Your Fall Calendar Is Full: How to Make Time for Fun Anyway
Quick question: how many open weekends do you have between now and Thanksgiving? If the answer is somewhere between “not many” and “please don't make me look,” figuring out how to make time for fun
probably feels a little unrealistic right now.
If you had to open your calendar app to check, then quietly closed it again, you're in good company. For a lot of us in the Twin Cities, October was spoken for sometime in late August.
There's the football games. The bonfire at your neighbor's. The pumpkin patch the kids ask about every single year, and the apple orchard trip that somehow requires the entire extended family. MEA break lands right in the middle of October, which means somebody is probably packing a car. And that's before work, school pickup, and whatever just landed in the family group text.
So let me say up front what this post is not.
It is not a list of ten more fall activities in Minnetonka you should somehow squeeze into your schedule. You don't need another assignment. You definitely don't need another checklist dressed up as self-care.
This is about something smaller and more useful: paying attention to which parts of your already-full life actually give you some energy back.
A Full Fall Calendar Can Be Good and Still Be Exhausting
Here's what nobody says out loud about a busy fall: a lot of it is good.
You chose most of it. You like these people. You want to be at the game. You probably even like the apple orchard.
And it can still leave you running on fumes by Sunday night.
Both things are true at once. "Full" isn't the enemy. The problem starts when everything on the calendar takes something from you and nothing gives anything back. That's when a season you love starts to feel like a job you didn't apply for.
The answer isn't necessarily clearing your calendar. That's not realistic, and most of us wouldn't want to anyway. Instead, make sure a few things are there simply because they make you feel good. Not because you're hosting, driving, supervising, volunteering, or showing up for someone else.
If you want one of those things to be a little sparkly, that's exactly what the All That Glitters studio in Minnetonka is for.
Come in for permanent jewelry, build something at the Charm Bar, get a new piercing, or create a custom scent. You can come solo, bring a friend, or bring a small group. It's one of the easier plans you can make this fall: it fits into an afternoon or evening, and you leave with something you chose for yourself.
Why This One Is Personal For Me
I'm not writing this from a place of having it all figured out. To be frank, I'm writing it from the middle of it.
Summer and fall have been incredibly busy for my small business, which is exciting and exhausting at the same time.
A lot of that is great news. I've hired my first employees, which is really helpful in terms of support, but also requires me to document all the things I've been doing myself so someone else can eventually take them off my plate.
If you've ever tried to write down how you do something you've done on instinct for years, you know the feeling. It's like explaining how to ride a bike. That, in and of itself, is ongoing work I'm trying to manage while keeping everything else going.
At the same time, my full-time job has been demanding in ways that are different from the last couple of years.
So yes, I know exactly what a full calendar feels like right now. And it has me asking bigger questions than usual.
What do I actually want to spend my time doing? Which parts of my week give me energy, and which ones only take it?
The answer I'm arriving at is that I want to spend more of my time doing things that make me happy and give me energy, rather than filling every available space with work that drains me.
All That Glitters does bring me joy, and I really want to figure out how to make that be what also pays the bills. I don't have a tidy ending to that story yet. But asking the question has changed how I look at my calendar, and I suspect it might change how you look at yours too.
Try the Energy Test
Here's the one question I've started asking about the things on my schedule:
When this is over, will I have more energy or less?
That's it. No scoring system. No color-coded spreadsheet. I say that as someone who loves a color-coded spreadsheet.
Some things are obligations, and they stay on the calendar anyway. That's adulthood. But when you have a choice, even a small one, the energy test can help you pick the thing that gives something back.
In my experience, the things that pass the test tend to have a few things in common.
They're short. An hour can be enough. Fun doesn't need to eat an entire Saturday to count.
They're personal. It's something that reflects you, rather than something you chose because it was on everyone else's fall bucket list.
They're shared, if you want them to be. Two friends count. Three people count. A plan doesn't need a big guest list or a Pinterest-worthy occasion to be worth making.
That personal piece is one of my favorite parts of what we do at All That Glitters. I love watching someone go from "What do I pick?" to being genuinely excited about what they've created. It happens with permanent jewelry, a Charm Bar piece, a new ear piercing, a custom scent, or any of the other experiences we offer.
That little moment of this is so me? That's energy. You can feel it in the room.
How to Make Time for Fun Without Making It a Project
The last thing I want is for "have more fun" to become one more thing you feel behind on. So don't turn it into homework.
Look for the gaps you already have. Maybe it's the hour between a morning game and an evening bonfire, or a weeknight that's quieter than the rest. You don't need a completely free weekend. You need a free-ish window.
Attach it to something already happening. Meeting a friend for coffee? Add one more stop. Already running Saturday errands? Stop somewhere that's actually for you.
Let it be small. A small plan that actually happens beats a big plan that lives on the "someday" list forever.
Don't wait for a reason. You don't need a birthday, milestone, or special occasion. A random Tuesday is a perfectly good excuse.
And if you're looking for things to do in Minnetonka this fall, don't assume everything has to involve an entire afternoon, a reservation made three weeks ago, or coordinating six people's calendars. Sometimes the best addition to a busy season is the easiest one.
Looking for an Easy Fall Activity? Come See Me in Hopkins
If you want an easy place to start, I'll be at the Hopkins Farmers' Market on Saturday, October 3, from 7:30 AM–12 PM.
It already fits into a normal fall Saturday: grab your produce, get your coffee, and stop by for a little sparkle while you're there.
No elaborate planning. No group-chat coordination. No need to turn it into an Event with a capital E. Just a small thing that's for you, tucked into a morning you were already having.
Come find me. I'd love to see you.
Make Sure Something on Your Calendar Is for You
Your fall calendar may already be full. Mine certainly is. The goal isn't to find a magical empty Saturday or cram five more "must-do" fall activities into October. It's to look at everything that's already there and make sure at least a little of it gives something back.
An hour counts. Coffee with a friend counts. A studio appointment counts. Something you chose just because you wanted to do it counts.
You don't have to earn the fun part by finishing everything else first. If you're ready to put something on the calendar that's actually for you, book an appointment at the All That Glitters studio in Minnetonka.
And if this post made you think of someone whose calendar looks suspiciously like yours, send it her way.
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