With three hours of sleep, I’m doing okay right now. Check back with me after work, when I have to do some cleaning before my friend Amani comes over for us to watch the first half of Sense and Sensibility on PBS tonight:

1. Sweetpea and I have been social knitters this week. On Sunday we ventured north of the border to the Homespun Yarn Party where we got to put a face with Mia‘s blog (yay!), catch up with Lolly, fondle and buy some yarn (wanna see my purchases?), and eat some delicious snacks to benefit Ravelry. Then last night we joined the Dupont Circle S&B’ers and spent several fun hours with some really talented folks.

2. Sunday night, Rudi and I were lucky enough to have tickets to the opening of the new Nationals ball park. After blowing a lead in the top of the ninth, we came back to win with a home run from third base phenom Ryan Zimmerman. It was particularly satisfying because his shot into center field went into the lower section and certainly would have been caught at RFK.

3. Saturday dawned early and cold for Rudi and me as we got up to cheer on our friend Phillip who was running his first marathon. We were positioned just before the first hill of the course and got to cheer on a lot of runners in the 45 minutes we were outside. A friend had mentioned at one point that a lot of runners write their name on their clothing to enable strangers to offer personalized encouragement, so I knew to look for that — and it was nice to see smiles cross people’s faces when I shouted out to them. And because we were up, we headed to Teaism for a delicious breakfast (before returning home to bed).

Three beautiful things from this past (allergy-laden) week:

1. I’ve had issue with the button bands on my sweater. On the first one, I picked up too few stitches, which made the band contract. (Rudi mistook it for the neckband when I was knitting it.) So on the second one, I got smart and doubled all the stitches on the second row. Unfortunately, this gave me an undulating effect that, while pretty, is not what I was hoping for. I’m thinking that if I increase every other stitch this next try, I ought to get the perfect number of stitches. (No wonder Goldilocks needed a nap!)

2. As Rudi and I walked home from the Metro last night, the scent of hyacinths perfumed the moonlit air.

3. Rudi’s mom always wanted a daughter and delights now in buying clothes for me. I’m a jeans and tshirt kind of gal, so we often disagree about what I ought to wear. But in the last six months, she did a pretty good job of accumulating clothes that I not only liked, but also looked pretty good in. We only had one item that was hideous — an orange orange knit tank top. (Me: The orange tank was the only thing that was too small. … And it’s a pretty hideous color on me. Her: I know! But it was only a dollar, so how could I pass it up?) Some items — a long turquoise linen skirt, a red cashmere sleeveless top, a black sparkly tank — will actually get a lot of wear.

I’m on a plane headed to Salt Lake (via Denver) right now, but even that can’t prevent me from giving you three beautiful things from my world last week:

1. DCBlogs pointed me to a notice that the National Zoo has a new baby beastie: a North Island brown kiwi. It even has its own webcam.

2. Pi Day was Friday. No, not pie. Well, yes, pie, too. But pi. Ï€. 3.14 …. Elspeth brought a mixed berry pie in to work to share. And I ate pizza (pie) and baked a peach-cherry pie Friday night. We ate the last pieces for breakfast this morning…

3. I saw two girls on the Metro this morning who looked like they might be headed down to the peace rallies. They reminded me of when Rebs and I came down to D.C. our junior year of college to protest Newt’s Contract Against America. The Metro girls just seemed so young (and, in retrospect, so did we).

My brain has been somewhat sieve-like the last couple months and seems to be particularly bad this week. I blame all that darkness. And the lack of sleep. And … well … getting old.

What this means is that over the last week, several times I’ve thought to myself, “That would make a great note for TBT on Thursday.” It pains me that I can remember thinking that but can’t recall what prompted the thought in the first place. Is this what makes people compulsive list-makers?

Nonetheless, I’m able to recall at least three beautiful things from the past week, so I will offer to you those that my brain hasn’t misplaced (yet):

1. The trial I serve on during jury duty leaves me frustrated. I calm my soul with a cup of hot chai and a salty oat cookie consumed while reading by the koi pond inside the downtown tea shop. By the time I am ready to head home the clouds — both in my mind and in the sky — have lifted.

2. Friday night Rudi, Sweetpea, Elspeth, and I went to the Birchmere to see Paul and Storm (formerly half of Da Vinci’s Notebook) and Jonathan Coulton perform. They’re all “singer-songwriters” with a humorous bent, so we were hopeful that this would be a rocking show. Paul and Storm, whom Rudi and I have heard before at Falcon Ridge are locals and definitely had the crowd behind them. In fact, I think they may have been a little too adored as they kept getting distracted during their songs, which merely added to the general levity of the evening. Even Jonathan Coulton jokingly complained a little when he came out for his set because people kept shouting P&S catch lines at him. I think he recovered, though, as he was pelted throughout the show with stuffed animals relating to various songs of his own. After the show I’m left with memories of a terrifically funny show and the growling line, “All we want to do is eat your brains,” running through my head.

3. Spring has arrived in D.C. Snowdrops popped out in early February and the crocuses (croci?) started emerging at the end of the month. Two weeks ago, I observed the first daffodils along the bank of Rose Park, last week I saw the first flowering trees, and this morning I noted a pink hyacinth about to flower. (Cherry blossoms should be out the last week of the month, so if you’re considering a trip to see them, that’s the ideal time.)

I’m a little unclear as to how today got to be Thursday already. I feel like it ought to be Wednesday, but I’m certainly not going to turn down tomorrow being Friday. So let’s all pretend that today really is Thursday, like the calendar says, okay?

In that vein, I offer you three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Rudi and I went to a meeting last night about the future of our local library. It felt good to learn how many other people cared about it being a viable community center well into the future.

2. After my dentist appointment was over yesterday, I took a long meandering walk back to work from Cap Hill. It was a lovely sunny spring day and it felt great to be outside in the middle of the day. (Expect pictures soon.)

3. After bottling the last of our 2007 beer on Saturday, I decided I had to stop in at the Pan-American Bakery & Grill next door. We came home with two giant coconut pan dulce, which are fluffy South American sweet rolls, and some ridiculously cheap spices. The owner of the store, a Bolivian man, talked to us about why he was committed to using trans-fat-free ingredients in his cooking and the difficulties of marketing a business to two communities who speak different languages and who have different expectations for their local restaurants. We’ll definitely be back.

I thought I’d get a jump start on tomorrow by posting my weekly Three Beautiful Things before I go to sleep. Set the tone, you know? Here are some wonderful snippets from my past week:

1. I find a hot pot of tea hiding under the cozy for me after Rudi leaves for work.

2. I adapt a recipe from a cookbook to make chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate ganache cupcakes. Our friend John, who doesn’t particularly like sweets, eats two.

3. Rebs and Rick currently are in Guatemala City picking up Joey and should be home midday on Friday. I can’t even imagine their happiness.