As promised, I wanted to share a few shots of Devon's shower I hosted this weekend.  I'm noticing that it's really hard to host AND take pictures, so I'm thankful to have any...though I do wish there were more.  There certainly were moments to capture.  Oh well!

Last night, after my lover came home from work and I bombarded him with a beer and a hug, and after we ate tomato soup and cheddar/rosemary biscuits, and after bundling up in heavy coat and donning our hats - we went for a walk to celebrate the most beautiful misty rain tickling the cherry blossoms.

On the subject of these lovely blooms, I swear they came out of nowhere!  One day last week, I was riding the bus to work and saw the faintest pink on a far-away tree and I though to myself, "Surely, no! It's too cold!"  But as I looked around more and more, I realized they are indeed deciding it is time to begin their reproductive cycle.  Audacious buggers.

So we took a lovely walk.  We sauntered around in the dusk with two rouge kitties in tow.  We pilfered blossoms of cherries, jasmine, and Daphne to inhale deeply (oh Daphne, you make me swoon.  Have you ever smelled Daphne?!!).  We swigged from the wine bottle Joel hid in his English Great Coat.  We walked toward the lake, ducking under corkscrew willows and stepping gingerly over spasmodic daffodils.  We admired old architecture and ancient stairs made of stone.

Evening TV is never this good for the soul,

Ahhheeemm.

Heat up your water.

Go ahead.

I'll wait.

Now that you're all settled in...

Oh what a weekend!  There was a grand mix of amazing cuisine, easy friendships, a flurry of spring cleaning, assembling food for the baby shower I hosted, drinking (ugh. too much), stimulating conversations, early-to-bed, book-finishing, naps, movie-watching, make-out sessions in the doorway, grocery shopping, meal-planning, baby-kissing.  

How about you?  What was your weekend like?

One of the highlights in the cuisine department was going to Portage on Queen Anne Hill with our good friends, Jeremy and Jenae.  This gem above was one of our salads, the Baby Chioggia and Golden Beet Gratin, Niçoise Olives,  Roquefort Mousse.  I could have eaten quite a few of these.



Afterward, staring at the moon while eating pistachios and froyo wasn't bad either.




The lovely mess of friends, sigh. I truly do find it beautiful.
(more pictures of the baby shower to come)



Playing and resting at Mom's house on Sunday.  A truly delightful day despite a rather dampening bout of depression that I woke to.

 Sigh.





Exactly how I felt at the end of all of it.
Satisfied and so sleeeeepy.

The lovely husband has to work late all week, so this means I get the house to myself.  To this introvert, an quiet space sounds better than a spa or a lifetime supply of gin and tonics.
(Whoa, come now, let's not over-exaggerate dears.)

Well!
That tea was reviving
(AND I didn't even burn my tongue!)

All in all, a proper respite.
Until next time.

Welcome to my brain.
Today, I'm thinking of:

grapefruit, avocado, kalamata olives, and olive oil

Pancetta-wrapped dates

Dinner last night with my love.  Sigh.

That was delicious.

This weekend I'm throwing a baby shower for my lovely Devon and her baby boy arriving in June.  Can't wait to make wee sandwiches and individual tiramisu, oogle miniature man clothes - plus drinking champagne at 1pm is, quite frankly, something I live for.

I'm hoping my Joel takes me to see the new "Jane Eyre" which just released in Seattle today.  Did you know there are 27 adaptations of the novel?  I liked Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane, but the movie itself was very meh.

I have been looking ahead to this summer, dreaming about swimming, booking camping trips, coordinating a few road trips, and other such delightful holidays.  

I'm daydreaming about my room...it's freshly painted and only needs 1 more coat and my desk in it for me to spread my wings, untuck my thoughts, and lie on the floor of my soul like a snow-angel.  I've got my March poem popping about in my head and it needs to get out - but it needs its very own room.  I'm also working on some photography projects that I'd love to narrow my focus upon.  I'm backed up in letters and other such correspondence since my desk hasn't been unpacked since the move in October.  Cannot wait for this to happen.  My desk is my grand-mother's sewing table, and I'm just in love with it.

I'm pages away from finishing "The Sun Also Rises."  I have enjoyed it immensely and am quite sad to be finished with it already.  Hemingway's stark, terse, economical sentences remind me VERY much of Camus - also one of my favorite authors.  Must look into their correlation.

I'm kicking myself in the wallet for a tax issue I forgot to employ earlier this year.  We owe a rather annoyingly large sum of money to Uncle Sam, and it just hurts.

Sunday is supposed to be gorgeous in Seattle.

I plan to spend it sleeping and eating my mother-in-law's food.

xxxxx

Last night, as I chopped up all the necessaries for tacos, I was struck anew by the gorgeous depth of purple in the cabbage.

I feel extremely thankful that we get to eat food saturated in color.

I can feel it radiating through my eyes today.

Cheers Chickens,

This last weekend, I was able to get away for a few days and take in the much-needed company of my college best friend and her wee babes.  Joel and I are nursing an empty nest as my sister has moved out, and we are both really missing she and Clara.  There is an overwhelming amount of processing and release that has been left in the wake of this very quiet house, and we are honoring it with all its pain and pleasure.  However, travel is a wonderful distraction and mind-clearer.  It is these things I was pursuing....and while rest and relationship were nurtured, Emerson's thoughts on travel still ring true:

In the end, the trip was wonderful, but to the hope of losing oneself , I doubt I shall ever aspire.