thankful

I am thankful for many things each day of the year, but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a day dedicated to eating tons of food before shopping with 1,000 other people at your local Target, I thought I'd list out a few things I am thankful for this year specifically. For the purpose of this list, I am leaving out the more usual suspects, though that in no way means I am less thankful for them. I just feel that they deserve more than just a bullet point on this list on my blog. Maybe someday I'll do a post for each of those important things..
Anyway, back to the list of Ten Things I Am Specifically Thankful for in 2010 (and Possibly Was Not Thankful for in Previous Years):

1. A job that provides me with endless amounts of Twitter material. And it's mostly fun. And I actually use my degree (who even knew that was possible?). And, hello! it's a job. I didn't have one of those at this point last year. (not to mention it's at a church, which means so much in terms of coworkers and purpose.)
2. Pandora. Free music that is catered to my taste all day? (and only $.99 when I run over 40 hours in the month?) Yes, please. And thank you.
3. My refillable coffee cup from Thornton's, along with their lovely selection of flavorings, creamers, and cappuccinos. I bought it for $1.99. Now every refill is $.69, and they don't care if half of my cup is filled with half-and-half. Every 5th one is free. Sorry, Starbucks (I still love you for the tea!).
4. Free Rent. I sometimes complain about living at home, but if I couldn't do that, I'd probably have to live in a bad neighborhood, or be in debt. Going back to school would have meant having to take out a loan.
5. Nashville. I love this city. I am so glad that my free rent is near such a place.
6. My car. Sure, it had a moment this weekend, and it has a few other small quirks, but it is newer than my old one. It has AC, too, which is nice. And fewer dents.
7. Twitter. Seriously, I have found out about concerts, music videos, blogs, coupons, free music, etc. through this social media outlet. Plus, it's entertaining.
8. Lamps for my office. Not having the fluorescent overhead lighting on has increased my productivity amazingly. They also have the added bonus of making the gray concrete block (they are actually painted gray...) walls look somewhat cozy.
9. School. While it is awful to have to do so much homework/read/watch lectures, at least it's fascinating stuff. It's good to at least have some general plan for my life, too. Even if that plan is extremely vague and flexible.
10. My iphone. Having twitter, facebook, the Bible, Spider Solitaire, a Dictionary/Thesaurus, email, voice memos, pandora (see #2), a camera, an ipod, the internet, google maps all handy is just worth it.

So, there you have it. Kind of unusual, but very true. I am thankful for all of those things.

What random thing(s) are you thankful for this year?

Things I Like Tuesday: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live is not just on my bucket list, it's on my next-year-for-real-this-time list.

I have watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on Thanksgiving morning for many, many years. It's a tradition. Really, it's the one Thanksgiving tradition in my family that has endured for so long. We change meal times, menus, and locations, but I always watch the parade. While I'm really the only one to consistently watch the parade from the ribbon-cutting all the way to end, my dad and sister usually join in for at least a little while. I have told my mother, as she toils in the kitchen while I relax on the couch, that when I'm in charge of the cooking, we'll have to move the meal to a later time. I'll have to watch the parade first.

Why I like the parade so much, I'm not really sure. It is amazing, though...

The floats, the balloons, the bands, the Broadway performances, Harold Square, Al Roker, the Rockettes, the celebrity guests, the tradition, the excitement...

oh, and this guy:

This guy officially marks the beginning of the Christmas season. And as soon as he makes an appearance, usually around 11am Thanksgiving Day, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

the flute

When I was 10, I joined a band. [I would say "the band" to clarify that I mean more the marching type than the rocking type, but I'm not sure I can claim that, since we never marched and we were homeschooled. So, it was never really "the" band just "a" band.]
It didn't take me long to decide that I would play the flute. My parents and I went to the local music store and, because my parents are intelligent human beings, we rented a flute.
I went to the next band practice and learned the very basics of flute-playing. Armed with some sort of instructions (I don't think I even had sheet music at this point) on how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and my little flute case, I went home at the end of band practice with dreams of Carnegie Hall.
I practiced the next day. Two minutes after assembling my flute and beginning to play, I had to sit down because I had hyperventilated. I tried to play a few more times, seated, but continued to get light-headed. After the next band practice, I decided to give up on my dreams of becoming a world-renown flautist and quit the band (and the flute).

You know that song, "Everybody Plays the Fool"? For a long time, I thought it said "Everybody plays the flute...sometimes." At first I thought this was a very specific experience to apply to humankind universally, but after my flute playing days, I totally got it. I specifically remember turning to my dad one night as the song played on the car radio and expressing what I thought at the time to be a deep thought: "It's so true. Pretty much everybody does play the flute at some point. I mean, I did and a lot of people do in school..." Either my dad didn't hear me, misunderstood me, or thought I was joking, because he didn't correct me. So, my belief was cemented.
Upon learning the real lyric, I found that the song made a lot more sense. I did know a lot of people who had never played the flute, after all.

Things I Like Tuesday: my room

I couldn't decide what to write about today, then I realized that I'm sitting here, right inside something I like very much. 

I don't have a whole house, or condo, or apartment to myself yet, but I do have a room. And I like it.

Here are some of the things I like most in it:

These are some travel photos, all taken by yours truly.

The quote in the middle frame is one my roommate sent me when I was in England: 

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." --St. Augustine

This is my desk. And my green chair.

I write here and watch lectures and sometimes waste time on facebook and twitter :-)

This is my brain.

My bulletin board hangs above my desk and holds lots of important notes--quotes I don't want to forget, Bible verses that are especially important in my life at this moment, ideas for stories/poems/essays--as well as a few bridesmaids bouquets, some fun stickers, and other memorabilia. Fun fact: I've had that button in the top right corner since I was 2 or 3. It says "A friend loves at all times. Prov 17:17" and was given to me by my best friend at the time.

My friend Jo gave me an invisible bookshelf. I hang my heaviest books on it, the dictionary and thesaurus (also my little rhyming dictionary)...I guess I like the danger it imposes on the helpless mugs below?

My mom bought me this typewriter somewhere one summer. She saw a picture or something of a famous author's house. They had the typewriter that this author used to type all of his books. She wanted me to have one for when I became a famous writer. I told her she could just save my computer. I really like the typewriter for decoration, though. It still reads "Welcome Home Elizabeth" on the top sheet of paper.

These hang above my bed. If I could somehow manage to only have paper lanterns for lighting in my entire house, I would.

what. a. week.

The last seven days of my life, in outline form. [btw, I do know the rules on outlines. I chose not to follow all of them.] You're welcome.

• At the wedding of my life-long friend, Joanna
• "Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride" please don't apply to me.
• My friend's mom told me "Yours [meaning my wedding, though it took a second for me to grasp that] is next year. Are you ready for that?" What?? (<-Which is, literally, what I said to her.)
• After the wedding
• I was asked at least twice what I was planning to do with my Master's degree.
• I surprised myself by knowing the answer
• That answer was extremely vague
• Sometimes you just need a friend to tell you you aren't crazy
• On the way to and from the wedding, I listened to a dramatic reading of Screwtape Letters. I highly recommend both dramatic readings for long car rides and the letters of Screwtape.
• At work this week:
• I was asked on Monday to write the intro to the sermon
• I was actually asked if I could "Script out the sermon." I later found out this meant the intro only.
• It's about lying. So, if you should ever need an intro for a talk about lying, let me know. There may or may not be a small fee.
• I made a Justin Bieber wig for a stuffed beaver.
• Justin Beaver--get it?
• I tweeted about it
• I got a Reply Tweet from one @elusivebeaver (whom I do not follow, nor does he/she/it follow me) accusing me of wrongly harassing the beaver population
• It was kind of a lame attempt at a wig, therefore, no picture
• I learned what a "gnome sky" looks like
• It looks like colored tissue paper wadded up and stapled to a wall
• This is not scientificly proven
• I spent approximately 20 minutes lodged behind a desk, sitting on a milk crate (because I'm short), with sock puppets on my hands, performing a puppet show with the children's minister.
• We had to literally slide on our stomachs to get under the desk. The one day I didn't wear jeans this week.
• Were there kids present? No.
• This is on film. Well, the puppet show is, not the sliding under a desk part.
• I went to a website training seminar all day on Thursday
• It was dumbed-down for church secretaries, so I understood everything.
• except the conversation between the media minister/graphic designer next to me
• I think they were making fun of my mac
• The seminar wasn't boring. 
• I actually enjoyed learning all the cool stuff we can do with our website
• I realized that if I actually did all of this cool stuff, I would have no time left in my work week to write scripts for sermons and put on puppet shows in the choir storage closet.
• All of this somehow falls under the "other tasks as assigned" category on my job description.
• This is the fourth blog post this week. 
• crazy.
• don't get used to it.
• most viewed post in one day ever on my blog? Things I've Learned Being Friends with Boys

So there you have it--the last seven days in my life.
How was your week? Anything exciting/interesting/completely mundane happen?

Things I've Learned Being Friends with Boys

I had three really close guy friends in high school/college. If they were girls, we'd be BFFs. But they're not, and really, I was always one of the guys, too. Lots of girls say that, but let me paint the picture for you with a few random scenes:

--Numerous conversations would be interrupted with a "Guys, I just remembered, Elizabeth is in here." "So?" "So, she's a girl." "So? It's just Elizabeth." (And yes, this entire conversation happened in my presence)

--One of the guys had a "man-cave" at his house. His dad said no girls/women were allowed in "except Elizabeth."

--I once hosted an all-boy sleepover. (I slept in a room upstairs, they slept in a room downstairs; doors closed; parental supervision. Just so we're clear.)

During all this time spent as one of the guys, I learned a few things:

1. Eat quickly. I am naturally an extremely slow eater. It is not at all uncommon for me to look up from my 1/3 finished plate to realize everyone else is finished. Girls will politely wait on you, because they really want to talk for a while anyway. Guys, not so much. As soon as the last bite was taken, they were looking for the bill. I think the first 10 or so times I ate with these guys, I probably only finished 3 complete meals. I had to learn to eat a lot faster or starve.
2. There is a difference between "hot" and "pretty." It was not uncommon for me to be interrupted when talking about a friend with the question "Is she hot?" Sometimes the answer was yes, and sometimes it was "She's really pretty." One is not necessarily worse than the other; they are just distinctive ways of describing someone. There is also the less-common "cute." I also learned to rate all three descriptions on a scale of 1-10.
3. Everything is a competition. Drives from one side of town to the other, grabbing a certain seat on the couch, getting everyone to agree with you, etc. To say that guys are competitive is an understatement. When I was hanging out with these guys all the time, I had to learn to compete, or just be left out.

4. Guys are more laid back. Whereas girls like to have a plan, these guys rarely had an "activity" planned. The whole of the afternoon would be spent watching TV or at the pool. Sometimes we'd play games, sometimes we'd do absolutely nothing. It didn't really matter.

5. Despite their reputation, guys get their feelings hurt, too. I have gotten the "she rejected me" phone call. (Just a note on this, please do not flirt with one guy if you're already seeing someone. I mean, seriously, how are they supposed to know?) I think I offered ice cream and my company as a consolation (and I kept my mouth shut on the "I didn't really like her for you anyway" matter for a few weeks). 

One thing I did not learn from the guys: how to burp on command. Despite their best efforts--about 30 minutes of 3-to-1 tutoring one day--I still cannot do it (nor do I really want to).

I love my friends that are girls and have had many girl friends throughout the years, but these guys have been constants in my life. I love getting a different perspective on things--it's entertaining and educational!

people-pleaser, please don't tease her

I am a people-pleaser. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before. 

The thing about being a people-pleaser is that it can be a good thing. It's nice to want to make people pleased. However, I usually take it out of moderation and into the extreme. Then it is mostly not a good thing. 

Por ejemplo, I recently came to realize that a person in my life does not think as highly of me as I once imagined. I think that this is actually a recent development--I feel that this person did, until recently, think fairly highly of me, but now I have moved down their list of favorite people. Perhaps this is all a figment of my imagination, but I have my suspicions. 

Now, really, this is fine. It doesn't necessarily hurt my feelings that I no longer hold as high a place in this person's mind, but my problem is that I want to win my spot back. I have been obsessed with trying to figure out why I am no longer as liked and how I can be liked that much again. When I say obsessed, I mean that I sit thinking about it a lot--did I say something, do something, write something, not do something? I have even tossed and turned at night trying to figure it out.

This is not good. 

It is so not good that it is wrong.

I realized this sometime in the midst of my scrutinizing every interaction I have ever had with this person. 

Why, I thought, do I care so much? Because I am desperate for the approval of others. It sounds so silly and so sinful, not to mention a huge waste of time, when I just type it out like that, but it is the truth. And now it's on the internet. 

I also thought about how much (or how little) time I spend obsessing over whether or not I am pleasing God. I mean, it sounds elementary, but I had forgotten to put into practice what I know so well--I should try to please God rather than people. 

I'm not really sure why I am confessing all of this on the blog, but there it is.

[I was going to try to segue into these verses in a more creative fashion, but I need to watch about 100 lectures tonight (okay, maybe more like 4), and I've had an extremely creative week at work, so I'm zapped.] 

Here are some verses that I'm going to try to obsess over, instead of obsessing over whether someone likes me to the same degree that they liked me yesterday:

John 5:44

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for me, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Things I Like Tuesday: Tea

Green Tea - Breakfast Tea - Chamomile Tea - Chai Tea

but not Earl Grey!

photo by Shandi-lee

At the age of three, I was invited to my first real tea party. Wearing a dress three sizes too big and plastic heels that clicked as I walked, I went, bearing my Fisher Price pink tea set. I had had my own tea parties previously, attended by my dad, mom, and uncle, along with various dolls and stuffed animals. But this was a real tea party, with real tea!

photo by pigpogm

There are many guesses as to when tea began as a beverage, but many agree that it happened about 4000 years ago in China. The story goes that Emperor Shen Nung was boiling water, for health reasons, when a leaf fell in the pot. He noticed the water smelled good, so he tasted it, and apparently deemed it yummy. This is how the Chinese say tea was "invented."

The Japanese tell the story a little differently. They say that 1900 years ago, a Buddhist priest named Drama decided to stay awake for seven years and think only of Buddha. He was able to stay awake for five years, but then he started to fall asleep. In desperation, he grabbed some leaves from a nearby tree and began chewing on them. The leaves refreshed him and kept him awake for the next two years. The leaves were tea leaves. 

Other stories include the introduction of tea by a Buddhist monk named Gan Lu in China, and that it came out of the eyelids of the patriarch Zen Bodhidharma. 

 I'm probably going to go with the Emperor Shen Nung story.

photo by ratterrell

What about that delicious Southern nectar known as Iced Tea (which is always, always sweet--no need to specify)? It was invented at the Saint Louis World Fair in 1904. A tea merchant named Richard Blechynden (what an amazingly fun name to say!) couldn't get anyone to drink his hot tea in the hot weather. So, he poured some ice in. Instant hit.

photo by prakhar

When I was in college, I fell in love with tea. I was born and raised on the iced, sweet variety, but I found a new reason to partake--caffeine! I don't like coffee (well, I barely tolerate coffee with my cream), but there are times in one's college life when caffeine is a need. I learned to drink tea and I haven't quit yet. 

I fit in perfectly when I went to England. There, tea is always served with some cream and sugar. I loved it. We made tea constantly in our flat, with our electric tea pot. Electric tea pots are often in place of the American coffee pot--even in the dorm rooms! 

photo by Mastery of Maps

My favorite tea I've ever had was Kenyan tea. It was actually from Kenya. I had it while staying at the house of a couple--one a British missionary's kid, one an American--in Switzerland. I'd love to get my hands on some of that tea here in America. It was like English Breakfast, but stronger and richer. Yum!

other people's weddings

"Oh," she thought,"How horrible it is that people have to grow up--and marry--and change!" 

--Anne of the Island

It's a running joke between me and even mere acquaintances: "What did you do this weekend, go to another wedding?"

This weekend, the answer was yes.

Between shoes, dresses, gifts, bachelorette parties, showers, and gas to get all these places, I have spent an estimated $800 on other people's weddings this year. 

Crazy.

None of those above statements are complaints (except maybe the first one, but Anne said that, not me), just a statement of facts.

I love my friends. I love that they have found love. I love being a part of their big day. [And I hope that someday, they'll get a chance to return the favor :-)] Also, I just love weddings.

I think I have been to my last wedding in 2010, but I already have at least two penciled in for 2011. Bring it on.

Happy Cliché Day!

Today, I have been informed via Twitter (How would I know anything without Twitter? Really.), is National Cliché Day. Luckily, a post about cliches has been brewing for quite a time in my busy mind. The reason for the prolonged stewing is mainly because it took me this long to figure out how to put the accent mark in cliché (and I didn't really apply myself to it; generally, I'm a quick learner). So, let's go at it, this cliché rant--because this will be a rant.


I am not going to rant about how we should stop using clichés. Oh, no. While I have mentioned before that I dislike clichés, it is not because of the clichés themselves (with the exception of "this side of the grave", which makes me shudder and, strangely enough, isn't typically used in a morbid way), it is because they have become clichés. How sad that such colorful expressions become so common that they are no longer original. The whole reason they are clichés is because they were worth repeating--thousands upon millions of times.


This avoidance (like the plague) of clichés carries over to other things, too. A style can become clichéd. Quotes are clichéd. [Mark Twain, C. S. Lewis, anyone?] Bible verses are clichéd. [And this is the saddest of all, in my opinion. Take Jeremiah 29:11. It's a beautiful promise, but it's been printed on approximately 90% of all religious graduation cards out there. It has become so overused, that I never really paid any attention to it until I had to teach it to 5th and 6th graders every week for 10 weeks one summer. It's lovely--one of my favorites for sure.]


The Southern folk are fond of their colorful expressions. We don't just say, "Give me an estimate," we ask for a "ballpark figure." My grandmother didn't just say, "She wasn't very pretty," she said, "When God was passing out good looks, she must have been asleep. Bless her heart." We say someone is "stubburn as a mule," "quiet as a mouse," and "sly as a fox." I love it. Sadly, though, many of these have become clichés.


Maybe we should just continue to churn out some new creative ways of saying things. I agree; we should. But why can't we say "there's an elephant in the room" when that is the most perfect way of saying there is something unavoidable, which should be addressed? Elephants are definitely unavoidable in the middle of the room, and really should be addressed--I mean, why is there an elephant inside?


Basically, I both love and dislike clichés. I want to be able to make cliches--write or say stuff that is worth repeating--and use clichés that are already worth repeating. There's my rant--my two cents, if you will.


So, have a happy cliché day. In fact, I hope you are tickled pink, happy as a clam (or a lark or a pig in the mud) by today and all its clichés!

Things I Like Tuesday: Fall!

crisp morning air - shivery nighttime temperatures

 bonfires - pumpkins - jackets

orange, yellow, red! leaves

festivals - parties - friends - family - holiday anticipation

(fall is pretty much my favorite)

photo credits: flickr user Munira :)