rays of sunshine

it has been a hellish two weeks. but even though work and school are completely maxing out my stress levels, there is still beauty and love and cheer to be found.

for example:

• walking into my cozy little apartment and seeing my cute little family (husband+cat one+cat two) all snuggled together on the living room couch. 
• using a teaching strategy i'm learning about in lab with one of my students successfully. there's nothing like the look on a kid's face once they realize that they totally understand what they were struggling with previously.
• aromatherapy (specifically this and this and this)
• any time jimmy fallon does a lip sync battle. the most recent one with paul rudd is especially amazing.
• this song has been my work commute pump up song the past week. i really didn't like this album too much on the first listen, but it has really grown on me and i listen to it every time i'm in the car. GROOVY.
• last saturday, t, karl, and i went to the dollar sale at randy's and we got some pretty great stuff. i am particularly excited about finding ELO's album "out of the blue." i blasted "mr. blue sky" the second we got home. we also went to a couple of my favorite spots like vosen's bread paradise (where i got the most incredible croissant-dubliner hyrbid pastry. OUT OF THIS WORLD.) and falafel etc. it was such a great day and it made me want to go to slc more often.
• there is a four year-old fashion designer and she and her mom are crazy awesome. 

what's making you happy these days?

let's all hope this week is better than the last couple of weeks!