Today's cause of nostalgia is spring-like weather. If you've been reading for a while, you know it really is an almost-daily trigger that leaves me visited by an enormous nostalgia (one of my favorite phrases and pretty much the mantra of my life so far--see?).

When it rains and is warm and stays light out until well after 6:00 PM, I feel hopeful. I always say that I feel like myself at the beginning of autumn, but I guess that's not entirely true. It's the combination of the two. Fall promises that brighter times are coming, and then spring delivers.

It's the beginning of both of these seasons--fall and spring--where I truly feel like the person that I want to be. The productive person who reads and goes running every day, who doesn't feel anxiety, who laughs constantly and spends time with friends and tries to love everyone and eats brunch and drinks Bloody Marys outside on patios on a regular basis.

So when it rains and is warm and stays light out until well after 6:00 PM, I start to think about last year in Charlottesville, with walks around UVA and pistachio milk lattes on the patio of my favorite coffee shop and Sunday mornings at home with Rob.

I think about Farmville, and our undergrad adventures with roommates and friends who made everything fun. I think about Clarissa and Dirty Shirleys with Caroline at one of two of the only bars in town, and the 45-minute drive that Raquel and I used to make just to get dinner from Chipotle.

And next spring, I'll look back at this spring and think about taking my dog downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade and stopping to let every kid we passed pet him, walking around until he was so tired and happy he could barely keep his eyes open on the drive home. I'll look back at the spring on the lake where so much of my life felt like it was in transition, and I'll feel the same way I do each year, but different.

March always feels really hopeful to me. 

I find myself making a list of things to be happy about as spring approaches.

Warmer afternoons with sunny skies.

Flower buds poking here and there out of the earth.

An anniversary coming up and three (three!) visits this month.

Longer days, iced coffee, wedge sandles, and polka-dotted skirts.

Any reason to read and read and read E.E. Cummings' in Just. 

Here's to a bright new season, where the world is puddle-wonderful.

PS I posted almost twice as much as usual this week.
Hope you didn't miss out on some of my favorites here and here and here.

Each Spring and Fall in Virginia, thousands of people dressed in their best Polo, J.Crew, and Lilly Pulitzer flock to a field just outside of Charlottesville, set up plots with tailgating necessities, and proceed to drink heavily all day in the name of some horse races. Obviously, I have always wanted to go. Rob's graduate program at UVA got us a plot and some food, so on Saturday morning we boarded the MS Commerce party bus and made our way to my very first Foxfield experience.

 

From the one race I actually saw.

Sweet Cat. Hi, Cat!

 

Styrofoam coolers ain't that sturdy.

This is Andrew. He went to college with my friends from high school and now is in grad school with Rob. 

Desire and Patrick, my friends-from-home-turned-Charlottesville-neighbors.

I fell asleep on the bus ride home, like many others. Everyone was worn out from a chilly day in the rain, but we had so much fun together. Rob's classmates have always done a fantastic job making me feel like I belong with them. When Rob and I got back to the apartment we changed into warm, dry clothes and headed to our favorite Chinese buffet. Bed time happened extra early that night. I think you know you had a good day when you find yourself calling it a night at 8:30 PM.

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This afternoon we're off to Maryland for the Death Cab show! I couldn't be more excited.

PS There's one more regular ad space left for May. 

Check out my sponsor page and send me a quick email if you want to grab it!

Happy Monday!