america the beautiful

sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. richmond is full of some interesting characters, that's for sure. but more on that later. first, 4th of july! here is a collection of pictures. i was trying to add captions but that's proving to take more patience than i currently have.

anyway, it was a really great trip and i had a lot of fun. it was great to see my friends in a different setting and to get to know people better and to just be away.

i had some really cool moments where i just thought 'i'm going to remember this forever.' i love moments like that. when we were coming home from the temple we stopped to get frosty's. daniel was driving his beast of a truck and we're in the parking lot and for whatever reason he decides to gun it in front of a car (i'm still not exactly sure what the thought process was... all i know is that it happened). i look to my right and i see a car coming directly towards me and start to freak out a bit and look forward to see if we will make it in time when i see that we're not coming to more parking lot but to a ravine. ok so it wasn't actually a ravine. it was more like a 2 foot slow drop to the other half of the parking lot, but still. daniel slams on his breaks and so does the other car. it was just like at the end of star tours where the robot almost smashes into that other transporter and the office. if it wasn't for the fact that i know you always stop in time and don't run into that office i might have freaked out. i have to tell you though... a frosty has never tasted quite so sweet. there's nothing like a near death experience to make you appreciate a vanilla frosty.

as smokey bones (aka kristi) and i were walking through the smithsonian i noticed people would turn and look at us funny every once in a while and so i started paying attention and realized that it b/c we sound pretty ridiculous when we're together. we like to joke around and talk in valley girls accents and say things that make us laugh... sadly the general population has no idea that we're not dumb... we're just hilarious. my favorite moment was when we walked up to a big necklace and smokey bones says loudly 'ooOOOoooh my goodness, it's that necklace from tiiiiiitaniiiiiiic!' to which i yelled back 'for sure, you're toooooootally right!!!' at which point a group of like 30 people turned and snarled at us. all i have to say to that is 'what would you dooOOooooOOOOOooo for a klondike bar?'

on the ride home i informed smokey bones and orin that they were 'like totally my new best friends' and then we had a blast having a dance party in the back seat of daniel's truck. we each discovered our inner rap video dancer and we totally invented a new dance move called the heart breaker.

sunday morning we missed church due to a miscalculation of the time vs walking ratio. so as to not feel totally guilty about church we all met in one hotel room and had a little meeting. we sang and prayed and i gave a little spiritual message and afterward we went around the room and we each said what we were thankful for. there were thoughts of country, servicemen, God and freedom and the wonderful things we enjoy as americans. it was such a wonderful feeling to hear a little of what each person was thinking that morning. i wish it happened more often that we got together and just talked about the things we are grateful for. it brings such a wonderful feeling to hear your friends talk about the things they hold in high esteem.

today was back to work. the suck. ha. i got 2 phone calls today. one was a lady telling me she was going to call me tomorrow. so that was productive. the second, oh the second, made me want to... uhmmm... set things on fire, i guess. anyway it was a guy calling to tell me that i didn't return his phone call... LAST AUGUST. and did he just want to complain about it? no, he wanted to know why. you want to know why i didn't call you back almost a year ago?!? maybe it was b/c i realized you were INSANE. he said you went on vacation last august and never called me back, do you remember going on vacation? and i said yeah i probably went on vacation but i don't remember not returning your phone call. why would i remember not returning a phone call from when i was on vacation a year ago?!? really what he wanted was to book a party this august and get free stuff. which was awesome and made me want to set even more things on fire. ilovemyjobilovemyjobilovemyjob.

speaking of setting things on fire, i'd really like to see some more fireworks about now. there's nothing i love as much as a good fireworks show.

sometimes i feel like i'm a million miles away from me. whatever that means. there are things i wish were part of my life, people i want to be with, things i wish i was. all in time, i suppose. i'm grateful to have such good friends out here to have adventures with and to share laughs with. i'm even more grateful for the handful that i feel like i can just be me with... no need to entertain or charm or impress... just me for who i am. it's a comfort to have that.