Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. A woman embarked onto the Metro at Dupont Circle with me and her double baby carriage. The back occupant appeared to be asleep, but the baby at the front, covered with a blue blanket, eyed me curiously. His mother confirmed that her five-month-old daughter could sleep through anything, but not the twin son.

2. Not understanding the rules of the Super Bowl pool, I picked my grid square based on flawed logic. Oddly enough, it ended up being an even better draw than I’d expected.

3. Sweetpea and I had a girls’ night out Friday to head just over the Maryland border to Hyattsville for a yarn sale. We had a nice dinner at Franklin’s Brewery/General Store before heading across the street to A Tangled Skein. From outside, it looked like the store was mostly empty, but we quickly realized that was because the store was littered with people sitting and knitting. The workroom table was filled. The sofas and comfy chairs were occupied and blocking access to some of the yarn bins. Knitting bags and shoes were littered across the floor as friendly women in handknit socks lounged cross-legged or with feet hanging over the arms of their chairs. The atmosphere was one of someone’s living room — and clearly it worked for them as Sweetpea and I both spent a somewhat extravagant amount of money on yarn. While I have spent my fair amount of money at other D.C.-area stores, I’ve never found one where I’d feel comfortable slipping out of my Mary Janes and tucking my feet under me on the couch. And yet you really felt like that was possible there. I’ll be back.

It’s been a while since we’ve spun up the iPod, so I offer you a random ten-song playlist from mine:

1. “Railroad Man” — The Eels
2. “Radio Song” — REM
3. “Sleep, Little One, Sleep” — Kevin Locke
4. “Mystery Town” — Little Junior Parker
5. “Little Earthquakes” — Carrie Newcomer (not the same song as Tori Amos’)
6. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” — Odetta
7. “Are You Happy Now?” — Michelle Branch
8. “It Hurts to See You Dance So Well” — The Pipettes
9. “Jesusland” — Ben Folds
10. “The First Noel” — America

Please feel free to play along in the comments by hitting random play on your own iPod, Zune, computer playlist, or cd multi-disc player. Come on; own up to what’s floating around in your music collection…

I figured before the calendar left January, I’d better get around to posting my other round-ups of 2007. I already gave you my book highlights. Tonight, I offer you the best of my movie watching over the last year:

1. Juno

If you haven’t yet seen this movie about a quirky teen who discovers she’s pregnant by her best guy friend, get ye to a movie theater! The movie’s title character manages to retain her unique voice regardless of what situations she finds herself in. Utterly delightful and a total must-own when it comes out on video.

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People in my neighborhood take their postage stamp-sized yards very seriously and like to employ lawn services to help them care for them. Usually, I think it’s a silly notion, but when these two “bushes” appeared at the end of November I did reconsider, at least for the holidays.

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My D.C. will appear belatedly tomorrow as Sweetpea and I took a five hour road trip to buy yarn six miles away. (Factor in city driving times and dinner and it’s slightly less impressive than it sounds.)

You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Newly arrived clothing busts stand in the Macy’s window for a Valentine’s Day promotion. A naked mannequin leans just out of view, as if she is in the process of window dressing. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist the pun. Puns are beautiful too.)

2. An afternoon program at work is followed by a reception that features vegetarian sushi and samosas and a variety of desserts. This is particularly appreciated as it means I get to dine with friends instead of at home on my first night without Rudi.

3. Eddie Bauer had a sale recently where boots and pants were half off, so I ordered three items off their Web site. They arrived Tuesday and, to my great shock and delight, everything fit. I now have a pair of casual pants for spring, a new pair of cords for work, and a pair of dressy boots. Yay!

Bad news from today’s Telegraph: “Miss Marple: Murder is easy. Finding a new Marple isn’t”

I’m hoping they’re writing with sarcasm about wanting to pick someone so … un-Marple-like.

The challenge:

• link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
• share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
• tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
• let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Rudi knows I’m a bit weird, and I’m sure that’s why he tagged me. That or he knew I was sucker enough to come up with answers.

Oddly enough:

1. I do not like bananas or banana-flavored candy, although I like banana bread.
2. I can doze off while holding a full cup of tea and not spill any of it.
3. I keep an emergency box of Samoas in the freezer in case of a Very Bad Day. Luckily, since I stopped doing media relations, I haven’t had to dip into it. Samoas are this teetotaler’s version of a good stiff drink.
4. I own a snuggly green sweater that I stole from my brother who stole it from his best friend back in high school who stole it from his older sister.
5. As a child I managed one day to become covered head to foot by a swarm of ants. As such, ants only get one warning in my unfair system of which bugs survive in my house. Seeing multiple ants inside can utterly cause me to freak out.

I like to alter rules to fit my needs (it’s a good thing I’m not a politician!), so I’m not going to tag anyone specifically. If you have a blog and want to play along, then you’re it. If you lack a blog and want to have a go at this meme, please leave your random facts in the comments.

My three-day weekend is nearly at an end. Rudi’s already retired to the bedroom and I’m going to drink my tea and follow suit.

It has been a long weekend — both in length and in how much we squeezed in.

Friday night we went out with friends. We had dinner at a bar (I had a very nice beet salad and an okay cherry bread pudding) and then headed next door to the Black Cat to see Rhett Miller of the Old 97s. I wasn’t familiar with either the singer or the band, but his MySpace clips were pleasant enough and my friends are kind enough not to harass me if I want to hang out in the back instead of squishing up front with the masses. Miller has a nice enough voice and a good ear for melodies, but he plays at being a rock star with lots of head shaking, hair flopping, and arm windmilling which I found distracting. Once I shifted over to the couch next to Sweetpea where Miller was hidden from my view behind a pillar, I enjoyed his performance a lot more.

Saturday, I voted for D.C.’s delegates to the Democratic Convention, ran some errands with Rudi, and then had dinner at a new restaurant with our friends John and Susan. Café Tropé is just a couple blocks from the Burrow and still had available reservations for Restaurant Week earlier that day. The restaurant is French Caribbean with sort of a tapas feel to it. I’m delighted to report that the food was excellent and I’ll be giving it and our earlier Restaurant Week excursion a full report this week.

Sunday, except for our weekly trek to the farmers’ market, I stayed in. Elspeth and Amani and Marcus came over in the evening so we could watch this week’s Jane Austen movie, Northanger Abbey, on PBS. With the exception of a small omission from the novel’s end, I was pleased with the translation to the screen. Next week is Mansfield Park, which I haven’t read (but have seen another adaptation of), so I’m hoping that it’s a fun watch, as well. Oh, and I blocked the pieces of my Everyday Cardigan, so I’m on schedule for an end-of-month completion.

Today was our lowest-key day. Rudi went out for a below-freezing bike ride this morning and I slept practically until noon. I read a little. I started a new quick knit project, which I expect to finish tomorrow.

As I said, it was a long weekend, and I suspect I’ll be glad it’s a short workweek. Rudi heads west on Thursday for some skiing, so the only thing I have planned for next weekend is the Jane Austen watch Sunday night. Lots of time to rest…

From a random Tuesday in midsummer: A girl rides the two stops from home to work with me. She is wearing business attire with high-heeled strappy sandals. Her hair is down and you can see mascara clumped on eyelashes that surround mildly alarmed eyes. Her pinkie toes stick out between the straps of her sandals. I wonder how much of her personality is stuffed beneath her work attire as her feet are stuffed into ill-fitting shoes.

(Yes, I’m clearing out my post backlogs. Why do you ask?)