March Madness

I love this time of year. The weather is nearly perfect right now and I want to spend every waking moment outdoors. It's my March Madness. Safe to say, not much work is getting done 'round these parts. I am extremely affected by the weather - much more so than I care to admit. Just one cloudy day puts me into a funk that only a good dose of prolonged sunshine can cure. (Three days without sunshine? Well, it ain't pretty.) When the sky is deep blue and sunny with just a few gorgeous clouds and the weather is barely into the 80's and cool (but not cold!) and breezy at night, I feel I'm at Nirvana's doorstep. I want to melt into a thousand pieces and perch myself into blossoming apricot trees and plum trees and beds of daffodils until I melt away in the sunshine. Aaah.

I'm trying to pretend this slice of perfection won't be followed by months of living in an oven.

Unrelated:

• If, like me, brackets to you are merely grammatical and seeding proceeds home grown basil, this is for you. Pick your teams by color scheme or mascot? Yes please.
• Have you seen this new collection ? (Scroll down a bit.) Oh my. Oh my oh my. Oh. My.
• I really want to try this for an upcoming family gathering. Maybe I'm just getting in touch with my Tennessee roots, but I think it looks fun! (Maybe this, too.)
• I made my sister a lovely throw pillow for her birthday. So easy! Since it turned out so well and I'm now way too confident in my meager sewing skills, I'd love to try this. (But I probably won't.)

On a more somber note:

• If you're as horrified by the disaster in Japan, check out this nice list of organizations that are helping out in Japan.
• The disaster also has me thinking long and hard about all the warnings LDS Church leaders have given us over the years about being prepared for events such as this. Thank heavens for good counsel. Now to just follow it. . .