Weekend-Gram Recap, January 7 Edition

1. First carpool of 2013 | 2. First martini of 2013?  | 3. Celebration wings | 4. Drinks with friends | 5. Back to normal | 6. Weekend wake-up ritual | 7. Big Daddy at the ready | 8. Lunch | 9. Lunch | 10. Winter afternoon | 11. 365, day 5 | 12. New lights | 13. Necessary treat| 14. Investigation | 15. Necessary treat | 16. Cooking | 17. Watching | 18. Composting | 19. Sandwich night | 20. Lit | 21. Looking at Lit

I have to say, I think it was a good call on Cal's school's part to have this little two-day week and then BOOM, the weekend. We needed it. Re-entry is a bear, man. We had to celebrate those exams Friday night, and Callum chose wings, of course. The Dirty Buffalo is a great local wing joint that is as much home for families as it is for the local college crowd. It's my boy's all-time favorite restaurant. I'm happy when he's happy. After dinner, a neighbor of ours stopped by for a drink by the fire and a chat. Wings for the kids, Tequila for the dads. (I had wine) Not a bad trade.

Saturday morning we all SLEPT IN. Callum heard me go downstairs after seven and he called out, "You slept in! Congratulations!" He promptly fell back asleep. While I went to the grocery store (and really, this was a miserable part of my weekend: forgot my list, they were out of the stuff I did remember, the store was packed, and traffic getting home was awful) Neel and a bunch of other neighbors, including several of the kids, helped Tequila Bill (the guy who came by on Friday) get a dresser up to his 2nd floor bedroom... through the 2nd floor window. I missed all the fun! They only broke one window! Tequila Bill made wings for everybody as a thank you for helping out, and we all sat outside talking (just in time for the Grateful Dead Concert Hour on Sirius) on one of those gorgeous days that January can sometimes steal from the spring. What was even better was when I said, "The only thing that would make this better would be a Bloody Mary," and then one magically appeared. Life is good.

Cal spent the afternoon and evening at some basketball games, so I spent the day fighting battles with some website stuff. Maddening really, but I'm sure this kind of thing has never happened to any of you, right? Neel hung some lights that he got for Christmas and once it got dark, we spent all evening looking at them. Sunday we SLEPT IN AGAIN! I could get used to this! Neel and I ran some quick errands (including back to the grocery store for the things I didn't get on Saturday) while Callum did homework. It's been gray, gray, gray here for days and days, which I don't mind, but if it's going to be gray and cold, it may as well snow. Seriously.

People, I know I'll regret saying this, famous last words and all, but so far I am thoroughly enjoying my 356 Project. I tried a Project 52 (a photo a week) last year, but it didn't captivate me nearly the way this has. I like thinking about the pictures I'm going to take and being intentional about them. I had thoughts about what I wanted to do on Saturday and ended up with something entirely different. And Sunday? All day I knew exactly what I wanted to do; I just had to wait for the light (and the lights). (I'm editing it in that last photo in the collage.) I can see how a process like this can really push you, and I'm ready for that. This doesn't mean that I won't get tired or sick or bored or totally cop out at times, but right now? It feels good, and I'm happy. How was your weekend? Hope yours made you as happy as mine made me!