growing up in new england does something to you. it rewires you a little. you stop experiencing seasons and you start feeling them. planning around them. chasing them. and if you are anything like me, you become the kind of person who has a very specific emotional response to the smell of charcoal in july or the first morning in september when the air is just different.
i made a carousel about this recently and something about it really resonated. because i think a lot of us are walking around with this calendar in our bodies that nobody taught us. we just absorbed it. and we have been chasing those feelings ever since.
this post is my attempt to put words to all of it. every month. every feeling. and eventually every single one of these months is getting its own deep dive post where we talk about how to actually make your home feel like that season on purpose. shoppable finds, decor ideas, the whole thing.
but first. let’s talk about the feelings.
it starts with the seasons and never really stops
i live in rhode island. and i genuinely believe that new england is proof that the feeling i have been chasing my whole life is real and it actually exists somewhere. four seasons that mean something. architecture that has been here forever. the kind of place that looks exactly like the way childhood is supposed to look.
you do not have to live here to feel it. that is actually the whole point. if you grew up somewhere with real seasons, or even if you just always wished you had, this calendar is for you. because the feeling is universal even if the zip code is not.
okay. let’s go month by month.
how every month feels in new england
June
salt air. hydrangeas. the windows finally staying open all night.
june is the first real exhale of summer and it always feels like a surprise. even though it comes every year. even though you knew it was coming. there is something about that first truly warm night where the curtains move a little and the air smells like grass and flowers and salt and you think oh. there it is. summer is actually here.
june always feels a little like a gift you forgot you were going to get.
July
sandlot summers. sparklers. the kind of day that smells like sunscreen and charcoal and everyone is outside and nobody wants to go in.
july is loud and golden and full. it is ice cream trucks and sailboats and the porch being the best room in the house. it is staying outside until it is almost dark and then staying outside a little longer. july does not apologize for being a lot. that is exactly why we love it.
August
campfires. card games. lake days. and that specific smell of bug spray and sunscreen mixed together on your skin right before you shower at the end of the day.
you know the one. it takes you straight back to being a kid at camp. there is nothing quite like it and there is no candle that has ever fully captured it and honestly maybe that is okay. some smells just belong to the memory. august is the month that feels the most like childhood even when you are very much an adult. hold onto it. it goes fast.
September
those first few mornings when you wake up and the air is just different. crisp enough for a sweater. crisp enough to finally light the candle you have been saving.
september is the slow permission to start leaning into fall even if it is still warm enough for shorts in the afternoon. and that tension is the whole point. you are not fully in fall yet. you are just being allowed to want it. new england makes you earn the seasons and that is exactly why they feel so good when they finally arrive.
light the candle. put the sweater on. you earned it.
October
jack o lanterns glowing on the porch. hocus pocus on the tv. something warm in a bowl and a chunky sweater that finally makes sense.
october is the month where every single night feels like an event. the whole world smells like candles and fallen leaves and magic. it is dark earlier and somehow that feels like a gift. you light more candles. you make more soup. you put the chunky sweater on and you feel like yourself again in a way that is hard to explain but that every single october person completely understands.
october is the best month. i said what i said.
November
the candles are lit. the parade is on. something is simmering on the stove and the whole house smells like it.
november wraps its arms around you and squeezes. it is warm and jolly and full of tradition and somehow still a little bittersweet. like you are chasing something you can almost touch. the table is set. the pie is in the oven. nobody has changed out of their pajamas yet and nobody is planning to. november is about slowing all the way down and letting the people and the food and the warmth of the house be enough.
the holidays are here. this time you are going to really feel them.
December
the tree is lit. something is always baking. everyone is home or on their way.
december is jolly and loud and full and warm. and somehow in the middle of all of it there is this quiet ache for the way it used to feel when you were small and the magic was just given to you. you did not have to make it. it was just there. now you are the one making it. you are the one lighting the candles and baking the thing and putting the tree up and wrapping the gifts. and it is a lot. and it is also everything. and you would not have it any other way.
January
a clean slate. deep winter. all the cozy without the chaos of december.
january gets a bad reputation and i genuinely do not understand it. the world gets quiet after all that noise and honestly that feels like a gift. you can finally just be in your house. no agenda. no parties. no obligations. just you and the snow outside the window and something warm in your hands and the whole season stretching out in front of you like a long exhale.
january is underrated. i will die on this hill.
February
winter with a little bow on it. candles lit. something good on the stove. valentines on the windowsill.
february is the month that decided if we have to still be in winter we might as well make it romantic. and i respect that completely. it is pink and red and candlelit and it smells like something simmering and there are flowers on the table even though there is snow on the ground. february knows what it is and it leans all the way in.
March
not quite winter. not quite spring. the world is still waking up and so are we.
march is the in between month. cozy still. just quieter. it is a good month to slow down and wait for it instead of rushing it. put a puzzle out. reread something good. make the soup one more time. spring is coming and it will be worth the wait. march just asks you to be patient and trust the process and honestly after the year new england just put you through you can probably manage a few more weeks.
April
color is coming back. finally.
april always feels like the world remembered how to be pretty again. pastels are out. tulips are up. everything that was gray and bare and waiting is suddenly doing something. april has this specific quality of light that makes everything look a little more hopeful than it actually is and i am completely fine with being tricked by it every single year.
May
true spring in new england. finally. the windows are open for real this time.
may is everything feels fresh and possible and worth stepping outside for. it is the windows open not just cracked but actually open. it is the garden doing something. it is that specific combination of warm sun and cool breeze that makes you want to be outside and inside at the same time. may is the payoff for everything new england put you through since october. and every single year it is worth it.
what comes next
each one of these months is getting its own full post. we are going deeper. we are talking about how to actually make your home feel like that season on purpose. what to put on your shelves. what candle to light. what to have simmering on the stove. how to decorate intentionally for the feeling not just the holiday.
because that is the whole thing with home with em. it is not just about how your home looks. it is about how it feels. and if you live somewhere with real seasons you already know that every single month deserves to feel like something specific and intentional and yours.
i have already started building out shoppable collections for each month over on my shop. june, july, and august are live right now. each collection is curated around the feeling of that month whether that is clothing, home decor, beach finds, or whatever else fits the vibe.
more months are coming. bookmark this one. the deep dives are going to be good.
save this for later
if any of this felt like something you needed to read today, save it. share it with the friend who gets irrationally emotional about october. send it to the person in your life who understands why the first crisp september morning feels like a holiday.
and if you want to make sure you do not miss the individual monthly posts as they go live, come follow along over on instagram at @home.with.em. that is where i share all of it first. 🍂
