Gooooooood rainy Monday morning to you, friends.  First things first: Virginians, today is the deadline for registering to vote before the 2020 primary.  Have you checked your status yet?  If not, you can do so here.  (I was pretty sure I was all set, but it never hurts to be absolutely certain, so I re-checked this morning and yup, registration active.  Now I just have to decide which candidate will be getting my vote on Super Tuesday.)

Okay!  That out of the way, how were your weekends?  Mine was pretty good – not much to report.  On Saturday, we knocked around the neighborhood all day.  Walked down to the waterfront, as we do almost every weekend, and then Peanut and I peeled off and stopped by the new Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams that recently opened up in our neighborhood.  (We were going to make it a family outing, but Mr. “I Love Salad” Nugget didn’t want ice cream.)  Peanut had “milkiest chocolate” and I had “rainbow buttermilk frozen yogurt” – both delicious – and we brought home a few pints to enjoy with the boys later.  In the evening, Steve wanted to go out to dinner at Vermilion, one of the fanciest restaurants in town.  I laughed for a good three minutes before I realized that he was serious.  He even made reservations – that’s how serious.  Vermilion is so fancy they don’t even have a children’s menu, but the chef delivered with decadent spaghetti with butter and cheese for the kiddos, and Nugget also ate about a third of my kale salad.  (Don’t worry, I also had ravioli with truffles and 24-month aged Parmesan.)

On Sunday, Peanut and I got dressed in our fanciest blue outfits, picked up my pal Vanessa, and drove out to the wilds of suburban Alexandria for a baby shower.  My work wife Connie is expecting a baby boy this spring and her sister threw an epic “Baby Shark” themed shower – it was adorable, and the highlight (other than seeing the mom-to-be glowing and happy) was definitely the Baby Shark macarons.  Can you even???  The best thing about my job is the group of smart, kind, supportive women I work with – there’s no competition and no backstabbing (which has definitely not been the case at every job I’ve had), just a group of women lifting each other up and helping one another every day.  It’s not an easy job but we have a sisterhood that keeps us all going.

Reading.  After getting off to a little bit of a slumpy start in February, I churned through books last week!  Started the week with A Passage to India, but had to set it aside to knock off Life Among the Savages, which had an impending library deadline.  I read it in less than 24 hours, laughing my head off the entire time.  In fact – as I told my friend Susan – it was that rare book that caused “What’s wrong with that woman?” stares on the Metro, as I read about Shirley Jackson’s hilariously hapless parenting attempts with shaking shoulders and tears streaming down my face.  Susan and I agreed: that’s the mark of a really good book.  Anyway!  I bid a reluctant goodbye to Jackson and family, then turned back to A Passage to India, which I finished on Saturday morning.  The rest of the weekend was devoted to Wish You Were Eyre, the sixth book in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series – such fun.  I’ll finish it tonight and then, I think, I’ll turn to A Man Lay Dead, by Ngaio Marsh.

Watching.  Very little.  One or two episodes of The Great British Bake-Off, as usual.  I never have a rooting interest – all of the contestants are sweet and lovely and I’m always happy for the winner – but Steve and I love-love-love Henry this season.  He’s a literature student! and plays the organ at church! and we want to hire him to babysit our kids!  I was sorry to see poor Jamie go after the second episode, too, because Steve had me rolling with his shouted encouragements – “You did a good job, buddy!  That was a good guitar cookie!”

Listening.  Podcasts, here and there.  Mostly catching up on The Slightly Foxed Podcast, now that I’m up-to-date (sniffle) with Shedunnit.

Making.  Nugget and I baked banana tea bread with almonds and apricots on Saturday morning – yum.  I was flipping through Simply Divine, a collection of recipes from members of our local church, looking for cookies to make, and I came across a recipe for “banana tea bread.”  A few updates to add some mix-ins and I might have a new favorite banana bread.

Blogging.  Part II of January’s reading round-up on Wednesday, and a winter to-do list on Friday.  Do check in with me then!

Loving.  Last week, one of my sorority sisters posted on Facebook a link to an article entitled “Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in an English Village.”  Obviously I had to read it, because obviously.  I laughed until I wept, but you know what?  The advice was really good.  For instance, avoid the village fête at all costs.  “If you enter a town while the fête is happening, you are already dead. The tea urn is filled with poison. The sponge cakes are full of glass. There’s an axe in the fortune telling tent. The coconuts are bombs. It’s like the Hunger Games, but dangerous.”  Also avoid the vicar (“If you are not dead yet, the vicar is obliged to kill you.”); the village shop (“They sell cheese, stamps, tea, and death.”); the gardener (“Their roses are perfect because of all the people under them.”) and basically the rest of the town and all of its inhabitants, too.  Pubs are safe, and so are dogs.  That’s it.   You guys.  Aside from this handy travel guide, which I have re-read several times, Crime Reads is fabulous.  How did I not know about a website devoted to featuring articles about mystery novels?  Bye, y’all, I won’t have time to blog anymore because I’ll be reading the entire back archives.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?