{Pretty}

My sister and brother-in-law gave us this orchid last August, on the anniversary of the day we lost our daughter. I have a brown (very brown) thumb, so I cannot take credit for its health, but isn’t it lovely?

{Happy}

I joined a group of fabulous women in celebrating my sister’s birthday this past weekend; we all went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and created masterpieces. Well, others created masterpieces. I created this. which is happy and fun, and intended for use at all future kid birthdays in our household (including a first birthday coming later this month!). Good times with good people, and a new tradition? Both very happy things.

{Funny}

Katie had a “I need to be held constantly” kind of day the other day. To combat the approaching tears, I pulled out my phone; I’ve found that selfies tend to make her smile. (I am unsure if this should cause me concern or not). I give you two poses – “serious” and “happy”.

{Real}

This week’s {real} is for all of you mired in winter, who may or may not have expressed some measure of envy at the blossom pictures I’ve posted in the past month or two; I want you to know our early spring, while lovely, comes with its pitfalls, too. Namely, allergies, which hit our household hard this past week. These three items have become dear, very dear, to us of late.

I should mention, too, the mandatory water restrictions put into place by Governor Jerry Brown – the first of their kind in California’s history. Snow pack is at 5% (yes, 5% – not a typo!) of normal. I know this is scant comfort to those who endured a seemingly endless amount of snow and cold, but we will certainly be ruing our mild winter come summer.

Those are my {pretty, happy, funny, real} moments for the week. What about you? Head on over to Like Mother, Like Daughter and join in the fun!