Just call me C-3PO
February 5, 2018

Just call me C-3PO

It will likely come as no surprise that Super Bowl Sunday is an actual holiday on my personal calendar—not as great as Christmas (#RIPDaphne), but way better than Arbor Day/Groundhog Day/Most Other Days—and yesterday was a particularly great Super Bowl Sunday.

  1. It snowed basically the entire day.
  2. The Eagles won.
  3. This Is Us let everyone get a good cathartic cry in at the end of it all.

There was only one problem. Because I (unnecessarily) carry the entire weight of the world on my shoulders, I woke up yesterday mostly unable to move my upper body. If you … Continue reading

Thoughts from a quiet morning
June 4, 2017

Thoughts from a quiet morning

My roommates are gone. This has only happened one other time, when I am here and both of them are away, and last time it was a highly anticipated event. Not because I don’t like them and spend my days secretly hoping they’ll leave, but because I spent a long, long time living by myself and I thought I would enjoy the temporary return to solitude.

I for sure did not.

It took me two days to adjust to the silence. By the third and final day, I had gotten back into the swing of solo things, but even then, … Continue reading

Pomegranate Popsicles
May 20, 2017

Pomegranate Popsicles

Blogging rule #1: Never make a proclamation.

So here we are, three weeks later, and the proverbial chicken is accumulating more and more mold in my proverbial Crock-pot. Suffice it to say that the past few weeks have required less talking in the early morning hours and more listening, all while quietly hoping that the future might not be terrible, despite some appearances to the contrary.

I started listening to a new episode of The Moth on the way to work one morning after writing some thoughts down and thinking about the potentially terrible future. And I was … Continue reading

Freedom hair, the dentist, and turning 31
April 16, 2017

Freedom hair, the dentist, and turning 31

I chopped a bunch of my hair off last Saturday.

I had been thinking about it for a little bit. Maybe a week or two. And when I remembered that there’s a Paul Mitchell School near my parents house where you can get your hair cut by a student for $12, I was pretty much sold on the whole deal.

There was a point fairly early on in the process when I recalled the now infamous red hair decision and the 24-hour food coloring regimen that followed and felt a rising panic that maybe I was doing the same thing … Continue reading

The future might not be terrible!
March 24, 2017

The future might not be terrible!

I have all the qualities of an optimist and none of the follow-through.

I love being optimistic about the present. I’m habitually and absurdly content with whatever my present circumstances are. I can find microscopic amounts of good and potential good in almost anything that is actually happening.

But my optimism about the future leaves something to be desired, namely optimism. To me, the future is a foggy abyss I want nothing to do with. The future is an uncertain time steeped in high amounts of potential catastrophe and the certain demise of everyone and everything I love. So, basically, … Continue reading

On small changes
March 5, 2017

On small changes

We’ve been on a bit of a Fixer Upper kick around here. I was watching the show one day, which intrigued one of my roommates, who then watched more episodes and read The Magnolia Story and went on a pilgrimage to Waco (and/or she was already going there and the Silos just happen to be there too… basically the same thing.) My other roommate is Chip Gaines. So home improvement vibes have abounded as of late.

We’ve been talking about painting the living room for a long time, but starting to paint is kind of like starting to work out. … Continue reading

Dear Best Parts Of My Life
February 20, 2017

Dear Best Parts Of My Life

One would think you’d be easy to spot. That, from a distance, I could look out on the horizon and see you coming along all shiny and beautiful and say, “Hey! That’s a good thing on the way!”

But you’re not like that. You are so tricky. You’re just like Jesus, behind the door that’s behind the other door.

More often than not, you come disguised as something I don’t even kind of want, lurking behind a series of doors. I’m looking at you, Traveling Internationally For Work, Living With Roommates, Having A Dog, and about a hundred others.

This is … Continue reading

July 19, 2016

#madelinethehopegiver

There was a time in the now-distant past in which I used to keep up with a fairly high volume of blogs. Google Reader (RIP) was my second inbox and somehow, I hit inbox zero on a regular basis. And while it may sound like a completely ridiculous thing, it was actually a truly lovely thing in which I got to know a lot of truly lovely people  – several of whom crossed over from Internet Life into Real Life.

Kate Conner is not someone I know in real life. I know her only from reading her blog for … Continue reading