Don't get me wrong – I'm a fan of any and every long weekend! [caption id="attachment_13164" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I'm heading up north to Blue Mountain for the long weekend. How pretty is this?! (Photo, Andrea Hamlin)[/caption]   But it's funny isn't it? Close your eyes and think back to the May long weekend. Summer was all ahead of us, an adventure to be explored. It was all about road trips, cottages, water parks, cocktails, Popsicles, gelatos, Olympics, summer street food festivals, fairs, hanging with neighbours on the back deck, on a downtown patio with friends, shorts and picking up iced coffee drinks at the drive-thru. I could go on – and dwell on the fact that it's all behind me now. But I won't! I'm going to look ahead instead (never a bad idea, fyi). I'll thank the universe deeply and profusely for all the fun I this summer and move on. How? This is how I'm going to do it and think about it, you might want to do this too! What do I like most about summer, I asked myself. The trips, going away, being at a different place and doing new things that are fun! I'm starting September with a weekend up north to  Blue Mountain  – and staying at the resort there. What will I do? [caption id="attachment_13165" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I know what I'll do – I will go golfing! I will have fun!   (Photo, Andrea Hamlin)[/caption]   5 WAYS TO EMBRACE THE NEW SEASON WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN 1. Spend a day at the spa I'm going to spend a day at Scandinave Spa, based on Scandinavian baths, including hot saunas and cold plunges! Maybe I will get a massage there, too. It will be a nice way to step through the door into the fall: relaxed. 2. Get outside It's on the Niagara Escarpment, and there are lots of good places to go for hikes or long walks. I'll play golf! I think this coming season is the best time for that: it's cooler, the bugs are gone and it's good for the soul to be in this kind of nature. And if the leaves outside my office building in the city are starting to change colours, I'm pretty sure it's happening up north, too. 3. Do something crazy I'm going to step outside my comfort zone, I like to do that sometimes. Not too often. But I'm going to ride on a gondola. I usually like to feel the ground beneath my feet, but I'm going to call on my inner braveness and let them dangle above the earth. 4. Eat an apple In southern Ontario, it's apple harvest season. I'll tour the apple orchards and eat apples right off the tree. The first time I had a bite of a freshly picked apple, I couldn’t believe it. Not the usual mushy, bruised un-tree-ripened apples that I bring home from the grocery store, but a juicy, crisp, flavour-packed apple! 5. Enjoy a lovely meal There's something nice about sitting down to enjoy a meal at a nice restaurant. For me, it's the whole experience, the food, of course, the staff, the not cooking and cleaning-up part afterwards. And that is how I will step into the light this coming season. Relaxed, refreshed and revived from a weekend away. How about you? How are you going to embrace the coming season?