photo from our weekend to park city and is a tribute to helvetica, the world's most loved font
here's just a flat out basic not-too-special-but-special-in-the-best-way blog post update on life lately. i've been going for this minimalism in my life and my pantry and my belongings and my beliefs, and it's just spilled itself all over this blog, to the point of suffocation near suffocation. i ramble in real life. i ramble at work, to jared, to friends, to my mom. but i never seem to ramble on here anymore. instead what this blog gets is a few photos and an edited version of what's happening in my life. but i want to share about what's happening in my brain.

i've been eating cleaner. i've basically completely dropped excess sugar and simple starch out of my diet and i feel better. i very rarely skip a nice whole-grainy breakfast and under no circumstances do i eat white bread. i'd like to say i'm drinking water like we all should but ya win some ya lose some. i sleep fairly well? considering those damn giant perfect sunny windows. i don't have low blood sugar episodes anymore which used to be a daily occurance. and even though i've lost five pounds in only a few weeks without really even trying all that hard, it's really the low blood sugar episodes finally going away that keeps me going with this no sugar stuff. i read somewhere that sugar is poison to our bodies. and something clicked. i'm not someone who loooooves salty, crunchy snacks. i'm someone who loooooves chocolate. and everything sweet. i have exactly 28 "sweet tooths" inside my mouth. i love sugar. so i've taken to a good deal of honey and stevia and occasionally your indigestion inducing maltitol. and there you have it. i eat healthier.

jared and i are saving up to visit san francisco this fall before our trip to portland. can i tell you that money is tight for two students who are working derpy jobs because they are students? it is. and how does anyone do it anyways? am i the only one who feels like there are never ending student loans to take and isn't there a get smart quick scheme somewhere i can buy into? we are trying to be creative and i don't know how everything is going to pan out. but jared IS going to bike school in portland this fall which IS a thing and no, he's not going learn about motorcycles thank you very much for asking, every single random uncle or random acquaintance with whom we must exchange pleasantries and why are we doing this anyways because if you don't know already that he's obsessed with bicycles then why is it that we must be discussing this again? he's going to learn the craft of building a bicycle from scratch, as in welding bicycle frames. when someone has a specific passion like jared has with bikes, you don't stifle that shit. so jared's being a bike guy and i love my bike guy. also, when there's a will there's a way. so we will most certainly figure it all out. by the way, jared taught me the beauty of just skipping the small talk. just don't do it. see, isn't that better? everyone's lives are improved when we just ditch the small talk. mutual small talk ditching is a wonderful thing!

and then there's me. i love design. art and design. i heart typography. i enjoy web design. i am this little eager vessel, willing to learn. do i fly through the non-related degree here at the U or do i line my ducks in a row and declare to the world i'm off to a pricey little design school out of san francisco that will graduate me with a pretty degree and a mortgage? perfect weather vs low costs? adventure of a lifetime vs a decently-sized liveable apartment? learning the art i actually care to learn about in three years vs learning some mildly interesting stuff only mildly related to the field i'd like to pursure in a year and a half (and reeeeeally low costs)? HAAALP.

and then, on this tour through my brain, we always circle back to God. and spirituality. and all my questions. here i am. living for the first time ever in my life in a world where it's safe to have doubts and questions. and suddenly exactly one million doubts and questions are circling my brain exactly one hundred percent of the time. and co-habitating with these questions are all my moments of clarity, fresh air to my brain stem, feelings of peace like a river and understanding on a higher and more beautiful plane everything i've preached my whole life. i'm in a good place here. a very good place.

and last but not at all least: mild (i said mild, okay!), MILD humidity makes my soul sing. the weather the last few days has been uncharacteristic of salt lake city in july. it's had this balmy, beachy touch of humidity. and i am not exaggerating when i say IT MAKES MY SOUL SING. nice weather IS NOT JUST 'NICE WEATHER'. no. it's much more than that. it has an unsung power that can make people do trippy things. like base the rest of every other decision in their life on whether they live in a nice climate. i worship you, balmy summer night. you are mine forever, breezy ocean coast. for the past several months, whenever i see a photo of the beach (which is multiple times a day on instagram), my heart skips a beat in my chest. it's this cosmic connection that i have with the beach. when i'm there, i can't quite wrap my brain or my toes around the endless stretch of sand in either direction, the rise and fall of the tide, or the giant body of water that flows far in the distance until it falls off the other side of the earth.

one little coastal moment in my otherwise mountaineous, inland life: the dingy smell of our apartment hallway in this summer heat. it's the smell of nyc. it's one of the greatest smells in the world. it's dirty, unexpected, and delicious. if they could bottle it up and sell it, i'd probably buy it.