1. I wear lots of shiny things to the office: a blouse with embellishments, long silver earrings and my usual silver-frame glasses. I am full of energy and I show it.
2. I walk into a bookstore and start looking for the same book. Then I buy it. Because there must be a reason that I have been looking for it every time I got into a store.
3. Although it is the last parents-teacher meeting for Em’s class I don’t feel sorry about probably hardly ever running into most of the parents again after the prom in mid-June. I guess I have taken up Em’s attitude. She is looking forward to moving on, to meeting new people, to changes.

1. I discard all other options and follow the initial idea for a good start of my day-off: a 3-hour morning hike in the sun, through the woods and across meadows, with forest berries hidden in the tall grass. A glorious morning. Exhausted but happy.
2. I open the window to listen to the wild winds in the tree tops.
3. Jay’s first back massage, given by Natalija, the kindest professional lady therapist I know.

1. Jay’s is having a self-introduction in front of the class tomorrow. She takes it very seriously and I help her with creating a mind map.
2. I like the next book better. I find it easier to incorporate the suggestions into my thinking.
3. I didn’t expect to find an empty living room. I switch off the TV and go to bed, feeling relaxed and relieved.

1. As soon as Jay opens her eyes in the morning she checks the tiny embellishments on her nails.
2. I get a phone call and an invitation to lunch. Apart from this being unexpected and sweet, it also makes me more productive at work.
3. The little kittens in the ballet Sleeping Beauty are the sweetest. One of them forgets to bow at the end and then the one next to her runs after her and eventually the first kitten appears on the other side of the stage again and they all bow again.

1. Em’s texts me about the great feedback she got for the presentation of a book in her Slovenian class.
2. Jay is among the contestants and chooses the number of the question with a clear confident voice.
3. Before getting ready for bedtime I open the window in Jay's room and lean out. There is all this green behind our house, chirping of the crickets, a smell of Spring in full bloom coming in. I stand there, breathing in deeply. Grateful.

1. I look at my beautiful teenage girl in the group of her peers and I think to myself how she could not be more perfect than she is.
2. At bedtime Jay remembers about her music theory class contest taking place next Tuesday, and I tell her that this is a really big thing because her sister never got to compete, but had to take the class year-end test instead, and that made Jay feel so awesome she almost could not stop laughing.
3. After Em is finished with her presentation of Spain for her English class we watch and listen to the last scene from Bizet’s Carmen on youtube. Em says she would come with me next time I go to the opera.

1. I have a wonderful morning with the girls. Rain and rush to school and then to the office, but a really great start of the day.
2. My friends at the office give me two lottery tickets. I know already what I am going to do with the money.
3. A beautiful birthday card from Jay, with a poem, and another poem from Em. I am very lucky. And very happy.

I am going to miss this view some day.

1. I start Sunday on my own terms. It does take some discipline to get out of bed at 6.30 a.m. to exercise though. But it is so worth it.
2. Jay creates a most beautiful card for my cousin’s son’s Confirmation, with butterflies and flowers.
3. On Sundays like this even a picnic with relatives, with too much food and  no meaningful conversations, seems like a good thing.

1. The excitement over a business idea I got last night lingers through the day. And more ideas popping in my head.
2. As we approach our neighborhood I look up at the hill, the vineyards, the meadows, the sky, and it is so beautiful in all its green, glowing in the afternoon sunlight.
3. Great feedback about Jay’s school work from her teacher.

1. I share my lunch with my friend M. I eat my half of the wholegrain bun with cheese in front of the computer screen but I don’t mind.
2. I enjoy working in the vegetable garden again. Then we play badminton. It’s a bit windy but we manage.
3. Em and I laugh so hard we cry.

1. The morning air is crisp and it makes me shiver a bit as I walk to the office, but I feel alive and fresh.
2. Jay is looking for rhymes because she is writing a poem and best wishes for my birthday. I tell she needn’t hurry so much because there is more than a week time, but she says she enjoys creating for me so much, that she can’t wait. I help her with a rhyme, and soon she comes running back to me, smiling, to tell me she has it all finished.
3. I chose not to answer the phone, knowing it would be a long session, and do my work-out instead.

1. Her concentration shows on her face while she plays. Her bow is a little awkward because she is a little shy and nervous. She is sweet, so sweet, my girl.
2. The smell of vinegar in our bathroom.
3. It’s been a long and hard working day. I thank myself with a long shower and some bodylotion.

1. When I open my eyes again I see the world hasn’t come down on me yet and I know I can get through the day despite the panic I am feeling.
2. Waste paper collection at school. The lady opens the trunk of her car and brings out boxes and boxes filled with old magazines and other paper.
3. I have never been to a theater performance where the ending depended on the decision of the audience, until tonight. Hilarious.

1. I take a long morning to have a different and a better start of my day.
2. It’s Mother’s Day and I have been invited to join Jay at school in the early afternoon. The get-together is different from what I expected which is good. First the children sing a few folk songs about mommies and Spring and picking flowers, and then we have creative workshops all around the classroom. I get over my initial discomfort as Jay leads me through the process, self-confident as she is about crafting, and we end up with lovely little things to take home with us.
3. I listen to them both reading at church, thinking my girls are absolutely the best (just like all other moms feel about their own child, participating in the sermon), and feel grateful for all this love and for this day.

1. There has been a slight reorganization again and I now have the colleague that I have been communicating with over the phone, sitting opposite from me. And that is nice.
2. After the first shock I go through a whole range of feelings and it’s really bad because it is not just about the cypresses in our garden, and the devastating amateur pruning; it is about everything and everybody in my life. I am only grateful that I manage to get through the rest of the day without taking it out on anyone, especially not on my girls.
3. A pile of inspiring books on my nightstand so I just grab one and tap into it.

My 3BT over the weekend:

1. My Saturday morning 3-hour hike. I run into some great people that I hadn’t seen in years.
2. A wonderful Sunday afternoon 3-hour charity concert. Although we are late we get good seats and enjoy the show enormously.
3. Working in the vegetable garden. Seeds are in the ground and I am most happy it’s raining.

1. I leave Jay with the rest of the children and their coach and go for a hike up and down the trail I used to jog 20 and more years ago. It’s sunny and green and beautiful. And I make the most of one single hour.
2. I stop at the local florist’ and buy a lovely hydrangea in a ceramic pot for my friend. It is exactly what I wanted to get for her birthday.
3. I return late and as I get out of the car I look up at the sky, so full of stars that I can’t stop looking. The only thing that makes walk inside it knowing Em is still up and waiting for me.

1. A creamy home-made yoghurt makes the last two hours at the office bearable. And that is a really good thing.
2. As soon as Jay sees the violets she closes the door of her room and shows me the present she has made for my Mom: a lovely paper round box. Mom says she will use it for jelly bonbons and put it on her dining table.
3. Reading a few pages from an inspirational book calms my anxiety and frustration, and then I am more than ready to listen about the pressure from Em's school teacher and to get some laundry done before going back to bed.

1. I have a new pink bag and it looks fabulous.
2. Renata, the kind librarian of Polish origin, checks the online system and finds the book I’d like to read at Zalec library. I can’t wait to have it delivered.
3. The most enchanting night sky with the bright full moon and clouds.