snowed in.

so this hardly ever happens. and by hardly ever, i mean i don't recall a time that it snowed this much here. it started thursday night and it hasn't stopped. i just had to shovel the grass so that kolby would poop. he'd been holding it for 26 hours.

needless to say certain holiday plans were canceled. we were supposed to drive to lawrence yesterday to spend christmas with brad's sister and niece and nephew. so we hadn't planned on having any sort of christmas dinner here at our house. this means, we ate leftovers from christmas eve for dinner. mine was a salad with green beans and some smoked salmon on top. not bad. but also not very festive.

oh, and there are birds in our chimney. they moved right on in yesterday after the first 5 or so inches had fallen. and they haven't left. so, we sporadically scream into the fireplace to try to scare them out. so far, no luck.

today i plan to shovel, shovel, shovel for exercise. since everything is either:
1. canceled
or
2. buried in a foot of snow (read: running trails and sidewalks.)

the best thing about being snowed in? being here with B.

the worst thing? we are running out of creamer.

merry christmas eve day.

love brad and jessi. (both writers, hence the typewriter.)

forever.

if you follow me,
i'll let you watch
as i prepare to wash my face
and pick at that spot between my brows
above my nose
and to the right.
i'll let you stand there while i
take out my contacts
and as my eye becomes crossed -
making it look like there are two of you
watching me
as i look in the mirror and when i
remove the black line above my lashes
and then scrub the day
from my cheeks.

daylight.

this is the shortest day of the year. last year, this day felt optimistic. this year, it doesn't.

fresh eyes.

i always see things that aren't really there while i'm running.

from 30 strides away, a leaf looks like a squirrel, especially when it's hoping off the ground in the wind.

from a quarter mile away, a tree stump looks like a dog ready to attack. it's only as a get closer and more rational that i realize it's just the dead end of a tree that once was alive and thriving.

i used to get frustrated at all of these mirages. until today when i realized it's just a form of creativity. i mean, most people might have just seen a leaf. or a tree stump. but not me. not me.

and i am 100-percent standing behind the belief that this does not mean i'm paranoid. just extremely, out-of-the-box creative.

two things.

i have a sinus infection. i've had it since saturday. i just got antibiotics. the doctor looked up my nose and said, "oh. my. gosh. how are you even breathing?" and i said, "i'm not."

in other news, one of the campaigns i worked on was just named on of the top 10 non-tv campaigns of the decade by AdAge.

oh, america.

hi friends.

today, i got these direct mail postcards promoting myself in the mail. that's a mouthful. anywho, it's a campaign B and i put together a while back (he: art director, me: copywriter.) did you know he's amazing at design, too? this man is not just a writer. he's a creative director.

but i digress. so, i got them in the mail. and they look great. and i'm entering them in the addys - deadline friday. so, i rushed to the post office to stick a few in the mail. the line at the post office was
40
people
long.

and there was ONE post office employee.

and the entire place smelled like body odor and farts.

and the woman in front of me was sending several packages to New Zealand. and, i don't know if you know this, but you can't just put "NZ" with the postal code on your package if you are sending something there from the united states. no. you have to spell out the name of the country. because as the woman behind the counter said, "you don't KNOW our employees. they will see NZ on there and they won't know where in the heck it's going. they don't even look at the postal code until it's out of this country."

oh, and you also can't send something insured unless it is being shipped priority mail. the woman ahead of me learned this the hard way when they had to re-do her order four times. it took 10 minutes. all in all, i was there over 30 minutes. to buy 60 44 cent stamps displaying the american flag.

but it's totally going to be worth it when a few of you lucky people get my direct-mail, self-promotional postcard in the next few days. it's a series of 3. so, hang tight for the others.

peace out.