FLOWERS!

They are blooming!

We go on walks and just sit and look at them and Solvi waves at them from her stroller. There is at least a 99% chance that newly-blooming flowers can save us all right now.

How are you all doing?

We just got word that Minnesota’s stay at home order is now extended for another two weeks. What is the situation where you live?

Can you get outside? Are you feeling heavy and dull (been there) or is spring slowly lifting your mood like it is for many of us here in Minnesota?

Here’s a recap on our week in quarantine.

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Overall

Honestly I didn’t really think this day would come, but here I am reporting that overall this week in quarantine was really… actually… GOOD!

A big, big, big part of that was that it was my birthday this week, and even though I didn’t get to do the normal fun stuff I would have liked to do on my birthday, I still got a day that included a lot of my favorite things: donuts, migas, a mocha, a nap before noon, a long uninterrupted shower, zero dishwashing, a bouquet of flowers, a visit from my parents (more on that in a second), pad thai and spring rolls for dinner, and a big ol slice of chocolate cake. It was relaxing and happy. The best kind of birthday.

Also helping the overall state of affairs this week: THE WEATHER. Round of applause, please, for sun and warmer temps. It’s bringing my heart and soul back to life.

Something Delicious

A) Eating outside. Anything right now is better when it can be outside.

B) This is a grilled sausage and peppers situation. The Italian chicken sausages are from ALDI (well, everything is from ALDI) and I’m going to do a post about this later in a more normal bun situation. But on this particular night I got a little rowdy and decided to try grilling some garlic naan and folding our sausage and peppers into that? Yeah, I don’t know. It was really messy but SO good. I’ll have a recipe for this coming soon, but until then… sausage, peppers, aioli, and carb vehicle of choice.

What are your favorite grill recipes? This is now my little nightly backyard restaurant and I am hungry for ideas.

Something Outside

$7.99 pool for the win!

Also for the win: a watermelon popsicle on a 70 degree and sunny day.

I am living for the warm weather life right now. Did I mention that already?

Something Connected

My parents came by for my birthday! YAY!

I haven’t seen them in person for… I don’t even know. Weeks. Lots of weeks. A long time. After they sang to me in the driveway, they eventually took off their masks and sat with us on the deck in lawn chairs 6 feet apart.

They made faces at Solvi that had her rolling with laughter, and we sliced off a piece of our store-bought cake to share with them.

And it wasn’t ideal but it was so, so, so wonderful. It reminded me how good it is to be together. I just can’t wait for PEOPLE.

A Sage Photo

Certifiably angelic.

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Even if everything else in life is hard, I have one good thing to say which is… we made it to the end of another week!

And even though the weekends kind of just look the same as the weekdays, maybe this weekend you (and me) can carve out some time – like, what feels reasonable, 30 minutes? 2 hours? depends on how needy your kids and animals and various other people are – to just do something that makes you happy. Bake muffins. Go for a walk. Sit outside in a chair in the sun and stare off into the distance. (That’s what I’ll be doing.)

I’d love to hear your quarantine reports in the comments!

Sending lots of joy for the good days, grace for the really bad days, and all the patience we can muster from our quarantine to yours. ♡

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