The Dog Days Are Over

The weather cooled significantly this morning. All the little children are back to school. Rosh Hashannah (the Jewish New Year) hits in just one week. It seems that autumn is upon us and summer is making an exit.

Fall Fashion Week is here, all the New York publications have released their Fall Previews. It’s time we’ve face the inevitable and realize that the dog days of summer are over. I certainly lived it up this past weekend, in what seems like the final bout of summer warmth. At the same time, just because the weather is breezier doesn’t mean that our carefree, relaxed, fun-chasing attitudes should float away with the season.

This past weekend kicked off on Thursday—as all good weekends should. My friend Wesley and I went to see the new Channing Tatum movie 10 Years after I won the Urban Girl Squad contest for some free tickets. A cute little film about a ten-year high school reunion, the movie was nothing brilliant, but it was so fun! Wesley and I went to high school together. Although we were not really friends until undergrad, we had the best time laughing about who each character matched up to in our class and reminiscing over the shit-show that was our five-year reunion last Thanksgiving. Sometimes a movie is just more fun when you see it with the right person.

Friday night I went to a farewell Shabbat dinner for one of my friends who returned to Boston for her final year of law school yesterday—you may recall said friend from another recent post. The dinner was awesome. The food was incredible and we had a blast chatting around the dinner table of 12, in no rush to go anywhere. Some of my favorite times are meals in which you just sit at the table when you have nowhere else to be. The lack of pressure feels incredible and I can truly devote my time and attention to the people I am with. I call these instances, Morrie moments because in Tuesdays with Morrie, the title character emphasizes the importance of being fully present while you spend time with others.

For all you Jews out there, have a Shabbat meal with friends. If you’ve been on Birthright you can even host your meal for free through NEXT Shabbat. For those of you who aren’t Jewish, a meal is a meal. Go out to dinner and make no plans afterwards so that you can linger at your table. Host a home-cooked meal for you and some close friends.

The next day, Super Saturday began at 12pm. For those of you thinking, "Ummm there is nothing political that happens on a Saturday," you are right. Super Saturday is the day of the US Open when the tournament airs back-to-back Men’s Singles semifinals and top it off with the Women’s Singles Championship in primetime. I parked myself on the couch and watched an amazing match between Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych, before the second semifinal match and women’s final were tornado-ed out. That’s one I never thought I’d hear in New York. I mean, there is a reason why I don’t live in Nebraska. (Well, there are many.)

So instead of cozying up to watch my boy David Ferrer, I warmed up at yoga before getting ready for a night out. Mayanot Birthright (the trip organizer for my July Israel trip) hosted a reunion for all Mayanot trips at Lexicon. While I was hoping that a bunch of people from my trip would go, I ended up heading over by myself. My fellow birthrighter, Craig, met up with me later on. The DJ was playing great music, but no one likes to dance alone on the floor. So I walked up to this girl that was dancing in a group and asked if I could join. She was totally cool about it and I ended meeting some fun people at the party. The one thing I will say about the impending temperature decline: I do NOT look forward to coat checks and freezing my butt off on my way to a club before actually getting inside the always sweaty and overheated scene. I relished one of my last nights sans jacket.

But Sunday was the cherry on top. My girlfriends and I ventured to Atlantic Beach for MATCHBOOK’s Summer Olympics day on the water. The beach (as in all beaches) is amazing—and I won’t be back to one for a while. We dove into the water, which was so warm after a full summer of sun-heating, and jumped waves for hours. We started up an epic game of beach volleyball. I learned to throw a football. General romping around in the sand and smores roasting made for a phenomenal day. There were plenty of people at the event who sat on their beach chair, in clothes, and didn’t do much of anything. This is what separates the fun people from the not fun people.

Even though beach weather will bid us adieu quite soon, there is no reason to become one of the not fun people. There are still plenty of things to see and do even in a season that is not summer. Autumn brings apple-picking and pumpkin decorating, foliage hikes and mulled cider. Football season is back—I know how excited most of you are about that. Go to a game! Plan a weekend away in the woods!

If there is one thing I learned this summer, it’s that weekends away are so worthwhile. I used to fear missing out on activities in the city when I was gone. The truth is: if you had fun away, you didn’t miss anything.

I plan to live my year the way I lived my summer. After all, now that I’m not in school, one day pretty much looks the same as the next in terms of daily routine and scheduling. Why not live autumn as if it were summer? The dog days might be over, but there is certainly much to look forward to.