mmm...gelato...

We awoke on Saturday morning to find that Colorado had, in one day, switched from Summer to Fall. The air coming in the bedroom window was crisp and cool and I wanted to cuddle under the covers rather than throw them off from overheating. We had to close all our windows and put the spread on the bed because it got so cold on Sasturday night. This weekend was one of the most relaxing I've had in a long time; it was the first one in close to two months where we didn't HAVE to do anything or go anywhere. We slept in, made breakfast, cleaned up the house a little, lounged around, went to the movies (finally saw sStardust; it was great!), went grocery shopping. Sunday we ran a few errands and visited with some family. It was a fantastic weekend.

It was definitely fall, though, the last few days. The weekend was overcast and foggy/cool, even a bit rainy. And yesterday it rained for a good part of the day, only to feel like crisp fall air even when it warmed up. Today was the first morning since May that I walked to work wishing I had brought a sweater, and I wore pants rather than a skirt. I've written before about the changing of the seasons here in Colorado, and I've lived through enough years of seasonal changes to recognize the subtle ones before the leaves turn and the snow starts. The air feels different; the sky's deep blue has a quality that is somehow changed; the static electricity has begun. Something deep in my bones tells me winter's going to come early this year, so I'm focusing on enjoying fall while it lasts. I just hope we don't have another winter like last year's, because man, that was enough snow and cold for a while.

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I had to spend all day yesterday in a day-long "retreat" with my coworkers. I had to get up nearly an hour earlier than usual to take a bus for an hour (in the rain) in order to get to the "retreat" location on time, and when I got there the promised breakfast/coffee (not that I wanted coffee, but still) hadn't shown up. Then coffee showed up, but it was cold. They finally brought in warm coffee and pastries, but the pastries were kind of greasy and gross and I was really glad that I'd eaten a bowl of cereal like usual and hadn't depended on the breakfast. We spent about six hours in useless busywork and discussion, punctuated by a terrible lunch, and then went home. Luckily, the dinner Dan made last night totally made up for the crappy cafeteria food - he used veggies from the garden and made a fantastic recipe from a Rick Bayless cookbook. Man, I'm so lucky.

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In a way I'm more excited about our trip to Italy than I am about the wedding. OK, not really. But I'm super excited to share some of my favorite places, some of my favorite food, some of my favorite art with my favorite person. I spent about a week in Italy on my big eurotrip back in the summer of 2000, but that was 2.5 days in Rome, 1 day in Venice, 2 days in Florence and a day and a half in/near Cinque Terre. Not nearly long enough in Rome/Florence to see/do/eat everything I wanted. I'm already salivating thinking about the margherita pizza, the gelato, the fresh everything, the cheap yet delicious wine. I'm kind of excited to be going on a big trip BEFORE the wedding so we don't have to worry about wedding planning and trip planning to happen in such a short period of time.

Speaking of wedding planning, we're about to send out Save-the-Dates, the wedding website is getting spiffed up, we started registering and we're doing a site visit with the caterer when we're in CA for a couple of weeks. Honestly, there isn't a WHOLE lot else that needs figuring out - some stuff needs DOING but mostly we know what we're doing, it's just a matter of doing it/having it done. Cake is the next thing that needs figured out, and as long as it tastes good I don't care what it looks like. Maybe we'll have a few different cakes and Dan can pick which one to top with Han Solo and Gold Bikini'd Princess Leia.