(a little bit of) summer.

expectation: i do adorable things with a boy who asks me out on dates.

we see each other every day, and i say everything that's on my mind. he does, too.

reality: i fall asleep next to my cat.

and i'm still unhealthily obsessed with ashton kutcher. 

 

expectation: megan settles still lives in utah. not east texas.

 reality: we facetime during twilithons.

she tells us about her me-maw.

expectation: my job is wonderful, important, and i feel like i'm making a difference in the world,

touching people with the hand of my written word.

reality: i forget to tell people about the love loft rewards card, get scolded for it,

then i space out when debbie teaches me how to process returns.

also, i couldn't care less about retail fashion in general.

 so most days end looking something similar to the above picture. 

and yes.

my hair is always that atrocious after a shift.

expectation: we'll be young, wild, and free forever.

reality: we won't.

expectation: my best friend in the whole entire world finally comes home on december 19, 2012.

reality: my best friend in the whole entire world finally comes home on december 19, 2012.

 .....

that last one just sort of makes everything else okay.

so much updating to do.

my friends are all in love. which makes me love them even more.

saturday night, little miss and i took a small road trip down to southern utah to see our bailey rae be all in love with jade dalton. it was the best wedding reception i have ever been to, and i mean that with all of the sincerity that i have inside of me. my lanta, i love them.

then, i found myself a boyfried.

his name is bryce. he wears cowboy boots.

and he really just sweetens my tea.

it was a much needed getaway with the "clayboys" playlist (an exclusive collection of clay aiken and cowboy music, developed freshman year by court & missy.) and a trip to the country.

bliss.

a parable, of sorts.

if the foreign man exercises the few words in his bank to confront the native,
said native will respond with deeper words, and faster. my, my. much faster.
it is at this point the foreigner must decide which he prefers: the hot, or the cold.
participating in the native's game, the man learns quickly, but is forced into a whirlpool of conjugations and improper slippings of the tongue.
exhausting.
but oh, the rush.

there was something good about him.
something that i wanted to be about me, too.

he lifted the thin, wooden piece to his nose.
   "pine sol," he concluded, "that's what it is."
   "pardon?" i begged.
   "these chopsticks. they remind me of pine sol," he laughed at the thought, "i don't know why i said that out loud." i raised a chopstick to my nose, prepared to save him by nodding in tacit compliance, confirm that they were, in fact, pine sol chopsticks. one inhale, two even, and i could smell nothing but cheap, wholesale wood... which made sense in my head, under the circumstances.

his eyes were intense on mine, waiting for the rescue.

i thought about the foreign man, how he could say something so interesting, while the native could understand it at a more advanced level. was i the native, fast moving and impatient? i thought of how he might scare easily, scamper away if i threw my complete understanding of the way i spoke at him, along with the kitchen sink,

though i did it anyway.

   "yeah, me either, " i spurted, "next time, could you keep those thoughts to yourself?"
a timid smile spread across his face. one that came only with sarcasm at his expense.

the foreigner likes it hot.

one more thing....

i was looking through old emails, and i found a picture that i had never seen before. 

it was from back in march, attached to a one-lined letter that read, 

"i just did 95 pushups" followed by approximately one hundred thousand exclamation points.

no idea how i missed this masterpiece.

...and sometimes i forget just how eager i am to see my friends this winter. 

woa. did i just say this winter?! 

you read correctly. i did, indeed.

no matter what may or may not be happening five months from now with life, i am so comforted by the fact that i'm going to have the two greatest boys on the face of the planet within cell phone coverage distance, and home for holidays, weekends, birthdays, and surprise logan visits.

merry christmas, and happy new year to me, no?

endure to the end is what i always say. also, it's a commandment.

my iphone makes photo strips.

and this one sort of makes me smile more than it probably should.

which could potentially become a problem.

a charming, one-dimpled, fickle sort of problem,
who is really good at...stuff.

...but it makes me smile, nonetheless, 

and happy as a little clam.

it also makes me write cliches, which is basically against my religion.

so i'm not really sure what's going on here. you do the math, and get back to me.

your guess is as good as mine.

yeah, silly.