OUTFIT DETAILS: Daphne Wilde dress (gifted) // Sarah Flint heels (gifted) // Vintage Chanel bag (similar style here) // Vintage Hermes scarf // J.Crew driving gloves (old, similar style here)

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No matter how far my school days are behind me, fall always signifies the start of a new season, a fresh start.

An excuse for even bigger books to curl up with, bouquets of newly sharpened pencils (as Nora Ephron might put it) and, of course, a new bag to tote around the city with all your supplies. I vividly remember picking out my school bags each year, excited by the promise of what they represented — another year of learning, growing and burying my nose in a book.

Fortunately when I asked on Insta Stories the other day, many of you share my same visceral nostalgia when it comes to fall -- so much so, that you shared your own favorite memories and musings when it comes to what excites you about the start of this new season. I wanted to share a handful of my favorite submitted comments in hopes it gives you the same warm hug it gave me when I sat down to read them all. Think of it as your Autumnal ASMR reading list. So without further adieu...

• The crispness in the air
• Fuzzy sweaters on the first chilly day
• Velvet, corduroy and tweed
• Halloween movie marathons
• A leather biker jacket
• Apple cider and hot toddies
• The first cool rain of the season falling in late October
• Crisp, cold apples, pumpkins and squash
• A sharp pair of black riding boots
• Fried food and corn dogs (from a Texan who looks forward to her state fairs in the fall!)
• Fall foliage, or as one reader put it "the trees dressing up in beautiful colors"
• Wearing layers for the first time
• Shades of maroon, burgundy, gold, burnt orange and amber, cognac and sage
• All the school supplies
• The angle the sun takes in the mornings and afternoons -- creates the perfect real life filter

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• The childlike heartache of waving goodbye to my mom from the school bus
• Those Crayola crayons -- one reader shared this story with me: "I taught Kindergarten for 18 years. I still go to stores in August and smell the crayons. They must be Crayola. I’m not into branding except when it comes to crayons. Their pigments are vibrant. I always felt my students deserved the best crayons. It’s such a simple thing. Spring for the Crayola. Actually, Walmart sells a box of 24 Crayola Crayons for $.50 a box in August. I’d gift them a box for school and a box for home. $1.00 a student. Why wouldn’t you?"
• The first fall breeze of the season
• The smell of wood burning
• New England leaves
• The first time you step on a leaf and it crunches
• Hearing the marching band practice at the local high school
• Sweata weatha!
• The lull which transcends the streets, giving way to a sort of calm
• First long sleeve shirt run of the season
• If you listen carefully, insects "sing" slower on fall evenings
• Watching Hocus Pocus for the millionth time
• Changing the bedding over -- switching from light linens and cooler fabrics for heavier, warmer ones
• Friday night lights from high school football games
• Arts and crafts and Renaissance fairs
• Rainy afternoons in a library with a book you don't want to put down
• Rewatching When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Mona Lisa Smile, Dead Poet's Society and Practical Magic
• Summer dresses with cardigans and boots
• The promise of holiday season around the corner
• Much loved copies of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Catcher in the Rye
• Seeing your breath on a chilled morning
• The book series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
• Wellie rain boots
• Felt hats
• The way a neighborhood street looks at dusk just as the street lamps turn on -- leaves strewn across the ground glowing

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Photos by Carter Fish