June & July

1: remembering cringey scenes, songs, and lines from childhood movies
2: when my dad thinks a Beatles song is by Smash Mouth
3: ditching a not-so-gripping book for a much more interesting one
4: saying hi to a horse
5: alternate realities playing out in parallel in Kasie West's Pivot Point
6: making rock art (a tribute to the characters in my story)
7: "misfit" kids befriending a ghost
8: the story of Charity and Sylvia
9: hiking off the beaten path and being wonderfully alone in the wilderness
10: my brother's hilariously dramatic reading of my story
11: Alex Strangelove
12: my dad relating to my weird self-image issues with glasses
13: listening to the Dear Martin audiobook while driving through NM + CO
14: meeting a girl who's on my crew and chatting with her for a while
15: joking and ice-breaker questions with the crew as we drive around, making wrong turns as it gets darker trying to get to our first official campsite
16: going out in the forest and learning how to use the crosscut saw hands-on
17: when the drenched ankles of the pants I'm wearing finally dry (mostly)
18: stepping out of my tent and locking eyes with a deer standing up the hill
19: hiking up the trail with our tools and sawing fallen trees off the path
20: one of my crewmates going wild over the fact that I published a book
21: lilypad lake with a breathtaking view of the snow-capped peaks
22: a civ dinner as a reward for a long work day
23: dozing off under a teepee
24: an afternoon chilling at a quirky coffee shop
25: a cozy car ride of togetherness (getting closer to people I hadn't really talked to before)
26: lost by the lake and bushwhacking with Alan
27: when people have to eat their words at the heartiness of a vegan soup
28: the flowered way
29: watermelon binge while hanging out on the deck of the landowner whose forests we (partially) worked in
30: walking up the road to Starbucks while the others shower

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1: sleeping out under a starry, moonlit sky
2: putting down the railroad-tracks foundation for a turnpike
3: eating kettle corn straight from the pot and laughing about random shiz
4: restaurant outing & soccer game to celebrate 4th of July
5: sock wrestling matches
6: giving honest how-I-feel feedback
7: getting rained on when I'm already soaked through from going in the lake
8: touristy apparel as a spare outfit
9: maple french toast bagel
10: a puzzle of rocks
11: valley views from Buffalo Pass
12: quiet conversations and bonding over musicianship in the dimly-lit van
13: the stark contrast between lush & fire-burned forests
14: nude (+ partially nude) photoshoot at a mountain lake
15: composing a song inspired by cuddles under the stars
16: stumbling upon animal bones
17: delving deeper into my jealous feelings to discover my insecurities
18: cool-to-the-touch moist, rotted tree innards
19: calling out to your crewmates down below on the mountain when you're near the end of a long and arduous trail
20: Utah's amazing rock formations
21: nature walk through a slot canyon to a waterfall
22: sharing earbuds & watching BoJack together at the laundromat
23: guesses at my (apparently ambiguous) ethnicity
24: dreaming about Denver
25: introducing the crew to Contact
26: practicing knots on anything we can get a rope around
27: catching up on music while on a computer at the local library
28: enjoying an ice cream cone as I walk along Main Street
29: picnic in the park, sheltered from the rain by a giant tree
30: "Starlight" under starlight
31:  apocalyptic sun red through the haze