The Question That Lingers // Part 1

I say that I want to stay in places until they become a part of me, and I them. It takes minutes for the sea to become a part of you- salt in your lungs, water in your ears, longing in your soul, and the transfer between ocean and sand that turns your feet into salty dip sticks. The only question which still lingers is- how do I become a part of this place?

Maybe, I already am a part of it all, by nature of what I am- a girl raised in the shadow of a mountain, with snow water in my veins and muscles that have known how to handle ski poles for as long as I can remember. Maybe, the stories of girls with skin as white as snow have always been written in the sand, for we are completely out of our element, and I think the earth loves those kind of stories. Maybe, the carelessness of the sea needs stories like mine just as much as it needs surfers and gulls, in order to survive.

The Best Place I've Ever Been

^^Burano is famous for it's lace

If I could live anywhere in the world I might choose the island of Burano, where I could choose my house based on color. Mine would be periwinkle. And all day I could just sit and watch old ladies make lace, stitch after tiny stitch, until my head hurt from watching. And there are no cars, and Italian gentlemen sit and argue over their gelato like it's a movie.

Fly Like a G6

The Philadelphia Airport is pretty cool. After having an authentic Philly cheese steak we discovered a wall for all of the authors from Philadelphia, and evidently it was the hometown of my favorite author, Jerry Spinelli!

***

 I'm so glad our airplane seats were always together. Sitting next to strangers on airplanes gives me this guilty feeling, I get stuck between wanting to keep to myself and knowing that you can learn terribly interesting things about people when you sit that close to them for hours and actually open your mouth to talk. Sitting next to my parents means I can be as quiet as I want without feeling guilty. Plus the people sitting behind us were plenty loud and interesting.

Conversation from behind:

After having gotten to know each other, the mother of four, the older woman, and the young well-dressed business man joined in on looking through their complementary travel magazines. "Oh! Let's go there!" The mother of four exclaimed, pointing, I can only imagine, to a lovely picture of Spain. "Are you two doing anything after Thanksgiving?" They all laughed. I could tell the young well-dressed business man had a beard without even sneaking a look back. There was something about his laugh that shouted "I have a beard to go with my Santa laugh!" He did. He was a spitting image of 28 year old Santa Clause. I wonder how serious mother of four was about escaping to Spain.


Airport read: How To Be Lovely by Melissa Hellstern, lessons from the life of Audrey Hepburn. Now one of my favorite books. I'm pretty sure it was written for me.

#Day1

#WeWearYourGranddad'sClothes

Lemme tell you about my evening yesterday. First I went to my bestie since age 7's A Capella group performance, cuz she is just way musically inclined like that. Then we, her biggest fans, wandered over to Encore Thrift Shop in downtown Provo. I could live there. So good. Then, THIS IS THE COOLEST PART: a little coffee shop next door was playing the original Frankenstein on the wall in-between buildings. The audience members were a little sketch, and it smelt like coffee and second hand smoke, so we didn't stay long. But while we did it was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. #BestSpontaneousAdventereEver

Soundtrack of the Evening: what was playing while we adventured.
Orange Crush by R.E.M.
Two Princes by Spin Doctors
My Girl by The Temptations

I took notes on my napkin while we sat chatting. Noah says J.K. Rowling does that anytime she gets inspiration and that's how she ended up with Harry Potter. I told him that's my plan.

Waffle Lovin'

Today was the best day ever. My friend and work buddy Karissa brought hot chocolate for all of us. Then for our lunch break we went to Thanksgiving Point and tried Waffle Love for the first time. It was all so fall like with the shivery air and pumpkins everywhere. And the waffles were great and covered in Nutella. And the truck was beautiful-- all colors, and doodles, and typography. Nothing like adventure in the form of waffles sold from a well painted truck. 

Park City Adventure

My family is spending the weekend in lovely Park City, Utah. Our evening was spent boutique browsing, olive oil sampling, hat trying, lemon gelato eating, shopping, picture taking, and just livin' life!

Happy Tuesday

Some days are just perfect for giving a nice person a cupcake.

And then sometimes those same days get even better when your best friend randomly shows up with news that she has crazy connections in the music industry and is going to do amazing things with her talents, and when that happens you simply have to take her out for gelato.

So here's to Tuesdays, and Mo, and the fact that in two months I will be eating real gelato, and to Regan, who is going to be a force for good with her music.

Here's to life.

What I learned from Adventure Thursdays

I wanted to talk more about what I learned from Adventure Thursdays.

In my head and on Pinterest adventures look like this:

But in my real life they actually look like this:

And I got to a point where I just had to draw it out, on my Big White Wall:

And when I first started Adventure Thursdays that drove me insane. Because I very much like it when things are aesthetically pleasing-- parties, outfits, the feel of my blog. Even writing this blog post is freaking me out because it just doesn't look very good, it doesn't match the brand I am trying to create. But just like right now I have to stop and realize that the things I write about are just as important as how it looks, with our adventures I had to step back and realize that it was okay that they didn't match the look in my head.

At first I was tempted to wait until I bought my nice camera to begin them, because I knew I was going to write about them constantly on my blog and I wanted good pictures. Then I had the crazy thought to give people ideas on how to dress like an adventurer when they came on Thursdays, weird, I know. Then I got to the first adventure and realized that to me going to an art museum seemed like a lovely adventure, but no one else really cared about the art, and the same sort of thing happened with other adventure ideas of mine.

So I had to try to not stress about the aesthetics, or pleasing everybody, or making sure every single person had a ride. I realized that anyone can be an adventurer, and I had to let go of my already established ideas about people and learn to invite them anyway. And now that I get to take it all in and really think it all through, I know what I want to improve next summer, and anytime I plan an adventure during the school year-- I want to share my vision of Adventure Thursdays with people more, because right now I don't think all of the adventurers completely get what they are really about and what they have the potential to become. And because I do know that aesthetics are important to me, I want to make our adventures match my branding, as well as the individuality of all the adventurers as best as I can, while still maintaining the "come as you are" atmosphere. I want to better live the anyone is welcome part of my vision, by inviting people I wouldn't normally.

Man, next summer is gonna be the bombdotdiggity.

For free, come and get it.

I give out adventures, for free, on a regular basis. Some people accept them regularly, they count down the days until the next one, they tell me how much they love those weekly bits of something more than the abyss of normality. Others want to come, but life gets in the way-- jobs, lack of a form of travel, other plans. I wonder if those people realize they don't have to only have adventures on Thursdays... Other people never respond when I reach out to them, or they are constantly full of excuses. I don't mind if they don't come to Thursday Adventures, it just makes me sad-- to watch someone who seems to be afraid of adventure, afraid of meeting new people, afraid of being uncomfortable. People who are so stuck in their normal pattern of life that they refuse to take part in that "something more" even when it's being completely planned for them and handed out for free, to anyone who wants it.

I give out words, also for free. Some people tell me they love what I say, and even push the follower button, so they can read it all as soon as possible. Some people happen upon my words and say nice things, you're so profound, you're so talented, but they don't come back often. Most people never read what I say, and probably never will. There are plenty of words out there, some of them are read over and over again by person after person, my words aren't always. But I don't write for person after person, I write for myself, I write for my mom, I write for the small group of people who care, who read what I say and think I want to be friends with that girl.

I give out light, and you may have it, I just ask that you don't dim the light. Some people give me their light in return, and we both make each other brighter. Some people stick around until they find a little of light in themselves. Some people notice the light, and want to come closer, but they don't know how to respect it, and end up dimming it. I have to walk away from those people. Sometimes I try to stay around them too long, thinking more time will do the trick, that magically something will affect them and suddenly they will change. But really the longer I stay, the more light I lose, and sometimes it's hard to get back to the amount of light I had before. I'm learning to stick around the shiny people.

It's all free. Come and get it.

Adventure Thursday #4

I really need to broaden my adventures and do more than explore lovely town main streets, eh? But hey, we've only had four official Thursday Adventures, and as they get bigger and better we will do even more fantastic things. This is just the beginning.

Mainstreet Nauvoo, Illinois.

The Nauvoo Temple

In case you're new to this and don't know what I mean by Thursday Adventures-- every Thursday I go on an adventure, and anyone who wants to join me is welcome. Our adventures aren't big and fancy, they are the little things that become spectacular, when spent with other adventurers. There is always someone new, but no one feels left out. They began this summer, but I hope they will continue as long as people long for adventure. Through the craziness of summer, getting Thursdays planned has been messed up at times, but I can see the seeds of adventure starting to grow in my friends. Little moments suddenly mean something more, any random thing can suddenly be an opportunity for a picture, for a memory. I want to make memories with my friends in as many places as I can. I want to make life into a series of adventures, no matter how hard or how simple. I want people to come together, whether they are friends yet or not, and spend their time doing something classy. I want to share my passions with other people. That is what Thursday Adventures are all about.

Music of the day: Mindy Gledhill. Top songs: Pocketful of Poetry. All the Pennies. 

a-okay

Reasons my life is currently a-ok + some:

*My friend Kortney just told me about a bunch of new bands and tunes for my enjoyment (including Bronze Radio Return and Belle and Sebastian.)
*I was introduced to 750words.com which I am very excited about.
*This morning I cruised around the neighborhood in a golf cart with my ward buddies (including Jordan, aka the guy who has now come to my house when I was in my pj's twice) which is a yearly tradition. Once a year we borrow a golf cart from our neighbor and drive around, with way too many people on that thing. Good times.
*I'm going to a 1D concert on Thursday. Yeah, I know.
*I spent the morning cleaning and strangely, it made me happy. My creation space is no longer cramping my style.
*I changed my blog banner.
*Adventure Thursdays are off to a great start.
*My toenails are currently periwinkle.

My Sister Livie

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch completely bored. My best friends were both busy, I had already done all of my usual stuff, and I was tired of the book I am reading (because I'm on the verge of reading the entire series within days.) When suddenly it hit me why the heck are you just sitting here bored?! GO ON AN ADVENTURE. So I did something. I grabbed my little sister and took her to get frozen yogurt. Maybe it wasn't exactly an adventure at first, but it definitely became one as soon as the windows came down and the country music got turned up. And that is what made yesterday into something great, instead of just a day spent on the couch. That's what adventures are all about-- getting of the couch and doing something spontaneous and lovely.

Frozen yogurt flavor of the day: Coconut with all the fruit you can fit on top-- that's totally the way to go. It just tastes like summer!