It’s going to be a rainy weekend, which will definitely curtail many of my outdoor plans. But not all of them. Here’s some of what I hope my weekend includes:

• Making scones because I’d like to eat them while …
• Watching the royal wedding (possibly through my eyelids, but that’s my tradition).
• Taking part in the Bout of Books Twitter chat. (That will give me a reason to be awake later in the morning.)
• Putting away the flannel sheets. (They got washed earlier in the week and they’re still sitting in the laundry basket. It requires moving things to get to the bins under the bed.)
• Seeing Sarah on Sunday.
• Planting my potatoes. (There are potatoes growing all over my kitchen. I’d like to move them below ground.)
• Heading to the library to give back some books.
• Starting Wildwood Sock #2!
• Doing some shredding. (I hatehatehate the sound this shredder makes, which means I have done no shredding at all since making this discovery. I’m hoping headphones and ’80s music will help with the problem.)
• Writing an Into the Stacks post.

How about you? What are you hoping to do this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi celebrated his 45th birthday on Wednesday. We both took the day off from work and spent the day together, eating out, visiting an art gallery, and dodging raindrops. I made a strawberry shortcake to conclude the day.

2. One of my fellow gardeners was clearing her plot of early crops when I stopped in to plant on Sunday. She stopped by before leaving to ask if I wanted a bouquet of Johnny Jump Ups, since otherwise she was going to have to compost them.

3. I look down at my knitting to realize there is a dropped stitch half a dozen rows down laddering its way away from the needles. I pull out a crochet hook and zig-zag the yarn back up where it belongs. How cool is it to know how to fix a hole like that?!

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

This past week, I started three books: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees, a short story collection that’s been chosen as a D.C. Reads book for everyone in the city to read; The Folded Clock, by Heidi Julavits, a diary/collection of essays relating to time; and A Treacherous Curse, the latest in the Veronica Speedwell Victorian mystery series by Deanna Raybourn.

I’m also listening to Solo, a YA verse novel by Kwame Brown with Mary Rand Hess about the son of a rock legend/hot mess who finds out a family secret, and Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, which I can’t help but populate with faces from the Marvel movies.

My sock is pretty much to the toe decreases. I really thought I’d get it finished tonight, but instead I dozed off (after a fun-filled day off for Rudi’s birthday), so obviously I should go to bed instead.

Hit up As Kat Knits for more posts about reading and knitting.

Once upon a time, back when people listened to music on cd players or downloaded on their devices, rather than streaming songs via internet services, we used to occasionally post “random ten” playlists, where we’d hit shuffle and then share the first ten songs that came up (no skipping, unless what came up was an audiobook or podcast). Since I don’t keep much music on my phone, tonight I decided to fire up my iPod and see what came up:

1. “Ready to Start” by Arcade Fire
2. “Star of Wonder” by Tori Amos
3. “Little Deuce Coupe” by The Beach Boys
4. “Away in a Manger” by Susan Boyle
5. “Backfield in Motion” by Mel & Tim
6. “Bitterroot” by Indigo Girls
7. “22” by Lily Allen
8. “Sleigh Ride” by Squirrel Nut Zippers
9. “Check It Out” by John Mellencamp
10. “Love Me” by Elvis Presley

Unsurprisingly, it’s about a third Christmas music. I tend not to pull things off my iPod, so it stays on year-round and that’s a lot of what I like to listen to during the winter, when we’re driving between D.C. and Connecticut at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Feel free to play along in the comments if you so desire.

This weekend, I visited the House of Sweden, the Swedish and Icelandic embassies, which is down on the Potomac River in Georgetown. Their embassy has long been on my to-see list, so I’m glad I made it down there. As with the other Scandinavian embassies, its design takes its environment into account, and I could see how it would be an amazing place to work. I picked up a free Swedish cookbook, took part in a silent disco party (The color your headphone is glowing shows which of the three channels you’re listening to, so folks can still dance together. Also, Swedish house music is quite enjoyable), and ogled the rooftop views (click through and zoom in to actually see those) and the indoor/outdoor water feature on the ground level.

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It’s time for one of my favorite seasonal reading events — Bout of Books!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, May 14th, and runs through Sunday, May 20th, in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 22 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

My goals for the week are to:

1. Take part in at least two challenges and at least one of the Twitter chats.
2. Visit at least one other Bout of Books participant’s blog a day.
3. Return some of my massive pile of library books to the library.
4. Read a little each day.
5. Finish posting my January reviews.
6. Stretch goal: Finish three books. (That’s not really a stretch, but I want to keep things low-key.

Day 1 Challenge: Introduce Yourself #insixwords

How about:

Feeling mopey tonight. Time to read!

or

D.C. resident seeks next great read.

or

I refuse to be limited by rules. 😉