Happy Monday, and happy long weekend to those who are lucky enough to get Columbus Day off work!  (That is a group which does not include me, or Steve – c’est la vie.)  We had a nice regular-length weekend, though!  Saturday was full of a lot of errands and running around.  Steve had to work on Saturday morning, so I took both kids to the market with me, which is a circus – let me tell you.  I usually take just Nugget and everything really is twice as hard with two of them in the cart.  It’s not just that the double carts are always surprisingly wide (they are) but grocery shopping takes more than twice as long.  I have to factor in time to break up fights (Nugget is a hair-puller, and Peanut is an eye-poker – please kill me), intervene in exuberant roughhousing before it becomes a fight, put back the stuff they grab off the shelves, and who knows what else.  By the end of that grocery run I was so stressed out that the only cure was a run, so I loaded Nugget back into the car (much to his chagrin) and we drove to the Mount Vernon Trail for a few miles.  On Saturday evening my parents and their friends arrived after a week in the Outer Banks.  They seemed way too relaxed and happy, so we set about stressing them out with loud children.  We’re the worst hosts ever!  Sunday found us driving west – first out to the Udvar-Hazy Center (the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum outpost in Dulles) and then onward to the Loudoun County wineries.  Steve and I had been wanting to take our parents’ friends out to the wine country for years; we knew they would love it, and they did.  We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at one of the wineries, and had a lovely afternoon sipping and swirling our way around Loudoun County – made even better by the fact that my lovely friend Zan joined us as well!  Such a fun day with some of my favorite people in the world.

Reading.  Bit of a slower reading week around here.  I finished Something True on Monday, which was good, but I’m just not a romance reader.  (Nothing against it; it’s just not my genre.)  Most of the remainder of the week was devoted to The Golden House, Salman Rushdie’s newest novel (and a reflection on the 2016 election).  It was good, but for some reason I seem to struggle with Rushdie.  I know he is an outstanding writer, so clearly the problem is with me, but I get bogged down in his books and they take me a long time to read, and then I get frustrated and don’t have fun.  I am glad I read it, though.  I finished it up on Saturday evening after the crew left for their hotel, and then picked up See America, a collection of new graphic illustrations of the national parks, monuments and other places within the NPS, inspired by the original WPA posters.  It was an impulse grab off an endcap at the library, and I am really enjoying it.  I don’t love all of the posters – but I love most of them.

Watching.  Instead of a movie night this week, we watched the first Sabres game of the season.  It was a good game, and I was determined to stay up for the whole thing.  I told Steve that I had the idea in my head that if I fell asleep, that would be it for the season.  Of course they managed to lose in a shootout while I was brushing my teeth.  So that was not the best.

Listening.  I decided to take an audiobook break this week and listen to a few podcasts – especially some back podcasts I had languishing in my feed.  All were fun, but I particularly enjoyed a back episode of Sorta Awesome – Meg and Kelly discussing their favorite meals.  They had me inspired to cook up some different dinners this fall (even if their meals are very meat-heavy).

Moving.  So, a pretty good week!  I squeezed in two power yoga classes and two runs over the course of the week.  I’d have liked to get to vinyasa on Saturday too, but I only had time for one workout and I decided to run.  (A necessary decision.  I won’t be well-trained for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K in a couple of weeks, but at least I won’t be running on completely dead legs.)

Blogging.  I have a good week coming up!  A recap of our September hike alllllllll the way back at the beginning on the month on Wednesday, and the last day of our California vacation recaps (which is also the most epic) on Friday.  Check back!

Loving.  While shopping for our picnic this Saturday, I got the idea to make a pesto goat cheese spread.  It took form in my head as I was standing at the cold case looking at the options, and it came out – if I do say so myself – amazing.  Recipe (loosely) as follows: take one log of goat cheese, one tub of crème fraiche, one squeeze pouch of pesto (I used sun-dried tomato, but you could do any flavor you liked, or olive tapenade) and about a teaspoon of chopped herbs (I did equal parts rosemary and thyme from my mom’s friend’s garden).  Stir it all together until it is smooth and combined.  And that’s it!  It was super-easy and everyone loved it.  It made a ton of spread, and I had none left after the picnic – the sign of a popular recipe.  I’ll definitely be making this again as soon as I have an excuse.  (Who wants to come over for a party?)

Asking.  What are you reading this week?