After a night out at the local British-style pub for dinner with friends, Rudi and I returned home to hang with the cats.

At the end of SNL, Rudi headed to bed with Jeremiah and Della, and I got to curl up on the couch with a cuppa and finish my novel with periodic visits from Corey and Posey.

Now, to bed, so I can find out why Sunday mornings were made!

The beginning of a new year calls for making some new plans and I thought I’d share three of mine with you:

1. Phone a friend.
   I feel far away from my friends these days, which means I’m not communicating with them enough. So once a month (at a bare minimum) I vow to pick up the phone and reach out.
2. Go out on the town.
   I think I’d like to go out on more dates and convention suggests that I should invite Rudi along. Seriously, we need to spend time together more consciously (as opposed to sharing space while we both sit in front of the tv). I’m thinking dinner or a movie or a show or dancing once a month. Or brunch, even. I hear couples do those kinds of things… (And, no, stopping at Pete’s for a pizza after picking up a few things at Target will not count.
3. Lose baggage.
   Rudi and I tend to hold on to too many unimportant things for too long. So each month I’m going to take a box or a bag over to Virginia and leave it at the Goodwill store there.

So that’s it. In 2011, I plan to spend more time and resources on the important relationships in my life and get rid of the stuff that’s weighing it down. Seems about right to me.

Or, at least, so we’re taught in school.

I’ve been lucky enough to be off from work since Dec. 23. I head back in the morning.

And with the arrival of a new year and a return to the office, expect, too, a return to blogging.

I have several bookish posts lined up that just need a bit of tweaking, so I expect we’ll see several of those this week and then next week will start branching out into other topics. Like knitting and the like.

Talk to you again tomorrow!

On to Tuesday…

While thousands of people poured into D.C. in support of the Colbert/Stewart rally, I fled, seeking pumpkins.

It was a glorious day for a walk and drive in the countryside. The colors in the farmland were just beginning to show, really.

When I got out to Homestead Farm, I found it had already been taken over:

Luckily, no one seemed to be haunting the pumpkin patch, so I found two excellent specimen.

At the farm stand, I also picked up some apples, vegetables, and a large bowl of squash. They had a wide assortment of gourds, too.

As usual, their animals were excited to greet visitors to the farm.

Since our last visit over Labor Day weekend, the farm has some new residents:

On Sunday, Rudi headed out for a mid-afternoon bike ride, while I got into costume:

It’s surprising, really. I’ve been able to braid my hair for 30 years and have complete muscle memory for it. But braiding it around a coat hanger? Immensely challenging…

Wielding fun hair spray? Totally fun. I wonder how my office would feel if I became a redhead more often…

While Corey had captured Mr. Nilsson’s antics accurately, he just refused to wear a monkey costume… We made do.

I hope your Halloween weekend was equally enjoyable. Did you dress up? Go to parties? Take your wee ones trick or treating? Hand out candy?

May you only have encountered friendly ghosts on your rambles and may your candy bucket remain filled for days!