🍂 Recipes for Autumnal Nostalgia
📦An October care package from JournalingDan.
For extra autumnal ambience, listen to one of my many hyper specific playlists while scrolling:
The soundtrack to your own personal rom com.
It’s my favorite month1 in New York! The weather is mild and pleasant, Central Park will hit peak foliage in a few weeks, my Con Ed bill has gone down 80%, and Halloween is coming, but not before the outdoor ice skating2 rinks open October 30th. But fall is more than a just harbinger of the upcoming holiday season, it is also a time to catch a whiff of apple cider and then have a That’s-So-Raven-Like vision of a joyful childhood memory and deal with the subsequent melancholia.
Why does fall feel so good/bad? The American cultural obsession with fall is a rooted in the feeling of nostalgia. So many autumnal memories like the first day of school, trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, and the first season of Gossip Girl3 shaped my childhood. A crisp4 54 degree sunny morning will for some reason transport me to an October day in 2004 I spent playing under a maple tree in my parents’ yard — and I’ll inhale this fall air like a drug.
“Nostalgia” was first coined in 1688 to name a disease5 suffered by Swiss mercenaries serving abroad who experienced a homesickness and depression so acute they had to be discharged. Then classified as a sort of “madness,” nostalgia today is more accurately described as an addiction6…or a marketing strategy.
This “fall feeling” of comfort, nostalgia, and a tinge of sadness is a [harmless] high I shamelessly chase in my 30s. I’ve composed a list of things I’ve been enjoying lately to evoke this feeling so you can too.7 Recipes for Nostalgia: ⬇️
Disclaimer: this guide is a little bit NY-specific, but some of these places have online shops as well, which will be linked!
Visiting Tea Shops
Evokes cozy memories of sipping a hot drink in crisp weather.
I am a proponent of drinking hot drinks when the weather is cold (it must be said bc there is a vocal group of ppl who accessorize with an iced Dunkin’ all through January) - and tea shops have become my obsession this year.
Harney & Sons Tea hails from Salisbury, Connecticut, and has a brick & mortar shop in Soho. One of my favorite places to stop and have a free tasting from their loose leaf collection (up to 1 a day)8, buy gifts, or sit in the cafe. I love to stop in here to rest and have a hot drink while shopping or running errands. You can also shop them online.
Paquita (pictured) is a tiny, cozy, tea shop in the West Village. The knowledgeable staff will walk you through the hand-labeled collection, and their indoor/outdoor seating is equally beautiful. I recently sat here to read for a couple hours, sip White Peach Blossom Tea + eat raspberry financiers in September. Perfect day!
For loose leaf to take home, or a drink to enjoy on the go, Physical Graffitea in the East Village is a classic. The basement tea room is filled with organic, fair-trade tea, and there’s often a free sample of the day! There is no seating, but with Tompkins Square Park nearby, it’s very enjoyable to take your hot tea on a walk.
Stationery Shopping
Evokes the first day of school feeling. The grown-up version of shopping for school supplies.
It’s my whole brand. Obviously we’re going stationery shopping - but it’s extra special in the fall! Shopping for pens and notebooks gives you that back-to-school feeling: the promise of a new academic year after a refreshing summer break. A new grade, new beginnings. When we buy stationery, we’re buying the potential for creativity, increased productivity….it feels good! Where to go:
Goods for the Study on West 8th Street, just north of Washington Square Park (NYU) for that extra touch of academic flavor. Notebooks galore, a whole wall of pens, and a great selection of planners (fall is planner season too)! One of my favorite stationery shops of all time. They launched their online shop this year.
Parent company of Goods for the Study, McNally Jackson is a local NYC bookstore chain, and their location on Prince Street in Soho has an amazing stationery selection in addition to the classic bookshop. Another favorite stop on my usual Soho route. (I love all the McNally Jacksons, but this one has a slightly larger stationery display than the Seaport one).
Not in New York? I made a world map of my favorite stationery shops—which was shared in my post last week!
Shopping for Sweaters
Evokes a combo of back-to-school shopping + the memory of pulling on your favorite sweater.
Why aren’t sweaters as soft, cozy, or well made as you remember? An increasing amount of retailers have stopped selling natural-fiber clothing as a way to cut costs. That’s why you’re sweating in a plastic sweater prison! But where to go? I’ve banned polyester and acrylic clothing from my closet years ago, and in turn I’ve amassed a knowledge of where to shop for sweaters that will actually keep you comfy/cozy this season. (Shopping vintage is also highly advisable!)
This is not a sponsored/affiliate link list - I’m just really passionate about buying quality clothing.
As always, check the labels on clothing before purchase to verify the actual fiber content, as it can vary by product.
A list to help you find the perfect sweater just like the favorite one you grew out of:
LL Bean sweaters are largely cotton, wool, cashmere, or a blend of 2 or 3 of these!
Muji has a collection of affordable wool sweaters and winter accessories.
J Crew has a huge amount of cashmere sweaters in gorgeous colorways.
GAP has a whole page dedicated to comfy, 100% cotton sweaters.
Banana Republic as part of the GAP family, has the same.
Uniqlo offers wool, cashmere blends at solid price points.
Fall is also an amazing time to be a Maxxinista! As TJMaxx credit card holder of 10 years, I will tell you that you can get v v high quality sweaters here from last year’s fall collections if you’re willing to work for it a little (I enjoy the thrill of the hunt9). My most recent cashmere acquisition10 was found here.
Spending as Much Time Outside as Possible
Remember playing outside?
An easy one. But mostly a reminder to myself! Go for long walks, step on leaves, take your book or journal outside, shop for things in person. Fall is an underrated picnic season. The last picnic of the year is something I must plan soon! Off to go bother my friends so we can be like this:
Months in New York as ranked by me: October, November, May, September, April, December, June, January, March, July, February, August. Many factors at play, but rankings are heavily influenced by the fact that I do not have central air conditioning.
On a personal note, I’ve been learning how to ice skate this year and it is now one of my favorite pastimes. 30 year olds get one athletic hobby to be weirdly intense about (cycling, long distance running, pickleball, climbing) mine is ice skating.
Namely, the Thanksgiving episode of Gossip Girl Season 1, Episode 9 - Blair Waldorf must Pie! (2007)
Cliché, but necessary.
“Swiss physician Johannes Hofer coined the term in his 1688 medical dissertation, from the Greek nostos, or homecoming, and algos, or pain. The disease was similar to paranoia, except the sufferer was manic with longing, not perceived persecution, and similar to melancholy, except specific to an object or place.” - Beck, Julie "When Nostalgia Was a Disease” The Atlantic. August 14, 2013
Maybe nostalgia is still a disease because the amount of television remakes from Harry Potter to East of Eden is actually sickening.
I’m sorry my newsletter about fun things I’ve been doing this fall turned into an academic paper. I went to grad school.
The Harney & Sons store has 2 free tea samples “on tap” every day, of which you can have a cup, PLUS you can have a free sample cup of any tea on their menu. So, up to 2 cups of free tea. I love this place. They also have a bathroom in the back.
Fall is Hunting Season after all.
An oatmeal cashmere Theory sweater and she’s PERFECT.
love love love the relatable points here.
especially the “Stationery Shopping
Evokes the first day of school feeling. The grown-up version of shopping for school supplies”
even tho, most times it was my parents that did the shopping and brought them home, it always felt interesting to go back to school with new things. Those memories live fresh.
Hold up! There’s a physical Harney and Sons tea shop????? One of my favorite teas!! 💕💕💕💕