Warm fuzzies

After about five blissful days in NJ with my parents, I flew to Austin to see my sis C, her husband TO, and my two small nieces. It was a great trip. I got plenty of fresh air, plenty of kid time, and plenty of sis bonding time. BF flew to join me a few days into my trip, and we rang in the New Year dancing to an 80s cover band at a cute outside bar on 6th Street with C, TO and two other couples. New Years Day we went to a kitschy brunch place, had a rousing Wack-A-Mole tournament back at the house (I won), and then an afternoon of couch lounging. Today BF and I flew back to Boston.

C's old college roommate was one of the women we went out with on New Years. She told us that her sister, who has three small children, often admonishes her kids for having a poor attitude. She tells them, "I don't think you're doing that with a happy heart..." when they groan about chores. BF and I took to the phrase immediately, because it's a really funny phrase. Today I had a horrible travel day, and was tired and a little sick to boot. After catching a taxi from the airport to my car and heading home, I sat in 4pm traffic. I wasn't thrilled about that, but I texted BF to let him know that I was sitting in traffic with a happy heart. Which I was, because our trip was good enough to counteract the frustration of coming home to a little Boston bottleneck. Happy hearts are nice to have. Now I just hope my happy heart can counteract the misery of the Boston winter ahead. It would really have to be an ecstatic heart to manage that. But we'll see.