Wednesday 14 March 2018 :: I missed not one but both of my exit options to get me the "normal" way to Appleton, so I had to end up using Siri to tell me how to get there on some county highways. I think I might have driven through Freedom. the exits for that town always make me smile. anyway, on my drive, I came across what I thought was an abandoned school (I love buildings like this), but apparently they use it as a haunted house in the fall. the church on the same property still seems to be a functioning church, and it seems kind of weird to me that a church would allow their school to be used as a haunted house, but to each their own. (and then a sunset on the way home.)

Monday 26 March 2018 :: driving lost around Fond du Lac, I found this building and I thought it looked nice.

Wednesday 14 February 2018
sunset walk downtown. I just love that brick wall by the post office, and the lightning bolts on that van made me smile.

Wednesday 28 February 2018
evening visit to one of the cemeteries and then my favorite beach, hoping to catch a sunset reflection. the angel in the first picture is the background on my phone right now.

106/365 :: Monday 16 April 2018
one of two books I finished this week (and still snow on the street).

107/365 :: Tuesday 17 April 2018
I couldn't help but to laugh when I saw that Dancing Bear put a stuffed penguin on one of their sidewalk snowbanks. the next day, he was being held by the bears at the door.

108/365 :: Wednesday 18 April 2018
​got my hair chopped.

109/365 :: Thursday 19 April 2018
a little visit to Fond du Lac.

110/365 :: Friday 20 April 2018
both of the books I read this week. reading poetry always makes me think that I can write poetry.

111/365 :: Saturday 21 April 2018
books. just books in every room. Oliver Jeffers is one of my favorite authors/illustrators, and while I haven't actually read the paperback copies of Harry Potter on the right, both of those beat up copies mean so much to me. (though the illustrated copies on the left/not pictured are really my favorites.)

112/365 :: Sunday 22 April 2018
​outgoing mail.

we drove one hundred miles
​to meet in neutral territory
I didn’t know it was a date
a three hour hug
and now I can’t set foot in Sheboygan County
Lake Michigan breathes the waves of my life

99/365 :: Monday 9 April 2018
having fun isn't hard when you have a secondary library card.

100/365 :: Tuesday 10 April 2018
I recently discovered that I don't hate all citrus fruit.

101/365 :: Wednesday 11 April 2018
​clouds. just always clouds.

102/365 :: Thursday 12 April 2018
mini avocados and other fun things from Aldi, my new favorite grocery store. yes, those are (organic) baby rainbow carrots.

103/365 :: Friday 13 April 2018
when there's precipitation, there's this hat. I may or may not have stolen it from my father.

104/365 :: Saturday 14 April 2018
spring blizzard, day one. I honestly didn't believe that it was going to snow.

105/365 :: Sunday 15 April 2018
​spring blizzard, day two. it looks pretty, but this is December weather and I am over it.

I take a lot more photos than ever end up being seen by anyone other than me, so here are some photos from adventures in January...

Saturday 6 January 2018
I love seeing these ice formations, and the past few winters, I have been making a point to going down by the bridge in the winter to make sure that I get pictures of them.

Wednesday 10 January 2018
sometimes I remember to bring my camera with me when I'm going somewhere so I can take a detour for a few photos. this was one of those days.

Tuesday 16 January 2018
a little trip to the house to see the snow, and then a walk to the library to exchange books. I think I've been going to the library twice a week most weeks this year. sometimes just once a week, once three times in a week.

Thursday 25 January 2018
one of my favorite beaches on Lake Michigan. I always wear boots to the beach because I hate sand, so winter is actually a good time for me to visit the beach. I don't think I've been to this particular spot in the winter before, so I was delighted to find that there was a bit of ice before the water. the frozen sand, the bubbles under the ice, it was all just so beautiful. and my mom was really annoyed to find out later that I was walking on the ice, but for the record, I didn't fall in.

Monday 29 January 2018
this year, I've been trying to see more of Wisconsin. I drove about two hours down Lake Michigan to wander around Port Washington for a few hours. being that it was a Monday in winter, I didn't really get to see what I wanted to see, but I did a little wandering and it's always nice for me to breathe someone else's air.

92/365 :: Monday 2 April 2018
​adding some color back into my life.

93/365 :: Tuesday 3 April 2018
​snow day.

94/365 :: Wednesday 4 April 2018
field trip to the boat launch.

95/365 :: Thursday 5 April 2018
​this week's read.

96/365 :: Friday 6 April 2018
​​the angel that leaves rainbows on my walls.

97/365 :: Saturday 7 April 2018
I looked out the window this (snow-covered) morning, and these bright leaves in the window across the street made me smile.

98/365 :: Sunday 8 April 2018
color-coded life.

I'm not sitting still. I am moving forward.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 found me in Milwaukee. I had taken a few days off to get out of Door County. Things weren’t going perfectly, but that’s to be expected. I got lost on my way to the art museum from my Airbnb, but I figured it out. I wandered around the museum for a while, and then I walked around a few blocks and had lunch at (the wrong) Collectivo. My next couple stops included American Apparel and Urban Outfitters after ending up in a hospital parking ramp and then refueling Luna. I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s too, but I decided to drop off my purchases at the apartment first.

I was nearly to Trader Joe’s when I noticed something weird was happening. The music stopped playing, my heated seat turned off, and then all of the meters on my dashboard dropped. I found a parking space in the lowest level of the parking garage and called my dad to find out what to do before turning the car off. He told me that my alternator failed and I wouldn’t be able to drive the car home. I found a place to fix it and scheduled an appointment for the morning, and then my car died. I later had to hail an Uber to bring me from Trader Joe’s to my Airbnb, and that’s the most millennial sentence I’ll ever say. Thanks to some misunderstandings on my part, my wonderful parents, and some lovely friends in the Milwaukee area, Luna was running the next evening and I safely returned home.

But the point of that story is that my car died on April fourth, and I am convinced that it’s because I forgot that it was April fourth. It was the seventh anniversary of the scariest night of my life. That’s not my story to tell, so I will leave that part vague.

My parents may not be perfect, but I have yet to meet anyone who is. I can’t say that I’ve always gotten along with them, but they have raised me to be the best that I can be and they have taught me many valuable lessons about life and this crazy world that we live in.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how different my life was a year ago and it’s been bittersweet, but I’m hoping that looking back next year, I will be proud of how far I’ve come in this next year.

Every day is the start of something new.

xoxo.

85/365 :: Monday 26 March 2018
I drove down to Fond du Lac, refusing to use Siri for directions because I looked at an actual paper map and knew which highways to take, but then I missed the turn I needed once I got into the city, so I wandered around instead. I was finally back in the correct direction when the street was blocked because of a fire. So I gave up and went to Oshkosh instead.

86/365 :: Tuesday 27 March 2018
and while I was in Oshkosh, I bought myself a new purse and wallet!

87/365 :: Wednesday 28 March 2018
fixing the hem on my jeans while watching Project Runway. is this what the cool kids would call "meta?"

88/365 :: Thursday 29 March 2018
last week while I was cleaning, I managed to knock a frame off the wall so gently that only a corner of the wooden part broke. things are rearranged now, but I'm not loving the light brown frame on top.

89/365 :: Friday 30 March 2018
​feather clouds.

90/365 :: Saturday 31 March 2018
a little more snow for March.

91/365 :: Sunday 1 April 2018
my aunt made a beautiful and delicious cake for Easter!