He loves chess, football, and philosophy. I like Philosophy bath products.

I can't bear the thought of leaving Chicago, but I might accept a fresh start in North Carolina or New Zealand.

Few things are as frivolous and simultaneously heartwarming as a set of cute Post-It notes.

Cold ice cream melted by hot tears. My nights are scripted by LifeTime, and I'm not sure I'm okay with that.

It took me two months, but ninety-eight of the nine hundred pictures I took at the family reunion are now posted to Flickr. The full set is here, with three bonus pictures at the beginning of other July happenings. If you find yourself strapped for time, here's the Reader's Digest version:

• If there really is more than corn in Indiana, the "non-corn" consists entirely of fireworks and road construction (and several beloved blogger friends).
• My cousins are really pretty.
• Many girls like to take pictures of feet, usually their own. I am one of these girls. I cannot explain this phenomenon.
• I am still obsessed with sunsets.
• I really like spending time with my extended family.

The first person to ever hire me was the lady who had been my principal in elementary school. By the time she became my employer, she was a college professor and a flight attendant, and I was a sophomore in high school. She hired me to stop by her house once a week, to do some light cleaning and to organize her paperwork. Occasionally, I graded papers. The best activity was updating her flight attendant manual, which required absolute attention to detail—a single misplaced page could cost her thousands of dollars.

My favorite smell there was the Swiffer floor cleaner, which used lemon-scented inserts. It smelled of perfectionism and cleanliness.