Rain is not snow

It’s been raining and raining. That’s all we’ve been getting, rain. When it was February, it was just crazy weather. But now that it’s March, I’ve given up thinking it’s winter (I miss my snow). And today I wore my new pair of shoes that are apparently from France and are hip and urban. The key thing is that I went sockless today. It was a little cold, but the shoes are super comfortable. I think they may become my new favorites, well at least for casual outings. [Note, I couldn’t find a picture of them, but you get the sense from these other pairs].
I love their packaging too – really cool graphics on the box - definitely a keeper. Speaking of keeping which is kind of like finding, which I really mean returning home (great segue!), today I found two things. Or rather, they came back to me. Well one was a pleasant rediscover of a piece of clothing I forgot about. Over the last two years I’ve done a pretty heavy overhaul of the closet and am down to a much smaller wardrobe. Still not quite there, but working on the European approach of having a few classic quality pieces that fit well. The benefit of a smaller wardrobe is knowing everything you own. But this morning, a black sweater fell on my head as I was rooting through my sweater shelf. I love the sweater – beautiful black cardigan I picked up while clothes shopping with mom this Christmas. Simple lines. And then, as I’m skipping down my stairs this morning in my new shoes and rediscovered sweater (and jacket, it’s still cold) I got my mail from this weekend. And there was a post from my mom – a gift certificate I had gotten from my aunt for Christmas. I opened it at mom’s and then it promptly disappeared along with almost everything else I own it feels like. I kept going through drawers and piles of paper, thinking I tucked it away somewhere, but couldn’t remember where. I gave up and here it found its way back to me!



This weekend I did some more cleaning. Partly because my apartment really really needs it. But really it’s because I can’t believe my car keys and watch haven’t showed up yet. I’m starting to get nervous. I’m 99% certain they are inside somewhere. But where? I thought I’d have come across them by now. I’m a little nervous they are next to a heater melting away or somehow made it into the bags of recyclables that I put to the curb last week (I should have checked). They’re the only thing that’s left the house (besides the trash but there’s no way they ended up in there, right?). I really want these two things to come back into my life. I’ve adjusted to wearing a white version of my favorite winter hat. And I bought new pairs of gloves and sunglasses that easily replaced their predecessors. Well, I did love the old sunglasses. But these new ones are cool too. And style of sunglasses is so fleeting. But my car keys and watch. Where-are-you??? I’m starting to contemplate pulling some late nighters and do some very very thorough spring cleaning. But then I breath and say “ohmmmm” and let this pass. I will wait for you to return. I will wait until you’ve got this out of your system and the time is right and we are reunited. Because if my gift certificate found its way back to me from over 750 miles away, across five states, you guys can find your way back to me from wherever you may be.