Weekend Plans: Play Outside

This past week, the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS! I’ve gone for a walk outside almost every day, trying to take advantage of these final nice-weather days before the cold, dark, dreary New England winter sets in. Don’t get me wrong, I love the first snowfall, a white Christmas, and a good old-fashioned blizzard, but the gray slush that inevitably sets in later in the season can get old pretty quickly!

I love this sherpa sweatshirt’s cute fall pattern!

So this past week, in addition to my daily walks, I also went outside to play! Yes, I am 27 years old and I still enjoy playing in the backyard as the sun sets, like it’s the ’90s or early ’00s. There’s just something bout the cool fall air, the physical sensation of running around and using your muscles, and laughing like a little kid that makes play (even as an adult) the perfect medicine.

Earlier this week I asked my boyfriend, Matt, if he would throw the football around with me a bit in the backyard. At first, he was hesitant, but he finally gave in. We took turns throwing the ball back and forth, perfecting our grip, our spin, and our passing depth. (We only threw the ball into the street a few times). Whenever I had a bad throw, I would just laugh as Matt did his best to still catch the ball. I also, quite literally, jumped up and down with excitement whenever I managed a good pass.

It really felt like I was in that Friends Thanksgiving episode when everyone plays backyard football to win the Geller Cup! I probably looked more like Phoebe than anyone else — but it’s about having fun, not necessarily being any good! Plus, it’s fun to just to do something different once in a while!

I did get a bit sweaty, and my tricep on my throwing arm really hurt the next day, but man, was it fun to go play outside for an hour or so on a weekend evening. It might seem silly at first, but maybe an hour or two outside, just playing with no purpose, is exactly what you need during a stressful week.

I was truly channeling a ’90s after-school special’ vibe with this outfit!

Matt and I also had Veteran’s Day off this week, so I took advantage of the midweek break and had myself a mini ‘Friday’ on a Tuesday! I got dressed up in my best ’90s-vibe outfit (I’m telling you — playing outside brings me back to my childhood!) and begged Matt to take a walk with me and find a pile of leaves to play in. It felt like a very fall, very carefree, thing to do on a clear November afternoon.

I never grew up raking leaves or playing in leaves — maybe because we didn’t have a lot of trees in our yard — but I always thought it was such a cute fall activity. What could be more recklessly fun than doing yard work and the ruining all of your hard work with a carefree leap into the leaves? It’s kind of like building a sandcastle and then stepping on it; you are effectively placing more value on the playing than the work. Sometimes it feels good just to play for playing’s sake!

Well, we found some leaves on the side of the road on our walk. I thought it would be a nice background for a little photoshoot so we stopped there and I started collecting leaves. I grabbed a bunch and started throwing them around, asking Matt to take pictures of me frolicking in the dried leaves.

It probably would’ve felt more like play if I was raking leaves in my own backyard and then jumping in the piles (which is still on my bucket list!), but it was still fun to throw some leaves around and have a little photoshoot right there, on the side of the road. I felt like a basic fall *girl* playing in the leaves, but it really was fun to just go outside and PLAY during this nice weather we’re having. It will be the middle of winter before we know it, so I challenge you to go and play outside, however you choose to, while you still can!

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