1. Flowers in the bathroom. Those two white ones though…*swoon*

2. Morning walks. I’m loving all the bird song. This week really felt like it was finally spring here.

3. Only 6.5 more weeks of work at CSU!!! I had a bit of a meltdown this week. Something small triggered it, the straw that broke the camel’s back. Even though I’m leaving CSU on fairly good terms, there’s some grief and rage I’m processing too. Being at my breaking point was actually a good thing, and I felt so much better about everything when I went into work the next day.

4. This guy. He needed a new head shot the other day for an award ceremony he’s going to, so he asked me to take one really quick after got back from walking the dogs. I think I’m the only one who knows him well enough to know some of those freckles on his forehead are actually dirt from the walk. He’s a good one – made me bran muffins while I was at yoga teacher training, held me and talked me through it while I melted down, and urged me to do something that would be good for me when I was considering skipping it because it “cost too much.”

5. My two boys. Sam is doing really well lately, walked almost eight miles the other day and didn’t wreck himself. And Ringo is as big of a jerk, comedian, and cuddler as always.

Bonus joy: Hanging out with Mikalina, bran muffins with dried raspberries that I didn’t even have to make, pizza, getting enough sleep, knowing that lowering the bar is a perfectly viable option, having the money I need to take care of myself, yoga teacher training, fresh squeezed orange juice, good TV (am finishing up part two of The OA, so weird and good), getting the laundry done on Friday, grocery shopping.

1. Flowers in the bathroom. The way the light hit them one afternoon was especially nice.

2. Signs of spring. Crocuses blooming, birds singing in the morning, the dogs lounging in the backyard.

3. Morning walks. This past week, we’ve had to reroute a lot for the deer since we are out in the dark again. They can be so stubborn and unafraid, don’t want to move (or maybe they are afraid and their instinct says to freeze, stay still and hope nobody sees them), and with the dogs I can’t get too close.

4. Spring break. It was lovely being home this week, resting and hanging out. We had plans to do some fun stuff but Eric got food poisoning and has been on the couch for the past few days. It’s going to be so hard to go back to work, but only 7.5 more weeks!

5. My tiny family. That includes the ones here and the ones gone — Obi and Dexter, our shadow dogs.

Baby Sam and sweet Dexter, nine years ago

Ringo, Dexter’s echo dog

Bonus joy: Dinner and ice cream with Stacey and Heather, listening to Put Your Hands Together while lounging, reading on my Kindle at night while the boys sleep, my little rental car, meditating and writing in the morning, sleeping in, staying in my pjs all day, grilled cheese sandwiches, an amazing loaf of sourdough bread given to me by one of my yoga students, having last weekend off from yoga teacher training, dinner with Chelsey and Jon, heated car seats when it’s cold outside and you are eating ice cream, toast with butter and marionberry jam.