weekend edition

Here we are on a Sunday afternoon. It's suddenly summertime here, and the best plan for such a hot afternoon is to stay inside and watch World Cup soccer (Australia v. Brazil). Speaking of which, I've lost any hope for interaction with Ben for the entire month of June. He's staked out a permanent position in front of the television, often reminding me that the World Cup only happens once every four years. Meaning that it's very important for him to watch as many games as possible.

To recap, I had a lovely little birthday last weekend. To mark the Year 28, we hosted a small party on Saturday night. I love my house full of people. After several pitchers of White Sangria (white wine, triple sec, peaches, raspberries, lemons, and club soda for a little sparkle and fizz), there were only a few of us left (the most dedicated). Mainly, the circle of friends we've dubbed The Internaltionals were the ones who remained, because The Internationals love a good party and hate to see it end. So, we all sat around in a circle drinking the last of the wine. And after a sweet little toast from Kim, they each sang happy birthday to me. Mo in Arabic, Michele in Italian, Jeanine in Portuguese, Nadine in German...and Ben in Afrikaans. How perfect.

The next morning (very admittedly foggy from the sangria), we met my family for brunch at Crooks Corner where we took over three tables on the patio to celebrate before the heat set in. Nothing like a plate full of shrimp and grits to settle a sangria hangover.

This weekend, the Nephew came over for his first sleepover at our house on Friday night, so his mother could celebrate her 30th birthday sans Unstoppable Toddler. The Nephew is the happiest little boy we've every met. He wakes up in the morning singing little songs to himself - and the pleasure of oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast actually makes him laugh out loud.

We shipped the Nephew off to his grandparents' yesterday morning and had the morning to prepare for a visit from Dawn and Matt, who left behind their house in the city for a weekend with us. There are some friends who are so easy, and these are two of the easiest. They seemed very content to sit on the porch and talk over tea, take an evening walk with us, and have a late night dinner before bed. It was a quiet summertime kind of weekend. We sent them off this afternoon after a nice lingering morning over coffee and scones and World Cup. And as they rounded the corner, we walked back inside with Daisy the Dog, feeling all in all, that it was a lovely little visit.