Green

This time of year, I love driving around anywhere I can be surrounded by trees.

I'm lucky, because it's not too hard to find a tree-lined lane where I live.

At one point, I had a 30-minute commute during which I mainly managed to stay on windy lanes where the trees connected across the street, forming canopies overhead.

There's something about those streets that feels safe and enveloping. Almost room-like. The color adds to it, for sure.

This time of year, everything is in shades of ultra-bright green and unfurling with hope, before the July sun has sapped its strength.

Everyone who knows me well thinks I love the month of May simply because my birthday is during this month, but it's more than that.

The greenness of it, the newness, makes celebrating the passing of another year all the more meaningful.

Grace, Issue 47

1. Three days off, one day on, one day off, two days on, two days off.
2. Reconnecting with a former colleague who I'd always enjoyed working with.
3. Seeing the little smiley-faced box in which my Mom stashed one of my birthday gifts--and realizing that I crack up each time I look at it.
4. Enjoying the glide of a new pen over the pages of a Moleskine, cracked open for just this occasion.
5. Eating a pack of M&Ms and not feeling the least bit guilty about it (yet).

Brand New Bag

Even as a toddler, I was obsessed with purses. Whenever my mom got rid of an old pocketbook and let me play with it, I was in heaven. The best ones had multiple pockets and zippers and tiny hideaway compartments.

There's probably some tie-in with obsessing over the trappings of grownup-hood - after all, at three, I came downstairs one morning and announced I was ready for school, clad in footie pajamas and sporting a briefcase. (Thankfully, my fashion choices have evolved a little, since then.)

But procuring a new handbag just as summer starts? Divine.

Over the weekend, I found one in a kickin' color, a roomy style with cute details. Like little perforations reminiscent of spectator pumps. And a zany, flowered lining that reminds me of my maternal grandmother for some reason.

Best of all, it was on deep-deep sale.

Grace: Issue 46, Good Day, Sunshine

It's amazing what can happen when you just put it out there, into the world, that you need a reset. Because today, the stars aligned and everything sorted itself out.

1. A weekly deadline was met with little drama and smiles all around.
2. Coworkers and I hit a favorite lunch spot for laughs and a break.
3. Actually got to leave work at the pre-holiday early-dismissal time, rather than being stuck tying up loose ends.
4. Got in and out of the grocery store in record time.
5. Came home to find one of my favorite magazines waiting for me in the mail.

Lull!

As rambunctious teenagers, my friends and I would while away hours just talking about nothing.

So Jerry Seinfeld's show didn't seem that far a stretch, in a way a funnier, more urbane version of what we did on a daily basis. That, and they were generally harsher and snarkier than we were.

(My friends have more heart than Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine combined.)

Even during the longest of bull sessions, once in a while the conversation would spiral to a halt.

Until someone would cry out: "Lull!"

It broke whatever tension or lack of inspiration there was, made us laugh, and triggered some other topic, just by virtue of pointing out we'd run out of things to discuss.

It was a Reset button for the conversation.

That's sort of how I've been feeling lately: halted, uninspired, and in need of a reset.

So this long holiday weekend is arriving just in time. Meeting a girlfriend in the city for some catch-up chat, having family over for a barbeque.

Far from a Lull, it should be just the reset I need.

Grace, Issue 45 - The Mom Chronicles

1. They soothe our ruffled feathers.
2. Lend an ear when we're wronged or worried.
3. Show us what's what.
4. Encourage us to be fearless by providing support for even the riskiest endeavors.
5. And love us all the more at the end of the day.

Fabulous Friday

What does it say that I wake up on Mondays, slog through my morning routine, jump back into the rat race, and then suddenly I look up and, it's Friday?

I guess it means my work is engaging enough that time goes by quickly...

Or, that I'm not paying enough attention to the things that really enrich my life.

The rain that drenched us all week seems to have moved on, and now it's sunny and crisp this morning, just like spring ought to be.

Flowers are looking good and there are still blossoms on all the trees, from the weeping willows, to cherry trees to magnolias.

Amidst the stresses of the day, the work crises and the family obligations, I need to remind myself to to stop and pay attention to the beauty that's all around.