Hunkering down (and not minding it)

I'm high on DayQuil right now, which is helping soothe the pain of a too-brief visit from my Dallas pal Kate. I adore her with everything I have, so it was wonderful having her here. We were supposed to see other during my Dallas trip, but then her house flooded, which would have been a friendship tragedy (in addition to the WTF-style home tragedy it already was) if not for this trip on our agenda. It was so fun to see Kate with a little quesito growing in her belly, and this time I could congratulate her properly, since when she told me the happy news she also happened to be wearing a bathing suit and rain boots and standing knee-deep in water in her living room. There were more pressing matters at hand than the contents of her uterus that day. This time, though, plenty of happy vibes and uterus talk! I'm also happy to report that Kate did a full inspection of our house's toilet supply lines and there is not a faulty plastic nut to be found.

Kate brought an amazing housewarming gift with her, which had me thinking about other lovely gifts I've received lately, and basically feeling pretty lucky even though I'm home alone during hurricane weekend and can't breathe properly.

From Kate, a gorgeous cheeseboard (or cutting board if you're some sort of anti-cheese freak) that she found in Italy. (Displayed with a table runner it turns out we both own)

From The Culinary Couple (I told you they were adorable), this goodie bag filled with foodie treats from Pennsylania.

And from our eccentric but well-meaning neighbor, who strings purple lights in the trees for "good energy," affixes glass marbles to anything that'll hold glue, and basically maintains a crazy person's front yard, a handful of bulbs that turned into these gorgeous plants, just by me ignoring them.

Not bad at all! T is attending my brother's bachelor party this weekend, so I'm going to focus on getting rid of this yucky cold and getting lots of R&R while he's gone. I do have a secret breathe-again weapon sitting on my kitchen counter, though:

The plan is to roast these babies on the grill before Irene gets here, then spend all weekend curled up with a book and eating green chile stew. I'm as pumped as this medication will allow.

Stay dry and safe, everyone!