Good things in September

Over the last few days I've really enjoyed having this jug of black-eyed Susans from our garden on the table as I work. It brings a bit of cheer to our dining room, even on rainy days, and I love the contrast of bright colors. Special thanks to Emily, who gave us the jug as a wedding gift.

Here's a list of good things that happened last month:

1 - Spent a lovely afternoon in South London with Lindsay and her 3-month-old daughter Maisie. (Lindsay was the second of my newly-married friends to have a baby, but I recently learned that two others are expecting. My friends are starting to become parents!)
2 - Really productive writing day in the British Library.
3 - Chatted with Rachel on skype and watched Aladdin with Anthony. He'd never seen it before and ended up humming "Prince Ali" for days afterward.
4 - Epic baking day with the wife of one of Anthony's colleagues. We made traditional French bread, starting around 3:30pm. By the time it finally came out of the oven (about 9:00), we and our husbands had already eaten so much pizza that nobody wanted any! But they took some home, and everybody enjoyed it the next day. Good memories.
5 - Ian and Hannah invited us round for lunch after church.
6 - Anthony helped me finish my research proposal.
7 - Made pasta from scratch for the first time ever. Butternut squash ravioli with rosemary cream sauce, to be precise. It was delicious, but took FOREVER. (Risotto is fast food compared to this!). (Aside: I also learned that homemade ravioli doesn't keep well. We only ate about half of what I'd made, so I thought I'd save the rest for the following night. The next day, I discovered (only minutes before we'd planned to eat) that the ravioli had turned overnight into a gooey, sticky mess. We ended up having corn-on-the-cob and shredded beets for dinner that night!)
8 - Worked on job applications.
9 - Good evening conversation with friends from church over tea and cake.
10 - Travelled to Bedford by train carrying two apple dapple cakes for Emmeline's rehearsal dinner.
11 - Made it to the wedding ahead of the bride. Just.
12 - So, so tired. Anthony and I crashed with Indian takeaway and The West Wing.
13 - Very tired today. Researched job applications and sent details to my referees.
14 - A bit more energy today. Wrote two pages on my paper, finishing the analysis of McDonald v. Chicago. Felt encouraged in my work.
15 - Chatted with Emily on skype.
16 - Finished my paid short-term research project for one of the Oxford dons.
17 - Went for a long walk on the Heath this afternoon. Then made pizza for dinner and watched Stranger Than Fiction with Anthony.
18 - Dinner at our flat with Anthony's parents and the newly-weds.
19 - Brownies and milk for my Sunday treat.
20 - Sick day -- Anthony and I have mastered the art of getting ill at the same time. He worked from home today. I submitted a job application and made bean casserole, but productivity ended there.
21 - Sick day II -- worked on course proposals and watched The West Wing
22 - A long slow day -- not really feeling sick, but not well either. Didn't accomplish much.
23 - Hannah, the younger sister of a close friend from Oxford, has recently moved to North London and came for dinner tonight.
24 - Began practicing for the LNAT (British law admissions exam) and found it harder than I expected. Ordered a book of practice tests.
25 - Hosted a welcome-home party for some Oxford friends who have just returned to England after spending their first year of marriage in the States. It was great to catch up with a number of Oxford friends that we hadn't really seen since our wedding.
26 - This was a very stressful day, but we faced it together, which is one of the many wonderful things about being married.
27 - Had a lovely morning coffee with Beth, our minister's wife.
28 - Worked on course proposals. Several of my job applications require descriptions of undergraduate courses that I'd like to teach at their universities.
29 - Really good study at church small group tonight. We're doing John's gospel this year, a book I've always found confusing and difficult. This week we looked at chapter 2, where Jesus changes water into wine and clears the temple. Looked at what these events reveal about Jesus' identity from Old Testament references.
30 - A day with friends! Hannah from church came for coffee in the morning, and we sat out on the balcony, eating ginger cookies and soaking up the sun. Then Ruth came for lunch and we went down to Buckingham Palace for a special exhibit on the art collections of Victoria and Albert. The audio tour was excellent. I particularly enjoyed seeing some of Queen Victoria's own watercolours and sketches. She was a very accomplished artist, and there were several of her paintings in the exhibit -- mostly portraits of her children and outdoor scenes from Balmoral or Osborne House.