My Fall Crush

Since arriving a week ago, I have been inundated with everything fall and I love it. 

Fall has been my favorite season since I was a kid – I feel it stems from the back-to-school feeling.  Maybe it was my three ring trapper keeper, buying every color pen, pencil and marker in our local Walgreens or picking out what color L.L.Bean backpack to buy that will stay in style for the next 9 months that will match my school uniform.  I have a certain affinity toward this season.

Since I landed, I have been crushing hard on Seattle.  I have been wandering this city for hours a day.  I have discovered shops and markets that are likely super popular (and touristy), yet I find quaint and adorable.  People are super friendly and eager to help me find new places on my daily journeys when they hear I’m new to town.   

Overnight, my fashion has immediately transitioned from beach to preppy.  I have an urge wear the perfect oxfords and a schoolboy blazer or a chunky sweater to work every day, (the style that I am most comfortable in, that Seattle seems to have embraced for the past month).   

I have come to find that Seattle has been long known as the most literate city in the country for its percentage of book stores.  Since finding this out, I am on a hunt in Seattle to find my new favorite local bookstore.  Any and all recommendations are welcome.   Small confession.  I spend twice as much money in the fall on books – it goes back to the back to school feeling and my need to satiate it the older I am getting.   I love to read books and be surrounded by them – I find it incredibly restorative.    

My favorite part of fall though is autumnal flavors.  I can eat apple and pumpkin everything.  That said – my new obsession, which seems typical in this city, is Pike Market.  Until you experience it, you will realize everyone is vastly understating the amazingness of the market.  Dried Cinnamon Apples, pumpkins for carving, spice shops for fresh spices (pumpkin red curry?!), every variety of apples and then some, new local Pumpkin beer for taking.  As a reading junkie of Martha Stewart, Sunset Living and Bon Appetit every month, I’m in sensory overload.  

    

Some of my new favorite finds also include Pike Street Press (http://thepikestreetpress.com), Paper Hammer (www.paper-Hammer.com), Kasala (www.kasala.com) and Dahlia Bakery (http://tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=dahlia-bakery).   I also went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit – very touristy and crowded but very cool nonetheless (http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com). 

One thing is for sure –I am falling for my new crush… hard.