Dear 29,
Today a UPS delivery man and I stood in an elevator together. He asked me, with a smirk, "you have many adventures planned for today, Miss?" Best. Question. Ever.

this really amazing photo was taken while dan deacon played at woolys. we are both sweaty and kate is still pretty.

I know. I know. The blog is losing readers daily. But I promise July was filled with adventures. I'm talking less and less about myself (ok this is just not true. although I have taken to listening to podcasts.* I'm obsessed. And it's giving me so many bizarre topics for my daily conversations. So many topics that have nothing to do with myself.) I'm not really sure why this is relevant, but I'm sure you now think I'm smarter.

this is des moines in the morning. good looking city.

I haven't posted in nearly a month. Back at the start of August I typed out these few sentences and clicked save. It was about 6:30am (or 7:30am, I'm not sure I'm up at 6:30am) and I was preparing for day 23 (ish) of the new J.O.B. Clearly I felt inspired:
"You can always tell when I'm having too much fun. Well I guess I can always tell. It might be hard for you to know considering my blogging has slowed to a stop. It's the morning of August first. (How did we get here? Summer has been swallowed up.) I'm sitting here in my mess of an apartment, pretty sure a teeny fish bone is lodged in my stomach, and my right pinky is numb. That's new, normally it's my left. July 2012 will go down as one of the most jam packed months in Laura Palmer history."
I almost called this post "oh my july." That's how much happened. (I might change the title of this post if there is a lot of excitement building around the rhyming title.) I crossed off 3 list items and added to others. In addition to starting a new job, July held four (FOUR) roadtrips and a drunk professional poker player. So to recap, here are some highlights:

#stoopgarden's first tomatoes. since then we've suffered some real injuries as a family of plants.

1. Waterparked with Kate, where I learned my extra long torso might make me bad at riding in a tube. You might ask, "what on Earth are you talking about?" That's a good question.
2. Karaoked Total Eclipse of the Heart with Nick in front of the entire East Village. Seriously. All of the East Village could hear us (this I learned later). Residents of the 50309's east side, I apologize for waking you up with the sweet sweet sounds of rock and roll.
3. Lindsay and I saw FIONA APPLE. ( Here's a link to someone else's video of Paper Bag)
4. Spam museum, a corn cob water tower, the Surf Ballroom, and my first visit to Clear Lake, all on a roadside attraction tour with my mom.
5. Then there was Grace Potter. Oh Grace Potter rocked the most lovely river venue.
6. Heartless Bastards- The band wasn't as memorable as the Mr. Holland look-a-like who was head banging his glasses off in the front row. Dude was having the best night of his life.
7. You'll be shocked when I tell you that highlights 5-9 all happened within 5 days. (It's ok to gasp here) SDO and I daytripped to West Bend Iowa to see the surreal/incredible Grotto of the Redemption. A testament to Catholics and obsession, that's what that place felt like. It's amazing. Seriously. We also made a stop in Thor, IA. (Take it back Brad) I found out that SDO has never seen Adventures in Babysitting. (It's ok to gasp here too)
8. A short fifteen minutes after arriving back in Des Moines, I hopped in a car to head east. (If you are counting along, this will be oh my july's fourth and final road trip). I fished. I fished in the rain. I fished in pink pants. And I put a worm on a hook. Elkader, you are a special place. I will return.
9. Finally, I played BINGO and blackjack, all in the same 3 hours. 
So now that we've gone through a super long post about July, you'll understand I've been a busy blogger who has not been busy blogging. August looks to be just as packed with, as that UPS guy put it, adventures. Today is sure to be full of laundry doing. I'm pumped.
xo-LP

*Emily, this is for you, and all 4 readers who still have faith in the blog. Podcast recommendation list. So that we have things to talk about other than the cutest baby in the world and LP:
Radiolab (the one about Unraveling Bolero, amazing.)
This American Life (Be sure to listen to the one about Amusement Parks)
Freakonomics (not sure you'll like this one, but try it Emily, just try it)