Two years ago this week, we were in Virginia getting ready for our wedding.

It had rained Monday through Thursday and I was trying not to panic about our outdoor ceremony being muddy. It ended up being one of those perfect spring weekends, though, where the rain cools everything down and then clears up and it's 70 degrees and sunny and the whole world smells like fresh-cut grass and rainfall. 

This weekend it rained again. We packed. I wrote for hours. We spent two hours loading the car and bringing things over to our new house. And then we returned to the apartment, popped a small bottle of Veuve Clicquot, poured two glasses, and got ready for dinner at Kindred, our favorite place in North Carolina. We ordered drinks and tore into the best bread you could imagine and giggled as our server brought out plate after plate: a beautiful little salad, duck fat potatoes, crispy fried oysters, beef tartare, and homemade pasta.

We left the restaurant in the rain and drove about 15 minutes down the road to where my mom was for the weekend. A quick hug on the sidewalk, and then it was back to Kindred to sit at the bar for a pisco sour and a slice of cake, which came out with a lit candle. I blew it out with Rob's hand in mine and thought about what wishes I could possibly even have at this point.

We have so many changes and transitions coming up that at times it feels like I can't keep my head above water, but we have a happy, healthy family; a sweet pup that brightens our day, exciting job opportunities presenting themselves to us regularly, and; no matter what, each other.

On Sunday we drove over to our new place and I cooked lunch and dinner in the kitchen. Rob sat at the kitchen table watching the NBA Playoff and my mom puttered around, unpacking dishes and folding linens. Ender went in and out as he pleased, frolicking through the fenced-in backyard like he couldn't even believe his luck.

May really can be magical.

Currently feeling this song, on repeat.

Lately I've been astonished at how little it takes for me to feel really good. A clean bathroom. Fresh flowers in the kitchen. Putting the laundry away after I fold it. The other day I vacuumed our living room and opened all the windows before bed, and when I woke up I walked through the apartment feeling like a new person.

I think a lot of it is just relief after my biopsy two weeks ago. So much of my life this past year or two has been about worrying, and I'm finally starting to let that go. It's coinciding perfectly with the onset of some truly gorgeous spring weather. Shaking out the dust. Feeling the sun on my shoulders. I'm awake.

Sometimes I think we can go through so much that we have trouble finding a new normal. But gratitude is a good place to start.

Happy Friday, friends.

I shared all these photos on Instagram this weekend, but I couldn't resist putting them in a collage and posting them here on the blog today. We had no plans this weekend other than driving to Davidson for some paint, but somehow we ended up having the dreamiest weekend. I think lunch at Kindred just does that to you. 

Spring is in the air and it is seriously lovely. There's something about those chilly wet mornings and warmer afternoons that bring me right back to my college days, when Rob and I first met and I was reading Shakespeare every day and listening to a lot of Taylor Swift.

Now there are walls to paint and pups to walk and long fancy lunches to enjoy. Life is good in March.

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”

— Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast