A month in pictures; April 2013.

1. Thirst quencher. 2. Resent. 3. Under the table. 4. Cold day! 5. Pink. 6. Repose. 7. Aunty Becs. 8. More pink. 9. Play ball! 10. Warm. 11. Pages. 12. Forsythia.  13. Not our dog. 14. Tour. 15. Caught. 16. Buns. 17. Show. 18. Poor old Macalester. 19. Gee your gardenia smells so good. 20. Farm. 21. Magdalenas. 22. Beads. 23. Play ball! x2. 24. Meet and greet. 25. Toys. 26. Pollinated. 27. Orange. 28. Piles. 29. Dog. 30. Green.

xoxo, natty ♥

Le Lentil.

It's been rainy and cool here, but not entirely unpleasant, so the windows are open and airing out our little hovel.
In other news...
1. I made "French Lentil Soup" tonight, an old favorite and standby that hadn't graced our bowls in a long time.

It's not really French, it's Trader Joe-ian. 

I've always been a fan of TJ's and several years ago {5?!} a coworker showed me her Trader Joe's cookbook. It's made not by the grocery store chain but by Trader Joe's admirers and puts to use many of their unique products. There are actually many of these cookbooks out now but I treasure this {& a few others [Sag Paneer Lasagne!]} photocopied recipe from a several years past, thought it is so easy I actually know it by heart still. Recipe to come at a later date.

2} After several days of feeling nasty I got myself some Z-Pac action. Turns out I'm still allergy immune but still susceptible to sinus infections.

3 - Prom was fun! They had a yummy dessert table!

4...Our table {which is glass...shudder [this apartment came furnished]} has a fine layer of yellow pollen on it thanks to the sycamores that are all over our neighborhood and our love of a good cross breeze.

5) There's a scruffy dog, many friends around this country, beautiful family from whence we came, hilarious inside jokes, miles to be run, visits to be had, and so much more to be grateful for in this beautiful life.

I hope that today, two weeks out from a very bad day, you're looking up and ahead, seeing joy in your life, or at least enjoying a little bit of the day.

xoxo, natty ♥

I had a feeling it would hurt.

I finally got some druthers today and was ready to go for a run. I knew it wouldn't feel great, though, because I'm pretty sure I've been saddled down with a sinus infection.

My legs were just fine, feeling quite springy, actually, but then there I was feeling feverish, nauseated {?}, and achy after a mile or so {disgusting}. That's not my normal getting-back-to-running routine. I pushed through it and think I might finally try and get some real meds tomorrow {something I should've done when I thought I had an ear infection several weeks ago} {I'll stop with the unnecessary medical symptoms information}.

Anyway, it's overcast and windy out which makes for quite a beautiful display of the abundant greenery; lovely.

Have a peaceful start to your week!
xoxo, natty ♥

Prom?

We're off to Mike's school's prom?!?
Here's to Saturday!
xoxo, natty ♥   

The Itchy & Scratchy Show.

In California I never suffered much from allergies even though we have some of the worst hay fever in the country.

But since earlier this week my throat and all it's connected to have been feeling junky. My grandmother so kindly pointed out to me that it's because I wasn't born here so I'm not immune to the allergies here. 

So true, I suppose; good job granny. 

I noticed it specifically on Wednesday night. It was the toastiest day of the week and storms were predicted so I opened our windows to enjoy the warm breeze. 

After several episodes of Downton Abbey {Mike's been really busy with work/school, hence the nights of wine and roses BBC}, one being ESPECIALLY sad, I realized my throat felt funny but I thought it was just the drama I was watching. Plus my eyes were/are super agitated {red}.

But now it's Friday and I'm not still sad.

Way to go pollen.

In other news:

• I'm a bachelorette for the evening because my better half is doing one of those ultra races that are done in teams {and it involves a van}. I miss him dreadfully even though I just saw him this morning; funny how "absence makes the heart grow fonder" really does ring true.

• After putting in some great miles a few weeks ago, I'm back to loathing the sport of running. Why would I want to do that? Who even likes that? What is WRONG with me?

• We're going to "The Ball" put on by Mikey's graduate program tomorrow evening. I'm afraid that I am that California casual person and I'll be wearing flats and not very dramatic make-up. 

• It's bed-time.

Bon nuit and have a lovely weekend!

xoxo, natty ♥  

Lake swimming.

Today's weather was maybe in the low sixties, sunny, with a few breezes here and there. {I promise I do more than obsess over the weather}. I think of it as lake swimming weather because in certain spots and if there's no wind, it feels really warm, and when the breeze picks up or it's shady, it feels chilly. I've always noticed that when splashing around in a lake, there always seems to be a random warm pocket of water {not that kind of warm water} and it's so weird and creepy but this weather is the same thing, just out of the water.

Did that make NO sense at all to you?

Oh well, it makes sense to me.

Another random note, I've almost become caught up with all three seasons of Downton Abbey. Those people are my friends {does anyone else develop oddly personal-feeling relationships with TV characters? And feel sad when they go bye-bye at series' end?} and I'm reeling with the shenanigans that are going down in season three.

And in other riveting news, my beloved auntie sent us a care package last week that included two new toys for our doggie. What IS that alien thing?

xoxo, natty ♥ 

What happens at dog park...

xoxo, natty ♥

Game #2.

I'm pretty sure the Nats lost; we left after the 7th inning stretch since it's a school night.

Speaking of, it was a lot nicer weather-wise than I thought and I was very prepared to begin with so it was a lovely and comfortable evening.

The Nationals had a tough time going up against the Cardinals but we had a few good hits here and there and at one point the bases were even loaded.

I'm so glad we got these tickets and are getting out when we normally would be worshiping the couch.
xoxo, natty ♥

Wind.

After the beautiful weather we had two weeks ago we're currently in the midst of some grumps-inducing windy 50s-60s {is there ANYTHING worse? I suppose...} but let's look on the bright side.

1} We had a GREAT weekend with Mike's parents.
2} The days are stretching out to be longer and longer.
3} Tomorrow night is game #2 of our Melamed/Nationals' 2013 extravaganza. I'm excited to see our boys play {& beat!} the Cardinals.
4} Those Giants are still #1 in this here heart of mine.
5} It's bedtime.

¡Buenas noches y'all!
xoxo, natty ♥
 

Lovely day with parents.

We had a great day today with Mike's parents. Sadly they head out in the next few days but we're all looking forward to our next visit.
Thanks for a wonderful weekend!
xoxo, natty ♥
 

Bull Run Farm.

Our day today included a peacock.

As all days should.

There was also a very friendly cat, lots of fowl, a great book collection, a winery, and a beautiful farm in Virginia.

And our evening hasn't even begun!

I hope that you're having a lovely little {or big} weekend :).
xoxo, natty ♥

Interlude.

I'm sitting on our couch enjoying the breeze. We live in a bit of a turret so there's absolutely wonderful cross-circulation if we open all of our windows. There's also a tornado watch out which translates to some of my favorite spring weather; dark skies when the sun is still in the sky {it's illuminating!}, a somewhat high temperature, and wind {warm wind: so nice}.

Guinness is sniffing without stopping since there's so much outside air coming in.

There's strawberry flavored chapstick brand chapstick on my lips {thanks to our local Target which NEVER has exactly what I'm looking for; I use cherry flavored Carmex in the solid tube form [very exacting] and this was the best compromise} which is a surprising throwback to adolescence {what is it about smells and how they can TAKE.YOU.BACK?}.

I've just recently gotten home from some busy-ness and I'm waiting for all of our family who's visiting this weekend to be ready for dinner.

It's quiet in our home and I'm enjoying a peaceful interlude.

I don't think I'm the only person in the country who's happy to see the tail end of this week.

Have a weekend folks. Have a weekend.

xoxo, natty ♥

Niceties.

We've got some folks in town and a few fun days ahead of us.
What's on your weekend agenda?
xoxo, natty ♥

Downton.

xoxo, natty ♥ 

And just like that.

The title of this post refers to how last week we cancelled our cable television. There was a lot of gratuitous junk watching/time wasting and we were looking to save some moola.
And just like that, what do we do with our random tidbits of time in the evenings?
We do have Netflix and the Hulu, but that doesn't really count because we really think about what we're going to watch.
What else is there?
Reading.
Taking out G-man.
Going for walks.
Talking.
Going out?!
And, making buffalo chicken sandwiches for a certain brother-in-law's birthday.

Happy cumpleaños brother-in-law!

And yesterday was my beloved grammy's special day; happy birthday to YOU!

xoxo, natty ♥

As a runner.

As a runner, American, and a global citizen, today is not a marvelous day. It started out as a wonderful and happy day but most certainly has taken a horrible turn.
Tonight my heart is with Boston.
xoxo, natty ♥

Tour.

We went to the White House spring garden tour today.
There were many people and some bright sun light as well as lots of trees and shrubs.

Have a lovely week ahead.

xoxo, natty ♥    

Twinsies.

While walking the tidal basin today we spotted a dog that looked eerily similar to Guinness. The main difference was that Alex {that's the little guy pictured below} had very smooth fur for a wire-haired dachshund; Guinness definitely lives up to the "wire-haired" part.

 

And then.

I figured out that those yellow plants from yesterday's post are FORSYTHIA.

Sweet release to have learned what they are; thanks Grand Bill!

I hope that your weekend has been going superbly!

xoxo, natty ♥   

Thoughts on weather and such.

It's Friday!
And while the temperature is awesome, our humidity is 79% and our dew point is 63 degrees?

I sleuthed a bit and don't have much brain power to really map out the intricacies but I can say that the closer a dew point is to the air temperature, the grosser it is. And it's kind of gross right now, not super hot but very damp.

My next concern is these yellow blooms.

What are they?? Any garden savvy friends out there, please help.

A few days past peak bloom this is what DC looks like.

We're awash in pink and green. Lily Pullitzer would be proud.

There are also carpets of blossom petals everywhere including in the tidal basin.

And finally, this is a different kind of cherry blossom.

It's a vibrant PURPLE and blooms a bit later than the other guys.

Spring is so pretty!!!

xoxo, natty ♥  

Relax!

Happy Thursday!