Last month’s concert was Paul Simon. Last week was Mumford and Sons and The Low Anthem. And this week is Katy Perry, my birthday present from Rudi. Katy’s songs (with a couple of exceptions) almost always force me to dance around, singing along. While this song is a little weak in its rhyme scheme, I happen to think it has a great video and an infectious chorus.

Rudi and I are off again tomorrow, this time to Salt Lake. I feel rushed and cranky, but am sure that once the leaving (which I hate) is past, the traveling and being elsewhere (which I like) will be fine. We’re staying at a hotel this time, so I’ll try to post once or twice while we’re there.

In the meantime, though, here are three beautiful things from my week past:

1. Our 15th college reunion last weekend was nice. We saw some people we hadn’t seen in a while, wandered around campus seeing what had and hadn’t changed, and generally enjoyed a nice homecoming over a picture perfect weekend. Plus, we got to play frisbee on Harkness Green with a blue sky above and a view of the Long Island Sound just to our south. Lovely!

2. The Big Three pizza places in New Haven conspire against us on Monday, but we make a quick adaptation and request a pie to go from Abate’s, which is next-door to Pepe’s. We eat Italian ice while we wait for our pizza to cook and then each have a piping hot slice in the car before continuing our drive back to D.C. Abate’s might be second-tier in New Haven, but that’s still better than pretty much anything around here. (I still love Pete’s in Columbia Heights, but Rudi and I fear their quality has slipped a smidge with their expansion beyond the original location.) I’ve had pizza lunches twice this week, and there are still two slices in the fridge for tonight when we get back from the concert.

3. I am having a cranky day. There are leftovers from a meeting, which include chocolate cake. The scent of chocolate frosting wafts across my desk, causing my brain to brighten up instantly.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Okay, so it’s not Monday for most people, but since Rudi and I had a long weekend up in Connecticut, it sort of is for us.

We’re one show into a three show month here. We caught Paul Simon in May for a fantastic show; we’re hoping for more of the same this week. Thursday’s show will include Mumford & Sons and The Low Anthem. We caught the latter group back in the early spring for an intimate show in a synagogue. It will be interesting to see how they’ll change their act for an outdoor amphitheater.

“To Ohio” is The Low Anthem’s best known song. So much so that when they performed it as their final number back in March, I turned to Rudi and whispered, “How weird they’d finish up with a cover!” How embarrassing that I knew the song, but not whose it was!

Sarah posted yesterday her list of ten things she’d like to do this summer. I thought I’d follow suit, particularly since this summer will not offer much in the way of vacation:

1. Go to the beach. Frequently, if it’s possible.
2. Pick blueberries and raspberries. We’ve already tackled strawberries. These are up next later this month.
3. Attend the Folklife Festival. An annual tradition.
4. Knit a summer sweater. I’ve started two. Now is the time to pull them out and finish one.
5. Have a barbecue with the rest of our building’s residents. We keep talking about this.
6. Play Frisbee and Wiffle Ball. They’re always in the car, just waiting to pull over to the side of the road for some impromptu fun.
7. Watch the final Harry Potter movie. Perhaps at midnight. Definitely at the Uptown.
8. Go swing dancing at Glen Echo. Definitely this year, particularly since we’re missing the Seersucker Social this weekend.
9. Catch an outdoor movie. Like a drive-in, but without the car. D.C. has lots to offer, from classics to flicks missed last year.
10. Picnic along the river. Georgetown has a riverfront park that Rudi and I keep considering bringing a blanket to, and The Yards has just opened up over by the ballpark and is offering Friday night music.

What about you? What are you hoping/planning to do this summer?

Rudi and I head off to our college reunion tomorrow. I suppose that means I should think about packing, but before I do, I have some time to share three beautiful things from the week past:

1. On the way home from the garden tonight just at twilight I notice the first lightning bugs of the season dancing by the blackberry bush along the fence.

2. Rudi and I pick strawberries and sour cherries at a local farm on Monday, then head by the garden where we pick more strawberries from our own plants and the first of the shelling peas. Tonight, I pick another pound of strawberries and more peas and notice the first tomatoes and peppers on the plants.

3. I have never devoted a post to the wonders that are the salty oat cookies, served locally by Teaism (by baked up in Massachusetts), but that’s clearly been an oversight. I walked in last weekend for a lassi and a cookie to discover a new salty oat sibling had joined the family (one with raisins and the other a chocolate chocolate chip variety heretofore). The new cookie is an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chunks and pecans in it, topped with salt. Utterly divine. (Apologies to the D.C. readers who now must make Teaism a stop tomorrow…)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

It’s been a while since we’ve had a random ten on Wednesday post… You know the rules: Hit shuffle on your portable music device, computer music library, or cd changer, and list the first ten songs that come up. No editing to get a better or more representative list.

This is from my iPod.

1. “West” — Lucinda Williams

2. “Christmas Is Coming” — Miss Piggy, Scooter, Gonzo, and Robin

3. “Miniature Disasters” — KT Tunstall

4. “Already Gone” — Kelly Clarkson

5. “Am I the Only One (Who’s Ever Felt This Way)” — The Dixie Chicks

6. “Pink Moon” — Nick Drake

7. “Half-Breed” — Cher

8. “Time on Your Side” — Emily Jane White

9. “Brown Sugar” — The Rolling Stones

10. “There Used To Be a Ballpark” — Frank Sinatra

Feel free to play along on your blog, Facebook page, or the comments here.