a fall weekend

This last weekend was such a great example of the beauty of Colorado in the fall. We went up to the mountains to see the fall colors and to attend Julie's memorial service, and we seriously couldn't have asked for better scenery.

As we were driving up, Spencer pointed out how the aspen trees were glowing on the mountainside. They were beaming a radiant gold, and others were a fiery red on top and then descended in color to yellow and then a soft green. It was just incredible.

I have a strong affinity for fall. Something about this season just burns into my core. The changes in the seasons, the changes in my heart and mind. I seem to focus a bit more during this time. Maybe the years of going back to school conditioned my mind to gain more clarity in these months.

A few years ago, during my senior year of college, I was walking to the library on a crisp fall day. I had on a soft grey sweater and blue jeans, and my hair was pinned back to the side. As I walked, I turned on my James Taylor playlist and tried to enjoy the beauty of the New England colors over the pond behind the student center. College was a tough time of life for me. It was the most fulfilling time of my life, but it was marred with a feeling of loneliness and depression that I didn't yet understand (I'm only starting to now). My senior year was the year things started to come together for me, though. My history classes fell into place, I grew to know my favorite sections of the library like the back of my hand (american history and ancient literature), and the writing flowed like the wine I hid in the back of my closet in my dry campus dorm room. My girlfriends and I enjoyed frequent outings to our local pub, and there was many a night in which I stumbled back home in giggles with my roommates. But this one memory of that fall day in the library has taken a permanent residence in my heart, and always comes a knocking on weekends like this last one.

That day, I wandered through the stacks, pulling my favorite titles off the shelves. James Taylor sung to me sweetly, and this sense that I was in the right place at the right time pulsed through my veins. I worked on my mini-thesis, flipping through the thin page of these ancient texts, and marveled at how these thousand year old stories could still speak to me so deeply. My connection to humanity was very strong that fall day.

Walking on the creek in my new cozy jacket...

Decorating our home for fall... 

We checked several things off our list this weekend. We saw the fall colors, decorated our house for fall (with plenty of gems from The Shops at Target :), drank apple cider, and walked along the creek in cozy sweaters. Other highlights: Spencer bought a newsboy hat that has had me humming the Newsies soundtrack to myself (and to him, at the top of my lungs) for most of the weekend, I made this incredible kale salad, and we said goodbye to Julie.

I'm working on finding that sense of human connection, but it feels like it's right around the corner. Much like the time I thought about the orchid bringing on a sense of renewal, this changing season seems to be telling me that rest is okay, and that it is important to reach out for community and embrace those you love. Fall parties, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Spencer's birthday... all are right around the corner. Exciting things ahead of us!

I freaking love fall.