FALL!

Be still, my heart!  Tomorrow is the "official" first day of Fall (at least according to weather.com), and I think we actually started getting the Fall weather a few days ahead of schedule.  Yahoo! 

Much as I love hot hot weather, the leading edge of Fall makes me want to...well, first of all, not work.  Also on the "things I want to be doing in this glorious weather" list: drinking coffee outside, vacationing in North Carolina (doesn't that just scream Fall?), wearing sweaters, going for a run, hanging out around the firepit at night, and tailgating.

Of course, all of those things presume real Fall weather.  Those of you in my neck of the woods realize that the "Fall weather" I'm presently feeling (and am way too excited about) involves a low of 85 and a high of 92.  Mysteriously, on home game Saturdays, Summer inevitably returns and it's 115 degrees in the Swamp (hello, USF game!), so I'm not likely to get a chance to do the Fall weather tailgate for another couple of months.  For that matter, none of the other stuff on that list will be really appealing to do until sometime in November, if this faux-Fall keeps going.

A girl can dream, though (fueled by the super-cold air conditioning in my office!)....and the Fall weather daydreams are still much more fun than the day job!

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we....???

Yes, my Football-loving friends - we are almost there! The emails have started flying (among the gems I've seen so far: Will's Mom sent this one around earlier this week, and I nearly peed my pants right there in my office), and we're all lining up the babysitters (thanks Millie & Pops!) and dusting off the tailgate gear. I'm pretty sure that when I check on the munchkins before bed every night, the General is checking on our season tickets to make sure they're safe and sound, dreaming of touchdowns and extra points.

I have such fervent fall fever that I'm actually expecting to feel crisp, cool fall air every time I walk outside. That's ludicrous. I live in Florida, and being outside in August in Florida is like walking in a bowl of hot soup. But, honey, it's time for football - and football fever makes every good Southerner more than a little crazy! Me and my fall weather hallucinations are evidently no exception.

This isn't really a "Florida fan" blog, but there's no hiding my allegiance, so I might as well just get it out there from the start. I bleed Orange and Blue, y'all. The season might technically start before the boys from old Florda take the field, but as far as I'm concerned, that's all just the college preseason. For me, it isn't really official until we're headed to Gainesville with a truck full of bourbon and bbq.


So...less than two weeks 'til kickoff, and it's time to get serious about our tailgating plans. Heeeere come the (tail)Gators!