I live in California, so we don’t really have autumn. Like, it honestly just doesn’t happen here. Sometimes leaves will turn but it’s still 85 degrees. And when it does cool down, it’s essentially already winter and even our winter lately has just been more not-summer than an actual different season. There’s never a time where I can successfully wear a sweater and a scarf and a jacket and boots. I would die. I would melt.

But because of that, I feel like for Californians and other denizens of hot states, fall can just kind of start in September and carry all the way through Thanksgiving. It doesn’t MATTER when it starts when it lives in your HEARTS, am I right? So fall is now. Welcome. I made you a collage, featuring me at 25, the various times I’ve placed pumpkins around my library, and a peek of snow.

I’m just a fall kind of girl. I love pumpkins! I love witchy stuff! I love halloween! I love boots! I love rainy days, or I used to before climate change turned my state into an arid desert! I love to drink a mug of coffee and listen to my record player and write in my moleskine journal and just be an absolute parody of myself.

It’s September 1st, these last couple years have been really hard, so I’m letting you know that it’s officially autumn and we aren’t listening to any of the naysayers and if anyone complains, just let me know. I’ll write you a hall pass or something.