It was an un-Florida-like winter. Too cold for too long. Sorry, snowbirds; we natives wanted to head further south, too. Don’t get me wrong — I love hot cocoa and scarves and mittens and all the coziness of winter. For about five weeks, or roughly the length of the Christmas season. Then I’m ready to get back to my bare toes and swingy skirts. Finally, finally, we have that now, after another cold snap last week that sent me scampering to pull my sweaters out again. Hopefully this time the balmy weather is here to stay — and hopefully it will stay long enough that we get to enjoy a real spring instead of transitioning straight to summertime!

I’m making the most of it for now, with my windows open wide as I deep clean the house. Every few months, I get a bite from the cleaning bug. I mean, I’m always cleaning, that ongoing routine of tidying and vacuuming the house that truly never ends, but about once a season, I feel an overwhelming urge to really, really clean my house. To dust every corner of every room. To sort through our closet and fill a bag for Goodwill. To turn on Cinderella and scrub the tile floors the way she does as she sings and blows those magical bubbles, and the way I used to scrub my parents’ back patio when I was a kid playing Cinderella. So that’s what I’ve been doing the past few days since I got home from Sarasota. Minus the whole Cinderella part.

Last week, in the middle of all our busyness, I went out of town with Amanda. We headed a few hours south to visit Karlyn and her husband and their girls for a couple days. Because I’ve decided life is too short to be “too busy” all the time. Sometimes you need to drop everything and just go spend a few days doing nothing with your best friends. And those times should happen often.~ Laura