the upfloating moon.

...this beautiful blog post that elise wrote over two years ago (wow!) really made me notice the moon. especially when I'm missing katie. which often happens shortly after a (usually too brief) visit. I thought I'd blogged about it before, but not quite [I searched this blog for "moon" and got delightfully side-tracked reading this hilarious post, but I digress].

and tonight's moonrise was exceptional, thanks to a stormy day just clearing.

not a big orange moon, but a nearly full one. which I'm sure katie will be able to see despite the bright new york city lights. and when she does, she'll know I'm thinking about her.

so very thankful.

...this past week has flown by. uncharacterically for me, I took very few photos. so writing down the words to remember.

::time with my mom & dad, especially the "just us" time that makes for good conversation
::lunch with my mom & sister...especially loved talking about "where were we when karen turned 18" (and the fried calamari)
::family mexican with both marc and rob
::one-on-one time with katie
::five miles in the park with sara before we cooked
::cooking thanksgiving with katie & sara - the parade on both tv's, and a very clean kitchen when we finished
::time to decorate, which allows all of december to enjoy (and a dark-early visit to lowes with marc to pick out our tree)
::a few days of beautiful late fall weather
::the traditions we have for this week with my parents and my family

lunch out with katie.

...we started with a little shopping (paper source and knitch - I had birthday giftcards - fun!) and worked up just enough appetite for murphy's.

we started with the fig pizza.

then katie had the scallop special.

and I had quesadillas.

too full for dessert. but still managed one more photo.

of course the food was delicious, but the conversation was the best part. our upcoming trip to nyc. katie's job. a trip next spring for me to nyc, or to china? digital SLR advice. thanksgiving and christmas plans. fashion advice. boys. wrapping christmas gifts. parking so we don't get a ticket. people watching. high school friends married already. weddings. ready in the flashiest of flashes. and now over. but I have the picture to remember it by. (thanks, katie - it was very fun!)

play day report.

☑a bit of boutique-shopping (and kind of sad to note how many of the little shops have closed)
☑lunch at macaroni grill (the new menu is a huge hit - I told sara we'd definitely try it! roy and polly had rosemary skewers with grilled vegetables; roy had lamb and polly had sausage; mary had tomato-mozzarella salad)

☑thanksgiving shopping at costco
☑getting sara to work
☑cast on cottage for 5th avenue yarn (color 6268, very appropriately named "candied yam mix", since I'll be knitting this over the thanksgiving weekend)
☑plenty of time for catching up
☑a photo

...will be hard to top all this tomorrow, but I know for my parents, having sara along is probably all it will take!

which ewe are you?

...thanks to twistedknitter for sharing this!

you can take the quiz here.

free time.

...I hadn't planned on it, but turned out I had TWO hours to myself this afternoon. (sadly lunch with Shari has been postponed)

so I cleaned off my desk, updated the photo album, added three pages of collage-y goodness to my journal, and then read the 75 blog posts that had accumulated in my reader (birthday followed so closely by anniversary is hell on my daily on-line habits :-)

I was especially happy to see TEN knitting posts (and that doesn't even include the Yarn Harlot who makes my Daily Reads - at the top). and even better, there were two about infinity scarves. I am so hoping to get to Cast on Cottage for yarn - burnt orange? - to knit this one (my plan to avoid the stress of college football).

unaccustomed earth.

(visit flickr to see who's who - and know that I take great pleasure in having "editorial license" here...after all I was the one with the camera, absolutely committed to getting a photo, and it was my birthday :-) thank you to everyone else for playing along with me!)

...I felt so stupid asking vanessa about the title of the book. she said "oh, it was at the very beginning" and I said "oh, I guess I missed it". [note to self - do not do this often - it's not good!] and she read it for the group:

Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth. -- Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Custom-House"

those words made the book sing for me. not exactly like specific stories (especially "only goodness") spoke to some, but more broadly. reminding me to always keep replanting myself, and encouraging my family to do the same. unaccustomed earth.

the belated birthday lunch.

thank you to sara for this photo - my mom enclosed an advertisement for a "long-armed" device in my birthday card...and while it looks great, I still think there's a certain can't-be-replaced comaraderie to these sara long-armed shots and I am going to keep them just like they are!

...sara had an early release day on wednesday, which combined with my "hey I have a few vacation hours to use up" made a perfect excuse for a late lunch at vinny's. deja vu!

we ordered a salad

a "dressed up" caesar

and a pizza

roasted fennel with sausage and many other good things - quite good

and dessert.

chocolate mousse torte - and yes, it was even better for real than it looks in this photo!

lovely. delicious. all of it.

and even better, we finalized (??!really, are you sure?! does this mean I can post them on the blog??) menus for thanksgiving and the sunday family brunch.

feels like some kind of ride.

(enclosed with katie's flowers)

...slightly overwhelmed by all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday. an email from my mom and later a phonecall from both my parents. a text from my sister. this great video from lydia and katie. beautiful cards. an invitation for a late lunch tomorrow with liz. texts and calls from katie. and flowers. aren't they gorgeous?



and from sara, a swift.

I think it's pretty cool that she even knows what one is, let alone thought to get me one! yes, it really does make winding a skein of yarn into a ball fun. really!

there was also brown & company from marc (katie was worried, but he did fine!) and a great mexican dinner and gifts earlier this month. no photos. but great memories. ooohhh, and from lydia, a skein of yarn to wind!

THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone!!

the season begins.

320/365 - holly
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...not with a decorated tree (that comes in my house next friday), or even with a delicious thanksgiving meal in recent memory (that, too, comes next friday, or if I'm being really precise, about bedtime on thursday).

no, for me, the season really begins today. with xm radio starting their "holly" and "traditions" broadcasts and starbucks brewing their christmas blend. of course, the stores and malls have been decorated for weeks, and we've already noticed a number of holiday-themed commercials on tv. I did check my journal to see when the xm music started last year...and maybe I got it wrong, but my journal says november 12. hummm - I was pleasantly surprised it was just a bit later this year!

you know it flies by... you might as well enjoy as much of it as you can! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!)

sunday lunch.

...back into our old routine (for this week anyway) of cooking something good for sunday lunch. this week it was the rosemary white bean soup from the first barefoot contessa cookbook.
started with two onions, roughly chopped.
sauteed in a few tablespoons of olive oil for about 15 minutes.
while the onions cook, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, really fine.
added the garlic for a few minutes, then a pound of white beans (soaked in water overnight in the refrigerator), 2 quarts of chicken broth, 5 bay leaves and a few sprigs of rosemary. brought to a simmer and then cooked covered for 35 minutes, then uncovered for about 15 more minutes. removed the bay leaves and the rosemary stems (the rosemary leaves fell off into the soup). used the potato masher just a bit. then served.

mama hugs.

...sara's got a nasty cold - she even missed school today. and then katie called, sounding absolutely miserable, to report "i'm sick". thank goodness lydia is there. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd thought about flying up to nyc myself. instead I visited harry's and took a picture of the lovely flowers for a get well card. only wish I had both girls within hugging distance!

scouting knitwear.

315/365 - scouting knitwear
Originally uploaded by mere2007

...I had coffee with my friend shari a few weeks ago and she mentioned wanting to knit a scarf for her son's girlfriend for christmas (wow, wishing my girls that kind of boyfriend mom, for sure!).

I was at the mall today - first time in ages - and saw a lot of knitwear. this scarf seemed to be just what shari was thinking.

I had suggested something more like this. and maybe it's just because atlanta really isn't new york, I didn't see anything like this anywhere (but I still LOVE it!)

I did see a few ruffle-y scarves at ann taylor, making me think this one should definitely move further up in my queue! ...ooohhh and when I visited cosmicpluto's blog to find the link - I saw she's thinking about a knitted dress. saw LOTS of them today too :-)

same old...good.

...I've been struggling these past few days to find the time and the content for a blog post. but I saw this post on shutter sisters about revisiting this same time last year. woo hoo! that's a topic!

but wait, not really! because before I started this 365 project, my photos are mostly from the weekends. so here's one from november 8


and the next one from november 16

there are a few food shots, too.

but I'm pretty sure the week in between was filled with school...work...dinner?!...just like it is today.

and it's not same old same old. it's good.

birthday rewind.

the present.


the cake.


the dinner.


the dinner prep.


...and guessing this might be my last "kid birthday" (wow!) I enjoyed every single minute of it!

18.

...wishing you smiles & laughter, dreams, sunshine, adventures, fresh flowers, friendship, cheesecake, homemade cooking. and love.

mere et filles.

...the birthday brunch was lovely. so glad the rain was gone - we waited outside for nearly an hour before our table was ready. plenty of time for sunday crosswords. maybe it was just us, but this week's puzzles were really (really!) hard.

the food was delicious. sara had pancakes and katie and I had crab cakes. but dessert was the best. the same carrot cake we had the last time we visited. this time with a candle!

the gift was most appreciated.

and of course, the obligatory photo. mere et filles.