I’m in Connecticut, so I thought I’d write a bonus Three Beautiful Things from the first half of my vacation:

1. My feet stopped growing when I was in the fourth grade. And I was never so grateful for that fact as I was when I arrived up in Connecticut after a harrowing morning of traveling on Thursday. I’d overslept and so darted out of the house in about 10 minutes after I woke up. It wasn’t until I reached the airport several hours later and was going through security that I discovered I had slipped on two different sandals — one brown and one red. Luckily, amongst the stuff that lives at my parents is a pair of flip flops from middle school. They are not pretty, but they are wearable.

2. I have spent the last few days doing quite a bit of traveling and my car does not get fantastic reception. Luckily, because of that I am able to listen to my iPod through the stereo and on my early morning drive home from Milford last night I was able to listen to two podcasts of vintage radio shows. The episodes kept me entertained and awake while I drove up 91.

3. I like my friends in D.C., but they know only the D.C. me. Thursday night afforded me the privilege of spending an evening with Di (whose parents kindly fed her dogs so she could stay late) and Shelley (whose husband and kids let Di and me come eat pizza and hang out in her kitchen and backyard). We worked together for a number of years and it’s nice to be able to dish periodically and to catch up on old times, particularly since we missed them at Easter. And yesterday I got to spend the whole day with Karen, just her and me. I like Michael and I assume she likes Rudi, but it’s a different dynamic when the guys are involved. I have known her now for half my lifetime (boy, we’re old, Kare!) and we have a long history. It doesn’t matter that I talked with her on the phone three hours last week and three hours again earlier this week. We still managed to go 12 hours (and probably could have gone another 12 if the need for sleep and a 90-minute drive hadn’t interfered).