Oh beautiful Saturday, thou art one of my favorite things! To sleep until one simply wakes, to sit with hot coffee on a wide veranda, feeling the Spring's teasing breeze, to enjoy the company of a family of friends, and eat gelato with one's husband made by a lady whose accent still smacks of Florence...this is One of Those Days to Remember.

I am refreshed! I am rested. WIM had its staff retreat in Comfort, Texas last night, and Lanier and I have just returned home. I confess I hadn't wanted to go, but in honor of my coworkers, whom I'll be leaving in 4 weeks, I went. And boy did we have fun!! I slept like a dead man last night after eating myself SICK. Blackened Yellow Fin Tuna, red potatoes, fried okra, chocolate meringue pie....oh, it was so good. Good thing I wore my elastic waist pants!

Above is an image from Design Sponge, a blog I've just discovered in my internet home decor idea surfing. It is an illustration done by Julia Rothman, a lady who obviously is a talented designer. Anyway, her drawing inspired me to suddenly want to create a whole line of posters that I'd frame and hang in my kitchen if my walls had the space. Unfortunately, I don't have any wallspace to speak of. Well, I'll make 'em anyway and figure something out later. Something about learning how to cook--REALLY cook--and bake has just gotten me really into pies and cakes. I love thinking about them, and I love drawing them. Some of my favorite art is by Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced "Teebow," like the former FL quarterback). He did the most luscious paintings of deli counters, pies, cakes and candied apples. I saw an exhibit at the Whitney Museum in 2001 and drooled over the thickness of the paint--it stood an INCH off the canvas in some places!

Really, how can you NOT like his work?! He painted everything in the same, thick, juicy fashion: sunglasses, bow ties, people, California cityscapes, it didn't matter. Amazing.

But I digress.

We met everyone last night at Guenther's Bier Garten Grill for dinner at 7:00. It looked like a dive in the middle of Small Town Nowhere, but wow, was it great. Straight out of a movie or something. Lanier learned they didn't want to pay taxes on a liquor license, so they conveniently installed a liquor store next door, where guests are encouraged to buy their beverage of choice, then bring it with them to sip along with their meal. How quaint!

There was a very rotund, mustached man there singing country songs, I think some maybe he'd written himself, and others well known. My personal favorite was one whose chorus was, "Bein' shot in the head ain't no day at the beach / But it's better than bein' dead." It was based on a true story. We sang that song on the way back to the B&B and it was STILL stuck in my head on the drive home this afternoon. When he learned we were a "church group," the singer quickly broke into a rousing rendition of "I Saw the Light," "This Little Light of Mine" and "I'll Fly Away." We all sang along at the top of our lungs. It was great fun. I asked if he knew any Don Walser, which he said he couldn't sing because he didn't know all of the words, but he did have a yodeling song, which he performed shockingly well. We clapped and cheered and I think he probably made a good bit of money in tips.

We fell into bed once we got back and I knew no more until morning light. It's been a great weekend, and in an hour we leave to meet Chris and Kelli for a double date to A-Tan sushi! Woohoo!

Happy Mother's Day all you out there!