Falling into Autumn

Inspired by Eileen's list yesterday I thought I'd do my own It's Fall! list.

Fittingly, temperatures here dropped dramatically on Monday, so I definitely had fall on my mind already.

Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Sleeping with my windows open. Toronto is hot and sticky in the summer and the only thing I hate more than sleeping with the air conditioning on, is sleeping when I'm hot and sticky... I love a nice cold room for sleeping and so fall is one of my favorite times of the year, for that alone. 
2. TIFF. The Toronto International Film Festival opens on Thursday and runs to the following Sunday (8th-18th) During that time, I will be seeing a minimum of 32 films. At least that's how many I have tickets for at this point. And I'm excited about them all.
3. Oscar season. TIFF usually gives me a head start on the fall movies, but I'm looking forward to all the great films that typically open between now and the Oscar deadline at the end of the year.
4. Fall colors. This part of the world has some pretty spectacular autumn colors and I love the show. Who knows how it will really be, but at this point the weather people are predicting a long and mild autumn. Here's hoping it doesn't turn into full-on winter until January. 
5. I've been sitting on some exciting news and fall is when I'm supposed to be able to finally announce it... I hope. Soon.
6. Fall TV. I'm most excited about premieres for The Good Wife and Boardwalk Empire. And Sons of Anarchy Season 4.  (Sinead, you really should watch Season 3.) Also pining for Mad Men and Game of Thrones, but those won't be until winter or later, right?
7. Finishing my WIP. I cannot wait to be over the first draft stage and on to revising. I told Molly I'd be done my first draft by the time she gets back from New Zealand and barring a miracle, that's not likely to happen, but definitely before the end of October. (TIFF is eating up way too much of my September.)

Things I'm Not Looking Forward To:

1. Winter. As much as I love me some fall, I hates me some winter. It's a tough call between which season I hate more, the 35 C degree and humid days of summer, or icy, windy cold days in winter.  (I actually don't mind the freakishly cold weather we sometimes get here in the winter, as long as it's sunny. You can dress for cold.)
2. Shorter days. As much as I jested yesterday, I dread the shorter days too. And they start to get shorter so dang quickly. It's no secret I'm not an early riser, and the consequence of that bad habit is that my days get VERY short...
3. Deadlines. I'm going to be facing at least two over the fall/winter and I'm already a bit stressed out.
4. Sandals. I will miss my open toed shoes and going sans socks. I actually wore closed toe shoes for the first time yesterday since some time in May, possibly April. On the other hand, I bought an AWESOME new pair of Fluevogs this summer I can't wait to wear. (See below.)