Gooooooooood morning, friends.  How were your weekends?  Mine was abbreviated – I got home from my weeklong trial advocacy course late on Saturday night.  (On Saturday morning I had to serve as a witness in one of the mock trials – the trials were on Friday and Saturday and everyone took a turn playing a witness on their off day from actually trying the case; my partner and I requested a Friday trial on the theory that it’s better to just rip the band-aid.)  The course was great and I left with a lot of good ideas, new friends and – most importantly – confidence.  But I am so glad to be home.  I landed back in D.C. at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, and we spent Sunday just kicking around the neighborhood.  Had brunch at Virtue Feed & Grain, one of our favorite local spots, then Nugget and I bundled up and headed off on our usual Sunday round – the library (he biked, I walked) and then the playground.  It was a nice day, but I am still pretty burnt out.  Two weekends in a row with only one day off have been exhausting.

Reading.  Not much book time over the course of the week.  Especially as the week ground on closer to Friday, my trial partner and I were working late into the evenings, prepping our opening and closing statements, our direct and cross examination outlines, and our exhibits for the mock trial we had on Friday.  When I had a second to breathe, I mostly just zoned out.  Earlier in the week, I started The Siren Years, but I wasn’t able to pick it up again until Saturday, when I finished it in the airport while waiting for my flight back to D.C.  On the plane, I started Murder in the White House, the first installment in the “Capital Crimes” series by Margaret Truman (daughter of President Harry S. Truman).  I’m enjoying it so much, as I knew I would – I’ll probably finish it today.  When I left for my trip, I left Madensky Square at home (choosing to travel with just my kindle) and I finally finished it on Sunday evening; it was wonderful.  So – actually not a bad reading week at all, even if my book time mostly came in snatches of a few minutes here and a few minutes there.

Watching.  The same as always – just one episode of The Great British Bake-Off – but it was the final!  I actually cried, I was so happy for the winner.  Other than that, I watched lots and lots and lots of trial skills demonstrations.

Listening.  Lectures, mostly, and skills critiques in my trial advocacy course.  All very useful but not really interesting to most of you, so that’s that.  There were a few episodes of Shedunnit in there, too.  Still loving that.

Making.  An opening statement, and direct and cross examination of witnesses in my mock trial, and many notes from lectures and critiques at my week-long trial advocacy course.  And that’s about it.  No cooking, no crafting, no writing other than work…

Blogging.  Bookish week coming atcha!  I have January’s Themed Reads for you on Wednesday (and I promise February’s will not come on the final Wednesday of the month!) and the final installment in my three-part 2019 reading retrospective on Friday.  And with that, I will finally be ready to leave 2019 behind and dive into 2020.

Loving.  As we wind down our time in our current neighborhood, I am soaking up all the good stuff about it.  I’ve lived everywhere from deep in the country to walkable urban neighborhoods, and while there are good and bad things about each extreme, it’s been a lot of fun to be able to stroll out to the library, the independent bookstore, the playground, the wine bar, and more restaurants than I can count these past few years.  It’s not time to go quite yet – we’re getting there – and while we’re still in our current spot I am making a point to enjoy it.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?