I bet you were starting to think I’d forgotten…

But, no. Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A couple is cuddling on the stairs to nowhere by the Hinckley Hilton tennis court in broad daylight.

2. Posey lies on the floor, her body and head hidden under the drape of a dress that needs to be hung up in the closet. Her front legs stretch in front of her, crossed at the paws.

3. Yesterday was my friend Amani’s birthday and she opted for a more low-key celebratory lunch in rather than out. Sarah baked peach cobbler and I bought ice cream, but Amani outdid herself as the birthday girl, offering up homemade brownies and cupcakes.

Oh yes! Remember a couple weeks ago when I mentioned a new resident of our garden plot? Well, he’s continued growing and Rudi captured a few shots of him this week.

I’m just in sad shape here: Clearly my brain is no longer attached to my body. In my head, I make up a list of beautiful things as the week goes on. Sure, things periodically get forgotten or fall off the list, but not usually the important ones. Yet this week, I’ve missed two.

The last was the previous item. The other was that my friend Shelley got an interview request for med school! Shelley has been talking about becoming a doctor since before I moved down to D.C. and has actively taking classes for the last several years. She took the MCAT at the beginning of the summer, struggled through essay writing for months, and two weeks ago hit the submit button on the last of her applications. Getting an interview for med school is kind of like getting a job interview; it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the job, but it signals that you’re in the running. I’m really excited about this new beautiful part of Shelley’s life.

Because my fall allergies have kicked in, my head is full of goo again and I’m not thinking clearly. That is the only reason that in my earlier beautiful things tv beat out a baby.

Bonus Beautiful Things: poop

My coworker brought her three year old and her month-old baby in to the office earlier this week. I arrived later than she did, but still got to spend some time with them. Ally showed me her tiny purple Crocs and told me about elephant poop. Jack lay in my arms and held my finger and pooped in his diaper.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Heroes began its second season on Monday. It was such a relief to discover that the writers had not slacked off over the summer.

2. The anticipation of the fall tv season is palpable. People ask if you’re planning to watch any premieres and recommend ones they think will be good. And old shows return after time away. Journeyman will live to see a second episode, but Back to You got turned off midshow. We will pull Chuck up on the computer this weekend and Pushing Daisies intrigues. The water cooler gabfest is a lot of fun; feel free to participate around a virtual one in the comments section.

3. I had a grumpy night earlier in the week and couldn’t figure out how to right it. So I pulled out The Ballet Shoes and curled up in the rocking chair when Rudi went to bed. Before I knew it, I’d been sucked simultaneously into 1930s London and into my own second grade year when I first read the story. It’s hard to stay grumpy when that happens.

Today is Thursday and you all know what that means. Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. I stopped by the garden on Thursday to see if anything needed to be picked. The peppers are abundant, but the tomatillo has been stripped of most of its promising blossoms. The culprit? I suspect the many-legged green fellow I found on one of the branches. He looked guilty when I asked him about it and grabbed onto the branch even tighter.

2. I rode my bike along the C&O Canal Towpath Sunday afternoon. On the way back, I stopped just below the dam in a peaceful spot on the Potomac called Little Falls. Birds tend to congregate there to hunt fish and to get a drink, and a rock outcropping allows you to sit and look out over the river. The sun was low in the sky when I finally decided to head back out onto the trail to make my way home.

3. Rudi and I were holding hands last night as we left the ballpark when we came to a point where a pay phone blocked our path. Rudi went to one side and I to the other, and we reached up high, high, high over the phone so we didn’t have to let go.

This is not beautiful per se but I’d still appreciate if you’d help me with it. My friend Suzanne has returned home to Maine for the time being because her mom is having some serious health issues. Please visit her blog and let her know that she and her family are in our thoughts or prayers. Group thought is an amazing thing and some mighty powerful vibes are needed.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Our building served make your own sundaes today. We took our lunch break to coincide with them and ate outside. Brownies, whipped cream, two flavors of ice cream, and various other toppings filled my waffle cone bowl.

2. I took a bit too relaxed an exit of my parents’ home on Monday afternoon and we realized en route to the airport that we were not going to make it in time for me to catch my flight. I called the airline to reschedule my flight and we went to Marshalls instead. I came away with a cute new pair of shoes, a fetching tweed newspaper boy hat, and two darling baby doll cardigans. (If I’d planned to go, none of it would have been there. I’m sure of it. Best shopping trip I’ve had in ages…)

3. En route to work Tuesday morning, I pass three people wearing black and white vertically striped shirts. Was it a mass escape from prison? A fashion coincidence? A conference? Either way, I kept expecting someone to blow a whistle and call me for traveling.

A bonus beautiful thing: It would be impossible for me to pick just three beautiful things from my long weekend in Connecticut, so I’m selecting the weekend as a whole. It was three days filled with relaxation, sleeping late, watching videos and movies, buying yarn, and visiting with Gramma, Mum and Dad, and Karen. I ate pizza, peach pie, berry muffins, barbecued chicken, and a phenomenal turkey sandwich and drank a strawberry daiquiri and a raspberry-lime rickey. I came back to D.C. feeling rested and relaxed and ready to fire on all cylinders.