So it’s not the best picture we’ve taken in our lives, but it’s still sort of cute….

This picture reminded me of swans. I spent most of yesterday laying in various parks around Denver, and as the sun started to go down, a certain air of contentment settled over me. The colors were that perfect, somehow enhanced hue that you’ll rarely get the time to see. I was with my two favorite people and even though the storm was coming, we were safe there, for that moment. We settled in and waited, and I wanted to capture it and put it in a snow globe and save it forever. But of course, I clicked madly, taking pictures right and left, but they just don’t do it justice.

“First Day Of My Life”

This is the first day of my life

I swear I was born right in the doorway

I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed

They’re spreading blankets on the beach

Yours is the first face that I saw

I think I was blind before I met you

Now I don’t know where I am

I don’t know where I’ve been

But I know where I want to go

And so I thought I’d let you know

That these things take forever

I especially am slow

But I realize that I need you

And I wondered if I could come home

Remember the time you drove all night

Just to meet me in the morning

And I thought it was strange you said everything changed

You felt as if you’d just woke up

And you said “this is the first day of my life

I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you

But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you

And I’d probably be happy”

So if you want to be with me

With these things there’s no telling

We just have to wait and see

But I’d rather be working for a paycheck

Than waiting to win the lottery

Besides maybe this time is different

I mean I really think you like me

-Bright Eyes

That’s how I feel these days. That’s how I felt when I took that picture. Even with all of the drama that comes along with it, especially from my ex, it’s still lovely. He notices the little things, is aware of my moods, and doesn’t let me walk all over him.

Wow. It’s already July. It seems like just yesterday it was the end of April and I was stretched out on the couch in Chicago thinking about how I didn’t want to go home.
Well now I am home, have been home, and am currently thinking I don’t want to go back to Chicago. This summer, so far, has been absolutely wonderful. There’s been a lot of drama at work. I’m back to the forty hour a week grind, and I’m hating every minute of it. There’s something in the attitudes of the people who live in Highland’s Ranch. It’s their superiority complex, the one that assumes that I must have an IQ of 12 and that I don’t attend college, and am therefore not able to relate or conversate with them on any level. Huh.
Let’s see. Double major. Triple minor. I’d like to tell them a thing or two. The owner has been treating my manager Heidi terribly. She’s one of my good friends, and I just can’t stand to see her have to help customers while she’s crying. This is officially my last summer there. Next year, I’ll have to find a job as an intern or something. I can’t do this anymore.
The money is fine, but it’s just not worth it. I’m losing out on my friends because since I am the only one who cares, I have to take the shifts that no one else will take, which means I work most nights.
That’s great, but my friends work during the day. So they get off right as I’m going in to work. It’s no fun.
I’ve been hanging out with Katie, of course, but some new people as well. Amanda and Danny were friends with Alex’s group, which is sort of mine, which is sort of just everyone who hangs out at Stellas, which is sort of like a giant social network. Anyway, I am finally super happy and having a good time with other people. Not that the routines have changed. It’s still the same things, but just with different people. And this summer, the guy I like has a car. Haha, so I don’t have to drive everywhere. And they go to college. Wow. I’m moving up.
I’ve been losing weight because my stomach is constantly upset. That’s been fun. Not. I have completely lost my appetite, and when I eat, I get stomachaches. So we’ll see how that goes. Currently, I’m edging closer to where I was when I left for school, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. I just want to be hungry again, so I don’t have to feel like a moron when all the boys are halfway through their second hamburger and I can hardly get halfway through my first one.
My friend Emily from St. Louis is coming to visit tomorrow. I am so excited. We are going out tomorrow night, obviously, and then I have no idea what to do for the next couple of days. I want her to meet all my friends, and then I want to take her to Red Rocks and stuff.
Too bad we can’t go to WaterWorld. Maybe we will anyway.
P.s. Thanks to Aunt Sally for that information about the crows. I hadn’t thought of it like that, and it was super helpful. On the plus side, they haven’t been around in the past couple of days, so maybe they’ve found someone else to bug.

It has started as the best summer of my life, and I am hoping things continue that way. New friends, two of them, and Katie make the space between work and sleep amazing. Swimming, coffee, it’s all the same, of course, but with slightly more interesting conversation and some strange happenings. Tonight, as we sat reliving the day, we watched a kid we knew get slapped and have coffee poured on him. Work has been hectic, obviously, getting busier and busier. I am currently extremely annoyed about the people there, and their rudeness, but hey, it pays the bills, right? So things are moving on….nicely.

Summer is progresssing beautifully. I got my first paycheck, and am debating as to how to spend it. I decided that I was going to give myself the first paycheck to play around with and then save the next ones. So we’ll see how that goes. As I type, Mike is burning the gas I put in the car. It actually hasn’t been too big of a deal having to fight over cars this summer, especially because we have been given gas cards. Those are the best gift anyone could ever be given, by the way, so thank you to everyone who does that. And cash, haha, but that’s another story. I have a pile of thank you notes that need to go out…I have to get around to that. Maybe now that I’ve typed it, it’ll actually be official and my mind will work harder to get them out.
I’ve been working a lot, obviously, and after work I’ve been doing the usual summer stuff. Coffee shops, sneaking into the hot tub, seeing all the old friends. Haunting the old haunts. You know.

Ah, the joys of the 40 hour work week. I have one day off a week, usually Wednesday, and I have been closing most nights. The store out in Highlands Ranch is busier than the one on Colorado Blvd, and the people there are much ruder and expectant than the ones I’m used to. The other employees are not quite what I expected, and I am unsure that I will ever fit in with them. I’m way too much of a free spirit for that. I answer to Heidi, she’s the manager there now, and she took me from Colorado Blvd with her. They do everything backward, and it annoys me. The assistant manager has a giant ass (I had to say it…it’s true. HUGE) and complains when the store gets busy. It’s Dairy Queen, of course it’s going to get busy. You have to learn to love the rush, the adrenaline pumping through your veins, the quick pace. It’s what it’s all about. She doesn’t do anything. I am 19 and doing all of the work. I took three orders to her one, and was making things cleaner than she was. That’s weird, because my nickname is the Tornado and I am still managing to be cleaner than her. Ahhhh….I get called in early, and then I have to stay late. I stayed there until 12:30 tonight. Ridiculous.