Happliness!

Like many people in the Northern Hemisphere, I look out my window and try to square the weather (finally winter! real snowfall! yay!) with reality (it’s…spring?).

Spring, of course, is a time of transition. It’s winter when it starts and summer when it ends – just as fall begins with those hot September days and ends with winter holidays welcoming back the light. So I’m trying to be happy that this much needed precipitation is here and hope for a slow enough thaw/melt that the ground is able to absorb the water and renew the earth, trees, groundwater, and so on. I guess another way to say it is that I’m trying to have an “April showers bring May flowers” mindset, starting with “Drab March days make way for those April showers.”  Far less catchy but perhaps as true?

I consider myself a homebody, especially during the darker and colder months, but last night I actually went to two fabulous events: a dinner party involving good friends, a great home brew, and a meal that culminated in a chocolate cake with bacon.  It was so incredibly, wonderfully, fantastically awesome. The host collected a suggested donation per plate to go toward the cause explained in the following paragraph.

It was even better than it looks, and it looks pretty flippin’ amazing!

Then Boyfriend and I headed over to a fundraising party in honor of a friend who died nearly two years ago. He was only 33 years old when colon cancer took him away from us. A group of us, including Boyfriend and my kidlets, will be doing a walk/run event raising awareness and money. I’ll post about it another time in more detail as the date for the walk approaches. The point for today’s musings is that a great group of friends got together and raised quite a bit of $, and we all had a blast while we were doing it. Boyfriend’s new favorite activity may very well be “Fun-raising.”

Today would have been the 35th birthday of our friend (if I can do basic math correctly). Between that, the two remarkably fun parties I was at with friends last night, the (pseudo)arrival of spring, and two new freelance writing/design projects coming my way within a week (because of my network of friends and family), my mind is definitely occupied with thoughts of renewal, camaraderie, the wonders of chocolate, bacon, and beer, and what seeds I should be starting for transplanting to the veggie garden.

It’s amazing how blessed I am with my amazing, creative, talented children; my kind, supportive, totally sexy boyfriend; and a group of loyal, funny, also creative and talented friends. I’m incredibly grateful for all of them.

Coming soon:

• A review of the 3rd installment in the Day by Day Armageddon series by J.L. Bourne, Shattered Hourglass;
• Details about the walk/run event and at least two more fun-raising events;
• Hopefully, news that I landed the ghostwriting gig;
• And a post about the WIP I mentioned in my last post, as I actually finished a project! Yay!

For now, off to bring the kiddo’s to their grandparents’ house for spring break. We really will go over some rivers and through the woods, and then 2-3 hours of driving along Lake Superior. This day is perfect for a drive with Mumford and Sons, as well as some quiet time for reflection, planning, and plain old enjoying the spectacular scenery.