Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. At the vegetarian taco shop, the handful of downstairs tables are taken, so I head upstairs for the first time. I’m pleasantly surprised to discover it’s a light, airy space with windows, a fireplace (that I suspect is just for show), and bookshelves that contain, among other things, a terrarium featuring exotic cacti (that remind me of the tiny floral department at the Hamden Bradlee’s when I was really young) and golden dinosaurs.

2. My Saturday mail contains a single item — a birthday (plus a month) card — which utterly makes my day.

3. After five straight nights of eating chili (after Rudi generously made twice as much as I’d asked for before leaving on his road trip last week, knowing how poorly I often feed myself when left to my own devices) for supper, it felt like such a treat to cook a veggie burger for myself.

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