The pressure is off

I feel relieved. Why? I shall give you three reasons:

1. It snowed last night.

Which means that schools were closed today. Which means that I had one more day of my super-husband slash baby-daddy home to make my life easier.

Do you ever feel like you have so many undone projects that you just don't even know which to start finishing? And then they just pile on top of you and get heavier and heavier like a big load of blankets? And then you think, hey, these blankets are kinda warm... maybe I will just take a nap under here... Today I dug out from under the blankets, both in a literal laundry sense and a figurative every-other-project sense. I got so much checked off of my personal and business to-do lists today and now I have much more clarity to deal with the remaining items. Big sigh of relief.



2. It snowed last night.

Because we had an awesomely snowtastic winter last year, I've felt slightly cheated by our average snowfall this winter. And then this past Friday it was 70 degrees and it really was lovely, but I got a little panicky. Is winter over? It's only February. What is going on? Should I be ready for spring? Do I need to plant some flowers? I'm still trying to figure out how dead LAST year's flowers are. They look pretty dead on my porch, but who can be sure? Do I need to buy some sunscreen? Change my closet? I don't even know what strange new summer fashion trends I need to avoid. Is summer going to last for TEN MONTHS THIS YEAR?

And then, ahhhhhh. A fresh batch of snow set everything right again. The world is as it should be and I feel perfectly content now to begin the gradual transition to warmer days. And also, my dead[ish?] plants are covered in fluffy whiteness so I don't have to see them. Win.



3. It snowed last night.

And not only did I take some pictures in the park today, I am sharing them with you right now. This may surprise you. Have I mentioned that I am loving the Instagr.am app on my iPhone these days? It's super un-fancy, like me, and makes my iPhone photo of the week more fun (and more likely to happen)! I follow a pretty strict policy of only downloading free iPhone apps, and this one is well worth the $0.00 I spent on it.

I have such a perfectionism problem feeling that I have to edit every image I shoot- even just snapshots- which is why I have a backlog of personal photos from September hiding on my computer. But because there aren't endless editing options and adjustments in Instagr.am, I just take a picture with my phone, choose one effect, and boom- a fun, square picture is born. I literally can't do anything else to it, so the pressure is totally gone. It somehow makes me happy that the images aren't, and can't be, perfect. I need to be ok will a little more imperfection in my life.

So while the rest of Maryland pouts that the snow came and ruined their pretty spring weekend, I'm a little sad that it's been melting so quickly. Tonight I take a deep breath and go to sleep feeling much lighter. Thank you snow.