Happy Monday… evening… to you, my friends!  Sorry this post is coming so late in the day.  I usually try to have it up in the morning, but things have been moving at a whirlwind pace over here.  So – let’s catch up!  For my American friends – did you have a lovely Thanksgiving?  I hope so!  We sure did.  My parents arrived on Tuesday and just left this morning, and I was hardly at my computer (other than for work, of course) between then and now.  I put in a full day at the office on Wednesday, but came home ready to have a wonderful weekend full of family time.  As you already know, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  On Friday, we hung around, enjoyed family time and decorated the house for Christmas.  The kids loved decorating the Christmas tree – maybe a little too much.  Nugget is completely obsessed with his vintage fire truck ornament, and I’m sort of afraid he’s going to snap it (it’s the 2016 White House ornament, so not exactly replaceable – much like the 2016 occupant of the White House… please come back, President Obama!).  I also found some of my prized (breakable) ornaments hung near the bottom of the tree, and fortunately was able to rescue and move them before anything too destructive happened.

On Saturday, we all loaded up and drove out to Little Washington – for non-locals, that’s Washington, Virginia, a tiny town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains near the entrance to Shenandoah National Park, which also happens to house one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world, the Inn at Little Washington.  Steve’s mom had very generously given us a gift certificate to the Inn last Christmas, and we finally got the opportunity to use it.  The meal was just as splendid as we expected, and will definitely rank among the top dining experiences of our lives.  After dinner, we even got the special treat of being escorted back to the kitchen, and having the privilege of meeting Chef Patrick O’Connell, the famous chef-owner of the Inn.  Chef was a gracious and kind host, and the kitchen – every inch of which was hand-sourced by Chef himself, on his travels around the world – was amazing to see.  We worked off the incredible meal on Sunday, hiking with my parents and the kids to one of the highest overlook points in Shenandoah National Park – more on that to come on Wednesday.  It was a wonderful weekend!  And now I’m back to reality.  I can already tell this week is going to be off-the-charts in terms of the stress level.  Well – at least I have the memories of an amazing meal and a gorgeous hike.

Reading.  It’s been a bit of a slow reading week around my parts.  That’s to be expected with all of the socializing and family time I’ve been enjoying for the past few days.  But I did manage to finish The Stone Sky – which was good, but I was confused throughout most of the book.  It would’ve helped to read the trilogy in closer succession, I think; reading the books as they were released, I’d pretty much forgotten everything that happened in the first two books and spent way too much time puzzling over questions like wait, who is Ykka again? and what the heck did Nassun do to Jija?  Anyway.  Next I picked up The Shell Seekers and I am loving it, but also wanting to take my time and savor it – which is fine, because I discovered that I have to leapfrog China Rich Girlfriend due to library deadlines.  So I’ll be starting that as soon as I press “publish” on this post.

Watching.  The usual.  Lots and lots of Curious George – especially A Very Monkey Christmas – and Star Wars.  George and Vader are the big celebrities in my house.  I tried to get the kids to watch my favorite Christmas movie of all time – A Muppet Family Christmas – but it was a non-starter.  Booooooo.

Listening.  Not as much earbud time as I usually get in over the course of a week, because I had two fewer days of commuting (<–no complaints).  But I’m almost done with the first “book” of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text – just eight minutes to go in the final regular chapter episode, plus the wrap-up episode!  I am still loving, loving, LOVING this podcast.

Moving.  Not a bad week of movement.  It was lacking on the yoga front, but I was really craving some cardio, and I squeezed that in with a five-mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving Day, and a 1.6 mile hike up and down Stony Man Mountain on Sunday.  Moving my legs felt good.  Must keep it up.

Blogging.  I have a great week of content for you!  On Wednesday I’ll be sharing pictures from Stony Man Mountain, which will count for our November hike, and on Friday, I’ve got my November reading round-up post coming to you.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  Waking up to this morning’s news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged was such a delight!  They look so happy and in love, and I was smiling all day thinking about the royal wedding (Peanut is excited!) and – whenever I got a break – reading news coverage.  The proposal?  LOVE.  Prince Harry dropped to one knee as Meghan was “attempting to” roast a chicken.  Can we get a collective awwwww?  And Harry saying that Meghan and Princess Diana would have been “best friends” and “thick as thieves” brought a tear to my eye.  I love the British royal family and I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT.

Asking.  What are you reading?