Lately

I love it when a song is stuck in my head that is just so....perfect.

Paper Bag by Fiona Apple

I was staring at the sky, just looking for a star
To pray on, or wish on, or something like that
I was having a sweet fix of a daydream of a boy
Whose reality I knew, was a hopeless to be had

But then the dove of hope began its downward slope
And I believed for a moment that my chances
Were approaching to be grabbed
But as it came down near, so did a weary tear

I thought it was a bird, but it was just a paper bag

Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
Cuz I know Im a mess he dont wanna clean up
I got to fold because these hands are too shaky to hold
Hunger hurts, but starving works, when it costs too much to love

And I went crazy again today, looking for a strand to climb
Looking for a little hope
Baby said he couldnt stay, wouldnt put his lips to mine,
And a fail to kiss is a fail to cope

I said, honey, I dont feel so good, dont feel justified
Come on put a little love here in my void, - he said
its all in your head, and I said, so is everything
But he didnt get it

I thought he was a man but he was just a little boy

Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills
Cuz I know Im a mess he dont wanna clean up
I got to fold becuase these hands are too shaky to hold
Hunger hurts, but starving works, when it costs too much to love

So Happy Together

This is my roommate, Weronika Victoria Mansfield. A grand name for a grand girl. (The W is on purpose. It's...Polish. Like a sausage.)

The other day we slept on the beach. And woke up to this.

We love to see the temple

Shenanigans, sleep deprivation, and stupidbabies,
Anna

LOST

Yes! My mom and I did, in fact, find the actual, very large banyan tree that Oceanic flight 815 survivors often use as shelter from invisible, African Priest-eating smoke monsters and polar bears.

So we hid too.
Just in case.

Look familiar, Losties?
Love, jungles, and helpful Mexican workers in golf carts,
Anna

I love Hawaii, I love Hawaii, I love Hawaii

...Shall I say it again?
The Aloha has seeped into my skin, along with the humidity, and claimed me for its own. It's so painfully beautiful, so horribly friendly. It's been 3 or 4 days, maybe five, I can't remember, and I already feel like I'm home.

...Uh oh!











Travel log:
SEATTLE

THE BEGINNING DAYS OF MY GRAND HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE
I came for four months...and am now afraid I might stay forever.

How much more Hawaiian could this get?

"Dude, Mr. Turtle is my father!"

Cheesy new dorm shot. Mandatory, you know.

Love, turtles, and getting leid,
Anna

Packing...again

I wrote this poem just about a year ago, leaving for college for the first time. And now, a year later, I feel just about the same way. So, I'm reiterating the point.

Packing
"I guess it's time!"
said my childhood playmates
as I laid them in cardboard graves
and wiped a tear from their sightless
plastic eyes.

"Time to grow up",
sighed the clip-on earrings,
the fun old gloves from Grammy's world,
when people still wore hats and time
moved more slowly.

"Knew it must come"
nodded my purple parasol wisely,
the battered remnants of a forgotten
trip to disneyland, my faded cursive name
silently nodding in agreement.

So many pages filled with doodles and dreams,
boxes of days and years,
countless laughs emitting dustily,
but lapsing inevitably into
mournful coughs.

Drawers of memories,
prodigal socks, hair ties, and buttons,
dust accummulation of ages,
annoying but endearing.

Isn't it funny how dust,
on a good day, makes you
sneeze.
But when "it's time," all
it does is make you cry?

You know you'll miss that
dust,
The splattered hot chocolate on the
wall, never quite cleaned up,
the books always on the
shelf, but never quite read.

"Yes, it's time"
gently urges my blankie,
the embodiment of 17 years' worth
of pleasant slumber,
something I can't quite give up and
am relieved that I don't have to.

Anna

It's a Sign

My new favorite intersection.
I think it's a sign... in the fate-related sense.

Anna

I took Jeanelle's senior pictures and it was so fun.

Anna
Pointing and shooting cameras has always been a dear hobby, and I really hope to develop it in the future (pun intended).

better half

Kali is now home

and I am complete.

♥ Anna

Indie Anna: An odyssey of sorts

Well of course I couldn't let Jenalee drive 2,000 miles alone...
So we and the sunglasses (always the sunglasses) packed up the puppies
and our sense of adventure.

...Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and finally we found Rapid City, South Dakota. And my belief that the state didn't actually exist was...proven wrong.There was much debate over who the second head was. It turns out he's Thomas Jefferson, though after we discovered that, Jena still thought it was Andrew Jackson...for a while.


Luckily we were able to get a nice biker gang from Arkansas to take our picture with "the boys".
Washington and Washington....get it?
Oh.... and Washington. And me. It was fun to find home in a strange nonexistent state.

This was our "we're-so-excited-we're-about-to-see-Mt. Rushmore-faces




YES IT WAS THAT EXCITING.










And I also found Hawaii, my future home.





One of my
goals for the trip was to find awesome old tourist traps. Mitchell, SD, home of the world's only Corn Palace and stuffed Native American, Zach, was perfect.

Minnesota welcomed us on day 2 with a lovely sign. We discovered the "m" in Minnesota stands for "muggy."

...But we also discovered Fairmont. The most adorable little porcelain Midwestern town. They had no McDonald's. but they DID have an opera house. And a lake.






























Jena and I read The Jane Austen Book Club in front with Buster, and Hazel slept soundly with the water in back.

Yep. still sleeping.Iowa, Illinois, and finally Indiana on day 3. We entered Jena's new home in "The historic "cottage home neighborhood" of downtown Indianapolis.

Her house was built in 1890.

And is adorable.

And this is the view from her front steps and little park a house away.

I loved it all. But mostly this store, "Save a lot." It, along with "Unique Thrift Store" really made the trip worth while.
Along with the Mad Libs
And Lame Deer, Montana
And the dogs
And the storms
And the crazy, friendly, midwestern people
And so many adventures I can't count them.

Energy drinks, postcards, and sing alongs,Anna