I made it home from California just after noon, but my plan not to lose my entire day to travel failed. I spent both legs of my red-eye feeling super sick, and so pretty much spent the rest of the day dozing on the couch.

Tomorrow, however, is a new day, and I’ve managed to eat and drink something that did not make me feel worse, so I’m hopeful we’re past the worst of it.

I am not much of a Super Bowl person, so I think I will skip my friend’s kind offer to have me join her and her husband at a bar to watch the game (she’s from Germany and wants to soak up the atmosphere). Instead, I think I’ll finish reading my book, bind off my shawl (!!), wander down to the Kennedy Center to catch the last night of their outdoor illuminated Winter Lanterns display, and get things sorted for the week ahead.

Rudi is off on ski coaching duties all week, so I’m on my own. This means I need to actually do a little better about planning ahead, since there will be no one else to check bike availability as I’m brushing my teeth. (If only Corey could work the phone app…)

Rudi was kind enough to pick up a bag of day-old bagels yesterday, so I have breakfasts sorted for a couple days. I’ll need to think about lunches and suppers, though. Maybe I’ll make a lasagna or a quiche, since those make for good leftovers. (I’ve got volleyball games both Monday and Tuesday nights, so maybe I’d better make one of those tomorrow…) Mary Berry’s cookbook is due back to the library, so if I want to try any of her cookie/cake recipes, I’d better jump on that, as well. Then that will give me snacks, too.

I need to change the sheets tomorrow, and since Rudi is away, I think I’ll just put on the flannel set. They’re too warm when he’s home, but I think they’ll be cozy while he’s away. Plus, it takes the pressure off of having to get that laundry done during the weekend, when everyone is fighting for time with the washing machine. (Actually, we’re a very civil building, and while we sometimes have a queue, everyone is usually very prompt about clearing the washer and dryer.)

While Rudi’s away, I’d like to get a little sorting done in the living room and kitchen.
I still need to put away some Christmas things piled on my living room table — cards and cookie tins and cds — and there are similar piles elsewhere that could be dealt with. Since I spent both sets of plane flights asleep, I still have my Inspector Ganache novel to listen to — incentive to spend time working on manual, brain-free tasks.

Finally, since the key to getting myself out the door in a reasonable fashion is to get up a little earlier, putting myself to bed at an earlier hour is also probably necessary. So hopefully my posts will be a little closer to midnight than two for the rest of the week!

I did some work. I attended an event. I saw a friend. I knit a little. I read a bit. I bought fresh citrus at a farmers market. And I enjoyed some California sunshine.

And I ate an ice cream sandwich made of peanut butter cookies and ube ice cream.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My work event went really well today, and everyone involved was nice and helpful.

2. Where I’m staying turns out to have felt further from San Francisco than I’d expected, so I opted not to head back into the city for their restaurant week. Instead, I explored the Walnut Creek restaurant scene and enjoyed Peruvian and Burmese food, as well as a local ice cream shop.

3. The commute to where my event was being held today was just shy of a mile’s walk along a canal pathway. I passed joggers and walkers with baby carriages and toddlers, backyards with citrus trees, and a snowy egret perched on a fence, which a dog walker said was its usual spot.

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

D.C. at the literal crack of dawn.

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.