This little print was a gift from my friend Olivia the year I turned 22. That birthday was the same week as our college graduation and so my birthday got tangled up in the busy-ness of those final days of school. I was always touched that Liv remembered and that she gave me something she had made.

I’ve been meaning to get this lovely little print framed for the last 9 years and have never quite managed to do so. Because of this, it’s gotten a bit tattered. However, I love it in spite of the mild abuse its suffered and I hope that I can coordinate getting it in a frame before it turns ten years old.

In the meantime, it lives on top of our newish bookshelf.

With all the canning I do this time of year, there are some nights when I step into the kitchen at around 6 p.m. to make dinner and then spend the bulk of my remaining waking hours in those 80 square feet. Tonight, it was nearly 11 p.m. before I settled back down on the couch.

But all that sweet cherry jam cooling on my kitchen counter is worthwhile reward indeed.

I got up this morning about fifteen minutes earlier than I typically do for work. Instead of taking my 4 minute walk to the office, I hiked up Chestnut Street to catch the BoltBus to New York. After just a bit of bus stop confusion (for the Philadelphians who are reading this, the BoltBus stop has been moved from 30th Street between Chestnut and Market, to 30th and JFK, closer to 30th Street Station) I climbed aboard and settled in for the air-conditioned two hour ride.

In just a blink, I was at the Javits Center, wandering the floor at the summer Fancy Food Show. There was so much to see and taste that I spent most of the in a fog of people, cheese, cured meats and sugar. To see some of my favorite things from the day, check out the slideshow below (admittedly, they’re nearly all foods that come in jars. You well know of my jar-centric predilections).

Scott and I have been talking about getting me a new computer for several months now. My MacBook (vintage December 2007) was beginning to show a little age and honestly, I was just hungry for something speedier and lighter. We found ourselves unexpectedly at the Apple store in the Cherry Hill Mall today and decided to pull the trigger on a new machine. In a matter of fifteen minutes, I had a new MacBookPro in my hands.

I’m not one to keep my computer quarantined from real life and so today’s photo is true to how I behave. Dinner sidled up right next to this sleek new laptop.

Last fall, soon after Scott and I got married, my dad’s cousin got in touch to tell me that she had something for me. It was a necklace that my grandma Bunny wore at her wedding, and it’s been passed along to the oldest female in each generation as they’ve gotten married. It arrived today, still packed in the envelope that Jolie received it in back in 1973.

The light was so beautiful at Reading Terminal Market on Friday afternoon. I’m not sure I did it true justice, but I still love how it turned out.

It wasn’t until after I taken this picture and was looking at it on the back of the camera did I realize that our reflections figured so prominently in it. But then I sort of loved it, particularly since it shows us in such typical position, side-by-side, gadgets in hand.

Around 12:15 p.m. today, my cell phone rang. I didn’t realize it at first, because the phone was still in the filing drawer where I stash my purse when I get to work each day (what? This isn’t how you deal with your personal belongings while at your place of employment?) and so the ringing was muted. Luckily, I was able to place the clattering noise bleating from inside my desk before the caller was shunted off to voicemail exile.

It was Scott.

He was calling to find out if I wanted to get lunch at Pastrami and Things (our favorite spot for inexpensive lunchtime salads and other deli items) and then go home to eat. Because his new iPhone had been delivered.

Ah. The iPhone.

Since the days have gotten long, Scott and I have been taking extended walks through the city. Tonight, we headed out just before 7 p.m. without much of a plan but a desire to be out and moving. We stopped briefly for dinner at Fat Salmon, but once finished there, kept heading east towards Penn’s Landing.

It was an amazing night along the Delaware River, with kids happily playing in the fountain and cooling breeze dancing off the water. I took a number of pictures tonight and had a hard time narrowing down my daily selection to a single image. So here are the rest of the best from our wander.

I got just over nine pounds of these amazing, fragrant apricots yesterday. Four pounds have already been cooked down into butter and canned (I had a very productive evening that included gardening, bike tire blow-outs, swimming, dinner, a huge batch of hummus, another one of pesto for the freezer and batches of strawberry syrup and this butter cooked and processed). Now it’s time to go to bed.