Marvelous Monday: Week 3

I wanted to save my headstand progress for today's marvelous tidbits, but I couldn't hold back! Even this morning's weather couldn't dampen my good spirits. I took Wish out at 8 a.m. and the temperature was -9 with a -24 degree windchill. (Okay, it's possible that my spirits were dampened - or frozen, rather - until we got back inside.) It made me remember how last winter, as we were talking more seriously about getting a dog, I was advocating for getting one ASAP instead of waiting until the spring, and Josh was a total naysayer about that. And now I concede that he was right! It would've been really hard to establish a good routine and training and exercise during cold snaps like this one.

Onward with this week's Marvelous Monday:

1) We celebrated Josh's birthday with my family last night. My dad cooked a turkey and my mom cooked the side dishes. Here's Dad, serving the turkey:

Wish came along, too, and besides being cramped in the backseat with my brother and sister, he was all, "You guys invited me to a turkey dinner and aren't letting me eat turkey?" But then he got to hang out with one of his favorite humans: my sister.

2) I am reading Crossing to Safety, a book by Wallace Stegner that came highly recommended in the End of Your Life Book Club. I'm about halfway through and there's some tension developing, which makes me think something big is coming around the bend.

3) I have experimented with various macaroni-and-cheese-made-healthy recipes over the past year: macaroni with squash, macaroni with tofu, all kinds of variations. Over the weekend, I took a break from that experiment and made just plain old regular macaroni and cheese (from this month's Bon Appetit), and that recipe is definitely going to become a staple. The panko topping alone - butter, garlic, parsley and the panko breadcrumbs all sauteed together - is a treat in itself. And it comes together quickly, and it even looks like the picture in the magazine!

4) My next quilt project is coming along. It's more of a gradual timetable than the t-shirt quilt - possibly because I am more confident this time around that it will turn into some semblance of a functioning quilt - and that makes the process more relaxing. I am finishing up the pattern's big squares and will start making it look like an actual quilt soon.

5) The exterior temperatures seemed to make it feel colder inside today, and I think even the furry dog was feeling it. This afternoon I piled under some blankets, Wish hopped up on the couch and draped himself over the blankets and around my shoulder, and we caught up on last night's episode of Girls together.

Hey! What was marvelous about your day? Have you tried any new recipes or picked up a new book lately? P.S. I will be eager to hear a certain blogger's recap of what the energy in Washington, D.C. was like today. I followed the presidential inauguration on Twitter, but I have a hunch that that wasn't quite the same as just being in the city, let alone attending the events.