Oh what fun!

Some of these are still in the mail on their way to our friends and family, but in the meantime, I needed to share our Christmas cards this year... 

Usually we just send one, but this year we had such an amazing opportunity to send the silliest card in our history (but couldn't chance sending this to work colleagues and older family friends) that we had to go with an option 1 and option 2. :) Option one shows us as we REALLY wish our life was all the time... you know, perfect-looking.

We're smiling! Everything is perfect! We look fantastic! There's snow and a sled for goodness-sakes! 

That's not to say that we're not smiling an awful lot of the time and that we don't have an incredible, amazing, really blessed life together, because we do....

But let's be honest... no one's life LOOKS like that 100% of the time. Which is why card #2 makes me so happy.

I mean, in real life sometimes you have the most fun when you're zooming downhill at 30mph heading straight for some super scary-looking brambles and you have no idea how to steer the sled. Everyone knows it, but the ride is so fun that it's totally worth the crash at the end...
Or maybe in real life you have the most fun when things mostly just aren't going right, and you have no idea on God's green earth where you're heading but that's ok, because you're a team and you've got each others' backs and you figure things will turn out just fine..

Or maybe real life's fun because you've made a crazy choice that will change things forever for the two of you (like having a baby) and you're both hurtling toward that new phase in life without a CLUE of what it really means, will look like, or bring into your family, but you keep heading that way because it just feels right and the anticipation and uncertainty is BEAUTIFUL and what life is all about.

Regardless of which possibility resonates with you, Option #2 captures what I feel like our life really feels like these days.  The photo is terrible, we look ridiculous, but Oh, What FUN! :)

Happy New year and Happy Christmas, and ALL other holidays this season from me!

contemplation...

“you do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. what you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”
- thomas merton

 

what are you contemplating in the new year? i'm considering truly how to get healthy, make the best possible career switch, and putting down deep roots somewhere. i thought an apple a day's photo perfectly captured what it feels like to stare deeply into the future, and the unknown and be content. ;) happy happy happy new year!

midnight special...

this feels like an odd post to follow the one about baby alice...but seeing these photos this week in oxford american by an accidental-documentarian "the polaroid kidd" recently lit a little fire in my belly (or maybe it re-lit it).

 all my life i've wanted to jump a train and live like a gypsy, and when i lived in the delta the first time and freight trains full of soybeans or cotton drove past my  house not 100 yards away at least 3 times a day, it was all i could do not to call a friend and ask him to get ready to pick me up whereever i could get off. something about the freedom of not having control over where i would land or when i could stop seemed so incredible...

but i never did it. not once in the eleven months.

now we live a block from a freight train line again, and after seeing these photos i'm feeling a rekindling of the dream. its not that this seems glamorous, or even super fun*...but it seems so real...and the freedom! there are just things that need to be done, and if i don't do it now, i probably never will.

are there things you dream of doing?



* i know that this lifestyle isn't always a choice people get to make for themselves, so it's probably "freeing" when you get to choose it from a place a privilege, but even so, i'd like to experience it at least once.

mantra...

ran across this wonderful workspace on imagespark... love the desk, love the chair and I really LOVE the poster and would love to have a copy of it since:
1) it's printed on kraft paper. my fave.
2) and it's sort of the KIPP charter school network's motto. I'm not hardcore enough to make it as a teacher at KIPP, but I sure do love what they do
3) plus, I just believe that the phrase is a great mantra to live by.

it's especially fun that i found the poster this week since tonight i'm meeting up with my KIPPster friend, shapiro. she and another wonderful friend are visiting the 'sip (their old stomping grounds) and we're meeting up in oxford. katie's been an all-star teacher since day one and it always inspires me to be around her and listen to her talk about her kids. :) I CAN'T WAIT.

what are YOU doing this weekend?

a perfect ten...

 

i was pretty excited when I realized that today is 10/10/10 since it feels like a really auspicious, important number. ok, maybe not as important as the number 3, but if you read a little bit about it, it IS pretty impressive.

anyway, my 10/10/10 involved getting to hear boone preach at church (he was fantastic, by the way) watching a law & order marathon, napping, visiting with our neighbors, and cooking. besides feeling a little yucky, it was a perfect 10. appropriate, right?

recently craving...

my obsession..berries, greek yoghurt, and honey


a new funky hairdo


a dog (or a mouse deer...whatever is easiest to make happen)


some peach shaved ice


a spotless, giant bathtub


a new pair of dansko clogs


a dinner party with my friends (i'm missing all of you pretty bad right now.) so i'm not sure where this came from.. if you know, tell me!


and the perfect blazer (b/c you know, i'm a working gal now)...or this rad leather jacket (just because... and it's only $1,250!!! what a steal.)

that's all, really. too much? yeah... hm. well then i'll focus on the blazer and some greek yoghurt. ;)

a day full of possibilities...

we graduated from div school today! hooray! and we both got job offers! one was in illinois, and the other in the mississippi delta. we chose the delta, and will be spending the next few weeks packing up and finagling connections to find a place to live. but before all of that happens... i'm taking a moment to explore the possibilities of our future and our next big adventure. something about being this side of graduation does make everything look new!


if you can't read it...click it to enlarge. it's definitely is the best calvin and hobbes strip of all time!

in the news...

the interviews are over and i got back to atl late last night... cross your fingers or say a prayer (whichever you feel most comfortable with) that someone liked me. turns out i'd forgotton how obnoxious people who over-use lingo can be ("i have a sense of urgency about getting lunch" etc.) turns out catch phrases make me itch a little bit. hmf.


photo here

something else that makes me itch and makes me want to tear my hair out are these articles I read in the past five days.

-i couldn't BELIEVE the news about this elderly couple... if anyone wonders why i'm for civil equality when it comes to marriage, this article is a case study in why it is absolutely worth fighting for. 100%.

-and then, what about this? COME ON, mississippi. you know how much I love you, adore you, want to move back to you, and then one little town with some racist idiots goes and gets put in the NATIONAL news for not doing what should have been done DECADES ago. (really tylertown? seriously? dejure segregation in 2010?) and i want to crawl under a rock and die.

then FINALLY there's this... a breath of fresh air. a sight for sore eyes... good news at last! :)

anything you've read lately that sets you on fire (in a good or bad way?)

a word about hope...

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

If we remember those times and places (and there are so many) where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.
The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

-Howard Zinn

photo here

need these signs...

so, yesterday my hard drive crashed.

i lost everything... well, everything that i hadn't backed up. honestly, it wouldn't have been such big headache if i hadn't lost a paper that's due thursday and my last two weeks of thesis writing. ugghhhh.... the worst part is that i would've been TOTALLY finished with the first draft last night had this not happened. oh well... now i've got a brand new hard drive and a snowy afternoon to write, write, write (or rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, i guess.) anyway, happy tuesday, pals.



photo from okgoods and yes&yes

happy weekend...

just wanted you to know...


from ffffound

a lovely love letter...

heard on the writer's almanac yesterday...
a love letter from zelda to f. scott fitzgerald

Sweetheart,
Please, please don't be so depressed--We'll be married soon, and then these lonesome nights will be over forever--and until we are, I am loving, loving every tiny minute of the day and night. Maybe you won't understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it's hardest to write--and you always know when I make myself--just the ache of it all--and I can't tell you. If we were together, you'd feel how strong it is--you're so sweet when you're melancholy. I love your sad tenderness--when I've hurt you--that's one of the reasons I could never be sorry for our quarrels, and they bothered you so. Those dear, dear little fusses, when I always tried so hard to make you kiss and forget.
Scott, there's nothing in all the world I want but you and your precious love. All the material things are nothing. I'd just hate to live a sordid, colorless existence-because you'd soon love me less--and less--and I'd do anything--anything--to keep your heart for my own--I don't want to live--I want to love first, and live incidentally...
Don't--don't ever think of the things you can't give me--You've trusted me with the dearest heart of all--and it's so damn much more than anybody else in all the world has ever had. How can you think deliberately of life without me--If you should die...
O Darling--darling Scott--It'd be like going blind...I'd have no purpose in life--just a pretty--decoration. Don't you think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered--and I was delivered to you--to be worn--I want you to wear me, like a watch--charm or a button hole bouquet--to the world. And then, when we're alone, I want to help--to know that you can't do anything without me...
All my heart-- I love you.

relieving stress/sucking time

it's no secret that i've been a bit of a nuclear-sized mess recently. the thesis is looming (although coming along fairly well) my job and internship are getting busier, plus all my professors decided that they wanted to SIMULTANEOUSLY step up their assignment giving this semester. anyway, i'm feeling the crunch. so... just in case you're in the same place that i am I thought i'd pass along my 7 favorite ways to relieve stress and suck time. no one says these are healthy ways to do it or the right way to do it (you won't find exercise or yoga here) but they're my ways and they def. work for me...

#7 clean. everything. in my path.
this means the kitchen, the carpet, my tennis shoes, that stray dog i just saw, and every already- clean piece of clothing that maybe looks dirty or wrinkled. once my world is in order, i can relax. or at least get back to whatever it was i really and truly needed to be working on.

#6 bake something that smells good and involves flour or sugar or both.
obviously cooking usually takes a long time AND the eating will release endorphins or something, right? plus, then the kitchen will need to be cleaned again, resulting in more time to collect oneself before getting down to business

#5 take the longest, hottest bath
(even if you've already taken one) something about warm water relaxes me, and also signals to me that a shift has occurred and I need to kick myself into gear. maybe when my muscles are relaxed more blood gets to my brain for thinking?

#4 go on a long country road drive
i realize that this isn't good for the environment, and I also live in Atlanta now, so going on a country drive is a little harder these days, but revving up the stereo and rolling down the windows is the BEST way for me to chill out. Since living in the city, i've replaced "country driving" with walking around neighborhoods. not the same, but still sufficient.

#3 watch crappy, crappy tv
a few years ago, it was smallville, now it's NCIS. obvi, i always know what's going to happen and am HORRIBLY embarrassed when ANYONE catches me in the act, but when i'm freaked out about all i've got to do, sometimes turning off my brain for awhile makes me feel tons better.

#2 pray.
with someone, by myself, outloud...whatever. talking with God makes me feel so mellow... and makes me remember what's important. in fact, after a good prayer session, i'm usually so mellow i end up practicing my favorite way to suck time and relieve stress...

#1 take a loooong nap.

do you have a way to relieve anxiety or stress?

found here somewhere

pondering this...

true. but it's not just about hair... when i saw this i immediately thought of a woman's brain. hm.


found via imagespark

risky...

isn't this lovely? and perfect for those of us who may need a mantra to calm nerves up until the big day...

love=everyone

boone and i are getting hitched in 6 weeks, and i need to say right now that i have a pretty big problem with the state legalizing same-sex marriage (i.e. vermont and iowa). but i also need to share that i have just as big of a problem with legal opposite-sex marriages sanctioned by the state. in fact, i'm pretty sure that marriage has no place in legal discourse at all.

for me, it's a separation of church and state issue. as a christian (and one in divinity school, btw) i have a problem when the state does what the churches ought to be doing. i mean, marriage is a religious ritual. marriage involves the uniting of the couple together with each other and with God. it involves blessings and ceremony. thus, the communities of faith who do the "God stuff" ought to be making decisions about marriage, not the state.

civil unions, however, have everything to do with the state... with rights, liberty, power of attorney, and wills, and hospital visitations. and civil unions have nothing to do with God, at all. therefore, the states ought to make the decisions about civil unions. unfortunately, however each particular state's constitution is written is how their laws about this should go.(i.e. california's constitution now makes this illegal)

it turns out, though, that the US constitution overrules state constitutions, and it has this little thing called the 14th Amendment. (i'm just sayin') On top of this, it's my personal conviction that if a state affords the right to couples to join in a civil union, then they have to and should allow every possible form and variation of a couple to unite in this way. we're talking about RIGHTS! we just can't give special legal rights to some group and then not give them to others, which is what is happening now in nearly every American state!

now, if a church decides that their particular holy scriptures or manners of revelation doesn't allow for some group or other to be married, well, that's their choice. the church and state are separate.

thankfully boone and i belong to a church where all couples of any sexual orientation can be married. in fact, a lesbian couple married there on Saturday!

the thing is, we choose to belong to this congregation because we believe that they truly get Jesus' message of love and equality. sure, there are passages in our sacred texts that others have taken to be exclusive and hurtful, but give me twenty minutes of your time and a bible and i hope i can convince you otherwise. if not, i'll love you, too. but please don't hurt others i love just because you take a different reading of the same text. but, be advised, i'm not saying that you have to let anyone get married in your church that you don't want to, because you don't.

that's why the law isn't in the church or vice versa...they're separate. if they aren't, then you (and your faith community) can tell people who live in your town that they can't be united in the courthouse and then they (the law) will be able to tell you who can get married in your church. doesn't sound like a good plan, does it? nobody wins.

now, back to the whole wedding thing. here's my plan: let's only use "marriage" when we talk about religious ceremonies of ant kind, "civil unions" when we talk about unity under the law, "commitment ceremonies" for people who don't want to be married under God OR the Law, and "weddings" when we want to talk about the celebration and party that happens after ANY of these events. oh, and "husband" and "wife" (or any pairing of these terms) can be used after ANY of these events for any type of couple. Is this ok?

the best news is that these terms can be combined in any way... for instance, boone and i are getting married, civilly united, and having a wedding. see? this applies to same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

again: marriage=god, civil unions=law, commitment ceremony= unaffiliated, weddings=big party.
oh! and love=everyone.

shoot! i'm supposed to be packing right now.

I'm giving it up for Lent...

Being completely consumed and overwhelmed by wedding thoughts, that is.

Apparently engagement angst and wedding related loss of personality is going around. this weekend i found out through this post by Practical Wedding blogger Meg and this one by 2000 Dollar Wedding Guru, Sara that i am not alone.

Turns out that for the past few months nearly all of my thoughts turn to wedding details or wedding related issues. nearly half of my convos revolve around this stuff... i mean, when MY half of the convo is spent talking about wedding stuff? really? I have diverse interests.. i'm not boring! I don't have a one-track mind! but these days it seems like it.

and i'm completely disgusted with myself.

i mean, i started blogging about the wedding and marriage plans BECAUSE i didn't want it to dominate my real conversations... if I was spewing it out online, then i wouldn't feel a need to share it or be "the friend who only talks about weddings"

i promise, there are LOTS of other things going on in my life... i'm working on a really exciting thesis proposal, raising money and awareness for DV with Februhairy, reading really thought provoking books, and trying to get a rad job for next year... not to mention that fact that I watch house, the office, and 30 rock like a fiend.

but somehow i always end up talking about wedding stuff (this is not to be confused with marriage stuff). part of this is because people ask about wedding stuff... how the planning is going, am i nervous, etc. why can't they ask about marriage stuff? or other life stuff?

sometimes i don't bite the bait since I know people are just being polite and want to make conversations. This is fine with me and usually i can steer the conversation to something i know they care about more than my silly wedding plans.... you know: march madness or a funny news story, a question about their life

but when my close friends ask i usually totally spill all of my anxiety or excitement on them.

The thing is, you have no idea how good it feels to be able to talk about all this junk with the people who know you the best. BUT this is a REALLY bad and sort of unhealthy way to relate to the people you love the most.

so as my Lenten resolution, I'm working on finding a balance with the need to vent with the need to be me. this probably means that i'll talk about wedding stuff with my mom and through this blog... and then if someone really, REALLY, for real wants to know.

photo found via victoria with the roses

eeeeek!! and yayyyy!!!

We're sort of gearing up for the ceremony (eeeeeeeek! and yaaaayyyyy!!!)
so we've done some visiting about music and readings a bit lately. our dear jon is going to sing or cantor (he sounds like an ANGEL and is a pretty big deal in the atl burbs church choir scene, fyi) and he spent some time last weekend letting us peek into all of his hymnals and then he'd hum the tunes of ones we liked. SO FUN. i mean, boone and i are in divinity school, but liturgy is just not something i've got much knowledge about... and before now have never really had much interest in. but things are different now....

turns out the message we're going for in our wedding ceremony is um... well, love. and a hope for peace (not world peace, but Christ peace or relationship peace or something) and the service involved in, or the servanthood that is marriage. :) i feel good about it.

anyway, here's the scripture reading from the day we got engaged.. I think it's pretty darn appropriate for a wedding.


Phillipians 2: 1- 7
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

AND i ran across this non-Bible reading today on a pretty sweet little blog and we may just use it. :) thoughts? or other reading ideas?

From "The Strength to Love," by Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The meaning of love is not to be confused with some sentimental outpouring. Love is something much more than emotional bosh. An overflowing love which seeks nothing in return, is the love of God operating in the human heart. Love is the most durable power in the world . . . the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security. The great military leaders of the past have gone, and their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing."

image found here