Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Lately life has been a little bit chaotic. The stresses of schoolwork, my job, trying to sell my condo, and a bunch of other things (Like moving! to Alabama! ... more on that soon) are starting to pile up and make me a little ... testy.

When I start to feel overwhelmed, I take a deep breath and think about the things that make me calm. Like the beautiful Christmas tree that we put up this past weekend. (Thanks for the help Aunt M and Kate!)



The topmost strand of lights has already burned out. Normally I would pick all the ornaments off the top half of my tree, remove the garland, and carefully extract the bum strand — and replace it with a new set.

This year? SCREW IT.

These have been helping with the work chaos ...



... They're from Dr P, just because he's sweet and knows I'm a complete stress case. They smell divine.

And, of course, there's my dear sweet baby girl ...



... who was ever so delightful from the minute she woke up this morning — wrapping her arms around me and whispering, "I love you really much mama."... Reminding me of how lucky I am to have her.