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.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. A bag of day-old bagels gives us a couple days’ breakfast.

2. Being able to stream women’s basketball the majority of nights this week.

3. Two of Rudi’s mom’s friends have called to say they’ve had good chats with her this week. She’s currently in a nursing home (where visitors aren’t allowed), recuperating from a hairline fracture after a fall, so it’s been a tough few weeks for her.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The times you most appreciate renting, rather than owning, property is when there is a dead, bloated ROUS outside your window and someone has to remove it so it stops stinking up your living space.

2. Sunday was March 14 (aka Pi Day in the U.S.; places who write their dates with the month second observe it on July 22). We were feeling down after our friend’s death, so we pushed our celebration off by 24 hours, and I capped a day off by baking broccoli-cheese quiche and apple crisp. They were both quite tasty.

3. The extra hour of daylight every evening is absolutely worth misplacing an hour of sleep until fall.

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

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Our window has been open since Monday. (Sure, we’ll probably want to close it this weekend, but still!)

2. A back-and-forth with a colleague and then a follow-up by my boss may lead to a healthier work-life balance for all three of us. (Fingers crossed.)

3. My volleyball team is registered to play grass court games across town starting next month. After not seeing most of them for a year, I can’t wait.

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

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?