Ok, i just couldn't not show these off to you - when will you come over for a cordial and admire them yourselves?

Tonight our dinner plans were interrupted in the nicest possible of manner - Mike & Mere called on their way down from Point Reyes with the news that they were headed to Timo's, and could they stop by and visit? (Fortuitously, i was about 5 minutes out of the shower, and we spent much of the day cleaning the house - so the answer was an unembarrassed yes!) A quick visit, and they dragged us off to an early dinner at Timo's with Texas (who we met at their wedding), and a few of his friends. Lovely people - good for chatting over a shared meal of tapas. We lured Mike & Mere back to our place afterwards, and sat for a few hours chatting about this and that, and sipping limoncello out of my lovely new cordial glasses.

No work was done, but a lovely time was had by all. We like the Mike and the Meredith. 8)

Yesterday Russell & i bought our first piece of forever furniture. You know - the kind that you intend to keep for the rest of your life, and hope your children or grandchildren will want to have when you're gone and can't use it anymore. It's a beautiful, gorgeous, black cherrywood bed. I'm antsy for them to call to schedule delivery - it's apparently in stock, and i need a date to focus my obsessing over! I can't wait for it to arrive. 8)

[Ok, so i intend to keep my pine bookcases forever, but i'm not sure they count, as they're not particularly of heirloom quality.]

Does anyone need a moderately nice futon & futon frame? ;)

... a masala tea ice cream cone picked up from Bombay ice creamery on the final leg of a five mile walk on a sunny San Francisco Saturday. Bliss.

Here's to 8 years, lovelyone. Some of them rocky, some of them fantastic, all of them together. It just gets better and better, every day. I love you.

I sense unnamable tentacles beckoning me to Chicago, this October. Is Chicago awful in October. Does anyone want to join me?

Somtimes a little thing can make you feel a lot better. Started my morning by skipping my workout to sit and do several hours worth of work. Felt like a horrid person for all of the horrid things i was thinking. Completely not ready to face the day at the office, and everything involved with it. I really just wanted to crawl under the bed.

In steps Mr. Lehrer... with Songs and More Songs, on the way to work. It's hard to feel like a bad person when you're listening about killing "2 game wardens, 7 hunters, and a cow", and the Masochism Tango. By the time i arrived at work, i was ready to face my day, feeling that even if i am a bad, bad person, i'm in good company. 8)

Sometimes, i think what we need at work is the concept of the time-out box. It was a red box painted on the blacktop away from the "good stuff" at my grade school. Maybe at work it could be an office. But the idea of being sent to the time-out box to spend some time alone "thinking about how you're behaving" sounds prime to me, today.

Sometimes, a small surprise can turn an entire day around. I came home last night to find a mysterious box from Sur La Table.... and inside, two silpats with a note from my sister-in-law Jean: "Amazing stuff... enjoy!". She's right; they are amazing. And they brightened my day considerably. So thoughtfull! Thank you, Jean!