Early June Weekending.

Hello and Happy Monday! Thank you for all the great feedback on last Friday's post, especially about mixing up our workouts. I added in weights and Pilates after this morning's walk ... and it feels sore in that good sort of way 😉. Now let me tell you a little about our weekend.

Marc played in the club's Member Member tournament. I have no photos. He did share that after Saturday's round they were in 2nd place and yesterday they played the team that won.

I think my weekend was a lot more fun!

The tournament actually kicked off Friday evening (players only), so I enjoyed Friday night snacks on my own.

I got an early start Saturday morning (with a speed-limit drive!) to meet Katie and the boys back at Ponce City Market and the Beltline. We had a ball ...  coffee and donuts (for the boys), a one-mile walk to Piedmont Park to the playground, then back to the market for a picnic lunch. After lunch, we walked another mile to Krog Street Market, where the boys enjoyed Jeni's ice cream, and then back again. Charlie fell asleep on the walk back so we walked around Ponce City Market to see if Sam would nap. And he did ... finally! 

at Jeni's

Katie and I both agreed it was the kind of day our husbands would hate, but we're definitely going to try it again ... soon!

Sunday morning, Holly and I walked down to the lake. She actually walked the whole way there (it's about 1-1/2 miles); I carried her home.

Then church and that big meeting I'd been planning for weeks. We installed the new team and took a photo.

In spite of that continuing open spot, I'm feeling optimistic about this upcoming year - because this is a great group of ladies!

Marc and I watched two more episodes of The Americans (we're now well into Season 5) and then we went to bed. This last photo is time-stamped just after 8 pm... and this morning my bookmark was on page 25!

I'm glad it's Monday ... I need to rest.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Weekending with Sam and Charlie.

Well, whew! and thank goodness for iPhones. This video - 38 of my favorite (video'd) seconds from the 48 hours Sam and Charlie were with us - shows you how much fun we had.

And this morning, as I sorted through all the photos, I noted a few more things:

The boys play really well ... together and on their own. And it was wonderful to see Marc join in, too. (He did not play golf all weekend. thank goodness!) Charlie has grown up a lot in the 13 months since he and I spent Tuesdays together. Some is certainly just his age (he's 3-1/2 now), but I think it's also being a big brother. It suits him.

Meal times are a Big Deal ... these boys love to eat!

Sam's "lovey" is a drill. He carries it everywhere, even to the dinner table!

Not gonna lie - these two moments from Friday evening were most welcome. (especially because Saturday morning arrived before 5 am.)

yep, the drill goes to bed with him, too

It was also nice to see their parents yesterday morning. They all stayed for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day and my mom joined us. Four generations all together is very special (as is getting five smiles on all five faces).

The rest of Sunday was back to typical, with naps, FaceTime with Sara, a little TV and early bedtime.   We were ready for it!

Mid-February Weekending.

... started out with blue skies and temperatures warm enough to have the roof open in the car - this is Friday afternoon on my drive home.

Thankfully Saturday and Sunday weren't as rainy as the forecast predicted (meaning Marc did leave the house for several hours both days to "hit balls" which judging by the state of his clothes, he did) but I still think the best parts of my weekend were spent indoors:

Catching up with Sara. I listened to her latest 2+ hour podcast and then had a long FaceTime (about much more than Homeland).

Watching the amaryllis. Another flower stalk has started (this is #7!)

and the blooms are still going strong.

Saturday evening we watched Longmire while I snuggled with Holly and worked toward finally seeing colors change on my Parallelogram Scarf.

And then yesterday morning, we met up with our favorite toddlers and their parents for breakfast. Marc hadn't wanted to commit to any daytime plans (in case the weather turned nice), but he agreed to 7:30 am when Katie texted Saturday evening. Leaving the house dark-early in the rain was completely worth it!

I love how Katie can get Sam to smile

and how Charlie can actually make Marc laugh!

What made you laugh this weekend?

Unraveled Wednesday.

I've spent most of today right here, drinking tea, snuggling Holly and alternately knitting and listening to The Immortalists (on my phone, which I had to pick up for the photo) with reading pages from To the North (which thanks to some actual daytime reading time has captured my attention ... but not enough to totally set aside the knitting and listening!) ... there might've even been a quick cat nap :-)

also listening to The Immortalists ... on my phone, which I had to pick up to take this photo

because yesterday afternoon/evening looked like this!

I spent an hour at Katie's with my two favorite kiddos before picking up Sara. The three of us had a wonderful dinner out. I can't remember the last time it was just the three of us. for dinner. or I got home at 10pm after an evening out!

observant readers might note that I'm wearing a new sweater ... hopefully to be revealed later this week!

Thankfully there has been no unraveling on my latest project - a black cardigan! This is the second time I've knit Fine Sand (another one of Heidi Kirrmaier's wonderful designs), so it's helpful that the pattern is familiar. I don't even really need to look at the knitting except on every 6th row; that's when those pretty lifted increases happen. And that, my friends, is the secret to knitting black yarn - don't look!

Happy Wednesday!

Weekending.

Turns out finishing that test knit involved a little lot more time than I thought it would. But my work on it is now done ... and hopefully some concentrated fan action will yield a real FO by morning. The knitting kept me away from the computer for most of the weekend (and yikes, I feel like I've been gone for weeks, not just days - can't wait to read your blogs and find out what's been happening!) and this morning I felt like it had kept me away from more than just that ... until I looked at my photo stream. Oh yeah, there was more than just test knitting!

I don't have photo evidence for all of it, but now I remember there was clothes shopping (for me!), finishing up The Night Manager (oh my goodness, we loved it!), miles on the treadmill, a quick visit with my mom (which even involved a little bit of furniture assembly, but no power tools ;-), a nice FaceTime catchup with Diane, knitting with Deena,

#ParallelogramKAL - mine's in front and Deena's is in the back ... since this photo, she's made a lot more progress and I have not!

walks with Holly (in the rain ... happy to report the sun is shining now!), and

a leisurely birthday brunch with my favorite in-town girl.

I've started another deadline knitting project (more on that Wednesday), but I'm not thinking this one will be quite as consuming as the last one. Hopefully....

Happy Monday! did you capture something good with your camera this weekend?

Birthday Weekending.

Friday was my birthday, and there's not a much better way to kick-off a weekend.

Except with a sunrise walk.

Followed by lunch out with Katie at one of my favorite places.

Snacks for dinner (and enough leftovers that we didn't cook Saturday either).

Knitting with a girlfriend and a Holiday Spice Flat White.

And a glorious Sunday morning run. 

Loved all the comments here and on Instagram, plus text messages, emails, and a huge stack of snail mail. Feeling truly blessed. Thank you!

and Happy Monday! (yikes, it's almost dark ... I hope the rest of this week doesn't fly by quite so quickly!)

More Photo Fun.

My cousin Beth arrived (on a 5am flight from Boulder!) at our house just after noon. First order of business was a run to the lake - it was misting, so we didn't stop for a photo. Then lunch and a lot of catching up (and a little bit of knitting) before we headed into town to have dinner with Katie and her family.

I had zero photos before we left and over twenty by the time we got home (not including a few that Betty shared with me - she's really good about taking photos and I love that we have so many!). Most of them showed a blurry toddler and/or a blurry baby. It wasn't hard to whittle them down a bit.

First, one without a little boy. This is Beth and me.

And you know all of these people. 

I wore that same scarf on Monday and Sam had it in his mouth then, too. 

Beth brought the boys new Legos. always a sure hit with Charlie.

And then our two best attempts at group photos - first with Rob

and then with Katie. Hands down this is my favorite of the whole evening!

love how Sam is watching Charlie ♥ (also the collar on Katie's sweater ... another teething ring)

 And all too soon it's Friday. We're hoping for a walk in the park before they have to leave this morning. It's been a wonderful visit ... but it's gone too quickly. That's a nice thing to say about family visiting, isn't it?!

It's also the last weekday of April and that would usually mean my last blog post of the month. But I'm planning to be back here this weekend with some information about Book Bingo. Stay tuned.

Happy Friday!

New (and Old) Friends.

Next to Marc, I've been friends with Francie longer than anyone else. We met the day I started my first job out of college (the one I retired from 27 years later). It was a very small company (I was employee number 34; she says she was 33) and we soon became co-workers and great friends. She and her husband Dale have celebrated many happy occasions with us - our wedding, the births of two daughters and the wedding of one. They relocated to Portland, Oregon in 1996 so we don't get to see each other very often, but it doesn't seem to matter. She's the kind of friend I can see for five minutes after a two-year gap and it seems like we just saw each other last week.

We spent a great day together yesterday, but for me, the highlight was introducing her to Sam,

having her see how much Charlie has grown and changed since she last saw him (at age three weeks); and then having dinner - just us girls - with Katie.

new friends. old friends. great friends. dear friends.

P.S. Francie also accompanied me and Katie to Paris in 2009 and me and Sara to Florence in 2014. Some of our favorite shared memories were made during those two trips and I love that they include Katie and Sara.

First Impressions.

I actually made it in 35 minutes - even with a missed turn!

The house is really wonderful (this was my first time seeing it in person). I can see them living there for years ... which is how long it might take Katie to recover from the move. and the unpacking. Here we are mid-morning.

By lunchtime we had most of the kitchen unpacked and put away. We spent the early afternoon on the pantry (sorry, no photos). I didn't think it was all quite ready for "after" photos, but still, feels like we made a ton of progress.

When I saw the Think Write Thursday topic this week - about treehouses - I thought immediately of this one.  What fun for the boys (and us grownups who get to play with them)!

The house was built in the 1950's, so the trees are tall and now, full green. This is the view looking up from the deck.

I left about 2:30 ... a few wrong turns later, I was back to that part of the map where the route takes a sharp turn north. This is the most traffic I've seen in a while - but I did make some headway in my (audio)book.

Tomorrow we're working on the boys' rooms - two bedrooms and a playroom. Maybe the in-progress photos will include little boys ... I hope so!

Happy Weekend!

Happy Birthday.

...to Katie! Her arrival ... way back in 1987 ... changed us from a couple to a family.

February, 1987

And since I last shared birthday wishes to her on this blog (for her 25th), she's gotten married and made a family of her own.

photo credit Rylie Hitchner

Best wishes, Katie for a beautiful day and a wonderful year. We love you!

Throwback Thursday | These Two.

From Thanksgiving, 1998. I found the top photo earlier this week and thought about how nice it was going to be this year to have these two together again in the kitchen (with me!) Not that there's much cooking left to do - but I know we'll be gathered around the counter eating snacks ... and then of course cleaning up!

It wasn't until this morning, when I scanned that photo, that I realized the one below (previously shared here) was taken the same day.  These two clean up nicely don't they?

I love that we're together for this holiday weekend. I wonder if they'll let me recreate these two photos?!

Wishing you and yours a most wonderful Thanksgiving.