Well, there were some bright spots, but over all the weekend was kind of "meh." I say meh because there was too much work and not enough play, and we all know what that does. I shouldn't be surprised that it shook out that way. After two weekends in grant-writing mode, Neel needed to be out and about and working around the house. We both did. But the work/play balance was not what I hoped. But. Enough whining. I had a great hike with my friend Tracy Friday morning. We basically solve all of our own problems, our friends' problems and achieve world peace on these hikes so it's a great way to kick off the weekend. Dinner Friday night was with that baby bug you see in the upper right corner, even though his mom deliberately kept him asleep so I couldn't hold him. These guys used to be our across the street neighbors, and we don't see them enough since they moved one neighborhood over. It was nice to gather for dinner, and I clearly need to figure out a way to see them more.

Saturday was a bit of a blur. We knew Cal had a track meet in the morning (it was homecoming at his school), but his coach was unclear as to when exactly he needed to be there for the meet. So Neel emailed the coach Friday night, and at 7:15 Saturday morning, we got an email back saying he needed to be at school at 7:45. Um, yeah, we were all still in our jammies and Callum was still asleep!

We were only a little late. (Wink. Wink.)

The races are so fun to watch. For some reason (Don't tell Cal.), I like the girls the best. Something about watching those girls stream past the finish line just thrills me. Fun. But a harried and rushed morning. Thank God, I wasn't the one who was running.

Oh, then we had to buy a dryer. There are some appliances that are fun to buy (buying my new stove a few years back comes to mind), but dryers don't rise to the top of the list. Had to be done though, which was a huge bummer. Not having a dryer is a bigger bummer though, and the new one will be here today.

We're keeping up our Saturday night dinner tradition, only this week's dinner was a celebration. Neel made an amazing salad for us. There's been a lot to celebrate around here. Neel finishing the grant, obvs. Isn't it a bummer that he won't find out about it for months? Callum got some great news at school on Friday. Like I said, it may have taken six weeks but it seems like we've finally settled in. We're pretty proud of him. And I got some good news too. A possible dream come true, and some projects coming up that are really going to push me but that I'm so very excited about. I'm feeling quite breathless, actually.

And then a beagle fell asleep on my lap. She loves to sleep under the covers, and she got a special treat Saturday night while we cuddled up for a The West Wing marathon. Callum is really into the upcoming U.S. election, so how could we resist? Except, said beagle hurt her paw some time later that night. She seems much better now, but she's so pathetic when she gets hurt (drama queen).

Sunday was a work day. Neel, as you can see, disassembled our air hockey table. More on that in a bit. Our guys were here to work on the bathroom, so the walls are done and will be ready to prime and paint by next weekend. Randy, our contractor, admits that Butch, the guy who's been doing the work, is not the neatest. Ahem. After Butch left, Neel was helping Randy fold up some tarps, and Randy said, "Butch is like that guy in Peanuts, what's he called, Mud Pen?" Uh, Pig Pen? Yeah, that's the one.

Neel got a much needed yard day in, which helped him immeasurably I think. And I made soup. We used to eat salads during the week, but the weather really is turning cooler, so I've decided to make us soup on Sunday to see us through weektime lunches. Not to brag or anything, but that up there might be the best corn and bacon chowder ever. Just sayin'. If I get my act together, I'll pop up a post about it this week. And because we had to borrow our neighbor's dryer for a load, bringing the clothes back and forth, I ended up with a lot of ironing to do. Not my fave.

But for me, the best part of the weekend was the amazing work my wonderful husband did clearing out a studio space for me. He's pretty special, isn't he? The dogs, who sleep there too, are a little freaked out. I left for the grocery store and he was still pulling the air hockey table apart (it pretty much didn't work anymore), and by the time I got back the table was gone, the room cleared out and the floors mopped. There's more work to be done, but I think he was as excited as I was to set up the saw horses.

My lovelies, how was your weekend? What wonderful things are on tap for you this week? For me, it's nothing but blue skies ahead.

Hello my dears! How was everybody's weekend? Can you believe it's Monday already? I was so toasty and warm and cozy as I wrote this that I just resisted the thought of Monday coming at all. Our weekend started with Callum's cross country meet at his school Friday afternoon. I took pictures with Big Daddy, but I haven't taken a good look at them yet...not sure if I can eek out a post on it or not! We had a great time and caught up with some old friends from way back in the lacrosse days. That was a long time ago!

Now the bread I will be posting about next week, and I can't wait. My friend Jackie, who is my original photography teacher (and a woman to whom I owe many thanks), has a brick oven in her back yard and she bakes once a week. Our original plan was for me to come and take pictures last Friday, but the headaches got me down, so we bumped it to this week instead. She was kind enough to offer us some bread anyway and give us a quick tour of her gorgeous oven. I can't wait to really show you. I only wish I could share with you some of her amazing bread. And look! We made progress on the bathroom! The plaster is up. The walls just need to be smoothed and we can prime and paint. I can almost smell the finish line. There are only some plumbers standing between me and our long awaited dreams (wink, wink).

Baseball lesson Saturday. Neel's writing a grant, so his weekends are spent at work. Cal has some sniffly bug, and he clearly doesn't feel well, but he rallied to take some batting practice and some fielding practice too. Without our beloved fall ball, he needs these tune ups, and I was mesmerized watching his coach work with him. For those of you who think baseball is boring, come with me sometime. So many little tiny pieces that make up every single throw, much less every play. Not to mention the fact that his coach is a, well, a character. Ahem.

Of course I saw all of this after Neel and I snuck out to the coffee shop for a bit. I love that place. So much to look at. If I'm feeling stuck and lonely here at home, I need to remember that this amazing space (and coffee!) is available. Getting a different view is important, sometimes, don't you think?

On Sunday, Cal was even snifflier. Poor guy had to give a Bat Mitzvah party he was looking forward to on Saturday a miss (We took him out for yogurt to try to make up for it. Remember those strawberry thingies, Erin?), and there's not much worse than facing down a barrel of homework when you're feeling crummy. Sunday was my favorite kind of day. The temperatures dropped 30° in about 12 hours, making for a cool, blustery, fall-like day. Finally. I may hate it in late February, but right now, I'm happy to have the lights lit, the gray skies and the smack of wind-driven rain against the windows. I spent a lot of time at the computer on Sunday. An inspiring Blog Brunch on Saturday had me thinking even more about how I want things to work more smoothly around here. I'm worried about how things are going at Squarespace. I'm wanting (haven't I been saying this for ages?) to switch things up a bit. I want themes and tag lines and whine, whine, whine. I realized that even though we're getting into a better routine (hello, finally), I'm operating more defensively than I want to. I want to play offense, not defense. So that's me from now on. I have the ball.

I watched this video this weekend, which talks about picking five words to describe your brand. Funny. It echoed something one of the photographers at my group mentioned last week. That was three words you want people to use to describe your photographs. People. This is not easy. Trying to represent yourself in tag lines and words and images. Tricky stuff that. So in the coming weeks, I'll be working on business plans and short and long term goals, and really trying to understand what I want this place to be and what I want my other work to be. Some of that I may share here, but who wants to see the sausage making, really?

So here's to a good week, peeps. As I write this, we don't know if Callum will be at school in the morning. He sounds really yucky. Of course, by the time you're reading it, the decision will be made.

Three words, five words, hmmm..... What are mine? What are yours?

monday mash up, october 15

monday mash up, october 8