spring break, what a glorious week. no tests to fret about. no long meetings to sit through. no classes to skip.

some of you might remember that last year at this time, i was mingling in anti-war demonstrations and eating mass amounts of parisian cuisine. this spring break, although slightly less conflict and pastry-filled, was still extremely fulfilling. and with only a fraction of the calories.

my week began in healdton, oklahoma: the smallest of small oklahoma towns. i went to visit the man and his family for a couple of days. there was eating. there was church-going. we drove around ranches. we honked at cows. i may have engaged in a bit of 4wheeling, the ultimate oklahoma sport. and, as a condition of continuing my relationship with blake, i confirmed the existence of the local sonic. around the time blake started trying to convince me that my quest to fully embrace the small town lifestyle would not be complete without firing a gun of some sort, i headed back for good old oklahoma city.

my week ended with a long string of back-breaking work in the salt mines of shoetopia. the onslaught of high school students and their mothers touring the campus during the break brought our little store customer after customer. after five strenuous days of running up and down the stairs to fetch shoes, i was rewarded with a handsome paycheck and an even more handsome excuse to not exercise for the next three to four weeks.

sandwiched in the very middle of my week, lauren and i packed up the car and headed to dallas, texas for two days of shopping fun. we bought shirts. we bought skirts. i even allowed myself a bit of shoe-store adultery and bought a pair of stylish yet moderately priced shoes. our trip culminated in a delightful visit to the cheesecake factory, a lovely restaurant we are sadly lacking in oklahoma.

we intended to make a really compelling photo essay to accompany this little vacation. however, our focus upon entering any sort of store seemed to pull completely away from being productive to trying on everything three times in two colors. but we did get a few random pictures throughout the vacation, which i have carefully categorized below, in detailed outline form.

I. the trip to dallas.

a. the first picture, (top right,) was taken someplace between ardmore, oklahoma and denton, texas. this would be the thirty minutes of the six hours total in the trip that lauren drove. and i'm being generous. she didn't want me to post that picture because she thinks it is gross, but HAHAHA gosh i feel a lot better about all of that driving now. <3

b. this was also taken during this brief 30 minute period, as we paused to refuel. i also like to talk when people are taking pictures of me. i'm saying hi to you in that picture. like, right now.

II. the cheesecake factory in dallas, texas.

a. our next picture was taken shortly upon arrival to the cheesecake factory. more specifically, to the cheesecake factory's bathroom.

b. yes, i am cradling a loaf of bread. shopping is exhausting. we were starving. bread is tasty.

c. our next photo documents the young lauren in hot pursuit of the wild and elusive sourdough.

d. too much bread.

e. way too much bread.

III. hotel party

a. lauren and i have a favorite game we always play when visiting hotels, much to the dismay of our parents. however, with mom and dad safely back in oklahoma, we were free to engage in a little XTREME freestyle bed leaping.*

b. and since a hotel party isn't a party without an extra guest, we called up my friend travis who participated in a bit of bed flying himself.

and there you have it. after a good 2-3 minutes spent trying to conceptualize some sort of gallery or essay for that stunning array of photographic work, i decided just to throw them all out there for your viewing pleasure in no particularly entertaining form.

sorry about the extended vacation. spring break is over. let the posting resume.

*XTREME freestyle bed leaping rules: while one person jumps creatively from bed to bed in a hotel room, a second person lies between the beds and takes mid-air pictures. warning: game is only to be played by trained professionals or those who are deliriously tired yet flying high on too much diet coke and/or cheesecake.

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hey! i'm in a magazine! go buy it. and someone send me one please?