Hah.

It’s still winter.  Still.  Winter.  It’s not as bad here in D.C. as some other places – we’re in the odd in-between season where it will snow one day and be 60 degrees the next (yep, that was Monday and Tuesday of this week) – but notwithstanding all that… it’s still winter.  Still grey, and it snowed (just flurries) on Monday.  There are daffodils poking up along my drive home, and a few early cherry trees starting to adorn themselves, and I’m thinking about starting my annual Claritin regimen, but it’s… still winter.

Winter’s last gasps in the mid-Atlantic region aren’t furious or frigid, just dreary, but we still have to get through them every year.  (As E so poetically put it the other day, “March: in like a lion, out like a lion, acts like a lion all month.”)  And while I’m not looking forward to pollen season, I am looking forward to seeing the back of this entire month of drizzle.  In the meantime, here’s what’s getting me through:

• Those daffodils on my drive home.  There are more every day.
• Lavender Earl Grey, brewed in my travel pot at my desk in the mornings.
• Shopping for an Easter dress.  The dress I wanted is no longer available in my size, so now I’m thinking of a colorful top and skirt combination, maybe.
• Speaking of Easter, doing some additional shopping on behalf of Sir Bunny for Peanut’s basket this year.  She’s getting lots of board books about bunnies.
• Really good salads.  Lately I’m loving a combo of mixed greens, chopped red pepper, rolled and chopped cold cuts, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of smoked sea salt.  And maybe some massaged kale on the side.
• The strawberry theme Peanut’s wardrobe has going on right now (guess I was having a craving the day I bought her 6-month clothes).
• Origins Gloomaway body souffle.  But you can’t eat it.
• Good books.  I’m currently back in Fairyland with September and friends, in The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.  And it’s winter-almost-spring there too.
• Big baby smiles and squeals of glee.

What’s keeping you going through the last gasps of winter?