lately.

My friend Wayne from Backroads was in town yesterday! He and I quickly bonded this past fall in the normal Backroads-friendship-cementing ways: sneaking from alley to alley in hilltop Tuscan towns to avoid guests contact, foolishly bungeeing together giant piles of bike trays and attempting to carry them around the Provence warehouse, and enjoying a civilized six-hour trek to Spain with English tea, fresh-baked pumpkin/zucchini bread, and thirty-odd bicycles.

He had to pick something up at Kinko’s FedEx down in Westwood. Due to the fact that people who work at the Westwood branch are complete morons, our evening ended up centering around a trek to the Miracle Mile where we caught up over take-out Coffee Bean, sitting atop a rolling cabinet in the back corner of a far more productive print shop.

If I look tired, it's because I am.

A great evening. Plus our shoes matched.

Yesterday was also my friend Kristen’s 40th birthday. Yeeeeeeehawwwww!

Lately I’ve been doing some hiking Wednesday mornings with a friend who has twin girls in Kristen’s class. Actually, it’s more like personal training, Jillian Michaels-style. Except I don’t swear at her. That’s not nice, Jillian. Last week we were chatting and she mentioned that Kristen was planning to dress all in black for her big day, complete with gloves, veil, and black lace umbrella.

I had a brilliant idea: You should have the kids dress in black! Heh, heh heh heh…

And she pulled it off. Picture nine fourth-graders, walking somberly, heads down, in a straight line to the classroom where their ebony-clad teacher was waiting. I love it when great ideas become reality.

Black Tuesday

I believe she used eye black to create fake tears. I love it.

Last night, Wayne said to me, You look happy. That made me think for a moment and send up a quick prayer to the Lord above for all the countless blessings that give me such joy: friends. fun. church. good weather. a steady job. family. packers in the superbowl. netflix. fellowship. the fact that there are only five days left till I am going to consume a gigantic bowl of cookie dough, and loaf about on the couch for a few hours feeling extremely ill.

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but a heartache crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:13)

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