Three Things about the Weekend

Hello Monday and welcome November!!  Are you ready for another new month?  And for the holiday season?  I cannot say that I am ready…but here it is, ready or not!:)  How was your weekend?  For those of us who changed the clocks yesterday, did you actually enjoy an extra hour of sleep?  I feel like they try to convince us that this time change will be so wonderful (with a full extra hour of sleep), but that rarely happens.  I don’t use an alarm clock.  My body wakes me every morning and there was no “setting back” for this old body.  I was wide awake at the usual six o’clock.  Which was now five o’clock.  Truthfully, I was awake a bit earlier than that but forced myself to toss and turn until a “respectable hour” so I didn’t wake the whole house.  If it happens again tomorrow, I am getting up.  With or without company.  Monday mornings are not for tossing, turning and/or wasting time in bed.  Just sayin:)  I am always eager to get the new week started.  But first, a quick look back at the weekend.

We got the weekend started by visiting the first (of many) new to us restaurants on the list I mentioned last week.  The list of “The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia.”  No idea how many we will actually explore but, let me say, that our first one did not disappoint.  Osteria Marzano definitely deserves to be on the “50 best” list!  It is a small restaurant and actually located on the first floor of an office building.  The rest of the building was empty/closed for the day which definitely made you wonder if you were in the right place.  A bit tucked away for sure. But once you find it, it is very pretty and well worth it.  I had the special which was an autumn inspired squash and risotto dish.  With lots of fall flavors..including olives, grapes and even pears.  Somehow, it really worked.  Excuse my photo here.  I have the hardest time taking photos of food but it was presented so nicely that I, at least, tried.

Which brings me to number two.  While there, I noticed the tablesetting included black.  Black napkins but…still, they were black.  Aha…just what I needed to finish my October photo challenge.  Or, at least to finish all I intended to do.  I have to say the challenge was much more fun when I started it.  By the end of the month, it was feeling more like a chore.  And I was tired of “looking for photos” that would satisfy a prompt.  Why didn’t I just quit?  Good question.  It was a full month’s challenge and, once I start, I have a hard time pulling out.  Which is a bit silly since I was doing the challenge solo.  But I will pat myself on the back and feel good that I (sorta/kinda) completed it.  Here are the final few photos with prompts for cozy, black, candles, sweets and favorite place.  You can tell my enthusiasm was waning.

And one more thing from the weekend.  On Friday, some girlfriends and I took a water taxi along the Potomac River from Virginia up to the nation’s capital.  We stopped in Georgetown and had lunch before we made the trip back down the river.  It was a pretty day but extra windy.  I was thankful for no rain but the wind was chilly.  We did not sit on the boat’s deck but the views were still great from the (much calmer and warmer) inside.  Our lunch was super tasty and it was a really fun day.

There was a narration playing which I actually found very interesting.  Not such much about history (although there was some of that….it is the capital, of course) but lots of interesting details about architecture, the city’s geography and how the city operated back in the beginning.  For someone who has lived here all my life, there was a lot that I had never heard before and that I really enjoyed learning.

You can really appreciate the city’s beauty much more from a view along the water.  The fall colors were pretty that day.  It might be hard to tell from this photo as it was taken through a very smudgy boat window.  (Again, I least I tried!)

Well, friends.  That is a brief recap of my weekend.  I would love to know one highlight from yours.  Let me know in the comments.  And here’s to a good week ahead.  I hope you will stop by again on Wednesday.  It will be time for this month’s Currently post.  Thanks for stopping by –