I used to dread the end of summer-always thought that YUCK, everything was dead or dormant. Until, I started breaking up the season. The northeast can get mighty drab and colorless prior to the pretty winter snows. Soooo, I started jazzing up the place. Every month I have some cheery decorations I put up round the house, on my outside doors. Like welcome fall, Halloween (we do a big display for that), etc.. I am always kind of gazing one month ahead (even though I am not very elaborate with what I do, except maybe Christmas gets a bit more attention) it keeps my mind geared in the spirit of "something" and celebrating each season. I really welcome the break from the heat now, and the season of allergies. By the end of December (I call that prespring for me) I am really gearing up for spring and implementing final plans for my garden (and it's not all that big).

If you are a crafty person, start making some doo-dads for the holidays, even if you are not. There are so many things that one can do, set aside a time once a week to put some "spirit" into the drab. It's all about perspective-you know turn that lemon into lemonade, bowl of cherries, box of chocolates thing.

Oh, yeah, this reminds me, I am going to start on Christmas cards and tags. Last year we goofed around with making tags, and they came out great. This year we said let's do cards, so, that I should probably start by Sept...it's a bit of work to design, print, color and add glitter to em all.

Hope some of this helps, hugs, Lisa