Goodbye Summer

Goodbye summer!  Well sort of.  It's still in the low 90's in Charlotte so it doesn't really feel like fall here yet.  This time of year I really miss New England.  I grew up in the foliage mecca of the US, picking apples, raking leaves, and picking out the perfect pumpkin while bundled in a heavy sweater. 

*insert sound of record needle scratching*

Not so much here.

But, there are some things that are making it start to feel like fall here:

- It's getting darker earlier.  Last night I did my 7 mile training run starting at 6:30pm and it was DARK by the end of it!  Luckily I ran with my friend Michelle or I would have been totally spooked on the trail.

-Everyone WANTS it to be fall here.  People are wearing fall clothes even though it's still summer temperatures, as if trying to will cooler air to appear.  Mainly they just roast in their warm clothes and whine that it should be cooler.

-It is cooler at night and in the morning.   Also, for the most part, the awful humidity is gone, so the heat we have right now does not feel as nasty as it did all summer.  It's MUCH better running weather, even in the higher temperatures.

-Everyone is talking about PUMPKIN.  I'm no exception.  I had my first Pumpkin Spice latte a couple weeks ago.  I've since had a couple more of those lattes and also bought a big bag of pumpkin spice coffee for home use.  I found myself scouring my grocery stuff and disappointedly leaving with no cans of pumpkin last week.  However, I did locate this pumpkin butter at The Healthy Home Market and promptly bought it:

And I made a pumpkin smoothie with some in it for breakfast this morning:

I'll just keep waiting for fall to get here, and think of this in the meantime.