dinner with lydia.

...us after dinner (waiting for the valet to find my car - it's so not comforting when they take your claim check, then come back 10 minutes later to ask you what your key looks like, and then come back 10 minutes later to ask which valet you gave your claim check, huh? how could you lose my car? ...turns out it was parked right out front, whew!)

it was lydia's suggestion to meet for dinner. and we'd settled on knitch around 5:00 and then murphy's (since lydia had never been there and it's one of my favorite places and it's very close to knitch!) knitch was - as it always is - completely inspiring. lydia selected something stunning and I'm sure she'll blog about it, so no more details here! and I selected a knitch shop pattern - a v-neck shell with a cable up the front that splits at the neck and continues around. and this yarn. and we were completely amazed that it was nearly 7:00 when we finished. hummm... something about yarn stores and time - it really seemed like we'd been there about 30 minutes. but I guess that speaks to how much fun we had.

dinner was lovely as always. we hadn't made reservations because of course we thought we'd be there by 6:00 no problem and we snagged the last table on the patio. and so enjoyed dining al fresco. we shared calamari to start and lydia had a spring vegetable salad and I had mussels. then we each had a rhubarb tart for dessert and yes, we both nearly cleaned our plates. it was delicious!

and as much as I enjoyed the food, the conversation was really the best part for me. I am so fortunate to have a real friend in the woman my brother decided to marry. we talked about the usual - family, work, play, plans, knitting, new york (she'd been in february and her experiences and recommendations informed our trip last month), upcoming dillard, teenagers, .... - and we took our time so we didn't feel rushed.

can't wait til dillard when we can continue our conversations, over knitting, with more family who are friends (and wine!)