Picnic

I don't know why I love picnics to much. David says that it is just eating outside, but for some reason it seems so much cooler than that. I think that my favorite picnic ever was the one that we took to the Greek Theater before seeing Allison Kraus. We had some wine and cheese and other treats, but we were surrounded by other people who had these really fancy picnicking sets and we could tell that some of them had brought really expensive bottles of wine with them. Plus, the scenery was gorgeous.

All this to say that I had a very beautiful picnic on Tuesday night and I didn't even have to lift a finger.

David made bean and cheese burritos, baked sweet potatoes, and lemon bars. We packed it all up and went to woodbridge lake where we ate at a picnic table in the playground and took a walk afterwards.

It was simply delightful as day turned to night. I am not sure what picnics feel so much more special than a normal meal, but they do.

The Sprituality of Stories (And being slightly starstruck too)

Where does one go to eat after seeing Ira Glass speak at the Barclay Theater at UCI?
-Veggie Grill.

Where does Ira Glass go to get his take out after he speaks at the Barclay Theater at UCI??

You guessed it- a man after my own heart.

The show was amazing. He is such a normal guy, and yet the things that he says are both witty and really touching.

He started the show off in complete darkness, and talked about the fact that when listening to the radio all you hear is someones voice and how the lack of visual stimuli makes it a completely different medium. He said that he suggested doing the whole show in the pitch dark, but then the audience might not think that they were really there in the theater with him.

He went on a slight tangent about the television series the OC and knew a little bit too much about he show to not be embarrassed. He played the sound clip where they mentioned TAL on the OC and he said that he had to go back several times on the TiVo because he thought he must be imagining it.

I wish that the house lights had been up so that I could have written down many of the things that he said. He talked about the story of the Arabian Nights (I am not very familiar with the story, but there is a good synopsis on Wikipedia.) He talks about how the kings newest wife tells the king stories for 1,001 nights in order to keep him from killing her in the morning (as he did to all his other wives.) He spoke about how the king never killed her because her story telling and narrative made him not want to let her go, because he always wanted to see where the stories were going. He spoke about how after 1,001 nights the king has heard so many stories and has empathized with the characters so much that the hardness in his heart melted away and he no longer had the bitterness that has caused him to kill so many wives. The story made a very powerful statement for narrative and how we can learn to heal, and empathize, and to just been on the same wave length as other people by listening to their stories. And that is really what TAL is all about.

It was very touching, and kind of went along with the very spiritual morning I had in meeting- where people were relating to each other through their personal stories and seeing God in each person and their story. The essence of god in others. The essence of god in other's stories. The essence of a god exiting completely and wholly in the way that people relate to each other.

It is truly beautiful and more intricate than I can convey. And for today, for me, it is peace.

Bored Games

I heard about this on NPR this morning. And I thought it was an amusing piece minus the actual underlying political reasons (which are sad.)

And then I thought to myself, 'Who still plays monopoly these days?' Don't get me wrong- I LOVE board games, but Monopoly to me is like a never ending game of boredom.

Sorry if that's offensive to anyone.

(P.S.- I seem some un-bored gaming in my near future, and I like it.)

Driving in the Rain

When you are driving in the rain at any speed over 20mph the smallest drizzle can make it seem like it's pouring outside.

And then at a stop light the wipers start squeaking on the glass because it's not raining hard enough to justify having them on when stopped.

The point is that maybe if I slow down a little bit or even stop and enjoy the act of being stopped it won't seem like things are coming down so quickly.

Benefits of Moving

Even though I love my apartment and it is an amazing deal, two blocks from the beach, has the best roommates ever, and is a 3 minute walk to my sacred coffee shop I was thinking that the one benefit of living in the UCI campus housing was that I could have a kitty again.

I mean I don't think if I stay around here I will move, but if David happened to live anywhere that allowed him to have a cat during grad school then maybe just maybe his next Christmas or (or Labor Day) gift would be a little adopted tabby kitten.

(Okay, not really, but it's nice to dream.)

Drained

I feel like I should be riding on some sort of high right now,
But I just feel tired and worn down.
I am not sure if it is the work week,
Or all the worries that I tried to meditate out of myself last night,
Or that David is under the weather and I haven't seen him for a couple of days,
Or that I didn't have enough coffee today.

I want to curl up in bed with a good book (since I won't be curling up with a good friend) and melt into a sleep that lasts until tomorrow at 5pm when I am free from the chains of my desk.

And UCI too!

That's right.

I got into University of Irvine California, and I am pretty stoked about it.

Yaaaaay!

One Down...

I got my first acceptance to a Graduate program today.

I guess the University of Texas at Austin would be glad to have me.
(The only downfall is that I told D that if we move to Texas we have to get a cow.)

Hmmm. I am waiting for more (and hopefully more local) acceptances in the near future.

A Sonnet for Me (Written by my love)

With eBay purchases and rented movies,
Concert tickets, home-cooked chili, and kisses
My gentle mistress always aims to please
But given my black moods, she often misses

Her failed efforts evoke frustrated tears
Choking on emotion, she asks me “What's wrong?”
I smooth her hair, do my best to soothe her fears
Urge her to be calm, confident, and strong

No cynic, she, no cruel manipulator
For her innocence, I love her more
Than the hardened women of these sunburned shores
The courtesans, concubines, porn stars, and whores

Her love is trembling, fretful, insecure
And is earnest, honest, and the more pure

Have I Talked about This Before?

Sometimes have a very set in stone makes me sad.
I think that when we are so convinced that we know The Way it can be a rather overwhelming feeling because we feel like we have to get everyone to agree with The Way or we are sad for them.

I spent hours and hours crying and praying for my mom when I was a younger Christian because I wanted her to have Jesus in her life. Now she does, and I am very happy that she has such a positive force in her life, but I cannot help thinking about the oppressive nature of feeling like you have to convert people or mourn for their salvation.

I love people. I am compassionate, caring, and invested. I want my relationships with people to be based on who they are and what we share commonly and how we can learn from each other differences. I don't want to be sad for people because I feel that they are not living their life in the right manner.

When that is all that I could see I feel like my life was so darker and less rich, because I wasn't able to see the layers in people and the multi-faceted-ness of others. I can honestly say for a long time I saw their soul and the after life and that was all, and I am glad I don't see that anymore. I don't have any concrete answers and the after life for myself, and sure don't want to have any for other people.

I am striving for a life of hope, kindness, responsibility, compassion and freedom. I don’t but a very specific label on it anymore. I am opening my mind and my heart, and I like the way it feels. I just wish it was comfortable for everyone around me.

On Love

Love is patient. Love is kind.
It does not envy. It does not boast.It is not proud.
It is not rude. It is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered.It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.
Love bears all things, believes all things,hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
L o v e N e v e r F a i l s.
Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8

So I know that this is the typical Valentine's day verse, but these is something about these verses that always resounds with me. Because love is selfless, kind, and powerful- and that really moves me. I don't look at it in the context of romantic love as much as parental love, which is where I am going with this. (I don't think I mean parental love to be specfically parents, but maybe that desire and drive to care for someone else.)

Anyway regarding love I wanted to say that this morning I was telling David that I am so very thankful because I have never been without love. From the moment I can remember I have felt so truly loved and cared for by my mother that I never questioned that there was a strong poweful and pefect force that exists within people's relationships between each other. I have always felt valued and cherished and special. My sense of god and spirituality and the way I treat others is so very strongly rooted in the love I experienced via my mother. I know that I am more fortunate than many to have grown up in such a loving a supporting environment, and I really do try my hardest to share that influence with others in my daily life.

I want to share it with my husband and children one day. Today I am thankful to share with with my boyfriend, and friends, and family (from a far).



P.S. David loved his present. He smiled and laughed mutliple times- but I still need to get his persmission to blog about it. What do you say babe?

The Weekend- Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Good

• In the spirit of Lent we went to a Lenten Fish Bake on Friday. I am not going to say that food was great, but I was just enchanted by the whole old people church fundraiser thing. I am a people watcher, so this event was great. We sat at a table by ourselves and no one joined us, but it reminded me of the Eastern Shore and being at a local event. Also, as the link indicates they are happening almost every Friday until Easter, so let me know if you want to go to one with me sometime.
• Beating David at Ticket to Ride TWICE.
• Lunch at Gypsy Den after the meeting. I love GD in Santa Ana. They even have beer on tap there.

Bad

• Headache. I have started to realize that I almost always have a headache and nausea on Sunday nights. I think that this means I don't drink enough water on the weekends, and I should try to remedy this.
• The slow cooker ziti I made from my new cook book. The sauce was made from wine, diced tomatoes, basil, and textured vegetable protein. I thought it was gross, so I poured half a can of TJ's organic sauce it, and it turned out okay- but I am not using that recipe again.

Ugly

• The movie Teeth. It is based on the myth of Vagina Dentata- which is a biting fish in the female.. well I will just let you read more here. Anyway I thought this movie was going to be more about repressed sexual desires in Christian teens, but really it was just a lot of severed... again, I am not going to go there. It was yucky!
• A vacuum I bought on craigslist. Can I say gross? The people who I bought it from said it was in perfect working condition and then when I used it is spewed dust ALL over my floor. I was pretty annoyed because they charged 20 dollars for it, and it was making my house dirtier than before. After I took a break from it, D and I discovered that the suction tube was completely packed with at least a foot worth of compacted yuckiness. We cleaned it out with chopsticks and an ice pick got got out a sink full of compacted carpet fiber, and what looked like stuffed animal filling. (Thank God it didn't smell and was not hair.) This took us about an hour and half, and was gross and sweaty, and even though the vacuum worked after, it was still really nasty and I emailed the people and told them I wanted my money back. YUCK!

Happy Hearts Day! (Almost)

I told David that this year the rule for Valentine's gifts was that they had to be handmade and cost less than $20.00 to make. Last year I think that he went a little bit overboard- I am NOT complaining in the slightest. He gave me a board game, but my absolute favorite thing was the box that had 30 hand written dates in it. I think that we did a few of them. I still have it, and should bust it out in the near future. He also got me a housecleaner for a day because I was always stressed about my house being dirty. They were all super sweet.

I have to say that I love, love, love the gift I made for D last night, and I am really excited to give it to him because they are funny, creative, and useful. I will have to ask him if I can reveal what they are after I give them to him. I really want to take pictures and post them, but I am not sure if he would be down with that.

The Life and Times of a 24 year old.

Yep. Now I am 24. (And by the way I had a very nice Birthday and was showered by fun gifts, lots of friends, and even a song just for me)

I'd like to say something very profound about politics and the election, but I just feel nervous about it at this point, and that is none too elegant of a thing. I voted a week ago at the early voting at John Wayne Airport. I voted for Obama and even though I don't love her all that much, I have to say that if Hillary wins it would not be my first choice, but I just want a Dem in office. (I am sorry to sound partisan)

Also yesterday I lost my ipod. Also not very profound but it just sucks and I am very unhappy with myself for doing it.

I think that's all, I just wanted to say I alive, 24, voted, and lost my ipod.

Maybe tomorrow I will be more inspired.

Could there possible be this much silliness happening on a birthday a year later?

No freakin' doubt.

In other words, I am completely and totally stoked for my birthday. I am stoked to share my birthday with a good Friend and celebrate at his party. I am excited about the super bowl BBQ where the attention will be on me and not football. (Actually I cannot guarantee that, but I can guarantee some awesome grilled broccoli.) I am just plain excited to be silly and fun and maybe have a little beer.

I am thankful for another year of life, love and friends. It's been a good one.