July
1: paying respects to the rare pigeon
2: trying to uncover the life of the enigmatic (and beloved) author LJ Maas
3: dodging an irrepressible new coworker
4: climbing up the foothills & looking out over the city
5: the start of Zak George's RV life adventures
6: letting Tim (my native New Mexican coworker) read over my Spanish-language book review
7: taking the pups for a walk in the bosque
8: a quick ice cream sandwich
9: Taco Cabana for lunch
10: lamenting that someone willfully gave up an autographed LJ Maas book (but amazed I got it for such a steal)
11: digging up some Alan Singley
12: an unconventional book repair (involving many layers of color-matched cardstock)
13: interview practice on my breaks
14: What If You & Me
15: their faces for treats
16: tallying what 501 Must-See movies we've seen & what 501 Must-Read Books we've read
17: Matt finding Yusuf/Cat's TikTok
18: park picnic
19: the (as I'm coming to recognize) signature sarcastic humor of LJ Maas
20: when Inclusive Ninja is still problematic
21: running to escape the sprinklers
22: tidbit writing inspiration
23: running inside to escape the sudden downpour (with the girls stopping to shake off every three seconds)
24: Matt asking my permission to eat the vegan ice cream
25: Dora nosing and chewing her way to the treats hidden under the shirt
26: the critique group raising the important question of why my characters are always meeting over food
27: a staff run-through of the escape room my coworker put together
28: encounters with polite men out with their dogs
29: the spooky jazz-sesh journey of 50 Words for Snow
30: "eavesdropping" on a fraught relationship conversation (so, like lurking on relationship_advice irl)
31: nighttime playground hijinks
2: trying to uncover the life of the enigmatic (and beloved) author LJ Maas
3: dodging an irrepressible new coworker
4: climbing up the foothills & looking out over the city
5: the start of Zak George's RV life adventures
6: letting Tim (my native New Mexican coworker) read over my Spanish-language book review
7: taking the pups for a walk in the bosque
8: a quick ice cream sandwich
9: Taco Cabana for lunch
10: lamenting that someone willfully gave up an autographed LJ Maas book (but amazed I got it for such a steal)
11: digging up some Alan Singley
12: an unconventional book repair (involving many layers of color-matched cardstock)
13: interview practice on my breaks
14: What If You & Me
15: their faces for treats
16: tallying what 501 Must-See movies we've seen & what 501 Must-Read Books we've read
17: Matt finding Yusuf/Cat's TikTok
18: park picnic
19: the (as I'm coming to recognize) signature sarcastic humor of LJ Maas
20: when Inclusive Ninja is still problematic
21: running to escape the sprinklers
22: tidbit writing inspiration
23: running inside to escape the sudden downpour (with the girls stopping to shake off every three seconds)
24: Matt asking my permission to eat the vegan ice cream
25: Dora nosing and chewing her way to the treats hidden under the shirt
26: the critique group raising the important question of why my characters are always meeting over food
27: a staff run-through of the escape room my coworker put together
28: encounters with polite men out with their dogs
29: the spooky jazz-sesh journey of 50 Words for Snow
30: "eavesdropping" on a fraught relationship conversation (so, like lurking on relationship_advice irl)
31: nighttime playground hijinks
August
1: flipping between the audiobook and ebook depending on my work station (or if I'm on break)
2: getting unreasonably riled up about an epilogue (which concludes the stories of all the trilogy's characters)
3: jamming to my brother's newest album, "odyssey"
4: a hike in the eastern Sandias
5: braiding my hair with beads
6: the trilogy not ending as badly as I remembered
7: tracks 4-6 from Pagans in Vegas
8: the slightly entertaining parallels between the neighbors and our old roommates (re: stupid fighting)
9: a coworker fangirling over Bridgerton
10: Tim modeling the squid hat I got in the summer reading staff prize goodie bag
11: the sound of a sudden downpour (& hailstorm)
12: tinkering with the resume
13: cookout + game night @ Jeremy's (or, hanging out with coworkers outside of work)
14: a walk around a downtown block to pass the time
15: helping pick tomatoes from the free-range library vines
16: generously interpreting a story as "a character study into an unlikable man"
17: journaling by booklight & candle ambiance
18: the... range of talent on Junior Bake Off
19: audiobook while hair styling
20: a skunk standoff (luckily through glass)
21: chatting with my grandma over the phone
22: gold evening light shimmering through rain-studded leaves
23: that the dogs got to have their fun tearing into a trash bag
24: the student loan forgiveness news
25: the gremlin spying on me from down the hall
26: "Misty" & others matching the vibe of a cautious, contemplative drive through a downpour
27: retail therapy at Goodwill & Lowe's
28: sufficiently entertaining distraction, even if the story's pretty meh
29: spending almost $10 to send a debit card through certified mail that will no longer be active by the time it reaches its recipient
30: one year at my current workplace
31: a lunch-break stroll to the Walgreens for some lunch accoutrements (i.e., chips)
September
1: an unaccounted-for blip of oblivion
2: a well-wishes text from a coworker
3: Walmart skeleton photo edits
4: family Costco outing
5: rewatching The Vicar of Dibley after so many years
6: yet another killer Goodwill work outfit
7: Celeste raving to me about Van Leeuwen vegan ice cream
8: purging yearbooks
9: Paul Giamatti narrating an audiobook
10: staff run-throughs of the '80s trivia
11: some of Matt's writing enthusiasm rubbing off & getting inspired for a new tidbit
12: feeling justified about a DNF (after scouring for negative reviews)
13: taking bets on which patron put 25 volumes of a manga series on hold
14: Jeremy making vegan apple cake
15: recollection of the Beyond coming back to me in spurts of muscle memory
16: dogs leaping through the desert brush
17: being invited back for a cuppa after the end of the 'making masala chai' class
18: crouching before the window, chin on the sill, to take in the night breeze, and the mournful windchime, and to be wrapped in the billowing curtain's soft shroud
19: swapping out the first consonant of different names with "J" (but still loving Jimothy and Jassachusetts most of all)
20: the inevitable last minute packing rush
21: the furthest Izi & I have ever traveled together
22: overlooking the valley of chirping prairie dogs
23: seeing my grandma after seven years
24: hiking up the wooded hill to take in the valley views
25: deer-watching from the deck
26: touches of fall color in the Grand Teton Nat'l Forest
27: a hike autour du lac (the String Lake Loop, to be precise)
28: spooky cool photo-op at the Frontier Prison Museum
29: riding an e-scooter around downtown neighborhoods & along the creek trail
30: return to familiar roadways
