Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Stars.

Driving home on Franklin Road tonight, I found myself wrapped up in one of those contemplative, and simultaneously peaceful moments I do not want to forget. I spent the evening with good friends sharing a meal, laughing, and discussing a book called The Secret Message of Jesus. As I turned my jeep onto the dark road headed home, my mind was spinning as fast as the tires with thoughts about the future, Jesus, and tomorrow’s schedule.

It was a beautiful, crisp fall night so I opened my sunroof, nudged the temperature dial closer to heat, and turned on Sixpence None the Richer singing It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. (Yes, I know it’s ridiculous to listen to a Christmas song in late September, but something about their arrangement of that song makes me full of wonder in the deepest part of me.) Lost in the melody and curious thoughts of angels singing in the sky, I looked up and was in awe of the view. There were millions of stars twinkling above me with an occasional cloud as thin as the “see through cookies” my Grandma used to make (my official name for my favorite kind of cookie she baked). The soothing sounds of the music and the tiny specks of light filling the sky enveloped me. What was the sky like the night of Jesus’ birth? What was it like 33 years later? And now here I am over 2000 years later under the same stars. What does my future hold? And the question I’ve been thinking about since it was posed to me through a book in college and now recently in various conversations about life and the Kingdom of God. Who am I becoming? I once read a challenging statement that we are becoming who we’ll be forever. Tonight looking up at the stars, that idea inspired me. Inspired me to be more aware of others & what’s happening around me. More aware of our history. More aware of how I spend my time. More aware of what matters. More aware that God is real.

Growing up I was more aware of the night sky. I don’t know if it’s the city lights or if it’s the clouds of a busy schedule that distract me, but tonight I was reminded why I miss the darkness of the country. I’d forgotten how the night sky makes my heart come alive. No more.

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Welcome Back McFriends


So I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty McPumped for the return of Grey's Anatomy tonight. I love the story of these characters and have missed my friends at Seattle Grace. Read the Grey's Writer's blog today if you're a fan too...

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Perfect Fall Ingredients

My Saturday has been fairly routine. A weekend routine I love: sleep past 6 am for a change, eat a leisurely breakfast on my couch while watching the TBS Saturday morning movie (or today Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 on DVD), and then slip on shorts & a t-shirts and throw my hair in a pony tail so I can go run errands and exercise.

As I walked the path at Granny White Park and stopped for groceries, I couldn’t help but smile. It was rather hot outside, in fact I finally had to roll up my windows and turn on the AC in Boy Scout. But even with the machine-made cool air, I smiled:
hints of fall are every where…

The leaves are starting to all have a hint of yellow on them and make a rustling noise when the breeze sweeps through them. The first pumpkins were on display outside of the grocery store. The city of Brentwood employees were busy changing out the patriotic banners in the shopping center with fall ones. I had to keep repeating, “You’re here to buy body wash, you’re here to buy body wash” in my head at Target so I wouldn’t get sucked in by the aisles and aisles of Halloween candy and decorations. And every major television network is broadcasting college football right now.

There are so many things I love about the changing of seasons. One of them is how it seems like every year, I magically find myself in the middle of a perfect day that sums up everything I love about that particular season. Isn’t it funny how a simple thing like the weather outside can just perfectly set the scene for moments you’ll remember forever and look back on fondly year after year? I think that’s what I love the most…the memories that a new season awakens and the possibility of creating new ones.

Since today was too hot to be one of those perfect fall days, here are three favorite days from the past couple of years:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Mary Alice
A couple of years ago it was a cloudy, chilly afternoon and I found myself unexpectedly done with work about 3 pm (I was still splitting my time between Ground Force and nannying). I was wondering what to do with the gift of extra time when Mary Alice called. She was at Frothy Monkey studying and wondered if I wanted to keep her company. So I joined Mary Alice at one of the tables outside on the deck at Fro Mo. It was perfect: they had heaters turned on at each table plus we each had on a fleece jacket and warm beverage to keep us cozy and warm. We sat outside sipping hot cocoa talking about how perfect it was outside and plotting our next move to make the most of the first almost “cold” day of the season where neither of us had to be working. There’s really only one solution to that dilemma: grilled cheese sandwiches made to perfection thanks to George Foreman, tomato soup from Bread & Company (it’ll change your life), and watching the movie Serendipity. We plan to re-create this day on the first cold day this year.

Pre-Thanksgiving Feast with the Baileys
Last year I was in Dallas for work and enjoying a few wonderful days with Stine and Steven. They both share my appreciation for making the most out of fall days and lucky for us, it was unseasonably cool in Dallas during my trip. We decided to have a pre-Thanksgiving feast in celebration of the cool weather and the fact that we were together. Stine and I made a whole day of it. We started the day off by taking a heavenly walk around a beautiful lake Stine had discovered near their apartment. It was one of those mornings where you needed long sleeves even though the sun was trying to peak around the clouds. After our walk, we grabbed some smoothies to tied us over until our feast and went home to plan the meal and trip to whole foods. We flipped through Stine’s Apple’s of Gold cookbook and decided to make the following:
- honey baked Virginia ham (we actually bought this at the Virgina Ham store)
- zucchini casserole (so creamy and covered with crushed up crackers)
- rolls sprinkled with chedder cheese
- salad with apples and almonds
And of course dessert…snickers bar cookies.
With our list in hand we headed off to Whole Foods. Not only did we get everything we needed for our feast, but we also picked out three pumpkins that were just begging for us to decorate them.

When we got home from the store, we left the door to the apartment open so the cool fall breeze could come in the apartment, lit their apple-scented Yankee candle, said hi to Steven who was watching football and set to work on the meal (for the record Steven is such a good cook, we told him he had to let us do it all so we could improve our cooking skills). We split up the menu and each did our part to make each dish while Steven kept us laughing in between plays of his football game. In no time at all, the oven was working its magic while we cleaned up the kitchen and showered. We then savored every bite of our pre-Thanksgiving feast by candlelight. It couldn’t have tasted better if it’d been Thanksgiving Day. And although I can’t remember for sure I’m pretty sure we convinced Steven to then let us watch one of the movies that Stine and I can quote in it’s entirety and never tire of. It was probably Serendipity (yes, again). Or When Harry Met Sally. Even though we forgot to decorate our pumpkins, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Boston with Farrah
On my flight home from Dallas, I was lucky enough to score a free plane ticket that allowed me to accompany Farrah on a trip to explore Boston and help her find an apartment to make her upcoming move there a little easier. It was early November and the perfect Boston fall experience. We spent our first morning in Copley Square, the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens just soaking in the beautiful colors the trees were painted with and their reflections in the ponds. In the afternoon we made our way past Quincy Market and followed the red trail to the Old North Church were we stopped in a very New England-ish coffee shop to warm up and read the paper for apartment leads.
Then we ventured into our favorite area (where Farrah now lives): Beacon Hill. Here we found a café that was love at first sight…with white twinkle lights around the windows, desserts that make you drool plus Italian food on the menu, and a name like Café Bella Vita, how can you not love it? In fact, we loved it so much we returned the following night for dinner.
And if all that (and all the memories from this trip I don’t have time to mention) wasn’t enough, on my last morning there we were able to watch them putting up the giant Christmas tree outside of Macy’s (don’t even get me started on how much I love Christmas…just ask Farrah how I instantly turned into an 8 year old girl again the moment I saw the tree). Lately, Farrah and I constantly talk about moments from this trip we loved and are already scheming for a similar weekend in Boston next year.

I can’t wait to see what this year’s fall has in store. I am certain I’ll have new memories to add to this list. After all, it only takes two key ingredients: cool weather & good friends. Does it get any better than that? No wonder Thanksgiving is in the fall.

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Sunday, September 03, 2006

After the Last


Last night I was driving home from a retreat where we discussed lots of great plans, ideas, and most importantly how to make people feel loved and embraced. This favorite song about love came to mind, and I’ve listened to it countless times today. Few songs can give me chills and move me to tears on the 147th listen, but this song is one that always seems to do both. Here are the lyrics…

After the Last

After the last tear falls
After the last secret's told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that's just too hard

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

After the last disgrace
After the last lie to save some face
After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
After the last dirty politician
After the last meal down at the mission
After the last lonely night in prison

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We'll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we'll look back on these tears as old tales


'Cause after the last plan fails
After the last siren wails
After the last young husband sails off to join the war
After the last "this marriage is over"
After the last young girl's innocence is stolen
After the last years of silence that won't let a heart open

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We'll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we'll look back on these tears as old tales

'Cause after the last tear falls
There is love

Lyrics by Andrew Peterson and Andrew Osenga

Picture taken by Christine Bailey

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