What's Making Me Happy: February 21

First of all, happy birthday to my real-life and Blogger friend SUZE! Suze is a kind human, an excellent writer, a deep thinker, a loyal friend, a fantastic mom, possibly the happiest wife I know, and (it must be said) rather gorgeous. If you haven't already, go wish her hippo birdie.

My life this week was marked by unseasonably gorgeous weather — sorry, rest of America — which meant lots of good hikes and plenty of allergy medication. Once I figured out my persistent sinus problem was actually (probably) pollen-related, I found a solution, and I'm feeling better.

My kids had a four-day weekend, which was great. It was like a mini-spring-break. We went to see the LEGO movie, which was fun; chock-a-block full of inside jokes for nerds. The second half dragged a bit — I think I might have been troped out. We also rented Elysium and the Island, which were cheesy, fun dystopian shoot-em-ups. We also had a chance this weekend to do a lot of entertaining. We visited with friends old and new, did a ton of cooking, killed too many bottles of wine, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

And just now, I received a call from my son's advisory teacher asking to reschedule his parent-teacher conference next week. Out of the blue, she said, "I just have to let you know, I love your son. He is just such a cool kid. And respectful! He is so respectful of adults. Whatever you are doing, please keep doing it."

Now for the pop-culture funzies:

Imagine your favorite R-rated movie as interpreted by a children's picture-book artist. And so you have this. My favorite is the last panel, which makes me giggle every time I think about it.

Now imagine a beloved family film recast as a horror flick.

Check out these stills of Olympic figure skaters.

These goats having fun with a piece of flexible metal.

This boy and his puppy, who have been pro nappers for a couple years now.

Happy Friday!