random thoughts

my thoughts are so scattered these days...

+ one of my roommates got engaged a few weeks ago! It's pretty exciting. Josh&Annie. They've even set a date! geez, guys ;)

+ I had a pancake party in honor of pancake day. it was pretty fun. I love pancakes. I could write several different personal essays on why. About a dozen friends/family showed up and we ate pancakes, fatty bacon (mmm!), and fruit salad. Caroline came early to help, I borrowed my Dad's griddle, and he & mom even stopped by! they brought Kevin, too and it was this fun family-friends mix. my dad left me a sweet voicemail: thanks for inviting us, we had fun, and we like your friends. such sentiments, though often assumed, aren't always verbalized in my family. it was good to hear.

+ sometimes dad stops to see me at work. it's on his way to work and if he sees my car and has time he stops to get a venti raspberry hazelnut mocha. I like being in the same town as my parents, and I'm cherishing that now more as I realize I'll move (someday). I get to see my mom at BSF sometimes. she teaches the kids, but sometimes I go up to visit after my discussion group. I like being able to run into them in regular life sorts of places. since we don't go to the same church or live in a small town it's not super-common, but it's nice to be able to see them in a place other than their home when they invite me over for dinner.

+ lately (as in, in the last year) when people have asked where I'm from, I've started saying . . . I don't know . . . because sometimes I'm not sure.

+ I was listening to a Derek Webb song today and he said "you can't pick your friends" and while it's something I've heard before I've never really thought about what it meant. but it reminded me of a theme I've been pondering here and there lately. about friends. and who mine are and why. and convenient friends in contrast to real connection friends. I love old friends that I can just go back to, new friends that I just click with. and somewhere in between are friends that take a lot of work. and while it's usually more comfortable to gravitate toward the easy friendships, there's so much value in the friendships worth working for. I love you, friends. All of you! and while it's sad to say, I also get to say I miss most of you. Because a lot of you don't live here :(

+ about a month ago a quiet boy that I'm not interested in asked me out. quite politely. (but also really passively... over email!) and I said no thank you I'm not interested. (which I'll admit was easier over email.) And I'm not interested, so the last thing I want to do is lead him on. But it begs the question within me: why am I so comfortable saying that? I'm pretty confident behind those words, and if we read between the lines, perhaps I'm really saying something more along the lines of... no thank you, I'm waiting for mister perfect, my crush-of-the-week and/or prince charming to show interest...

+ the other day I called the city's non-emergency line to report a woman who was driving with her infant on her lap, a starbucks cup in one hand, and a cell phone perched between ear and shoulder. with minimal information (no direction, just a vehicle description and plates), they called back within 10 minutes, an officer was behind her on a motorcycle. my coworker said she'd sign a complaint and the woman may have to show up in court.

+ a lot of times, when I put out the cream cheese danishes at Starbucks in the mornings, I think of two specific weeks in 6th grade. It was January. and my family moved from WY to UT and we had to live in a La Quinta hotel for two weeks while we started school and waited to move into our house. We got to go swimming every night and had a continental breakfast every morning, and there were cream cheese danishes. Living in a hotel was weird, but I don't remember being particularly traumatized by it. It's just what we did.

+ The Format will always remind me of Orlando and Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA will always remind me of my Dad's USAF retirement ceremony.

+ I saw Matt Wertz a few weeks ago in Boulder. Good Show. Katie came and we picked up Crystal along the way. I think Katie just wanted to see opener Jon Mclaughin, and he was amazing, but it was pretty funny when halfway through Matt's set she says hey, I'm ready to go when you are... are you kidding me?!

+ I really want to buy the Decemberists' The Crane Wife. We play it a lot at work. And I especially enjoy it during the early hours when the world is still asleep, the peak hasn't lit up with sunlight yet, and the store is still pretty quiet.

+ looking forward to the Trace Bundy show tomorrow!