A Little Look at Early Fall

This title is a bit of a misnomer, since we are still in the throes of summer here in Southern California. But hope springs eternal–today it was a balmy 80 degrees, and I thought I was in heaven. I can’t wait (we all can’t wait, really) for the thermometer to drop a bit more, but since I fully expect that sometime in the future I’ll be longing for a summer that stretches well into September, I wanted to record how I’ve spent these late summer/early fall days. Now that I’m working from home again, I have a bit more free time, so I can resurrect the tradition of afternoon tea with my awesome friend Lisa. Last week we waffled on whether or not we could ingest hot tea, so she brought over Meyer lemon lemonade instead. It was heavenly.

This weekend there was  a barbecue in the park, and we both wore our big hats. It was worth it just to be able to call ourselves hat ladies!

One of my goals for the weekend was to get into the fall spirit with my first ever pumpkin spice latte. When I first started writing this blog a year ago and began making friends on Twitter, I was so baffled by everyone talking about #PSL. Eventually I figured out what it meant, but I never tried one. I’m a Peets girl, and I never darken the doorstep of Starbucks. I usually don’t like sweet drinks or any sort of coffee dessert in a cup, but, all that notwithstanding, I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I think I have mentioned before that Eric loves watching my face when I try something delicious, so he was on hand with the camera for just in case I liked it.

The first sip produced this expression: deliciousness/derangement! After that, it became really cloyingly sweet, but it was fun to try it nevertheless. I think they sweeten them with syrup, but I might try making my own at home with this recipe–no syrup, just pumpkin puree. Yum!

On our way home from mass on Sunday, we got caught in a huge downpour. I loved every second of it. We need the rain, and it cools things off so much, and, most importantly, I love the smell of rain in the summer. It fills me with glee.

In anticipation of our trip to Istanbul, I got new shoes. They are so comfortable! I am breaking them in and looking like a ridiculous person wearing black shoes with shorts and dresses, but when we get to Turkey, I will look much more civilized in long pants.

And, in the interest of keeping it real, these are all of the eyedrops I am taking right now. I have a recurring eye condition that is very annoying, but, thankfully, very manageable. Even though it has been on my last nerve this entire summer, I feel like I have learned some new strategies for handling it, and I am grateful for that. The doctor added one more medication to the lineup this week, and I was struck by how pretty the bottles were altogether. There is truly beauty everywhere.

And finally, there was this lovely afternoon, spent talking to Lisa while we dipped our feet in the hot tub. A wonderful way to conclude a busy day, a wonderful way to conclude a busy summer.