Love

So my six-month wedding anniversary is coming up next week--which seems insane. Normally I'm not the sort of person who is all "wow, that went by in a flash!" when really time moves at a very steady pace, a year takes a year, six months takes six months, and certain hours or minutes can go by faster than others, but overall they balance each other out. But these last six months? They were fast.

I suppose they were unusually busy. And I know that people don't normally celebrate half-anniversaries, but we're going to, because this particularly anniversary denotes the time when things will--theoretically, anyway--slow down, and move at a more normal pace.

(Not that we're going crazy with the celebrating. We're going out to dinner at this mom & pop Italian restaurant Dave's been planning to take me to forever, only it's kind of hard to get to).

We also celebrated Valentine's Day, because though I think it is a dumb Hallmark Holiday, it doesn't really bother me, and didn't even when I was single (sorry--I've been getting a lot of Valentine's hate-on from friends, and feel righteous on their behalf, and shruggy on my own) and made red wine risotto, because it's red, but actually it was delicious--so comforting and hearty and complex. We also got each other presents, which we don't normally do, but Dave's was a Valentine's/anniversary combo, and a big present, but I got it because he obviously really wanted it and would never get it for himself for reasons unknown to me: a big-ass iPod. Which he promptly named Orpheus, after the Greek patron of music. And people say I'm a dork.

I wasn't actually expecting anything, since I kept my gift-giving a surprise, but Dave got me something entirely clever and cool and so thoughtful--a little backstory: I love the smell of olive oil. We make brussels sprouts a lot, and I toss them with salt, pepper, and olive oil before frying them up and dusting them with parmesan cheese. Every time I mix them with the oil, I take a deep sniff and exclaim over how wonderful it smells, and how I'd love perfume of that exact scent.

Well, they don't make brussels sprout-scented perfume, more's the pity, but Dave went looking for something approximate, and found Aftelier's Chef's Essential Oils. He got me an olive oil absolute, pepper essential oil, and tarragon and basil oils to add something green to the mix. They're stunning, and can be used for cooking too. I played around with them a little, and the olive oil and pepper combined had a warm, toasty, earthy scent, not like olive oil or pepper--if you toss in even one more it changes the scent entirely, and creates something new. I love them.

And now I'm by myself--Dave took the kids to Vermont for a few days, so they could ski (Toaster asked why I wasn't coming, I laughed long and hard). And don't get me wrong--I love being by myself. Yesterday I made cumin cheese puffs, and thought about making bread, but decided I was too lazy and so instead knit most of a sweater and watched a lot of dvd commentary, which is not something I would ever subject somebody else to.

But then last night I couldn't sleep, not even with the normally banished-from-the-bedroom Maud to keep me company, and this morning, having been given instructions, (though not written ones!) I looked at the coffee and tried really hard to figure out how to make it, but the sad truth is that mornings are just beyond me and a bowl of cereal is about all I can manage, and so when I am Daveless I am coffeeless as well. (Mornings: a vicious cycle).

How long do you have to be married to somebody before they stop going away, or at least make all your coffee in advance before they go?