today

1. i've had more soda than water today.
2. tonight we made homemade pizza. my side had tomatoes and fresh basil. yum, no? james' side: avacado and steamed cauliflower. weird.
3. dad just handed me an empty tin from designer's carpet showroom. "a useful box to put things in," he said. why does a carpet showroom give out a tin of mints?
4. i walked into rite aid tonight. it was empty but for five men.
5. i'm loving greg laswell, but it's not the first time i've mentioned that.
6. i miss k and the merph. boo.

thursday

routine |rou-tine| (noun): a sequence of events regularly followed.

Thursday |Thurs-day| (noun): the day of the week before Friday and following Wednesday.

sunshine. window. teeth. face. book. knees. pear. yogurt. laptop. email. let's go sailing. water. hair. clip. elastic. sweater. orange. buttons. boots. color box. lily allen. a falling through. car. pump. quarters. wash. clean. white. natalie. smile. baby. sounds. macadamia nut. store. paint. red. green. yellow. blue. house beautiful. car. phone call. roommate. plans. office. store. zoey deschanel. office. cut. samples. paper. pen. envelope. car. ingrid. mom. grey house. stephanie. red sweater. orange sweater. curb. colors. paint. stripes. mudroom. spring. sunglasses. boy. house. sale. sign. music. car. katie. nook. maren. hulu. andy. justin. sloth. laugh. brother. cafe rio. table. yellow. fork. knife. city park. joggers. jetta. nook. steph. bowling?. toast. table. visitor. james. papers. mission. kasi. guesses. white board. croatia. virginia. japan. puerto rico. thailand. iowa. text message. dark. lamp. plan. curtains. laugh. peek. ann frank. quote. car. ice cream. almond. hot. milk. boy. smile. sit. talk. laugh. text message. world record. broken. rich. park. car. corner. red chair. idol. norman. seinfeld. olympics. swimmer. laugh. steph. floor. oat bag. phone call. anne. baby. car. leigh. house. anne. elizabeth. grandpa. cinnamon bears. binky. little legs. blue shoe. pearls. pictures. envelope. home. stairs. boots. orange sweater. pjs. slippers. drink. faucet. face. teeth. email. elizabeth. felicity. noel. knees. book. nephi. journey. journal. doodle. list. switch. pillow. covers. sleep.

challenge |chal-lenge| (noun): a task or situation that tests someone's abilities.
Taking m.writes to heart.

Things more exciting than Super Bowl Sunday

1. This exhibit at Meyer Gallery in Park City.
2. Getting to spend a week this summer here, fly fishing (hope I remember how), camping, mountain biking, hiking, canoeing, talking, laughing and catching up with about 120 of my favorite people.
3. Finding this book.
4. Picking up this one again.
5. Annie B, Jeffrey and Baby E are coming to visit!
6. She's getting married.
7. They're having a baby!
8. And so are they!
9. I've been having lots of fun here lately.
10. They bought a new house (and are going to let me help with the inside).
11. She started a shop on etsy, so we can all attempt to be as darling as Naomi.
12. February Art Market
13. Orla Kiely is designing for Target! Maybe I'll finally be able to afford one of her much-adored bags.
14. I love Bon Iver. This song has been on repeat on my playlist daily for over a month now. (I can't find a good video version. If anyone does, let me know).
15. The white hex tiles on Mom's bathroom floor leftover from the Capitol renovation make me happy. That bathroom is part of history now. The credit goes to S. who found them in the first place. I've had several clients use the idea since.
16. The Month of Love.
17. Steph's birfday
18. Starting to work on the inside of this house.

Today

I'm taking cues from m.writes. I do so quite often, but mainly in my personal journal. But due to lack of creativity, NaBloPoMo burn-out, and the late hour, this is as good as it going to get.

Today,

November 19, 2008
I love the smell of:
Middle-Eastern cuisine at Mazza
I love the sound of:
Grandma's house shoes as they scuff across the kitchen floor
I love the taste of:
S'mores made in the microwave
I love the sight of:
Paint chips, in the boldest of colors, plucked from their slots and pocketed for a collage day in the near-future
I love the feel of:
Connecting.

I'm it. You're it.

I was tagged by Em.

Six Quirks
But first...
Question: what's the definition of a quirk? I don't think these are all that quirky. Or does the fact that I think that I think they're not quirky qualify them as a quirk?

1. This stems from Emily's biting nails comment...I pick mine. Quite the celebration was thrown when I kicked the biting habit, but somehow I've never been able to stop the picking. It's hereditary, right? My Dad does it, too. I like him quite a bit and a lot of other people do, too, so it's o.k., right?
2. I arrange everything by color. Books, for example: I don't put all the reds together, or all the greens spine-to-spine. I choose color combinations I like, and group those books just so. The same goes for the items in my shower caddy: I put the pink and orange bottled body wash next to the green foot scrub because I like the color contrast. (I love color theory a little too much, maybe?)
3. I brush my teeth in the shower.
4. I switch off between creamy and crunchy peanut butter. If I bought crunchy the last time, I'll get creamy the next. What can I say...I like to mix it up.
5. This proves I'm a Haglund (and proud of it). Just like Karl, Paul, David, and Karen; Rich, Evan, Matt and my Grandfather, I stick out my tongue when I'm concentrating. And it helps. (If I've accused any family members of innocent tongue-sticking, forgive me. If I've failed to mention you and your tongue wants some recognition, stick it out. The more the merrier. And, I'm still pulling for the tongue picture portion of the slide show this summer at the reunion.)
6. I love to paint my toenails (or, even better, have someone else paint them) but not red. Although red is one of my favorite colors. Just not for toes. For them, I like shades of pink.

Next up: Anna, Meeks, Kates, Kas and Bibbers.

30 days

And so, the NaBloPoMo days march slowly on. Lately I often find myself repeating "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November..." then, I bursts into a silent symphony, grateful that November isn't in the "All-The-Rest-Have-31" category.

30 Things I'd rather be doing than coming up with yet another so-so post tonight:

1. Reading: the stack of unfinished books beside my bed, the latest articles in Traditional Home, Architectural Digest and House & Garden, the newspaper, other friend's blogs...
2. Sleeping
3. Eating ice cream, although posting really can't stop me, now can it?
4. Chit-chatting on the phone
5. Invoicing. (Ha! So that's a lie)
6. Writing in my actual journal which has not only taken a back seat during this month of Thirty Days, but would now be considered hanging onto the hitch of said hypothetical car-with-back-seat.
7. Sketching: house plans, doodles, my name over and over again, scribbles, and the like
8. Lesley, The Rev Al Green and blue thermals in the dark.
9. Organizing my office (I'm serious on this one. My Dad now refers to it as "Baghdad")
10. Helping Chard with his infamous Christmas Music Mixes
11. Any and all things OME
12. Laundry (again, I'm serious).
13. Enjoying the finally-December weather
14. Watching "Mad About You" re-runs
15. Finishing up a few iMovie projects
16. Starting my Christmas cards
17. Taking in great art at any local gallery
18. Traveling
19. Time with the cousins
20. Road-tripping
21. Getting a pedicure
22. Making homemade pizza or Mom's apple cake
23. Catching up on emails
24. Taking in the magical lustre of Temple Square this time of year
25. Cabin-ing
26. Ho cho/sno sho
27. Attacking The Pile Museum (the curator est moi) in my office
28. Walking with Kates and Gracie
29. Roasting chestnuts on an open fire
30. Decking the Halls

Only 2 more days and the hiatus begins!

People Keep Repeating

Taking cue from Marta, I'm just going to let my thoughts "spill." They've been coming full-force lately and I can't seem to get them onto paper fast enough.
1. Meeting Virginia yesterday was an unexpected dream. Opportunity and passion collided, and I'm excited to see where things go from here. Life is art. Art is life.
2. Dan in Real Life was, indeed, delightful. And K was the perfect person to see it with. We died laughing. And cried a wee bit, too. I could not get over that house! Could not, could not, could NOT! I've decided I'm going to make a slight career change: I'm going to be the person who scouts houses for movies. I'll just randomly knock on doors and ask for a full tour. Also, I'm pretty sure I'll have to spend the night; to truly experience the house - the light as it comes into the windows in the early morning, the shadows that dance across the porch at sunset. Any idea how to get started in that? Perhaps I'll just start knocking.
2.5. I won't quit my Day Job, though. It was too much fun to sit and play with tracing paper and colored pencils at Karen's last night. We ate pizza and talked house and garden plans late into the night. She's pretty much my favorite.
3. My parents are downstairs cooking dinner together, listening to Christmas music. Now is the time of The Season when I wish everything could stand still. We put so much thought in The Getting Ready. (Moore) I'm old enough now to understand that this is The Best Part. I wish now, more than ever, to enjoy the Getting Ready.
4. I'm so glad Will talked me out of a rain check today. It's been a long while since I've been behind a cute boy on a motorcycle, and today's weather was absolutely perfect. It felt a little wild; wonderfully wild. I couldn't keep my skirt from flapping in the wind. Oh well. So darling, that Will!
5. Twenty-six isn't going to be that bad.
6. Karen (cousin, not aunt) has finally found her prince charming. And charming he is. I'm so excited. She continues to be my ideal. She is as gracious and as beautiful as they come, adventurous, kind, spiritual, thoughtful, and she's got the brains to boot. It was fun to celebrate yesterday and the 28th can't come too soon.
7. I spent half of today in mourning. Anticipatory mourning. And then, all of a sudden, mid-Relief Society, I just stopped. There it was: Relief. I'm still scared and sad and overwhelmed and not sure where to go from here.
8. Emily has come back to church. This truly makes me so happy. Talk about a beautiful person. Her every comment I hang on. She is wise beyond her years and someone who exudes truth and testimony. She is hope and patience personified. I am oh so glad she is back.

When you get to the bottom you go back to the top

(Here you go, Linds. With no editing, as promised. Date originally penned, January 19, 2005)

I'm thankful for new beginnings, "bubble bath" OPI nail polish, Yale Avenue and cell phones. I'm thankful for lunches with the girlies, drives to Salt Lake with Katharine and the feeling I get when I walk in my back door. I'm thankful for my Iowa roots, the red water pump at the cabin and memories of picking blackberries in Grandma Fetzer's backyard. For my gray slippers. For forgiveness. I'm thankful for the nights I can fall asleep quickly, that even if the Rhondeaus are out of town I can look through the window on the landing and know they won't ever move away again. That the people who know me better than I know myself are honest with me. I'm thankful for sacrament hymns full of powerful words, for reverence, for fathers' blessings and mothers' intuition. For cherished moments talking late at night with Em, for Anne and Jim's "Mutual Admiration Society." For Subway's veggie sandwiches. That I don't have to do shots anymore. That Libby's hearing loss has slowed. For memories of Bis. For walks around the neighborhood with Chewy. For Kates. I'm thankful for that little space heater we keep in the study that keeps me warm while I email. That my parents haven't moved. For short Cafe Rio lines, for Pentel "rolling writer" pens. I'm thankful for Dad's Groucho Marx lines about elephants in pajamas and for Mom's advice on love and relationships. I'm thankful for Sunday afternoons in Provo, that the temple is so close, and that families are forever. For post-it notes, my blue sweat pants, for my tea cups and for our trip to France. I'm thankful for my talents, for vibrant colors, for polka-dots, for possibility, for understanding, for time that can heal wounds. I'm thankful for Nalgene bottles, the Tonoko kids, (who teach me more than I teach them) for the mountains and for the sound that rain makes on the skylights at home. That Grandma Fetzer and Grandma and Grandpa Haglund are still with us. For snow angels. For pearl earrings. For phone calls from Libby and lunches in the Cougareat with the 10th ward. I'm thankful I live in America. That Fridays always come, that the gospel will always be true, that part of my heart still resides in our little house on 9th South, that there is calm after a storm and for the knowledge that what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. I'm thankful for hope.