Dreams Are Weird.

Dreams are one thing I think everyone can agree are weird. They just are. Like the other night, I had a dream that best friend decided to hate me. She just up and decided that she didn't like me anymore and wanted to make my life awful. In the dream, she plotted with some of our old high school classmates. These are people that I haven't seen in almost two years, and most definitely never wanted to plot against me. So, why did I dream that... I could look it up on some dream dictionary website or sit for hours and try to psycho-analyze myself, but I'm not going to do so. Instead, I'm just going to accept that dreams are strange and I'll probably never comprehend them anyway.

Also, my go to anxiety dream is still that I don't turn my term paper and thus don't graduate. I sleep like ten feet away from my diploma. Go figure.

Spring... I Want Spring.

Last night as I was bringing groceries into house, and the ground was sparkling with frost on it, I realized just how over winter I was. Where I live, we still have a good two to three months of freezing temperatures, and I am not looking forward to those temperatures. What I am looking forward to is what comes after these next few months of horrible-ness. I'm looking forward to spring.

1. Flowers. Plant life in general really. I know the second my allergies kick in, I'll be cursing every plant that ever grew... but tulips, man. They're so pretty.

2. Going Outdoors. I mean, I go outside now, but I miss actually enjoying it.

3. Camping. Despite my internet kid tendencies, I genuinely like camping. I want to go to a lake and not hate myself for making that decision.

4. Walking Around. I like taking walks around town, but the windchill outside is fourteen degrees. No, just no.

5. Farmer's Markets. I just want to eat some fruit and vegetables that weren't grown in a different hemisphere.

6. Less Layers. Don't get me wrong, I love me some cardigans, but it'd be really nice to only need one jacket. I'm not Shrek. Layers aren't my thing.

7. The Other Half of My Wardrobe. Shorts... And ballet flats. And tank tops. I want it all!

8. Grilling. I'm from Kansas, it's what we do.

9. Amusement Parks. I want to ride so many rides that I'll later regret ever stepping foot on them. If I don't still feeling I like I'm flying when I go to bed that night, I did something wrong.

Twenty-Fifteen Resolutions

It's officially a new year, that means all of the things it always means. Gym memberships will skyrocket, documents will have the date crossed out and rewritten, and we'll all try to be better people for the next month or so. Eventually, most of us will go back to being the exact same people we were last year. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against resolutions. I've made some myself, and plan on talking about them in this post, but we all know that most of us won't keep up with our resolutions. It's just a fact of life.

I've had a mixed past with New Years resolutions. I find that, if I keep them more vague, I'm more likely to stick with them longer. So, things like 'smile more' are a lot easier to keep up with than more outlined and defined goals. I tend to fail at those.  I've also had years where I thought I was above setting goals just because the year had changed. I decide that kind of thinking just isn't for me. I like the idea of bettering oneself, no matter what the cause.

Anyway, here are the resolutions I made for twenty-fifteen.

1. Make headway on the novel I'm working on. This is obviously the more vague of my two resolutions. I would have made a more specific plan for this one, but alas, every story is different, and I didn't want to under or over shoot. This one will really depend on whether or not I'm satisfied with where I end up when this year finishes. I have a bad habit being really excited when I first start a story, but then fizzling out before I get to the end. I'm trying to prevent that from happening again.

2. Visit half of the states.

I'm currently at nineteen plus D.C. In the graphic I made, you can see the states that I hope to visit in twenty-fifteen. For now, it's just a tentative idea. It could change over the year, and to be completely honest, I'd be happy to just visit one of the states, but there's nothing wrong with working toward a goal and dreaming about it along the way.

That's all of the New Year's Resolutions I have for this year. I hope you accomplish all you dream of in the upcoming year. I hope it's a wonderful year filled fond memories, new places, and good people. Also, cheesecake. I hope you have plenty of cheesecake, unless, you know, you're on a diet. In which case, you're doing great! Don't worry, I'll make sure your cheesecake gets taken care of. 

Art.

About a week ago, my friend and I went to a museum. It was an art museum, and a pretty good one. I love looking at all of the different paintings and pottery. It's exciting. 

I was an art student for four years, so odds are, even if something isn't my taste, I can still appreciate it from a technical stand point. I mean, to look at some of these paintings and carvings... I have to wonder, how much work was put into each of them? Were they something the artist was passionate about, or was it just some commissioned piece they made to put food on the table? 

I wish I could see what that person was thinking when they created something that was worth saving all of these years later. 

My Best Moments of Twenty-Fourteen.

Reflecting back on twenty-fourteen, I think it was really a transitional year for me. It was the first full year I wasn't in school. There were a lot of things to get used to, and lot of grown up things to deal with like voting and health insurance. It wasn't some roaring, exciting year, but it was still a good one. So, I figured I'd share a few of my favorite moments of the year.

1. The Mystery Machine. This day, me, my mom, and my brother had decided to go and have a goofy day around a town that wasn't ours. It was great. It was one of those days where nothing goes wrong. As we were headed home, we passed and a gas station and sitting there was an exact replica of The Mystery Machine. Growing up my brother and I had loved Scooby Doo. Our first dog was even named Scooby. It was the best ending to a great day.

2. The Scrapbook. My best friend and I have been friends for a long time, and for my birthday she decided to make me a scrapbook. It was full of all of the little inside jokes and anecdotes that we have acquired through our friendship, and also some very personal and heartfelt things. It was probably the most thoughtful gift I've ever been given. I'll treasure it forever.

3. Leftover Water Balloons. This is a really simple one. It was the middle of summer, and I happened to stumble across some old water balloons. I mean, what more could you want on a hot summer day?

4. Taking the Scenic Route. There's a picture of this in my Denver post, but I really didn't go into too much detail on it. While Brittany and I were driving down the road seeing all of these things that we never had, there was this moment where I felt so much freedom. It's difficult to explain. I think it's just a part of getting older. Eventually we're all going to have to moments where we recognize our independence. That was one of mine.

5. Life Gets Weird. I've had this blog for about two years, but I didn't really get into it until just a month or so ago. The night that I finished my first round of posts, I was so excited. It was the first time in awhile that I had created something I could be proud of. I still have a long way to go, and I still have a lot to learn. It's pretty obvious just reading the things I post, but after a month it still makes me happy to post. And that's pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

The Shortest of All of the Short Stories.

From time to time, I like to write little short fictional stories. They're really more of just a moment in time in some character's life. I don't like to worry too much about a back story or give too much details about the character itself. I just like to write a snippet in time. I tend to put a lot of emphasis on the little moments in my own life, and that what these are for the characters. There's rarely any actual dialogue, it's just a thought. They're a small very important moment in these character's lives, the kind they'll look back on when they're older. So, I decided I'd share one today.


Have you ever had one of those people in your life that just make everything seem okay? When you're around them you get this warm feeling. It starts in your stomach and and just spreads throughout your entire body. It's kind of like when you come inside after being in the snow and you take that first drink of hot chocolate. That's how he makes me feel. He makes all the bad things seem okay, and all of the good things better.
We were at the park today, and we ran around and played on the swings like we were children again. There was this moment when we were both laying on the ground looking up at the clear blue sky, and I wanted to tell him all of these things, but I just couldn't. The words wouldn't come out, so instead, I grabbed his hand and intertwined my fingers with his. He looked into my eyes and we shared a moment. Noone said anything. Noone needed to say anything. We knew.
What we have is pure and wonderful. It's an innocent love that you don't see every day. It's the kind of thing sweet day dreams are built on.


The inspiration for this particular story came from the song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. The song has such a lovely sentiment that it sticks with me for days every time I listen to it. So, I decided to write something from the other person's point of view.