The Salty Side

buzy bees.

2011-06-21T23:23:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

As usual, life has been too full - so full that there just hasn't been time for blogging. But I'll save you the excuses and jump straight to the part where I introduce you to Sunset Hill's newest 4,000 community members.

(Okay, so these aren't our bees, I found this photo from a google image search.)

So maybe you've heard us talking about about honeybee planz, or maybe this is news to you, but last Saturday, Kevin picked up a hive of honey bees from Morgantown, IN and brought them to their new home in our backyard.

Kevin and I are the designated beekeepers for the community and are kind of in love with honeybees. Kevin has done more research on how to actually keep bees, and I have mainly just added my enthusiasm to the pot. We are both definitely beginners and are relying on books and more experienced friends to helps us along.

Kevin some received some bee boxes for Christmas and last month Kevin and I painted them and made a stand for them. Here are some pics:

What I love most about honeybees is that they are highly social animals. They have organized and specialized roles and are able to communicate in sophisticated ways. I am so fascinated by them and am excited to get to know them more. Also, I looooove me some honey. If I am lucky, I will become as crazy as this dude someday:

Stay tuned for more about the bees, road trips, and other fun community activities!

lovecare.

sleigh bells in april.

2011-04-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

hello everyone.

This is a post about Christmas. Yes, I know it's almost May and the Easter Bunny's footprints are still fresh in the mud, but I never got around to blogging about some of my favorite Christmas traditions, so I am going to do it now. Plus, to be fair, the weather outside has been pretty frightful lately....

This past Christmas we continued a few traditions that help make Christmas time special for me.

Tradition #1 Get a live tree!
Tim and I hunted for a live evergreen tree at a tree farm near Bloomington. Each year we take great care in choosing the pagan-symbol-turned-commercial-icon that is our Christmas tree. This year we bought one with a root ball and then planted it in our backyard to commemorate our first Christmas as homeowners.

Tradition #2 Decorate!
Josh, Tim, and I got in our jammies (this is mandatory), and took turns hanging ornaments on the tree.

Notice Josh is wearing is hood because it is soooo cold in our house. You may not be able to tell from this picture, but our tree is adorned with several handmade artisan ornaments crafted by local artists.....

Tradition #3 Make ornaments with friends!

A few years ago, we had a party where we all made ornaments out of construction paper and random craft supplies lying around. This year, I decided to revive the tradition at a community dinner one night. Below is a bradybunchesque display o' ornaments:

Clockwise from the top, left: Josiah made a Christmas tree for the Christmas tree (so meta), Tarabee made a stocking out of yarn, Kevin made an advent pyramid, I made a Sunset Hill silhouette and a rainbow baby Jesus icon, Will made some origami...things, Jose made a tribute to himself, Josh made a wintery-spaceship scene, and Sam created a perfect snowflake replica.

Tradition #4 Make gifts and creative wrappings!

Tim and I try to incorporate at least a few handmade gifts for our family members each Christmas. This year we made peppermint lip balm in mini-Altoid tins. I based the recipe off the recipe found here, but tweaked it with some tips from Bean, who used a different recipe to make yummy lemon lip balm.

Also, every year, I put way too much time and effort into wrapping all our gifts with things lying around the house. This year I used phone books, grocery sacks, an old blue D.A.R.E. t-shirt (just say "no"), some old yarn scraps, and some paint pens. Money spent on wrapping = $0

Tradition #5 Spoon with brother!

Okay, so this tradition only applies to Tim and occurs anytime, not just at Christmas. But I included it because it's real dang cute.

Thanks for letting me take you back a few months, even though I am sure you are all excited that we've left Christmas in the dust and are headed for summertime. More seasonally appropriate posts to come.

lovecare.

September and October

2011-04-21T01:31:00.000-04:00

In an effort to catch up on my blogging, here are some highlights from September and October. I know it's old news, but this blog is basically my online scrapbook, so...please join me for a stroll down memory lane.

{{wiggly lines to represent flashback like in 90s TV shows}}

seXRA fest III: September 24 - 25

I could show you a bunch of pictures of dudes playing instruments on stage, but let's be serious, the audience participation is what XRA Fest is all about (HINT: asian girl on left is not me).

Here are some fine lookin' ladiez who managed to keep their shirts on and Kevin lookin' like a nerd (HINT: asian girl on the right is me)

Backyard tunez at the Backyard BBQ (filmed before a live studio audience)

You know it is a successful XRA Fest when most of the audience ends up on stage, shirtless, sweaty, hands outstretched, screaming the lyrics!

punk'd: October 29

This past autumn season, Sunset Hill hosted a Halloween-themed punkin-carvin party complete with screenings of Beetlejuice and Evil Dead.

Kevin carved a classic bike-sunburst-tree scene, Josh created a likeness of the Indiana state emblem, Tarabee decided to throw out the "Halloween" theme altogether and instead carved a dino-mite "Happy Dino-ween" punkin, and I carved my best rendering of the Twin Peaks sign from the hit television serial drama, Twin Peaks (aka "tweaks").

Halloweenballz: October 31

I was a Care Bear for Halloween. This is me at a Circles Halloween event for work.

This is what a Care Bear looks like in moonface.

And this is me being weirded out by my CUH-RAYZEE friends: little-girl-from-all-dogs-go-to-heaven, purple unicorn, and smallwood slut in moonface

Man that's a lot of memories for one blog post (I have to remind myself that people's attention spans are shrinking everyday). So in an effort to accommodate your overstimulated brain, I will stop there.

Thanks for hangin' in there. I'll be back soon.

lovecare.

i'm still here, folks.

2011-04-18T01:02:00.000-04:00

Hey webbudz!

My last blog post was in October - nearly six months ago. I tell you what, when you've been outta the game that long, it's tempting just to abandon the blogosphere altogether. I know, it's crazy talk, but that's how I've been feeling lately.

But I woke up today with a renewed sense of dedication to the cyberworld. I looked in the mirror and with determination said, "Carrie, don't be a quitter. Quitting is for ding-dongs. Would Rebecca Black let a few boring Fridays keep her from looking forward to the weekend? So why should you let a measly six-months keep ya down?"

So here I am. I just organized my all my sweet pics on my new computer and realized there's lots of good stuff that happened that I am sure you (all 6 of you who read this) are just DYING to hear about.

So...stayed tuned!

Oh, and now I can take cool pics of myself with my new web-cam like the cool bloggers do. Welcome to the big leagues, Care.

peace.

more house projects.

2010-10-26T14:56:00.000-04:00

Hey Blogspots.

I realize that I haven't posted in about a month, I'll bet you have been just dying wondering what I've been doing with my life! Actually, a lot, but more about that in my next post.

For now, I just thought I would post some more house pics to update all y'all who haven't seen the house in awhile. We were busy little bees in September.

Before

Add hand-me-down medicine cabinet, add electrical box & light fixture...


Voila! A place to look at yaself and hide ya medicinals.

Step 1: Cut ~~a hole in the box~~ the 1x4s to size

Steps 2 & 3: Sand & Stain the cut pieces (or get your friends to)

Step 4: Poly, sand, poly again


Dry.

Inside of Josh's room completed!

Bulletin Board transformed into jewelry hanger.

My closet. Josh installed wooden dowel rods, Tim added the shelf

Josh's mini-shelves made from the leavins of bamboo flooring

A place to hang stuff.

A place to hang shiny metal stuff.

Shelves in the laundry room!

A place to hang our collection of brooms and mops.

Believe it or not, we are still working on the dang trim. When you start from scratch and cut, sand, stain, and poly each little piece, you realize just how much trim there is in your house. Look around. It's everywhere. Anyway, although using raw 1x4s is a lot more work than just buying finished "trim" with the smooth rounded or beveled edges, it is less than half the price! I also love how substantial and rustic it looks in our little home.

More on life beyond house renovations coming up...

lovecare.

The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010

2010-09-29T16:13:00.003-04:00

MOVE-IN WEEKEND: Aug. 13-15

Moving is always exhausting and draining, no matter when or how you do it. However, this time felt especially daunting, given the five weeks of frantic house renovations that lead up to move-in weekend.

Luckily, we happen to have some really wonderful friends who drove far (and short) distances to help us. When Seth, Julie, Nick, and Mark rolled in to town on Friday night, they found Tim, Josh, Will, Kevin, and I tired and weary, but they were eager and energetic - which was exactly what we needed.

Seth and Julie offered some much needed advice in the plumbing department, since they had done a lot of plumbing on their own house recently. Nick is a git 'er done kind of worker, and started loading up the van almost immediately. With the extra hands and the extra energy, we were able to get everything moved, the old house cleaned, and the toilets and sinks installed and leak-free by Sunday night! We really couldn't have done it without our friends.

We did have a slight setback on Saturday when the electricity in half the house went out. Nate Delong worked diligently to fix the problem, but it ended up being a problem with Duke (go figure). So we finished moving and plumbing at the new house without air conditioning, which was....hot.

A special thanks to: Seth & Julie Rowe, Mark Taracuk, Nick Cattin, Ellie Hansotte, Kristen Svenstrup, Whitney Dather, Nick Felton, Nate Delong, Travis Jeffords, Jessica Adams, Tim Street, and probably more that I've forgotten at this point...

I hope we can return the favor someday.

the bathroom sink crisis.

2010-09-17T14:16:00.001-04:00

Before I tell you about The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010, I thought I would tell you a little more about our wonderful IKEA bathroom sink.

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, Tim and I spent a good amount of time at IKEA debating various purchases. In the bathroom section, we went back and forth between which sink/sink cabinet combinations we preferred. My top choice was the simplistic and economical MOLGER sink frame for $45. However, the only two sinks that fit this stand were a little to modern for Tim's taste. Tim preffered the VITVIKEN sink which measured about 32" wide and 19" deep. The MOLGER sink frame measured 19" deep, but the narrowest width available was 39". After much debating, Tim convinced me that he could mount the VITVKEN sink on MOLGER frame and use the excess 6" to create a small shelf for toiletries. We agreed on this compromise, but because I was still a little skeptical, Tim made me promise that if it turned out well that I would blog about it (hence, this blog post). So....we placed our order for the mis-matched sink and frame and headed to the furniture pick-up where we picked up all the things we had ordered that day.

Late Thursday night (Move-Out Eve), Kevin and Nick F. began assembling the MOLGER sink stand. They were almost finished (and extremely pleased with themselves) when I noticed that some of the pieces looked extremely long. I measured them and realized that the IKEA furniture pick-up dude had given us the 55" frame instead of the 39" frame. This was extremely distressing because IKEA was 3 hours away and because we could not turn the water on to the house until all the sinks and faucets were installed.

On Friday morning, Seth called to let us know what time they would be arriving in Bloomington later that night. He asked how things were going and I told him about our sink dilemma. Seth and Julie realized that they since the were driving through Cincinnati anyway to pick-up Nick C., they might be able to pick up a new sink frame for us! After working out a few details, we had a plan - they would stop at IKEA on the way and purchase the correctly sized MOLGER and then return ours on the way home. Phew - crisis averted!

So Friday night, Kevin and Nick F. were eager to assemble the correctly sized sink frame since they had done such and incredible job assembling the first one. They put the whole thing together in record time, while Tim and some others had gone to Lowe's for some last minute supplies. We excitedly placed the sink stand in its place in the bathroom and then lifted the VITVIKEN sink on top. This is when we realized the VITVIKEN's dirty little secret! While the front edge of the sink rested on the front edge of the MOLGER frame just as expected, the back edge of the sink jutted downward in two places so that it would not rest on the MOLGER frame at the same level. When we placed the sink on the frame, the back of the sink was a about an inch higher than the front due to its irregular shape. It resulted in a sink that was tilted forward like a pinball machine.

It was after 10:00 P.M. when Tim returned from Lowe's and I expected a frustrated and dejected response to our pinball machine bathroom sink. But he really surprised me with his "Can-do" attitude and began brainstorming about ways to fix it. He formulated a hypothesis and with the encouraging grunts of his dude bros, he carried the frame out the to saw, made a few cuts, and the problem was solved!

Kevin gave a few Tim Tayloresque celebratory grunts

The next day the girls took a trip to BB&B and I found the perfect little shelf to fit underneath the sink to store toiletries and some baskets for towels. Notice that the sink is positioned all the way to the right on the frame and that the extra frame to the left is still missing a shelf (I stuck a little basket there for now, but it probably won't stay). It's a work in progress, but we were just glad to have a bathroom sink. Plus I think it looks pretty nice and fits the simple style we were going for.

Once it is completed maybe we'll send it in to IKEA Hacker! Well, that's all for now more posts coming up very soon...

renovation, week 5

2010-09-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

Week 5: Aug 7-13

Week 5 began with a trip to Cincinnati! A friend from days of old got married and Will & Colleen, and Tim's parents were also there. We had a wonderful time at the wedding, of course, but also took full advantage of our proximity to IKEA! Since our kitchen cabinets had gotten damaged during the demolition, we were pricing new kitchen cabinets, countertops, and sinks. After about 4 hours of winding, twisting paths of home furnishings, Tim and I had come to no decisions and were running low on both patience and time. After we left IKEA, we decided to use our brother and sister-in-law's kitchen cabinets, since they are getting new ones (and they are FREE!).

So when we returned to IKEA the next day, we settled on a kitchen countertop, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, bathroom sink stand and a pack of IKEA cinnamon rolls. After some tetris-esque finagling of the countertop, we had packed our loot into the RAV and headed home. (The countertop took up all the space in the passenger seat of the RAV, so I rode home with Tim's parents. Luckily they had decided to come to Bloomington for a few days to help out on the house!)

Back in Bloomington, Josh, Kevin, and Rob had been working hard finishing up the painting. They had bought the Million Dollar Red paint and pretty much had the kitchen finished by the time we got home on Sunday.

So, Tim and his parents got started right away on installing the bamboo floors. Mike came over to offer his expertise and brought Frank along too. We all worked late into the night until Tim realized our neighbors may not enjoy the sound of the table saw at 11:00 pm. However, thanks to a lot of help from Tim's parents, and other friends (like Nate and Laura below) the floors were finished just a few days!

Also, our good friend Mandy (of Schacht Farm fame - I blogged about them here) tiled our entire bathroom floor for us! All I had to do was seal the grout. I wish I had snapped a pic of her working on the tile, but she came while I was at work and knocked it out in just 2 days. She is an amazing lady! See Tim cutting the tile with the wet saw and the finished product below:

Guess how much all that tile cost? $5 from the Restore - Booyah!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Tim's little brother, Nick, drove up from Louisville and helped a TON! One of the many jobs he did was install the shower faucet and Jared put up our new tub surround:

Charlie installed our new door jams:

Also, Josh put dowel rods up in our closets so we could hang our clothes, and made some sweet mini shelves in his closet out of leftover floor pieces. I will share some sweet pics after we finish the closets (we are going to add some shelves).

On Thursday, only three days from when we had to be out of our old house, there was still a lot to do, but things were looking hopeful. Our friends, Seth, Julie, Mark, Nick, Ellie, and Kristen were all coming to town for the weekend to help out, and we were really looking forward to their help, expertise and positive attitudes. However, we weren't out of the woods just yet.......

STAY TUNED for the Bathroom Sink Saga & Tim's IKEA Hack + the Move-out EXTRAVANZA!

renovation, week 4

2010-08-26T17:25:00.001-04:00

Week 4: July 31-Aug 6

My dad, stepmother, and little brother came up for the weekend to kick off week 4! We were going to work on tiling the bathroom, but the drywallers were still finishing, so instead Tim and my dad built a gate in the fence between our yard and the Roses backyard so we could walk easily back and forth. Here is the fruit of their labors.

Someday, we might take the fence down and either leave both yards unfenced, or continue the picket fence around our yard too. But for now, we are confining these lovable critters to one yard only.

We soon realized that we would need to start painting soon, and that meant MORE DECISIONS! Josh and I went to Bloomington Paint and Wallpaper and picked a bajillion paint swatches and Tim and I spent many hours scrutinizing over the various shades. Josh also discovered the Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer, which is kind of fun. We chose lots of vibrant colors and are pleased with our colorful home! Those with subtle tastes, be warned - it's like a rainbow exploded!

Sorry, I didn't snap any good photos during the painting phase! Above is a picture of the kitchen and living room (plus some sweaty dudes) and our bedroom. The photo quality isn't very good for viewing the colors, but at least you can get an idea. Below are the names of the colors in case you want to try to imagine what they might look like...

Living Room: Pale Avacado
Kitchen: Million Dollar Red
Hallway: Prevence Creme
Bathroom & Spare room: Jamaican Aqua
Josh's Room: Cafe Royal
Tim & Carrie's Room: Passion Plum w/ Provence Creme accent wall

Lots of friends pitched in and helped us to prime the enter house, and apply 2 coats of paint on all the walls! We couldn't have done it with out the extra hands!

Stay tuned for week 5, Tim's ikea hack, and the Moving Extravaganza....

renovation, week 3

2010-08-11T13:23:00.000-04:00

Week 3: July 24-30

I forgot to mention an important part of week 2. After debating about flooring for a month, Tim and I drove to Lumber Liquidators to pick out floors once and for all. We had narrowed it down to two options and we were very torn.

But we eventually decided!

We took a brief hiatus from working on the house to party down at Mike and Patty's wedding!

And luckily, the drywall guys were ready to come the next week! Also, the new windows came in and Tim, Jared, and Charlie installed them all in one day! Here are some pics post-drywall:

Hurray for drywall!

Stay tuned for weeks 4 and 5!

renovation, week 2

2010-08-06T17:19:00.001-04:00

Week 2: July 17-23

Mom and Pop Felton came up to Bloomington to help us during our second weekend of renovation. We had pulled up the carpet in the living room to discover cheap thin tile beneath. We soon discovered that this tile was under the carpet in each of the bedrooms as well. John and Maggie helped us pull up the tile in the living room and hallway, but Tim convinced me that it wasn't worth the time and effort to pull up the tile in the bedrooms since we could probably install our floor right over top of it.

The second day Tim's parents were here, Tim asked his dad to take down the wrap that goes around our bathtub. We had originally planned on leaving it up and having the drywall guys hang drywall around it, but Tim said, let's take it down and have them drywall behind it.

Boy was Tim's dad in for a treat when he removed that wrap.

So...I gave the wall a good bleach scrub down and Charlie replaced the rotting wood around the faucets. The toiled was also broken, so we removed it, and since we found water damage behind the shower wrap, we pulled up the linoleum too. I took a pic from outside the bathroom because it stunk so bad.

At our community dinner that week, Tim suggested that we write verses and prayers on the walls of our house to sort of dedicate the house to the community and to God. We had heard of people doing this before in churches or Young Life buildings, but I had never done it before, and it was a really neat experience. Buying and renovating this house had been a stressful and tiresome experience thus far, so it was good for us to remember that in the end, it will be more than just a house, it will be a home and an important part of our community here on Sunset Hill.

Stay tuned for updates on Weeks 3 and 4!

renovation, week 1

2010-08-01T20:16:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, I have been procrastinating on writing this blog post, but here are some pics from the first week of working on our house.

Week 1: July 9-15

This is the view of our living room from standing at the front door. The original plan was to replace all the wood paneling with drywall. So Tim, Will, Kevin, and Josh each picked a wall and started pulling it apart.

They quickly realized that the wood paneling was not only nailed to the studs, but glued and stapled as well. It was extremely difficult to pull apart, and something just didn't seem right. They consulted our friend, Charlie (who we have hired to help us out a little bit) and he confirmed their suspicions that all the walls in the entire house were prefabricated in a factory somewhere (Fort Wayne, to be exact).

Because of this, it was going to be a nightmare to pull down, so we decided just to hang the drywall on top of the paneling. However, we still had to finish pulling the paneling off the walls they had started, and also take down all the trim, etc. Colleen and I were really good at pulling out nails.

This is the BEFORE pic of the kitchen:

As you can see below, we knocked down a wall and built a new half-wall. And when I say "we" I mean, Charlie. We also took down the gross patterned paneling that the previous owner had lovingly chosen to cover the water damage above the side door.

Well, that is all for week 1. More pics to come!

new house. new job. new moon.

2010-07-22T13:14:00.000-04:00

Greetings Bloggees.

I have been wanting to write a new blog post for over a month now, but have just kept pushing it back and pushing it back. I think most of my procrastination can be attributed to the fact that there is just too much to share! But I finally said to myself, "Self, enough is enough." So here are some tidbits.

New House

On June 7, Tim and I signed a bunch of papers and officially became homeowners. Our realtor, Gail, took us out for lunch to celebrate, but to be honest it was difficult to feel like we had done much worth celebrating.

However, on July 9, we began ripping apart the house we just asked the IUCU to loan us a ton of money for....and now we realize that owning a home is a pretty big deal. We feel so lucky to have lots of friends and family to help us out with the never-ending renovation projects!

New Job

Also, I start a new job on Monday! I am leaving the Owen County office at which I have worked for the past two years, and will be working in Monroe County. I am still working at the same agency, the South Central Community Action Program, but with a new title (not to mention a pay increase - booyah!). On Monday, I will be the Circles Coach, which may not mean a whole lot to you, but let me just say that I am extremely excited about the position.

New Moon

And the most important update is that I have finally seen the first two teen-vampire-werewolf movies, and let me tell you they are AMAZING! I mean, they are just as terrible as I expected, and just as awesome. Edward is mysterious and dreamy, and Jacob is a real pro at taking his shirt off... Add some bad acting, cheesy lines, and some cartoonish CG werewooves and you've got the makings of a perfect teen drama....Oh yeah, and Dakota Fanning is in New Moon - BONUS! Tim and I can't wait to see ECLIPSE!

Well, that is all for now, I will post some sweet pics of the house soon!

lovecare.

maritals...

2010-06-23T14:06:00.001-04:00

Hey tobloggans,

This is a blog post about maritals in two parts.

Part I

One time, Tim, Josh and I were in the kitchen discussing what we would do that evening. Somehow tension began to grow between Tim and me. I don't remember why, he probably wanted me to go do something that I didn't want to do....anyway, Tim eventually walked upstairs. Sensing his frustration, I followed him to talk about it. Figuring we could use some time alone, Josh cut his losses and retired for the evening. After Tim and I resolved our issues, we came downstairs to find that Josh had already gone to bed, so we watched an episode of TV and did the same.

The next morning, I attempted to apologize to Josh for having left so abruptly:

"Hey Josh, sorry about last night. Tim and I were having a marital - " I paused to search for the appropriate noun, and just as I had settled on the word "issue," Josh interjected.

"You were having a marital?"

"Haha, yes, we were having a marital"

"Wait, what kind of marital? The good kind or the bad kind?"

"Not the good kind...."

"Well, I guess one could lead to the other."

"This is true...but it didn't last night."

It was funny. So, you can have a marital or you can have a marital. It sounds confusing, but that's why it is funny.

Part II

Last weekend Tim and my mutual best friend, Brett Thompson, married the girl of his dreams, Jenny Hirsch. They are two of the most loyal, passionate, and generous people we know. I am so proud of Brett and how he has grown into a strong and sensitive man and so glad such a wonderful woman fell in love with him.

Even though the ceremony was outside in the blazing hot sun, it was still beautiful. Our good friend, Jeff Mahrt performed the ceremony and said some great things about LOVE and Jenny was gorgeous and Bretty teared up as she walked down the aisle!

Plus, there were so many people from different parts of their lives there. High school friends, college friends, and family friends all together at one sweet party. Tony Gosner flew in from CO, Yoga master Keith Godfrey was lookin' totally fine, Dave and Kenny brought some ERS, Riggsman vs. the YLs, Pankake and friends put it in a cone, and the artist formerly known as Bruggs showed up for groomsman duty, and so many more. There were even some new friends from NOLA!

Also, thanks to Jessica and her fashion blogs, I was lookin' pretty classy. She lent me a dress and some sweet accessories for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. I don't have any sweet pics of my outfit because I was too busy cutting a major rug, but maybe someone somewhere snapped one....

Anyway, not that Brett or Jenny will ever read this blog, but I just wanted to proclaim to all the webs that I love them both and wish them lots of love, not too many maritals, and LOTS of maritals....

lovecare.

minus the husband

2010-06-09T10:03:00.001-04:00

Hey blogspots.

As you probably know, my husband, Tim, is a super rock legend in the band husband&wife. No, I am not in the band, it is just called that....yeah, I know, it's kind of a dumb name, but that's not the point. The point is that Tim and his bandmates were on tour for 10 days in May followed by 6 days of all day recording. This left the wives to savor the beginnings of summer with each other and friends. We used to get really sad and lonely every time they left for tour, but I think Jess and Colleen would agree that we now embrace the opportunity to spend time with our friends without spousal distractions! Plus, it's a great time to get things done around the house (not that I have done this, but I think Jess and Colleen do...)

Here are some highlights from my time husbandless (in stream of consciousness, no capitalization, list form):

upland ard ri, hipstamatic pics, the orrs, party van, running, tortilla casserole, michael jackson, Jared Cheek's stretches, haircuts, making pants into shorts, kaylakitty & jessballs, weeding the garden, young life meetings, aver's pizza, youtubes, hey dixroid, fishing tips from mike johnson, vanilla gelato, blueberry ginger ice, b-carl, nick's, a million sports channels and no reds game, bucket o fries, beer, lung cancer, settlers, dc talk, more youtubes, jam session, pianica, bible study fail, the simpsons, beach body insanity, super stuffed tortillas, scholar's inn martinis, fasone, girls night, gone with the wind, rockit's intermission, getting lost on 465, oberon mini-keg, blockus, late night talks, chicken korma, sophia, constance, chocolate cookies, bible study success, baby badger, barrettes, catholic workers, potluck, sushi, twilight, yard sales....

Phew. Friends are so important in making time away from your husband fun and not terrible. Thank you to all my favorite chill buds. (Wish I had more pics, but I was too busy having fun to adequately document it all)

Sorry if you found this post a little boring. I have more fun things to share in the future...

lovecare.

How to Cope With Job Rejection...for real people...

2010-05-21T15:37:00.002-04:00

Hey all the single Blog-yoncés out there,

Today I am writing about a very serious matter: REJECTION. More specifically, rejection from that job you always wanted, the job you desperately needed to pay your rent and buy your food, or that job that was supposed to be your gateway out of your current life-draining employment situation....

Now, a good friend of mine recently experienced the crushing blow of rejection and so, out of curiosity and obsession with the interwebs, I googled "how to cope with job rejection." I am not sure what I expected to find, but what I found was a plethora of career counselors and executive coaches eager to lift you out of your post-rejection depression with inspiring proverbs and sympathetic stories of personal triumph.

For example, in an article boasting 10 ways to cope with job rejection, the personal career coach expounds upon the following suggestions:

#1 Don't take it personally
#8 Accept responsibility:Don't blame others
#10 Stretch yourself!

Okay #1, even if you know you shouldn't take something personally, sometimes a bruised ego just can't be prevented, and no amount of self-talk is going to shield you from the blow. #8 is simply incorrect because it is absolutely and completely the hiring committee's fault for not hiring you. Period. And #10 is just dumb. She actually suggests literally going to the gym and stretching your interview-weary muscles. She then tells you to find a place in your life where you can "go to the edge" and be extreme. I personally don't think that base-jumping off the nearest high-rise is going to lift you from the throes of dejection (although hang-gliding might...)

Another blog post starts off with, "much like love, getting a job is about making a good match." So...he is basically saying that being rejected by this employer is just like being rejected by that guy or girl you had a crush on all your life (Bryce Hunt, I still love you). Thanks, now you can bask in the memory of that rejection too.....encouragement FAIL.

The main problem with the articles I found on the internet is that they all include some sort of story about how they eventually found the job that they wanted. That is GREAT...for them, but what about you? You are still unemployed, stuck at that dead end job, or left dumbfounded that they choose her over you!!!! They are writing from a place that is far removed from the rejection, but in those first few hours after being rejected, you've got to have a different coping strategy.

So if you just found out that your potential new employer is going in a different direction, try these simple steps:

1. Curse and swear like you've never done before. Make sure small children and your grandmother are out of earshot, then let 'er rip. If it doesn't help at first, try out those really nasty swear words that you aren't really sure the meaning of, but you've heard on movies and HBO original series.

2. Next, you've got to have a physical outlet. If you have to drive home after receiving the call, take a moment before you start the car to pound on the steering wheel with both fists. If you accidentally hit the horn and it beeps very loudly, don't even worry about it. I mean, you don't give a *?#! you just got rejected. Hit the wheel once very hard out of rage, then several more times out of exasperation until you collapse.

3. Bawl your eyes out. I sometimes start this step during step #2.

4. Vent to your friends. The best of friends will repeat steps 1 and 2 with you, and the worst of friends will tell you not to take it personally.

5. Secretly fantasize about all the ways the newly hired candidate could possibly screw up really badly at their new job, sending their employer into a fit of regret and remorse for not having hired you. When you are finished, remind yourself that you are better than that and stop.

6. When you are good and ready, get back on the horse and apply for another job. If you just can't muster up the energy to compose another self aggrandizing cover letter, than pick up an application to subway and fill it out. Sometimes it helps to feel like you are moving on. Even if you aren't, you really are. Oh yeah, and always carry a HUGE binder with you at interviews...it's super impressive.

Okay, so....hopefully this was somewhat helpful to those of you who were recently rejected from a job and are looking for a break from all those career blogs written by people who get paid to write blogs in their pajamas.

I'll share a more uplifting post soon.

lovecare.

getchasef uptadate...

2010-05-18T17:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry you haven't heard from me in awhile, blogosphere. I hope you can forgive me. Since my last post there were some happenings that kept me busy.

Here's the summary:

made an offer on a house that was not for sale
applied for new job
husband left for tour
SPRING BREAK 2010!!!
interviewed for new job
turned 27 years old and received my first "you're getting old" joke from a stranger
halfway completed several household projects
husband returned
got rejected for new job
owners accepted our offer to purchase the house that was not for sale
a volcano in iceland erupted spewing clouds of ash above europe
told volcano to "shut up"
went to italy for two weeks to spite said volcano
gained 5 lbs
returned safely (take that, volcano)
wrestled with gelato withdrawal
gave up on working out
husband left for another tour
decided to update my blog

and the best is yet to come!

take luck.

2010-03-17T14:39:00.001-04:00

Here is my St. Patrick's Day blog post. First you should know that I have decided to call it St. Patty's Day because I think it sounds more Irish. Second, I have a few suggestions for how you might celebrate St. Patty's special day.

You could dress up like a leprechaun. Don't tell me you've never thought about it. You could bleach your hair, carry around a cute little pot o' gold and wear undies that said "KISS ME I'M IRISH" across on the butt. See...

I really think you would look really good in this.

But if you're not into slutwear, you could try commemorating St. Patty by eating tons of Lucky Charms.

I just found this sweet retro box design on the webs. Notice it features the four original "marshbits" as General Mills calls them: pink hearts, orange stars, yellow moons, and green clovers. Over the years they threw in some different marshbit shapes like horseshoes, shooting stars, leprechaun hats. At some point they added whales...does anyone else think that's weird? Oh I just thought of something, you know what would be really good, Lucky Charms Treats! I bet someone else has thought of that. Hold on, let me Google it.....

Cha ching! Those is some tasty-lookin' sweet treats.

If you aren't into super-sugary over-processed food products, you might try celebrating this St. Patty's Day by watching one of Hollywood's finest holiday films. No, I am not referring to the 1993 movie Leprechaun - that movie was terrible! No, I am talking about the highly superior 2000 movie, Leprechaun In The Hood.

A few things you will see in this film: Ice T, marijuana laced with 4-leaf clovers, an "afro pick" used as a weapon, a magical brainwashing flute, and a rap performance by the undead leprechaun and his zombie fly girls.

But if you really want to celebrate right, you gotta remember what ol' Patty himself used to say...

Did you know that Guinness was St. Patty's favorite beverage? Okay maybe that was some other dude named Patty, but either way, it tastes good. And it is especially festive when you can make a perfect clover in the foamy head.

Mmm...

Happy St. Patty's Day!

wifeblog

2010-03-03T13:39:00.001-05:00

I joked for awhile that I should name this blog "wifeblog" because so many of my blog posts are about my husband. I just can't help it, he is such a weird dude, I have to share it with the world.

So here are a few more tidbits about Tim.

He has this sort of OCD thing about having a glass of water on the bedside table when he goes to sleep at night. Each night he fills a glass, carries it upstairs, takes a drink, then sets it on the bedside table. The next night, he does the same. He insists on filling his glass full of water and refuses to drink from the glass he got the night before ("because of floaties"). The other night I took a picture of his bedside table.

(Have you ever seen the movie, Signs?)

A few weeks ago I turned on my camera and this was the first picture I saw:

Apparently, Tim woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and thought "Whoa, I am looking pretty scrubbly. I better capture this moment digitally." I think this was the day he was getting his haircut, so maybe part of him was a little sad and wanted a memento of his time as a teen wolf...

Last week Tim turned 27 years old. Tim didn't want a big group party thing for his birthday so we just went out to eat with a small group of friends. After dinner, James, Tim and I came back home for some cookie cake. Even though it was just Jimmy and me, we still lit up the candles and sang "Happy Birthday" (actually, James sang a solo Happy Birthday while I pretty much just giggled).

That's all for now from the wifeblog.

lovecare.

wheaties.

2010-02-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

I love beer. Growing up, my parents never really drank much, but one time my dad let me have a sip of Bud Light and I swore it was the grossest thing I had ever tasted. Even in high school, when I went through my "let's be rebellious and get drunk" phase, I wouldn't touch the stuff. However, after college, I really began cultivating a taste for beer and now it is my favorite beverage.

A lot of my friends also really love beer, and so it was only a matter of time before someone suggested that we do a blind taste test of beers! Will gets credit for the idea, though there may have been co-conspirators. Will decided our first beer tasting test should compare and contrast different wheat beers. The participants in the taste test were:

Will, Colleen, Kevin, Josh M., other Josh, Jimmy, Tim, and me.

During the blind taste test, we evaluated the beers based on taste, aroma, and appearance, ranked them in order from most liked to least liked, then tried to guess which was which. Will then scrupulously tallied the results which are below. If you don't enjoy beer, you'll probably want to skip the rest of this post...although, you've probably already skipped it by now.

#1 Upland Wheat Ale

Upland Brewing Co. - Bloomington, IN

Score: 38 points

Taste: #1
Aroma: #5
Appearance: #2

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Carrie, Josh M., Jimmy, Will (we have local tastebuds)

#2 Mothership Wit (Belgian White)

New Belgium Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO

Score: 37 points

Taste: #1

Aroma: #3

Appearance: #7

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Will, Tim, Colleen

#3 312 Urban Wheat (Urban Wheat Ale)

Goose Island Beer Co. - Chicago, IL

Score: 33 points

Taste: #4

Aroma: #2

Appearance: #3

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Kevin

#4 Kellerweis
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA

Score: 33 points

Taste: #5

Aroma: #7

Appearance: #6

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Colleen, Carrie (must be girly)

#5 Gumball Head (American Wheat Ale)

Three Floyds Brewing Co.- Munster, IN

Score: 31 points

Taste: #3
Aroma: #1
Appearance: #5

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Kevin, Jimmy, Tim (must be a little bit gay)

#6 Blue Moon (Belgian White)

Blue Moon Brewing Co. - Denver, CO

Score: 31 points
Taste: #6

Aroma: #6
Apperance: #1

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? Josh M., other Josh (must be Joshy)

#7 Bud Light Golden Wheat

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. - St. Louis, MO

Score: 21 points

Taste: #7
Aroma: #4
Appearance: #4

Who loves it (ranked it #1 or #2)? other Josh

Will correctly identified 4 out of the 7 beers, which was the best of anyone. Although, I think we all agreed on was that it was very difficult to discern the subtle differences between the beers (especially since we administered this test during the Super Bowl during which we all had the taste of chili-cheese dip and bacon weave fresh on our tongues). Some of us were really surprised by our ranks and our guesses. Overall, it was a pretty interesting test and we'll probably do it again sometime.

That's all for now. Drink responsibly.

the whiski

2010-02-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

Looking for an optimistic mid-winter sweet treat?

Try this.

I like 3:1 ratio of Ski to whiskey, but you can do 2:1 if you're feelin' bold or 4:1 if you're feelin' wussy.

I just found out you can find Ski at the 7-eleven in Bloomington.

good business.

2010-02-09T11:13:00.001-05:00

Have you heard what Pepsi did in lieu of spending millions on Superbowl ads this year? They decided to give that money away through a grant competition. Check it out! People propose ideas for how to spend the money, and other people, like us, can vote for the causes we think are most worthy. Thumbs up, Pepsi.

While Coca-cola spent millions ($3 mil on the ad space alone) for their Simpsons commercial (which was admittedly pretty entertaining), Pepsi reached into its deep international conglomerate pockets to "refresh" the world, as they say (1).

Now, I am not so naive as to think that Pepsi's Refresh Project is a selflessly philanthropic act. It is a marketing strategy to improve its brand's image and identity in order to sell more product and increase profits. However, that is what businesses do - they advertise to sell more and make more. Why not help others in the process?

Take Miller High Life, who spent its $3 million in ad dollars to promote its brand by highlighting small business owners across the country. Go to their website (if you are 21 or older) to view the commercial and to learn more about the small businesses they highlighted and others that didn't make the cut. Chicago public radio did a piece about the baseball card shop owner mentioned on the commercial. He said the response has been "overwhelming" since the commercial aired last Sunday (2).

Miller is challenging the age-old marketing strategy that only meat-heads and boobies can sell beer. Now High Life is the beer of the "little guy" trying to make it in a world of big business (not to mention bailouts and bonuses). By choosing High Life, you are supporting your neighborhood "little guy." Perhaps this new message will convince a frat boy somewhere that he can drink beer and care about more than football and boobies (I would like to use the word "boobies" as much as possible because it is funny).

To be clear, I am not advocating an increased consumption of either soda or beer. I believe these things should be consumed in moderation, and that we should all buy soda and beer that has been produced or distributed by smaller more local companies (3) when possible (supporting local economies is always better). However, I applaud this shift in corporate advertising and hope others will follow.

Stay tuned for more beverage-related posts....boobies.

Footnotes:
(1) Coca-cola sucks for many reasons. Don't ever buy it (Coke, Sprite, Mr. Pibb, Dasani, Odwalla, etc.).
(2) You can read an article about Tim's Baseball Card Shop here. I'm not sure how long it will be up though. You can also view his website at timsbbcardshop.com
(3) Double-Cola (makers of SKI) is based in Chattanooga, TN and bottled in many places in the midwest. It is an Evansville, IN tradition. I found this sweet mid-century photo of a DC driver in Evansville.

Super Bowl? More like Pooper Bowl...

2010-02-08T13:17:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, we all went over to Jimmy's condo to watch the big game, dressed in blue, and with our best snackies in hand. I even made this sweet Colts slutty tee (you are supposed to wear it without the white shirt underneath and with more skin showing on the sides).

Tim made some little smokies, I made some pretzels with white chocolate and blue M&Ms on top, and Josh made some bacon wrapped tater tots (or Bacotots as I like to call them). Louis and Leah brought blue rice krispy treats, cheese puff things, and the ingredients for blue Tom Collins (sweet and sour mix, gin, and some other liqueur.) Colleen made BBQ wings, Guff made chili cheese dip, and Will made the infamous Baconweave (bacon weaved together to make a large mat, then wrapped around some italian sausage and smothered in BBQ sauce).

Okay, so the Indianapolis Colts were defeated, but I was personally consoled by the gross amount of greasy fatty junkfood I had just consumed. Food is better than football, half-time shows, and commercials.

Here is a post-game picture of me being sad, Josh being pissed, and Tim being...Tim.

Congratulations Saints and Saints fans (and Tracy Porter, even though you were on the opposing team this time, I still love you).

Peyton, there's always next year (I'm saving my slutty tee)...

go cotes.

2010-02-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

Good Luck tomorrow, Peyton Manning!!!

twenty ten resolved.

2010-02-05T14:22:00.002-05:00

Welcome 2010! I am a little late with the "New Year" blog, I know. But here it is, nonetheless.

I do not have any resolutions for this year, but if any of you think of some for me, let me know, and I'll do my best to resolute them.

Also, I am super excited that we can now start saying "twenty-ten" or "twenty-eleven" instead of "two thousand and nine." I've been waiting for this since 1999.

lovecare.

cybernostalgia.

2010-02-04T15:58:00.001-05:00

Long before I had a blog or a Myspace account or a Facebook account, I had a livejournal. Colleen (texmexbean) was the original LJer and I wanted to read all her incredibly insightful and clever posts, so I started my own. I wrote in my livejournal for about 2 years before I abandoned it for less demanding forms of social networking.

I had almost completely forgotten about livejournal until, yesterday, when I noticed that a friend had commented on my blog using her livejournal account. I was immediately catapulted me back in time, and had to look up my old account. After spending about 20 minutes trying to remember my username and password, I was reunited with my 22 year-old ramblings.

If you are a glutton for punishment, you can take a peek at my livejournal, but I wouldn't recommend it. It is pretty embarrassing just how obnoxious and whiny I could be (I am probably just as obnoxious now, but don't tell me, I'd like to remain in denial). However, I did stumble across a few witty gems every once in awhile, mostly comments left by my very funny friends.

I'll just share some highlights.

1. I once wrote a livejournal entry about how I wanted to stop shaving my armpits, but was afraid of what people would think of me. It was an all around annoying entry, but jeffy6toes' comment made it worthwhile:

i didn't know asians had armpits like white people do. cool. i want to say that every other week i put an attachment on to my electric razor and trim up my body hair. i trim my sideburns, neck, eyebrows, shoulders, nipples, naval, pubics, and probably most importantly my armpits. i trim my armpits because when i go to the beach i don't like when hair sticks out real far. i really don't think that anyone should be expected to shave so close that they lose important body oils-male or female-face or pits or legs. trim...just trim like i do. it's not gross. let's lose the expectation to be smooth and silky. let's also keep each other in check and not let our buddy's body hair get gross. icky!

2. Once, when I was living in Chicago, I went to a Bulls game . I wrote an entry about the game and titled it "if i wasn't dating a white indie rocker, i'd be dating a big, black basketball player." To which texmexbean replied:

if i wasn't dating a mexican indie rocker, i'd be dating a white indie rocker.

Oh, that Colleen and her racist remarks...

3. Another time, I wrote an entry about my life in Chicago and asked my friends for some job referrals. husbandandwife responded with this:

i know this dudelady named Debbie that does some work in chicago and might need some help. i think she is an electrician or something. i just remember hearing something about red-lights, but i didn't catch the entire job description. i think she hangs out downtown, at night mostly, in case you bump into her. i'm sure you'd be good at whatever kind of work she needed help with. i guess it pays pretty well.

tell her i sent you. she should remember me from all of the prostitution i've paid her for.

I'll let you guess who "husbandandwife" is.

Thanks for enduring the stroll down memory lane with me. In all my reminiscing, I remembered that I had started a blog back in 2006. I only wrote 2 posts before forgetting about it completely. I decided to merge The Salty Side blog with it and just see what happened. I am not getting rid of this domain name yet...unless I decide to....

You might want to check it out, guy.

lovecare.

not your ordinary cybergiveaway.

2010-02-03T14:50:00.003-05:00

So....this chick, Rachel Thurston has some sweet photography on her website: www.rachelthurston.com

She it totally glam.

She also happens to be giving away a prize to some lucky commenter on her blog. I hesitate to even tell you about it because then you will all enter the contest, thus decreasing my chances of winning. But then I thought that if my friend Jennie was nice enough to post about it on her blog so that I could enter, then I really should tell you all about the giveaway as well. So...I'm like paying it forward...or something like that.

Anyway, check out Rachel's photography at her website, then check out the contest mentioned on her blog post from 1.28.10. (or don't bother checking out the giveaway if you don't want to...I mean seriously it's like a way dorky prize that only dorks would want....really...)

lovecare.

terrible quality bird video.

2010-01-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

Driving home from Newburgh after Thanksgiving break we saw a swarm of crazy birds. Tim made me try to capture the eerie moment with my camera. In addition to having a low quality camera, we are driving and I am and a pretty terrible videographer. Anyways, thought I'd experiment with youtubes and post these somewhere....like my blogs. Sorry this post is so lame.

my wedding resume.

2010-01-12T16:36:00.001-05:00

Yo my bloggaz.

One of my favorite things to do is go to weddings. I love wearing dresses, reuniting with friends, eating good food, drinking good drink, partying down and dancing 'til my feet are so sore I can't walk...

There is something really special about weddings. Although I really loathe the commercial wedding industry that has capitalized on and exploited the sacred ritual, I still love how weddings can bring together all the people you love. How friends and family will travel long distances to be present on the day that someone they love pledges their love to someone they love...forever. And after these loyal travelers witness the couple's promises to each other, everyone gets to enjoy a HUGE party! Tim and I liked to think of our wedding and reception as a big "Thank You" to all the people we love, for being a part of our lives up until that moment, and for supporting us in that moment and beyond.

At our rehearsal dinner, Will Rose said that he likes to think weddings are a little piece of heaven on earth. In our case, I definitely agreed.

In the past half decade, I have been invited to 29 weddings (according to my best recollection). Of those 29 weddings, I was able to attend 72% and had to regretfully decline 28%. At about half the weddings I attended, I had a specific role of some sort. I thought I would share my wedding resume with you, you know, in case you were thinking of including me in a future nuptial event.

I have been...
...a Bridesmaid (thrice)
...an Honorary Bridesmaid (once)
...a Maid of Honor (once)
...a Scripture Reader (four times)
...an Emcee at a reception (once)
...a Bride (once)

Perhaps someday I may have the pleasure of being...

...a Flower Girl
...a Matron of Honor
...a Groomsmaid (Jimmy? Josh? Brett-it's not too late)
...the Officiant (I can be ordained in just a few minutes online)
...a Musician (I am great at the tambourine)

Think about it dudes.

Here's a few pics from some weddings. Wish I had a pic from all of them!

one man's trash...

2010-01-05T16:14:00.004-05:00

...is another man's treasure. Check out the sweet groceries we picked up last week:

5 apples
7 potatoes
2 lbs of green beans
2 Honeydew melons
1/2 lb of mushrooms
5 bunches of green onions
2 bunchs of bok choy
2 heads of broccoli
1 onion
1 large piece of ginger root
1 starfruit

PRICE= $0.00

How did we get all that food for free? The restaurant that had originally bought it was just throwing it away. Our good friends at the Bloomington Catholic Worker, discovered this restaurant and called to share the wealth! The above produce was just a small fraction of the goods they had recovered from the discarded waste pile behind the restaurant. The BCW regularly gathers food that has been thrown away by others, particularly grocery stores and restaurants. These food vendors often throw out edible and usable food due to superficial imperfections, expiration dates, or overstocking. Last week, they found 18 crates full of broccoli!

I was a freshman in college the first time anyone offered me something that had been literally pulled from a dumpster. My friend, Alex Mysliwicz (aka "Alex the Kid") gave me several six packs of Pepsi Blue that he got from the dumpster behind the Pepsi-Cola bottling facility in Bloomington. After inspection, I found that the seals around the lids were all still intact, and decided that the only thing wrong with them (aside from the obvious flaw of creating a blue Pepsi product) was that they had lost some fizz. Alex also gave Tim and his housemates a huge garbage bag full of day old bagels from the Bakehouse.

This practice of salvaging the treasures that others trash is commonly referred to as "dumpster diving." It is a bit of a misnomer considering that one can usually find usable goods without actually entering a dumpster. Though I have been a beneficiary of other people's diving excursions, I have not personally taken the plunge. Not that I would refuse, I have just never been motivated enough to pursue the practice. Mostly because I wouldn't know where to look, but also because I am lazy. If someone invited me, I think I would go along.

Our most recent house guest, David, is also quite resourceful. In the last month that he has been living with us, he's brought home pizza from Papa John's, hot pockets, frozen popcorn shrimp, rotisserie chickens, onions, chocolate milk, oatmeal, spices, and much more. Some of it he bought, but a lot of it he retrieved from grocery stores that had thrown it out.

With the groceries we got from the Catholic Workers we made a bok choy broccoli stir fry- delicious and free. We sliced up the honeydew and served it at our friends' New Year's Eve party (a tasty and healthy addition to the spread). Last night, I baked the apples with frozen blueberries and blackberries for a sweet treat.

If the idea of eating something that others have thrown out doesn't appeal to you, at least let the spirit of dumpster diving encourage you to use everything that you buy.

In an effort not to waste food (purchased or not), Tim and I spent all day on New Year's Eve making a Turkey Gumbo from the turkey carcass leftover from our Christmas potluck. It doesn't look too appetizing in the picture, but it tastes pretty good.

And we still have plenty of turkey stock to make a soup!

Hopefully, this does not make you any less likely to come eat with us!

the big two.

2010-01-04T16:23:00.001-05:00

Tim and I celebrated our two year anniversary last Tuesday, Dec. 29th. I sort of forgot it was our anniversary, but Tim bought me these sweet flowers and we went out on the town for a nice dinner and some desserts.

In a lot of ways I feel like we have been married for a lot longer than two years. Maybe because we dated for a few years before we got married, or maybe just because so much has happened and developed in our lives since then that it seems like a long time. Yet, it also seems like just yesterday Tim was flipping on the Christmas lights that read "Will you marry me?"

The first two years of marriage have been full of joy, stress, heartache, disappointment, frustration, growth, increased trust, increased doubt... During year two, we both experienced acute heartaches and stresses, yet I think we really grew together through them all.

Tim's parents leave tomorrow for Harlaxton College in England, where Tim's father will be teaching for the semester. In talking with them about their trip, we started reminiscing about when Tim spent a semester at Harlaxton in 2005. We remembered what our relationship was like back then, full of infatuation and wonder and intrigue. It was a very exciting time in our relationship, the falling in love time. But as we talked we both agreed that it's so much better now. We know each other so much more than we did back then, and we are so much closer and love each other more. I hope it never stops getting better.

Happy Anniversary, huband!

wrapped.

2009-12-29T15:11:00.003-05:00

Gift wrapping is one of my very favorite things to do. Tim always makes fun of me because he thinks I spend too much time wrapping gifts. But I can't help it, I love doing it. Sometimes I end up liking the way I wrapped a gift better than the actual gift itself...

Each year, I come up with a theme for all the gifts we give. I love coming up with a new theme each year. Last year I used old grocery sacks and leftover yarn, giving all the gifts a very textured look. This year I needed something less time consuming than the yarn wrappings, but still aesthetically pleasing. I also wanted to consider earth-friendly options, when reasonable.

Here's what I came up with:

TA-DA! I was inspired by the really cute polar bear pics I stumbled across in the LIFE online picture archive (thanks Jennie Orr for introducing me.) Each gift was adorned with a cute polar bear, and a "merry christmas" tag that I typed on the typewriter at work.

Materials used:

Reused newspaper from the recycle bin at the Pourhouse
Reused scrap paper from work used for printing the polar bear pics and typing the tags
Glue stick
Scotch tape
Hemp to tie packages together (leftover from my junior high hemp bracelet phase)
Black acid free scrapbook paper (not recycled or reused, but leftover from other projects)

So even though I could have been a bit more eco-friendly than I was, I am still very pleased that I didn't have to purchase anything to wrap my gifts. I also love how they look! If you have any creative gift wrap ideas, let me know! I am already planning for next year...

my chair.

2009-12-09T17:00:00.001-05:00

Greetings blog czars.

I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to a fixture of life at Hotel Feltonia - my chair.

(chorus of "oohs" and "ahhs")

A lady who used to share our building at work, decided to join a religious order. Before she got thee to a nunnery, she sold all her possessions. This chair was one of them, and I was kind enough to offer her a new home.

I love my chair. I love the color and the fabric, I love that it reclines, I love that it's not too big nor too heavy.

However, it has become a source of marital contention for two reasons:

1) My husband thinks I am ridiculous for purchasing another item of furniture for our home because, frankly, we already have too much stuff.

2) When he comes home from work and wants some wife cuddle, I refuse to leave my chair because I love it so much. (I mean, seriously, look how happy and comfy I look in my chair with my slanket!)

So, this past weekend, I was pretty much camped out in my chair because I was battling the onset of a cold/sinus infection and indulging in my drug of choice (Grey's Anatomy) when my chair unexpectedly attacked! While I was in the reclined position, I reached over to the coffee table for a tissue, and the chair suddenly snapped into the upright position. My upper arm got caught in the chair and I struggled to get the chair to return to the reclined position so that I could be released.

My first response was panic, and all I could do was utter little gasps of "ah ah ah ah!". Then the pain came, and it was pretty painful. After I released myself from the chair's grasp, the shame started to wash over me. I had just been the victim of a couch potato casualty. My excess arm flab had become a safety hazard. I could hear a spandex-clad Billy Blanks jeering at me from inside the TV, "You wouldn't have them arm flabs if youda just got them wangs out (1) like I told you." Touche, Billy.

To the right is a picture of the bruise that the chair gave me. Gross.

When I told Tim about my recliner injury, he said, "that's what you get for not cuddling with me."

I guess Tim won this one (2).

lovecare.

Footnotes:

(1) "Getting your wangs out" refers to an exercise in which one extends both arms to each side like airplane wings and then circles them around (not like airplane wings). It is a colloquial phrase - please do not look it up on urban dictionary.

(2) Marriage is not a contest...except for when I win.

christmas illuminated

2009-12-04T10:50:00.004-05:00

I think I have said it before, but Tim and I love Christmas! So much, that I thought I would write some more about it.

For those of you who don't know, my husband is a regular Clark W. Griswold when it comes to Christmas, particularly Christmas lights. One of his favorite traditions from childhood is hanging the big bulb Christmas lights around the house with his dad. He loved it so much that when he went to college he continued the tradition (1), and when he decided to propose to me he did it with Christmas lights (2).

I also grew up with a love of Christmas decorations. I always had my own tree that I would decorate in different ways each year, and even bought some cheesy light-up angel for my dorm freshman year. We are two peas in a pod when it comes to Christmas decorations.

This year, I thought I would walk you through our Christmas traditions.

First, we went Christmas tree hunting with the Felton family the day after Thanksgiving (another tradition). Below is a picture of Tim's brother Dan and his son Alex helping us find a perfect little tree for our house. Next to that is Tim's brother, Nick, posing next to another one of the candidates.

We finally found the perfect little guy, and brought it back to Bloomington the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We got back in the early afternoon so that we could start decorating right away. Tim put up the tree and I baked some gingersnaps and made tea. Then we pulled out all the lights and spent the rest of the night checking fuses and measuring gutters.

The next evening, we decorated the tree. Josh, Tim, and I got out all our ornaments, and took turns putting them on tree. This way, we all got to see each others' ornaments and say, "Ooh, that's a nice one," or, "Good placement." It was a Feltigan tradition in the making.

A few years ago, Brett's Christmas gift to us was about 15 boxes of Christmas lights and an angel tree topper dressed in red. Tim loved the lights, of course, but the angel seemed a little odd (mostly because of her unconventional red dress). We placed her on the top of our tree this year, but added an IU symbol to make her red apparel seem more appropriate. Also, you may be wondering where the yellow contruction paper rocket ornament came from. It is leftover from the year we didn't have any ornaments and asked our friends to make some from construction paper. It was really fun, and we tried to save them all, but only a few survived the move.

The next day, after troubleshooting some extension cord/outlet issues, Josh and Tim finished the lights outside. To the left is a picture of them reveling in their masterpiece (Josh is hugging Tim, but its hard to tell)! Tim was on a serious high after that. He started walking around the house exclaiming, "We need some Christmas lights here, on the ceiling maybe," and, "Wait, I'm concerned because the kitchen doesn't have any lights yet." I had to remind him that Al Gore was already judging us, and that Josh just might crank the thermostat down a few degrees for every strand of lights he put up.

Finally, we ended up with two trees (upstairs and down), outside lights, a strand around the garland above dining room archway, a couple strands for the Christmas cacti, and a strand for the glass head. You'll have to come by and experience for yourself the wondrous holiday spirit that is bursting forth from our little home.

lovecare.

Footnotes:

(1) In college, Tim dressed in Brett's coveralls to stay warm while hanging Christmas lights. When he got the coveralls on, he started talking to himself in some hillbilly accent. He developed this character of some redneck who strings Christmas lights for a living and hung all the Christmas lights as this character, mostly for his own entertainment. When Brett came out to see how it was going, Tim responded only in character. Brett was extremely annoyed by this behavior.

(2) Here is a picture of Tim's Christmas Eve proposal!

go my favorite sports team, score a goal unit!

2009-11-30T14:55:00.001-05:00

Faith Hill and I have one thing in common - a love of American football.

Okay, that's a lie, I don't love football. I just thought that would make a great opening line for this blog post about football.

The truth is that I grew up a basketball fan. I accompanied my father to University of Evansville basketball games, watched Bobby Knight's Hoosiers win championships, and decorated my room with Reggie Miller posters. I knew nothing about football except that the Superbowl provided an excuse for parties, high budget commercials, and "wardrobe malfunctions." In high school, I was on the dance team and we were obligated to attend all the home football games, but I spent more time socializing than watching what was going on on the field. (Nope, I didn't even notice our star Cornerback prancing around out there!(1)) Football was totally lame, I thought.

Then I started dating Timothy Bernard Felton. I was quickly indoctrinated into the world of touchdowns and quarterbacks. Tim's dad grew up in Johnstown, PA, and got his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame. So Tim inherited his allegiences to the Steelers and the Fighting Irish (Remember Rudy?). I soon realized that if I wanted my relationship with Tim to work, I had to start watching football. You know what? It's not so bad.

This year, I reached a milestone in my repertoire of football experience. I attended my very first Notre Dame game. I was amazed by how much a game can impact an entire University. The campus was crawling with fans, mostly alumni, touring the Cathedral and reminiscing in front of their old dorms. Students took advantage of the crowds and sold burgers and brats out on the lawn. The Notre Dame Marching Band performed its traditional concert on the steps before leading the march into the stadium. I now have a better understanding of why Notre Dame fans are so loyal and avid (and so might say, obnoxious). Walking around before the game, I sensed the tradition and energy that emanated from the South Bend soil. Here is a picture of Tim and me with "Touchdown Jesus."

In college, I took a class on Catholicism in early America. I remember my professor explaining that Notre Dame football was an invaluable symbol of Catholicism at a time when Catholics faced fierce discrimination. Entire parishes and neighborhoods would seriously pray for the players to win because Notre Dame football was more than a game, it was a part of their Catholic identity. Knowing a little about this rich heritage helped me to better appreciate all the traditions involved in game day. Even though Notre Dame lost to Navy, it was a really enjoyable day and I am glad that I went.

However, the following week I got to attend an even more important football game. On Nov. 14th, Tim participated in the Turkey Bowl V, an annual pick-up football game in Bloomington. The Turkey Bowl originated in the Feltons' backyard in Newburgh when the Felton brothers and their friends were home for Thanksgiving. Tim brought this tradition to Bloomington and it has become a Young Life leader tradition, although anyone is invited to play. Tim insists on playing each year, though he inevitably gets injured. This year I strongly suggested that he consider sitting out, but there was no stopping him.

Here is a picture of Tim after this year's game:

In addition to the broken nose, he also messed up something in his left shoulder, and scraped a chunk of flesh from his right elbow.

In conclusion, although I never liked football when I was a kid, I now have a fondness for the sport. While I may never become a superfan, I will always love having an excuse to invite friends over and eat fun sports-themed snacks (2).

That's all for now.

lovecare.

Footnotes:

(1) Tim played Cornerback for our high school. Seriously. Need proof? Click here.

(2) Like this:

gobbles and jingles all the way....

2009-11-24T17:12:00.001-05:00

Blogfaces,

I don't know about you, but I am so very excited about going home for Thanksgiving this year. Tim and I haven't been home to Newburgh in a really long time. We just let ourselves get so busy - going here and there and doing this and that, and those four pronouns can really take it out of you.

Anyway, we get to spend Thanksgiving with our three loving families and eat lots and lots of delicious food. One item on the menu can be featured to the right.

This is Tim Street, with his friend, G. Obble. (Tim is the one on the left). This picture was taken last week when he helped our friends at Schacht Farm harvest their turkeys. Look how big and tasty he looks (the bird, that is)! We are taking some turkeys home to our families and saving one in our deep freeze, you know, for a rainy day.

I am also excited about eating mashed potatoes and gravy with my grandma's corn (that is drowning in butter) and Tim's mom's cranberry-orange relish (which only Maggie and I can truly appreciate), and whatever new dish my dad cooks up this year (last year's green bean casserole was really good).

One of the best things about Thanksgiving, is that it is the kick-off to the Holiday Season! The month or so between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the BEST. This will be our second Christmas since being married, and we are very excited about creating traditions for our family and our community in Bloomington. We want to remember God's gift to us through Jesus Christ, and taking time to ask ourselves how we are embodying the love of Christ in our Christmas activities.

In thinking about Christmas, I stumbled upon this group called Advent Conspiracy. Check out their website, it looks pretty interesting. I haven't visited all the pages, but basically, it seems like there are many people out there who have said to themselves, "Wait, what has Christmas become? I feel more and more stressed and tired and broke every year!"

Their suggestions for a more fulfilling holiday season are:

Worship Fully
Spend Less
Give More
Love All

Sounds simple enough, but practically incorporating these ideals into our family's deeply entrenched Christmas traditions will take some creativity and real effort.

Part of my goal to "spend less" this year is to wrap my gifts both beautifully and as sustainably as I can. One of my very favorite parts of Christmas is getting all my crafty supplies out and turning my gifts into works of art! Tim says I spend way to much time creating gift wrap that will only be admired temporarily, but I love doing it anyway. Last year I tried to use only recycled materials, and I want to do that again, but with more creativity and spice! I surfed the web and found this website that had some good tips.

Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas

Anyway, I may write more about this later, but in the mean time, please share your thoughts, comments, ideas, or resources with me.

In conclusion, I will share a joke I just made up:

What kind of key does Dr. Turk use to get into Sacred Heart Hospital on Thanksgiving?

A TURK KEY!

I am so clever.

Have a very Thankful Thanksgiving!

lovecare.

BOO!

2009-11-23T12:56:00.002-05:00

This is a belated, but spooky, blog post about Halloweeny type things. First let me show you some sweet pics of the punkins that me and my nephew-brother (1), Braeden, carved.

This was Braeden's first time carving a pumpkin and we had lots of fun pulling out the punkin guts.

We took our pumpkins into the bathroom because it was too bright in any other room to really view the final products.

EEEEK!!!! That's a scary punkin' face.

I made an XRA punkin.

After Halloween, our nephew (just nephew), Alex, celebrated his 3rd Birthday. Before his birthday party he had been on the phone with Batman (as he does from time to time) and invited Batman to his birthday party. Tim's brother, Dan (Alex's dad), realized how incredibly rude it would be if Batman stood Alex up, so he called his brother Tim for help.

Here is the solution they came up with:

Yup. That's Uncle Tim beneath that Batman costume. I wish I had a better picture, but I was laughing too hard to get a good shot. Alex is showing him his toys, as Batman fumbles awkwardly for Batmanish things to say. Luckily, Alex was too young to notice that Batman kept waffling between a terrible Christian Bale impression and a stereotypical Native American one.

We've decided that this is a great way to earn some extra income, so if you need a Batman for your next birthday party, let us know. (He can also do Superman, Spiderman, Hannah Montana, etc.)

Before I conclude my spooky Halloween blog post, I wanted to tell you all that as I was thinking of a title for this post, I remembered this joke I heard once (2) :

What kind of bee makes milk?

A BOO BEE!!!

Ahahahahahahaha

Footnotes:

(1) Braeden was my stepsister's son so he was my nephew, but then my dad and stepmom adopted him, so now he is my brother.

(2) Dan Palmer, Young Life Club, 2009

addendum

2009-11-19T08:40:00.002-05:00

Josh just reminded me that I left out an important detail in recent Hotel Feltonia history. Please note the following changes:

....Jimmy moved in 'cause he needed a place to stay while he was off work.

Jimmy smashed into the house 'cause his brakes went out.

Jimmy moved out 'cause he went Japanese....

He says that his brakes went out and I believe him. But it is logical to assume that since he smashed into the house late at night, that he was smashed himself. If this is true, than he sobered up real fast, because he did not seem drunk when he came running into the house frantically exclaiming that "something really terrible just happened." Of course, I would guess that smashing your car into the side of a house would be a pretty sobering experience.

This occurred in August, and in case you were wondering, no, it is not fixed yet. Our landlord (who looks like Brett Favre) came over and sort of pushed the wall back into place, and we have to use Zombie style blockades to "lock" the door. Oh well, we don't really care, its in the basement and its not our house. Oh, the advantages of renting! Seriously, who would want to buy a house when your friends are just going to end up smashing it eventually?

my 3 month hiatus, pt. 5

2009-11-18T12:31:00.001-05:00

Sunset Hill Happenings
Bloomington, IN
June - Present

A brief history of Hotel Feltonia:

Tim & I moved in.
Josh moved in 'cause his lease ran out and he was job-searching.
Ryan moved in 'cause he needed a place to stay temporarily until he found his own place.
Brandon moved in 'cause he was supposed to be our roommate.
Brandon moved out 'cause he realized he didn't love us anymore (j/k he still loves us just not roommate kind of love).
Josh moved from upstairs to downstairs 'cause he found a job in Bloomington and became our roommate.
Ryan moved out 'cause he found his own place.
Jimmy moved in 'cause he needed a place to stay while he was off work.
Jimmy moved out 'cause he went Japanese.

Several others have stayed at Hotel Feltonia for short stays, and anyone is welcome!

Monday Night dinners

Will, Colleen, Kevin, Josh, Tim, and I have started eating dinner together every Monday night. After eating, we hang out and talk about things, and get updated on each others' lives. We usually take some time to pray for each other. Guests are welcome to join us anytime, and we have acquired some semi-regulars: Bridgett, Alan, & North Milner, and Louis & Leah Malone IVs, and Whitney Lee Dather. If you haven't been and want to come, just let one of us know you want to come. We may ask you to bring a side dish or a beverage or something, but you are always welcome.

Poopy Puppies

Will & Kevin got dogs.

To the right is Joaquin. He is some sort of crazy mutt thing. Every week we come up with some new breed that we think is in his heritage - Terrier, German Shepard, Pit Bull, hyena, etc. What we do know is that he is very energetic and loves to lick your face. He also knows how to give high fives.

This is Joanna and her pack leader, Guff. She is a pure bred Bassett Hound. She is more stubborn and more complacent. Joaquin wears her out and then she collapses and is the cutest thing ever. They are both really fun and sweet, but also pretty high maintenance for the Roses. Will and Kevin really wanted to get their puppies at the same time so they would grow up together, like Will and Kevin grew up together. Later, after doing some reading up on puppy-rearing, they discovered that getting two puppies at the same time is universally discouraged in the pet world. Shramped.

So the Roses have been trying to choose the right combination of puppy-rearing philosophies and even enrolled the pups in a Puppy Training class at PetsMart. I have gotten a bad reputation for being the "crazy aunt" that doesn't discipline them and encourages all the wrong behaviors. Oops. I am trying to be better, though.

A few weeks ago, Jo and Joacho graduated from their Beginner Puppy Class and this is their graduation picture. (I edited out the weird guy that was sitting in between them) They plan to do the Intermediate in the spring, where they will hopefully learn to stop eating Jose's poo.

I think that's good for catching you all up on the last 3 months. I'll try to keep caught up from now on.

lovecare.

my 3 month hiatus, pt. 4

2009-11-17T08:16:00.008-05:00

The 10k
Indianapolis, IN
Sept. 27

I am not a runner.

I have always hated running. In gym class, we had to run a mile every month, and every time I panicked and ended up walking most of it. I grew up a dancer, and in general, dancers don't run. The muscles that you refine to be able to perform an arabesque or grand jete are not the same ones you need to run a 7 min-mile.

When I was a senior in college, I decided to take a jogging class (looking back at my college transcript, I think I was an underachiever). It was one of the best things I ever did. I ran twice a week and our instructor taught us about different types of running schedules and stuff like that, which was all new to me. When the class was over, I continued running off and on through the summer.

Then I lived in Chicago for about a year, with my good friend, Alyssa, who is a for real runner (I think she has an endorphin addiction). She encouraged me to run my very first race - an 8k race called the Shamrock Shuffle, April 2006 in Chicago. It was really fun, and the only thing that could have motivated me to run in February and March in Chicago.

After the Shamrock Shuffle, I went a long time without running. Then Colleen, Jess, and I signed up to run the Evansville Half-Marathon together. We ran it in Oct. 2007 and it was really hot and terrible. But I made it to the finish line, albeit, after almost 3 hours, but I didn't care! I was just ecstatic to have made it the entire 13.1 miles without collapsing!

After the Half-Marathon, I went a very very long time without running. I ran a 5k this past summer, but it didn't really turn out so well (we don't talk about it). Then I signed up for a 10k Sept. 27th in an effort to make up for the terrible 5k.

10Ks are my jam. The perfect distance for me - just long enough to have to train for, but not long enough to make me wonder if I might die.

My goal was to run under 12-min miles, and I ran about 11-min miles! I know that sounds really slow, but it was a true accomplishment for me. I think that I can run faster, but I just have to work on it. Anyway, the race it self was kind of lonely compared to other races I have run. There weren't a lot of people enrolled, and I ran most of the race with just a couple of other runners in my sight. I didn't like feeling like I was running alone, but it did motivate me to run faster to try to catch up to people. (And also, I did not want to get passed by the speed-walkers).

So....now I am back to not running at all. I am really bad about consistency. I can feel all my muscles turning to mush again, just in time to gorge myself at Thanksgiving. Sometimes I feel like a bear preparing for hibernation - whenever it starts to get cold I want to sit inside and eat all the time.

But when winter is over, and I am done hibernating, I'll be ready for another race!

lovecare.

my 3 month hiatus, pt. 3

2009-11-13T14:33:00.011-05:00

XRA Fest '09
Bloomington, IN
Sept. 11-12

A few years ago, the boys of husband&wife decided to start a record label. I am not entirely sure of the original motivations behind it, maybe they thought it could make some money to help fund the band, maybe they wanted to help produce and promote friends records, maybe it was just the cool thing to do. Whatever the motivation, Mike, Will, and Tim all shared it and Crossroads of America Records (XRA) was born. Though they only have a handful of releases under their belts, the boys put a lot of time and energy into it. They toil out of a love of independent music and the community of people here in the midwest who create it, listen to it, and support it.

This summer, XRA decided to host a music festival featuring all the bands on the label. I think the idea was to promote the bands and the label, but also just to get all their favorite musicians together for one extraordinary weekend of music.

They booked 2 shows: Friday, Sept. 11 @ Russian Recording on S. Walnut and Saturday, Sept. 12 @ Uncle Fester's. A ton of people showed up for the shows and it was an overall success, but it is hard for me to describe in words exactly how amazing and fun it was.

It wasn't just that the music was good, or that the people were great and fun. It wasn't just that we had a barbecue at the Roses, or a super sweet post-show dance party. It was just...everything.

Saturday night, I was at Uncle Fester's watching some of my very favorite people playing some of my very favorite music. Surrounding me were more of my favorite people, and as I looked around at them, I knew that they were watching their favorite people play their favorite music. Before I knew it, we were all singing together, and then we were pumping our fists in the air, and then we were climbing up on the stage. Then we stopped singing and started shouting the lyrics, and some dudes took off their shirts because there was nothing left for them to do but take off their shirts, and in that moment we were all experiencing the pure joy of music.

Now, I know that I sound like some crazy hippie from Woodstock, but seriously it was really fun. I think I understand a little more how Woodstock could have had such a huge impact on people.

Below is a link to a video from XRA Fest Saturday night. It doesn't really compare at all to actually being there, but it is still really funny to watch everyone getting up on the stage and acting like an idiot.

Can't wait for next year!

lovecare.

my 3 month hiatus, pt. 2

2009-11-12T14:48:00.014-05:00

Visiting Jaime Michelle
Asheville, NC
Sept. 4-7

For those of you who don't know, the Felton line-up goes like this:

Jeff (35), Dan (32), Jaime (29), Tim (26), Nick (23)

Jaime is smack dab in the middle of all the bros! Talk about middle child complex. If you ask her about it now, Jaime says she is really grateful for each of her brothers and adores them! But I am sure there were many times growing up when she didn't feel that way.

Tim especially must have been trying for her. Tim is 3 years younger than Jaime, and he remembers following her around everywhere. Jaime used to make Tim walk 10 feet behind her at all times. Tim's mother, Maggie, told me that Jaime was quiet and timid, and Tim "demanded attention." He asked a million questions and talked a lot. (Does this surprise anyone?) Just recently, Maggie described the following exchange from Tim's childhood:

Tim (distraught and crying): Mom, Jaime hates me!

Maggie (consoling): She doesn't hate you, she just wants some time to herself right now.

Jaime (screaming from her room): No, I really hate him!

Since Jeff moved from Philadelphia, PA to Noblesville, IN, last summer, Jaime is now the farthest away sibling. Because of this, Tim and I don't get to see her as much as we would like. That's why we were determined to visit her in Asheville, NC this summer.

We reserved Labor Day weekend to maximize time with Jaime. When we got there, we went dowtown to watch some drum circling, and grab some dinner. We spent the next day at the river that runs along Route 9 and played in the waterfalls, made dinner at home and watched a movie. Sunday we went to a sweet festival downtown, and just hung out at home and talked. It was a GREAT weekend!

Jaime showed us this sweet hole in the middle of the river at Rte. 9! I tried to convince Jaime's dog, Buddy, to get in.

Tim poses for his calendar "Hunks in Waterfalls" coming out in 2010

This is Jaime's roomate's dog, Sythia, and me. We went for a run together and became BFFs.

I always look forward to spending time the Felton siblings. In addition to the fact that they are all great people, I think I am extra fascinated by my in-laws because I never had siblings growing up. I am grateful to have 3 stepsisters, but my dad and stepmom got married when I was in college, so we didn't really grow up together. I am intrigued by Tim's relationships with his brothers and sister, and I love hearing them all tell stories about growing up together. I wonder if they are ever weirded out by how much I like to talk about them...

Well, that's all about our trip to Asheville.

lovecare.

my 3 month hiatus, pt. 1

2009-11-12T12:06:00.011-05:00

Hello Blog.coms,

So, I see that my last post was Aug. 7! Man, you guys must really be missing me by now. I kept telling myself that I was going to write more meaningful posts about things going on in the world, like politics, religion, international affairs, Lady Gaga, etc. But I just ended up being absent from the blog-scene for 3 months. So I guess it's back to the ego-centric ramblings about my life, for now.

This is the first of a series of posts catching you all up on my life. Hopefully I am not too boring.

Sharp Top Cove
Jasper, GA
June 28-July 5

I realized that I never told you guys about Young Life Summer Camp! Actually, most of you reading this probably went to camp, or have been before, and so I don't need to explain what it is. But on the off chance that you happen to have no clue, lemme 'splain.

Young Life is an interdenominational Christian outreach organization that serves middle school and high school age adolescents. It exists throughout the United States and in many countries across the globe. I have been involved since I was a wee teen myself back in Newburgh, IN. In college, I was a volunteer leader at Bloomington High School South, and now Tim and I are on the "Committee" which serves sort of like a Board of Directors for the organization at the local level.

Anyway, we went to CAMP! I mean, leaders take kids to camp every summer, but this was the first summer that we took a group of adults as Adult Guests! Tim and I loved getting to know other adults from our area better, and experiencing YL camp from a whole new perspective. I loved watching Young Life leaders care for young people in such a sincere and simple, yet intentional way. In the midst of hilarious skits, delicious food, and amazing facilities, the camp speaker described Jesus Christ in a way teenagers can understand. Young Life does all this without alienating religious jargon or arm-twisting appeals. I love it. At Young Life, people are accepted exactly where they are.

Plus it is tons of fun. Here are some pics of the adults having some kid fun.

Anne, Abbi, and me getting ready to drop from the "Big Swing"

Tim and Brett Rice sliding down the stand-up water slides!

Tim and me on 1800s night. Remember that beard? Ew.

Okay, so who wants to go to Young Life Camp next summer?

beardface.

2009-08-06T09:41:00.020-04:00

Hey there blogbuds.

This is a blogpost dedicated to the ever-changing terrain that is Tim Felton's face. Speaking as objectively as I can, I would say the face possesses some conventionally attractive features: good symmetry, strong brow, proportionate mouth. In fact, it has even been compared to the likes of Tom Cruise before.

However, these features are not what I love most about Tim's face. I believe two things make Tim's Face stand out above others: Variability and Elasticity.

1. Variability - Tim's face is constantly changing. The design of his facial hair, the bushiness of his eye-brows, the depth of the bags under his eyes....always different. He also changes up his look by varying the length (and greasiness) of his cranial hair. It's unpredictable and exciting.

2. Elasticity - I like to smoosh Tim's face with my hands. He likes to smoosh my face too, but my little flat Asian face is not nearly as elastic. Tim's cheeks stretch out and squish together really nicely, providing minutes of entertainment for the smoosher. Tim also enjoys contorting his face for his own personal entertainment. I have caught him doing this in the bathroom mirror before, when he didn't think I was watching. (He also makes up voices to go along with the faces, but that's another blog post for another day).

If you haven't seen Tim recently, I will update you on the latest look. He had been growing his facial hair out since the end of October and it was longer than you would ever desire a beard to be (unless you are a wizard of some sort). Unkept and scraggly, it was an excellent place to store excess condiments and cookie crumbs.

In case you didn't know, I am not the kind of wife that cares about her husband's physical appearance. I don't care how he dresses or what his facial hair looks like (1). In fact, I sort of enjoy when he looks a little gross, it keeps all the hot ladies at a distance. This being the case, I encouraged Tim to see if he could muster the endurance to grow the beard for an entire year.

But he couldn't do it. A few weeks ago, he decided he was done with the beard and told me he was going to shave it off.

Here is a picture of the beard-removal process (2). He paused for a moment at this point wondering if he should leave the three long pieces hanging down. Josh and I begged, "Please, no." So he continued buzzing.

In typical Tim Felton style, he collected the beard trimmings, created a grotesque beard-ball, and placed it on my plate while I was eating my sandwich. This is my grossed out face.

This is a picture at a friend's wedding later that day.

Josh is just sprucin' it up a little, I mean it is a fancy occasion.

In conclusion, I will leave you with a little collage I made to highlight some of Tim's best looks over the last couple of years. Enjoy.

lovecare.

Footnotes:
(1) This is apparent if you have ever noticed how he dresses or what his facial hair looks like.
(2) I apologize for the chest hair exposure, I realize no one wants to see that, but I was just too lazy to try to crop it out.

On Stealing Blog Posts.

2009-07-28T10:40:00.018-04:00

In which intellectual property is snagged from under my nose.

When you start blogging about your life on a regular basis, you start to experience things through bloggy-colored glasses. For example, you are going about your day and you hear something intriguing on the radio and it gets you thinking, and you think to yourself, "this would make a good blog post." Sometimes, I even start piecing together witty descriptions and clever insights in my mind, preparing for what I might compose later in my blog post.

Well, a few weeks ago, some friends and I witnessed the Grand Opening of Will Rose's mud oven. As we were enjoying the backyard pizza bonanza, I had one of those blog-post premonitions.

I am totally blogging about this later. I need some good pictures though. Crap, I didn't bring my camera....

I asked Colleen if she had a camera, but Josh eagerly intercepted with, "I have my camera in my pocket." He reached into his pocket and tossed the camera to me.

Sweet, now for some blog-worthy photo ops.

I snapped a few pics, and asked Josh to please send the pics to me or post them on the ol' facebook, and he agreed.

The next day, I open my Google Reader only to find this post waiting for me over on Josh's blog, Bravo Deploy Satchmo. (What a dumb name for a blog, by the way (1)).

I got scooped!

Oh well, it was a pretty good blog post, pretty much as good as I could have written about the night (except I probably would have included less about the actual pizza and more about how cute Brett and I look in this picture).

Anyway, if you wanna find out more about the Rose-mud-oven-pizza-parTAY, check out Josh's version. You could also just start reading his blog as it's pretty entertaining(2).

I will be back soon with an original post....unless Josh has already taken that idea too...

lovecare.

Footnotes:
(1) see this post.
(2) Was that a good enough plug?

move, pt. 2

2009-07-22T10:35:00.033-04:00

Welcome to Sunset Hill! (1)

yo yo yo bloggle-heads!

I am sorry that I have been out-of-blogmission lately, but life has been very busy. I have several things I will be blogging about in the near future (you can't wait, can you?), but first things first.

Sunday, June 14th, Tim and I said "Good-bye" to our super cheap, energy efficient, west-side Cooperative apartment and said "HELLO!" to our slightly less cheap, super cute, window A/C-ed, nearer west-side house! Unfortunately, we are not buying the thing, just renting it, but it's all very exciting nonetheless.

I don't know about you, but the process of moving makes me want to vomit a little. I hate packing and moving and unpacking. I always end up losing things, and breaking things and realizing that I have never once in a year-and-a-half cleaned behind the oven...and I get exhausted from it all. So, I enlisted some back-up.

This is Barbara Wenstrup. She created her own major at the University of Cincinnati in order to pursue a career in Professional Organizing, and she LOVES moving. The process of moving incites as much enthusiasm in her it does nausea in me. We hired her mostly for her energy, which is always bubbling over.

In addition to our PrOrg (Professional Organizer), we also have some great friends who lent us their cars and arms for the day! Thanks to Apr-izzle-Wizzle, Jeff Mahrt-heart, Jimmy Mann (a Bloomington legend), and Daniel Robison (the voice of WFIU) for your carloads of help!

Thanks J'Millionaire, and Roses for hours of hard labor, Badgers (and badger fetus) for the use of the trailer, and Orrs for the specialized skills you brought to the table. Also special thanks to the Mushmouths for lending us your baby for the day.

Oh yeah, and thanks to Jessica for her...charm.

Overall, moving day was really fun and exciting. That night we had dinner in our new living room, seated around the dining room table that is now functional. It is my favorite room and I love gathering around a full table with home-cooked food and smiling faces.

Though we are enjoying the extra space and the proximity to downtown, the main reason we moved into this house is because we long to live in more intentional community. What I mean by "intentional community" is simply making an effort to share life with others. Will, Colleen, and Kevin Rose(2) live down the block from our house. This makes sharing life together more convenient. We eat together. We pray together. We help each other with household projects. We share each others' space. We take care of each others' pets(3).

I have never really lived in a neighborhood where you borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor or watch each others' kids. I have had neighbors who I think would do those things, but I have never thought to ask. I have grown up learning how to do for myself, make decisions for myself, provide for myself. And though I believe a sense of personal responsibility is valuable, I believe I have lost-out on a really precious sense of communal responsibility. Taking care of your neighbor, and letting your neighbor take care of you. It has been really great so far.

We have a houseguest, our friend Ryan, for a few weeks, which is really fun. And we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our roommate, Brandon, who is allegedly moving in any day now. He is stealthy.

So come over and hang out with us at our new pad. You can eat with us, play games, watch movies, do Tae-Bo, or sit on our front porch and heckle passing cars!

lovecare.
Footnotes:
(1) The Roses discovered that the name of our little County neighborhood is "Sunset Hill." From the hill on which our neighborhood is built, you can look east out onto the city. It is a pretty sweet view. And if you are downtown (or the parking lot of B-Dubs), you can probably watch an equally sweet view of the sun sinking behind our little hill.
(2) Will's brother, aka "The Guff"
(3) Well, we feed Jose when the Roses are gone. I am sure they would return the favor, if we had a pet. On a side note, when Jose is hungry and cooped up inside, sometimes he goes a little crazy and attacks your ankles. It is so cute.

just a tidbit

2009-07-09T11:46:00.002-04:00

The only thing about the iphone that makes me want to buy one is Snoop Dogg's application.

it's the capital s-n fresh-double o-p, d-o-double g-y, d-o-double g, ya see?

Dorkfest 2009

2009-06-10T15:08:00.007-04:00

So....growing up, I was one of those girls that always tried really hard to be cool. The older I got, the more I realized that this was just an impossible feat. So I eventually learned to start embracing my more uncool characteristics (like my obsession with Dawson's Creek or my aversion to frequent showering). So it was only a matter of time before I found myself engulfed in the quintessential nerdy experience, leaving with me the mark of NERDdom forever.....

Dungeons & Dragons

Okay, so I am happy to report that I did not actually participate in the game, merely spectated with a grotesque curiosity. Like when someone says "eeew, I think this milk is spoiled! Here smell it!" And you go ahead and take a whiff, even though you know it will be completely putrid. My husband (A.K.A. "Ruric the Dwarvan Warrior"), recently rekindled his love for Dungeons and Dragons ("DnD"), when a high school buddy invited him to join a "campaign" this summer. He eagerly agreed and then buried his nose in the DnD manual. He spent the last few days studying and creating his character and backstory. I was really taken aback by the amount of preparation required, and even more appalled by the giddiness that ensued while Tim, Will, and Brett chattered away about elves and magic spells and battle axes....

I guess I sort of thought I would enjoy the game because I really like other dorky things along the same lines. I love fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I also really like to play epic board games like Settlers of Catan. I also really like any excuse to sit for long periods at a time with friends and eat tons of junk food. So, when Tim told me that he was going to play this summer, I was a bit excited to finally witness this cultural icon of our generation firsthand.

So last night, I sat and watched as my friends encountered giant owl-beaked skeleton monsters and evil banshee ladies. They weaved their way through the dungeon, bravely fought their opponents, craftily escaped danger, and rolled lots of dice. I eventually fell asleep on the floor amidst the battling and spell-casting...and 5 hours later, I awoke to the happy sound of potato chip bags being crumpled and discarded. (The game was not finished by any means, they had just finished a level....er, something like that).

Overall, I am glad I went and watched. It was pretty entertaining, and I decided that if someone had lured me into the world of Dungeons and Dragons back in my junior high days, I most certainly would have loved it. But for now, I will settle for making fun of my friends and their geeky past time.

Whether you like to play DnD or prefer snickering at its absurdity, you might like the following DnD related bits of pop culture:

1. James Franco hearts DnD

2. The Milwaukian Comedy Troupe, the Dead Alewives, did this bit about DnD, apparently its pretty funny if you have ever played before. I thought it was pretty amusing and I have never played. This link will take you to a website that has 2 clips. ----> "Where are the Cheetohs?"

3. Everyone should watch the movie Darkon. It is not about Dungeons and Dragons, but the even dorkier practice of LARPing (Live Action Role Play) which is basically DnD on steroids.

Here is a link to the movie's official website. ----> Nerdumentary

Here is a link to the Darkon Wargaming Club's website. ----> Nerdclub

Peace be with you, Blogstaz,

lovecare.

move, pt. 1

2009-06-05T16:16:00.008-04:00

bloogies.

Last week, my office relocated to a new building (shown above). We had to move out of our old place when one of the other tenants moved and we couldn't afford the rent on our own. Before it was home to the South Central Community Action Program's Owen County office, our old building used to house the Center for Behavioral Health (i.e. Centerstone) and before that a Doctor's office. I spent almost a year there, with its institutional white walls, dirty carpet, tiny half windows, and prototypical doctor's office sliding glass window ("Sign in here please, the doctor will be right with you.")

Though our new place is much smaller, it also much more inviting and comfortable. We were also allowed to paint the interior walls! (SCCAP paid for the paint, and our new landlord painted - chaching). As some of you know, my boss entrusted me with the task of choosing the colors for the walls. After much deliberation and facebook consulting, I finally decided on the following colors:

Soft Duckling
Dusted Bronze
Delta Clay
Jalapeno Jelly

(sweet names, huh?)

Anyway, most of you probably could care less about where I work, or what colors I look at all day long, but I couldn't think of anything better to blog about, so deal with it.

Here are a few pics of the interior.

First, is my office! Wall colors: Soft Duckling and Delta Clay

Next, you see our reception area (and our volunteer receptionist, Cindy). Wall colors: Dusted Bronze and Jalapeno Jelly

Aside from the parking wars waged by our neighbors (the friendly Baptist Church, and the congenial Insurance Co.), we are very pleased with our new building. The best part is that we are across the street from the Circle K - Polar Pops - boooyah!

So, if you find yourself in Spencer, IN Mon-Fri between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, stop in and say "Hi!"

lovecare.

Bok

2009-05-20T11:18:00.020-04:00

Greetings Bloggers and Bloggettes,

Today I am going to share with you my secret super-hero identity.

I am known by some as simply "The Gatekeeper." By "some" I mean about 2,000 chickens. And by "chickens" I mean....

CHICKENS!

To the left is a G. Gallus Domesticus. This one, we'll call her Penny, lived a happy life at Schacht Farms on the south side of Bloomington. I say "lived" because she is now in a freezer waiting to be sold at the market this Saturday. You could be the lucky one to eat Penny.

Now, to get back to my superhero status. You see, Penny lives on a big pasture, with lots of grass and bugs and worms to eat. She has lots of room to run around with her friends. All Penny and her friends want to do is live a good life under the sun and the stars, and then pass on her nutrients and goodness to other creatures that can benefit from her protein. However, Penny is dumb as a box of rocks. So when it is time to be "processed" she has a bit of trouble finding her way into the crate in which she will be transported to the processor. That's where I come in!

With the help of my cohorts, the "Wranglers," I assist Penny into the crates. I am in charge of opening the gates to the crates, counting the chickens that are being deposited into them, making sure they are not upside down, or being crushed by their neighbor's claw, and closing the gate once the appropriate number are enclosed. It is a very important duty, and is not without it's fair share of battle wounds. (Penny was a scratcher.)

Some of you may not eat meat because you do not like the idea of our friend, Penny, dying for us humans to have a balanced diet. To you, I say, to each his/her own. However, for the rest of us meat eaters, if you are going to eat chicken, you should only eat chickens like Penny. I'll tell you why.

First, Penny had a good life.

The top picture is of an industrial chicken farm.

The bottom is a picture from Schacht Farms.

Enough said.*

Second, Penny is good for you. At Schacht Farm, Penny not only got to run around, but at least 30% of her diet was from the grass and scavenging in the dirt, the rest of her diet was made of organic grain feed. Most industrial birds are all grain fed, made mostly of corn. This means, Penny will not only taste better than her industrially raised counterparts, but she will be better for our bodies too!

As much as I think Penny should live a good life, and as much as I want her be healthy to eat, the main reason I buy chicken from Schacht Farm is because the money I spend is going to local farmers (who happen to be really great friends!), instead of huge agribusiness.

Remember last summer, when food prices skyrocketed, pushing many people around the world into poverty (or deeper into it)? Did you know that agribusiness corporations profited obscenely from the food crisis? Here is an excerpt from an article in Sojourners magazine from July 2008,

"Monsanto’s net income for the three months ending in February was $1.12 billion, more than double the year before. Cargill’s profits in the first quarter of 2008 were more than $1 billion, up 86 percent from a year earlier. Bunge, a big soybean processor, had quarterly net earnings up 1,964 percent."

I would rather support my friends who are neither exploiting their animals nor their consumers. Also, who wouldn't want to eat chicken that they caught with their own hands?

In conclusion, please go to the Bloomington Farmer's Market every Saturday morning and buy meat and eggs from Schacht Farms. Tell them Carrie sent you.

P.S. You can also toss the frozen chickens around like a football.

* Many chickens sold at the grocery store are now marked "free-range." "Free-range" means that the chickens have access to a door leading out of the huge industrial cages that you saw above. This door could lead to a concrete slab. It does not ensure that the animals have room to roam, or plenty of grass and bugs to eat.

Where do you think we are? The future?

2009-05-13T10:59:00.018-04:00

Hey hey BlogStars,

Today's blog is about the FUTURE. In a way, I feel like we are already living in the future. I mean, we live in a world where anything is possible....literally. How often do we find ourselves in some inconvenient or irritating situation and say to ourselves, "Man! If only someone would invent a machine that would ___________!"? Nowadays, a passerby might very well reply, "Oh, they are working on prototypes for that in Japan right now."

Seriously!(1)

Just take a look at this mobile home that you can buy now. It is called the "I-House" and it looks like the future. It has all sorts of green bells and whistles like a water catchment system, dual flushing toilets, tank-less waterheater, etc. The coolest part is that you can add this extra part onto it called a "flex" room. You can add as many of these on as you want and make a giant I-house complex.

You can take a virtual tour and check out all its fancy features in detail here.

Although I think the I-House is very futuristic, it is small potatoes compared to what Joachim Mitchell is cookin' up with his uber smart brainiac buddies at his "ecological design collaborative" - Terrefuge.

Mitchell was on the Colbert Report the other day, and he seems....wAcKy(2). He has a head full of dirty dreads cascading down his back like a tribal warrior, was clad in a sport coat, and had an intensity in his eyes that implied, "You'll see, Stephen, someday we really will be living in houses made of meat, and traveling in nerf cars, and children will laugh again, and there will be NO MORE WAR OR HUNGER OR SADNESS!!!"

Here is a picture of what Joachim thinks our public transportation system should be someday:

As you can see, it is a large blimp that would be constantly moving at about 10-15 mph, and people would have to hop in the little seats that are dangling below and then hop off when they got to their destination. Pretty PHAT, huh?

To the left is a picture of what we could be living in someday - if we are lucky.

This is a meat house. It is made out of fabricated "3D printed extruded pig cells."(3)

To give you an idea of the large scale of Mitchell's innovation, here is a depiction of what we could see in urban centers around the world someday:

It is a Peristaltic City. I couldn't understand the description enough to paraphrase, so I'll let Mitchell explain in his own words.

"Peristalcity" is a tall building made of a cluster of shifting pod spaces. The pod skins alter the volume locations within. This soft, pliable, sealed, and non-mechanical innovation encapsulates volumetric structures. Textile reinforced hoses execute a peristaltic action. Thus, the modules are enabled to create an articulated motion that is symbiotically connected to an urban armature.

By employing a dynamic spatial application against the traditional organization of core and space, we dissolved the dichotomy between circulation and habitable environments. We have eliminated typological stacking where experiences are vapidly suggested to be diversified by simply designating floors to particular social practices. Instead, we propose a spatial layout that establishes heterogeneous movements, and not just assorted practices, as the criteria for a dynamic assemblage.

Sounds pretty sweet, overall, doesn't it?

Since we are on the topic of sweet ideas about the future, I feel the need to comment that I also enjoyed Pixar's idea of future as depicted in the animated motion picture, Wall-E. I mean, sure our brains and muscles will atrophy, but we won't need them with those sweet floating pod things(4). Also, I love Joss Whedon's future, after Earth is pillaged, and space cowboys roam the new frontier on the edges of the known universe.

But let's bring it back to the present future for my closing remarks.

How awesome is it that I can communicate with all of you everyday via blog/facebook/g-chat/twitter, watch TV on the interwebs whenever I want, heat up food in mere seconds in the microwave, and control the weather with my psychic powers(5)?

Here's to tomorrow!

lovecare.

Footnotes:
(1) Check out Maggie Paino's innovative idea.
(2) Mixed Capitalization used for "wacky" emphasis.
(3) Meat home is a "victimless shelter" because no sentient being was harmed in the laboratory growth of the skin.
(4) Also, training for a marathon would be so much easier.
(5) No, I don't have a device that allows me to control the weather with my mind......yet.

Discography '09

2009-05-11T14:22:00.003-04:00

For those of you who didn't already know, I am a pretty supremo disc golf player. My disc of choice is an Innovo "Champion Beast" distance driver signed by Barry Schultz, translucent yellow for optimal visibility.

My dear friend, Joshua K. Milligan, introduced me to the fine sport of disc golf awhile back, and I have gradually (very gradually) grown fond of it. Josh decided it was only logical to organize a weekly disc golf game throughout the summer, so we kicked it off yesterday at Karst Farm Park.

I must say that I played the best 9 holes of disc golf ever: +6/9 holes. Yes, that is a plus sign before that number 6, as in 6 over par, but compared to my average +12/9, this is a vast improvement. My personal goal was +9/9, which I crushed. Usually, I play with boys who are stronger, more experienced, and generally more athletic than I am, and so playing disc golf can be a bit of an ego bruiser. However, I found out today that playing with people who are better than me is the fastest way to improve my game long-term (just ask Mark Ellis of Discraft Discs)!

So now I am super pumped to improve, and I think you should come play with me!

For those of you who are considering taking up the sport, I have compiled a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

It is cheap. You can pick up a new disc for about $4-10 and you can usually borrow a friend's. Most importantly, disc golf courses are free! You do not have to pay or have some fancy membership to play - unlike its upperclass counterpart.
It is pretty easy. If you have ever thrown a standard beach frisbee, it doesn't take much to adjust to the smaller denser versions.
It is social. While playing, you enjoy plenty of time to goof around with your buds, catch up with an old friend, or test the waters with your awkward match.com date.
It is exercise-ish. This is relative, of course, but compared to sitting at home watching 30 rock, a round of disc golf can seem rigorous. My arm is usually sore the next day, and there is plenty of walking. If you wanted to optimize your cardio, you could jog to your disc and between holes.
It is accessible. In Bloomington there are 3 disc golf courses: Karst Farm Park, Crestmont, and Sherwood Oaks.

Cons:

If you are a fun-hater, you might find the activity offensive.
Also, if you have no arms, you might have some difficulty (unless you are this guy)
That's all I can think of...

Finally, if you are still not convinced, try watching this video of a bro with big muscles throwing discs in slow motion to the Chariots of Fire song. Totally inspiring.

lovecare.

p.s. We are playing at Sherwood Oaks this Sunday at 2:00pm if you want to join.

"wait...isn't hawaii next to alaska?"

2009-05-06T22:48:00.006-04:00

Yo blogstaz!

So, I was just checkin' my tweets and noticed all these links that start with "tinyurl..." and until today I thought this was some new fangled website with a growing cult following. Then I figured out that its just an abbreviated version of longass urls. I felt a bit foolish, but the embarrassment was short lived because it reminded me of one of my favorite phenomena.

Childhood logic - rediscovered.

Let me explain. I heard a podcast of This American Life awhile back titled "A Little Bit of Knowledge." This episode is about "the pitfalls of knowing just a little bit too little." The entire episode was pretty good, but my favorite part was the first Act. Producer Alex Blumberg explores the common experience of discovering that a basic fact of life that you had worked out with your elementary mind, is actually....not quite accurate.

Examples:

In the show, Alex interviews a woman who remembers growing up and seeing signs indicating railroad crossings or school crossings that were all marked with the same abbreviation "Xing." She decided that "Xing" was obviously a word and she pronounced it "Zing." When she was in her twenties, she was walking into work with a co-worker, when she noticed a bunch of geese lingering near the road. She turned to her co-worker and said, "They really should put a Zing sign there for the geese." Her co-worker paused for a long time before replying, "You know.....'zing' isn't a word."

Another girl on the show describes the moment when she realized unicorns weren't real. She was having a conversation at a party. She was in her twenties.

Listening to the radio show made me think back to experiences like this in my own life. I couldn't remember any moments as publically humiliating as the ones in the show, but I did remember the time I saw a rare species of oversized birds inhabiting my front yard.

I was about 7 or 8 and I remember being terrified of these birds that were about half as tall as me. They were enormous, black and scary. As I grew up, I developed a debilitating fear of birds. I would often explain to people that as a child I had a number of traumatizing experiences with birds, one of which was walking home from the bus to discover these strange black birds all over my yard. I remember thinking to myself as an adult, "I wonder what kind of birds those were? They looked like crows....but they couldn't have been crows because they were SO big!" It wasn't until after I had told the story many times that I realized that the birds must have seemed so large in my mind because I was only about 3 1/2 feet tall when I first saw them.

One of my good friends from college once told me that for a very long time she thought that Alaska was located next to Hawaii because they are always featured next to each other on maps.

Another friend recently told me that she grew up thinking that the word "pedestrian" was a curse word. When riding in the car with her father, her father would often shout at the annoying people traveling on foot that got in his way, "Pedestrian!" (usually in a strained, frustrated tone - probably trying to avoid using actual curse words). My friend, however, assumed that the word was, in fact, a naughty word. So you can imagine her shock when her elementary school teacher used the word in class one day. When she got home she confided in her mother, "Mom....the teacher said 'pedestrian'."

I am now convinced that everyone has a story like this. Come on, admit it! You should go ahead and share your story in the comment section. And you should listen the the podcast.

lovecare.

balls.

2009-05-05T11:47:00.000-04:00

dr. horrible's sing-along blog

i may behind the times, but i just discovered this. i love it.

musictubes.

2009-04-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

You may or may not know this about me, but a large part of my childhood and adolescence was spent in front of a television. Whenever I tell people that Tim and I don't have cable, a part of me feels the need to quickly explain that I am not a pretentious hippie at heart - that a piece of me will always be a television fiend just like the rest of the world.

My family used to eat home-cooked meals (or buckets of KFC) while watching Wheel of Fortune and instead of "family game night," we had TGIF. I watched Inspector Gadget before I left to catch the bus for school, MacGyver when I got home, Alf while I did my homework, and, if I was really sneaky, Married w/Children, while I pretended to be asleep on the couch while my parents watched it.

Although television often got me through the daily grind of school work and extracurricular activities, my fondest TV memories are from my adolescent summers. On a typical weekday in the summer, circa junior high, I would roll out of bed around 10 and immediately turn on MTV. MTV, like mainstream radio stations, often played the exact same videos at the exact same time of day. One summer I awoke each morning to the smooth melody and mind-blowing rhymes of Skee-Lo's "I Wish." I would watch music videos through the morning, and only deviate periodically to check out Whose Line Is It Anyway? or MST3K over on the ComCen.

The other night, James Mann and I rekindled our love for watching music videos one after another in visual-audio bliss as we sat on my couch and looked up some of our favorites on the youtubes. It all started with a conversation about those old CD clubs that offered you 16 CDs for a penny, and 1 CD for $145. This led to a conversation about Wilson Phillips, after which we immediately looked up the video to their 1990 hit, "Hold On." We then watched Mariah Carey's "Someday" because James claimed it was her first hit single, to which I countered by queing her actual first hit single "Vision of Love." We then watched about 4 seconds of her new video "Touch My Body," but quickly switched because we realized how much it sucked (especially when juxtaposed to hits from her popstar past), but also because we remembered that Paula Abdul video with Keanu Reeves, "Rush." We then remembered that the best music video ever made was NIN's "Closer." Then we remembered when Johnny Cash covered NIN's "Hurt" and watched the first part of that video, but then I think Jim started to tear up watching Johnny's old wrinkly sad face, so he suggested we move on to some newer vids. So we watched some sweet videos by my new favorite band, CSS. They make good videos...I like "Alcohol."

In conclusion, if you haven't just sat and watched music videos in awhile, you should dedicate some time to it tonight. You won't regret it.

Feel free to post your favorite music videos in the comment section.

[colon-left-half-of-parentheses]

2009-04-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

I have not posted for a few weeks because I have been waiting for some interesting, funny, entertaining tidbit of information to pop into my brain to share with the World Wide Web (or with Seth, who may be the only person that reads this). However, since my brain has been void of such tidbits, I have remained silent.

To be honest, the last few weeks have been plagued with confusion, disappointment, anger, confrontation, frustration, sadness, compassion, and it goes without saying complete emotional weariness. I do not mean to complain about how terrible my life has been lately, or to confess a profound tragedy that has occurred. Maybe you have heard about some of the things I am writing. I would like to be clear that I am not writing about a singular event or incident or person, but several things that have come up in the last month. These incidents have forced me to reevaluate how I respond to others as a friend, as a leader in an organization, most importantly as a representative of Christ.

I guess I am publicizing this for a few reasons.

1. I want to be transparent with y'all about the things I am walking through - I guess that's sort of the point of a blog.

2. I want to encourage you to take a look at your relationships with people. How do you communicate with others? Are you aware of your own faults? Do you approach conflict with humility and empathy? Are you honest? Are you trustworthy? Do you listen? Really?

3. If you are lucky enough to have relationships with people who do trust you, who are honest with you, who are humble and understanding, please tell them how much you appreciate that. Tell them today. Tell them often. Remember that mature, healthy relationships are not to be assumed or taken for granted, they are rare and require much effort.

I hope and pray that through all this that I become a better person. That if I have handled things in an inappropriate way, that I can learn to respond differently in the future. I also hope that the hurts people have incurred along the way will be healed. That infractions on all sides would be forgiven. I guess these things go without saying, it's just that accomplishing them is very difficult.

All of that being said, I am really excited to hit up the Burgh for Easter. We will have a 3-for-1 Easter holiday complete with helping my mom move into a new house, Felton family fun, St. Mary's Catholic Church, BBQ at my dad's. Hopefully, the weekend will also include seeing baby June (Hooper)Mushrush, dying hard-boiled eggs festive pastel designs (perhaps Hannah Montana, Transformers or whatever new-fangled egg decorating kit is on display at Wal-mart), Easter cookies from the Donut Bank, and a brisk 2-mile jog.

[colon-right-half-of-parentheses]

lovecare.

I wasn't kidding.

2009-03-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

Lucky Charms

2009-03-17T11:31:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Here's to a pinchless holiday. For your revert-back-to-elementary-school enjoyment, I have found a fun St. Patty's themed word search and coloring page.

This is how I plan to spend my afternoon.

Come on ride the train (whoo-whoooo)

2009-03-16T13:59:00.000-04:00

March is here, along with some notable dates fo yo calendar. There are the Ides of March, of which you should beware if you are ever head of an ancient empire. Then there is St. Patrick's Day, which is pretty much about avoiding insistent pinchers in green, and is often celebrated by binge drinking [I think St. Patrick might have been the patron saint of Guinness(1)]...

Then there is March 19 - my birthday. This year marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of my birth. Since my loving and thoughtful husband decided to book a tour for his band over my birthday (again), I decided that the best place to celebrate year XXVI would be in New Orleans, LA (where the weather forecast for said birthday is currently 77 degrees and sunny). All I really want for my birthday this year is a tan ("melanoma" is clearly a conspiracy fabricated by Coppertone(2)), and maybe a tattoo of a Julius Caesar dressed as a leprechaun...

As 26 approaches, I find myself in a scenery defined by an unprecedented permanence. No longer a student awaiting the next semester or graduation, no longer hanging on to my current job just long enough to find the next best thing, no longer a newlywed (you lose that title after the first year, right?)...I am profoundly settled. This is pretty new to me, this being settled- not really knowing what's around the corner, or where I'm headed or how I'm going to get there. Instead of thinking in terms of semesters, or years....I start to think about 5-year plans...or even 10-year plans (3).

This is partially comforting, as anticipating change often comes with its fair share of anxiety. But, it is also uncomfortable to be so settled. You start asking yourself questions you've never asked yourself before, like, "Wait, what am I really doing with my life, and why does it matter?" or, "What if I spend my whole life [insert some seemingly futile activity], and never find my true purpose?" Suddenly, we don't have our "whole lives" ahead of us anymore... we're down to like 70% - if we are lucky (4).

I know that if someone else were to actually read this blog, and if that someone happened to be a bit older than me, that they might laugh to themselves in a "wait til you're my age" sort of way. I know that 26 is still young - and it's not that I have a fear of growing older, or even a fear of dying. As I reflect upon my little life, it's not fear I feel, but an odd slow-motion type self-reflection...in which I feel a bit of pressure to reevaluate the course of my life - as if my twenties is a train depot and I've got to choose the train I'll be on for a good long while.

On a rational level, I know the train depot analogy doesn't have to hold true, that there is plenty of time to change trains, but the sense of urgency still lingers in my subconscious.

This year, I have awakened my desire to seek guidance in regards to my life's purpose from a higher power, namely, God. I have been reading the bible with renewed interest and studiousness (couldn't think of a better word). I am trying to push aside some of the cynicism and skepticism I cultivated throughout my early twenties, in order to rediscover (or, perhaps, discover) the childlike faith that Jesus instructs his disciples to have.

So far the results are inconclusive - but I'll keep you updated.

One thing I do know is that I'm going to work hard on that tan.

lovecare.

Footnotes:
(1) He is actually the patron saint of Ireland, but that's no fun.
(2) The author of this blog in no way advocates the prolonged exposure to UVA or UVB rays without adequate SPF protection.
(3) Any references to spawning/acquiring children have been ommitted for purposes of avoiding annoying nosy inquiries regarding time frames and intentions of said spawning.
(4) Calculation barring both an untimely death and any significant scientific advancements prolonging the human lifespan.

I like to do things that Seth Rowe does.

2009-03-12T13:11:00.000-04:00

Hey there blogspots.

Welcome to my blog. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but I was inspired to capture my often pointless, sometimes insightful, thoughts in this cyber-web because of one person:Seth D. Rowe.

Back in the day I used to write in my "livejournal." I loved the livejournal days where a small community of thoughtful journalers could catch up on each others witty and articulate musings. But then along came FACEBOOK. The epitomy of instant cyber-gratification. Who wants to sit and think about what to write in their blog when they are just clicks away from checking out whose status is no longer listed as "in a relationship" (aw, snap!).

So when I saw (on his Twitter status, I might add) that Seth had started a blog, I thought to myself, "I don't have the time or energy to invest in these cyber-relationships." But in my attempt to avoid real work at my place of employment, I decided to check out Seth's blog anyway and remembered the good ol' livejournal days - and I wanted to go back.

So alas, here I am, on Tab #5 of my Firefox browser (after gmail, gcalendar, facebook, and twitter), and I am writing a blog....on Blogger. Now I just have to think of something to say...