sorry for the forgetfulness, blogger.

"Your parents still have that [coffee table] downstairs. Your dad just wants to shoot it."
-Philip

"How are you just now connecting that? You have more Star Wars shirts than Josh Whitney!"
-Philip, concerned about Izzy's lack of Star Wars knowledge

"And there's your dead friend."
-Linda, being friendly to a squirrel she saw running across the road.

"Oh. Maybe if I put this up, it will do something ... probably not, though."
-Auntie Kay and her newfound rosary

"I'm wondering if our goat OR our neighbor just said 'HEY!'"
-Noah

between here and last year i:

-got married
-moved to West Valley
-traded 255 word projects for 20 character taglines
-bought a subaru.


there, that's all the updating i needed to do.

"oh, our massage had to be scheduled. your dad's twin was sick."
-my mom's very real first world problem.

"September 22nd is her next haircut. I scheduled it because I am a responsible adult."

-Stesha, on being a good dog mom.

throwback thursday

some quotes I found, saved up in my phone over the past few months.

'My armpit is sweating like it is what it does for a living.'
-Steele

'I watched a movie called Trainspotting last night. It sort of made me want to move to Scotland and do heroine.'
-Tony M.

'I was driving through Evenson, Evenston, Evanston; whatever, your last name screws that place up.'
-Also Tony M., but more flustered

'I accidentally came up with a really good racist joke the other day.'
-Isabel

'I don't think he's practicing, he said the 'f' word.'
'I practice the F-word sometimes.'
-Philip, and Nick's Southern friend AJ

'Those guys that carry the casket at your wedding!'
-Bryan, during a game of catchphrase

'Weren't you just Timothy?'
-Isabel, again

'She's like gravity!'
-Kent, on someone's card-playing skills


'I really like this lasagna, because if you have an allergy, it WILL find it'
-Todd B., during Heather and Chaz's rehearsal dinner

all in a day's work.

I feel like I haven't written something that isn't a sales pitch in so long.

It has been a long time since I've even dared to look at this blog, and so much life has happened in those five months. I dropped two jobs and picked up one that takes up more of my time than the other two ever did. I moved in a cute new house, with a big bedroom from a Wes Anderson movie that I can't really believe is mine. I got engaged, fully funded for Europe, ENGAGED. I resigned my heart to the fact that I will be doing life in West Valley this fall. So much is going on and it's all such a blessing, but my mind is too full with work to think.

Wait, when did I become the person that had a job real enough to stress about? I love my job, I really do. But what happened over the last two weeks was this:

They moved me away from the windows.
and
They started giving me grown-up projects.

Everyday, something rolls in for me to do that takes me away from the other work they want me to do as well.

There is nothing wrong with this, but I am not used to balancing these types of busy responsibilities. I do get to make my own hours, and I get to start up a free relationship with UTA again. I get free coffee all of the time and I get to spend days listening to Ira Glass while I write about baby clothes, dishes, microwaves and luggage. I guess I am just tired this week.


When I see any home decor, I now analyze it. I don't mean to do this, but I go over the style in my head, and think of the SEO words that describe it, the way it's built, its design type and color scheme. I am turning into a robot, but at least I know what type of chandelier is gracing that guy's home.

Long days are good days. This is the hurricane season of my life, but I've managed worse.

some of the more important updates i can think of.

the library and i are on speaking terms again. salt lake library, that is (sandy still refuses to acknowledge me). i don't owe them money, and they keep having everything that i want. it is a happy relationship.

"Jon, I think this music is a little too French for this early in the morning."
-A barista at a Starbucks. I like to imagine Jon is the kind of guy that doesn't use an 'h' in his name, but I guess that it wouldn't be his fault if one got in there.

I am in this weird limbo I have never been in before, which is that of having two jobs, and having a third pending. I feel like I am cheating on my real life boss, while I wait for the third deal to become official. My mouth keeps wanting to betray me with things like "I AM OUT OF HERE" or "wait I might actually miss baking" or "CALM DOWN", but I keep forcing it shut and working hard anyways. Hopefully the status changes from pending to funded soon, because this in between is making a fool of me.

My body is tired from that time yesterday that I went backpacking, and the rest of the times I have been working too many hours on my feet, but I am persevering. Things are happy in the sleepiness. In two weekends I will be back in the Midwest. My best friend has moved up to Salt Lake City, which gives me freedom to do silly things, like eat waffles in the night or smoke Primetimes on a porch. I am enjoying sound, and drinking coffee again, and spending more time in the mountains. The bruises on my legs tell me that I had a good weekend, despite the aches. Football is also back, which means that my Sundays are more relaxing than they have been in months, oddly.

On a sidenote. I timidly gave one of the regulars at the bakery a copy of one of my stories, in exchange for a lovely book he thought that I should read. He told me it brought him to tears and to keep writing, and that was an encouraging push that I probably needed. It feels good to create more than SEO content again.

God is gracious. God is kind. God gives me the hard and the easy mixed together and that is a lovely thing.