My job is taking me to San Francisco in the morning. I’ll be there for an event on Thursday and then will take a red eye back early Saturday morning. I’ll have some normal work to do, as well, while I’m gone.

But I’ll also have a little time to myself, too. I’m hoping to enjoy the nice weather, to swim in the (outdoor) hotel pool, to check out restaurant week, to attend the local version of the creative professionals event I go to here in D.C., and to see an old friend.

And at the end of it I’ll come home, where Corey will be glad to see me for the weekend, but where I’ll also have the apartment to myself for the following week. Rudi does a lot of traveling for ski coaching in February and March — prime snow time, obviously — but this year, I’ll also be on the move. In addition to this trip, February holds time away in Connecticut, Arizona, and Florida. I think we’ll both be in D.C. at the same time 10 days for the whole month.

So pardon me while I log off and go curl up with him for a bit. I’m going to miss him!

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is a choose-your-own-adventure from That Artsy Reader Girl. Anything is fine as long as it relates to book covers. I debated about being deliberately snarky (clever?) and telling you about my favorite adaptations, but I’m hoping to get a few more things done tonight and I decided instead to just go short and simple:

That’s a photo showing you the ten covers I like best from the 22 (!) books I currently have out of the library:

Top Row: I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, and Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbali

Middle Row: Lynne Kelly’s Song for a Whale, Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, Homerooms and Hallpasses by Tom O’Donnell, and The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Bottom Row: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell, and We Met in December by Rosie Curtis

Of the group The Paper Magician, We Met in December, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise and Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky are my favorites.

One of the nice things about having a blog is that it gives you an anchor in history. (I hear from blogless people that Facebook serves a similar purpose.) I can see daffodils today and think, gosh, this is way too early. But then I can go back to previous Januaries and see that we’re probably only a week early. I had snowdrops pictured in the final weekend of January last year, rather than in the middle of the month, and the daffodils didn’t turn yellow until February. (Also, how is February arriving at the end of this week?!)

With highs predicted for this next week to remain in the 40s, I suspect this daff will unfurl itself in short order. Right now, it looks not dissimilar to me when I am fooled by bright sunshine into leaving the house underdressed only to wish 15 minutes later that I had a warm layer to block the breeze.

The past couple days I was out during the day in just a baseball tee and sweatshirt (and knitted accessories). But as the sun sets, it still cools off quickly and I’m glad to pull on a jacket or puffy vest. It’s still too early for canvas sneakers (at least without wool socks), as I discovered this evening, but I know that day isn’t far off. (My apologies to those of you for whom that day is far off.)

The current forecast for the Bay Area has the highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s while I’m out there later this week, so I’m hoping that means I can leave the winter sweaters and coat at home!

I was lucky enough to be on an above-ground train this evening as the sun was setting over Old Town Alexandria. The first clue of its gorgeousness was actually the pink hue cascading over the D.C. skyline on the other side of the river, but I was on the wrong side of the train to capture that.

I embark upon a cross-country work trip Wednesday, the first of four trips in the next month, so a lot of my weeekend to-do list focuses on prepping for that.

But it also includes some fun, as well:

• Watch a video — I picked up Judy, Valentine’s Day, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu at the library this week. (And Rudi has promised to be home from practice relatively early tomorrow.)
• Do laundry.
• Spend time outside.
• Go to a craft fair in the old subterranean trolley station in my neighborhood.
• Bowl.
• Pick up sweets in Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
• Bake shortbread — I have Mary Berry’s cookbook out from the library and bought semolina last week.
• Clean the kitchen.
• Finish my shawl.
• Paint my nails (but maybe not until after bowling on Sunday).

How about you? What are you hoping to do on this final weekend of January?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I scored respectably well (a 91) in my first bowling match of the season — high enough to be helpful to the team, but not so high that it seems out of reach to bowl it again. The group was organized by one of my volleyball teammates and includes women who play volleyball or kickball with her. We’re such a large group there was concern that we might not be able to fit in the one game necessary to avoid forfeit, but we squeaked through with two minutes to go. The kickball folks seem nice, and it was fun to have a destination on a Sunday afternoon.

2. Our building’s heat has been on the fritz this week, and this afternoon our handyman and his brother installed the part that had broken.

3. After four and a half months at my new job, I finally managed to schedule a work-at-home day — for tomorrow. Lugging my work laptop and reference materials home this evening wasn’t fun (mostly because I detoured via the library and the grocery store, which meant a mile of walking with three bags, rather than the two blocks from the bus stop carrying just the one, all while wearing heels), but I know that not having to race out of bed, out of my pj’s, and out of the door in the morning is going to seem ultra luxurious. Plus, it may warm up enough and get sunny for a bit before the evening rain moves in, letting me work some from the park.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?