"Privyet! Kak zheevyosh?" "Harasho, cpyceeba."

I pinkie promise that isn't gibberish! I'm taking Russian, and that is part of the dialogue I must memorize.
"Hello! How are you?" "I am good, thank you." Exciting, huh?

Today was a pretty fantastic day. After four hours of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed and ran on the treadmill. I'm crazy, I know. Please don't judge me too harshly. Then I sat on a bench, called my dad, and had a wonderful talk with Jesus. He's awesome and He's my best friend. As I was sitting on the metal bench, I noticed how incredibly beautiful it was around me. Everything seemed sharper than normal, the colors more bright. I didn't have my camera, since I'd just left the gym, but I wish I had! The beds of rocks were shadowed on one side, and highlighted in the sun on the other. There were a few brightly tinted orange and red flowers, and the green grasses were brilliant. I wrote a few poems while sitting on that bench, they are as follows:

Warm:

I am a small child, again -
wrapped in the arms of
Some One who loves.
Strong arms,
wrapped around
never release
never leave
always

A Reminder Spoken through Matthew:

You love the sparrows

big
and small.

You love us

All
even
  
     when
    
              we

                     fall

 After walking back to Halls, I talked with a few of my awesome floor-mates, took a shower, and met up with some friends, Rose and Andy, to go downtown. It was quite the adventure! We took the lightrail, go lost (or misdirected) a few times, and finally made it to our destination - Buffalo Exchange. It's a lot like Avalon Exchange in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis. They sell lots of cool and vintage used clothes. My kinda place. The trip was successful, we all found awesome things to purchase and are a little more in debt. Totally worth it, though. We walked around for the longest time searching for the lightrail to return to DU. Some of the buildings were really neat, and some quite beautiful. There was one ornately decorated church that was quite a sight to see. I took lots of pictures, which I'll share after I put them on my computer. The mountains were pretty breathtaking too. I guess for someone who has lived in Colorado for an extended period of time, they're nothing special. I'm not used to seeing mountains every day, so each time I see them I'm caught in wonder at their beauty.

Until today, the only part of downtown I had seen was the 16th street mall. It's very very well kept and there's literally no graffiti. It's so strange for me, I'm used to seeing lots of graffiti everywhere! The other parts of downtown had graffiti, though. I love seeing people's art all over the place. I don't like the random ugly words that deface, but I love the random doorways or alleys bursting with color and life. The random faces stenciled on the sidewalk are always fun too.



I'm also a huge fan of feet, and shoes, and walking, and the stories they tell. I think shoes or walking would make a great poem. Maybe I'll write that one day too.