Hello again!

This has been quite the hiatus, huh?  Inexplicably, April has wound up being a hectic, frustrating and, ultimately, exhausting month.  My work has gotten really busy, there was a week when John Paul had to leave DC very last-minute, and I haven't even been able to get myself together to cook a meal.  (There have been a lot of cereal and poached eggs going on in the kitchen.)
However, I should mention that, in the midst of this explosion of life, there have been some lovely events.  My mom and Haley came up the weekend before Easter for wedding dress shopping and we picked out the dress I'll become John Paul's wife in, a good friend from New York made a brief stop into DC that included a very entertaining Cajun meal, and I've been cleaning out a lot of the clutter, not just in our home, but in my life.
Sometimes these events happen that seem earth-shattering and disastrous; I mean, isn't that what life is made of?  I've been struggling to find the upside in this month, and I've come up with the importance of keeping my daily life simple and free of tedious stuff.  At least then, when the unexpected comes up, there's room for it.  In the meantime, the lack of distractions leaves space for wonderful books, desserts with the people you love, and plenty of time for long walks with John Paul and Mia. 
Thanks for your patience while I worked through a lot of this, and I'll do my best to become more focused!  I'll leave you with this picture of Haley with the giggles at the strange way Mia tilted her head one afternoon; that laugh is totally contagious.