Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. An extravagant splurge purchase of lilies of the valley from the farmers market fill my kitchen with fragrance — and I don’t regret a single penny.

2. Moving a couple projects along for someone else to do the next part.

3. Fresh strawberries and ice cream (albeit storebought) for dessert.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Work has announced they wanted to recognize how hard we’ve all been working and has given us a four-day weekend for Memorial Day.

2. Rudi and I have been had two lunch salads made with greens from the garden (topped with delicious strawberry poppyseed dressing from the farmers market).

3. My bike ride home along the river after volleyball this evening was lovely. I had to race down, so there’s nothing beautiful about that, but the ride home included a stop for zaatar fries at the Wharf, the last pinks of sunset over the Tidal Basin, and finally a true appreciation for a face mask as I rode through several minutes of gnats by the Reflecting Pool.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. I pass a blue heron flying low over the Potomac River, I assume doing a grocery run toward the end of the day. With its loopy neck, triangular head, and long legs, it resembles a flying reptile of yore.

2. Violets are my favorite flower, and there’s about a three-week period every spring where they overrun the garden. When I stopped by on Sunday, I was surprised by how tall they’d gotten in just a few days, and I brought home a handful to sit in a glass atop the fridge.

3. After an hour of volleyball and a cumulative bike commute of ten miles, I return home from my first game in 400+ days sore, cold, windblown, and exhausted. Rudi took one look at me after I allowed gravity to pull me to the couch and said, “I haven’t seen you look this happy in a long time.”

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Sarah turned 50 last week, and we opted to celebrate in person.

2. I got the first dose of a COVID vaccine, which means I will be able to start seeing more people in real life again soon. It was super easy, and except that virtual strangers now feel entitled to inquire about what brand of medicine I’m taking, I’m glad it’s done.

3. Tuesdays, I often get a longer break between meetings in the mid-afternoon, so Rudi and I scooted over to the bagel shop to grab lunch and eat outside in the sun.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. So many things you wanted as a kid turn out to be a let down. But you know what wasn’t disappointing? Cinnamon rolls in a can from Trader Joe’s for Easter breakfast, supplemented with holiday sprinkles from the cabinet. The can opened with a satisfying “pop!” and five rolls meant Rudi and I got two nights of desserts out of it, in addition to my breakfast.

2. Trader Joe’s has had my favorite Sumo oranges and work sent me a box of navel oranges, so we’ve been pleasantly awash in citrus.

3. Rudi got his first shot this week, and there’s hope I’ll be able to get mine later this month.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Today was an especially not-great workday in what had already been a pretty crappy workweek. But thanks to a prescient past-me, I have Easter Monday off, and I am shutting my laptop at 3 tomorrow afternoon no matter what remains undone at that time.

The first key to not letting the mess sweep me under is breathing. Slow breath in. Hold it. Slow breath out. Breathe into the tight spaces in between the tensions. Sink deeper into that infinitesimal stretch. Pull your shoulders a fraction further away from your ears. Breathe out.

And the second is to recognizing amidst the storm clouds there are moments of calm. Finding those good pieces and holding onto them. Knowing there are more beyond the horizon even if they’re not in sight right now.

Three such beautiful things from my past week:

1. UConn squeaked out an amazing victory over Baylor in the Elite 8 round of basketball, winning by two as a dramatic, Hail Mary throw was intercepted by our freshman phenom. This was finals-level hoops by two great teams, and I can only hope that the next two rounds include slightly fewer hearts-in-our-mouths moments.

2. Rudi took me down to see the cherry blossoms after he picked me and my stuff up from the office today just before sunset. (Still have a job. Work is just looking for new digs, and we needed to clear out of our old space.) Brisk winds had brought in late afternoon flurries as an April Fool’s prank, so the crowds had cleared out, allowing the park police to reopen Hains Point to traffic.

3. There was a bluebird afternoon earlier this year week, and I told Rudi we should take advantage of my window between meetings to go grab bagel sandwiches and tea from some local shops. And then it was too nice to quickly return home, so we sat in a triangle park and ate in the sun for a few extra minutes.

How about you? Please, for the love of everything bloggish, share what’s been beautiful in your world lately.