There’s a light at the end of every tunnel. This is a lesson history has taught us time and time again. Even when that tunnel is filled with papers and hours at the library and deadlines and 12-hour road trips and not nearly enough sleep, we tell ourselves that the light is there, just around the next bend. This has been my mantra for the past week.

Meanwhile, life is still busy teaching me lessons, such as that it’s hard to see the light when you have your head down, trying to protect yourself the tiniest bit as you march into the onslaught.

So today, I’m picking my head up, looking around, and noticing that maybe things are quite as bad as I’ve been making them out to be. Here is what I’ve seen to make me smile:

One more free pass to the European Film Festival!

Breakfast: Chocolate chip cookie bars with coffee.

Dresses! [via unruly things]

Summer library science seminars in Oxford and Prague.

An hour or two in my near future at Teaism with a dear friend…

… to be followed by free hot chocolate at TangySweet.

Soup, soup. [via angry chicken and kitchen sink]

Previews for Slumdog Millionaire.

It’s starting to look a bit brighter already…