Friday Five: August 29, 2025

As Labor Day weekend arrives, I find myself caught in that familiar late-summer tension, grieving the long, warm days while simultaneously craving the cozy vibes of autumn. This summer was intense with lots of travel and major life changes, leaving me feeling both grateful and exhausted. Here's what's been on my mind this week as I finally let myself get excited about slowing down.

1. Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, and it's become the time of year I allow myself to embrace a slower pace. While part of me mourns the loss of those endless summer evenings and long hours spent outdoors, there's another part that's genuinely excited about what autumn holds. I have a few fun fall activities planned, but honestly, what I'm most looking forward to is just being home. After spending so much time away, the thought of sleeping in on the weekend and unscheduled afternoons feels like a major luxury.
   

2. Last weekend, we escaped to the breathtaking mountains of Colorado for Camp Alderwild in Telluride, a music festival curated and headlined by Of the Trees. The experience was everything I hoped it would be: music echoing off mountain peaks, crisp alpine air, surrounded by towering peaks that make you feel like you're on another planet. Dancing under the starry sky, surrounded by mountains, reminded me why we seek out these moments of pure joy.

   
   

   

   Telluride, Colorado made the perfect backdrop for Camp Alderwild.

   The only casualties of our trip were our poor bodies. Days of driving through mountain passes and sleeping in the car left me feeling like I'd been through a blender. But isn't that always the trade-off with the best adventures? The difficulty in getting there made the experience all that much more beautiful. I wrote about my experience at the festival earlier this week. I have more photos I'm sorting through and will share more soon.
   

3. This week, we finally made it to the Minnesota State Fair. The Great Minnesota Get-Together was special to me this year because my husband experienced the fair for the first time. We ventured beyond our usual cheese curds and Pronto Pup to try the steak tips (excellent) and a cookie butter sundae (good, but not amazing).

   
   

   My favorite part of the fair will always be the rock and gem vendors. It feels meditative running smooth stones between your fingers and learning about minerals formed deep in the earth millions of years ago. We're planning another visit this weekend to try more food, check out the Sky Ride, and to see the homemade cookies my grandma entered.
   

4. For the past few months, I've been spending a lot of time painting. My dining room table has become a studio, scattered with tubes of paint and works in various stages of completion. The pieces are accumulating, and I want a place to share them besides my own walls and social media.

   
   

   I want to approach local coffee shops and businesses to ask them to display my work, but it feels very vulnerable putting my creative work out into the world, asking strangers to give it space on their walls. What if they say no? What if the work isn't good enough? But maybe the worst thing that happens is they say no, and the best thing is that my art finds a home where it can bring beauty to otherwise ordinary days.

5. After some stress and vendor issues, our wedding reception is finally happening next weekend. The original caterer we wanted to work with ghosted us a few weeks ago, leaving us scrambling to find someone reliable. The uncertainty was overwhelming at times, and it was hard to get excited at first because I wasn't sure the most basic elements would come together.

   
   

   But everything worked out eventually. We locked in a great caterer, finalized the last details, and I can finally let myself feel excited instead of anxious. It's been fun planning a celebration during late summer, it's a nice way to gather our families one more time before everyone settles into fall routines. I'm ready to finally exhale after months of planning.

I keep thinking about how this summer taught me that I can handle way more change than I thought I could, but also that I don't always want to. Seasons of growth and change are necessary, but there's equal value in seasons of stillness and routine. The wedding reception next weekend feels like the perfect bookend, one last big celebration before I give myself permission to hibernate a bit.