Happy Thanksgiving everyone! [Oops. I fell asleep without hitting publish. Happy day after Thanksgiving, too!] I haven’t forgotten about sharing the end of my trip with you. It’s just that we followed our trip to Iceland with a trip to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

Here are three beautiful things from the previous week:

1. My brother and his partner Matt have come east for the holiday. Although I was charmed by Matt the first time we met a couple years back, we hadn’t spent more than a couple hours together until now. I’m delighted that he really, authentically seems to be a nice guy — just the sort of person you’d hope your kid brother would end up with.

2. Our cats were super excited to have us home again, and all three of them curled up on the bed with us at night.

3. The day before we were due to head home from Iceland, we decided to rent a car and head out to see some more sights (and sites). It ended up being a really good day full of scenery, history, and bonhomie.

I hope you, too, had a Thanksgiving surrounded by those you are most grateful to have in your life.

Three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Time off — and in such a beautiful place — with Rudi. This will be a trip we remember for a long time.

2. Under any circumstance, a rainbow merits a mention. But particularly when it welcomes us to a foreign city.

3. Before we left home, the leaves were finally starting to fall. Crunching your way down the sidewalk made it seem autumn-like indeed.

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

It’s the Thursday before we go to Iceland. Whee!

Ahem…

Sorry about that.

I now return you to our regularly scheduled Thursday feature — three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Fall has arrived in D.C. and the trees are bedecked in lavish costumes of orange and yellow.

2. After my semi-annual dental check-up, I celebrate clean teeth with a raspberry cream milkshake and two macarons from Barracks Row restaurants, which I eat in a park under the setting sun.

3. Two of my coworkers and I — all of us survivors of the pre-launch mania — buy lunch, head to a local plaza, and eat outside on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. We chat and laugh and talk about things that have nothing to do with work. It feels so luxurious not to have to rush right back to the office.

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

I can now count the number of days until Iceland on my fingers. That’s good because although I’m not working the insane hours that I was before my project went live, we’ve had some hiccups that still prevent me from focusing on what’s important — my impending vacation.

However, the week has not been without its highlights, and here are but three of the beautiful ones amongst them:

1. My dad’s best friend comes up to help my folks clear the driveway of all the fallen trees blocking their egress. They might still be without power, heat, and running water, but at least now they can leave if they have/want to.

2. Rudi takes a day off to testify before city council. He’s done in time to join me downtown for a late lunch out in the sunshine.

3. Susan and Phillip invite me to accompany them to Holden’s first Halloween festival. He is a devil — and the most adorable one ever — with a huge, impish grin.

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

This week has been a long one and I am particularly glad to reach Thursday because it means the weekend — both work-free days of it — has nearly arrived. I am planning to sleep and clean and sleep and see friends and sleep and bake a pie and sleep and …

Anyway, before I do all that, I wanted to highlight three beautiful things from the week past:

1. My project went public this week. While its launch does not actually mean we’re done with the work, it does mean my coworkers and I can stop working such ridiculous hours. I celebrated Wednesday by leaving the office while the sun was still in the sky.

2. Sarah, Rudi, and I took Saturday as an apple quest day. We picked some granny smiths and a handful of enterprises (as well as beets, broccoli, and spinach), returned to our local cider doughnut purveyor, and found some delicious cider at a farm stand where they also had an apple launch. It was a lovely day out — with the surprise addition of seeing a hot air balloon aloft as we were driving down the highway. [N.B. to Mum: I told Sarah and Rudi about that time where we saw the balloon from the backyard, and you got us into the car and we chased the balloon down until it landed. That was really cool.]

3. John, Sarah, Rudi, and I headed to the movies after work tonight to kick off the Halloween season with a viewing of Ghostbusters (the entirety of which I don’t think I’ve seen since watching it at the drive-in at the Cape when I was a kid). I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

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

I’m rapidly losing the ability to string words together in a coherent fashion, so let’s get right to three beautiful things from my past week:

1. On Sunday, Rudi, John, Nicole, and I headed out to a Maryland forest for the local renaissance faire. There were people’s costumes to admire and/or marvel at, there was comedy, there was jousting (although I missed all the battle parts and just saw people riding horses…), there was a slide amidst the trees, there were arrows to shoot (my enemies remain safe), and there was a garland to buy. The trees were golden, the skies were blue, and the company was lovely. A perfect day of rest.

2. Just as I reached home tonight, the scent of autumn wafted over me.

3. Ghosts peek out of a neighbor’s windows at me. They remind me of Casper’s friends, though, so it’s okay.

How about you? What’s beautiful in your world this week?