6 Things You Can Officially Do Now That It's September

Whether you watch shows on a TV set or Hulu, the summer hasn’t provided much to look forward to in terms of television (The Killing? Pretty Little Liars? Wilfred?). But It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League returned Sept. 4; Boardwalk Empire on Sept. 8. And New Girl, The Mindy Project, How I Met Your Mother, Law and Order SVU, Nashville, Parks & Recreation, The Simpsons, The Good Wife, Revenge and Eastbound and Down all return later this month. Plus there are new shows with Lizzie Kaplan ( Masters of Sex ), Sarah Michelle Gellar ( The Crazy Ones , co-starring Robin Williams) and writer Sarah Haskins (The Trophy Wife) make their debut this month.

Photo: From Showtime's Masters of Sex

I don’t know a single beer drinker who doesn’t cave to fall's Oktoberfests and Pumpkin Ales. Like manna from The Great Pumpkin, these beers begin lining gas station and bodega shelves all of a sudden each September. For the budget-conscious, there’s Blue Moon's Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (usually around $6.99 per six-pack); for the all-American, Samuel Adams' Harvest Pumpkin Ale; for high alcohol content, Weyerbacher’s 8.0% ABV Imperial Pumpkin Ale; for the avant-garde/locacore, the new Pumpkin Patch Ale from Rogue Ales (brewed with pumpkins grown on Rogue’s Oregon farm). Brooklyn Brewery says its Post Road Pumpkin Ale is made using traditional colonial methods. But Buffalo Bill claims to use America’s original pumpkin ale recipe.

Photo: Just Beer blog

A friend started talking about her Halloween costume in July, which is obviously totally unacceptable. But come September, you’re allowed to start thinking about your Halloween costume and maybe even mentioning it once or twice. For those really into zeitgeist-y Halloween costumes, it’s the time to start approaching all current events, movie releases and Internet memes as potential Halloween-costume fodder. Oh, yucckkk — I just realized that we’re gonna get a lot of Miley Cyruses and Robin Thickes this Halloween.

If you live in certain parts of the United States, September marks the opening of corn maze season. For the uninitiated, corn mazes are exactly what they sound like they are. Sometimes there are little checkpoints throughout the maze where you are rewarded for your rat-like abilities with things like free Wendy's drink coupons (but sometimes just the satisfaction of finding the checkpoint). This picture makes it seem like a really pretty place to get engaged, but I think that would actually, probably be terrifying.

Yes, it’s cliched; but it’s also tradition? Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte returns each September. The Starbucks website notes that “there have been over 29,000 tweets that have featured the hash tag #pumpkinspice since August of 2012.” Just be aware that there are 49 grams sugar in the standard grande version. You can make your own to healthify it; Pinterest is full of DIY, healthy, and vegan pumpkin spice latte recipes.

Photo via Brittany Mullins, who also offers a recipe for a healthy, vegan version

Theoretically, the weather should be cooling down enough soon to make biking to work possible without showing up a sweat-soaked mess. Lunching outside will be possible. Consuming things other than fro-yo or iced coffee for lunch will seem appealing. In general, your life at the office is about to get a whole lot better. And getting in some exercise as you commute to work saves more time for important things, like corn mazes and fall TV and drinking pumpkin beers outside on crisp fall nights.