February 2012
1 post
3 tags
Hi
This photo represents the end of one of the most jam-packed 6 months of my life. I snapped it at a rest stop on the long drive between my current southern home and my northern hometown, two days after arriving home from my second overseas trip in as many months. Although we had been on planes for a total of 20 hours only days prior to this snapshot, the 8-hour car trip meant rest and peace...
August 2011
1 post
4 tags
Posterity 2.0... 2?
I’m re-posting a blog entry from not long ago, as it reveals what is still fluttering around in my mind concerning technology & me. I do so with both a pit in my stomach and a half-smile on my face, as my husband just made me aware that his blog somehow got deleted last week. He doesn’t know how it happened, and I am in shock. How do you delete an entire blog? I don’t even...
July 2011
3 posts
7 tags
Big Feet, Little Feet
Big Feet
Yesterday evening, after a particularly full, event to next event-to next event-to next event etc. few days, my husband and I collapsed on our couch. He stretched out on one end, propping his feet upon me as I sat on the couch’s opposite end. Tiredness had befallen us quickly. I absentmindedly began kneading my fatigued spouse’s feet as we chatted. Perhaps it was because I...
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No Settler of Disputes
This nanny would like to state for the record that she does not consider dogs to be legitimate witnesses in settling disputes between 6 and 8 year olds.
Especially not this dog. Pepper is loyal. Pepper is loving. Pepper will give you the saddest puppy dog eyes, laying with her head on the ground beneath her paws, looking up at you with her round, brown globes. Sweet as she is, this makes her no...
June 2011
10 posts
6 tags
Death by Reference
A fifteen year old boy from my church died in a tragic accident last week. I didn’t know him personally nor ever had the pleasure of interacting with him since we belong to a rather large church. Yet my husband and I attended the funeral, and the somber atmosphere was felt as soon as I walked into the sanctuary.
I found myself tearing up at several points during the service, and even just...
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Father's Day '11
Happy Father’s Day, to all the dads in my life.
To mine:
To my dear father-in-law, and to the future father of my children:
To my friend, who’s faithful fathering is an encouraging inspiration:
To my little brothers who’ll be fathers one day.
One sooner:
one later:
To my spiritual father, who has always pointed me to my true Father:
I’m grateful for all...
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Glow
I love how the morning light made this photo glow.
As a still pretty newbie photographer, shots like these that have some special aspect just by catching light at the right moment are rare. I don’t have too many. But I really love the way this one turned out. Again, this shot is SOOC except for a tiny bit of sharpening. I wanted to leave it as is because, well, it isn’t often that I...
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Peony Petals
The wedding shower in my hometown last weekend was a success. The bride was all aglow. It was a joy to see my dear friend smiling, eating good food, and getting to spend time with friends she hasn’t seen for a long time.
My sweet sister-in-law (who has recently begun a blog of her own!) gave the bride a lovely green vase as her shower gift. In her typical creative-thoughtful fashion,...
Chocolate Chip Push-Ups
Sometimes, I end up unthinkingly doing oxymoronical things that ask for a hearty chuckle. Yesterday held one of those moments, when I literally did push-ups into baked goods. I don’t recommend it, as push-ups are meant to undo the deeds done by baked goods.
Thunder began sounding yesterday afternoon, so the walk I was planning had to be postponed. It would be unpleasant to get stuck in the...
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Paper Flower
I really love flowers.
Even fake ones! I think I have a disease.
Clicking the photo above will take you to the tutorial where I learned how to make these cute little things. I found it right in time for traveling to my hometown this weekend. I’m throwing a bridal shower for my best friend from high school who’s getting married in July. I’m going to make a few of these for...
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Why...
…Must you be $158?
You should know by now that seminary students can’t buy clothes that cost that much.
Yet, I still like you, with your peachy, lovely pleats, and bow that reminds me of my wedding gown.
Praying for a discount, into the wish list she goes.
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Cold Spaghetti
I made spaghetti for dinner last night. It was a quick meal, thrown together not long before needing to leave for Sunday evening service. The pasta was still quite hot when I lumped it into tupperware to refrigerate, so I put it out to cool. Topped partially with a lid, I left it as we went to church then out for milkshakes with dear friends. We arrived back home later and I eyed the capellini...
May 2011
1 post
6 tags
Back to Blogging
I took a break from my “online life” until at least the end of finals, and now I’m returning to my little corner of the www, albeit a little timidly. I actually enjoyed being disconnected much more than expected, and I almost don’t want to come back. There was something simpler about not worrying about having to keep up with it all. It seems that if you have a blog (or...
April 2011
14 posts
4 tags
New Life
“Behold, I make all things new.”
“Love; it will not betray you Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free Be more like the man you were made to be There is a design, an alignment to cry Of my heart to see, The beauty of love as it was made to be”
-Mumford and Sons
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Quick Update & Request
Although this kind of already has begun, I’m taking an official break from my online life till… well, at least this paper I’m working on is finished and turned in on Tuesday. I may stretch it through the end of finals in May, not sure yet. (Still thinkin’ about all these priorities…)
But I thought I’d update cp quickly before this necessary, self-imposed hiatus...
3 minutes, 33 seconds
That’s what’s left on the timer. I have a midnight rendezvous with the oven, and I hope this time to come out victorious. Why midnight you ask? Well, this hometown weekend has been thus filled with family time and wedding details. Very much fun to be sure. But that leaves midnight baking as my only option to provide my fam with the chocolate cake I promised. This late night mixing and stirring is...
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What Keeps Seminary Students From Blogging
A test
Studying for that test
Reading big fat books
Needing a dictionary to decipher words in big fat books
Involuntary naps as a result of post-lunch coma while looking up vocabulary in order to decipher words in big fat books
Cooking for a hungry husband who is also taking the same test (and reading big fat books, etc.)
Traveling
I’ve been thinking a lot about priorities, and a...
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What They're Made Of
Snips,
Snails,
And puppy dog tails.
That’s what little boys are made of.
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Posterity 2.0
Maybe this idea hails from movies and books, or perhaps it lies in family stories from of old, but I often imagine my kids one day discovering a dusty attic chest filled with letters and writings of mine/my husband’s. They would acquaint them with us in ways which speech would not allow. An organizational bin is already home to piles of journals filled with my own penned chronicles of life....
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"Don't Smile..."
Sometimes when photographing kids, I’m finding that asking them not to smile makes for better, more natural photos.
My mother has shoeboxes full of photos, picturing my middle brother with a cheesy line of a smile on his face, bearing baby teeth. The 6 y.o. I nanny pictured here tends the same way. So I asked her to look away from the camera and stop smiling.
I started asking her...
3 tags
The Gap
No, not the retail establishment.
I’m referring to the gap in time between my last blog post and now. It would be much smaller if it weren’t for a certain turn of events:
a. A major writing/creative block had taken up residence in my brain the last couple weeks. However, that passed last Thursday night, and I began to write, write furiously, thoughtfully, a post I was enjoying,...
March 2011
44 posts
7 tags
That Time of Year
…When inspiration seems to run dry. Midterms ate up much brain space, and though they’ve passed, in their allotted places remain dingy unproductivity where imaginative blog posts could have once originated.
*Sigh*
So all I have to offer is more flower photos. I never tire of taking them. The day before my husband returned home from overseas, my ranunculuses gave their last bit of...
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Fear and Loathing →
A dear friend sent me this photo this morning, and I think it had its desired effect: I laughed hard. Concerning my ornithophobia, she hit the nail on the head. This about sums it up.
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Traveling Ranunculi
As my husband begins to round off his travels overseas, I travel across town to stay with some friends for the remainder of his time away. (It’s ‘cause I’m ascareda thee dark, as my youngest brother used to say.)
Not really.
But kinda.
Trader Joe’s had these beautiful Ranunculi (or Ranunculuses) for sale, which I snatched up at the very sight of them. The texture of...
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Yellow Against the Bluest Sky
My husband sent this lovely photo to me this morning between attending two different church services in Europe. His message:
“I saw this building and thought of you. I’m not sure why…”
He knows my aesthetics well, that’s why. I mean, I’d live in a place like that…
I miss him.
But despite his being gone, I haven’t been alone much thus far. After...
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Hold Fast... →
Although I generally keep my blog content on the lighter side of life, I am willing to allow it to go wherever it will. I spend most of life reading, talking, thinking through deep things. Yet I’ve allowed this blog to express that which requires less theorizing and more of my aesthetic side. I do not ultimately separate the two, as it all unites to make up me. Hmm…
I am less...
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Safe & Sound
Husband safely arrived over the ocean at approximately 2 a.m. US time. I was certainly happy to wake up to that text message, despite the hour it was sent. This morning, a phone call from an unknown number stirred me to consciousness. Still in a sleepy stupor I answered, and it was him. Immediately roused from lethargy, we exchanged endearments, and decided to FaceTime from his iPhone to our Mac...
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Playing House
My husband is going overseas today. I am excited for him, yet have a considerable amount of wifely nervousness, which I imagine will only pass upon confirmation of his safe arrival. He’ll spend his first two days alone before his travel companions arrive (which will add another layer to my peace of mind). Since the kids I nanny have a teacher work day today, he has come along with me to...
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Parenthesis
(I am in the middle of “Reading Week.” A.K.A that mid-semester gap that separates the men from the boys, as they say. Will I treat “Reading Week” rather like “Spring Break”? Or will I stick my nose in the multifarious books needing my brain’s full-on absorption? Or will you find me on YouTube at this week’s end, sliding down a huge slip-n-slide?
...
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Him
Driving ten hours to visit my best friend from college was nothing. The long winding roads between our deep South college town and her Southeastern state of residence seemed shorter because of sheer excitement. I finally arrived, and hugged my friend tight. After all, it had been at least a year since we’d seen one another. We tucked my things away in her cozy apartment, and headed off for a...