I'm glad you like the icon. :) It was one of my first; sometimes it's just the perfect thing for the mood.

Bringing up expectations here strikes me as interesting. I have had recent bad experiences with the whole expectation thing, myself. Relaxing and seeing what happens seems to work out better. A lot of the time, when I don't get what I want, it's a nudge from the universe that I'm trying to go the wrong way. Your metaphor of cobbles is a good one.