(Okay, that came out sounding way more Shut-In than I'd intended.)

J rented a car and drove down to visit me, The Boy and the doggies. In anticipation of her visit, I'd given the house a whip-round and had fun with the menu. We had sort of planned to do a few things but in the end simply let things flow. We flowed right over to one of the better Vietnamese restaurants in town and were pleasantly surprised to find that everything we ordered was fabulous. The day was clear and crisp and The Boy had picked up a Saturday afternoon shift, so we were free to be all girly and gossipy and goofy.

The dogs were in fine form; there was much cavorting and dancing and more than a few good-natured sparring matches with Murphy. Bailey, dainty little flower that she is, was mostly content to watch from the sidelines because if she's learned nothing else in her 10 years with us, it's way too easy to need a medic after active time with the humans.

Late Saturday night we made a lovely Toad in the Hole followed up with Mostly Blueberry pie, handmade by J. I always appreciate gifts like that, as I'm not great at the art of pastry. We stayed up talking and laughing until The Boy got home and as I glanced at the clock I noticed it was 1:30 in the morning; this behaviour is virtually unheard of in my house!

Of course, the dogs didn't care about my wild night of staying up and it was business as usual Sunday morning at 6:30. I got a few journals read and the better part of an entry written before the rest of the house began to stir. Breakfast was a personal fav, Smoked Salmon Breakfast Bake: spinach, salmon, green onions, cream cheese, shredded Jarlsberg and loads of scrambled eggs. Add coffee and some lovely toasted artisinal breads and you have the makings of a wonderful way to ease yourself into a weekend day. I think I'm going to have to swap out my Christmas morning meal from the usual Breakfast Enchiladas this year.

The only misstep of mine, sadly, was getting her started on The Office (BBC version, natch) and only getting three eps in. I'd forgotten how damned funny that series is and will be very interested to see what she and C think of the entire thing.

Thanks J, what a great way to kick off this month. Next up, cards and some festive tunes!

This has been a Holidailies entry.

Posted at 12:55 p.m.