Sedate Saturday

So far, this weekend's been a mixed bag. I spent a good chunk of Saturday in the office, trying to finish up as much of this contract publishing gig as possible before production starts on Monday, and that evening Evelin stayed home to watch Cast Away while I met a friend for dinner. His wife was out with the girls and we hadn't had a chance to chat in a while, so we met up in Clarendon and ended up at The Boulevard Woodgrill.

The Boulevard had lots of fish and pork on the menu (so I think I need to take Evelin there), but they did have one vegetarian dish: a "stack" of jasmine-cilantro rice topped with asparagus, portabella mushrooms and two onion rings with a tamari-based sauce and served with a side of mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was made with fontina and gruyère and was very tasty.

Skipping back to work, I did have a little panic in the morning. Much like today, I was having trouble sleeping, so I went into the office around 4:00 a.m. On Friday night, I'd been there late waiting for a courier from the client for this contract publishing thing to arrive so that I could get the organization's edits/updates made to the galleys. I then had to make the 8:30 p.m. FedEx drop in D.C. to get CDs of images and text off to the person who is doing layout/production.

She lives in the Virginia exurbs and I needed a Saturday delivery for the package. When I checked the tracking number early on Saturday morning, I was bit surprised to see that FedEx had the package sitting in ... Memphis. I don't know if it just got sorted wrong at Dulles or what, but they did manage by 9:30 a.m. to have the envelope back to Northern Virginia and on a truck for delivery.

Other Things

Garden: The seedlings are doing well. Most of the peppers are popping and about 95% of the tomato seeds look like they're growing well. The squirrels have been in the pea and spinach beds, but we think they're only looking for lost acorns; there's no sign they're going after our seeds.

On the flower side, the camellia seems to have suffered a bit of frost damage this year (lots of burnt leaf edges), but the first of its flowers opened yesterday. The crocuses are dying back, but the tulips are starting to pop up, and there are signs of activity where the hostas and peonies are coming back up. Also, the trees are starting to bud and the forsythia in the neighbor's yard is starting to look good, so ours should be next.

Pregnancy: I'm getting a bit anxious about the OB appointment on Tuesday. No real reason to, but I'm sure that's not helping my sleep. Evelin is feeling well, occasionally queasy and a need to keep something in the stomach all the time, but otherwise doing well. Her sense of smell is getting more acute, so I'm trying to avoid the garlic excesses I usually enjoy (no roasted garlic pizza for me) ...