"Why I'm Excited it's Almost Autumn" by the one and only GINA

well, friends, do I have a treat for YOU! the one and only, GINA, is guest posting for me today

because I'm birthday-ed out and spending time to hang out

with my friends and "vacation-ing" if you will indulge me that far.

GINA writes for Hello Giggles ,which is where I first found her,

and is quite seriously the person I would Freaky Friday/switch bodies

and lives with if I could. 

visit her here.

THANK YOU, GINA!

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Why I’m Excited it’s Almost Autumn

And by “almost,” I mean “two months, practically,” but a girl can fantasize. Maggie asked me if I wanted to guest blog for her while she was vacationing and living out the freshly 21 year-old dream, and I said YES! But had no idea what I should write about. To be honest, I’ve been slacking on my own blog. I got a new kitten (Yoshimi) and she’s been taking up almost all of my free time. Not that she’s a hassle-she’s a very independent little girl. But she gets into EVERYTHING. Like, right now, she’s investigating my Trader Joe’s cookie butter filled chocolate bar sitting on my bedside table. And I have to steer her away from the True Death and so she’s started to claw my thighs and laptop screen. So, yeah, fun times, everyone. 

This morning I woke up, however, and realized I really want it to be autumn. Like, really bad. And I was like, this is what I’m going to write about. I’m done with the sticky weather (it’s even been weird and humid in San Diego), I’ve had no time to go to the beach anyway, and I want my pumpkin spice latte already. Fall is seriously the best season because: 

1.      Like I mentioned: PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES.

Actually, pumpkin everything. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes (the mix from Trader Joe’s is seriously bomb) pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin candles, pumpkins themselves. The combination of pumpkin and cinnamon is just so cathartic; add almond milk to the mix and I’m golden.    

2.  Fall fashion.

Late August means I get to go back-to-school shopping, even though grad school probably doesn’t warrant that luxury. I AM teaching my own freshman comp class this year, so I should get some new clothes for that right? I am SO excited for all the forest greens, burnt siennas, new jeans, boots, tights, and sweaters.

3.   ALL the shows.

Well, not all. Shameless and Game of Thrones aren’t back until winter/spring. BUT hello Walking Dead, American Horror Story,New Girl, and the Mindy Kaling Project. So many good things happenings once it starts to cool down, and a lot of them are on my laptop screen. Hooray.

4.   Thanksgiving.

I like food, okay? What can I say. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all time because it doesn’t involve the stress of buying presents, it just promotes love and thanks and family, and those are the most important things in life, right? And it’s just a stress-free holiday. Like, even making Thanksgiving dinner isn’t even that hard. You just coat a turkey with seasoning and stick it in the oven for 8 hours mash up a few different kinds of squash. Pretty much easy. Thanksgiving is a holiday that revolves around eating too much and then passing out on the couch while your dad and uncle watch football. It’s amazing.

5.   It’s always “crisp”.

I love the word “crisp” because it’s hard to describe the weather when it’s clear, kind of cold but not, and fresh. Like, you breathe it in and you are that much more alive. Fall weather is almost always “crisp” even in Southern California (although sometimes it’s just Indian Summer over here and that’s always disappointing).

I just had to Google “how to play with your kitten effectively”. I’m seriously. I’m such a bad cat mom. But she’s been chewing on my paycheck for the last five minutes and all the toys I give her are not as good as the $120 curtains I just bought. On accident. That’s a different story, though. Also, is it normal for kittens to just attack you? Like, woah, energy. Sometimes she’ll just attack a corner for being a corner. I’m trying not to take it personally. 

Anyway, thanks again for letting me guest blog. I know the love of fall is nothing revolutionary, but I just had to get it out there today. And it’s mid-summer. And I’m feeling that mid-season itch where I want things to be different. And fall kind of encourages you to start over, even if it means buying a new maxi skirt and jean jacket. Over and out.

the best birthday of my life

I was sitting at my desk yesterday around 3pm, only just starting to do some work after a birthday party was thrown by my office in complete Michael Scott style, between three bouquets of flowers next to my computer, two packages, and a flood of notifications and texts on my phone wishing me happy birthday when it just sort of snowballed at once how remarkable it was to be sitting there. Last year, I had a good birthday, don't get me wrong. I had the low key of all low key summers and it was good. But a year later and I'm sitting in an office as an intern having the time of my life in SEATTLE living a dream and the people in my life are nothing short of amazing hard working people I'm proud to be friends with- how is this my life just a year later?!

I think the biggest things I've taken away from being twenty are two things and they're both two simple things I learned the hard way, as I always learn these things. Your life shouldn't be just okay. You should love the things you're doing and the people you're around. You should love every day for not just the big picture of things but for what your life is now. You get out of life what you put into it and I just wasn't putting much into it. I was thumbing through my college years thinking that what I was doing would get me a well paying job and eventual happiness when all along I knew that I should have been studying writing. I should have been starting on my life and happiness then instead of thinking of happiness as something to achieve later. There's having a goal and working towards something you want so I realize the big things don't come easy, but you also never know if everything is going to go as planned. And if you don't like the baby steps and doing the ground "grunt" work, how are you going to get there!? I get excited about writing a tweet at my internship or just writing a flyer. It's hard to be away from my friends and family but I like what I'm doing every day. I hated reading my biology textbooks. Secondly, surround yourself by people who make you a better person that you just feel better around.

Twenty was messy. I had a lot of figuring out to do as I'm sure I'll have more to sort out later. But for the moment, I've gotten this far and it's a lot further than I was last year. I've figured out where my potential can take me in the future and suddenly my life feels limitless as opposed to restricted. I got myself to Seattle for the summer. And the people I'm around are motivated inspiring people. And while I'm laying on the cheese factor, it's because of those people, those 38 MCAT scoring, Seattle Photography Intern working, and Hawaiian living beings, that I took some risks, too. 

I'm a proud cat loving creative writing major and I love my ordinary life and all the grunt work in it and I love it now. 

my intern friends! 

after this, my whole office sang and we had cake. i love my office.

ho hey, it's my birthday week!

I'm already feeling loved and it's only the first day of my birthday week. The actual day is Wednesday but just look- a new blog layout made by my gifted friend Kylee and I received a package at work today from Natalie who indulged my Redvines addiction! Seriously, these babies were consumed in just under three hours. The package said that there were only two servings in there, however, so it could be worse.

I've decided that clearly the last two weeks were only a bit rough to make way for a happy happy birthday week. That's how the universe operates, right? Alternating between eh and fantastic? Well, I'm telling myself it is. Here's to turning 21. I have a feeling about this year. I really, really do. And if I've learned anything about myself getting older, it's that I have a scary accurate gut feeling about things. 2013 has been pretty great so far, but age 20 as a whole was murky at best.

Also... at the very least, I have tickets to One Direction this weekend.

to the fried egg jellyfish in the ocean

I had a bad week. Even the coolest news that's ever landed in my email inbox didn't improve my mood by that much. It ended with me in the parking lot of Rite Aid on a Saturday night past closing letting emotions happen as they do over Redvines and Ben & Jerry's. I think I've had a hard time admitting to myself what I was feeling in the moment because golly gee, I'm in Seattle! Living the life I've always dreamed of! And I'm 20 years old for crying out loud, so I should suck it up and stop calling my mom daily! These are things I've told myself whenever swells of loneliness have pooled their way into my brain and luckily, until this week, I've gotten over it in less than a day. And all week I told myself, "You're not lonely, you don't miss your friends or Montana, get over yourself, it's SEATTLE! You're only allowed to be happy!" But then I found myself outside of Rite Aid being asked by the guy who rang up my Redvines, Ben & Jerry's, and Flea spray if I was okay and to my dismay my mom was out of service in Wyoming so calling her wasn't an option. So finally I admitted it to myself: I was lonely.

So this morning when I woke up to blueberry pancakes served with huckleberry syrup brought from Sandpoint, Idaho and then was asked if I was feeling up for a kayaking adventure, I perked up immediately. We voyaged across the channel from straight out of the backyard off of the dock and it was like once I was out of my bed and in the sunshine, I started to come back to life again. Halfway into our trip, suddenly I spotted a white cloud underneath our kayak and to my astonishment, it was a giant jellyfish. A giant jellyfish that in a matter of seconds made its way to the surface of the ocean right in front of me. I don't know why but that jellyfish set my little sad spirits free. It sort of floated there while we paddled back and forth, observing it, and I let time sort of stop in my mind to hang on to the moment. Idaho and Montana are quite obviously landlocked states, but it wasn't about feeling appreciative of the chance to see this jellyfish I could never see at home, but rather, it was about feeling welcomed and connected to my environment. Which, obviously, the jellyfish itself didn't do, but rather than running about a city seeing its many sights whose attractions belong to the memories of thousands of people, that sole jellyfish belonged to just me. It was uniquely mine. It hung around there for a few seconds as we stared in silence, just long enough so that when it left, we were already paddling away, too, getting what we both wanted.

Thank you, jellyfish. I think if you could talk, you would have told me to relax. Missing home, even if it's the one place you know you can't live in again, is just fine. As is calling your mom at 20 years old. So is missing your friends. So is admitting that place isn't everything, the people you love is a big part of what makes a home. And it's okay to feel those things. Everything is okay, as long as you just keep going the way you're meant to go and come back up to the surface for air every now and then when you need it.

I just thought you should know

The flea situation is slightly in control. Except I found one in my bed once again and I'm washing my sheets for the third time in a week.

Every day could actually be your last. I won't expand on this but it was a traumatizing enough experience I thought I should mention that you just never know. Do your thing, guys. Seize the day! Don't cross a scary street in the woods without sprinting across it!

I've become obsessed with watching beauty videos on my 30 minute ferry ride every morning. Essiebutton is my favorite? I almost want to learn to apply makeup to my face and become a beauty blogger to share what I know until I realize I could never. Also, she met her boyfriend on the Internet and moved to England to be with him. That isn't related to anything beauty related except that they fell in love before they knew what the other looked like and that's beautiful to me. 

I only took three pictures of my vacation so I promise I'm not really holding out on a huge, "I went to Idaho and here are my vacation pictures!" post because I'm not. 

I bought myself a maxi dress for my birthday present to myself. You know a clothing item is a good purchase when you buy it, tell the employee you're going to go put it on in the changing room, and then do so and wear it to dinner.

Oh yeah, birthday shenanigans. Guess who has tickets to One Direction (big birthday present to myself) for next week and who has four awesome amazing friends coming to visit her to make the last awful week of her life insignificant?*

I include this picture below because a) cloudly overcast days in Seattle are my favorite and also I miss this coffee shop that I need to go back to b) this dress was taken over by a family of fleas and I'm pretty upset about it. 

*I'm sorry this blog post is so worthless, I just got sucked into the, "I haven't blogged in 4 days!" conundrum  It won't happen again.

currently

I am only days away from turning t w e n t y o n e. This picture sums up my feelings about the matter pretty well, actually.

I spent my week sleeping in a tent in the mountains. Except, I sort of cheated big time this year because I used the internet every day by walking to the Lodge that was yards away from our campsite. Is it excusable because I had a sinus cold so the grand ten hour hikes my sister and parents went on were out of the question?

I have fleas. Seriously. I loved a cat too hard.

I used the bathroom at City Target twice today and walked out both times without buying anything. Public bathrooms in Downtown Seattle are a rarity, you know.

I've decided to just rename July as "Maggie's Birthday MONTH of Celebrations". At the moment, I've had one party and I have a minimum of three to go.

I have more to say later when I'm back from vacation (mentally). Mentally, I'm still in the mountains with my family. Give me a few days. Also, I've relapsed and I'm still sick.

a post from shelby

so shelby is more or less one of my favorite people

and i asked her to guest post on my blog because i am so very busy and 

semi internet-less

on the beach getting burnt and eating smores. 

THANKS, shelby!

also, read her blog.

that is a command.

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There’s this weird phenomenon where people who are young and in love are somehow supposed to publicly acknowledge that we know it might not work out and that if it doesn’t, you know, whatever, life. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard “oh, you’re so young!” or “you don’t even know yourself until you’re thirty!” after hearing that I’m engaged, and I don’t disagree. I hope that I’ll be constantly growing for the rest of my life. I’ll just have Sam by my side.

There’s also this weird need for people to tell me that I need to date a wider variety of people before I “pick” one. I suppose this means that I’m supposed to go to clubs or bars and try to “find” someone. I went to college away from Sam. I had opportunities to meet more interesting and more desirable people, but I didn’t find any. Admittedly, I wasn’t looking, but I wasn’t looking for Sam, either. He just kind of happened. I found a good one at a young age and I’d like to keep him. Why wade through the creepers, cheaters, and generally boring individuals in pursuit of finding something only half as interesting and perfect for me than Sam? I have absolutely zero interest in dating around, and anyone that has ever married someone for love can absolutely attest to that fact. I like to joke that if Ryan Gosling was at my door, I’d still choose Sammy every time. And I would. 

You know how you have those moments where everything feels right and you’re right where you’re supposed to be? That’s how I feel with Sam. When he unexpectedly showed up at OSU after driving for three hours because I’d had a bad day and he wanted to cheer me up – that was one of those moments. When he asked me to marry him, after we had been baking scones after a really bad day and I knocked over a bowl of water that splashed all over the floor, only to turn around when I heard a chuckle to see him on one knee with an earnest look on his face – that was one of those moments. When we split grilled cheese sandwiches on his floor, or when I wake up to him giggling like a schoolboy as he parts my hair down the middle, or when I always, always forget to hang up my towels after I get out of the shower and he hangs them up for me with minimal complaint – those are those moments.

About a month ago, we adopted a puppy. In exactly eleven days, Sammy and I will be signing the lease on our first apartment. In about a year, we’ll be getting married. After almost three years of living in different states and going to different colleges, we’ll finally be together. Hopefully, in about ten years, we’ll be having babies that look like the triplets from Brave. I know that we’re young, but we’re also happy. Why wait?

The story of three sets of sisters

It goes a little like this:

One day, I decided to coach my sister's soccer team in a small soccer tournament. We were the Tyrannosaurus Rex's and we would have won the tournament if not for one goal in the last minute of the championship. There was one tall blonde girl I distinctly remember being a little bit more awesome than the rest and her name was Danielle, who played soccer with my sister. Well, over the next couple of soccer seasons they continued to play together and Danielle remained awesome greeting me enthusiastically with the biggest smile on her face like I was Taylor Swift or something. Fast forward. Sitting on the sidelines of one of their games, I started talking to another blonde cheerful wide smiled lady watching the soccer game. We talked for the entire duration of the game about clothes and boys and boy bands and it was magical. Low and behold, it was Danielle's sister, Jacqueline, that I was talking to. That day, Danielle drove home with us and we bonded over the fact that I bonded with her sister and we were basically immediate best friends. And would be for the next few years during which time her family would become like another family to me that took me in during my lunch breaks at WSU. 

Well, little did I know, Danielle had a best friend who was also blonde and tall and cheerful. I'm pretty surprised we didn't meet earlier, actually. She showed up at my house one day with a Danielle and Jacqueline and took our pictures. I distinctly remember her complimenting my hair within 0.89 seconds of meeting me and that was all it really took. Friendship with Katy formed! From then on it was me, my sister, Danielle, Danielle's sister Jacqueline, and Katy. 

Fast forward another year or so: Katy posts the most beautiful picture of herself on Facebook wearing the most beautiful prom dress I have ever seen in my life (seriously, it is my favorite prom dress I have ever seen on anyone ever). Well, I notice yet ANOTHER blonde and tall and smiley girl in a picture with her. Scrolling over this other girl's face, I see that she has the same last name as Katy and voila! I knew of Debbie's existence. However, it wouldn't be until this spring that I would discover she has a blog and is the most hilarious person in the world. Seriously. I developed a girl crush VERY quickly and one day Katy sent me a picture of her and Debbie together. I'm not really sure how but it was probably through some sort of creepy stalkerish text that she sent me her phone number. BAM! Texting friends/soulmates. 

Finally, we all got to be in one place. Three sets of sisters, all friends. All pretty loud. All chatty. All awesome.

a couple things I'm thankful for

I am thankful for roommates that stick with you for three going on four years. Ones that take you with them to visit their aunt and uncle in Hawaii for Spring Break but more than that visit you in Seattle for three whole days and say yes to adventures that involve driving through a city for the first time to meet teen pop singers. Also, roommates that like cats.

I am thankful for blankets. Blankets are my ultimate source of comfort and even in the summer I'm usually wrapped up in one in the middle of the day.

I am thankful for cats. Especially orange ones named Cinnamon that like you within five seconds and becomes your roommate side kick subject to conversations while making dinner and cuddling.

I am thankful for donut muffins which have to be one of the best creations in pastry making history.

I am thankful for coffee shops and baristas because both feel like friends in a new place.

I am thankful for journals that seem like they're made for me to fill.

I am thankful for mornings that include all of the above. 

There isn't a grilled cheese like a Mom's grilled cheese

In three days I have asked my Mom to make me a grilled cheese three times. It dawned on me the first time I moved out of my parents' house that no grilled cheese will ever tast the same as my Mom's. Even the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever had (Beechers and Red Robin),as good as they are, just don't taste the same. For three years I have eagerly looked forward to coming home to Moms' grilled cheese. However, in the past few days I have had an even more unusual than normal close attachment to my Moms' grilled cheese. While mulling over the reasons behind what made my sandwich so dang great after the third day of having a grilled cheese for lunch, it dawned on me that the reason it tasted and felt so much better than normal had everything to do with what one of my best friends said about living in a city for the first time. 

Upon coming home and nestling into the comforts of the life I knew for 18 years, it took no time at all to feel like I was in high school again driving a 1983 Subaru with horrible side bangs. Surely, I've noticed and appreciated things about my small hometown now that I've experienced the very opposite of it day after day, but also in falling back into my regular routines I've seen that it's exactly that comfortable routine that is so different than my life in Seattle. In Seattle, every single thing is a new experience to me. In both Moscow and Missoula, my life is already laid out for me. Everything is comfortable. I know those places in and out. I know my place and I have my niches. In Seattle, I eat at different places every single time I eat out. I explore different parts of the city every weekend. I'm always on high alert mode so that I am on track to get to and from where I need to go. Mentally, it's a completely different way of life, too. Seattle requires my undivided attention. It almost feels like a game sometimes as to whether I can really do it all.

One of my closest friends from Moscow is living in a city in France for the summer and for all of next semester. We were talking about how life in Moscow and living in a city is so drastically different from one another and what parts of it we liked and didn't like when she commented on the fact that the biggest shock isn't the fast paced way of life in a city, but rather how it feels to simply not have any ties to the city or much of a bearing on where we are. I know what she means. I feel like I could spend every single day doing something in a new part of the Seattle area without ever getting bored or repeating a day once. I simply can't ever know Seattle as well as I know Moscow or Missoula and surely not in a summer. I feel like I'm running around with my head cut off most of the time without ever really attaching any ties to any one place here. I may like a coffee shop next to my work or enjoy a sandwich at the shop down the block but I have no memories anywhere. Building a new life is so new and liberating but at times emotionally exhausting. I know there have been moments when I just wished I could have a pocket of the city that was strictly my own that I could attach the same feelings of comfort to, similar to the feeling of my mom making me a grilled cheese in the kitchen of the house I grew up in. Which might be asking for too much, however, even in Missoula I have those places I go to that are always a comfort because they remind me of some memory or they're part of my routine somehow.

It's confusing at times. I'm having the time of my life and then I have crippling moments of anxiety when I wish I could just experience five minutes of home. It's pushing me and I know it's making me reach harder than ever to make those ties to my surroundings. At the same time, Seattle seems to be a place that I've been able to see myself thriving in more than any other place I've ever visited. Settling and creating a life takes time. I'm starting to get to the phase of settling with friends I see regularly and places I've started to frequent. That helps. And even being home, I'm reminded that my time in Moscow has expired and my place is in all of the unfamiliarity that Seattle offers.

But sometimes, I just wish those pockets of comfort were as accessible as Moms' grilled cheese. And I've soaked up my time at home as much as possible to take the feeling back with me to Seattle.

I D A H O

There's a reason why I love my hometown. It's not because of the rolling hills or hanging out with my sister, though. No way.

I don't really know when my sister became so much cooler than me and surpassed me in her wit, likability, and way of negotiating really late curfews with my parents, but she did all of that and more. She got a better scholarship to go to a better college than I will graduate from, she managed to pick better friends than the ones I did in High School (and will probably pick better ones as a freshmen than I did), she watches way better movies and has better taste in music than I do, she has illustrated a childrens' book, and she did all of these things so dang effortlessly. I would be jealous but if there's any single person that I want to see succeed and be happy, it's her. And the fact that she does everything without making the mistakes that I made makes me happy, too.

This next week we will have our last family vacation before she goes off to college making my parents empty nesters. We're proud of her. But we sort of miss her already.
 

to my 18 year old self

Please, please don't start a "fashion blog". You'll never be able to read through the archives of your blog in three years because of your abuse of pattern mixing and over-wearing of Forever21 because that's what your favorite fashion blogger wears therefore it must be cool will make you want to vomit. Also, really with the "Lifesize Paperdoll"?! You'll be stuck with it when you're still blogging three years later.

Hang on to that friend of yours named Margaret. She will still be there three years later, even from 6,000 miles away.

Don't cut your hair spontaneously at the salon by someone you've never been to- twice. Or get your bangs cut before high school graduation. 

You are allowed to be happy now. Right this very moment. You're allowed to not like your biology classes and you're allowed to NOT worry so much about the future. Because great things are in store and if anything, those dang biology classes have taught you to work hard and you will get where you need to go. Focus on happiness in your every day life for now.

Your mom is the most beautiful woman you know and you will someday be proud to have gotten her strength both physically and mentally.

Don't be afraid to let go of things even though it seems like because you've invested years of your life into them you have to work to make something that's only okay good. Don't settle for just good. Excellent is always an option and if you're having doubts, you're probably not on the right path.

Do blog about your boyfriend. You'll only be slightly embarrassed reading them down the road but you'll also be able to look back and remember things you would have otherwise forgotten completely. Your 21 year old self thanks you for documenting those things that are only sweet memories now.

Don't for a second think the friends you make your freshmen year of college are the ones you have to hang out with for the rest of your college years. Keep the friends that make you laugh but primarily, keep the ones that are ambitious and inspire you to be a better person. 

It isn't romantic to save someone or be saved by someone in a relationship. That doesn't make a relationship.

Buy spandex. Wear under dresses/skirts. So many peep shows in Urey Hall avoided.

Take advantage of every coffee you share with your mom, every movie you watch with your sister, and every commute to work with your dad. Those moments will never be part of your normal day to day life again.

Yep, you'll definitely gain the Freshmen 15. In one semester. And you won't lose it until you move off campus and start running... for real. Going to the gym and running on an elliptical is NOT a work out. I repeat. The elliptical is not a workout.

The biggest mistakes you'll make will be directly related to not listening to yourself and what you want. Speak up and make yourself heard. Don't be so afraid of someone not liking you- several won't. You can't ever predict how what you say or what you do will affect the actions of people around you so it's important that you are honest in the moment when the opportunity is present.

Life is more than twee floral dresses and wanting to marry the first person you like. Like, duh, right? But that's okay. You DO figure it out. It's almost cute now.

the most accurate picture of my 18 year old self that there is.

because cats and sundays

This weekend I just sort of put away the camera. All weekend long. And I just had sort of a thoughtless weekend. No running around the city, no 12 hour long parking fees, no navigating, no "figuring out"- none of it. It was easy and so, so good. Part of my Seattle mentality has been to do everything I can possibly do when I'm not at work because it's Seattle after all and I want to take advantage of it as much as I can, but this weekend after just taking it easy I realized how silly I was for thinking I couldn't take advantage of my time here without going into the city. My go-go-go all the time lifestyle as its been can unpause every now and then and you know, the world won't end and I won't regret a day not adventuring in the city after all. I'm glad I figured that out. Because quite seriously, the Puget Sound is in my background and provided hours upon hours of pure bliss on Sunday.

(Little unknown secret I feel safe sharing now that I don't live alone and the family I'm staying with is back: I'm living on an island close to Seattle and commute into the city every day by ferry.)

SO! Because I left my camera in its place on my nightstand, a couple of uncategorized happenings in my life lately include: the Jim to my inner Pam/future Marshall environmental lawyer turned out to kind of sort be the opposite of grand (but all's well that ends well and by ends well I mean a milkshake and shrug because cats), writing things (real things! like, things that I like sort of like things! like, fiction and stories! and I'm not ashamed to admit that to the world!), making a brand spankin' new friend in Seattle after working with her at the event last week and ending our goodbye with, "Hey, so I don't have many friends, want to hang out sometime?!" and she said I seemed awesome so I skipped away like a happy clam, planning for two of my favorite people to visit me because while I so badly wish going to Austin to meet 20 of the best people I've ever met on the internet could have worked out with my work schedule and vacation time, instead two of my friends willingly spent money on plane tickets to hang out with me on my 21st birthday at the end of the month, and arrangements have been made so that I can go home for the long 4th weekend before I go on vacation with my family to our annual camping reunion.

Huzzah! All good things and only good things are happening in my neck of the woods. ALSO, HELLO JULY! July is kind of my fave.