Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
What I've Been Into: March
Driving:
MY CAR! I have not owned a car in four years. The first three years were not a big deal at all. Chicago makes a car free life easy, and if I do say, preferable. Suburban Philadelphia? Not so much. So, with a little money and a lot of help from friends and family - I got myself a car! It's been on the road longer than I have, has built in cassette tape storage, and a rear-facing third row. It seats 8 and I am hoping that for however many years it gives me, that I can "pay it forward" on offering rides to others as a thank you to all the people who helped me out when I needed it. A few days after I got it I spent hours driving and saw a lot of this:
The scenery was a winter wonderland but the roads were clear, so it was a glorious drive!
Listening:
My roommate introduced me to Songza. I don't know how many times I've said, "I wish Pandora had "I want to dance around the kitchen" station and been sad when they didn't. But songza? Songza does!
Favorite for the aforementioned mood is "Walking on Sunshine" with the description "Some songs just have a certain je ne sais quoi; when you hear them you start skipping down a crowded public street. Embarrassing? Absolutely. Will you care? Not likely."
I've also made good use of their Thunderstorms playlist when trying to lull myself to sleep.
Watching:
I missed Call the Midwife when it first played, but PBS put it back online so I caught up on that and am excited that season two is starting!
Babies and British accents, what's not to love?
Reading:
bought a Kindle edition of most of the Anne of Green Gables series for 99 cents. I stay up way too late at night and give myself some time to escape into fiction.
I'm really enjoying the essays in Readings in Planning Theory edited by Fainstein and Campbell. Good stuff in there on planning and justice! If you are a nerd how about cities run and who makes decisions and who gets the short tend of the stick, it's a good read.
Eating:
One of the people who helped me out in the car-getting process requestd a key lime cake - so I made this and it was quite yummy!
Definitely a "black coffee" dessert as it was very sweet and tangy.
I was having a burger craving and made this - it was SO GOOD:
And this may be my favorite quinoa dish yet. Make sure you have enough onions to make it through all the qunioa - the onions are a vital part!
Wishlisting:
I briefly considered buying a scooter until I realized that buying a scooter to accommodate my size would cost WAY more than a car. I think my scooter-ownership desires could be satisfied with this though:
Other Things:
Started a new job (that makes 4 part time jobs and full-time grad school. I still procrastinate OFTEN. Makes me wonder what I could do if never got lazy and task-avoidant. . . .)
Visited GA for a very quick weekend. Saw friends and family. Went "grocery shopping" in the parents pantry.
Turned 30! I have a few blog drafts of being introspective about that. Don't know why I haven't published one. I have no problem with the age 30, but looking back at my twenties in hindsight makes me realize what a full-of-life decade that was - ups and downs, plateaus and adventures. It's interesting to contemplate the differences in 20 year old me and 30 year old me. Maybe you'll get one of my self-reflective entries here :)
What have you been into?
Linking up at What I'm Into
MY CAR! I have not owned a car in four years. The first three years were not a big deal at all. Chicago makes a car free life easy, and if I do say, preferable. Suburban Philadelphia? Not so much. So, with a little money and a lot of help from friends and family - I got myself a car! It's been on the road longer than I have, has built in cassette tape storage, and a rear-facing third row. It seats 8 and I am hoping that for however many years it gives me, that I can "pay it forward" on offering rides to others as a thank you to all the people who helped me out when I needed it. A few days after I got it I spent hours driving and saw a lot of this:
The scenery was a winter wonderland but the roads were clear, so it was a glorious drive!
Listening:
My roommate introduced me to Songza. I don't know how many times I've said, "I wish Pandora had "I want to dance around the kitchen" station and been sad when they didn't. But songza? Songza does!
Favorite for the aforementioned mood is "Walking on Sunshine" with the description "Some songs just have a certain je ne sais quoi; when you hear them you start skipping down a crowded public street. Embarrassing? Absolutely. Will you care? Not likely."
I've also made good use of their Thunderstorms playlist when trying to lull myself to sleep.
Watching:
I missed Call the Midwife when it first played, but PBS put it back online so I caught up on that and am excited that season two is starting!
Watch Season 2 Preview on PBS. See more from Call the Midwife.
Babies and British accents, what's not to love?
Reading:
bought a Kindle edition of most of the Anne of Green Gables series for 99 cents. I stay up way too late at night and give myself some time to escape into fiction.
I'm really enjoying the essays in Readings in Planning Theory edited by Fainstein and Campbell. Good stuff in there on planning and justice! If you are a nerd how about cities run and who makes decisions and who gets the short tend of the stick, it's a good read.
One of the people who helped me out in the car-getting process requestd a key lime cake - so I made this and it was quite yummy!
Definitely a "black coffee" dessert as it was very sweet and tangy.
I was having a burger craving and made this - it was SO GOOD:
And this may be my favorite quinoa dish yet. Make sure you have enough onions to make it through all the qunioa - the onions are a vital part!
Wishlisting:
I briefly considered buying a scooter until I realized that buying a scooter to accommodate my size would cost WAY more than a car. I think my scooter-ownership desires could be satisfied with this though:
 |
| Scooter Pizza Cutter |
Other Things:
Started a new job (that makes 4 part time jobs and full-time grad school. I still procrastinate OFTEN. Makes me wonder what I could do if never got lazy and task-avoidant. . . .)
Visited GA for a very quick weekend. Saw friends and family. Went "grocery shopping" in the parents pantry.
Turned 30! I have a few blog drafts of being introspective about that. Don't know why I haven't published one. I have no problem with the age 30, but looking back at my twenties in hindsight makes me realize what a full-of-life decade that was - ups and downs, plateaus and adventures. It's interesting to contemplate the differences in 20 year old me and 30 year old me. Maybe you'll get one of my self-reflective entries here :)
What have you been into?
Linking up at What I'm Into
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A Different Way
A little over ten years ago someone handed me a CD with a sermon on it and said, "listen to this." I put it in my backpack and forgot about it for a few weeks. I pulled it out though one day and popped it in my CD player and listened.
I was mesmerized. I listened to that sermon over and over again.
It was about Jesus and his disciples. It was about the Jewish understanding of "rabbi." It was about who this group of men were before they followed Jesus and who they were afterwards.
That sermon changed my life. Literally. I started believing different things about God and me. I didn't know it then, still deeply rooted in my conservative Bible-belt Christianity, but that message made me look at the Bible differently.
Not long after that, I sat in the garage-turned-classroom of the college aged Sunday school class at my home church and listened to the teacher talk about scripture as a prism. How the ancient Jews viewed scripture that way, knowing that if you held it up to the light of truth, the colors would refract out in an array of angles, and if you turned it ever so slightly, the pattern would completely change.
And a few years later my heart got broken. By a boy, yes, but mostly by God. I had been as in love with the boy as I knew what love meant then, but I had trusted God. I had thought I heard God and ignored some warnings in my gut in favor of the "divine guidance" I thought I heard. In favor of the "voice of God" I had learned to divine through years of pew-sitting and Bible-reading.
So when my heart got broken I was bruised and scarred by the boy for a season, prone to the habits and feelings most broken-hearts endure I am sure. But with God the brokenness felt like a shattering. Stained-glass perfection in a thousands shards that poked and pricked and drew blood no matter which way I stepped it seemed.
I sat in church pews with white knuckled grips on my Bible and left in the middle of more than one "just trust God" sermon.
The broken heart healed first, the shattered soul a while later. Neither are ever the same of course, but I kind of think that's a good thing.
Today, the preacher who preached that sermon on the CD is nationally known, though few knew who he was back in 2003. He's known for a progressive view of Christianity. He probably gets called a heretic as often as he gets called a saint. I don't agree with all of his views and have never heard another of his sermon's that changed me the way that first did, but that's ok. I needed that first one.
In the years where I struggled to stay committed to a God who I thought had failed me, I kept trying to turn that prism and see the light a different way. It took a while, but I finally got it to move a bit, finally saw another possibility. It didn't wipe away hurt, but it brought some healing.
I am thankful for that now-controversial preacher and for my Sunday school teacher - for daring to suggest that there were other ways to see God, to see scripture, to see myself. I didn't "need" the message on those days, but God preserved the truth in my soul and they served as strings gently tugging me back, holding me tight, during the years when nothing made sense.
I was mesmerized. I listened to that sermon over and over again.
It was about Jesus and his disciples. It was about the Jewish understanding of "rabbi." It was about who this group of men were before they followed Jesus and who they were afterwards.
That sermon changed my life. Literally. I started believing different things about God and me. I didn't know it then, still deeply rooted in my conservative Bible-belt Christianity, but that message made me look at the Bible differently.
Not long after that, I sat in the garage-turned-classroom of the college aged Sunday school class at my home church and listened to the teacher talk about scripture as a prism. How the ancient Jews viewed scripture that way, knowing that if you held it up to the light of truth, the colors would refract out in an array of angles, and if you turned it ever so slightly, the pattern would completely change.
And a few years later my heart got broken. By a boy, yes, but mostly by God. I had been as in love with the boy as I knew what love meant then, but I had trusted God. I had thought I heard God and ignored some warnings in my gut in favor of the "divine guidance" I thought I heard. In favor of the "voice of God" I had learned to divine through years of pew-sitting and Bible-reading.
So when my heart got broken I was bruised and scarred by the boy for a season, prone to the habits and feelings most broken-hearts endure I am sure. But with God the brokenness felt like a shattering. Stained-glass perfection in a thousands shards that poked and pricked and drew blood no matter which way I stepped it seemed.
I sat in church pews with white knuckled grips on my Bible and left in the middle of more than one "just trust God" sermon.
The broken heart healed first, the shattered soul a while later. Neither are ever the same of course, but I kind of think that's a good thing.
Today, the preacher who preached that sermon on the CD is nationally known, though few knew who he was back in 2003. He's known for a progressive view of Christianity. He probably gets called a heretic as often as he gets called a saint. I don't agree with all of his views and have never heard another of his sermon's that changed me the way that first did, but that's ok. I needed that first one.
In the years where I struggled to stay committed to a God who I thought had failed me, I kept trying to turn that prism and see the light a different way. It took a while, but I finally got it to move a bit, finally saw another possibility. It didn't wipe away hurt, but it brought some healing.
I am thankful for that now-controversial preacher and for my Sunday school teacher - for daring to suggest that there were other ways to see God, to see scripture, to see myself. I didn't "need" the message on those days, but God preserved the truth in my soul and they served as strings gently tugging me back, holding me tight, during the years when nothing made sense.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
What I've Been Into: February Edition
In the Kitchen:
One day in the middle of the month I went, "Huh, I haven't eaten meat in a week." And so, I got a little more dedicated to fully switching to vegetarian since I hadn't even noticed. It's been SO MUCH easier than I had anticipated. I don't have any specific recipes to share - but "Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes" have become a staple meal for me.
Baked Sweet Potato (microwave if short on time, oven if I think ahead enough)
Stuffed with a mixture of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper. SO YUM.
And, not my kitchen, but I was having a major falafel craving and found a quite yummy falafel sandwich at Reading Terminal Market in Philly. I may or may not have eaten that for three days straight since it was across the street from where I was for those days . . . . Craving: Satisfied. I've been pinning falafel recipes, but haven't tried any yet. Hopefully next month!
Reading:
I have started a pinterest board to keep up with my 2013 reading. The most interesting this month has definitely been Open Veins in Latin America by Eduardo Galeano. It's a few decades old, but it's very eye opening about global politics and economies.
Watching:
When I load my Hulu Queue I usually choose "Switched at Birth" first.
I've been surprised by how much I enjoy the sitcom "Go On" - I'm not usually one who likes comedies - but it's a nice little show.
One Word Update:
Enough has never been far from my mind - but I haven't done anything spectacular with processing it this month. It's just kind of a constant theme. I have noticed that I've been adding "for today" on to the end. "A vegetarian diet is enough for today." "The work you are doing is enough for today." "This much progress is enough for today." It's a reminder of daily steps, perseverance, building blocks to a bigger picture. A reminder that rest is good, that our bodies are designed to stop and sleep and nourish themselves. That our minds and mental health are designed for community and silence. I wouldn't say that I've ever been one to really struggle with self-care in any great way, I've never been the over-achiever who forgoes sleep, food, and other humans in the name of getting ahead. I think if I had through through the word "Enough" more I wouldn't have chosen it because I would've said, "Nah, I"m ok with that" - but I'm glad I chose the word - it's been a focusing word for me in many ways.
Highlights of the Month:
The end of the month was The Justice Conference. The overarching theme seemed to be "perseverance." The reminder that this is a long-haul venture. Change is slow, the work is hard. This was reiterated to me as I was able to spend a couple days with my urban policy class visiting some dis-invested neighborhoods and talking with people who have been working for change in those areas for decades. They have accomplished so much, and there is still so much to do. I was struck by how the overwhelming majority of the people working in the neighborhoods I visited were women, and I kind of wanted to shout, "Eshet Chayil!" at all of them.
Here's a video that I really love from the conference:
Is Justice Worth It? feat. Micah Bournes from World Relief on Vimeo.
Looking forward to March:
February was super busy for a variety of reasons. March is a down month in terms of needing to be in specific places at specific times, but it will be full of reading and writing and catching up on everything that got pushed to "not an immediate need" in February.
And, March is birthday month! Turning 30 this year. It's weirder than I thought it would be - mostly because (especially as a grad student) I keep seeing/hearing about things that I've aged out of. Oh well! I'm happy with my life path - being too old for certain internships just makes the dizzying array of choices smaller. :)
Link up and see what others are into!
One day in the middle of the month I went, "Huh, I haven't eaten meat in a week." And so, I got a little more dedicated to fully switching to vegetarian since I hadn't even noticed. It's been SO MUCH easier than I had anticipated. I don't have any specific recipes to share - but "Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes" have become a staple meal for me.
Baked Sweet Potato (microwave if short on time, oven if I think ahead enough)
Stuffed with a mixture of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper. SO YUM.
And, not my kitchen, but I was having a major falafel craving and found a quite yummy falafel sandwich at Reading Terminal Market in Philly. I may or may not have eaten that for three days straight since it was across the street from where I was for those days . . . . Craving: Satisfied. I've been pinning falafel recipes, but haven't tried any yet. Hopefully next month!
Reading:
I have started a pinterest board to keep up with my 2013 reading. The most interesting this month has definitely been Open Veins in Latin America by Eduardo Galeano. It's a few decades old, but it's very eye opening about global politics and economies.
Watching:
When I load my Hulu Queue I usually choose "Switched at Birth" first.
I've been surprised by how much I enjoy the sitcom "Go On" - I'm not usually one who likes comedies - but it's a nice little show.
One Word Update:
Enough has never been far from my mind - but I haven't done anything spectacular with processing it this month. It's just kind of a constant theme. I have noticed that I've been adding "for today" on to the end. "A vegetarian diet is enough for today." "The work you are doing is enough for today." "This much progress is enough for today." It's a reminder of daily steps, perseverance, building blocks to a bigger picture. A reminder that rest is good, that our bodies are designed to stop and sleep and nourish themselves. That our minds and mental health are designed for community and silence. I wouldn't say that I've ever been one to really struggle with self-care in any great way, I've never been the over-achiever who forgoes sleep, food, and other humans in the name of getting ahead. I think if I had through through the word "Enough" more I wouldn't have chosen it because I would've said, "Nah, I"m ok with that" - but I'm glad I chose the word - it's been a focusing word for me in many ways.
Highlights of the Month:
The end of the month was The Justice Conference. The overarching theme seemed to be "perseverance." The reminder that this is a long-haul venture. Change is slow, the work is hard. This was reiterated to me as I was able to spend a couple days with my urban policy class visiting some dis-invested neighborhoods and talking with people who have been working for change in those areas for decades. They have accomplished so much, and there is still so much to do. I was struck by how the overwhelming majority of the people working in the neighborhoods I visited were women, and I kind of wanted to shout, "Eshet Chayil!" at all of them.
Here's a video that I really love from the conference:
Is Justice Worth It? feat. Micah Bournes from World Relief on Vimeo.
Looking forward to March:
February was super busy for a variety of reasons. March is a down month in terms of needing to be in specific places at specific times, but it will be full of reading and writing and catching up on everything that got pushed to "not an immediate need" in February.
And, March is birthday month! Turning 30 this year. It's weirder than I thought it would be - mostly because (especially as a grad student) I keep seeing/hearing about things that I've aged out of. Oh well! I'm happy with my life path - being too old for certain internships just makes the dizzying array of choices smaller. :)
Link up and see what others are into!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
administrative note
As you may have noticed, the posts on my adoption advocacy involvement are now gone. This was for a couple of reasons that I won't be going into specifically here. If you were generous in donating money, please know that the money is still going to help orphans find homes, and thank you for your contribution!
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