Fall is my favourite time of the year. Spring is also nice, it’s stretching again after a long winter’s hibernation, but there is nothing quite like fall. It’s fresh and the air smells clean and crisp and you can feel the wind in your hair. Everything is great about fall, the leaves, the weather, the back to school excitement. I even love fall colours! Brown! Diamine Ochre and Ancient Copper, Kiowa Pecan, Lie de The, Oku-Yama, Alt-Goldgrun.
You can get hot apple cider and savour every sip as the weather gets chillier. People are returning to the city after their long summer vacations and cottage stays, and everything is bustling again.
Every year, Jon and I talk about driving up to Kingston and seeing some of that fall foliage and reliving the old memories, walking by the lake, and maybe this will be the year!
Did you know? When Jon and I were in school and he was “wooing” me, he made a kite out of old shirts from both of us cut up and hand-stitched together, not following one manual of instruction on kite-building. After it was all put together, we brought it down to the lake to see it fly! Unfortunately, it was unable to take flight…
It’s back to school! I don’t know if this is early or late to be celebrating – back to school doesn’t really start until September, but I think a lot of teachers start preparations in August, classrooms and curriculum plans, and I’m sure parents are already thinking of new fall wardrobe and school supplies.
Even if you’re not going back to school, the fall is the perfect time for everyone to get a fresh start – maybe it’s because I have visions of pristine classrooms with newly waxed floors and tins of pencil crayons that are all the same size and have no missing colours.
But your fresh start could be anything, and here are some ideas:
- Get a new journal to jumpstart that journalling habit that has been gathering dust. There is nothing like cracking open a new journal, dating it, and diving in. And sometimes that new start helps you leave behind some of the maybe-guilt-and-maybe-pressure of not having done as good a job as you might have liked over the last year.
- Take a day and really clean out the garage so you can get going on whatever woodworking or car-repairing hobby you’ve been thinking of. Get a few new tools and pick out a brand new project to work on.
- Organize your office space – weed out all of the books you never plan on reading, get rid of all those scraps of paper and old receipts, and set up your office space so it’s clean and organized for your thinking and writing. If you lose motivation, just imagine how nice it will be to sit around and breath in all the organized air.
- Give the dog a bath.
- Clean out your kitchen pantry of old spices and things you are never going to eat. Finding out just what you have in your cupboards might help inspire you to try some new recipes. Fall is the perfect time to try baking some bread (or so I keep telling myself).
Even though January 1st is the standard day for new year’s resolutions, I think fall is a good time to prepare your space and your mind for a new start.
And to celebrate all this fresh starting, we’re having a giveaway!
It’s a back to school themed giveaway, but it’s just a little something to celebrate the fall. I hope you can put it to good use journalling, taking notes, in your (newly cleaned) office, or to keep track of new recipes or projects 🙂
For this giveaway, we’re including:
- Coach House Press Softcover Notebook in Brown ($12.50)
- Leuchtturm A5 Hardcover Notebook, ruled, in Black ($21.20)
- Lamy Safari Fountain Pen in Neon Lime, F nib ($33.00)
- A package of Lamy Blue Cartridges ($4.75)
- A package of Midori D-Clips, Large, Zoo ($9.50)
You know we love hearing from you all, and we’ve received so much wonderful feedback about how it would be amazing for us to open these giveaways internationally. We know it’s been a bit of a bummer for a lot of you folks who don’t live in Canada but follow along with the blog or on other social media, and so, while we’ve held out for two years, we’re finally breaking open the chains.
- To enter, leave a comment on this blog post saying what this fall will be like for you or any fresh start ideas or just saying hello.
- Contest closes Wednesday, August 19th, 2015 at 11:59 EST. Winner be selected randomly, and will be announced on the blog August 20th, 2015. Winner will have until Saturday, August 22nd to contact us.
- Contest is open internationally.
- Sorry, no substitutions or changes.
Wonder Pens - Life Behind a Stationery Shop 
Fall is a time for new beginnings and change. The leaves change to red and yellow and orange, and the air goes from a stagnant stickiness to a cutting breeze. I find myself turning a new leaf as well, (pun totally intended :D).
Even though I won’t be heading back to school, for a fresh start in the fall I hope to finish at least one piece of creative writing and try writing with pen and paper instead of my laptop (likely going to use the notepad I bought from Wonderpens).
Also, love the white rabbit milk candies!
Going back to school next week – a new Safari and notebook would be fitting! Great store and Blog – keep up the great work.
This year is my senior year of high school, so fall is all about getting a good start to the school year, and applying to college. I’ve already started writing essays, and have submitted one application (still have to send in transcripts and scores). My goal is just to stay motivated and keep my eye on the long-term goal, instead of letting the current anxiety and apathy get hold of me. But I’m not going to forget to have a little fun too.
Even though it’s fall and it means riding season is coming to an end, I’m going to ride up to Collingwood and enjoy the fall colours. I’d bring this stuff with me in my tank bag and write my personal thoughts and goals for the year end and begin thinking about 2016 in the
Leuchtturm. I’d then put the Coach House Press notebook to start writing that novel that I keep putting off. Naturally all of this would be done with the Lamy but I would have to pick up a converter for it too.
Cheers for fall!
The fall means that the summer is over and I didn’t get enough work done getting ready for the students coming in the fall. Sigh. Love the store and the blog.
It doesn’t matter how old I get — September will always be the start of a new year for me. This year, more than most, though. With a new novel on the shelves, two courses to teach, and invitations to read at a couple of festivals, this is shaping up to be a great one. Terrifying and exciting, all at once.
Fall means back to school and (hopefully) getting near the end of my Ph.D.! Nothing like starting the year off with fresh paper, pens and ink…it may be old fashioned but there is something genuine about doing work by hand and not relying on computers for everything!!
I start to think this way too!
This fall is actually the very last time that September will mean a new school year for me – so while it’s not quite the beginning of a new chapter of my life just yet, I can see it coming from here, which is equal parts exciting and terrifying.
It announce me new pens, new notebooks and a new year with new challenges as i’m finishing my bachelor degree.
I’m an autumn lover as well Liz. I grew up in muskoka and every fall was a natural display of colourful art. I am also fond of a fresh start and new beginnings. Even though back-to-school is long behind me, I still remember the pleasure I found in wearing a brand new outfit the first day back.
Ok, let me try. It seems like next Fall I will be TAing two to three tutorials in the Meaning of Life course, haven’t worked in that course for years, so I’m curious how it will go. And to get ready for the beginning of fall, I’m going for over two weeks to upstate New York, where I will take part in Meditation and Arts academy – taking some classes in Indian vocal and harmonium. Have packed two of my Pilot Metropolitans (still hesitant about taking or not taking Prera), a regular Rhodia notebook and a little Mnemosyne notebook – all to take notes in and out of class. 🙂
It will be my first Fall in Toronto. Starting a new job, looking for a new home, while exploring my new burning passion for fountain pens!
Fall means going to a new school in a new city…and moving out for the first time. Equally nervous and excited. I’ll definitely miss your shop when I leave. I’ll have to make a note to pick up some things before I go!