{Greetings!}

Hello my dear house mice! I hope you are doing well and having a happy Spring so far. Seems we are finally getting some good weather here in New Hampshire, I went on a 3 mile walk in the nature reservation on Monday and enjoyed being in the sunshine so much, it's amazingly refreshing to be with nature and to have no plans, except to enjoy the day, take a few photos, and watch the little creatures building their nests and tending to their young.

I saw many eggshells on the ground, which made me smile, and lots of muskrat lodges with busy little muskrats nearby working on them with a certain twinkle in their eye. I even spotted a goose who was quite convinced that a certain muskrat lodge was her nest and so right on top she sat, proud and determined to stay just as she is. I am not sure if the little muskrats were keen on having a hood ornament on their lodge, but she did look rather sweet perched on top so perhaps they don't mind her there too much.

Awww, cutie nature can be soooo relaxing though, don't you think? All these little creatures out and about, working on projects and busy, busy, busy! Every thing has a plan, the ants, the woodpecker, all of them... they have a mission and follow through to the end. Such a good example I think to look to them at times when we ourselves feel drained or like we cannot follow through on a project. It's so important not to give up and to persevere. There is so much reward in pressing forward. Did I mention that I started teaching an e-course called Blogging Your Way? It's rather labor intensive for me on top of decor8, Real Simple, Cookie, Kindred, and all of the other miscellaneous projects I work on but you know, it's amazing to connect with my 208 students and to talk to them so informally on a topic that is very near and dear to my heart: blogging. I guess I'm so passionate about it because it gave me something that I never imagined I'd have -- a voice. I have a voice, people read my words, and I have made the most generous and caring friends in the world from being online meeting so many creative people on a daily basis. Blogging Your Way is a class I am teaching for 4 weeks, currently we're wrapping up our 2nd week so we're nearly halfway through the course and I personally feel like my students are enjoying my words and podcasts. I was rather timid about recording myself and talking to the wall here in my office but I tried visualizing a classroom in front of me and it really helped me to come alive and to speak freely and openly. I love podcasting now, I'm a bit addicted to it because it gives me a chance to show my personality in a different way. My students comment that they can hear me "smile" in my podcasts and it's true, I can hear it too when I play them back. Truth is, I smile a lot and it's easy to hear when you listen to me on a podcast, it's kind of funny because I never before knew this fact about myself. I also use my hands so much when I speak, I nearly knock over my microphone on my desk when I am recording. My mic almost flew across the room today, I got so into my topic! It's fun to listen to myself speak, I mean how many chances do we have to hear ourselves talk right? When I'm listening to myself, I often feel like I'm listening to someone else because I'm not entirely familiar with my own voice. It's hard to explain this in words so I'll leave it at that. Maybe you understand? Anyway, I'm loving my e-course and hope that my students feel as energized as I'm feeling by it! That's all I have to really share for now. Nature and e-classes. But I wanted to at least show up and give you all a giant cyber-hug and let you know that I'm thinking about you and hope all is well in your corner of the word. xo Holly