1. Morning walks. Yesterday was so cold, only 6 degrees out, but that also meant instead of walking through our neighborhood, where not everyone had shoveled the sidewalks and there was ice and that’s not good for Sam because the two times he’s hurt himself it was slipping in the snow or on the ice, we drove to the park and walked on the trail by the river, (which the city is really good about keeping clear of ice and snow without using a bunch of salt, which is bad for the dogs’ feet). I hadn’t been able to do that for a few months and was so happy to see it, hear it.

2. Permission to turn down the volume. I don’t want to say too much about this because I think there’s a whole blog post there I might write later, but the short version is that there is so much suffering in the world right now and I’ve allowed it to get too close, to fill me up, and that’s not helpful to anyone, and when I get overwhelmed, it’s okay to take a break. Sometimes that looks like having donut holes with your coffee.

3. Winter. We are getting more snow this week. To be honest, other than the gray skies and no garden and sometimes treacherous conditions for walking and driving, I prefer the fall and winter in Colorado over spring and summer. And yet, before the first snow came this week, we had a few days in the 60s, and that did have me longing for warmer weather and green.

What a difference a day can make

4. Practice. I’ve been writing a bit more about this lately, as I’m working on a book and a class about cultivating practice: what is it, how do you start and sustain it, what are the benefits and contraindications, etc.

5. Good food. Whenever Eric posts pictures of what he cooks on his Facebook page, people gush about how amazing it is, how amazing he is, so after he posted a picture of the tiny pies he made this week, I had to counter with a picture of the biscuits I made, just in case people might start thinking he’s the only one who cooks yummy stuff.

6. My tiny family. Sam is so sweet and I love that he’s in such good shape, as he is now officially the oldest dog we’ve ever had and he seems like he’s got another couple of good years left in him yet. Ringo seems to really like having me at home more during the day, is much more likely to look to me for attention even when Eric is home too. And Eric, well he’s my favorite person on the planet.

Bonus joy: Getting all the laundry done, candy, big fat fluffy snowflakes, warm cheesy biscuits, toast with butter and marionberry jam, sitting under my heating pad and favorite blanket on the couch, reading, listening to podcasts, a warm shower, making Eric laugh, cancelled plans, the ink refills for my new pen being back in stock, soft pajamas, taking off my bra, reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep, baby animals.

1. Morning walks. We are upping Sam’s distance, which meant flipping the walk this morning, going backwards, which always feels so strange after days and days of the same route. I still haven’t been to the river in weeks and I miss it.

2. Another Lincoln Center date with Eric. I didn’t really know anything about the musical we were seeing, and it was one of those that (at least for me) didn’t really hold up, meaning “back in the day” it was meant to be a romantic story (I think), but it didn’t seem romantic to me at all, most likely because the way we (or rather I) view love between a man and woman now is different (as in women have choices, their own desires and goals that don’t need to be secondary to marriage or a man). The choreography and dancing, however, were gorgeous.

3. “Joy is my choreographer.” The new Maria Bamford comedy special, Weakness is the Brand, is out and I watched it the other day — SO GOOD. She’s just so awesome and weird.

4. We got our new rugs put down. I really like them, and they are a nice backdrop for super cute pictures of the dogs.

5. My tiny family. There’s nothing I love more than hanging out with them at home — cooking, napping, watching TV.

“Can we haz some pizza?”

Picture #1: Wow, Jill’s dogs really love her.

Picture #2: Nah, my dogs just really love cheesy snacks.

Bonus joy: Good TV (I’m finishing up Ghost Bride on Netflix, and even though it is SO different from the story in the book, it was really good), pay day, hanging out with Mikalina, tickets for an Andrea Gibson show, teaching yoga, clean pjs, a warm shower, sitting on my new couch under my heating pad and a blanket, therapy, writing, reading in bed at night while Eric and the dogs sleep.