sometimes i have to write things down. somewhere. anywhere. because i want to capture a moment or a picture or a thought but (as you can likely tell by the shocking lack of photographs on my blog) i don’t have a camera on hand. all i have are words (and you know i will lose the moment if i just tuck it away somewhere in my head).

like my friend melody, who has written some of her loveliest poetry on the back of a receipt while stopped at a stop light, i have recorded memories on scraps of trash–a receipt, a napkin, a styrofoam cup–picked up from the floor of my toyota sienna. i wrote my best essay ever in red ink on the wrinkled back of my internet contract. i’m pretty sure there was a muddy footprint on one of the pages, but i was camping and it was all i could find.

yesterday i recorded one of my favorite moments of the day as my status in facebook. which is so much easier to write on that a styrofoam cup:

dear old(er) man sitting on your front porch in a fuzzy brown bathrobe this 34-degree morning as i drove home from the gym: yes, you did look a little odd, cold, and perhaps a bit disheveled. but if i could walk out my front door and enjoy the view you have of snow-covered mt. timpanogos i would probably breakfast on my front porch in my pajamas, too.

enjoy the view.

and thanks for wearing pants.

i am grateful that most people wear pants.

and i feel blessed to find pleasure, amusement, a smile or an outright giggle in the simple things in life:

like yesterday when, already half an hour after i had wanted to be home, someone with a pay scale much higher than mine adopted a laissez faire attitude over an error on an account for one of our biggest clients. i wasn’t willing to let it slide and was determined to make it right. but it wasn’t until co-workers started passing cheetos (i only ate two) over my cubicle and offering me chocolate (it was really bad chocolate but i ate a piece anyway) and saying, “here, want a burnt cookie?” (yeah, i ate that, too.) that i realized i may not have been exactly subtle in my frustration or my doggedness. at least i didn’t go all max hall on the guy.

or the fact that this bank robber politely removed his “disguise” of sunglasses and ski hat when asked by the teller to do so and then presented her with the note demanding she remove money from the till. i also love that he was wearing camo. you know, so he would blend in with the bank decor.

or when i was presented with this wordy but polite message in reader today:

Sorry, an unexpected condition has occurred which is preventing Google Reader from fulfilling the request.

read: page load error.

or as i watched my neighbor walk out to the sidewalk this morning in a short, thin, pink housecoat to get the newspaper. housecoats entertain me. so does the color pink.

this just in from sister pottymouth elicited a giggle from me as well.

whatever helps me make it through the week, right?

what’s making you smile today?

p.s. speaking of housecoats, here’s a little shout-out to my friend c jane. who turns 30 (again) today. every year i buy her a shamrock cookie from provo bakery in honor of her birthday. i eat it for her, too. cuz i’m nice like that.

not speaking of housecoats, here’s a shout-out to my friend b. you know why. i love you!