real life flourished.

I can’t let 2012 slip into the memories without genuinely declaring it the best year yet. The blahg took a hit, I know I didn’t give you much here, but real life flourished.

I got to…

• ski in Missoula with friends old and new.

• celebrate my amazing manfriend with many Missoula friends at the 2nd Annual Eye Patch Olympics.

• race my first triathlon.

• be a part of the most. fun. bachelorette. party ever.

• get in a REAL LIFE Mario Kart battle… like in an actual golf cart.

• spend quality time with my family in Texas and watch my baby bro graduate.

• officiate the wedding of two of my favorite people at the most amazing lake house after days of water tubing, trail runs, and laughing.

• dance the night away with fabulouses during Chicago’s Gay Pride week.

• TRAVEL ITALY, GREECE, AND LONDON WITH MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD. [gosh, i still can't get over how amazing it was.]

• Cycle the beautiful hills of northern Italy.

• drink the night away in a small, dark, Irish pub with old community radio friends.

• start a graduate program that I absolutely love.

• dance and sing my heart out at a Macklemore concert in Missoula with one of my favorite friends and my bearded manfriend.

• surprise a dear lovely down in Texas for his 30th birthday/engagement party.

• and much, much more.

All the smiles and toasts and love and dancing and adventures. 2012. Ugh. I loved it.

I also had some of the hardest times. There was so much that 2012 taught me. About love. About family. About leadership. About being brave. About pushing myself. About pushing others. About people. About myself.

The feeling of gratefulness washes over me when I think of how much I’ve learned this year. I definitely feel older, maybe even wiser.

With newness, comes resolution. To be better. To be brighter. I’m very much in love with this project: To Resolve

[print by Aaron Eiland. found from Ashely.]

There are plenty resolutions that I’ve made for myself this year, but one that I want more than most is to find a mentor. I feel silly saying that, but I really do. Someone to bounce ideas off of, give me advice, live up to. I have so many people I look up to in life, but I want an official mentor. Like a Liz/Jack from 30 Rock relationship.

I’ve learned a lot about leadership this year. To be a good leader, it doesn’t mean you have the most power or even the most knowledge. To be a good leader means encouraging those around you to be their best, try their hardest, create their dreams. I strive to constantly do that and I respect the hell out of people leading like that.

I want to find someone who’s down the road doing what they love, raising a family, confidently moving forward, creating beautiful things in life, kicking ass at life, and encouraging those all around them. Mentor Me. Help make 2013 even better than 2012.

[now accepting applications.]

set ‘em up, i’ll knock ‘em down again.

Here’s a poster designed by moi:

Here’s a song I can’t stop moving to:

[don't just sit there, move for me.]

fox in the snow, diamond in the sky.

The death plague that I’ve contracted from Jackson has given me pause with opportunity to document how wonderful the trip was. I didn’t get to spend time with all my favorite lovelies, but I did get to soak up some supreme mountain time.

[no energy for captions or correct spacing. just good times galore.]

     

[love it here.]

and there was a lot of interpretive rocking hard to this song [not sorry]:

van me twice.

This is what Missoula looks like today from my view:

The story I’m about to tell did not have the same snowy setting, but it was colder… about 20 degrees.

This is what the door to our apartment looks like:

Evan and I live nextdoor to this lovely woman named Suzie… who I hardly ever see, but she’s kind and polite and the sweetest.

This is what the downstairs of outside our apartment looks like:

That aqua door enters to other common rooms used by Buddhists for meditation but it also holds the basement where we keep some of our stuff. This door is kept locked, but has a locked hide-a-key that we use. And then the front door to the building is behind this picture taker.

So, the other day, Evan and I decided that we wanted to go hot springing/camping. Evan was running around getting ALL of our camping stuff together and I was trying to pack my clothes. Evan was [rightfully] giving me a hard time about how I don’t do anything and he has to pack for two.

It was such a quiet Saturday and I was sure that Suzie was out hiking or working or hanging with her college student daughter somewhere.

I kept grabbing things like a toothbrush and a puffy coat and telling Evan, “Look, I’m ready to go!”

He found it mildly entertaining, so I kept doing it.

Then Evan went to get some things out of the basement and I put my bikini on and walked downstairs. I stood outside the aqua door and yelled down,

– EVAN, I’M READY TO GO!

–WHAT??

– I’M REEEEEEEEEEADY!

– Hold on! I’ll be right up!

He came out the door and I was standing in my best Superman pose as he saw me and laughed as he locked up the door and put the key back in it’s lockbox.

– I’m ready to go!

– Really? Do I need to pack your clothes for you, too?

All the sudden we heard a door upstairs open…….

With deer in the headlight eyes we looked at each other and I tried to get into the aqua door… locked. Then we started whisper yelling…

– It’s locked!

– Get the key!

– I forgot the code! What do I do?! I don’t want Suzie to see me like this!

– Go get in the van!

– Okay!

So I RUN OUTSIDE… IN A BIKINI… open the van and dive into it and slam the sliding door.

Immediately I hear Suzie come outside with Evan and they are having a lively conversation… which is fine… until it lasts for more than 30 seconds. Because, well, I’m hiding in a van wearing a total of 18 square inches of fabric in the freezing cold.

You would think that maybe since there’s a full bed in the van, we would keep blankets in the van, but we don’t. You know what we do keep in there? Reusable shopping bags. So, yep. After about two minutes, I started trying to cover myself up with shopping bags.

There I am, covered in shopping bags in a swimsuit in a van in front of my own apartment in the freezing cold listening to my boyfriend make small-talk with the neighbor. And I don’t know if this next part was justified or not, but I became LIVID. Saying things outloud like,

– WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, EVAN! Stop talking to her! Stop! Stop! Ugh, why didn’t I just let her see meeeeeee?

Lots of talking outloud, sitting on the floor of a van, covered in shopping bags…

After about 6 [SIX] minutes of conversation, Suzie made her way to her car [parked right in front of the van] and I laid flat on the floor of the van, terrified that I would get caught at this point of the debacle and have no idea how to explain myself.

She didn’t. She got in her car and drove off. About 20 seconds after that, Evan opens the van door with a coat in hand. I grab it from him and loudly say,

– What the hell is wrong with you?!

Neighbors a couple doors down are now [of course] outside talking to some seemingly visitors and they look over at us. [awesome.] With no shoes or clothes on, carrying the coat Evan brought me, I make quick, weird, walk of shame into the apartment and Evan sheepishly follows while the young neighbors look at us in complete confusion.

We get inside and I settle down and apologize for getting mad about my own joke gone awry and Evan apologizes for being the nicest person in the world and talking to our neighbor for SIX WHOLE MINUTES while his dear girlfriend froze hiding in a van… and we finally laugh about it all.

And then we went hot springing/camping. And it is wonderful. At one point during hot springing, we went back to the van for what I thought was going to be a hot second and I got in the sliding door to grab my phone and wallet and Evan got in and shut the door behind him…

– What are you doing? I thought we were going inside to change and get a drink?

– I’m gonna eat something real quick.

– Are you kidding me??

– What?

– Nothing. Van me once, shame on you… Van me twice? Shame on me.

VAN ROADTRIP // november twenty-twelve.

After getting back from a [wonderful, wonderful] trip to Texas, I came home to Evan’s lovely family visiting us.

They left the next day and Evan and I both would’ve guessed that we would just end up sleeping for the following 24 hours.

Instead, we went on a little road trip. It was ah-mazing. Just perfect. What I’ve been needing. Oh, so right. So much fun.

I made a little video about it…

[i'm falling in love with montana more and more by the minute.]

[i didn't mean to fuel the fire.]

results are almost.

so many things are just so bright. [the excitement inside.]

first off, get excited with me. listen to this song and dance through the rest of reading this…

i am working on final projects for my first semester of grad school… eee! it feels so right. filled with creative energy, i want to create, collaborate with everyone. let’s do this.

graphics i’ve worked on lately:

made that for a work blahg post.

i made this for my dear friend jared’s 30th birthday. he’s very mountainous. i bet he does have birds living in his beard. wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

new Smeethens Home visitor tradition:

i’ve seen this movie twice in the last two weeks:

it was even better the second time. obviously, i recommend it.

okay, now listen to this song and then kiss the one you love. if you can’t find any lips that press back, dance hard and smile… results are almost identical:

[get it.]

jim for jackson!

though i don’t reside in the wondrous tetons anymore, jackson will always stake claim to inches of the home part of my heart.

i’m still paying close attention to the political races in jackson and i have to wish a huge “good luck!” to Jim Stanford today! JIM FOR JACKSON!

like that logo? thanks! i designed it.

and thank you, jim, for all the awesome gifties! best of luck! you got this.

go vote.

i may or may not be wearing an election day outfit…

GO VOTE!

rawr.

happy hollerween.
from the business-casual tiger.

[photo by derek gallagher.]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

to celebrate, let me show you some of my favorites…

this will always be the most hilarious halloween video ever made:

i definitely held true to this theorya of halloween costumes…

since i went as billie jean king and my bearded manfriend went as bobby riggs…

i don’t know how i feel about how easily identifiable i was as billie… but at least i wasn’t explaining my costume all night.

also, my mom’s very favorite halloween joke: http://rachellaurenmarie.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/my-moms-favorite-halloween-joke/

and then there’s this. not exactly halloweenie, but eerie in the best way. it’s a long video, and i think i’ve posted it before, and yes, it’s forever long, but i love it:

[happy halloween, lovelies!]