if you say "awkward" ten times, the word starts to sound awkward

on saturday, i went to a birthday party for a friend that i hadn't seen in a long time. her family has moved since the last time i saw her, so i was driving up the street that she told me, looking for the house number, which, by the way, was hard to find because there were no street lamp...and now i am trying to remember why i was squinting to see her house better because it most definitely was dark. ok, anyway.

i found the house number, walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. it was kind of dark inside the house and the lady who peeked out the window looked just like my friend's mom. so when she opened the door and said "hi!" i said hi and walked right on in. it wasn't until i was standing in her entry way and the door was closed that i realized she was not my friend's mom and i was standing in a stranger's house. but i was really confused because the house number was right and thought that maybe she was a sister or a family friend who was greeting guests. 

she just awkwardly looked at me, the random girl who just invited herself into their house, and asked who i was looking for. i confusedly told her my friend's name and she confusedly told me she didn't know who that was. and then her teenage son came out and invited me to eat pizza, and i felt even more weird. 

then we figured out i was on a street over from where i was supposed to be and we laughed about it. i left after apologizing like, sixteen times, and the woman and her son waved me goodbye and told me to come back for pizza if the party was a dud. 

and then i got in my car and drove away, still not even knowing what just happened. and came to the conclusion that you should not invite yourself into strangers houses. 

the seatbelt strangle

i love st. george.

my family has been going there at least three times a year since i was born. we have a house in bloomington that is older than my dad and has the most hideous home decor you can imagine a la my grandma 40 years ago. the roof is leaky and the barstools are way too high for the counter so you get those line marks in your legs after eating lunch.

but it has the most comfortable recliner that i like to curl up in for hours and read a good book--or maybe one of my brothers' calvin and hobbes collections. there's a ladder in the back hallway that leads to a loft that has a king and a queen bed in it, along with a tv, so it's the ultimate man cave. and when it's warm, we like to drag the mattresses on the roof and sleep out there. the stars are pretty bright in bloomington and in the summer, you get bats that fly over your head.

i love the mountains that are literally right outside the back door. you hike up the first part of the mountain and then the very last part, you have to literally rock climb to the top. i still get a teensy bit nervous doing it, but it has the best view of st. george up there!

i even love the ride down to st. george. we always leave salt lake in the evening and don't roll into the grocery store parking lot till eleven or twelve, because of the dinner stop, the occasional bathroom stop, and the "we're pulling over until everyone can get buckled and get along" stop. speaking of buckle, i just came up with the perfect name for my biggest car pet peeve...."the seatbelt strangle." you know how when you lean forward in your seat and the seatbelt won't give you any slack, so you lean back a little and then forward, but the seatbelt has only pulled tighter, etc etc, until you are literally trapped against the seat? that happened to me, like, eight times this weekend! but anyway, i really like the smell of skunks on the side of the road because i only associate the smell with fond memories of driving to st. george late at night. my favorite part is when we finally get off the freeway exit and the engine suddenly goes really silent, which is everyone's cue to wake up because your body knows that feeling--it means you've arrived! and then everyone drags their suitcases into the house rosy-cheeked and bleary-eyed and face plants into bed.

it doesn't matter that you fall asleep without changing because you were in your sweats to begin with.

and so begins another trip to st. george. 

love notes

at the expense of sounding cheesy, i would like to welcome february by telling you all how much i love love. it is magical. it lifts you, expands you, makes you happier than any scientist can explain, and has mystical powers on the glow in your skin. i'm talking about every kind of love. just knowing that you have people in your life that love you is the best confidence booster out there.

i really like valentines day. i like that for weeks before the day, you see pink and red and glittering hearts everwhere. i like all the shmaltzy love quotes that float around the internet and hallmark cards. i like that papa murphy's makes a heart shaped pepperoni pizza that somehow suspiciously tastes better than it's circlular counterpart. i like how even if i'm not in love on valentines day, i can think back on the feelings of love and giddiness and infatuation and get excited for those feelings again in the future. i like how my mom always gives me valentine presents (one year, it came with a card that said "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince!") and how it's the only day where i can pull off wearing a pink bow in my hair.

have a great february! it's an awesome month. always has been.