Annual fall retreat with the husband

Every fall, the husband's company hosts a strategic planning retreat for the corporate officers as well as board members, and spouses are included. In the past we've been to several different islands on the southeast coast. A few years it was held at a ranch. Last year we trekked to the southern Blue Ridge area of Virginia. And this year we traveled to Colorado.

I've gotta say, I was really looking forward to Colorado because I knew it would actually look and feel like autumn up there. I was able to pack some sweaters and enjoy wearing them without running the AC. We left Texas in the 80s for 60s in Colorado, and then the temps really took a nosedive the next day. Our accommodations were lovely and it was a breath of cool mountain air, literally. We had someone come stay with Finn and Pepper to house and dog sit, so I was able to really relax and enjoy the beautiful setting and amenities. 

 

 

 

Lizard patrol

Our terriers are ever so resourceful. If they can't find any deer or squirrels to chase, they move on to even smaller critters. Lizards, in particular, have been their target lately. Our resident lizards like to use the pool fencing as their highway, of sorts, to get from the yard onto the patio in pursuit of a buggy meal. Now it's a death road for the unlucky ones.

Since master hunter Finn the Fierce discovered the lizard path, he's always on the lookout for them. As you can see below, he's quite vocal when he locates one. Most of the time the lizards are wily enough to freeze and wait him out in order to make an escape. However, a couple times they've gotten caught and paid the price. We've had to toss a few lifeless lizards over the side fence after Finn was finished with them. This usually involves bribing our great cairn hunter with a treat to make him drop his victim. If a zombie lizard apocalypse ever happens, y'all, I'm all set with my terrier protection.

Footwear and a wedding dress

Even though the temps aren't really fall-like these days, it's just too late in the year to be wearing sandals. Mostly. And so I hauled out the stepladder to do the biannual shoe swap last week. I took all of my spring/summer shoes off the shelves and gave them a good dust. Then I brought down all of the boxes stacked above my hanging clothes to place the fall/winter footwear on the shelves. Now I'm ready for cooler temps if they ever decide to show up and stick around.

In other clothes news, I went to Austin on Monday to attend the final wedding dress fitting for the CPA daughter. The alterations ladies did an excellent job and it looked beautiful on her. The bride-to-be had her hair done by the wedding day stylist once again to be certain of the look she wants with the veil on her big day. After leaving the bridal salon, we had a working lunch with the wedding planner. Who knew there were so many last minute details to nail down?! Things like seating charts, signage, shuttle buses and the big wedding day timeline we'll all be following, just to name a few. The stationer was a busy lady, with the menu taking a lot of time to perfect. First we had to confirm all of the final food selects with the caterer. Next it was all about the look. Font type and size, plus regular, bold, italics, all caps, all lowercase, etc. Then we contemplated spacing. Good news is we got it all figured out after multiple mock-ups and it looks fabulous.