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I took this picture out of my office window last week. My boss had bought me a lemon tea drink, and it seemed so much like summer.  Except it is starting to get cold!  If I squint a bit, I can pretend that I am looking at the Mediterranean.

Melange

Yet more random things that have been my life during the three months (!) I have not posted on the blog:

I have a GREAT coworker.  Actually, I have many great coworkers.  Peter is just one of them.  He lives in the same part of town as I do, and he's got eagle eyes.  Many times, I'll be out biking or running, and I hear my name called -- it's either Peter or his family yelling hello to me.  I love it!

His daughter is a great young lady.  They came out to watch me run in the marathon a few years ago.  When school in canceled, sometimes she comes in to work and helps us out with our filing, or other tasks that a 9 year old can do.  She came in a few weeks ago, and gave me this beautiful purple bracelet:

One of my closest new friends is an amazing lady who is very creative and busy.  She has created an organization that gets together food bloggers (they let me come even though I don't have a food blog, and very rarely parrot blog) on a theme.  Last month, for February, our theme was aphrodisiac foods. She made this delicious heart-shaped cake:

 I made a pasta salad that incorporated cherries, almonds, and spinach:

At home alone on a Sunday one week, a good friend called and asked if I wanted to go to the art museum with her.  Of course!  This was my favorite part of the special exhibit.  Fish!

My coworker and good friend won an award for being a Corporate Trailblazer in our city.  This was the food I ate; it was so delicious and some of the best stuff I have ever tasted.  I think the main dish was cheese-filled crepes.  I wonder if I can make something so amazing?

I may have mentioned that my dad and I have season basketball tickets to our local NCAA basketball team.  They didn't do very well this season, but we went to every home game and had a great time together.  My mom was also able to make many of the games.

Here is a picture from their first league tournament game.  We had very low expectations, but they pulled out a win!

And then, shocking us all, they kept on winning, until they won the tournament and, with that, a berth to the NCAA tournament!!!  It's unlikely they'll advance, but what a wonderful end to the season.  (I hope they don't jack up the prices too high for season tickets next year since my parents and I will be getting them again!)

Seriously? Snow?

The view out of my office window earlier this week:

Are you kidding me?  Snow this early?  YUCK!  Luckily it's melted and my landscapers were able to come today to do some prep work.

Landscapers?  That's right!  I don't have a lawn, but the previous owner of my house, just let it go wild.  I hired an environmentally-conscious company to come in and help me out.  They're planting native plants that attract local wildlife, especially birds.  It's going to be amazing in a few years.

Right now, I have pear trees, so I frequently see squirrels eating pears on my patio.

I am getting a new computer at work tomorrow, so I had to clean off my desk where the tech guys will be working.  My desk has been a crazy mess due to many more open projects than I would like.  I could put everything in folders, but I'm more of a piles lady.  As I was leaving today, I realized that my desk was the equivalent of a mullet -- business in the front and party in the back!

I took tomorrow off, as I have quite a few errands to run.  I'm bringing wine to Thanksgiving this year, and want to go to my favorite local winery to get some.  Additionally, my favorite orchard, as I want to get some honeycrisps to eat and some others to make into cobbler.  I've barely taken any vacation days this year since things have been so busy, but we have a use-it-or-lose-it policy and I am determined not to lose any!

When I get back to work, I am going to have two of the most giant monitors ever on my desk.  I can't wait!  Spreadsheets in all their glory!