appreciation

sometimes i have to remind myself that we live a very good life. like when i'm caught in the throes of kitchen envy at someone else's house, or we're confronted with evidence of yet another rodent invasion. drew would be the first to point out that i tend to lose perspective quickly in such situations, and make as if life were a pure, relentless hell of my own making.

but a lot of the time, i'm too busy living our good life to need to be reminded of it. such has been the case over the last couple of weeks. to wit:

• celebrated my birthday in unexpectedly high style - when drew surprised me with a birthday overnight in st. michaels, md - and comically low style - at medieval times, with 16 friends and family members
• had a gorgeous dinner with my center stage friends at indebleu in dc - indian fusion yum
• had a lovely visit with my mama, godmother and other friends at my mom's the sunday after my birthday
• discovered a new band, tapes n' tapes, thanks to sarah and jeff, who came over for steamed dumplings and tofu (better than it sounds) eaten al fresco before we went to see tapes n' tapes at fletcher's last thursday
• had a dinner and movie date with my st. john's friend shannon and her husband david as a send-off before they move to philly. before we went to see "cars" (completely charming), they came over for dinner - i made a "cauliflower puff" from a recipe found in the baltimore sun and it was so divine, like a creamy frittata, served with roasted asparagus, peppers and new potatoes and a green salad. shannon and david brought an insane tiramisu from whole foods for dessert, and a lovely bottle of pinot grigio. we again ate outside - the garden continues apace, though still smelly, thanks to our neighbors, but that may change, as they've recently come under the scrutiny of child services. we've also recently had a hose incident, as in someone amputated the end of ours and stole the spray attachment. very curious.
• i had six days off of work, because macy's 'rents were in germany and she was staying with her grandparents. i missed her, but loved puttering around the house, getting projects done, or at least started.

and that just skims the surface. to be sure, there are things that are, to varying degrees, not grand. loved ones sick, ongoing war, drew leaving for a week to go to germany (grand for him, of course!) but once in a while, it's good to remember that life is, in the main, swell. at least for now.