i'll order the grilled life w/ a side of boring, plz

What made the other day a good day

+ was sliding into the carport in front of our apartment right when this song faded out
and remembering that i forgot the only pair of shoes i owned at work
and not caring a bit about it

+ was not having to insert my key into the lock because my husband was ready to open the door and throw his arms around me with a hearty "Hey, sport!" and a few forehead kisses for good measure

+ was this very same husband asking me to serenade him on the ukulele and me obliging, playing La Vie En Rose three times in a row, followed by some Lana that ... didn't go very well

+ was tripping over clothes, dog toys, and Peace Tea cans on the way to that broken couch of ours to talk about how we are going to save money now that I quit my job and laughing that at least I would have more time to pick up the things I am tripping over

+ was sitting on the floor watching a Dakota Fanning movie and legitimately yelling at the TV about how unrealistic the movie was because, first of all, her parents didn't seem to care where she was the entire movie and second of all she spent nearly the whole film in the sun and didn't have to apply sunscreen to her porcelain skin once and was burned a total of zero times despite waking up suddenly and hopping on her bike to the beach more than one time. Maybe she has a vaccine I don't know about, or maybe I just think about skincare a lot.

Anyway.
The unglamorous life that looks terrible when you take pictures of it is my favorite kind these days,
because for some reason what bleach trays and way too crispy chocolate chip cookies are doing for my soul these days is so unbelievably fulfilling that i cannot possibly portray it in any other way than with words.

Sure, there are certainly those beautiful moments where your hair looks especially lovely
and you are barefoot, wearing your favorite dress in a place you rarely frequent
but those moments don't mean as much to me right now in life,
they don't hold as much weight as picking dog fur off my husband's shoulders as he gets up from the carpet from playing with Bruno and letting him lick his face
or calling the IRS for the seventeenth time about our tax return because it sort of feels like a secret mission that we are involved in and the hold music they play isn't half bad,
even when you have to listen to it for four hours (true story).

I'm learning that having it "all together" doesn't look the same on everybody.
I like it.
A lot.

It makes me love all of the human beings and all of their stories
and all of their wrinkled, cat hair-covered sweaters and messy haircuts
and wonder about all the things that make them feel whole that aren't measurable by other people like me.
You know,
like my bleach trays and bad Lana del Rey renditions.

I love being human.

xo.

autumn mistletoe.

after a nice walk yesterday,
(in which i was entirely overdressed... four layers... what was i thinking?)
adam pulled me by the hand over to the park,
asked me to pick the prettiest leaf off of a pretty golden tree,
and held it up over our heads, saying,
"hows abouts we use this as some autumn mistletoe, johnsonly?"
"good idea, reidster," i said.

he can be purdy cute sometimes, if i do say so myself.

xo.

if you ask me on a walk, you are my new favorite person.

i love walking.
i really do.

yesterday it rained,
and at first i thought,
"oh, no! no walk today!"
but i'm trying to turn myself into an opportunist
so...

i believe everyone should invest in an amazing umbrella,
because i discovered
that walking in the rain
is just about the greatest thing a person can do on a stormy day.

bonus points if the umbrella is cute,
you are shooting with a new camera (film!),
and you make a few simple discoveries about your neighborhood.

i can absolutely promise you
that the moment you hear the beautiful sound of those raindrops on your umbrella
you will never spend another rainy day completely indoors.

just wear some waterproof shoes, ok?

xo.

it must be noted...

... that i think about this cinemagraph almost daily
& that i can't get domestic thoughts off the brain.

and that i decided this next photograph describes my life:

we simply must bring attention to the fact...

that adam & i have slow danced to this song (one of our very favorites)
three times in the last week
while whispering i-love-yous and you're-mines
and not seeing the other smile,
but hearing it.


we decided this is the music you listen to when you're in love
and we are.
very much.

more every day
and every day it seems unimaginable how it could increase
but then tomorrow comes
and you scoff at the silly puppy love that consumed you yesterday
because this... this is real love today.

so, we frankly ought to mention
that there are few things greater than the smell of rain,
or the dynamite electricity on the final day of school before summer
and the way the wind blows over the very tall grass in shiny waves

but those things pale in comparison
to this love.

xo.

freckles.

i have a lot of them.
i'm basically sprinkled with freckles.

want proof?
here's a close up of my zero-makeup, spent-the-day-in-the-sun, tired, post-swimming face:

told ya.

it's taken me 20+ years to sort of like them.
they make me feel a little spunky these days
and that's pretty cool.

xo.

it's like we were able to press pause.

i love the people in my world
and i've been spending an abundance of wonderful time with them lately.

we've been:

- spending lots of time laying on the floor
- playing lots of scrabble
- taking lots of naps
- looking at lots of diamonds and dresses
- taking advantage of the availability of fresh flowers everywhere (thank you, summer!)
- laughing embarrasingly loud and hard every night
- doing a lot of hand-holding
- running a lot of (very important) errands
- sharing a lot of daydreams and goals
- making a lot of internal changes
- aaaand loving each other as much as we possibly can

this little calm before the work&school&responsibilities of the fall sweep us away once again
has been nothing short of a beautiful and love-filled diversion from the heaviness of "real" life.

we've had conversations i never thought we'd have.
few pictures were taken.
few phone calls were answered.
plenty of "i-love-you's" were shared.

i just want to remember these people... my people... just as they are
because things are perfect.

xo.

rubysnap!

something wonderful happened to me today!

see???


i'm a little bit obsessed with rubysnap.
i'm on my way to being their biggest fan.
well, i hope i am....
consider this just another milestone in that journey!

and if you're in utah,
there are all kinds of ways to get your snap on...
you can head to their storefront,
you can find them at the saturday farmer's market,
and you can buy their cookie dough at the harmon's in city creek!


you better believe i have taken advantage of all of these on multiple occasions!
if you need a buddy to go down there with,
i'm your girl!


rubysnap 4 lyfe!

xo.

a heyhey

friday was the day adam & i were supposed to take a trip to dc.
long story short, that didn't happen.

we were definitely feeling the blues,
so adam called me up thursday night and told me he took the day off so we could spend some time together
and do all kinds of distracting activities!

picnics and bookstores are some of our absolute favorite things in the world,
and i can honestly say i only thought about dc three times that whole day,
which is a sure sign we were pretty successful, if you ask me. :)

the day was very simple,
but i love simple.
simple makes me happy...
and real love is simple, am i right?

adam cannot be serious. cameras amplify that.
but take note of adam's amazing thrifted picnic basket.
it has adventure written all over it!

p.s. this was filmed & edited using the 8mm and imovie apps on my phone.song is everyday by buddy holly.

xo.

hearts of gold

this is one of my most prized possessions.

little golden hearts are so dear to me.
i hope to have them all over my body in the form of jewelry,
all over the walls of my future home,
on cakes, in doodles, on clothing,
and in any other way i can find them!
i mean... if i got something like this for every birthday, christmas, or anniversary for the rest of my life,
i'd be one happy girl!
they make me so very happy.

i went a little pinterest crazy with little gilded heart filled wishlist.
*sigh* if only!

also, doesn't my hand look old? the shadows don't suit me. and those freckles! it's like looking into the future. 

xo.