I just had a delightful weekend. You can't plan these things, sometimes they just surprise you.
I spent my weekend dogsitting for a family whose kids I often babysit. It was a really interesting experience to live in a different house for a weekend, to live in a neighborhood that's different from my own, and to have so much time entirely to myself. I discovered that I really enjoy dogwalking (or should I say, being walked by the dog). It makes me walk at a really fast pace I wouldn't normally enjoy, and I got to spend lots of time exploring the neighborhood in beautiful, sunny weather. I absolutely love looking at houses and architecture of all sorts (I suppose I should thank my dad for that!), so it was a real treat for me.
After church on Sunday, my friends and I headed downtown for a soup ta
sting. We had no idea what we were getting into, and we were so pleasently overwhelmed. We climbed some stairs and entered an enormous ballroom, filled with tables and waiters and TONS of food. Local gourmet restaurants and bakeries had provided fresh bread, salad, vegetables, cookies, muffins, and every type of soup imaginable. For ten dollars, you could have as much food as you wanted. We were given trays, which we carried around to various stations around the room to get little tasting cups of soup. By the time we were all done, I counted over fifty cups that my friends and I had tried, and that's after throwing away many empty ones through the course of the meal!
A smattering of flavors we sampled: Roasted Tomato Basil Tortellini, Creamy Potato Leek, Tom Yum Thai Chicken, Smoked Bacon and Plantain with Fish, Sweet Potato Ginger, Southwest Black Bean, Pasta e Fagoli, Shrimp/Corn/Potato Chowder, and my personal favorite of the day, Manhattan Clam Chowder. Yes, you can be jealous.
After a final dogwalk that afternoon (which was a bit more strenuous after being stuffed with food), I enjoyed a couple hours in the sun at a local park, laying on the grass and admiring the blooming daffodils. In addition to reading at the park (I'm trying to enjoy books more for fun these days), I also got to talk to Amy, one of my dear friends from my summer at camp who goes to school in Ohio (hence me not seeing her in over a year). It's remarkable how quickly you can lose touch with people you care about so much, and it's such a blessing to get to "catch up" again.
To top off my delightful weekend, I sat out in a grassy lawn on campus with my friends that evening as the sun set, listening to a couple of them play on the guitar and the pennywhistle as the sky grew dark. There's nothing more peaceful and happy then laying on the grass, looking up at the stars, and listening to good music.
Here's the other great thing: I couldn't find my camera all weekend (that lovely picture above is not mine, in case you're wondering). This was really frustrating, but turned out to be a strange blessing in disguise. I have this constant need to document things....to write, to take pictures, to preserve memories and ideas in any way possible. That can be a really good and beautiful thing, but it also sometimes prevents me from fully enjoying the present moment. A woman spoke at my church on Sunday about learning to fully "be where you are," which might sound hokey, but it's something I really have to work at constantly. I rarely allow myself to enjoy a moment without letting my mind wonder to the future or the past, without thinking about how much I want to remember it or how it compares with past experiences. By not having a camera, I was able to savor every simple pleasure God gave me just as it happened and see Him in every moment, from the savory aroma of soup to the sunlight dancing on a blade of grass.
I spent my weekend dogsitting for a family whose kids I often babysit. It was a really interesting experience to live in a different house for a weekend, to live in a neighborhood that's different from my own, and to have so much time entirely to myself. I discovered that I really enjoy dogwalking (or should I say, being walked by the dog). It makes me walk at a really fast pace I wouldn't normally enjoy, and I got to spend lots of time exploring the neighborhood in beautiful, sunny weather. I absolutely love looking at houses and architecture of all sorts (I suppose I should thank my dad for that!), so it was a real treat for me.
After church on Sunday, my friends and I headed downtown for a soup ta
sting. We had no idea what we were getting into, and we were so pleasently overwhelmed. We climbed some stairs and entered an enormous ballroom, filled with tables and waiters and TONS of food. Local gourmet restaurants and bakeries had provided fresh bread, salad, vegetables, cookies, muffins, and every type of soup imaginable. For ten dollars, you could have as much food as you wanted. We were given trays, which we carried around to various stations around the room to get little tasting cups of soup. By the time we were all done, I counted over fifty cups that my friends and I had tried, and that's after throwing away many empty ones through the course of the meal!A smattering of flavors we sampled: Roasted Tomato Basil Tortellini, Creamy Potato Leek, Tom Yum Thai Chicken, Smoked Bacon and Plantain with Fish, Sweet Potato Ginger, Southwest Black Bean, Pasta e Fagoli, Shrimp/Corn/Potato Chowder, and my personal favorite of the day, Manhattan Clam Chowder. Yes, you can be jealous.
After a final dogwalk that afternoon (which was a bit more strenuous after being stuffed with food), I enjoyed a couple hours in the sun at a local park, laying on the grass and admiring the blooming daffodils. In addition to reading at the park (I'm trying to enjoy books more for fun these days), I also got to talk to Amy, one of my dear friends from my summer at camp who goes to school in Ohio (hence me not seeing her in over a year). It's remarkable how quickly you can lose touch with people you care about so much, and it's such a blessing to get to "catch up" again.
To top off my delightful weekend, I sat out in a grassy lawn on campus with my friends that evening as the sun set, listening to a couple of them play on the guitar and the pennywhistle as the sky grew dark. There's nothing more peaceful and happy then laying on the grass, looking up at the stars, and listening to good music.
Here's the other great thing: I couldn't find my camera all weekend (that lovely picture above is not mine, in case you're wondering). This was really frustrating, but turned out to be a strange blessing in disguise. I have this constant need to document things....to write, to take pictures, to preserve memories and ideas in any way possible. That can be a really good and beautiful thing, but it also sometimes prevents me from fully enjoying the present moment. A woman spoke at my church on Sunday about learning to fully "be where you are," which might sound hokey, but it's something I really have to work at constantly. I rarely allow myself to enjoy a moment without letting my mind wonder to the future or the past, without thinking about how much I want to remember it or how it compares with past experiences. By not having a camera, I was able to savor every simple pleasure God gave me just as it happened and see Him in every moment, from the savory aroma of soup to the sunlight dancing on a blade of grass.
April 11, 2009 at 7:34 AM
I LOVE what you said about forgetting your camera, because that is just... my life as a photojournalism student. haha! As much of a passion I have for documenting what's around me, it's equally wonderful to just leave my camera behind and soak up everything in your environment without worrying about capturing it!