Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.

When I am in a stressful situation, particularly in a foreign country, I develop little treats for myself: a plate of nachos, a stupid movie, several spoonfuls of nutella. I tend to place a ridiculous amount of importance on them as if they will make all life’s little problems and annoyances go away which makes me overreact when even they don’t go as planned. I have taken to creating ridiculous little scenarios to help me manage my expectations. “Ok Lenni. What will you do if you can’t open the jar of salsa? You will not cry. You will ask for help or you will just make ramen for the fourth night in a row. And if the movie skips? It’s not the end of the world.”

So the other day on the fourth of July, since my girls went to see where Che died and I had to stay at home, I undertook a project to take pictures of the little things in my apartment that make me happy. 

This is chai made the real way with boiled milk! Nummy! (Ok not the real real way because I'm using a tea bag and there are several ants floating in it but you get the idea. Nummy! Even the ants!)

My landlady juryrigged this nightlight for me. She's so sweet! There are rocks in the bottle so it doesn't fall over and set my books on fire. So far so good!

I'm happy about having a clean floor but that was difficult to convey in photos. Perhaps I could have taken a picture of my reflection in the sparkling and gleaming floors? My happiness only lasted a few days because on Saturday O showed up at my apartment with a living room set (and his mother) that he wants to store in my apartment and the movers tracked a lot of dirt in. At least he didn't leave his mother.

 The trip to A's house resulted in my sudden possession of about 40 pounds of mandarins. The ridiculousness of such a quantity still make me giggle. I will never be at risk for ricketts again! Yummy Vitamin C-y goodness!

My landlandy has a washing machine! It is super awesome and super quiet and you can even choose the water level you wish! Also it felt somehow badass to be doing my laundry at night under a full moon. I did not feel the need to take a photo of the rainstorm later that night though.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!