I may not leave my house once winter starts

Conferences are exhausting. It's nice to be home and have a day to do absolutely nothing (and by nothing I mean laundry and watching tv - you, know things I don't have to leave the house to do). I feel like a bit of an old lady this time around; I don't think I stayed out past 10 pm the entire conference.

Anyway, the important thing that I learned during this conference is that I am grossly unprepared for cold weather. It's only October so I don't think anyone was expecting it to be as cold as it was even though the conference was in Denver. When I checked the weather report a few days before the trip, it said that it would be in the 60s and 70s  during the day and the 30s in the evenings. No snow was in the forecast and I believed that I packed accordingly. I even grabbed my fall weight jacket just in case. The forecast lied. It was in the 80s the first day I was in town but then it got super cold and there was a light dusting of snow. My fall jacket was not appropriate and I really should have brought different shoes. Ballet flats were not the best choice.

I left northern Virginia after Snowpocalypse 2009/2010 (two blizzards in less than 3 months was enough for me). Living in Northern California was no day at the beach (that's SoCal). We have "winter" where it ranges between the 30s-40s and rains all the time. If you're an outdoorsy kind of person, you can go up into the mountains and ski and do other things people who like cold do in the winter the months. Obviously, I stayed in my cozy apartment watching Hallmark holiday movies and drinking hot chocolate. This behavior has in no way prepared me to be back in a place that has actual seasons and the potential for snow.

Now I know that NOVA winters are not like winters in Minnesota or Maine or Vermont, but for real, it's cold and the potential for snow is real. Now that I don't have my SUV, I have visions of myself stranded on the side of the road in my little blue car. I'm sure that this won't happen but the thought is still there. I guess I should probably keep a blanket in the car and maybe some water or something. Right?

One thing that I do love about the fact that winter is coming is that we have to go through fall first. Fall is my favorite season of them all and I've been without fall for two whole years. No pretty leaves and no real crisp weather. I like getting my sweaters out (and buying a few new ones), wearing my cute boots (that are in no way winter weather appropriate), and Halloween and Thanksgiving (best holidays ever).

You know what else happens in the fall? I make pumpkin cookies. I'm making the first batch of the season today (the photo is from last year). One of my co-workers describes these cookies as "pumpkin crack" and I can't say that I disagree with him. My apartment will smell pumpkin-y and fall-y. And I will temporarily forget about my fear of the winter and the cold.

Possibly my favorite thing about the Colorado Convention Center.