Roots

Is it possible to fall in love with someone's family, before you fall in love with them?

To want to be swallowed up in the chaos of a life you didn't grow up with.

To understand the inside jokes and references to family stories.

To share a last name, but not a bloodline.

And to be trusted enough to live up to that name. To know what it's like to be a "______."

I feel like I know just a bit how Lucy feels in "While You Were Sleeping," when she says "I fell in love with all of you," talking about the whole family.

It's not that I'm planning on changing my last name anytime soon.

But when I do, I want to love his family almost as much as I will love him.

And I hope that they feel the same way about me.

image via this

footsteps

I dream of living in a place where all I need is within walking distance.

I love getting to know a city on foot.

It's not the same story when you drive everywhere.

Today I walked down to 5th and Center, where the lovely Provo Farmers Market makes its home every Saturday.

I walked around the whole market and smelled the tamale and empanada booths, bought a loaf of Asiago Cheese Bread (and pulled off a hunk to eat, so delicious), got some raspberry lemonade and sat on the grass to enjoy the first day it really felt like summer.

It was so therapeutic. There is just something about a bunch of creative, hard-working people from your community, coming together to share what they love with you.

Everything taste sweeter when you know the hand that made it.

So I challenge you to walk a few steps further, take a left turn where you usually go right, and really see the world from a human's-eye-view.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -Lao Tzu

image via deviantart

new

I have a secret.

I don't mean to tease.

But rather, to celebrate.

To celebrate the absolute and complete freedom that comes from that little button under "settings" that says "private."

There is something therapeutic and so freeing in publishing my thoughts, with the knowledge that no one else is going to read it.

It began yesterday, with the passing thought that drafts are usually intended to be published. And I have quite a few that were never intended to be seen by anyone but me.

I had this idea of trying to write every day.

Something, anything every single day.

It's an exercise in strengthening my creative muscles.

but also.

an experiment in being real. and honest. and true to my heart.

and I think this is the "realest" I've ever been.

Hopefully, great things will come from this goal.

And I will be sure to transfer any "great things" over to this, the public side of my soul.

So stick around, because I'm not going away.

I'm just...taking a breath, and spreading my fingers a bit.

I am what I am

I am: a dreamer a good listener a better cook than I ever thought I would be an optimist an intuitive decision-maker faithful a yellow a bit of a treehugger right brained a chronic procrastinator a giver worth it

I want to be: a good mother someone who lifts others up a strength to those around me a woman of culture a polyglot a seasoned traveler a lifelong scholar well-versed street smart always thinking and creating in love forever

photo via deviantart

fresh

summer is about discovery.

and swimsuits and sunscreen.

and late night conversations.

and baseball games and ice cream cones.

and butterflies.

and trying new things.

like letting my heart do the thinking.

and opening up the windows and letting some new light* in.

oh yes. summer is about butterflies.

image via vi.sualize.us

*or love..?

maybe when things turn green again, it will be good to say you know me.*

a few things that have put a smile on my face as of late:

solid, low-drama friends
meeting new people
visitors
the crazy, sporadic, unexpected, beautiful world of advertising and the BYU adlab
pomegranate, acai, and blueberry sorbet
chili burritos and "bang!" at La Casa...yum yum fun


...and the glorious fact that it's finally warm enough to let my hair air dry.

*Oh, Mr. Mayer, how do you spell it out so well?

Don't lay a finger on my Butterfinger!

I love Butterfingers.

You might love Butterfingers.

And, of course, Bart Simpson and Seth Green love Butterfingers.

This might happen if someone took your crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery treat.

Tell your friends.

Tell your roommates.

Tell everyone you know.

Because it might not be the League that Butterfinger wants right now, but it's the one they need.