my favorite spot...

i love this spot in our apt... the rest of it is fine, i guess. But let's be honest, AT isn't beating down our door to blog about it or anything. but either way, back to my little corner...

i love it because it showcases my mom and grandmother's art (see the pieces in the gold frames?), because there's little homage to peace with a string of origami cranes, and because the chair was my great-grandfather's and came from a train station where he worked.

i'm hoping to love every corner of our place like i love this corner one day, but with job applications to fill out and a thesis to finish, that will just have to wait. :) do you have a spot in your home you love the most?

too early? nope.

i know it's not really Christmas/holiday season yet, but it's coming... and since boone and i are now an official family, we're going to send an official family christmas card!!! cards take about a week to print plus addressing and mailing takes forever... so we've got to get started!

next year we'll design our own (think tacky Christmas sweaters), but this year since we're a little harried by school we're probably going to stick with a ready-made design. here are some cooler, not cookie-cutter options i've found out there in case you're in the market, too!


since a card is all about the message, today I'm focusing on wishes for Joy and Peace (my fav holiday wish.) If this isn't right for you, stay tuned for other options!

1 from the happy envelope, 2 from westwillowdesigns, 3,4 and 5 from minted, 6 from minkcards

it's a trend?

but a GREAT one! who knew that today of all days two other bloggers i love would post pictures of peace cranes? and peace cranes at weddings?!?

well, great minds thing alike? or good things always come in threes?

either way i'm validated. peace cranes are lovely AND a good decoration idea.

from once wed and you are my fave

origami peace cranes as a wedding detail...

one of my favorite professors is a youth and peacebuilding activist. at her marriage ceremony, she folded hundreds of origami peace cranes and hung them from the ceiling of the church. I don't know if boone and i want to have anything hanging at our ceremony, but since we're both interested in peacebuilding and conflict transformation and love to work with children and youth i'd REALLY like to incorporate peace cranes into the decorations somehow.


right now i'm thinking of putting them in people's chairs at the ceremony and placing them in the floral arrangements (which may or may not be potted plants.. tbd) and if these ideas don't work, then we could hang them from the trees, i guess.

Probably the idea i like the most is having our guestbook be origami peace cranes made by our guests and then signed and put in a basket. wouldn't that be wonderful to have our own garland made by the people at the reception?!?
then we can include this poem with it to share our desire to work toward peace:

The paper crane
Fold the crane with love
Each crease that you stroke
Think about the world around you
Fold the crane with love
Each fold that you touch
Feel about the world around you
Fold a paper crane with love

By Michiko Pumpian

what i wonder is, would people actually make the cranes?

hmmm.... i'll let you know what we decide.

it's never too early for peace and joy...

i've been thinking about holiday cards lately, since it's about that time of year. I really hate how commercialized Christmas is...so i REFUSE to send anything with reindeer, or santa, or christmas trees on them. BUT I also feel incredibly uneasy about sending greeting cards to my non-christian friends that celebrate the birth of "Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior," or things that communicate that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" or say "Merry Christmas" or really ANYthing with wisemen, or mangers, or angels. ick. (these images via google images)


The thing is, I'd be happy to get a card from friends during their major religious holidays celebrating the central beliefs behind the holidays... in fact, I'd be thankful and honored that you valued me enough to include me in the celebration.

But I know that Christmas is different.

It just feels wrong to force your beliefs on someone who doesn't share them, which may not be what people MEAN to do, but does have that effect in a culture where other religions are often marginalized and their faithful are evangelized by well-meaning (or maybe not) Christians.

My problem is this: Christmas has a very particular meaning to me, and I don't want to have to sanitize what exactly it IS that I'm celebrating no matter who my holiday card is going to.
The good news for me is this: Although i am celebrating the birth of Jesus, I am celebrating even more the MESSAGE of Jesus.... Peace, Hope, and Joy.

So... here are some cards I found on Etsy that offer just this message to all of my friends (yes, ALL of them. i mean, what religion, or person, for that matter doesn't want peace, hope, and joy?)



cards by: oldtomfoolery, yeehaw, isabelle's umbrella, paper dragonfly, dappling, everydaygrace, swallowfield