Friday was awesome.  I got to go on a date with my husband to a grown up restaurant with linen napkins and a weird guy wearing and ear piece and pan seared ahi.  It was amazingly…quiet.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my dates with my kids.  They’re always fun and exciting, but to get to eat my dinner without picking up a single crayon from the floor was dreamy.  I got to give my husband my full attention and I heard every. word. he. said.  We don’t get to do this much so we really treasure these times together.

We ate at a seafood restaurant downtown (thank you, Groupon) and then went to Extraordinary Desserts to have what I consider to be the best cup of coffee ever and crack cake. We drove with the top down on our car and some lovely gentleman at the bus stop threw a chewed up piece of his cheese burger into our car.  He must not have known that both of us spend all week rehydrating, medicating, and listening to the expletives of men just like him at our jobs.  Oh well.  Moving on…

I drank a vodka martini.  Felt very grown up.

I came across this in our wanderings.  Wish I had thought of it!

We like boots.

This car has no roof!

Oh San Diego…you pretty li’l thing.

This coffee, guys.  Seriously.

Layers of creme brulee between layers of chocolate cake and ganache.  Shut. Up.

Legit.

This picture is me as a mega dork. Why am I standing like that?? Awkward. Photo by James, age 8.

Shirt: Jason Wu for Target// jeans: h&m //ring: f21 //boots: Target

And James’ snap shot of his favorite babysitter.

With a mom who is having a hard time kicking a nasty cough, things have been a bit low key around here. The sights and sounds of mother are not so cute these days.  Picture hacking cough, puffing inhaler, watery eyes (Liam says, “why are your eyes sweating, Mom?”). Nice. We’ve been staying close to home but having our little moments nonetheless.  There are things all around that have been distracting in a positive way since a major part of me wants to wallow in my crappy physical state.  Can’t imagine what would happen if I had pneumonia or something serious.  What a big baby!

Anyway, here are some of the little bits of happiness happening around here:

Things are blooming in the garden all over the place.  It is so fun to go out and look every morning.

This old guy is still with us and I am grateful for every day…even when he throws up on my pajama pants or has nighttime incontinence.  Geriatric dogs have the same issues as geriatric people, you know, but he’s the world’s best dog and I love him a ton.

My boys love to collect rocks for “mom’s rock collection.” Liam gets them out and makes me pick favorites and we talk all about them. The growing pile drives my husband crazy so that makes it even more funny.

This girl is loves reading.  I can’t even describe how James and Mad’s love of reading makes me feel.  Mike and I both love to read and the fact that they are always sitting with their freckled noses in books is so awesome.  The baby is loving it too.  He has heard a ton of new stories since Mad checks a book out of the school library every single day.  SO cute! Liam and I have been thrifting some good books lately too which is an awesome way to spend a few bucks.  I’ll pass on the caramel macchiato and buy some old dusty books any day.

This is a fuzzy iphone pic but Liam has been drawing the cutest guinea pigs lately.  I can’t get enough.

This is the time of year when everyone gives me their citrus surplus.  They are beautiful and smell so good.  Of course, I took a picture before I put it in my tea.

I found a little time to paint/draw. This is something I used to make more time for before my life became overrun with other things.  I’m not so great but it’s a creative outlet that has assisted me in some really difficult times so it’s pretty important to me.

So those are some of our “little bits of happiness” around here lately.  Thanks to Mrs. Stephanie T for the link up opportunity.  It is so good to stop and take a closer look at life and find those little things that make you feel good.