1. Morning walks. My foot has been bugging me a bit this week, probably after the marathon week of walking when Eric was in Chicago, but I’m still so glad to be back on a more regular schedule with the morning walks.

2. My mom and dad. Their birthdays are one right after the other, April 12th and 13th, so I got to talk to both of them on the phone for a bit this week. I feel so lucky to have parents that are still married and still alive, and a little sad how unusual that is.

3. Kitchen counter love notes. He’s not any kind of artist and he has terrible penmanship, but somehow he manages to make the sweetest notes.

4. My dogs. I still miss my first two dogs, and in some ways they were easier, didn’t need so much special attention and care, were sweeter with each other than these two are, but Ringo and Sam are just so stinkin’ cute sometimes, so funny, such good dogs.

5. My Saucony collection. If I can’t wear sandals or clogs or flip flops just now, I at least have these. (Just to be clear, this photo wasn’t staged, I just walked out into the living room and noticed them like this, had to take a picture — I’m not so good about putting my shoes away, which is why almost every morning, I can be heard saying “where are my shoes?”).

Bonus Joy: Friday at the end of a very long and very intense week, snow coming but I have no plans and it’s the weekend and Eric will be home, getting good feedback on my work, butter lettuce, pine nuts, a warm shower, yoga, stretching, napping, good tv, a glass of clean cold water, donuts, lunch plans with a friend, getting our taxes done on time, snow tires just in case, massage, good books, a department retreat on Monday that I helped plan that I think is going to be really good, sometimes knowing what I’m doing, being able to let go of the things that just aren’t going to get done, being okay with not being perfect, sleeping in.

1. The morning walk. I’m back on a more normal schedule again, doing regular walks in the morning, just me and the dogs and my camera phone. The experience is just as irritating and wonderful as I remembered.

2. Community. I have some really good friends, work with some amazing people, and am connected to a whole web of others that are so supportive, funny, and smart. Lucky, lucky me.

3. Fresh flowers. In the bathroom, on my writing desk. My goal someday is to have enough planted in my garden that I don’t have to buy them anymore.

4. Getting things done, in a way that is healthy and and reasonable and sustainable. This means saying no sometimes, lowering the bar, resting when I need to rest, and allowing myself to want what I want.

5. My tiny family. The way the dogs play like manics in the backyard even though they just got back from a long walk, the way Eric sends me pictures of his new shoes so I can tell him they aren’t weird, the way Ringo loves to be outside but Sam prefers to be inside on the couch, when Eric comes home from work early and takes the dogs hiking, the way Eric can get Ringo to sing (a goofy sweet mix of barking, talking, and howling that I love almost more than anything else), how Sam follows me around the house, how all three of them make me laugh so hard sometimes.

Bonus joy: ice cream sandwiches and how they remind me of summer, root beer which for some reason I’m completely obsessed with right now, deadline extensions, a boss who loves working with me and loves what I do and tells me every time she gets the chance because I know what it’s like to work for someone who does the exact opposite, sleeping in, good tv, my new phone which cost way too much money but really is so nice, being able to get the screen protector on my new phone the first try with no bubbles or trapped dust, people who would rather help than hurt, people who help even though they risk being hurt, making Eric laugh, hearing him laugh even if it wasn’t me who made him, having 20+ years of memories together.