little black journal

February is here and I am funk-free! It’s been a pretty great weekend, spent in the company of our favorite Seattle peeps. We rang in the new month in style on Friday night – dinner and drinks at Tavern Law with our fellow frugal-ites (Jack and La Verne have started something of a movement with this no-spend thing…), followed by dessert at Capitol Hill’s best gelato shop. Felt so good to be out.

The hoped-for sunshine never made its way from behind the clouds on Saturday, but that was alright – it was a perfect day for brunching with my book club ladies. We ate quiche and drank tea and then cozied up by Angela’s fireplace. And I still made it out for an afternoon walk around Seward Park with Shane – this felt like the first time in months that I was able to find a quiet kind of beauty in the the gray skies and bare limbs.

Plus, there’s plenty to be said for cafe weather! Post-walk, we warmed ourselves with coffee and scones at our favorite neighborhood bakery.  We sat across from each other and talked about books and batting averages and ERAs (I’m reading The Brothers K and needed schooling on a few baseball specifics).  Shane is much relieved to find that the Ice Queen has left the building – we were due for a good all-in catch-up session.  We capped off the day with dinner and a movie at Jason and Nance’s, which has come to feel like our second home in Seattle.  We have eaten dozens of meals, shared hundreds of laughs, and shed a number of tears at their dining room table over the past couple of years.  They feed us so well, in more ways than one.

This morning wall full of church and grocery shopping and the usual stuff of Sundays.  The afternoon was dedicated solely to football as we made our way to Jack and La Verne’s (our third home in Seattle) for their Superbowl party.  We pigged out on pork sliders and fried chicken and every variety of chip until it was all I could do to keep my eyes open as I sprawled out on the couch and waited for the power to come back on in New Orleans.  It was a little hard to see the Niners take a loss, seeing as how Kaepernick hails from my California hometown, but I’m thrilled for my family in Baltimore – there is much celebrating going on among the East Coast Jarrells tonight.

Cheers to a killer kick-off to a happy new month…