Hello! Happy Friday!

It’s been a good week here, but a fast one. As we cruise into the last weeks of school, the days are passing so quickly. Very soon, our schedules will relax and our morning rush will be but a memory. I thought I might be the mom who mourns the end of the school year, but I can’t wait until summer vacation stretches out before us.

Here are five things on my mind this week:

1.Tulips. They are my new obsession. I got a bouquet of them over the weekend, and their gradual opening throughout the week has been breathtaking. I bought another bouquet of them to take to Adopted California Mom yesterday, and she had another bouquet of them on her kitchen table. They are so elegant and pure and minimal and striking all at the same time. (I also got a bouquet of pink carnations for Mother’s Day, and I love how they look in the vase all together on our dining table.)

2. The power of scent. A few weeks ago, BG and I stopped by Bath & Body Works for our annual stock up on hand-sanitizer – “magic soap” as she calls it. I keep a huge stash of PocketBac bottles in my glove compartment. Now, I’m not a crazy germaphobe, but I do like having yummy smelling disinfectant at the ready. (Confession: years ago, I read No More Dirty Looks and I went all natural on many products, so you can call this a guilty pleasure.) On stock-up day, I let BG pick out the scents she wanted. Her favorite was Raspberry Pink Peony. The moment she squirted a drop in her hand (it smells like Sun-Ripened Raspberry from the 90s), I was immediately transported to spring of my senior year of high school. I had torn my second ACL and spent Spring Break recovering from surgery. Sweet friends brought get-well gifts – candy, games, and gift baskets from Bath & Body Works. I spent my days lounging on my parents’ bed, eating giant handfuls of Reese’s Pieces, using my new lotions, and flipping the remote between MTV,VH1, and Christopher Lowell on The Discovery Channel. Sun-Ripened Raspberry is the scent of recovery to me. Just like Cucumber Melon is the girls from Drama taking smoke breaks between scenes, attempting to mask the smell, Freesia is the summer I worked in the mall at Northern Reflections, and Juniper Breeze is college. (This summer, they are bringing some old scents back!)

3. This quote.

4. The happiest people in the world. “Danes feel empowered to be able to change something in their life if they don’t like it.” Shouldn’t we all?

5. Made me chuckle. And also? She is my hero.