Reasons to Celebrate

It's been kind of a crazy week of rehearsals, so I've been sorely lacking time to write, but here are some exciting events of the past couple of weeks:

1) Parties! My wonderful friend Sarah turned 23 last week, and I was happy to realize that this was the third birthday I've celebrated with her. Rachel and Lauren baked her a homemade chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and strawberries...it was delicious! I ate tons and tons of frosting by itself as they were concocting the cake until I made myself sick (but it was totally worth it). For Valentine's Day, my friend Gina had a very girly, pink, sparkly party at her house. It was utterly perfect for the holiday, complete with cupcakes, fudge, games, balloons, and romantic jazz music.

2) Speaking of Valentine's Day, I should share with you a hilarious story that has been a running joke with me and my friends the past few weeks. A couple of weekends ago, I was spending my Friday morning in the usual way, watching the minutes drag by as I endure my hours of work at the library. I was stamping and sorting newspapers in silence with another girl when she suddenly asked me, "So, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?" I replied that I would probably be spending the evening with friends. She raised her eyebrows and looked at me with a mixture of surprise and horror. (If it were possible to replicate her valley-girl sort of tone here, I would, but just use your imagination) "Your friends? You don't have a date or something?" I laughed and said I was really looking foward to hanging out with all my friends that evening, so it didn't bother me. She looked at me as though I were some sort of bizzare alien. Then, her ditzy voice filled with pity, she said "Well, I guess you could go to the circus. That's what me and my boyfriend are doing, and maybe single people could go enjoy it too." Well, there's the punchline. I was trying so hard not to die laughing as she said those words. The circus?! Seriously? It's pretty much the last place I would want to spend an evening regardless of my relational status.

3) Study Abroad is HAPPENING! Things are really rolling now and I am pumped. I turned in all my application materials this past Friday, and I had my interview on Tuesday. This fall, God willing, I will either be going to Carmarthen, Wales or Glasgow, Scotland. I can't wait! Look these places up on http://www.flickr.com/ to see some beautiful images of both.
4) MY ROOM IS CLEAN. This never ever happens. I think this is the first time all year. I spent five hours cleaning tonight and (three garbage bags of trash later) I am quite proud to see it looking decent for once.
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Current musical preference: Fiction Family! I have been hearing good things for quite some time now, and so I finally broke down and bought the album this week. SO good, worth every penny. Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins--how could it not be good? My current favorite is "When She's Near," but I'm sure that will change as I listen to the album more.

Sunshine, finally

I learned tonight that one of my hidden talents is sculpting animals out of Play-Dough. Who knew? The things babysitting can teach you...

It's been a nice, relaxing weekend. After taking a leisurely afternoon walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the suddenly warm weather, Friday night was spent with my friends Rachel and Lauren. We ventured downtown to an awesome little cheesecake cafe (I got the Kahlua Espresso flavor, Lauren got pure Chocolate, and Rachel got Strawberry Truffle). It was delicious, but I must say I was jealous of the abundant presence of chocolate in my friends' slices. What is dessert without chocolate, really?

Waking up on Saturday was amazing, 1st: because I slept in until 11:00, and 2nd: because it felt like summer! We cooked a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes and opened up our windows to let the sunlight stream in all day. Sunday was even more gorgeous....I really think if heaven had a temperature, it would feel much like today. My friends and I had a beautiful picnic out in the park after church, and after my delicious Panera chicken sandwich, I was very tempted to just sleep out the sun all day. My entire mood changes so much when it's warm and sunny outside. It makes me feel so fresh and alive and joyful. If only the weather would last....I have this sinking feeling I'll be shivering again in no time.

Emily J and I tackled the daunting challenge of teaching an overflowing Pre-K Sunday School class today, and it was pure chaos. We teach in this tiny little room that was totally packed past its limit today....and to help the craziness, our curriculum gave us a parable to teach that was definitely not the sort of story you want to try to explain to four and five year olds. What started out as a lesson on forgiveness devolved into some wild storytelling, as the kids tried to top one another with tales of their own “forgiveness” experiences (the horrors wrought upon them by their malicious siblings, of course). Two boys decided it would be fun to run around saying the word “naked” over and over again, and then one of them busted his lip. Oh, such fun times.
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As I write this, I'm watching Coldplay perform at the Grammy awards....which was so lovely until Jay-Z suddenly started duetting with Chris Martin. Just let Chris do his thing on the piano, seriously. Okay, this is better, now the whole band is jamming on Viva La Vida, except Chris keeps doing this goofy, awkward dance around the stage...do yourself a favor and stick to the singing, man.
Oh, and they just won two awards....booyah!

A little Donne for your day

We're currently reading John Donne (one of my favorite poets) in my Seventeenth Century Lit class, so here's a bit of his prose for you from his famous Meditation 17:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another.....No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."

The phrase "...every book shall lie open" also reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures, 1 Corinthians 13:12: "...now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known."
I like the metaphor of heaven as library, as long as I'm not employed there :-)

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