1. Only 10.5 more weeks at CSU! It is going so fast now. I’m already 2/3 of the way through my final semester. Sure, there will be people I’ll miss and it’s nice to have my own office somewhere away from home but still close to home and the benefits are way better than I’ll have working for myself, but every day something happens to remind me why I’m leaving, ensures me that this is the very best choice for me.

2. Good food. I made bran muffins with dried raspberries and finally tried the Sweet Potato Black Bean Hash recipe I’d been wanting to for quite some time.

3. Teaching yoga. It’s been almost 4.5 years now that I’ve been teaching. Doing my 500 hour certification and teaching a new regular class has really grown my confidence and love for teaching, for practice, for holding space and caring for other people.

“Dad’s home, Dad’s home!”

4. A free rental car. I finally called Toyota last week and made it very clear that no matter how much work they were doing to repair the hail damage on my car, two months was excessive and I needed my car back a.s.a.p. They have probably another 2-4 weeks before they finish it, so they offered to rent me a car until it was done. After going without, having to negotiate my schedule and movement with Eric’s, it feels like pure freedom to just be able to get in my car anytime I want and go anywhere I want.

5. My tiny family. Sam is doing really good, running some and seeming to tolerate it, to the point I’m going to ask at his next physical therapy appointment if we can start weaning him off the pain medication he’s on. Ringo has been so good, finally seems like a grown-up dog at five years old. Eric and I have both been super busy with work and other commitments, and it’s so good to get in bed at night and cuddle, to know no matter how hard things get, he’s always a soft place to land.

Bonus joy: finishing a big project, free lunch, enough snow to make things look pretty but not enough to make it too hard to get around, sleeping in, a massage, good books (I just started Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights – poets write the best non-fiction), writing and giggling with Chloe’ and Mikalina, Pilates and giggling with Ashley and Carrie, getting back in the pool, a whole weekend off, going to breakfast with Stacey and Heather, being able to get new phones when we need them, good TV and movies (I did a 7 day free trial of Starz so Eric and I could watch the new Jumanji movie, which was so funny, and I started watching Girlfriend Experience, which is a TV show but feels like a multiple hour thriller film, so creepy and compelling, and I also finished season three of One Day at a Time on Netflix), practicing writing and meditation first thing in the morning.

1. Love. The above might just be the biggest kitchen counter love note Eric has ever made me, (that’s an 8 x 10 sheet of paper). My present to him was pretty good too – an entire case of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. The joke is that my friend is a troop leader so she has a full wall of cookies in her dining room and Eric finds that hilarious, and that for Eric a serving size of Thin Mints is a full sleeve, so I got him a whole case in the original box. Our favorite thing to gift each other is something that can be a joke at the same time it’s an awesome present, like the year I bought him a case of 700 dog poop bags or when he bought me a tiny wireless keyboard to use as a “remote” for our TV, (it has a computer hooked up to it and that’s how we watch “TV” on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube).

2. 11 and a half weeks left at CSU!!! It’s going so fast. And I’m so ready, so done.

3. Teaching yoga. Because the one place I teach regularly is a veterinary clinic and one of the other places I sub is a gym that doesn’t really take yoga that seriously, I need to supply most or all of the props, which means at this point I have a portable yoga studio. I got to teach twice during Valentine’s Day week, and that was extra fun, to focus on the love and attention we give ourselves as we practice, and how that follows us off the mat and we are softer, kinder to others because of it.

4. Flowers in the bathroom. When it’s tulips, once they start to get all droopy is the best.

5. The amazing vet care in Fort Collins. I had a few reasons to think about this recently – Ringo had to go to the emergency vet for medicine for pink eye (our regular vet couldn’t get him in until the end of the week and we didn’t want to wait), he also had to go for his check up at the CSU vet hospital (getting the medicine for his ears sorted, he has a tiny allergy), and it was the anniversary of when Obi was diagnosed with lymphoma ten years ago. I have access to some of the best care in the country for my dogs, whether it is their regular vet, emergency vet, physical therapy vet, hospital, cancer care, or end of life care. I feel really lucky.

He has pink eye, was giving me the stink eye.

Hiding under the table at the dermatologists.

Sweet Obi, on one of his last hikes after he got diagnosed with lymphoma.

The very last picture of Obi. After I took this, I dropped and broke my camera (this was before smart phones), and he died the next day.

One of the last pictures of Sam and Dexter together.

6. My tiny family. We get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but we would rather be together than apart.

Sam sometimes helps me meditate.

I got up to go to the bathroom and they stole my spot.

From our walk this morning.

7. Morning and afternoon walks. I only got to do one morning walk this week, but I got to go in the afternoon a few times.

Bonus joy: my infrared heating pad, good TV (I just finished Russian Doll on Netflix and Pen15 on Hulu, both really good), a tall glass of clean cold water, getting the laundry done on Friday, a whole weekend off (with my yoga teacher training, these have been few and far between), computer glasses, hanging out with Mikalina, walking with Chloe’, texting with my brother, emails from my mom, napping, molasses, being able to work from home, sweet potatoes, down pillows and blankets.