bright idea

so here's what you should do.... i think. takes some walking shoes and put them on your feet. have your dog leash in your left hand, ice cream cone in your right hand, and go for a nice long walk in some gorgeous, long-shadow weather. i highly recommend it. and if you don't have a dog, just skip the leash and go for the ice cream. kids will start talking to you left and right, and even adults will stare enviously at your ice cream. or, at the least, someone will smile. it's quite a nice little outing.

Stories

What makes a good story? What do you think makes a story good, or worthwhile? I love stories. But why are some stories more memorable or better than others? Is it a combination of elements that makes them good? Or who tells it? Maybe it has partly to do with why it is being told in the first place, whether for pure entertainment, humor or amazement, or for a moral lesson, or to teach us something about ourselves and other people. There are many reasons stories are told and different reasons why we like them. So while I ponder, share some thoughts on the subject if you have any, and I know you do.

erin with an i

i am erin with an i. my roommate is eryn with a y. and that is how we are known, now that we've met. thank goodness our names are spelled differently, otherwise no one would be able to tell us apart. we are both friends of the bride, and now erin and eryn have met, and are roommies for a couple of days... and as it turns out we have more in common than our common names. we both eat meat. which ordinarily would not be much of a coincidence, but in this crowd we're two of a kind. we discovered that we have some other funny similarities while we sharing some stories and pizza after the wedding.

the wedding was nice, very casual, and quick. afterwards we had a delicious vegan lunch and changed clothes to play frisbee, football, corn sack... tomorrow is breakfast with the nicki and billy and then maybe some kayaking. hopefully the weather holds out.

back east

i've gone east for a wedding. it's kinda cold for late may, i have to say. and twin is supposed to jump up all of a sudden this weekend to 93. yikes. summer (and spring together) decided to show up while i'm away. as one would expect, lisa and mike are drooling over all the plants here, which are much farther along than in twin. and lamenting the short growing season in idaho.

anyway, good trip. went to the national gallery of art today, and the air and space museum. pretty cool.

Neighbors

you know, i got to thinking... i have pretty great neighbors. and i have almost always had good neighbors (with one major exception of a man who came pounding on my door and proceeded to call me and my roommates "retarded sheep", among other things). but my neighbors these days are really great. in fact, i can think of at least a dozen reasons why. just to list a few: they had me over for elk stew, invited mike over when lisa and i were away, they have great stories, have a huge extended family and seem to know half the town, have access to horses, like camping, have the cutest kids on the planet, watch my dog when i'm away, help with yard sales, got me to go with their church group to do a ropes course... which resulted in a job offer to teach a ropes course... which i had to turn down, but it ended up introducing me to another cool neighbor. you get the picture. i just wanted to say that i have great neighbors because they have made my time in twin falls, so, so much better. there are even more, and more amazing reasons why they are such a blessing, but what i've already said should suffice to say that i have incredible people living next door to me.

Orange Meal

tonight's dinner was ecclectic, but it was themed, unintentionally. it was completely orange (and red). here was the menu: one carrot, peeled; several strawberries, sliced; bbq chicken breast; crab pieces, in shell; and gnocchi from a discount frozen package. i also had some green tea, but i felt like i should maybe have gone for the orange spice. oh well, variety is the spice of life. so it wasn't a terribly spicey meal. but it was tasty.

i have just recently had reality hit me i think. for months and months i have been busy doing the most pressing tasks before me, and as i am nearing the end of those demands, i am finally seeing beyond them. i'm thinking beyond twin falls and thinking more about what life as an ex-executrix will look like. and i can't believe the obvious. i have some more thinking and praying to do about, oh, everything. it'll be good. interesting. terrifying. but good.