giving thanks

It was just Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks for what you have, to spend time with loved ones, and to eat as much turkey as humanly possible. While I try to express gratitude for a number of things on the daily, here is my list of (some of the) things I am GRATEFUL FOR.




Coffee!! Especially when enjoyed in a cafe bustling with just the right amount of calming background noise while editing photos or writing in a journal.




Cameras!! In any shape or form - my phone camera, DSLR, and polaroid are all important for capturing different moments of my life and I love them all.




Weird and beautiful things and places.






Friends you would do anything for (and who would do anything for you). Specifically friends you can be crazy with.




This bird. He fills my life with such joy.




Signature cocktails, cute typography, and aesthetically pleasing flower arrangements.




Sparklers.




My amazing support system filled with my biggest fans (doyouseewhatididthere).




My cozy apartment decorated with my eclectic collection of dinosaurs, bird-themed items, tie-dye, and lots of photos.


Life is good.

365 days days 201-220

201/365
Honestly, Winston is one of the most handsome, cutest, most ADORABLE dogs on the planet. Look at those ears. That curly tail. THOSE EYES.





202/365
There's a red brick catholic school absolutely covered in ivy on the way home from downtown SLC. After passing by several times from my travels to visit friends during my trip, I finally stopped and snapped some photos. Even though it's SUPER destructive, I love ivy on buildings, it just adds so much character.



203/365
I got back to Texas and decided to indulge in some summery pool time with margaritas in my new unicorn cup.



204/365
While I was gone there was a screening of She's the Man at Alamo Drafthouse. A bunch of peeps went and got some awesome swag - including this Channing Tatum mask and mustache combo.





205/365
Our town has a lot of "first annual" celebrations that have cropped up in the past couple of years, a part of the initiative to rejuvenate downtown. I'm sort of proud of them - they include anything from our Dias de los Meurtos festival to the Pride Parade. The Food Truck Festival is one such event, and this year was its second annual celebration. I decided to go after work with a couple of co-workers to check it out and was not disappointed. I got fresh cherry limeade from a stall that allowed you to squeeze the lemons and limes yourself, ate gouda bacon nachos, saw a t-rex strolling down the road, and then shared funnel cake by the ocean.



206/365
BLT pasta salad with avocado ranch and feta cheese.



207/365
Once upon a time it was Zookeeper's Appreciation Week, and as a "moral booster" our curator organized a game of kickball against the fish and herp department. Not only was this game basically mandatory, it was also after a long day of work in 100 degree weather against a team that was almost twice the size of ours. As a cherry on top, there was also a PENALTY for losing - loser had to clean kitchen for an entire week (a soul-sucking process). It was very poorly planned and not in the least bit fun (especially when people start yelling at you for not catching a ball or failing to get someone out...), but we made team shirts which I really liked. So there's that. Also we went out for pizza and beer afterwards, which was good. Needless to say, maybe next year we can decide if we actually want to play kickball at all, and maybe make it so there's not terrible price to pay for losing if we do choose to play.



208/365
Roxie's birthday cake!



209/365
Beer bar.



210/365
GERALD THE UNICORN! Erin came down to visit and I decided it was about time I broke out my unicorn floatie that I bought last summer. We spent probably about 45 minutes blowing him up (it's a lot of work), but then we frolicked with him in the waves. OH how we frolicked. It was truly magical.



211/365
I got these prints from Artifact Uprising two years ago and decided to hang them up in my bedroom as some wall art.



212/365
I was planning on trying to create some sort of posed photo with my wand that Taylor made me for Harry Potter's birthday, but I already had a photo of my wand and butterbeer in my 365 collection from a couple of months earlier. Instead, I took a photo of our Barn Owl, Ripley. Owls are an important part of the Potter-verse, and I'm grateful I get to work with them everyday!



213/365
Squeakers! And the beginning of birthday month!



214/365
Asian Persuasions, or as I thought they were called, Haitian Persuasions. For awhile a bunch of us would go out every Wednesday to one of our favorite bars for Trivia and have our favorite bartender make us these concoctions before we headed to another of our favorite bars for Pool. It was hard on the wallet, but it was fun (lots of shots were purchased).

This particular outing was in celebration of my birthday! Everyone bought me drinks and we played a version of Pool that we could all play while we listened to Kesha and Pitfall in honor of my 27th year.



215/365
I've always wanted to take photos of crushed makeup - it's so tempting to just ruin that perfect surface of the eyeshadow pallet or smear a tube of lipstick across a mirror. So I staged a little photoshoot of my own with my shitty old makeup. Unfortunately, it was during a time of day with not so great lighting, so only a couple of photos turned out like I wanted. This was one of them; the nail polish was really fun to see pool and swirl together.



216/365
As another birthday celebration we had a pool party with Gerald complete with pizza and beer. Best Friday EVER!





217/365
Birthday Eve!! Dylan took me to dinner at a steakhouse and got me this delicious cupcake with a candle that accurately represents my age. Since this was my first birthday living on my own I decorated my apartment with banners and streamers because my birthday month means a lot to me!!





218/365
T W E N T Y - S E V E N!

Wow I can't believe that I'm no longer just in my "twenties" and am now in my "late twenties". It really doesn't feel like it. Am I an adult? Not really. I had to work on my birthday because I'm the worst at remembering to take it off, but I did wear my Kogi earrings that Drea gave me two years ago and took photos with my favorite bird ever. I brought in birthday donuts, our intern brought me Mcallisters and Starbucks for lunch, and that night I went to Olive Garden with Andie and Geoff. It was a good day. =



219/365
A little friendly face.



220/365
I don't take a ton of photos of Sweetpea for whatever reason, usually I'm just focused on other animals (and I've never been one of her trainers due to lack of interest), so here's one of the little Sweet Potato!

365 days 171-200

Another 365 post!! Several months later!

It's just barely starting to cool down here (THANK GOD), so it is feeling a little more fall-like. I only got two pumpkin spice lattes in October because it's never not HOT AS BALLS outside so I usually go with my iced coffee. That's a major part of fall for me!! Luckily, I celebrated the HELL out of Halloween (and had an epic Halloweek) to make up for it. Here are some posts from the summer, as a reminder that it once was way hotter and I should be grateful that now it's only in the 90s...



171/365
I'm obsessed with rabbits. I have always ALWAYS wanted to find a little bunny nest and have encountered very negative alternatives when searching for them (i.e. I feel on an enormous industrial nail that created semi-permanent muscle damage and a gaping scar on my calf). When I DO see a bun, I always try to take a picture because LOOK AT THEM. SO CUTEEEE!



172/365
During the summer we would convene at a small dive bar called Bernie's to play volleyball. I'm not the BEST at volleyball, but it is my favorite sport to play! And once I get in the swing of it I am a mean server. Mostly though it was just fun to hang out, drink, and smack around a ball at sunset.



173/365
Sunset aesthetics.



174/365
Going to Rockits to see Something Silly (Something Silky), our favorite local band.



175/365
Little thirsty succulent.



176/365
I went to Oso Bay Wetlands with James and Wilson in search for a Groove-Billed Ani, a life bird for both myself and James. We unfortunately didn't see one, but we did see Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers, Bronzed Cowbirds, and PAINTED BUNTINGS (my favoriteeee), which were all life birds for James. Even if you don't get to see yours, it's fun to be there when someone else sees a lifer.



177/365
Lilypads on a pond - I love lilypads.



178/365
I was really hankering for some summery sangria, so I bought all the ingredients and made a berry-licious and very pretty drink. So OF COURSE I had to take photos before I sipped on it! Oh man, I love pretty drinks!



179/365
Bokeh will always be my favorite.



180/365
The Wire.





181/365
Guppies in the cenote and a horribly blurry photo of one of my last sparklers.



182/365
There's a decrepit park in front of my apartment, which is nice because it's a huge expanse of field vs. another apartment building with even more awkward neighbors, or a busy street. I took inspiration in it during the sunset (my M.O. for most of these summer pics).



183/365
I've been playing Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword lately. And there happened to be a Rupee shaped soap in my vicinity. As well as some cuccos chickens. This was inevitable.



184/365
Little Mr. Sprite being a cutie patootie.



185/365
I've worked every single 4th of July since moving to South Texas because it's a HUGE event at our facility - we're one of the best places to watch the fireworks show. This year, instead of watching the fireworks from the aquarium, I instead raced to a park in Portland to watch the fireworks without a barrage of people surrounding me. I instead got to watch it stress-free, away from work, with some friends and wine coolers. It was worth it.



186/365
Last year I read this super compelling book called Bone Gap because I had a forgotten gift card and its description and cover appealed to me (I do, in fact, judge books by their covers). It's basically about a town called Bone Gap where a girl goes missing. The only person who saw her being abducted was the younger brother of her lover, who can't remember the face of the man who took her. Corn features prominently in the book, as Bone Gap is a farming community, and the climax involves a spooky corn field, so this photo was in memory of the book.



187/365
30 Shades of African Grey.



188/365
Look at this cool doggo!! Koda and I went to the beach to frolic in the surf! He was the worst he's ever been at the beach, unfortunately, he immediately took off when I let him off leash and tried to steal some woman's chips. Then he ran after a couple of girls like half a mile away so I had to run after him. Finally he recalled and I kept him on leash the rest of the time because I was not about that life.



189/365
Cut up a watermelon (because SUMMER) and shared the rinds with the chick-chicks. They looooved it!



190/365
I WILL NEVER NOT ADORE LIZARDS! LOOK AT THIS LITTLE LIZARD KING.



191/365
During a show, Chiquita (our porcupine), went on a RAMPAGE! When this happens we often abandon her original "danger" crate that we bring her out in and catch her with her more transportable isochamber (essentially a tupperware we've altered to carry her in and that she can receive veterinary treatments in). Her big show crate was still onstage when Kimani came out, and he immediately leapt onto it. I missed this completely since I was doing projects at the time, so we reenacted it after show. I like this photo because you can see his beef bit flying toward his completely focused face.



192/365
FREE SLURPEE DAY! Only the best day of the whole year!! I went to a 7-11 where the floors were INCREDIBLY sticky (so much so that my flip flops wouldn't come off the floor until seconds after I'd lifted my foot) and they were out of the free cups. I asked if I could use a regular cup and they acquiesced, ensuring that I got a little more slurpee for free! After I was finished (with my traditional cherry coke flavor), I filled it with flowers. Because reasons.



193/365
Ribbit.





194/365
I was actually supposed to fly to Utah the night before, but it turns out the airplane was damaged (typical) so it wouldn't be able to take off for several hours, meaning I would miss my flight to San Antonio and have to stay the night. So I instead flew out at 5 AM this morning (AKA 7 AM because the flight was delayed AGAIN because our airport SUCKS). I got to Utah around 1 PM, meaning there was plenty of time to play the rest of the day. I went kayaking with Dad up Emigration Canyon (Little Dell Reservoir) and it was MAGICAL. Although I was super tired, it always feels so good to be back in the mountains doing outdoorsy activities. We paddled around the lake, up a tributary into the woods (where we saw a bear!), to the far side of the lake near a patch of trees where we could tie up the hammock and drink some booze we purchased in preparation for the day, and finally back against the wind after several hours. It was seriously so magical to lay in a hammock, listening to birdsong and the wind in the trees, drinking beer, and talking to my Dad. I also forced him to participate in my hipster AF photo ventures (that dandelion blowing picture is a def "do it for the 'gram" favorite and I love it).







195/365
There was a huge explosion of wildflowers in Albion Basin, so we headed up the canyon to hike the trail and take photos of the wildflowers. Myself, Dad, and Gabe all frolicked through the arnica, indian paintbrush, goldeneyes, and larkspur, made our own trail when we saw that the original trail was closed for maintenance and they were diverting people to a gravel road (boooo), fell in streams, almost saw a family of moose (they crashed through the undergrowth before we could see them), and witnessed a woman picking wildflowers for her ailing father in law. You're NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THIS, but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to take a photo of it. (also, in reference to making our own trail, DON'T do this unless you are super experienced. My dad and brother are both huge outdoorsmen and know these trails backwards and forwards. I was not afraid of getting lost or having a The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon moment).



196/365
MATT! Or maybe CHRIS!! I can't remember his name, to be honest. It was any number of bro names. This was the main reason I went to Utah - for GILLIAN'S BACHELORETTE WEEKEND! I just made a weeklong vacay of it! We rented a condo up in Park City and in our little party gift bags we got these little bros that balanced on the lips of our drink glasses so we could tell them apart. Their names were emblazoned across the butts of their speedos (waggles eyebrows). The first night we made fajitas and drank homemade margaritas and sangaritas (which is a combo of sangria with tequila - I definitely did NOT know this and at one point condescendingly asked Liz if she knew how to pronounce sangria) and pre-gamed for a bit before going out and getting DECIMATED.



197/365
One of the gifts given to Gillian - a beautiful set of rainbow dick shot glasses. Really the staple of any millennial household. We did an escape room (that we made it out of!), explored Park City, played games, took naps, and then went out again. It was rougher than the previous night. But I finally did a shotski!





198/365
We made Gillian dress up in her crown and sash for our going-out shenanigans this time, so people knew she was a bachelorette and buy her shots. Lots and lots of shots. But FIRST we played this amazing homemade ski-ball game that Megan made in her garage. We called it "Sink 'Em and Drink 'Em" and had a bunch of rules for what you had to do based on where you sunk the ball. We also occasionally lost balls off the deck into the forest below and even got the cops called on us for being too loud. This probably had to do with the fact that we brought our rainbow club light party fixture outside with the iPod and it got too rowdy as we belted Beyonce. After ski-ball we went out AGAIN and ended up with some drunk guy following us home that we had to kick out. Ah, bachelorette weekends.









199/365
Since I'm the best sister in the world (ahem ahem), I timed my bachelorette party trip to correlate with Gabe's 23rd birthday!! My gramma and grampa made their way down from Idaho to join in on the celebrations, and my aunt made Gabe this kickass cake (he's in college for forestry and loves hiking/camping so this was the world's most perfect cake embodiment of his soul). We reserved a campground up Milcreek Canyon (important since it's super popular to do cookouts and such up the canyon where it's cooler than down in the valley and also beautiful because it's in the mountains obviously) and had a little barbecue with the cousins and my aunt's new boyfriend, Elvis. Since it was such a big day, I couldn't really choose just one (or even two) photos that were my favorite.

The first photo is of my Grampa Larry in a hammock, looking gruff and contemplative (which is how he has looked most of his life). But beneath his hardened exterior (literally hardened, he is one huge callus), he has the biggest heart. He takes in stray, feral cats at his shop and loves them with all his heart, he adored his tiny, fancy poodle dog (Baxter Boo) and diligently took him for walks every evening and made him scrambled eggs, and he once cried in gratitude that his eldest daughter was free from an abusive situation when my Mom brought her back to Utah from Colorado. I'm so happy to have this photo of him, now.

The second photo is my youngest second cousin, Wyatt. My first cousin, Mysti, has four children - ALL boys. I adore them. Wyatt is totally adorable, just like his brothers were before him when they were his age, and his attention-seeking antics made for a perfect photo subject. Unfortunately, this one is a tiny bit blurry, but LOOK AT IT. ISN'T IT SO FREAKING CUTE?!?!?! Also, as you can tell, hammocks were a huge part of this trip.

The third photo is of course that bomb fly cake my aunt made for Gabe, his woodsman cake.

The last photo if my amazing Mam, who explored the creek with me. She is truly one of my best friends.



200/365
Gabe had to go back to his job up in Wyoming to be a lumberjack or whatever he does, so it was just me and the parental units this day. When they asked me what I wanted to do I told them that I was honestly incredibly exhausted and really wanted a relaxed day, hopefully one involving a book and a coffee shop. So we did just that! We went to the bookstore and bought a book I've been meaning to read, "In a Dark, Dark Wood", and then went to Sugarhouse Coffee (a favorite of mine) to read and drink beverages. It was a super fun day with my super fun fam.