People, it's gotten cold here in Virginia. We love it. Bring in fall. Callum's only complaint is washing his hands. It takes forever for our water to warm up. That, and our bathroom floor is I.C.Y. Brrrrr. I had to wear gloves on my Friday hike (hence, no photos). My friend Tracy was bundled and hooded and gloved. She's a Southern Californian at heart. I don't want to tell her that I think we're in for a cold winter. I went for a mall night with my friend Jean on Friday and that was quite lovely. Callum needed jammies. I needed things too, but Callum came up trumps. Dinner was a bonus. When I got home, Callum, Thea and Neel were snuggling in front of Passage to India. Have you seen it? Neel's been meaning to rent it all year because Callum has a teacher named Mrs. Moore. "Mrs. Moore!" You'll have to have seen the movie to get that, but there you are.

Neel got back in his garden this weekend, but we also had an unexpected trip to the park and lunch with some friends. Callum doesn't go to the park anymore, so he stayed home with some friends his own age. ;) It's funny standing in a park with a two-year old. How many times did we do that over the years? Up the ladder, down the slide. Up the ladder, down the slide. We never did it in the cold though. There was a special angel smiling over me when I gave birth in San Diego. Raising a small child there was easier. No coats. No mosquitoes. No rain. I finished up the switch over from spring/summer to fall/winter, and, as promised, a lot of brown and a lot of cords. I also pulled out my Uggs. Because I am still, apparently, a teenage girl.

Saturday night, Neel and I had our make-up anniversary dinner. We went to the Vintage Kitchen, where we haven't been in ages. It has amazing views of the Elizabeth River, and we got there just as the sun had set but still with a deep pink glow in the sky. We usually do small plates and share, and that's what we did last night. No dessert. Coffee though, but Neel still fell asleep on the sofa before ten! It felt good getting out and going someplace nicer than our usual family fare. We decided that we need to do it more, but that we need to do it as a family too. I think it's important for kids to learn how to eat out in nice restaurants. So maybe just us one month and with Cal one month. Until we run out of money.

Lazy Sunday. Except for Neel who moved the pad for the grill and the grill and created a whole new flower bed, but whatever. I had pictures of that but my phone ate them. My phone's been doing that lately. I cleaned. No photos of that. It was shivery cold and grey and if you looked outside, you'd think it was about to snow at any minute (really, it was like 50°!). Callum said today, "Really right now, I'm liking politics better than football." So when he wasn't doing homework, we switched back and forth. Two more days and it's time to vote.

And how are you, my lovelies? For my friends in the US, how does the time change impact you? I won't feel it until later in the week. But I love it. I love cozy time.

1. I think that while it was fun, I'm not so disappointed that we've likely seen our last cross country race. I say likely because I doubt that the junior varsity team will travel to the state championships (fingers crossed). We're proud of our boy for toughing in out in a sport that's not his strong suit. He's not a natural runner, and I don't think he loves it. And yet, even in those hard early days when practice made homework run late and nights run later there was much value, not just in the movement but also in the feeling of being on a team. I know that this experience has been a large part of his early success in middle school. He did say that he's looking forward to more time in the evenings, and really, we all are. I'm not sure if he'll run again next fall, and for several reasons I'm not sure what he'll do this winter. All of our eyes are on baseball in the spring.

2. I think I have a problem. After Sandy skirted us and brought our first really cool temperatures of the season, I traded out my spring and summer clothes for my fall and winter clothes. This much I know. I don't need anymore cords. Or brown. I could use some black boots, and some trousers, some tops/sweaters and some COLOR. Help.

3. I think I'm very excited to be making our plans for Thanksgiving this year. All I say now is that they involve some dear old friends and a ferry ride (which, for Neel, means dramamine!).

4. I think I'm both thrilled and terrified that I'm going to Food Blog South. I know, I know, terrified is a strong word. I'm pretty shy, and the thought of heading to a conference of foodies when I already feel like a pretender is pretty flipping intimidating. But, the thought of attending a conference of foodies is pretty thrilling too. I'm hoping to learn a lot. Norfolk has a lot of great food stuff going on, and I think it'll be pretty cool to start writing about it and photographing it.

5. I think we're coming up on a much more uneventful weekend than last weekend! Neel and I are finally going out to dinner for our anniversary, and we're trying a restaurant we haven't been to before. Other than that I have some shopping to do, and I'm hoping to rope my friend Jean into keeping me company (Come on, Jean! Callum needs jammies!). I'm going to tell you a little secret: I'm different from most of the country. I don't mind the time change. We push our clocks back an hour this weekend, and that's fine by me. Feels like winter and I'm ready for winter. We'll cuddle up with dogs on our laps and blankies layered on. Fires in the fireplace. Wood smoke, chili, sweaters and red wine. I'm all over it.

Update: It was our last cross country race, and Cal got a great time. Especially given, after Sandy's visit made it more of a mud run!

monday mash up, november 5

five things, november 2nd edition