Like you're alive, weekend edition

I had a three-day weekend that coincided with Easter! It was really wonderful—and it was the perfect sort of weekend to recharge a bit before another week starts. It was the sort of weekend that leaves me feeling productive, refreshed, and looking forward to a new week, rather than lamenting the end of one. These were my favorite parts:

• A run, in the breezy sunshine, with short detours to get a better look at all the blue bonnets on my route. Aren't they beautiful? Texas wildflowers grow everywhere—in parks, backyards, along the interstate. Wildflowers are helping with my resolve to get outside more. To that end, I visited the blue bonnets ate the park twice this weekend. I am my (flower-loving) mother's daughter. They remind me of when my mom and Grandma came to see us and the wildflowers.
• Yoga, twice. The more I practice, the more improvement I see in my posture, and it's the best remedy for sore muscles after work days (and after a run).
• Quietly making breakfast (baked PB oatmeal, sliced fruit, coffee), while Nicholas slept in, so it was all ready when he got up
• Catching up on laundry, with lavender-scented laundry products
• A shared couch, while we watch The Americans together
• Lavender oil at bedtime
• Hearing the birds sing all weekend—and pondering are they singing more, or am I just listening better? I think I already know the answer to that question.
• A date night at one of our Austin favorites, Launderette, a photo of us to document it, and conversations about society, politics, podcasts, and future dreams.
• Finishing the back of my Anna vest for the #annavestKAL. Now, it finally feels like I'm making progress.
• Making and eating shrimp pad thai for lunch at home
• The sunrise Easter service at church and worship that moved me to tears. Also, because we live in Austin, post-church breakfast tacos.
• Sunday afternoon napping on the couch
• Making French press coffee and pouring whatever doesn't fit in our mugs into a teapot to keep warm (and prevent over-extraction). Plus, who doesn't love a cute teapot?
• Taste-testing a new coffee cake recipe—coming to the blog soon!
• The Sunday night walk: Wait until after dark (it's more fun), lace up our shoes, throw on a hoodie, leave the phones at home. It's a new routine for us that we both love before the start of a new week.
• Pursuing joy with this truth: Death is defeated. My sin is paid for. And my victory is in Christ. Let's live in the reality of that living hope.

By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3