No, this is not a hopefully romantic post about some melodramatic, unrealistic future I've conceived for myself...but rather, an exciting announcement that the new website is finally up and running!!
Alethea insists that the repetitive photographic presence of Kirstin (the owner) and me on the website is sure to guarantee "lots of action" for us. I think she meant in a business sense, but you never can tell with that girl. Regardless, I do, for some bizarre reason, make quite the showing. Perhaps it had to do with Sunday's fiasco of trying on all the costumes so as to have pictures to show of all the dresses/characters we offer. For some reason, the people in our building now think that Kirstin and I have some sort of psycho-emotional disorder, but Justine's presence with the camera clearly proved it an elaborate photo shoot. Unfortunately, of the good fifty or so people who saw us, it did not include whats-his-face from The Hills, in front of who's balcony we *happened* to take all the pictures. You know. In case he happened to wander out there and gaze upon our fabulous presence and fall madly in love with us. And we definitely had some great shots. I think the best one, which sadly is not shown on the site, is of Kirstin, the mermaid, combing her hair with a dinglehopper. I am also now quite enamored with the Strawberry Shortcake dress and may or may not have been caught doing a little prancing around my building in it.
Bonus: it's like Where's Waldo--count how many times my picture appears on the site...
Winner's prize is negotiable ;)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Quote from my boss...
"Her specialty is controlling naughty girls..."
Referring to...that's right...ME.
Referring to...that's right...ME.
Friday, January 04, 2008
In the rain, the pavement shines like silver...
As I drove home today, I thought the weight of the rain would bring my car to a standstill. Today it rained, hard. Not really hard enough to stop traffic, not even hard enough to slow a determined bicyclist. It was just heavy. Life felt heavy. And as I dusted off a day's work, I watched the sky purge itself all around me. I needed to purge too.
Tonight it's 57 degrees outside, which for some of you isn't cold. But it's definitely enough to bite just a little when the rain falls down on your face. I'd just finished running at the gym. Hot and sweaty, something lured me downstairs again and out the door into the night. Having just hopped off the treadmill, my body was numb to the chill, embraced its coolness even, but I was determined to walk out in it long enough to let it numb me the other way around. My tank top left arms bare and free to feel it all. I've been oddly closed off, but let the night and my recent turn of events take me in a new direction. I was listening to the rest of a sermon about emotion and fear, dealing with some of my own demons. The piercing cold felt nice. It felt nice to feel...to think...and to really pray. I realized that I let Christmas waltz right past me this year. I let the entire thing happen to me without hardly acknowledging the One I was supposed to be celebrating. I completely missed it because I was so selfishly distracted by my own petty ideas of desire, chasing carefully justified dreams. I was simultaneously horrified and amazed--at both my behavior and God's loving pursuit despite it. The pastor closed in prayer. I switched to my music and a song by Shane and Shane narrated my story.
Many people have heard me both joke about and discuss seriously how I don't believe in love. Turns out that has been a bit of a dramatization too. In the rain, I think I shined brighter than any of the misty lights shimmering in the rivers of runoff water. I couldn't help but want to dance--literally dance like a crazy person--like people do when they are in love.
The Love of God. That's a love I believe in. I have felt it, and it is so sweet. And if one day God graces me with the blessing to love a man even half that much, what a beautiful, beautiful thing it will be.
Then, from the heights of that high, that's when the most amazing thing happened: I almost died. I was crossing the intersection on my way back home and a car utterly barreled through the red light...so close in front of me that it was only the wind created by it's speed that halted my steps--one more that would have laid me out flat on the pavement, in the silver and the lights. It took a moment for the reality of the situation to sink through the numbness, the joy and the cold that had left me oblivious to the world outside. Moments ago, I was singing Amazing Grace and now by the grace of God I was still standing and able to sing.
So worth it..
Tonight it's 57 degrees outside, which for some of you isn't cold. But it's definitely enough to bite just a little when the rain falls down on your face. I'd just finished running at the gym. Hot and sweaty, something lured me downstairs again and out the door into the night. Having just hopped off the treadmill, my body was numb to the chill, embraced its coolness even, but I was determined to walk out in it long enough to let it numb me the other way around. My tank top left arms bare and free to feel it all. I've been oddly closed off, but let the night and my recent turn of events take me in a new direction. I was listening to the rest of a sermon about emotion and fear, dealing with some of my own demons. The piercing cold felt nice. It felt nice to feel...to think...and to really pray. I realized that I let Christmas waltz right past me this year. I let the entire thing happen to me without hardly acknowledging the One I was supposed to be celebrating. I completely missed it because I was so selfishly distracted by my own petty ideas of desire, chasing carefully justified dreams. I was simultaneously horrified and amazed--at both my behavior and God's loving pursuit despite it. The pastor closed in prayer. I switched to my music and a song by Shane and Shane narrated my story.
He will allure her.
He will pursue her,
Call her out to wilderness with flowers in his hand.
She is responding,
Beat up and hurting,
Deserving death.
Offerings of life are found instead.
She will sing, she will sing, oh to You
She will sing as in the days of youth.
As You lead her away to valleys low,
To acres of hope.
Acres of Hope.
He will pursue her,
Call her out to wilderness with flowers in his hand.
She is responding,
Beat up and hurting,
Deserving death.
Offerings of life are found instead.
She will sing, she will sing, oh to You
She will sing as in the days of youth.
As You lead her away to valleys low,
To acres of hope.
Acres of Hope.
I cried. Tears down smiling cheeks, I glimpsed a small fraction of what that crazy lady at my uncle's church must have felt when she couldn't stop herself from shouting out during the service. I could hear her: "to the world, we look so foolish..." I felt silly singing to the sky, arms open wide, but it felt good. They were singing about me.
Here in the valley,
Walk close beside me,
Don't look back
For love is growing vineyards up ahead...
Though you're in the dark here,
Call me friend and call me lover.
Marry me for good.
She will sing, she will sing...
Acres of Hope
Walk close beside me,
Don't look back
For love is growing vineyards up ahead...
Though you're in the dark here,
Call me friend and call me lover.
Marry me for good.
She will sing, she will sing...
Acres of Hope
Many people have heard me both joke about and discuss seriously how I don't believe in love. Turns out that has been a bit of a dramatization too. In the rain, I think I shined brighter than any of the misty lights shimmering in the rivers of runoff water. I couldn't help but want to dance--literally dance like a crazy person--like people do when they are in love.
The Love of God. That's a love I believe in. I have felt it, and it is so sweet. And if one day God graces me with the blessing to love a man even half that much, what a beautiful, beautiful thing it will be.
Then, from the heights of that high, that's when the most amazing thing happened: I almost died. I was crossing the intersection on my way back home and a car utterly barreled through the red light...so close in front of me that it was only the wind created by it's speed that halted my steps--one more that would have laid me out flat on the pavement, in the silver and the lights. It took a moment for the reality of the situation to sink through the numbness, the joy and the cold that had left me oblivious to the world outside. Moments ago, I was singing Amazing Grace and now by the grace of God I was still standing and able to sing.
How the story ends is
Love and Tenderness
in Him.
Not safe, but worth it,Love and Tenderness
in Him.
So worth it..
Look me in the eye and tell me you don't find me attractive...
Over the dull roar of my engine and the background noise of a burned cd, he leaned over to ask me if today was the last day of my winter break 9-6 schedule. I said yes. And somewhere in the back of my mind, my theatrical side narrated the unspoken thickness in the air, that loaded dialog subtext, my "yes," which really meant, "Yes...after today, my life will fall neatly back into normal."
Thursday, January 03, 2008
They tried to make me go to rehab...
Because I'm a big girl now and will soon be moving away from the comforting coves of the cushy USC area, I've been on Craig's list doing a little searching to find out what kinds of places might be available.
I knew this post was a dead end when I read the title line:
I knew this post was a dead end when I read the title line:
"Completely rehabbed! Just like new! LOOK!"
While the apartment looks decent in the pictures, is going for a fairly good price, and isn't in the worst of locations (like 45 minutes East on the 10)...I'm not sure how I feel about any place that needs to be rehabilitated after its previous tenants. Because there's nothing like finding heroin needles clogging the shower drain...
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Sunrise, Sunset
The funny thing about the real world is that it stops for no man. True, I got a glorious two days off this week in order to celebrate the New Year, but today it's back to the daily grind. Unfortunately for me (and any student that might seek help today), I've spent the last hours in a cold-meds-induced haze, double fisting fluids and trying to keep my head from dropping to my desk in exhaustion. A perfect way to start 2008.
Yesterday I was supposed to resolve something. I didn't. It wasn't because I forgot to do it...my day just didn't slow down enough for me to really ponder what kind of change I'd like to make. But now, with the afternoon lull in full force here at the Center, and after popping round four of Sudafed, I try to think a little before the fog sets in.
A lot of people find resolutions pointless. Mostly because they never keep them. But even though I didn't quite lose that 10 pounds I meant to shed last year, I still like the idea of starting off a new year with new goals in mind.
Goal #1: Finish off those stubborn pounds from 2007.
With the holidays finally over, I can get back to a regular work out schedule and eat like a normal human. Easy enough...but losing weight never seems like a legitimate goal. It's cliche. It's not really a one-time goal, even, achievable in a normal sense. Until I die, the basic principles of eating healthily and getting plenty of exercise will rule my body image existence. But more than anything, I don't like the idea of a weight-loss resolution because it's too simplistic. Not that I necessarily expect to achieve it, but conceptually, it's not hard to drop pounds. You just have to want it bad enough and discipline yourself to do it. And I don't. Still, if I were to wish for the drive to really accomplish one thing this year, losing weight probably wouldn't be it. Granted, it would be nice to look camera-ready at all times, but I guess there are a few other important things that would beat it to the top of the list.
I wonder if part of the reason people like New Year's resolutions is because it gives them something to strive for. Though mine's definitely not a dead-end, Office Space-type job, it's much more of an end than all the means that have led up to it. In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm sitting pretty here. I've accomplished many of the goals that lead up to my place in the real world--getting into college, graduating from college, and so forth. At this point, my ends more than meet--they overlap actually (perhaps only since I am still in the grace period before I start to pay back school loans)--and I don't really have plans to climb the ladder. When I was younger, I used to do a New Year's evaluation, taking stock of my life in several categories--intellectual, spiritual, relational, etc, etc. It turns into a fairly epic journal entry in which I describe things I did well through the year and areas in which I'd like to improve. The unspoken resolutions I make, then, are directly translated from the I Wish I'ds of the year before. As usual, there are plenty of areas of my life that could use some dusting, and rather than wait for the Groundhog to announce the time for spring cleaning, I figure now's as good as ever to start airing things out.
My eyes get heavy. I'd like to blame it on the medicine, but I'm fairly sure that the daunting task of listing my faults is what really inspires my fatigue. The burning paper-cut on my right ring finger is distracting. My tea is now lukewarm. A student wants help on her essay.
Another day, another year...
On Monday I watched the last sun of 2007 set over the ocean. Being on the West coast, where the day ends and the sun dies, I feel my age all the more. 2008 starts to settle in my bones as I wonder if the year ahead could possibly bring as much change as the one preceding it. Out of respect for the older and wiser, I'm through lamenting how ancient I feel. In truth, I've actually felt pretty young lately. But, regardless, I am constantly amazed when I think back over the years gone by. On the cusp of yet another, I am easily nostalgic and perhaps equally hopeful as I look to what '08 has in store--the course my life will take and the ways it will change me forever.
Yesterday I was supposed to resolve something. I didn't. It wasn't because I forgot to do it...my day just didn't slow down enough for me to really ponder what kind of change I'd like to make. But now, with the afternoon lull in full force here at the Center, and after popping round four of Sudafed, I try to think a little before the fog sets in.
A lot of people find resolutions pointless. Mostly because they never keep them. But even though I didn't quite lose that 10 pounds I meant to shed last year, I still like the idea of starting off a new year with new goals in mind.
Goal #1: Finish off those stubborn pounds from 2007.
With the holidays finally over, I can get back to a regular work out schedule and eat like a normal human. Easy enough...but losing weight never seems like a legitimate goal. It's cliche. It's not really a one-time goal, even, achievable in a normal sense. Until I die, the basic principles of eating healthily and getting plenty of exercise will rule my body image existence. But more than anything, I don't like the idea of a weight-loss resolution because it's too simplistic. Not that I necessarily expect to achieve it, but conceptually, it's not hard to drop pounds. You just have to want it bad enough and discipline yourself to do it. And I don't. Still, if I were to wish for the drive to really accomplish one thing this year, losing weight probably wouldn't be it. Granted, it would be nice to look camera-ready at all times, but I guess there are a few other important things that would beat it to the top of the list.
I wonder if part of the reason people like New Year's resolutions is because it gives them something to strive for. Though mine's definitely not a dead-end, Office Space-type job, it's much more of an end than all the means that have led up to it. In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm sitting pretty here. I've accomplished many of the goals that lead up to my place in the real world--getting into college, graduating from college, and so forth. At this point, my ends more than meet--they overlap actually (perhaps only since I am still in the grace period before I start to pay back school loans)--and I don't really have plans to climb the ladder. When I was younger, I used to do a New Year's evaluation, taking stock of my life in several categories--intellectual, spiritual, relational, etc, etc. It turns into a fairly epic journal entry in which I describe things I did well through the year and areas in which I'd like to improve. The unspoken resolutions I make, then, are directly translated from the I Wish I'ds of the year before. As usual, there are plenty of areas of my life that could use some dusting, and rather than wait for the Groundhog to announce the time for spring cleaning, I figure now's as good as ever to start airing things out.
My eyes get heavy. I'd like to blame it on the medicine, but I'm fairly sure that the daunting task of listing my faults is what really inspires my fatigue. The burning paper-cut on my right ring finger is distracting. My tea is now lukewarm. A student wants help on her essay.
Another day, another year...
On Monday I watched the last sun of 2007 set over the ocean. Being on the West coast, where the day ends and the sun dies, I feel my age all the more. 2008 starts to settle in my bones as I wonder if the year ahead could possibly bring as much change as the one preceding it. Out of respect for the older and wiser, I'm through lamenting how ancient I feel. In truth, I've actually felt pretty young lately. But, regardless, I am constantly amazed when I think back over the years gone by. On the cusp of yet another, I am easily nostalgic and perhaps equally hopeful as I look to what '08 has in store--the course my life will take and the ways it will change me forever.
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