Maybe this seems silly, or maybe it seems like it's not actually a thing, but it's totally a thing, at least in my house. We have tea in the afternoons. I absolutely love having a fancy little tea party at home with my mom or one of my girlfriends.

Giving up milk was really hard for me at first, because I was both an avid latte and tea-with-sugar-and-cream drinker. Black tea and black coffee just didn't do it for me at first, but after a little bit of training and a whole lot of time and commitment and espresso shots, I was fine with it.

The trick to changing a habit is to make the new habit really special. I do that with my mom's beautiful bone china tea set and really good local honey. And then one day I discovered So Delicious' Coconut Milk Creamer, and it was like the part of me that used to love milk had died and finally made it to dairy-free heaven.

YOU WILL NEED

+ tea

(lately I've been loving this vanilla rooibos)

+ coconut milk

(get the kind that comes in a little carton like half & half)

+ local honey

(we get ours at the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op)

+ a Paleo treat or two (try these cookies)

  

It's pretty simple. But it can totally make your day better.

Who wants to come over for a cup?

This weekend felt a little longer than normal because of the snow we got. I worked from home on Friday and had dinner with a couple of friends, spent a lot of time with my sweet old dog, watched some Mad Men with my dad, actually went to mass with my mom on Sunday followed by coffee and breakfast, did a tiny bit of shopping, and saw Life of Pi in the theater with my parents on Sunday afternoon. That movie is amazing. Now I need to get my hands on the book.

The days were quiet and relaxing and just what I needed to reassure me that not seeing Rob as much on the weekends anymore might not always be great, but it isn't going to be impossible. (By the way, thank you all so much for your love and support in regard to my soon-to-be-even-longer-distance relationship. You guys are the best.)

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A few random things for you today:

I wrote an open letter to Rihanna and it's on HelloGiggles.

I'm selling some stuff from my closet here. 

There are clothes and wallets and bags and jewelry. 

I'll be adding some jeans in the next few days, too!

I'll be making a more formal call for sponsors next week, but I do have openings for February.

You can check it out right here. (The featured ad space is available!)

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I hope you have a great Monday!

Rob is flying to Minnesota this morning to look at apartments.

I think it was late November when it first came up--there was a huge opportunity for him in St. Paul, and the project would give him a ton of experience, and the company really wanted him to do it. It was exciting, and I was so proud of him, and they want him to start on February 4th, and it didn't really feel real until last week.

It was equal parts fear and denial that kept me from saying anything, both here and in my daily life. I mentioned it to a handful of people when I needed to talk about it, but that was it. I've learned, after almost six months of being apart and having great jobs in different cities, that too many people ask me too many times, what are you doing; what's your plan?

What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm at work. And we're making it work.

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing and it didn't stop until late last night, and I cuddled up on the couch by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and tried not to think about how fun these nights usually are when you aren't alone.

My office is opening late this morning, so I took a walk with my dog through the dusting that's already starting to melt. I thought about the snow here, and the snow in Minnesota, and my Rob, and how this is going to be really hard, but eventually really good. With hope and faith and love and boots and Dividend Miles, we'll figure it out.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost