story that she was shopping for the fall line and she did not disappoint.
This October’s trick AND treat- check out @0ffbobbles on Instagram for past season items all at $10 EACH. TEN dollars. That’s only two pumpkin spice lattes! I selfishly hate to share this little secret with everyone else because I’ve been casually browsing their 2019 sweaters and long sleeves on Instagram all summer.
What we’re doing:
If you ask me, Fall is outdoor brewery season. It isn’t just football on my TV that gets me itching for a cool, crisp beer, but something about the weather being perfect for a hoodie, jeans and chucks just gets me excited to sit at a park bench with a flight in front of me. I’m partially biased to our hometown Notch, and I’ve really enjoyed a few good Sunday Funday’s on their back deck, but if you’re looking for a large space, merch on your way out the door, and oh ya- a margherita flatbread that can compete with the best of the North End (I’m not even kidding) check out Lord Hobo in Woburn. A new one we tried this winter that I’m excited to see the outdoor vibe is Great Marsh Brewing in Essex.
Lord Hobo
For a real insta-worthy fall activity, take an afternoon trip to Colby Farm in Newbury, MA. Typically in full bloom at the end of August and into early-mid September, dress in your best fitting blue jeans, booties and match your mask to your big hat to pose in front of the sunflowers!
Colby Farm, feat: Kirsten Harris!
Wine and apples- okay, hear me out. Not together, or even at the same time (unless that’s your thing..), but what’s more picturesque in the fall than apple picking? And now imagine doing it AND drinking wine. Okay, again, maybe not while you’re literally going through the orchards and climbing up trees, but at Nashoba Valley Winery they combine winery with apple picking because why the heck not? In more normal times, this Winery not only offers apple picking, wine tastings and tours, a restaurant AND a small market, but it also lets you sprawl out on a blanket and have yourself a nice little picnic while looking out over the orchards. Because of COVID, this year looks a little different and they unfortunately are not able to offer wine tastings and tours or allow visitors to bring in any outside food or drink. Fortunately enough, you can still make a reservation online for a picnic and order their in-house wine and food service . Open for Lunch picnic service Thursday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm, and dinner picnic service Thursday through Saturday, 4:30 to 6pm, you can place your wine and food order online for a specific time either in advance of your arrival or while you are there. This is a perfect girls day.
Nashoba Valley Winery
Where we’re going: Stowe, VT
Here’s a little back story behind how we landed on Vermont for our wedding. I had always hated Vermont, and when I say hated- I don’t say it lightly. I had very strong, preconceived and inaccurate notions about the entire state for absolutely no reason. I hadn’t ever been across the state line. But something about Vermont screamed those old, beat up Subaru wagons with the ski racks on top and a purple COEXIST bumpersticker littered among so many others on the back window. I’d instantly feel this strong annoyance in my chest when I thought about the slow, hippie vibe dude and just the inefficiency I assumed was bred there.
Just a couple years into dating, Shane had taken me to Newport, RI and we stayed at this boutique hotel “The Attwater,” and the hospitality company that owned them (Lark Hotels) had started to expand across New England. They were opening a new location up in Stowe, VT at the same time that we were planning my birthday trip and somehow Shane convinced me to go. For my own birthday, of all occasions! As is with most things, he is typically right and I all too often appreciate (after the fact) being talked out of my stubbornness. This was one of those times.
Still skeptical
We took our long weekend trip up to Stowe, VT and from the minute we checked in to Field Guide I was in some kind of love. I didn’t know that country could be romantic. That mountains were chic AF. This boutique hotel NAILED IT. There was white birch, animal prints, and so. much. fur. Bright oranges and deep purples, blacks, whites and wood. The quaint downtown sits in the shadows of the beaming white steeple you’d see on a New England postcard. The dozen of shops and local offices were built only in wood, homes coming right up to the sidewalks with candles burning in their front windows, and there was only a very small selection of restaurants. There was brick. There was stone. Lanterns. It was as rich in warmth as it was brisk and cold. That was it. I was in love with a state. Or at least with a town.
Instagram: @FieldGuideStowe
Lark Suite
Instagram: @LarkHotels via @meaghanmurray
Our Stowe Favorites:
Field Guide, Lark Hotels- Splurge for the Lark Suite and you will never regret it
Top Notch Spa and Resort- Their couples massage by a fireplace is exactly that, top notch. The spa is the most relaxing I’ve ever been to, with an outdoor jacuzzi tub open in the snow, and a resort you are comfortable enough to walk around in wearing nothing but your bathrobe while your change of clothes still sits in your ladies/men’s room lockers. The women’s lounge is a small piece of heaven. There is an indoor pool they serve drinks at. There is a sauna and a steam room. Flannel is a great spot for lunch when you are looking to replenish.
Harrison’s Restaurant- This is our favorite dinner spot. There’s maybe 15 tables nestled downstairs by a fireplace and the food is always to die for.
Notable picks:
Piecasso for pizza and beer
Alchemist Brewery because, well, Heady Topper. Need I say more?
Stowe Mountain Resort literally just to even check out the views
Gondola Skyride at Stowe Mountain, only available through the end of foliage season though!
Bingham Falls or Moss Glenn Falls- check out these waterfalls just a short walk off Mountain Road! Take the scenic drive up to Smugglers Notch even, but be careful because the road literally has to close down to car traffic by late fall
Do yourself a favor anytime you’re driving to anywhere in Vermont that takes you up I-89 and stop at Worthy Burger in Royalton. Someone recommended this burger and craft beer joint to Shane before our first VT trip and this definitely got things started on the right foot. We pulled into a small back lot in the middle of what appeared to be a deserted small town and there was an old house alongside some train tracks and I said to Shane, “does this person know what kind of restaurants we like to go to?” And they got it so right. Their burgers and “crack fries” are next level.
Bingham Falls
The thing about Vermont is that their winter starts a little earlier than ours. There are really two Vermont fall trips you could take: the prime foliage, “leaf-peeping” trip that needs to be booked for late September into only the first couple weeks of October (leaf color calendars are easily accessible on Google and can be narrowed down to where you’re going and what week) and then there is the first snowfall trip that we typically shoot for. We’ve safely gotten a nice snowfall every time we’ve gone for my birthday in late November. This is personally my favorite. The trees are bare, the skies are grey, I can bring all of my sweaters, coats and boots, and there is just this constant feel of fire and ice- it’s wicked GOT, Starks at Winterfell vibes.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this inspirational quote to take with you for the season:
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”
My motto with this blog has been, “do it scared,” because I’m a firm believer you’re never going to be entirely ready to make a big change or a vulnerable move but do it anyways. Your biggest critic is yourself, and the culprit behind almost every failed dream is your own doubt.
The Fall shows us the beauty in letting things go. Shake off your doubts and reservations and just see where life will take you.
And of course, happy pumpkin-spicing friends!
