I'm sure many of you just looked at this picture and sneezed. Despite my own allergies, I love flowering trees. They are a very visual signal that Spring has come and they are also just gorgeous! Trees are many colors: green, yellow, red, etc; but flowering trees are the rare and delicate pinks and whites that our minds really crave when Spring is in the air.

Flowering trees are rare and only last for a few weeks. Dogwoods may bloom for a little longer than a few weeks but the cherry blossoms and Bartlett pears are only around for a little while. So get out there, appreciate them while they are out, and love that Spring!

Despite their reputation, I think road trips are awesome. My dad's side of the family lives in Ohio so we always had long road trips to visit family for Easter, Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving. It's an 8-hour drive so we would get up really, really early (3am!) and get a head start before all of the traffic. Being a kid, I would just sleep through most of those awful early hours. My brother never liked sitting still so road trips were a little harder for him but I enjoyed looking out the windows and seeing familiar landmarks along the way. We have our own stories of making pit stops at certain areas and those are memories I'll always have.

Now that I'm not 8 years old, I still really enjoy road trips. In high school, my mom, brother, and I went on a two-week long road trip to Colorado and back. That was a blast--we saw so much! A few years later we drove up to Nova Scotia which was also a great trip. Now I have a friend who is planning a cross-country trip to California and I am so jealous. I wish I was going along, seeing new places, staying in bizarre motels on the side of the road, and just seeing more of this weird-yet-beautiful country we live in. I may not always love the people, but I think I will always love the land.

In any case, it's perfect weather out there so hop in the car, fasten your seat-belts, get out the map, and let's go!

This past weekend, the heat wasn't working so I was forced to spend the whole two days under the warm covers in my bed. But don't feel sorry for me: I had a GREAT weekend and didn't miss out on anything! there is nothing quite like feeling cool air on your face and having your body be warm and cozy. It was truly relaxing and made me appreciate winter and the time it gives us to slow down and relax from the constant activity of the rest of the year. You should try it sometime!

There's no better reason to celebrate with your friends and family!

Wunderlist is an awesome to-do list application that I have recently discovered. Things were getting sort of ridiculous at work because I was juggling 12 different projects and needed to know where they each were. On top of that, I routinely work with a programmer to develop tools and need to make lists of things for him to do (so I can come up with a long list of really nit-picky things and then give it to him). Wunderlist is perfect for this because IT'S FREE and it allows for sharing of lists with others. FOR FREE. When you a share a list, it's completely dynamic--when the person you share with wants to mark something off as done, they can. If they want to add a task, they can! It also has a really sleek, clean, and simple interface which I really like.

I don't know that other people need something like this for work but it would also be great for shopping lists or gift lists for people. There's an iPhone/Android app in addition to the web browser and desktop version. Can't ask for more than that!

A lot of people contend that red velvet cake (or anything else) is really just chocolate with red food coloring. They are VERY misguided, however--the red velvet flavor is very a very complex blend of cocoa, vanilla, and the very essence of "red." I love everything about the red velvet flavor profile and cannot seem to get enough of it in any form I possibly can. There are the more conventional uses of it in cake and cupcakes, but there are also new, unexpected ways of using it like brownies, ice cream, cookies, pancakes, cheesecake, fudge, whoopie pies and even souffles. Any way you make it, I'll love it (especially the ice cream!).

I know a lot of people and a lot of blogs are very busy talking about the new year and resolutions to lose weight, keep your house clean or generally simplify your life. That's not really why I like new years, though--I just generally enjoy a transition to something new and clean and fresh. My love of "clean slates" has prompted a lot of my random summer adventures (which you can follow here, here, and here). I look for a new place, new friends, and a new identity. New years are kind of like that. I like the feeling of something being not quite the same as it was, a new frontier full of who-knows-what. No one has been here before and we're making progress, if only because this year is older than the last. How thrilling!