Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A colleague mentioned a frame shop a couple neighborhoods north of me was having a sale, so I took the bus up there last Saturday. That part wasn’t super successful, but I stopped at my favorite Italian mom and pop shop for a slice, a ball of dough, and a bag of Jordan almonds, a fun stationery shop for some stickers, and one of the city’s mini-Targets, where I bought some lotion I can’t find elsewhere and some new shirts.

2. I made my annual tea purchase last week during the NYC shop’s sale, and earlier today 13 pounds of tea (and two pounds of coffee) arrived to refill my depleted canisters.

3. I ran out in flip flops, leggings, and a tshirt at mid-afternoon on Wednesday in between meetings and it was gloriously sunny and warm.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. When my brother and I finally connected on the phone after our birthdays, he shared he’d been accepted into his art therapy grad school program.

2. Rudi’s negative COVID result after flying home from Salt Lake came less than 24 hours after his test.

3. My mom sent me a pair of indigo blue boots, which are big enough to fit over hand-knit socks and look quite smart.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Sarah invites me into her home for supper. I don’t take that for granted anymore. (Plus, she sends me home with cake and doughnuts.)

2. Among the birthday gifts my parents send me is a container of the super-hip hot chocolate bombs I’ve seen all over the internet and been curious about

3. As part of my birthday weekend, I watch the original animated Beauty and the Beast Disney cartoon. The scene where Belle walks into the library the first time still makes my heart soar.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A greyhound emerges from a building for a late-night walk wearing a matching jacket and pants. It is way more put together than I am.

2. I am walking down the block behind a man and his dog. Suddenly the dog stops, turns toward a house, and displays significant interest in something in the front yard. I had expected it to be a squirrel, a rat, or a cat in a window. Instead it is a stone statue of a nesting swan on the ledge next to the sidewalk, which the dog jumps at hoping to startle it into flying away.

3. A lawyer’s misadventures with video call filters and his need to clarify his true identity spread across the world like wildfire, providing everyone (except maybe him and his assistant) with some much needed levity.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi arrived home just after I returned from my snowy walk, so I didn’t have to do any of the shoveling.

2. Because the Capitol grounds are now behind razor wire and because it’s been two years since our last snowstorm, the P Street “Beach” was packed with sledders.

3. My warm weather walk on Saturday included stops at two bookstores — the new cookbook shop, where I picked up Snacking Cakes, and the used Adams Morgan shop that changed hands last year, and which has added new titles to its stock. I came away with a middle-grade fantasy novel blurbed by Madeleine L’Engle, a pamphlet on identifying trees in the wintertime, and the aforementioned poetry collection.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Time in person with friends.

2. After the Christmas tree is removed, my usually crowded living room seems spacious.

3. The wall calendar from our alma mater finally arrives. (Rudi also got a calendar as a gift from a friend, so we’ll have two this year.)

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