I’m back from my long weekend-in-the-middle-of-the-week in Connecticut. It’s nice to be home and the cats (and Rudi) were happy to have me back. The cats, in particular, were quite clingy last night and this morning.

1. The cardigan I’ve been working on for the last year is too short. I’d realized it, but only after I’d already seamed much of it together. Gramma looks at it, listens to my claims that maybe blocking would fix it (and if not, some cutting and grafting), and tells me I’d save myself a lot of headaches if I just ripped out the shoulder seams, detached the arms, and knit the body a few inches higher before continuing on. She’s right, of course, and I’m glad she told me just to suck it up, since that’s what I obviously needed to hear.

2. Mum bakes me a dark chocolate truffle birthday cake. I eat two decadently large pieces.

3. Mum and Dad give me two pairs of pjs in Valentine’s Day colors and fun patterns. After arriving home last night and watching the eclipse (photos to come later), I throw on a pair and delight in being home.

I survived our conference and am now recuperating at my folks’. On the agenda? Knitting, hanging with the family (and a belated birthday celebration), a visit to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and a trip south to see my uncle. I bet I feel fully refreshed by the time I head home Wednesday.

Three Beautiful Things (the Boston version):

1. The view from our room on the twenty-sixth floor of the hotel is impressive. I can see the Charles River from my pillow and the Citgo sign at Fenway park if I walk to the window. Makes waking up almost bearable.

2. My birthday fell during our conference and for the first time ever I was unable to take the day off. But my friends made sure I felt loved with text messages and voicemail and phone calls and blog comments. My friend Suzanne had treats delivered to my room, and Sam and Alexis shared their Valentine’s Day dinner with us. I felt quite loved.

3. I had a dilly of a time getting the stitch count right for my new shawl. At last after four restarts, I end up with the right number and can move on past the third row.

Three beautiful things from earlier this birthday week:

1. I awake at 7 a.m. on Sunday to use the bathroom. The sky glows pink in an otherworldly kind of way.

2. Because the sidewalks are slick between my polling place and the Burrow, I am shuffling along slowly enough to notice the tiny icicles that have formed on awnings, signs, and fences.

3. Rebs calls at one a.m. to say that she and Rick have booked their flight to Guatemala City in two weeks to go pick up their son and bring him home for the first time. When I heard the phone ring, I just *knew* it was her calling with good news.

What’s beautiful in your world these days?

I think getting up early this week has screwed up my timing. All day yesterday I looked forward to today being Friday. Bummer. But it does mean that I haven’t yet missed posting about three beautiful things from my week:

1. A woman wearing a business suit with a knee-length skirt rides past at lunch-time on her unicycle.

2. The local news has been reporting about a Secret Service caravan yesterday for Dick Cheney to take his dog, Dave, to the vet for a routine checkup. I don’t generally lavish compliments on the Vice President, but I have to say I find it charming that he doesn’t parcel out that task to an underling.

3. WETA, our local PBS affiliate, shows classic movies every Saturday night. This week was A Letter to Three Wives, which Rudi and I enjoyed. Coming up later this month will be Rebel Without a Cause and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, neither of which I’ve seen.

What’s beautiful in your life?

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.

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!