Happy Days

I just polished off the remains of a monumental piece of Oreo cheesecake that Mara and I tried to eat at lunch today, and am now happily gritting my teeth through a teensy weensy bit of indigestion as a result. It was worth it, though. Today's my birthday, and dammit, if a girl can't overindulge in dairy desserts on her birthday--when she's pregnant--when can she, I ask you? WHEN?

We lunched at Graze, a new ped mall restaurant here in town, where I am a little ashamed to say that I have now had lunch four times. Even better (or worse, if you ask my husband) is that right next door, the mostly-cool-vintage-but-also-some-new-locally-designed-funky-stuff clothing store, Revival, just opened their new location. Of COURSE Mara and I had to stroll through.

Not ONLY was I able to find a pretty cute birthday present for dear Colleen (Happy Birthday, miss Willson!)--but I also nabbed another kick-ass vintage knitting case, to match one that I recently bought via eBay. I have never found a more perfect (and stylish) tote for a knitting project-in-progress, and it makes me wonder why they don't seem to make these anymore. The first one I found, a few months back, is a fabric-covered cylinder, about a foot tall or so, with a flip top lid, and the new one is also fabric covered, with rigid sides, but the new one is square. Love it!

Mara also brought me a bag o' goodies, courtesy of her friend, Jody, who recently appropriated her mom's old knitting stash (her mom has given up her own knitting practice) and given it to Mara for redistribution. I am the proud new owner of a bungload of vintage knitting needles, and Mara also gave me a sweet fabric needle case--something I've been needing for some time, now that I've completely outgrown My First Needle Case, which she also gave me when I was a fledgling knitter.

I guess it's only appropriate to give props to Mara now, for being my knitting mentor (my Knitor?) and my greatest enabler. Ted, you already know that all blame can be placed squarely on her very strong shoulders.

I am off to the salon this afternoon for a cut and highlights--the latter being a treat I have not indulged in for a long, long, long time--as a little birthday treat for myself, doubly earned after two full days spent playing Mom to THREE nearly-three-year-old boys...

Arlo's daycare provider is on vacation this week, so I made a deal with one of the other moms (also a neighbor) to take turns with "the triplets." Carver and Kinnick, twins, are just a couple of weeks younger than Arlo, and they operate as a unit most of the time. I will not rehash the whole two days, but I will say to their credit that all three are good boys, and we survived with minimal disruption. I was, of course, whooped at the end of each day, but not shredded. A BIG thank-you goes out to all three little guys for taking solid afternoon naps both days, to allow me some down time to recharge. We had great fun together, and now the Three Musketeers are hanging with the twins' mom for two days.

Whew!

After four full days with Arlo, I have to admit that I am missing him sorely today. He has been such an absolute pleasure to be around lately--and I'd like to write more about that later. Right now, though, I'm off to the beauty salon for some "me" time. Ciao!