“It's Spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” 

- Mark Twain

Perhaps that is why I took pictures of Asparagus today. Perhaps that is why I felt compelled to look at each tender and verdant, purple tinged stalk as though it were the loveliest thing I had seen in a very long time.

Because I am feverish and longing for Spring.

One of the sweet little Valentine Sugar Cookies we took to a lovely afternoon tea party this week.

Banana Bread

Yes, it’s Paleo. Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. Yes, the recipe is below…

http://comfybelly.com/2012/03/banana-bread-using-coconut-almond-flour/#.UvOkPnldUpF

My drying rosebuds. Looking all modern and geometric...

This week...

...was apricot roses just because and spectating at intense Curling matches, taking down the Christmas tree and early morning farewell breakfasts, dinner out with new friends and frosted window panes, the last of Grandpa's apples made into pale golden applesauce and the full moon turning our backyard snow into a field of glittering diamonds...

Homemade Calendula oil.

Marigold flowers steeping in Safflower oil on my window sill.

Catching just the faintest glimmer of winter sun.

Well, the New Year has officially started. The Christmas decorations are down, the onslaught of parties finally over, Kindergarten is back in full swing and it's about time I got around to implementing all my newly made resolutions.

Here's a few of the things on my list...

Instead of reading through the Bible again this year I've decided to change things up by listening to the Bible. We'll see if that enables me to catch things I've never paid much attention to before.

My long, oh so tangle-prone hair has not done well since moving into this house with it's old plumbing and oftentimes rust colored water. So I have decided to try washing with filtered water. In an effort to hopefully calm things down.

For way too long now I have been falling into bed at night in ratty sweatshirts and stretched out yoga pants. So I will be endeavoring to sleep in actual pajamas. At least for 2014.

Last year I somehow managed to read 91 books. (Don't ask. I'm still not quite sure how it happened. But the thing is we don't have cable. And if the wind is blowing or a bird is flying or there's a leaf somewhere on our backyard trees our antenna does not work and we don't have digital TV either...so...you know, I read.) This year we'll see if I can break into triple digits. I'm already well on my way. Starting with, of course, Jane Austen.

I plan to get plenty of Magnesium this year. I. Mean. Plenty.

And then there's the usual and reoccurring items 'drink more water, go to bed before midnight, commit to a regular Yoga schedule, take a thousand walks...' that appear on my list every year. And ebb and flow with my discipline as the weeks and months unfold.

But I think the biggest thing on my list this year is grace.

For myself and all I struggle with as a wife, a mother, a friend, a sister and a daughter. And grace for everyone else. Even the people that fail to use their turn signal.

In the past keeping a list of resolutions or goals or "to-dos" meant stress. Meant perceiving myself as a failure when life got in the way of my plans and priorities. This year, well, the more I slip up the more chances I have to understand, perceive and extend grace. Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving myself permission to slack off from the get-go. I'm just giving myself permission to be human.