I could be ok with that...

Which Celebrity Chef are You?

You are GIADA DE LAURENTIIS! You're more about being seductive than entertaining. You're great to look at, you can throw a simple pasta dish together like it's nobody's business and you could handle a crowd, if the need arose! Everyday Italian is your ideal show.

How do you compare? Take this test! | Tests from Testriffic

This Makes Me Smile Too

This Makes Me Smile

Monday Morning Musings

Well, last week I was very bummed because I thought I wasn't going to get to see my friends this past weekend and I really miss them. But I ended up having a really great weekend. First of all, my hubby is the best and we have been having Board Game-a-pa-looza since Thursday. He decided we should have a tournament of 15 board games and see who is the ultimate champion. He is leading my one game right now, and we are playing the final 2 games tonight. We played Thursday night, Friday night while watching "You've Got Mail", and Sunday. It was great!

Saturday turned out awesome, too! Andrew ended up going with a friend to the NASCAR race in Charlotte, and I went to Asheville for the day. My friend Missy lives there, my friend Rachel is doing an externship there and my friend Allison was just in town for the weekend. I love these girls and we had such a blast! We ate and went shopping and had a horrendous waiter at dinner, but all in all what a great day. I couldn't have asked for a better one. And we are trying to plan a get-together the first of November and I am extremely excited!!

It is Monday morning, and I am generally in a cranky mood anyway, but this morning I got a little ill. Last week a woman sent me something to place in the newsletter. I copied and pasted it. It had a typo. I caught it but somehow neglected to fix it. Said woman is particularly difficult to work with, even though I am nothing but nice to her and I have gone above and beyond my duty to do things for her on numerous occasions. Somehow she still always manages to make me feel stupid and about 2 inches tall. And on many occasions I have managed to screw things up that she has asked me to do, I'm sure furthering her belief that I am a complete imbecile. Anyway, about the newsletter typo, I received an email this morning that read "I would appreciate it if you would proofread my submissions for the newsletter." It just came across very snippy and mean. I screwed up, yes. But it is just as much her fault as mine. It really made me mad and upset for a little while. But then I decided that I would not let this woman ruin my Monday. I am trying to avoid attacking her personality or character, that is only me being mean-spirited. I just needed to vent about this so I could let it go.

Now I hope I can have a Happy Monday after a really great weekend!

I am Bummed

So, yeah, I am bummed. I was hoping to see some of my old friends this weekend at my college's homecoming, but most of them aren't coming. I feel a little silly, too, because it used to be a pretty big deal for everyone, and suddenly it isn't anymore. It makes me feel like I am holding onto something that everyone else is ready to let go of. Everyone else has more important stuff to be doing, and I am just hanging around wishing it could be like old times. The thing is, I don't care about Homecoming. I don't care about seeing my old professors and the Homecoming parade. That is all just an excuse to see old friends. But now most of those friends aren't coming and I'm left with just the other stuff that I don't care anything about. I do, of course, care about the couple of friends that will be there, and it will be wonderful to see them. But maybe it's just gotten to that point when everyone has to take care of their own lives and let go of the past. I just didn't think it would happen so soon...

Romulus, huh?

So, this is my daemon... whatever that is. It has something to do with the Golden Compass movie, which I am so excited to see. It looks very similar to The Narnia Cronicles, and I think it is cool I could pick out some parts in the preview that were shot in Oxford. The movie is based on a trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, so if I like the movie, I might have to check them out.

My Baby Sister

Today after work I am driving to Chattanooga because tomorrow is my little sister's chapel talk in front of her entire school (grade 6-12). She has asked me to introduce her. I am supremely nervous. I'm not really sure what happened to me, I used to be able to get up in front of people and really not think a thing about it, but then one day I just snapped and now I am terrified in front of crowds. Especially crowds of people I don't know and who I imagine to be hyper-critical of everything I do and say and how I look and etc. I was supposed to think of a funny story to tell but after coming up blank from the pressure of trying to think of something, I have decided to just say something nice instead. I guess I should write it down though. I will get so nervous when I get up there I will forget everything I originally thought of I'm sure.

Anyway, I'm really proud of my sis. She's going to talk about her eating disorder in front of her entire school which I think is so very brave. Last night she posted her senior pictures on Facebook and it made me cry. It's like she is really grown up now and our childhoods are over. No wonder my parents baby her. They want to keep her a child as long as possible. That way things stay the same. Life is scary how fast it moves.

Currently Reading...

I am currently reading "Girl Meets God" by Lauren Winner. It is a really interesting read about a girl who went to a lot of trouble to become an Orthodox Jew and then soon after converted to Christianity. So far, I've learned a lot about Orthodox Jewish traditions that I had no idea existed. Also, this girl is pretty much my hero because she is getting her PhD in American Religious History, which would pretty much be my dream except I probably wouldn't limit it to American. I am so interested in Church History, but that just doesn't seem like a practical goal to pursue for me. Ugh, this is just one more case of waiting for God to send me some incredible divine sign of what I am supposed to be doing with my life. I think I'll probably be waiting until I'm 80 for that. Ideally, I would research and write for the rest of my life, and design cards and things for my own use as a side hobby. As an academic, I feel like I would have the opportunity to be involved in various social justice ventures also. But then there are days when I want nice things like a house and nice clothes and I want to have kids and settle down and it seems like I should just do something practical like go to business school. But seriously, can I work in a business for the rest of my life?? Always thinking about money and the way to get the most out of people? That doesn't really seem like me. I just keep hoping that God will lead me in the right direction.

Dolly

"Dannielynn Hope Birkhead Marshall's favorite singer is Dolly Parton." -Lifeline Live, USA Today

"The next milestone is September 7, when Dannielynn turns one. Birkhead is planning a big birthday bash, and 200 guests have been invited to celebrate, inluding Dolly Parton, Dannielynn's favorite singer." -US Weekly

Ugh, I hope Dolly doesn't go. How can they even know who a one year old's favorite singer is? They are just defaming poor Dolly's name. I swear, these people will do anything for attention.

A Bit of a Let Down

Sadly, my blog has been pretty pathetic lately. I hoped I would be able to create a space where I could write somewhat creatively, because when I get inspired, I really like to write. Unfortunately, I have been pretty uninspired as of late. I will keep plugging along and hopefully I will have a revelation of inspiration sometime in the near future.

Things I Loved This Week

On TV: My husband and I have been hooked on the World Series of Pop Culture. We are sitting there yelling at the TV and thinking we should form our own team and make a run for it next year. OK, so if I had gotten that category on Kevin Bacon movies, I would have been screwed, but I was awesome at the Saturday Night Live skits category. SCHWING! Also, I loved the Singing Bee. Another games I would rock at. Sadly, I was standing in line at the movie theater so I missed Don't Forget the Lyrics which I heard was good, too. That brings me to...

Movies: LOVED Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I can't say it was my favorite out of all the HP movies, but I liked it. I like more of the fun magic stuff, but the movies will be dark from here on out, because the rest of the books are. Plus, there is just so much stuff they have to leave out because of time constraints. Anyway, I love seeing the books come to life on screen. Good stuff. I also saw Transformers and love it too. I really thought I would hate it, but I didn't. I like giant talking robots. And that Shia Lebouf is a cutie.

Music: My husband went to Cornerstone Music Festival 2 weeks ago and came back with a bunch of new bands for me to try out. This week I've really been enjoying Rosie Thomas, Sufjan Stevens, and Cool Hand Luke.

Books: I finished Blue Like Jazz and it was so great. There is a ton of great, practical spiritual advice in there. I started reading Mere Christianity for a book study I am doing. It is deep, but I am trying to get it. C.S. Lewis makes really amazing arguments. At the end of one I'm always slightly confused and amazed at the same time. Also, I pre-orded Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow on Amazon this week. It is guaranteed to be delivered on July 21 when the book comes out, but I am slightly skeptical. We do live way out the country and all.

Other Stuff: I found clips of montages of the pranks Jim and Pam pull on Dwight from The Office on You Tube. The pranks from Season 1 are here. You can find the others from that page. Also, I love this:

Rugby's Moustache

Check out Rugby's moustache!

http://www.petmoustache.com/singing_telegram.html?hash=3c139f8&a=true

Life Lessons from a Belly Shirt

This morning I was driving to work. I was feeling good cause I'm having a good hair day and my husband told me I was looking good. I was listening to Rosie Thomas and feeling really calm and mellow. When suddenly, I look to my left and see a grown man, at least my dad's age, jogging in a belly shirt. And I burst out laughing. At least he was kinda in shape. I just think that perfectly describes my life. I am cruising along, feeling good and mellow, when something hilarious happens and shakes things up a little bit. And I love it that way. I love laughing at what crazy things life throws at me sometimes.

I Don't Even Like Math

"When we reduce Christianity to math, we defile the Holy... Many of our attempts to understand Christian faith have only cheapened it. I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me. The little we do understand, that grain of sand our minds are capable of grasping, those ideas such as God is good, God feels, God loves, God knows all, are enough to keep our hearts dwelling on His majesty and otherness forever." Blue Like Jazz, p. 202

I'm in love with my doubt. That's a line from a Copeland song that I love because it describes my relationship with God so perfectly. It's eloquent. I was almost becoming proud of it. See, it's not my fault I'm doubting God. I'm in love with my doubt. People do crazy things when they fall in love. They can't be held responsible for what they do during that time. Their head just isn't thinking right. I have been doubting God for a while now. The weird thing is, I don't shun church or anything. I work at a church. I still go except for when I really want to sleep in. I still read religious books. I just don't quite buy it all. I'm not sure when I became such a realist. It might have been while I was studying Religion in college, oddly enough. When I became so sure that being logical and intelligent was the most important thing. When I decided I didn't want other people, non-Christians, to look at me and think I am crazy or stupid to believe in things like a virgin birth, resurrection from the dead, the ability to be saved from hell by believing that Christ was the son of God who was sent to earth with the soul purpose of sacrificing himself for our sins. I was just becoming convinced that I was never going to be able to fully believe these things because it's just not logical. I just can't wrap my mind around it. I've talked to my husband about it alot. Our struggles in our relationships with God are very different. He is probably the smartest person I know and the logical argument doesn't make a lick of difference to him. "I just believe," he says. "You just have to have faith, and I do." That blows me away. I want God to fit into this box that I have label precisely for him. He will go here where I can see him and study him and understand him and how he works and hear him. But in my heart I know. That isn't how God works. If I spend my whole life trying to get him to work that way, I will never ever find him.
So this passage was inspiring to me. For some reason, it just made me see this they way I needed to. I am trying to make Christian spirituality MATH. MATH FOR HEAVENS SAKE! Math is so common, so boring, so scientific. I have been stripping God of his holiness and replacing it with MATH. I'm an idiot. Christianity isn't math. It's sacred. I understand sacred things. In fact, I love them. I love old, old sacred music. I can almost relate to it more that praise choruses. (I know, I sound like I'm 60... stay with me here.) Old sacred music make me feel like it is a time with only me and God. Like back before the world became complicated and things got in the way. It seems to me like you could be closer to God then, like there weren't as many distractions. But I'm sure those people found distractions just like I do. I also love old sacred buildings. I absolutely adore old churches. When I was in Britain and Ireland, I must have seen a hundred old churches. And I never got tired of it. I could just stand there and feel God. Just be in awe that these amazing structures were created to honor him. And I love sacred art. And traditional sacred practices. See where this is going here? I am an idiot. How can I love those sacred things so much and yet want to boil God down to a science. God is holy and divine and we're not supposed to understand him. It's not like I've completely had a 180 here. But I have the desire to have a 180 and that desire has even been missing for a while. It's time for me to feel God and trust God without holding him in my hand. It's time for me to let God go and be what he truly is. I hope I can do this and as a result he can show me who he truly is in a way I can understand while still simply believing.

Andrew the Protester

This just made me laugh:

"Andrew the Protester, the tall good-looking one with dark hair and the beard, the one that looks like a young Fidel Castro, was the activist in our bachelor family. He is the guy I told you about with whom I go to protests. He works with the homeless downtown and is studying at Portland State to become a social worker. He is always talking about how outrageous Republicans are or how wrong it is to eat beef. I honestly don't know how Andrew got so tall without eating beef." Blue Like Jazz, p. 178

New Pet Peeve

My new pet peeve is when people talk for a really long time and have that ability that they don't pause between sentences so the person they are talking to cannot even manage to get in one single syllable and you must just stand there are listen to the person blather on about nothing (and it is usually the same nothing they blathered on to you about last time you had the misfortune of being cornered by this person) and really the sound of their voice bothers you so much that you just want to cover your ears and run away like a small child when they hear something they don't like but you can't do that because you are a grown person and grown people can't just DO that sort of thing and get away with it and so you must stand there and nod and try to smile and it's even worse when they are saying things you disagree with but you don't want to stay and get stuck in an even longer conversation so you just agree with their ridiculous theories and ignorant political ideas just so you can escape to somewhere where you can find glorious, glorious silence.

A Case of the Mondays

So, here's the thing. I really hate Mondays. Like I have an unnatural hatred for them. I don't hate my job or anything. my weeks are not miserable and I don't dread the week starting. I just hate Mondays. I never get enough sleep on Sunday nights and as a result I am nearly always in the vilest of moods on Monday morning. I mean I just want to bite people's heads off. On Monday mornings I need to be able to work in a room alone with no one to bother me or even dare speak to me. I, however, am a church secretary. Not exactly a job where you can shut yourself off from the rest of the world. This morning I was already in a bad mood when a man walked in the office to complain about some work I had not done to his liking (which was absolutely not my fault, and I'm not just saying that, I would own up to it if it was). But he didn't confront me about the problem. He just stood at my co-worker's desk and complained about my competence, when I can clearly hear him on the other side of the partition. My God, I hope I never become a hateful old hag that is never happy with anything no matter what. Seriously, this church is full of them. I just want to shake them and say, where does that attitude come from?? Where is Jesus in you?? If you are the face of Christianity in this community (which is a very old community cause tons of people retire here) then no wonder we can't get more people interested in our beliefs. So it really makes me furious. So now I am furious on top of having my regular old case of the Mondays. So now I REALLY wish I had a room I could shut myself up in and not have to talk to anyone the rest of the day. Or, mostly, I wish I could just go back to bed.

Just for the record...

OK, so I googled it and turns out there are a ton of other Blogs Around the Corner. So I am not the only person in the world who practically worships You've Got Mail. I think there's comfort in that. That movie could make me smile on the very saddest of days. And anyway, I suppose this will only become a problem if I become a world-famous blogger. Ha!

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void." -You've Got Mail

TOMS Shoes

This is a really cool idea I just read about. Whenever you buy one pair of these shoes (which are inspired by traditional Argentinian shoes) this company will donate one pair of them to a child in Argentina. Now if I could just decide if I am brave enough to wear these weird-looking shoes...

Thoughts about Blue Like Jazz

So, this week I finally started reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. My husband kept talking about how good it was, and it is part of my quest this summer to read some "good, enlightening non-fiction". I read all the time, but usually novels, and many times the chick lit kind. Anyway, I am really enjoying Blue Like Jazz so far. This guy seems to be the same "kind" of Christian I am, if that makes any sense. Are there different kinds of Christians? Yes, I guess there are. Does God want there to be different kinds of Christians? That's an interesting question. I don't suppose he would want us all to be the same. He gave us all different brains after all. I love and respect my friends that have different ideas about Christianity than I do, and I hope they do the same for me.
One of the things that I hope sets Christians apart is our desire to do good. I hope that as Christians we seek to change lives by being obedient to God by serving and being a voice for those who cannot do for themselves. I am a big talker about being aware of the atrocities going on the world around us and the needs in our own backyard, but I often fail to put all that talk into action. I felt like Donald Miller was writing about my life when he said:

"I talk about love, forgiveness, social justice; I rage against American materialism in the name of altruism, but have I even controlled my own heart? The overwhelming majority of time I spend thinking about myself,pleasing myself, reassuring myself, and when I am done, there is nothing to spare for the needy. Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me." (Blue Like Jazz, p. 22)

Welcome to My Blog!

OK, so I'm ready to post my first blog. I have to say, this is exciting. I've been thinking about blogging for a while, but today I was just having one of those days with so many thoughts in my head that I wished I had somewhere I could spit them all out. Ergo, The Blog Around the Corner was born. Do you like the name? It's from "You've Got Mail". The name of the bookstore in the movie is "Shop Around the Corner" which is also the name of the original movie that "You've Got Mail" was based on. I think I'm so clever, but I'm sure someone else out there in the great big blogosphere has already thought of this name. I hope I don't get sued. Anyway, this blog is just a place for me to yammer on about things I care about, some of it serious, some of it not. Thanks to anyone out there reading it. Enjoy!