1. I think I'm allergic to Virginia. Cal too. Neel a little but less than us. It's not all phlox and tulips around here. See all that yellow on my porch (You're all so polite, I'm sure you're ignoring the chipped paint, yes?)? Pine pollen. They say that it's not the pine that makes us sneeze or gives us headaches. It's the stuff we can't see. Still, it's nice to have something tangible to blame. Pretty soon we'll see clouds of it blowing through the air, I kid you not. Neel was driving home last night in what he thought was evening fog. It was pollen.

2. I think it's been an odd week. Filled with struggle and delight. Callum's had a rough go, lots of little annoying things adding up (Like his backpack left in the car that he carpools in. He called me from the parking lot at school, "I can see it in there, but their car is locked." Panic. Fortunately he's a good student, and his teachers gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him turn in Wednesday's homework on Thursday.) And reentry is hard. As much as we try to not "do chores" during our weekends, it's our time to catch up, and having company on back to back weekends takes a toll on the laundry and the house and the groceries. Add to that how hard it is to see everyone go. And yet, I got to have some fun too. Lunch with a girlfriend I hadn't seen in ages. We left with the sense that it had been too long and we needed to do it more often. A return to warm temperatures has been such a relief. Even if it has been a bit too warm. Let me just say, it was nice to watch a baseball game where I wasn't huddled in on myself.

3. I think I'm so grateful to Heather over at Heather B design for recommending The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. You can read a great review of it on her blog, along with suggestions for two other books I'm going to try, so I won't do that here. All I'll say is that I pretty much read it in one sitting and was fascinated from stem to stern. I have some habits that I'd dearly love to change and this book might be the key to figuring out how. What do Superbowl winning coach Tony Dungy, Febreeze and Starbucks have in common? Go read The Power of Habit to find out.

4. I thinkErin and Theresa have both written such thoughtful posts about giving back lately. I think about this a lot. I do some. I volunteer in our local and state politics, but, really, I think more than I do. And then I spend a lot of time daydreaming about all the wonderful volunteer experiences I'm going to have. So clearly it's time to do more than think. Or write a check. But I do agree with Theresa that sometimes the best I can do is tend to my family. And sometimes part of tending my family is showing them that I do more. I have some ideas about where I'd like to do some more, so now I just need to get past the dreaming and onto the doing. Seems simple enough, right?

5. I think that this is a weekend I've looked forward to for a long time. Like, uh, November, maybe. Sneaking away for a bit with some of my favorite girlfriends, for barely 24 hours and yet it's just what we all need right now. We have a food and drink email chain that's nearing 60 messages long, and we're literally, literally counting down the minutes until we scoot out of town Saturday morning. I'm sure you're all looking forward to your own weekends; I just know you are, but it can't be half as much as I am looking forward to mine.