February reminder

In case you have forgotten, this little girl is really really really adorable.

A nose kiss for me!

Look at her.  Olive is so darn cute and sweet.

so, I swam

Yetserday, that was.  And… ugh.

That is all.

tabebuia

February is a quiet month, so forgive me if the posts are fewer in number, spaced out more, and perhaps shorter than they might be.  No travel plans for the month for me, and there's not much else going on.  It's not a bad life - I did re-read a bunch of favourite comics from the 80s recently, and that was enjoyable.  But yes, a quiet time of the year and, therefore, for this blog.

So enjoy a shot from last night.  I was walking back from picking up sushi, and I saw that one of the tabebuia trees on Holly Street was in full bloom.  I hadn't been paying attention to them, and it struck me last night how lovely it was to see the flowers again.

Happy February!

first weekend of February

Happy Sunday, happy February!  It's been a good weekend at home - some of our usual fun, some things done.  So I'm happy to check in and share a little of what we did.  Ready?  Let's go!

Friday means Maestro, and we duly found ourselves at a corner of the bar. 

A mocktail

and some guacamole to start with, and then we dug into the special LA dining week menu.  Tetela for Conrad and Van each to start with,

calamari for me. 

I had duck carnitas as my meal,

and then each of us ordered the jericalla for dessert. 

An early meal, and a mild, early night - Van had headed home by 7:30, and Conrad and I just relaxed with reading and music the rest of the night.

Saturday morning was a lovely morning for a walk on the earlier side, then over to Amara, each of us having what we so often do. 

A decaf latte for me,

an arepa for my breakfast. 

Satisfying!

And then we came home and got stuff done.  Post-Christmas de-cluttering, badly needed.  Wines in the new wine fridge, books weeded out and the shelves re-arranged.  It was quite the undertaking, truly.  But ah, I love seeing those tidier shelves!

Last night we spent the evening at Van's.  We had every intention of a full night of Drag Race, but we only made it through one episode after dinner.  Nice enough dinner, though:  steak topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese. 

Cooked perhaps too rare, but ah well.  Huge steaks!  Not one of us could finish them.  A pear crisp for dessert as well - that was a nice one.  I sipped some red wine with dinner -

February 1, and my dry month was done.  We actually each had a cocktail to start with -

Last Words, of course -

and I have to say that after a month of no drinking, that cocktail was POTENT.  I shan't have anything with our pizza and the Grammys tonight, and I'll keep things under control in days and weeks ahead.

A good weekend, not yet done.  I've managed a lot of reading, listened to some new music, did a five-mile walk this morning by myself.  Laundry is on the go.  Productive, relaxing.  A great mix.

cabbage for dinner

When did I last post my cooking?  It feels like ages, truly.  But you know, I'm not entirely joking when I tell people that my cooking really is tossing things in a pot and hoping for the best!

Tonight I filed slices of prosciutto between leaves on two quarters of a cabbage.  Some chicken broth, some olive oil, some salt and pepper, some leeks in the pan.  Farro in the bottom of the bowl.  It was a salty meal, just riding the edge of too salty.  But it was tasty, and a nice break from my usual things I make.  Plus:  fiber!

Thursday dinner made by me.  I'm reasonably happy with it.

back to work, back to reality

Borrowing that title from The Beautiful South, who, in turn, borrowed it from Soul II Soul.  Because I am stunningly unoriginal sometimes, and because sometimes the songs just roll through my head, right?

But here I am, two days done at the library this week after so many days away.  A minor miracle or something, right?

No travel for me until March.  I'll be seeing a lot of this place in weeks ahead!

conference catch-all!

Alright, a bit of a photo dump post from me as I sit in this airport lounge (I'm posting this on the next morning, however) and await boarding a little more than an hour from now.  Shots from a conference that was!

There were many friends and colleagues there. 

And I felt that the work that we did together was productive, worthwhile, and that the non-work times were enjoyable.  Mocktails a few times in the hotel bar,

though with my dry January continuing and a very small conference and work to be done each night, I didn't spend late evenings down there.

I made it to no programs but to a few good speakers, and I applaud Cindy, the ALA president, for her work on leading us all this past weekend. 

I had a nice meal (but only ok food) at Latha (oxtail and essentially a macaroni and cheese). 

I had a nice meal (a loud setting and flirty but only ok service along with a tasty enough slab of meatloaf) at The Arrogant Butcher. 

I had a good mocktail,

great oysters,

and tasty chicken at Flour & Thyme.

I had the same hotel room for nine nights, but at least the view was pleasant!

I wore some outfits!

I met the "perfect man".

It was the last LibLearnX conference ever, sadly.  I mean, I always loved the old Midwinter meetings, and I loved that we could go to some different conference cities.  But we had to bring the LibLearnX experiment to an end, unaffordable as it was.  Ah well.

I will see folks at ALA Annual in Philadelphia, happily.  June!!