Day 130: Faces

Most that know me would vouch for my animated facial expressions, and they are ever changing. What's the saying? 80% of communication is non-verbal? Surely, for me, at least 50% has to be through my face - it's even hard for me to lie since I cannot control my face.  (That, and I think lying is lame.)

Anyway, I've always enjoyed the facial expressions of others, whether they make me laugh or if they are just intriguing and showing interest in conversation. Beyond the facial expression of other people, I LOVE finding little faces in inanimate objects. Three pronged wall sockets are the perfect example of such a thing - the two eyes and little mouth typically show a surprised look (or shall we say shocked?).  We have on in my current house that really just looks pissed off and I'm not sure if it's because someone plugged something terrible into him or if he's just had some bad days, but it's actually pretty interesting.

When I see that other people enjoy these little faces we can find in every day life it makes me smile - so it made me smile to see this BuzzFeed article: 17 Inanimate Objects That Are Totally Comfortable Anywhere

I assure you it's nearly impossible to get through the whole set of photos without smiling.  And perhaps you've been one to see these faces for your entire life (props to you) or maybe this will open your eyes a bit to the delightful faces that are always surrounding us.

Some bonus faces:

Concerned Sink

Happy Toilet

Day 129: response

We all have pet peeves, and I am sure we all have hypocritical moments with those peeves.. For me, a pet peeve is when people don't respond - it doesn't matter if it's through text, phone call, email, or whatever, it all annoys me, especially when it is regarding something important in any respect.

Today I got several responses to important things and it prevented my unnecessary annoyance. 

Simultaneously I was unable, or forgot, to respond to several things myself so I am also adopting a state of hypocrisy at the moment. I suppose that means I am also thankful for grace and forgiveness from others who share my pet peeves. This also leads into thankfulness in learning.

For me some of life's hardest lessons come from days and examples like this. Do unto others what you might have them do unto you really rings true.

Grateful we are able to learn and grow.

Day 128: Alignment

It occurred to me last night that it's entirely possible April will be the only month in which the day I'm writing about somewhat reflects the date it is.  Today is April 28th and the number is 128.  I love that.  I guess I was happy to continue with that until I realized I'd just be starting over again.

In my mind, I tend to make connections to try to remember things. A random individual actually commented on my high aptitude the other night, which was both a unique compliment and slightly odd.  Nonetheless, he was making the remark due to the connections I'd made. I would say it's more about intuition than aptitude, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

When I started this blog, I would recall that it was Day 11 and January 1st. So there was a difference of ten between the day I was on and the date.  I also connected other significant occurrences with friends of mine - so much so, that I know when they are hitting milestone days like 100 or 125, etc.

I just love when it all aligns; When it seems like it was meant to be for one reason or another - it probably was/is.

Today I'm also thankful for my supportive family, laughing babies, singing babies to sleep, great dinners, singing and pillows.

Day 127: Feasts and New Friends

I received a text inviting me to a dinner of lamb because someone had been "gifted" lamb.  I decided to go to meet some new people. (Honestly, who can say no to lamb?)

I had no idea that I was getting into an incredibly fancy feast of delicious lamb, a yogurt made with herbs and honey, lentils, salads made with homegrown greens, handmade ravioli, and roasted vegetables.  It was incredible...

Not only was the food amazing but I had the honor for meeting a fair number if intriguing and wonderful individuals.  Teachers, musicians, entrepreneurs, folks in philosophy, finance, and beyond - all extremely talented people.

I left for the evening feeling satisfied and content.  Sometimes I just can't get over how blessed my life is.  And I mean that.  I'm lucky - and I know it.  I'm thankful for it.

Day 126: Bike Rides

A couple of years ago a friend and I decided to sign up for a Sprint Triathlon. It was mostly on the whim of, "I've always thought that would be cool," paired with the nudge from another friend who'd signed up saying, "You should do it too!" We signed up and trained for the 2 months we had... and in that time, I found that I love cycling.

I went for rides with a cycling friend and learned the basic rules of cycling and when the triathlon came, it was the one portion of the three events that I dominated. Even after the slowest swim ever I was able to pass a large number of other contestants while riding my bike. Through all of this my love of cycling grew and became a passion.

I would cycle to work when I could, and then when winter hit I stopped cycling as much... and then as time went on I needed a tune-up and so many other little excuses that could be made, that I didn't cycle for quite some time.

When I left on my road trip this past September I loaded up my bike and planned to ride it everywhere I went. Unfortunately some of the stops were not bike friendly enough, and a week after a fantastic day of riding in Washington, DC, I severely sprained my ankle (read: tore a ligament) and did not ride for the rest of my travels.

I was excited in my physical therapy sessions when they would throw me on a bike - it wasn't at all like cycling, but it was moving in that direction.  After arriving back in CO, my spirit that wants to hike and run and cycle was feeling a little crushed.  Beyond that, my friend that did the triathlon with me before also became injured in February and was feeling similarly. I started allowing myself to go on "easy hikes" - and an agreement with friends to aim for 100 mile bike ride near the end of May led us to take a long bike ride yesterday.

We rode about 8 miles when the hills were too much for our untrained bodies. We turned back and packed up, but upon arriving home we decided to continue our ride. Coming out with a total of about 28 miles for our first ride of the year, I was/am pretty proud.

We're working towards something - goals... and while both of us may have had injuries in the past year to hold us down, instead of wallowing in the sorrows, we are aiming for the future.  Not only that, but we are aiming with something I absolutely adore: cycling.

It's an odd sense of bliss, but I will never turn bliss away.

Day 125: Random Interactions

So I suppose I'm on a kick with interacting with new people but I've had some fantastic encounters recently - I wonder if I've always had the opportunity to have these interactions and ignored them or if it's just the season, but nonetheless it's been entertaining.

While walking out of a store, my friend and I were approached by a man in an army suit who, essentially, started rapping Biblical things at us. Everything he said rhymed, everything was a play on words - which I loved - and he just seemed like one of the more pleasant street people I've spoken with in a long while.

It was odd because I'd decided to buy a bottle of water at the store, and I grabbed two bottles... Even while I was in the checkout I was wondering why I'd gotten two bottles and questioned putting one back, but I decided not to.  When he was talking with us I started pouring my water into a different bottle and he asked if we had any other water for the warm day - and lo and behold, I did.  I love that it happened.  It's unexplainable and really quite remarkable.  Perhaps this is one of those things people might refer to as "a God thing," but I don't know. I've never been too keen on the phrase, but I hear it.

Later on, as my friend and I were driving on a busy road the guy in the truck next to us yelled a question.  My friend heard him talking to us and asked me to slow down so she could hear what he'd asked.  The question was, "are you from *insert the name of my hometown*?"  Yes... yes I am... so as we drove down he road we talked about our hometown, because he's also from there.  He noted that he was in the army and based in CO but heading back to Montana in about a month.  Another fantastic, random occurrence.

I did have to explain to my friend that we Montanans can tell where someone is from by their license plate number and I'm sure that was his big clue.  Even so, it was funny.

I don't know why, but both of these make my heart fairly happy.  I like seeing the good in people - far too often I think I get caught up in the negative aspects of humanity so I will try to continue to embrace this recent enjoyment.

Day 124: Clouds & Dogs

I've always enjoyed the sky - and I especially love when it offers colors or a beautiful scene of clouds scattered across the sea of blue.  

Today's scene:

Also... Today I got to hang out with this awesome dog.  Old English Bulldog.  Love it.

Day 123: Coincidences

Ambiguity in the job world has opened a lot of doors for coincidences in the people I meet either through interviews or music.

While jamming with a couple of guys - one whom we met from Craigslist - we found out all of us had similar educational backgrounds in one way or another;

While in an interview for a part-time nanny position the mother told me the names of her children and noted they were all Irish.  I commented on how I was also Irish and she told me how everybody would assume her daughter was my own because of our matching hair color.

Just these little funny things that connect people are very interesting and amusing to me.  Whether it's a shared experience or a shared trait, I love discovering them with new people.  Perhaps sometimes we are too caught up in our own worlds, or too scared to interact, to notice that the people around us really aren't so different.

I enjoy this reminder.

p.s. I'm sure I misused the semi-colon but I just don't care enough to change it right now.  So perhaps I can also list "rebellion" as something I enjoy on occasion... 

Day 123. 

Day 122: productivity

Have I written about productivity before? I can't remember... But it makes me happy. 

Today was just one of those "take care of business" days so I made the phone calls I needed to make and emailed the people I needed to email... And it just feels good to cross those things off the to-do list.

Day 121: Being Paid to Write

Well... in the midst of the ambiguous lifestyle I have, I signed up to freelance write for a few sites.  If you've been reading this blog you may have just cringed at the idea of me writing an article for someone and getting paid, but... hey, they asked me to do it and money is money. 

I like my writing, but that's because I know myself and I know my own voice.  I think it comes out at times, and other times I just feel like I'm hitting the keys on the keyboard attempting to connect my thoughts.  I hate when it's the latter and I typically hate reading anything I've posted from those days, but that's just the way of life.  Some days are better than others.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and get to it.  I was paid to write an article and I'm fairly proud of it. The site currently has some glitches where it actually erased two of my segments and rearranged the whole article (which is numbered so the rearrangement was a bit jarring for me) so I have had to go back through and make changes ever since I hit "publish" at the bottom.  Even little glitches like removing the "+" from "21+" have been interesting to try to catch and fix.

If you feel so inclined, you can read my article:
Tourist Attractions Even the Locals Should Visit

I'm just happy to get paid for something like my rambling analysis on life and elements of life.

I think I've been learning a lot recently - particularly about self acceptance and self support.  Still contemplating how to feel the same relief I've felt from exercise when I still can't do much, still working on my relationships with humanity, still considering what life is all about. One day at a time.

Day 120: Easter Sunrise

Today is Easter Sunday!  Perhaps you don't celebrate such a thing, but I do.  All of my roommates and I had decided we would attend a sunrise Easter service at 6am - so when my alarm went off at 5:00 and again at 5:21 and I still heard no movement, I questioned whether I would want to get up and go alone.

I didn't want to go alone so I figured I would wait - and then right at 5:31 I heard the light switch on in the next room and a door close... soon after a coffee grinder was going so I got up, got dressed and all of us left for the service together.  

Listening to the birds in the early morning is always something I enjoy - and then to see a sunrise complete with orange and pink cast across the sky... also delightful. For me, topping that off with the idea that there is something far greater than I am in this universe - and someone that can perhaps inspire larger meaning in life.  It was a joy.

The elements of nature around me the last few days have reminded me how comfortable it is to be in the peace outside of the busy world. Away from the crowds that both accept and reject people on a regular basis.  In a place where one can truly just be.

It is life-giving.

Day 119: Unplanned Adventures

There is a story here but I will wait until I have computer access to write it... But it includes trucks getting stuck, riding in the truck bed on crazy roads, shooting guns, and weather insanity.

What a great day.

-----------------------
UPDATE:

I had received an invitation to "shoot guns" with friends yesterday and while I've never shot a gun - and also don't really love guns... I wanted to go. 

I grew up in Montana where gun shooting is just a normal thing so I felt like I just wanted to get out with friends, maybe shoot a gun just to say I had, and enjoy the day. Five of us met up and left around 9:30 for the mountains.  When we got up a bit, we took a right into a camping area that also had areas for shooting.  Of course, mountains being higher in elevation, colder in temperature and we saw a lot of snow remaining on the ground.  We drove down the unpaved, winding roads when our driver realized his 4-wheel drive wasn't kicking into gear.

We had been sliding and enjoying the bumpy ride down this hill pretty far when he realized this and stopped to look ahead if there might be a place for us to turn around.  When there wasn't one we concluded our only immediate option was to back up the hill a little bit and then turn around in a partial clearing between some trees.

As we started to back up it became very evident that we were stuck.  The truck could not get through the melting pile of snow and mud below... so we all jumped out and started trying every method we could think to get this truck up the hill and onto some solid ground.

We tried sitting over the wheels, ruining the wrong tracks in the snow, placing branches and rocks on top of the tracks, putting mats underneath the wheels, and tying a rope to the truck and a tree and tightening the rope to move it.

When a man in a buggy was flying down the hill towards us, we waved him off to a stop and in seeing our dilemma he turned around to retrieve a truck for help.

Inch by inch we moved - and truly, each inch was a victory. Moving up to a foot was pure triumph and when we finally got past our nemesis of slick snow and mud, we were all celebrating.

As we drove up the hill through more obstacles like our first, we all sat in the bed of the truck not realizing we'd be in for a ride to remember.  Without knowing where the bumps would be or when the truck would slide, we all clung to our positions simply hoping we would not fly out or hit a tree.  At one point we hit a large bump and the giant tool box on which my friend was standing as well as all of us flew into the air.  I was more focused on not being demolished by the tool box to realize that I had flown several feet into the air.  My friend that was standing on top and I both came down with new bruises on arms and legs... but it was SO incredibly fun.

Although we got stuck in mud one more time, we could not contain our squeals of excitement and enjoyment and after we got to the end of our trail all of us were reminded the amount of joy that can be offered from something so ridiculous and simple. In pure contentment we all stayed in the bed of the truck as we made our way to the next potential location to go shooting.

When we started that drive we were all pretty warm but when we arrived we were all quite cold and it was starting to snow.  We started with a shotgun and some skeet... I guess that's what those clay discs are that people shoot for practice and fun.  Having never shot before I was re-thinking whether I really wanted to even shoot a gun but I figured I'd give it a try since I was out there.

They started with a disc in a tree just for me to get the feel of the gun - I hit the skeet immediately - so we started launching the discs.  I missed all of them - no surprise.  Later we were going through another round for each of us and I took my aim and actually obliterated one!  There is something gratifying about hitting a moving target... so I was pretty proud.

Later we moved onto shooting a 9mm pistol.  At this point my shoes were soaked, I was freezing, and we had lost the ear plugs so I was mostly focused on keeping my ears plugged. I opted not to shoot and just watch until they called me up to shoot just to try. One of my friends was even so kind as to plug my ears for me (haha).  I did not hit anything and I can say I'm not afraid of guns so much as I realize the damage they can cause and still probably do not want one for myself.

When finally made our way back to the truck we'd been gone for nearly 6 hours - our adventure with the truck getting stuck paired with the shooting was really an adventure to feed the soul.  We laughed, we overcame obstacles and we just had some fun in the surrounding nature.  Oh how I've missed such things.  Joy.

Day 118: Successful Meet-Ups

Being back in Colorado, one of my goals was to get some music stuff going.  I did post myself on Craigslist and got numerous responses.  Last week one of my roommates and I met up with a mandolin/banjo/guitar singer-songwriter and jammed for a few hours and that was a good time.  This week I met up with a whole band.

I went by myself and let several people know exactly where I was going and at what time they should assume I was dead if I hadn't contacted them - Craigslist can be scary! Anyway, when I arrived they were all really great guys. Some of them as stereotypical musicians, to be sure - not focused, in their own world, etc - but all in the sake of music.

 The one girl that showed up later on even commented on how scary it can be to meet people on Craigslist and how I was pretty brave (and she was probably also thinking "stupid") to meet them.  Even so, I had a good night laughing at their interactions and just jamming along with their songs.  They seemed excited to get some gigs and a CD going so hopefully there might even be a little money, but I'm just really thankful the meeting went well and I came out alive. 

Day 117: Good Hearty Laughter

Well, if I haven't said it enough, I love laughing. I've even gone as far as to list is as a hobby on "getting to know you" type surveys and on speed dates (because I went speed dating for the sole purpose of humor).

Today included some fantastic hearty laughter just from watching a TV show I was introduced to just a couple of weeks ago: Impractical Jokers.

The premise is that there are four best friends who put themselves in public settings individually or in pairs while the others tell them what to say and try to embarrass them to the point they won't say or do whatever they've been ordered to do.

Since there is no way I can convey any of the segments, I will just give you a link where you might check them out for yourself.

www.youtube.com/user/ImpracticalJokersAll

Some of these guys remind me of people I know, so I'm sure that helps, but every time I watch the show I find myself getting some good laughter in.

Day 116: Finding Lost Items

Friday was a day when I felt like things were going wrong. Why? Because  I lost a ring that held sentimental value. What was worse is that I lost the ring in a place I should have been able to find the ring: in a bag of leaves.

The snow in winter must have covered the leaves before people could rake and it was my chore to keep the outside tidy last week.  I opted to rake the leftover leaves from the fall and attempt to put them into one garbage bag.  I would fill the bag, crush the leaves, and repeat until the bag was nearly full and the leaves were nearly gone.  As I was putting the final handfuls into the top of the bag I felt my ring slip off.  If my hand had been on top of the leaves it would have been easier to find, but my hand was actually under another pile of leaves I'd grabbed with my other hand.

My initial reaction was not to move.  I thought if I could just move the top leaves carefully perhaps I would find it... but as I started this process, no luck.  I pulled out small handfuls and let the wind take them from my hands back onto the ground. This continued and I watched as I destroyed my progress and failed to find my ring.

When I got to the bottom of the garbage bag I looked through the remaining dust and still no sign of the ring.  My defeat led me inside, abandoning my attempts to make the yard look nice.  I saw it as just another way of Colorado telling me I didn't belong.

Saturday I looked through the leaves again... still no luck. Sunday it snowed.  Monday I worked all day. Tuesday I looked through the leaves again - still no luck. So today I had decided I would either find the ring - which couldn't have disappeared (right?) - or I would look into buying a new one a half size smaller so it might not slip off of my finger so easily.

I went out and started picking up individual leaves, then small handfuls, then larger handfuls - allowing the wind to take the leaves from me and watching as all of the particles left my hands.  I was finding no luck when I was a third of the way through the pile.  Somehow I switched to animal digging mode and started pawing the leaves, nearing my breaking point. (I'm sure anybody who could see me was contemplating my sanity.) I was about to give up when I saw the most beautiful silver with the most lovely imbedded stones... A true sight for sore eyes.

Someone likened my search to finding a needle in a haystack - and I'm sure it's not quite at that level, but I found my ring in the giant pile of leaves. And that's pretty great.  Reuniting with a lost item that was once cherished will always be a victory.

Day 115: Peace

To which I have alluded in my previous posts, if I could pick a word to describe life right now it would be chaos.

Now in that disorder and confusion, some days have been worse than others.  But quite honestly today was a generally peaceful day.

Possible (and probable) contributing factors:

• The sun was out (which really does affect my mood quite a bit)
• The temperature was nice
• Music was exciting
• Coffee was delicious
• Pleasant conversations
• My skin felt great
• I put together a bookshelf and organized my room (organization... SO GOOD)

In truth, it's likely a combination of these things, but I do know that while walking from a building to my car I just felt a great sense of peace.

To feel peace in the midst of chaos is an incredible phenomenon to me.  Part of me considers the eye of the storm in a hurricane and another part says that perhaps I'm just nearing the end of the disorder.

...for this, I am thankful.

Day 114: Putting Babies to Sleep

People typically have adverse reactions to the idea of babies. I'd say that most people with negative reactions have mostly been around babies when they are crying/screaming or creating some sort of mess. Those reactions, I would say, are certainly warranted and I don't know anybody who truly loves a screaming baby - but there is something incredibly rewarding about the smiles, the giggles, and watching an infant learn new skills that seem to "make it all worth it."

Today I spent my day with a couple of kids - a baby girl trying to figure out how she can start walking and a three-year-old boy.  The afternoon rolled around and it was nap time.  The little boy had remarked numerous times previously that he was tired so I knew he was an easy sell on the nap - the little girl even seemed to go right to sleep once I put her in her crib.

I was catching up on e-mails when I heard her crying and after a few minutes went to check on her.  I opened the door to tears and screaming. I picked her up, checked her diaper to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable due to that, and started to rock her a bit. When she fell back asleep I felt triumphant and returned to my e-mails.

Several minutes later the crying started again.  I let her cry for a bit to see if she'd put herself back to sleep but alas, no such luck.  I went in to check on her and she was not happy.  I tried several ideas - none seeming to work - and eventually just sat her in her crib and gently rubbed her back and her feet while I sang. (*Note: this is the first time I've EVER sung a baby to sleep...) At some point she got in the most awkward position, but she was laying down, so this was a move in the right direction.

Eventually she was out... and it was so great. To see those droopy eyes finally close and to hear the deep breathing start. I walked out feeling content and accomplished.

All for the sake of a sleeping baby.

Day 113: uplifting friends

Thankful for someone to remind me that I am loved in the midst if a dark, ambiguous time.

How does one truly cope with life when most coping mechanisms have been removed in one way or another? Feeling as though life is trying to kick me while I am down.

Take joy in the triumphs of others. Remind them their value. All of us walk this earth one step at a time. We all stumble. We all experience life and all of its unpredictabilities....we were built to help one another along the way. 

So thanks to those who help me along the way. I can only pay it forward and hope to help someone else along my own path.

Day 112: Taking Things as They Come

Being completely honest, the last couple of weeks have been a bit rough for me. I'd say ever since my ankle injury things have been more on the "rough side" which is really why I started this blog. And while I have really re-evaluated my thinking and been focusing on positive things, it doesn't mean all of those other things have gone away.  Occasionally they will try to dominate my thinking, but I know that with the right mindset I can allow contentment to be the undertone.

In all of these feelings, I've been able to take some time to re-evaluate (surprise) and rethink my approach in life to taking things in stride. It's easy to develop an idealistic view of the course of life but it's so rare that the ideal scenario actually plays out. So I think I've been better off just taking things one day at a time - one moment at time - and not really expecting much. Not to be confused with not having hopes or dreams, but just being willing to accept - and not accepting things as they are, but accepting things that cannot be changed (ie. the past).

So with each obstacle that I happen upon, I know I will get through it. And I know it is just another learning opportunity to add to the enrichment in my life.

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” -Robert Frost

Day 111: 111

I really just love that today is "Day 111."  The rest of the day was pretty rough, but at the end of the day, I still have a roof over my head, a pillow and bed to sleep in, medicine to help with sickness, and opportunity to move forward with my life.  

So perhaps today is about opportunity and embracing that.

Day 110: Campfires

Who doesn't love waking up with the smell of campfire soaked into their skin? Well, actually, me. But this doesn't eliminate the fact that I'm willing to make the sacrifice in order to spend an evening around a brilliant flame having delightful conversations into the night.

Growing up in Montana and going to summer camp, bonfires were a pretty regular thing in my life. I have nothing but fond memories of being around those fires with people either having heart to heart conversations or singing in harmony.

I don't know what magic fire holds but I really do love it.  So tonight when we lit up a fire at a bachelorette party it was a cozy, wonderful time of good, deep conversation and staring into the wonder of the flame.

Mmm... so good.

Day 109: #hashtags

A conversation with some folks tonight somehow began to revolve around hashtags. For some time they may have been seen as annoying or immature, but truly the idea behind the hashtag was to connect people.

It's actually a pretty brilliant concept to unite complete strangers in a common interest, feeling, and even serves as a great marketing tool for many companies.

Since I, personally, have never disliked hashtags, I am glad people are realizing their value now. I actually even like the really ridiculous hashtags people use just because they amuse me. If they are good.

anyway, who really wants to hear about my love of hashtags? 

#nobody #ridiculous #iJustLoveThem #UnecessaryUseOfHashtags #happiness 

Day 108: Spring Temperatures

Sunny and 67 degrees. Perfection...

I temperature and the sun caused the day just became even more magical. Things falling into place after other things fell out of place, coffee shops, wonderful people, invitations to do things I enjoy, musical interactions, and the release of some new music by my beautifully talented friends involved with The Liturgists.

I'll let you check it all out for yourself... www.theliturgists.com

It's kind of crazy because many of the songs The Liturgists are debuting are songs I've sung for several years - some of which I was there during their creation (which is insane) and it's cool to see how they have evolved and also a bit surreal to hear them being released as recordings.

Day 107: Craigslist

Craigslist is one of those love-hate relationships I have. Occasionally I'll use it to look at potential housing options or browse furniture and other things I might need but I rarely end up actually using it to obtain any of these items. Most of the time I just end up laughing.

Last time I was looking for a prospective living location there was a house listed "Free Rent" which included a fabulous list of things the renter (young female preferred) would do for the owner - including, but not limited to, cooking, cleaning, and massages. So basically a live-in girlfriend or concubine of sorts without calling it that. I almost took it since it was free but some of my friends advised I look elsewhere.

The last few days I've been browsing jobs, furniture and musician-related posts on Craigslist just because those are all things I need/want. Tonight I found a new category called "Talent" and it may be newest favorite place to look for wonderful posts like this:

Girl needed now, huh?  Obviously I clicked on it...

Oh... ASAP. Good description.  The one for the blonde was similar with some spelling errors and more description - as in "Looking for tall, slender blonde - will pay $400."  Now... for what reason?  Who knows? I don't think I want to know. But it did make me chuckle.

I also loved this one:

Awesome. It's the newest form of a dating site - although, Craigslist does have a dating/meeting-up (aka hooking-up) portion of their website. I guess there aren't enough places to look.  And hey, this is a stand-in girlfriend for free drinks. I'm still considering responding because that's kind of like a job, right?

Anyway, thank you Craigslist for the many wackos that you allow to post on your website.

Day 106: Dining Experiences

I like sharing meals most of the time - cooking for groups, circling up with groups to eat, and going out with people are usually mostly enjoyable times.  Tonight I was a bit irritable and hungry when we arrived at a restaurant so I wasn't sure I was excited about the dining experience, but ultimately I think I laughed more there than I have laughed in a while. 

It was a taco place where the tacos are ordered on slip of paper based off of the meat - and between the 6 of us at our table we had 17 tacos of varying meats. She'd specifically asked us not to use roman numerals and my nerdy, dad-joke-loving brain provoked me to jokingly complain we would have to use real numbers.  Which went right over her head - or maybe I didn't say it loud enough - but it was clear she was not in it for the jokes.  And I'll admit, it was dumb, so I moved on.  

Anyway, we ordered using real numbers and when our tacos were delivered, we were missing one taco. Perhaps we assumed it was on its way, but after most of the tacos had been eaten we were still lacking the last special taco.

After literally grabbing our waitress, we noted that the special taco had not arrived. To say her facial expression was perplexed might be an understatement. She looked at the table and walked away without saying a word.  Every time she would come it looked as though she was examining the table searching for the missing taco.

I had wondered if she thought we ate it and were trying to get a free taco out of the night... but I had also noticed her looking at other tables. Speculation led us to believe that a food runner delivered the taco to the wrong table and she was on a mission to find it.  Nonetheless, it made our meal that much more entertaining as we jokingly looked under plates, water carafes and chairs for the taco.

At the end of the meal we even joked about telling her we had found the taco and that it was under the water the whole time.  Yes. We're nerds.  But it was a fantastic time full of laughter and delicious food.  Other than my initial irritation, I don't think I'll complain about good meals with friends.

Day 105: Silliness

I have a friend on twitter who updates entirely in all caps. I find it decently annoying and actually responded to him one day with a snarky, "Got your all caps locked on there?"  He didn't understand my sass and proceeded to "realize" that he could have posted his last post without all caps. Going forward, he continued to use all caps and explained that he wanted his tweets to be seen. Unfortunately, this just isn't the way to go.

Typically anybody typing in all caps on any contraption is someone I probably don't want to be communicating with over said contraptions.  Of course, the occasional all caps line to indicate shouting or hyperactivity is pretty fun..but today I accidentally left my all caps on mid-conversation.  It made me laugh so I posted on Facebook:

Honestly... just silliness like this makes me laugh.  Twas a good moment in my day - following which I went out the door to get ingredients to make my own pizzookie to be shared with my roommates.  Yum.

Day 10...something...

Forgetting the number simply because keeping track isn't always a priority.  Taking life as it comes... The good with the bad and learning how to take it all and move forward.

Day 103: Sales

Alright... I'm the type of person that doesn't love spending money, but I also like having some things.  I also like to minimize my life so it's a constant game in my life figuring out what I want or need, what I can afford, what I no longer want or need, and where my priorities are within these items. Since I don't have time to get into Extreme Couponing or any things similar to it, I find I just have to get lucky.

Today I went to the store because I was in need of socks - which can be pretty cheap - and while I was there I saw a bathrobe.  Something I have wanted for the last several years but haven't needed enough to buy - or afford - but today I won. I got a new bathrobe on clearance for less than $8.  Crazy.

I really love when things I've been waiting to get for a while are suddenly placed in front of me for a cheaper price than normal.  And when I can muster up the reason to actually buy it. (Sometimes I can't even get myself to pay the reduced price...)

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I realize my posts the last few days have been pretty shallow, but when pursuing happiness I think it all counts.

Day 102: Thai Food

There's a lot going on right now - some good, some stressful, some of everything... but something I was missing in Montana was good asian food.  Today I decided to go ahead and seek out some thai near the house and got a curry.  It wasn't the most amazing curry of my life, but it was spicy enough to satisfy me for a minute.

I love thai food.

And I hope things calm down soon.

Day 101: Roommates

It's been a while since I had these people... but I like them.