A Fall Shift

Noticing my surroundings and renewing my intentions

One of my favorite things about traveling is the renewed eye I come home with. Sometimes it’s in a mental sense, a shift in the way I think about things, and sometimes it’s a literal sense in the form of noticing my surroundings.

Upon coming home from our 10-day trip in the South (a friend’s wedding in North Carolina followed by visiting my partner’s family in Atlanta¹), I noticed an immediate sense of fall.

Before we left at the end of September, fall was well on its way but still very much in transition. It feels like it officially arrived while we were gone.

The overnight temperatures have dropped, leaving our house as cool as 65 degrees. (We’re playing the game of how-long-can-we-wait-to-turn-on-the-heat, more because of sheer will then saving on the gas bill, but the latter can’t hurt.)

The trees outside our front windows are a spectacular shade of gold. So much so that every day I look outside I feel immensely grateful for their beauty. The flurry of shed leaves that are clogging my car’s dashboard are worth it.

I’ve pulled my sweatshirts out of rotation. Exhibit A: Me on the couch, in sweatpants and a sweatshirt most evenings this week. Even though it warmed up to the high 60s, even one 80-degree day, I can’t escape the evening chill. Obviously our thermostat is the culprit but I’m enjoying being cold enough to pull on sweats. Sweatpants + oversized sweatshirt = pure coziness.

Election Day is now less than a month away, apparent from the flood of mailers we received while gone. Our voter’s pamphlets arrived this week and I started educating myself on my local politics, which I admittedly didn’t pay much attention to until now.

The mornings are darker, something I never look forward to. But getting up in the pitch black one day this week brought with it a real treat.

I had gotten to the Nike campus early to run with a friend, a remnant of the run club I’ve been doing once a week for the past couple months. Normally the sun has fully risen by the time I start running, but this week was a turning point. As I ran up the hill to the skybridge above the campus entrance, I was greeted with a beautiful sight of the morning sun peering over the trees, their various hues a rainbow of autumn. The air was crisp but my body warm thanks to the several minutes of jogging I had endured to get there.

I had a treat on the drive in, too—the sunrise lighting the Portland skyline aflame in an amber and orange gradient, darkened only by the silhouette of majestic Mt. Hood in the background. As someone who rarely catches a sunrise, I couldn’t stop looking, my eyes darting back and forth from the road in front of me to the view over my left shoulder. It felt like these landscapes were the reason I got up early that morning.

5 Sense Memories from This Week

When I woke up yesterday morning I was randomly thinking about the role senses play in memory-making. (Similar to this post from the archives on activating your senses as a form of mindfulness.) Could I list memories from the past week through the lens of my 5 different senses? Turns out it makes you think differently, perhaps reminding you of little things you otherwise would have forgotten. Consider this my gratitude journal in sense form.

• Sight 🍂 - Catching the leaves actively falling off their trees. Pete’s sister mentioned she’d never seen so many leaves falling until moving to Atlanta. It caused me to second guess whether I’d seen that at home in Portland, for I’d never stopped to think about it before. Low and behold, I’ve seen falling leaves multiple times this week. Just goes to show you the power of paying attention!

• Smell 🍛 - The strong, sinus-permeating aroma caused by the simmering spices and Serranos in one of our go-to curry recipes. Similarly, sipping on the horseradish vodka at Kachka delivered a pleasant kick in the back of the nose and mouth.

• Touch 🌇 - The changing feeling of the air and the way the sun feels on my skin, thanks to a shift in the sun’s angle this time of year. A 5pm walk in 70 degrees feels a lot cooler on an October day then an August one. (And the way the light looks is so beautiful too.)

• Taste ☕️ - The first sips of my all-time favorite fall latte, the Masala Latte from Case Study Coffee. Equal parts seasonal nostalgia and fresh-spices deliciousness. (A special shoutout goes to Coffee Man in Atlanta, for they were my first PSL of the season. I wasn’t kidding about stubbornly waiting until after the first day of fall.)

• Sound 🐦 - The diverse birdsong heard on the back porch of my partner’s sister’s house in Atlanta last week. While I didn’t know how to identify its source, it struck me as very different from the birdsong we hear here in the PNW, and I was proud of myself for paying enough attention to notice.

A Fall Reset for The Conscious Consumer

Now that I’m home from my travels with no more big trips planned this year, I’m feeling ready to lean into the season. Fall has me craving quality time with loved ones, cozy vibes in the form of initiating soup season and perhaps buying some new clogs, and tackling more of the home projects to-do list. I’m also thinking about resetting my intentions, using the seasonal energy shift to action on some things before really hunkering down in the winter months.

With the intention piece I’ve been thinking about how I want to evolve this newsletter. Nothing big in terms of content shifts, but rather pausing to assess the design and content structure so that 1) I can reflect on where I’ve come from, trends in what I like writing about, etc. and 2) I can better present The CC to new readers.

Consider it a closet clean in Substack form — tagging my entire archive, implementing some light design updates, and updating a few back-end things like my about page and welcome email.²

Coincidentally, last week was my 52nd post.³ Feels like the perfect time to “reset”, no?

The aforementioned trees outside our window in all their glory.

✍️ Author’s Note: I don't typically write my posts in multiple sections like this, but it felt natural this week. Albeit maybe a little choppy? Would love to know what you think or what resonated!

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Fall Decor & Women’s Role in Consumerism

Dear September

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1. Fortunately we missed Hurricane Helene, as the area of North Carolina we were in was largely untouched. Seeing the destruction in Asheville and the surrounding areas is just devastating and my heart goes out to those affected. 🤍

2. This is super meta but thought I’d mention it here since I know I have some Substack authors in the audience. If you have any tips on doing this kind of thing, I’d love to chat!

3. I celebrated my one-year publishing anniversary a couple months ago, but didn’t start sticking to a weekly post until this past February so hitting 52 feels like a notable milestone!