Three on Thursday | Three of Us Throwbacks.

In the end, I wasn't able to join the girls for dinner last night ... so I don't have the recap post I'd planned (things we talked about/things I learned, creative cocktails, food p*rn) or the requisite three of us photo. Instead, how about revisiting three of my favorite meals with my two favorite girls.

1. Lunch at Gallo Nero in NYC. December 19, 2009. (blogged here)

Katie lived in NYC that year and Sara and I flew up the evening before for a before-Christmas break. Sara was a senior in high school and had just been accepted to Georgia Tech. I was winding down my real job, preparing to retire in January. We were in big celebration mode. I don't recall how Katie knew about Gallo Nero, but she'd been there before and suggested it for the long, leisurely lunch we had in mind. It was perfect (I've been back several times, including last September and I'd still recommend it). While we were there, it started to snow ... the city got quiet ... we might've gotten a little louder (I'm pretty sure there was a bottle of wine).

2. Lunch at Bistro VG. August 8, 2007. (blogged here ... barely!)

Wow, we ALL look young ... and sun kissed! Sara and I had just returned from a week at the beach and Katie'd spent the summer abroad (trivia note - she met Rob on that trip!) I don't recall this particular photo, but this one, taken at that same lunch

is still one of my favorites. Bistro VG has been one of our favorite restaurants for years and the site of many of a lunch out (not so many dinners). Sadly, it was sold last fall (too soon to tell what that means ... I've only been twice since the sale and both experiences were fine).

3. Dinner at ECCO. November 10, 2012. (apparently not blogged!)

This dinner was to celebrate Sara's 21st birthday. We also had a family celebration at our house (and I did blog about that one), but this was the special girls night out. Sara lived right around the corner from the restaurant, but Rob drove Katie and me (and found something "fun" to do while we had dinner ... better than Uber for sure). We had cocktails - always a favorite with this trio - and shared food (ditto).  It was, quite simply, fun!

I'm not sure when the three of us will be together again ... and have the opportunity to slip away for a meal, but hope it won't be too long.

Check in with Carole to see what others are sharing for Three on Thursday!

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.

...I'm typing this at my usual spot in the kitchen and Sara is beside me making calls (relocating involves no end of phone calls) and I can't help but think how different it will be a week from now. I'm thinking I'll likely be sitting here...but Sara will be at work. in Wisconsin. (yikes!)

We started Friday afternoon with a three-of-us lunch at our favorite Bistro VG. We've enjoyed so many three-of-us lunches here, going back to when Sara was in middle school and Katie was in her first year of college. Our conversations have covered so much - high school, prom, jobs, boyfriends, girlfriends, sororities, spring breaks, college, study abroad, Europe, graduations, holiday menus, a wedding and a baby...and now Sara moving away.

(and yes there was browned butter tart for dessert. peach. and yes, it was delicious.)

Saturday morning I ran by myself for the first time in months. The greenway was busy and I had The Sparrow playing on my phone (oh my. I am IN LOVE with this book!)...and it felt familiar and so good to be back.

Then we had "the aunts" party at my sister's house. Sara surprised Katie with a knitted baby gift (a beautiful blanket and a hat). Katie had no idea Sara even knew how to knit!

Then we had snacks and drinks, knitted, talked, watched soccer and baseball (?!) before we managed a very bad photo. (ok, it's a great photo of Sara!)

Me with Holly, Karen, Lydia, Sara, Katie

I found the photo from Katie's party (five years ago) and yeah, I think the June afternoon sun isn't so good. We'll have to try a different location/angle next time!

Anyway, it was fun and that really is all that matters! When we got home, Sara and Marc assembled the last of her furniture (four chairs and a hall console) while I knitted (of course).

After Sunday church, I had a completely free day. The first in a long time now that I'm not teaching on Sundays anymore. I'm looking forward to the free afternoons...for cooking, knitting, meeting up with friends. Maybe even a walk (once the weather cools off). Yesterday I read (finished Love the One You're With, which I wasn't crazy about but the last 100 pages were the best part and it was nice to read them in one long sitting) and then knitted. and listened to more of The Sparrow. I'm making good forward progress on the Mystery Shawl (10 more rows of clue 3, then clues 4 and 5 to finish), but the stockinette sweater has been anything but zen. Here's what it looked like at 11pm last night. I'd just ripped back the last two stripes that had a funky join at the color change. Sad to say that was the 2nd time I'd ripped last night and the third time I'd ripped since I started. Yep, it took me FOUR tries to get it perfect.

the wine and the M&Ms came out after the 2nd rip... cannot blame that for my bad knitting!

I'm hoping it's on track now. I knit a little this morning and I am finally knitting "new" yarn (again). There are more stripes for the sleeves but the rest of the body is plain stockinette in the round. That should be zen, right?!

It's fun to type this and see the photos all in one place. Family, fun, celebrating, food, knitting, good books and even a run. The stuff of the very best weekends!

Hope yours was fun, too!

december | eight.

photo (edited in camera+)  of the journaling card that accompanied the tickets...all ready for my project life album!

...my birthday gift from katie & sara included tickets to the atlanta symphony's christmas concert and dinner after at our favorite bistro vg.  needless to say, we had a ball.

of course cameras are prohibited during the concert; this is the pre-concert warm-up

the concert was amazing. 150+ voices (plus another hundred or so with the combined choruses) accompanied by a full orchestra. they opened with o come emmanuel and it brought tears to my eyes. the hallelujah chorus was just as beautiful. we also loved the vivaldi piece with the violin solo and especially enjoyed the morehouse glee club's betelehemu (accompanied by drums and handclaps - it was a work of art!).

sara, katie, mary

and of course bistro vg was our choice for a post-concert dinner (and cocktails).

loved the snowflakes hanging in the bar. and the food (I have no photos to share, but you can probably guess we started with the cheese plate and then shared the arugula salad, spinach pizza and scallops...and a cranberry brown butter tart for dessert - complete with a candle and one last birthday wish - that photo is on katie's phone :-) was delicious as always.

but most of all I enjoyed the time with these two lovely women. who occasionally made me laugh so hard I cried. there was a good bit of wedding talk (I can only imagine that's going to continue for six or so more months!) and talk about training for our half marathon (and a half ironman that katie is doing next fall) and italy in may 2014 (for sara's graduation) and santa and christmas and ....

we all had a lovely time.

mary, katie, sara (we're all about the same height - you can tell who was wearing the high heels!)