This past weekend I was able to spend a long weekend with Ryan. It was soo great to see him again and spend some time where he lives. After taking the subway to his place and settling in, we went out for dinner at a middle eastern place down the street. Mmmm...falafel!
 Washington Park is just a few blocks away and it was one of our favorite spots. There is a fountain in part of it and a dog run in another. It was fun to see the cute little dogs run around and chase each other.
 This is one of the views from the terrace at Ryan's place. It was so beautiful.
 I was also struck by how much nature tries to push its way into the urban jungle.

How was your weekend?

I picked out a new blog layout and I'm still working out the kinks. See that space up there between the title and the body of the posts? Yeah, I need to fix that. I am in NYC visiting Ryan, so I won't have a chance to fix it until I get home. My guess is that the template calls for an image to be put up there and I cannot make something while I am away. Bare with me while the site undergoes some changes.

Here is a photo of me today in Central Park. The wind nearly blew us over at times--I was surprised! I'm also wearing the scarf that I talked about here.

photo by Ryan

I thought of a blog series that I wanted to start. In reading some other blogs, I liked the humanity that they would show throughout series of posts such as "dear, ________", honest confessions, if you knew me, and admitting to horrible tastes in music. I wanted to do something similar, but not completely the same. When I was making the stir fry that I had posted about this weekend, I was thinking how I had forgotten how awesome it was to cook kale. There is something amazing about how it's all tough and bitter to start with and then once it is cooked it is soft and tasty. Plus, I love watching it shrink! I realize that that is a simple example, but it is often these simple things in life that are overlooked. Every once in a while I just get smacked in the face with one of life's simple pleasures and I wanted to have a way to share it with folks. Hence the "I had forgotten..." series. Ya dig? I hope to make this a weekly thing...but it could be biweekly if I have a particularly busy week. Today's will be short, as I am currently visiting Ryan in NYC.

I had forgotten what it's like to have sticker shock on a particular item. I had forgotten how much I enjoy holding my boyfriend's hand while we walk together. I had forgotten the simple pleasure of watching one of our favorite shows together. I had forgotten how much I took the microwave for granted. I had forgotten how much I enjoy getting Tater out of her crate in the morning. I had forgotten how much I enjoy vacation. I had forgotten how much heart aches when a friend is far away and struggling.

Thanks for reading. If you wish to write your own "I had forgotten" post, please leave the link in your comment. I would love to read it.

It's been a while since I posted about crochet. I had bought yarn earlier this summer to make an amigurumi koala bear and there the skeins sat in the Michael's bag all summer.

I decided that I would get into crochet again when Alycia from the Curious Pug posted about a crochet-a-long of sorts. Each month, participants can vote on which pattern to make during the month and then write subsequent posts showing our work that we link up. What I especially like about it is that there is no pressure to have it perfect, so if the project turns into a mess, we can still show it and ask others for help on where we went wrong. Or just laugh together. If you're interested in signing up for the crochet-a-long too, feel free to click the image below to vote and join us all in the process. I look forward to seeing how it turns out for each of us, as well as working on my own crochet skills.

Hi All! I'm having a shop sale at T&E celebrating the end of summer. Many of the items are 50% off or more. Check out the shop and see if any of your faves are on sale.