Add to the beauty

Things that I loved about this weekend:

The Etienne Aigner bag that I finally wheedled away from my mother (this is the hundredth bag that I've done this with - we share an impressive collection) when she bought a new one. I switched from the Latico bag that I've been carrying for the past several months, and the features that I coveted when she bought it several weeks ago (compartments and pockets designed and concealed with such sneaky brilliance that it sets my heart aflutter) are now mine.

A Prairie Home Companion. It was a brilliant movie (but I confess that I'm still partial to the radio broadcast; it won my heart when I was a very little girl and even today, I never miss it unless it can't be helped), well written (naturally) and perfectly cast. It was lovely to sit in a dark room with a house full of other NPR listeners.

My Weight Watchers meeting. I've lost 20 pounds (so far).

K.T. Tunstall. When will I tire of this album? Never? Never is good.

My new work schedule, which started Saturday. I'm working 9:30am - 6:00pm on Saturdays, and 10:30 to 7:00pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. For the past few months I've been working four 10 hour days. I am not a happy girl when I'm at work that much, and the extra day off is no benefit to me, as I'd spend the first day of my weekend recovering. Eight hour days (actually, 7.75 where I work) are like a walk in the park.

Napping. I've come to embrace my mother's couch with open arms each Sunday in the early evening (this is entirely new for me). I sort of think that it's so easy to nap at my mother's house because I feel so well protected there, with her (I guess 30 years of love will do that).

The little alligator that I saw in the pond nearest my apartment building this evening. Sure, their larger counterparts are menacing, but this one was just so cute. We have three lakes on the property, and he was swimming around in the smallest of the three, which has a fishing dock. I stopped to watch him for awhile on my way back from picking up the mail.

Grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping.

The tiny, abandoned snail's shell that I found on Sunday and tucked into my handbag. I'm going to keep it with me all the time as a reminder that I'll get where I'm supposed to be, however slowly, as long as I keep going.