It's crazy how in the winter, we daydream about beaches and swimming pools and in the heat of summer, we daydream about the dark, cool, mysterious and colorful time called Autumn.
Thermometers are registering 90 and 100 in most places, but our minds are on chilly noses, sweaters, bonfires, spiced cider, and the coming holiday of spookiness - Halloween.
Let's go!
Pop on some autumnal-feeling movies and darken the room. Burn a nice fall candle.
Movies that embody autumn (*means it's a favorite autumn one for me)-
*Sleepy HollowYou've Got Mail
*Hocus Pocus
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Practical Magic
*In Dreams
*The Covenant
October Sky
*Half Light
St. Elmo's Fire
When Harry Met Sally
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Many of us are housebound and bored or at least tired of feeling stagnant. Preparing and working toward autumn is a great hobby for right now.
How about preparing your own homemade hot cocoa mixes in mason jars? What about making some autumn crafts for decorating? Making scented candles in mason jars? Collecting recipes? Making banana nut bread and freezing it?
We may be in lockdown mode in most places, but a walk in the woods to collect acorns, pine cones, twigs, moss, and bark should be completely allowable.
To shift into the autumn mode, scent and darkness are two fantastic ways to do it. Keep up the autumnal scent of juniper, cinnamon, pumpkin, brown sugar, fig, apple, sandalwood, frankincense....
Here's what I do --
I put some essential oils in a diffuser.
I mix 15 drops with some witch hazel or vodka in a small spray bottle and use for linen/body/room spray.
I take a bag of epsom salts from the drug store (the small bag) and add about 25-35 drops of oil and shake. Use it in the bath.
I put some inside of a tiny terra cotta pot and let it soak in and keep my keys in the pot near the door. When you walk by, the scent remains so you get a fresh whiff when you come home and leave.
I put several drops mixed with shea butter or grapeseed oil makes a great skin massage oil or cream that is scented.
I put some shakes of the oil on pine cones in a bowl and they hold the scent.
I melt old plain candles and add the scent and make new candles in tiny 4 oz jelly jars. The glass is pretty, but you can also use white chalk paint to give the jelly jars a cool look. You can put the lid on when not in use and retain the scent.
Wood wicks (below) are awesome. They burn well, and they also crackle a bit, so it feels like a cozy fire.
Get a double boiler or tiny pot and bigger pot from Goodwill or the Dollar Tree store. Use these for when you're melting waxes. I melt my wax in a small pot atop of a bigger pot that has hot water in it on a low-medium water temperature on the stove.
When all else fails to bring on the autumn mood, consider darkening the house in the daytime a bit more, giving that "long shadows" vibe. Cook hearty scented meals like chili and stewed apples. Put a lap blanket on the sofa.
And be sure to use some of the foods that bring on autumn vibes like walnuts, pomengranate, grapes, figs, cheeses, pumpernickle, squash, apples, pears, gorgonzola, and caramel....
It may not be here yet outside, but inside it could be near peak season!
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