Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Last night Amani, Sarah, and I met up for dinner and began the evening with dessert at Hello Cupcake! The specialized bakery opened over the summer, but their early closing time has precluded me from visiting them before last night. My triple coconut cupcake merits a return trip at some point.

2. There are a lot of “learn to speak a foreign language” podcasts out there just waiting to be downloaded to my iPod. A lot. What a great resource for the procrastinators amongst us.

3. Monday night after work, I went to a candidates’ forum for the at-large seats on the city council. This is not the first such forum around the city, so I was encouraged to note that while the hall wasn’t packed, more than half the seats had been taken by people of all ages. I haven’t yet made my decision, but events like this help me — and others — to hear directly from the candidates and to make up our minds. Democracy in action…

Last Thursday seems eons ago. It seemed like so many lovely things had happened in the meantime that it was just wrong to pick just three. So you’ll get three sets of three instead.

Three beautiful things from Karen and Michael’s wedding:

1. Karen was a lovely bride. From her hair to her dress to her beaming face whenever she looked at Michael, she was stunningly beautiful.

2. You could not have asked for a more autumnal day. Deep blue skies. Eye-popping foliage. Comfortable temperatures. Everything conspired to make the backdrop one to remember.

3. A quality cake cannot be overvalued. Karen’s was lovely in its simplicity — three white squares formed a tower atop which sat a bouquet of yellow frosted roses, which perfectly tied together the cake and the bridesmaids’ bouquets. Lucky for the guests, the cake not only was pretty, but also was tasty. It was a moist lemon cake with the right ratio of sweet frosting. A solid success.

Three beautiful things from the rest of our vacation:

1. Mum baked apple crisp crumb pie to celebrate Dad’s birthday. Hers sets the standard against which all others are judged.

2. Sunday was sunny and 80 and I sat outside all afternoon. I knit and chatted with my folks and Gramma and admired the family pumpkins and generally embraced the loveliness of an autumn afternoon with no obligations.

3. Have I mentioned the New England fall color? The Mass Pike was aglow Friday afternoon. The dogwood outside Gramma’s window was red with bright berries attracting all manner of winged creatures. We snapped photos on Monday along 91 and in Northampton. And looking out the window as we flew southward I loved the fiery orange hillsides of Connecticut and New York.

And, finally, three beautiful things from the rest of the week:

1. Two feral kittens scamper across the sidewalk to skitter under a parked car. The black one lies down under the car. She looks a smidge bigger than the tabby (maybe a teenage mother?) who darts back to the walkway and then to the protection of a bush. A cockroach scuttling by merits jumping on. A third kitten, another tabby, climbs up from the neighbor’s basement entryway.

2. We watched last night’s debate from Trusty’s, a neighborhood dive over on Cap Hill where we also followed the Super Tuesday results, with Sarah and Michael. As Sarah said, there’s something cathartic about being able to yell at the television with a room of others doing the same thing.

3. I pulled the photos off the camera last night. The colors of the full shots, while not as perfect as Mother Nature’s, were much better than my tiny camera screen had led me to expect. (I’ll upload photos tonight and share them over the weekend. I haven’t been home long enough since returning to D.C. to take care of that yet.)

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Rudi hands me hot apple cider twice this week as I talk on the phone late at night.

2. A curly-haired little girl (who reminds me of Kim’s Katherine when I last saw her two years ago) runs up the sidewalk in front of me. She stops to admire small scarecrows decorating a restaurant’s front step.

3. A haircut and a pedicure had me outside on 18th Street in the early evening. I pause to make a phone call before heading home and notice a sign announcing a free chocolate tasting at a shop I’ve never visited. I met the chocolatier, who lives in town, and sampled four of her truffles — a cream-free butter chocolate, a maple-syrup filled chocolate, a coconut-almond filled chocolate, and an olive oil and pine nut white chocolate. Yum! Seriously, all were terrific!

What’s been beautiful in your life lately?

If it’s Thursday, it’s time for Three Beautiful Things from the past week:

1. I bought new shoes last month — cute Euro-style Skechers — that it’s finally cool enough to wear. They are soooooo comfortable that I’m working hard not to wear them every day.

2. Cooler weather means snuggly cats.

3. Pumpkin soup has returned to Au Bon Pain, my go-to place when I’m looking for a liquid lunch.

What’s been beautiful in your neighborhood recently?

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. While home sick, I put the tv on in the afternoon and listen to reruns. (Reception isn’t so great on the stations that show old tv shows.) Britcoms come on first — As Time Goes By, Are You Being Served, and All Creatures Great and Small. Then I leave PBS and switch to MASH, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, and the Steve Harvey Show. When you’re not feeling great, reruns make good medicine.

2. Walking home from jazz Friday night, John suggests we stop for a warm drink at a new chocolate place that’s between our place and his new condo. I have hot chocolate made with whole milk and dark chocolate. (The only unbeautiful thing about this scenario is that I opt for a medium instead of a large.)

3. The Saturday night movie is Casablanca. It’s one of those perfect movies — great director, great writers, perfect staging, and amazing chemistry between not just the romantic leads, but also between the primary and secondary characters. I highly recommend combining a viewing with pizza and your best guy or gal.

What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

It’s Thursday again. How does that happen? Wasn’t it just Sunday? I remember Sunday. Regardless, the computer informs me quite emphatically that it is Thursday, and who am I to argue? Therefore it’s time to share three beautiful things from the last week:

1. After jazz in the Sculpture Garden (a barely rainy night made for a practically deserted concert), we move a few blocks over for some pizza. I sit at a table, surrounded by my favorite D.C. folks, and listen as the conversation swirls around me, thinking how lucky I am to have found so many smart friends. There are nine of us, so mostly the discussions happen between three or four at a time, but the entire table comes together about an article comparing the Democrats of the Obama era and those of Jefferson’s day.

2. We ride home after the Mets game, cutting across to the Mall at Fourth and continuing its length for nearly 20 blocks. The Capitol is at my back as we wrestle with the freshly laid pea stone. We pass a silent row of Smithsonians and glimpse airplanes. We pedal past the Washington Monument, blaring with overly bright spotlights. The WWII Memorial burbles on, its fountain behind granite pillars. The Reflecting Pond sits peaceful, reflecting only the dark night sky. We leave the Mall behind just before the hauntingly beautiful Lincoln Memorial and head north toward home.

3. A nearly full moon rises as we sit at Starbucks enjoying the first cool air of the day.