While I love living somewhere I can experience all four seasons, autumn is by far my favorite. There’s something so magical in the turning of the wheel when the temperatures fall, the air shifts, the light softens, and suddenly I find myself experiencing that nesting syndrome and craving layers, textures, and deeper tones.

In the early aughts, when I was in my late teens and early twenties—in typical millennial-girl aesthetic—Sex and the City became my entire personality, and I lived by this Carrie Bradshaw quote. Shopping, for me, was a combination of cardio and therapy. Whenever I was feeling restless, anxious, bored, or lonely—which was often in those early days after I moved back to Omaha and didn’t know anyone—I’d grab my slouchy hobo bag and head for the mall. If all I did was walk a few laps and window shop, taking in the recent trend arrivals, and noting the pieces I wanted but would wait for a sale, I considered it time well spent.