Friday's Fave Five

Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story hosts a weekly look back at the blessings of the previous week.  I like the idea of taking the time to intentionally look back to see how I was blessed, so I'm joining in this week and hoping to be able to make it a regular feature here at Empty Nest but Full Heart.  ;-)

1.  T Time - got to spend several days in the last week with the Ts ... all 4 on Saturday, 2 littles on Sunday, and again all 4 on Wednesday.  I always love my time with the Ts, and I was afraid that going back to work part time would mean that I wouldn't be available for as much time with them.

2.  Spring-like weather - We had temperatures in the (low) 70's on Sunday and were able to open a few windows.  It's supposed to get into the mid-60's again this Sunday.  I love the warmer weather and can't wait for spring.  (We're just going to ignore the fact that we got almost an inch of snow last night!)

3.  New recipes - it's so easy for me to get into a rut of cooking the same few recipes, especially now that I'm back at work.  I am determined to mix things up and try some new recipes more often.  Hopefully we'll find a few new favorites, even if we have to encounter a "dud" or two along the way.  Last night we had beer-braised beef short ribs, a recipe I found online.  They were good (DH & I both have never had them before!), and while preparing them will take some planning (they need to cook in the crockpot for 12 hours), I will make them again.

4.  My sweet hubby - yesterday when it was time to get off work, the weather was just plain ugly ... raining hard, very windy and cold - just plain nasty.  He called me and asked if he could come up, pick me up outside my building, and drive me to the parking lot ... save me the walk out to my car.  What a sweet guy.  He's always doing sweet, thoughtful things that show his love more clearly than any words could.  I him!

5.  Trip planning - seriously, half the fun of traveling is the challenge to find a spot we want to visit, find lodging that fits into our tight budget (yay for www.hotwire.com and www.tripadvisor.com), planning what sites to see, what restaurants to visit, etc.  We're currently working on our upcoming trip to Florida for spring training (we leave in 3 weeks from tomorrow! yay!), and since we're going to a part of Florida that we've never been to before, we've been having a lot of fun planning this trip.