Despite kicking things off with a slight cold, it really feels as if this has been a near-perfect weekend. I got very nearly everything I wanted out of it. How often does that happen? I had a glorious start to my Friday with an amazing hike with my friend Tracy. Isn't that Spanish Moss something else? It had been a couple weeks since we'd had lunch, so we had a lot to catch up on. The miles sped by. After that, it really felt like Friday, you know? I'm trying to get in a rhythm of doing the grocery shopping on Fridays so we don't have that chore over the weekends, but this cold has me wiped out, so I didn't quite make it this week. Ah well, something to strive for. Friday night we resurrected our pizza ritual and finally (FINALLY!) caught up on all the Project Runways we'd missed. I feel so much better now. Who wants to talk about it?

Saturday was my favorite kind of fall day: cool and rainy. Cal stayed home to do homework while Neel and I went to run errands (grocery store), including, da...da...dum! Buy a bathroom! We picked up paint, a vanity, a toilet and all the faucets and such. Of course I woke Neel up early(ish) to get dressed in case our bathroom guys showed and they didn't, but there you are. Neel had asked me to pick out paint chips that mirrored our kitchen backsplash which has lots of shades of seaglass greens. And then he picked gray. I'm down with that. After all those errands, the only place I wanted to be was on the sofa, under the covers, and, as it turns out, that was exactly where Violet and Lucy wanted me to be too. I had one pup on my lap and one draped across my legs. Not a bad place to be.

We made Neel's special marianated steak for dinner Saturday night. (Dinner on Sunday night is an entirely different phenomenon. It's called Football Sunday, and I'm sure you can imagine what manner of food we're eating on Sundays. Take a guess.) When I was growing up, Saturday night dinner was such a special thing. We're trying to do that here too, but Saturdays can be so busy. This Saturday was nice. Great food, thanks to Neel's secret marinade. Callum lit all the candles at the table, and the windows were open so that we could hear the rain falling. Nice night.

Neel did a lot of cooking this weekend! He made a great bagle breakfast Sunday morning, and while Cal powered through the rest of his homework we cleaned the house and rearranged a bit both inside and out. Seems I'm happiest cleaning when I'm also moving things around. Go figure. We watched Harry Potter #1 this afternoon, which always feels like fall to me. Every so often we get in the mood to watch the series front to back, top to bottom, and it always seems to happen in the fall and winter. I'm ready. More snuggles. Bring it on. Bring on the cookies too. Nestle Toll House. Easiest baking in the world. Ain't nothing finer.

What's everbody's week like? I have another busy one, but that's okay. Seriously, I feel like I haven't drawn breath since school started, but we're getting there. It's good stuff I've got going on, so that makes it okay.