It’s September! We all know what that means… Pumpkin Palooza has started. You DO remember Pumpkin Palooza from last year, don’t you? It starts September 1st and runs through Thanksgiving. Get out your fall decorations and all your pumpkin recipes. It’s time!
Sit down with your beverage of choice in your favorite pumpkin mug (surely you have one) and let’s join Coco and Deborah for the ultimate coffee date!
If we were having coffee (or earl grey tea) together, I would tell you that after I got back from taking my son to school, I couldn’t even look at his empty room for a couple days. The pain wasn’t quite as sharp as last year (he’s now a sophomore) but it sure didn’t get a whole lot easier to say goodbye. But then… I reclaimed my favorite pillow, which he had “borrowed” for the summer, and then the next day I moved my weights and yoga mat into his room, aka my “home gym”. Yes, I guess I can get used to this! FURTHERMORE…
College football starts this weekend! The first Baylor game is Saturday night. I’m really excited and have planned a dinner of pizza and beer. Yep, definitely the best time of the year.
If we were sipping together out of our pumpkin mugs, I would tell you that I recently finished this book:
The premise is, every adult in the world suddenly and mysteriously receives a box with a string in it. The length of the string indicates how long each person will live. The world is quickly divided into “short-stringers,” “long-stringers” and those who choose not to look at their string at all. Despite the preposterous premise, I enjoyed this book, and there were some surprising twists at the end.
Another book I just finished is this one:
Yes, I’ve been trying out Galloways Run-Walk-Run method. I’ve been using run 4 minutes/walk 30 seconds intervals and it’s been working well for me, especially because I’m STILL dealing with some hamstring pain (will it ever go away???). I’m going to do a more detailed review of the book soon, but I can tell you this: doing run/walk intervals is about 1000% better than not running at all and- surprisingly- my overall mile pace using these run/walk intervals is FASTER than my pace for continuous running. Huh! I definitely didn’t expect that.
How about you- are you ready for all things pumpkin, or is it too early? – You can join Pumpkin Palooza at any time- we welcome latecomers!
Do you watch college football? What’s your team?
If you could know when you were going to die, would you want to find out? – I wouldn’t.
31 Responses
So, I try to guess whose post it is from the link-up picture — yours was a dead give-away! No pumpkin for me until October.
One of my friends raised the “would you want to know when you will die” question. I struggle with it. It would be nice not to waste my last day doing a tedious chore, but ….
I’m glad the run/walk intervals are working for you!
Ha ha… I also try to guess whose posts go to which pictures. I’m pretty good at it by now! Glad I made it easy for you.
I would also not prefer to spend my last day cleaning the toilets or scooping litter boxes… on the other hand, if I knew I was going to die I’m not sure I would be able to enjoy myself very much, no matter what I’m doing.
Gah – what a hard question to answer. Thankfully, I’m fairly certain I’ll never be faced with this choice…but I think I would choose not to know. Though I have wished I could see snippets from specific times in the future. Say: a 3-second clip when my kids are 30, just to make sure they’re happy and healthy. I guess if there was no clip I’d know I didn’t make it to that age. But what if I saw something horrific in the future. It would taint every great moment in the present. Double gah. I guess my answer should be no to any future insight. Which is the human condition, so there we are 🙂
I have told myself there is no pressure at all for my upcoming 5K, but I do want to…not be dead last, so I will have exactly a month to elevate my running a bit and the Galloway method will be top of the list for things to try. I would LOVE you to break down the book!
SO ready for pumpkins and fall and changing leaves and a chance for my introverted soul to start hibernating a bit 🙂
Okay, I’ll do a review of the book next week!
Yes- I think after the active summer you’ve had, your introverted soul will be very happy with fall.
so when I did run/walk intervals my pace also got faster and I was so surprised. About a year ago I did a half marathon using 6:1 intervals and beat my previous time by almost a minute. It is an odd thing to wrap your head around but it works! You are very funny about the pumpkins! Way too early for me. I have a no pumpkin talk until October rule lol. But bring on fall!
When my daughter first went to college, I teared up every time I walked by her room. It does get easier and hey now you have your home gym back!
Oh yes, last year was hard- I would tear up in the grocery store every time I saw something I would normally buy for my son! It definitely gets easier as time goes on.
Not surprisingly, most people are with you and wait until October for pumpkins. I wouldn’t be able to wait that long though!
That book sounds so interesting… Tough question. If it were soon, I would retire today and travel the world.
I love pumpkin everything… haven’t started yet. That means summer is over.
I’ve mentioned that my intervals are for long runs and I use what the other runner uses. They prefer 30, 45 or 60 sec runs. It makes running effortless. Am I slower?? Most likely. Do I care? Nope.
Yes, I think if your running intervals were shorter like that, you would end up with a slower mile pace. On the other hand, you could probably keep going forever.
There’s definitely an argument for finding out your string length. Yes, it could impact the decisions you make, in a good way. In the book a lot of people did exactly what you said- they quit their jobs in order to do something more fulfilling.
While I love most things pumpkin, I’m not a pumpkin spice latte gal. I don’t even think of pumpkin decor until October, so I’ll be a little late to your pumpkin party 🙂 I’ve got a moody hammy at the moment…maybe I’ll try the R/W intervals tomorrow…
Yes, I can tell you doing the run/walk intervals is working for my hamstring- I’m pretty sure if I were just straight running, my hamstring would be much more unhappy. I hope yours feels better soon!
While I am a fan of pumpkin I usually hold off until October – I love that you dive right in 🙂
I’ll admit that I’ve been struggling with my son’s empty room, but it does get easier each day.
So glad the run/walk intervals are working for you! I’m using 6:1 at the moment as I have been trying to keep my TFL/quad issues at bay. Sorry your hammy is still not cooperating.
Yes, one thing Galloway stresses is that you CAN run through an injury (in most cases- not all of course) if you use the appropriate run/walk intervals. It’s definitely working for me.
Yeah no I don’t wanna know what my “expiration date” is. Interesting premise for a book.
I’ve been thinking about turning Thing 1’s room into my office. Who are we kidding, she’s not coming back after graduation. Not sure how she feels about her room going away though. Probably not a fan.
As I said I’ve acquired some new fall decor pieces but I haven’t gone all in on decorating just yet. Might as well go all in for fall though. We cheer for Georgia Tech although they rarely win. I will most definitely be at the tailgate and the game during parents weekend though! Game day is super fun!
Yes, I wish I could go to a Baylor game! It’s just so far away- it’s not feasible for us to get their during football season. One of these years, hopefully.
As the years go on I can picture my son’s room transitioning more and more- by the time he’s a senior he might discover a Peloton bike in “his” room, heh heh.
Glad run/walk is going well for you. People have such a preconceived notion about it.
I enjoy pumpkin but don’t really get into #allthepumpkin
We’re not a football house here. Thank goodness!
I definitely was one of those people with a preconceived notion- I’m still getting over that. I realized I needed to have a more open mind!
I’m with Maria, I would NOT look at my string. LOL
I also tend to think of September as still summer. It’s still quite warm here and I will really only pull out fall stuff in October. I’m still making zucchini bread and holding on to summer as long as I possibly can!
I guess living in Florida has made me indifferent to the actual temperature outside-if Starbucks has their pumpkin drinks, then it’s fall even if it’s 95 degrees outside!
I’m not a pumpkin person…so no big deal as far as that is concerned. Sorry…not sorry…
I’m glad to hear you liked The Measure! It was so interesting. And no, I don’t want to know when I’m going to die.
Run/walk is back on the plan for me as I recover from Covid.
Run/walk is definitely perfect when you’re coming back from Covid!
That’s so interesting about your pace!
I love your pumpkin palooza. I was just thinking I have to switch my tea towels from summer to my fall motif. Maybe I’ll put out my cute little soft pumpkins as well.
Yes, get out your pumpkins! My feeling is, squeeze as much enjoyment as you can out of the season.
Pumpkin can come, but it’s still hot. What can you do?
I hope you are enjoying your Galloway experience. I find it super helpful.
I am enjoying it so far! And yes… fall doesn’t really mean much to us, temperature-wise.
That books sounds intriguing… I don’t think I’d look in my box… And I’d be too scared to find out how long anyone else’s string was! I guess, I’d prefer the situation as we have it now — just not knowing!
Haha, I love that you quickly found some advantages to your son’s empty room!
Yes, in the book the strings definitely threw life into chaos for everyone. Much better to be in the situation we are now.
I’m new to your blog so did not know about pumpkin paloosa! I probably need to up my decorating game now that I have kids… And by up my game, I mean buy a single decoration. Ha. I only have Christmas decor and usually bring that out in mid-November. Paul is soooooooo excited for Halloween this year. He thinks it is soon, though, since it’s Sept. We tried to explain that it’s still pretty far away. But in his mind, it’s like next week. While I don’t have decor, I do have holiday-themed books, so I will pull those out in October. I can’t pull them out too early or I will get sick of reading them over and over and over again!
I am on the hold list for The Measure. It sounds really intriguing. I would not want to know when I am going to die!
I really upped my decorating game when I had kids, then got more and more carried away with it, ha ha. I definitely would not put out any Halloween stuff before October- it’s really hard for kids to wait. For us, it’s coming right up, but for them, it’s going to take forever.
I am not a huge pumpkin fan, but I’ll take apple-cinnamon any day (not just in the fall).
I can only imagine how hard it is to see your son off to college. At least your daughter is still at home!
Aww, definitely hard to say goodbye but yay for having your home gym back? :D…? The Measure sounds really interesting — I’ll have to add that to my list! I don’t think I’d want to know when I was going to die.
It’s a good book! Raised some interesting questions.