Saturday, July 19, 2008

Franciscan Benediction


I love my husband and love to steal from his blog....

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation, and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Band Nerds, Unite!


    Rachel, one of my best friends, got married last October. For her bridal gift another best friend, Anna, and I got her tickets to the Drum Corps International Southeastern Championship in Atlanta, GA.  We plan to play in Atlanta the afternoon and evening before, spend the night in a swanky hotel, and then enjoy the show at the Georgia Dome the next day.  


    I was in the marching band in middle and high school, so I may appreciate this more than the average Joe.  Laugh if you will, but I cannot describe to you how excited I am!


    Drum corps is a little different than high school marching band (okay, a LOT different) in that it is only brass and percussion instruments, making the sound quality completely different. Plus, the members are INCREDIBLY talented on their instrument as well as their marching technique.  You wouldn't believe the intricate, lightning-fast formations they make while tearing the music to shreds - in a good way.  


    Anyway, if anyone can relate to my elation for this fantastic event, let me know... Or if you just want to testify to the greatness of band-nerdiness. 

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Saturday, July 5, 2008

I seethe.


Even as I type this, I still can't believe it actually happened.

Let me set the stage:    

Yesterday, Jim and I decided to celebrate our July 4th by going with a group of friends up to Turtle's Back Falls to enjoy a picnic and slide off dangerous rocks into freezing cold water.  Altogether, there was seven of us that made the trip so, in order to carpool, we took a friend's late '80s model 15 passenger van (a "sweet ride" as Jim put it).    

If you have ever been there, you know that you park at Gorges State Park and hike about 3/4 of a mile to the falls.  Now, however, they have closed off the Park access for renovations and there is no where to park except beside the road among the "No Parking Any Time" signs.  When we arrived we saw about 15 other cars that had parked illegally so we decided to follow the crowd.  Our reasoning was that any parking ticket we received wouldn't be so bad split 7 ways (it doesn't make it any less illegal, I know, but we had driven a long way just to turn back).  So we parked and made our way down to the falls.  

After a fantastic, relaxing, beautiful time, we hiked back to find (not to our surprise) a cop behind the van with his lights on.  I glanced at the other cars and, of course, they all had tickets.  We approached the vehicle, ready for our consequences.  Our driver, Josh, went to get the registration and his license, the cop following him.  Josh has naturally "sleepy, soft eyes", an attractive quality (in any other situation).  In addition, after swimming in the river, his eyes were dry and RED... you can probably see where I'm going.

Deputy Fife (as he will be referred to hereafter) then said to Josh, "Give it to me straight, man, have you guys been smoking pot today?".  Of course, Josh denied it, respectfully, but firmly.  Deputy Fife, however, convinced of his detective skills, said loudly to the park ranger there with him, "I smell pot, I'm gonna search the van."  He proceeded to have us sit in a row in the grass (yes, just like on Cops) while he tossed our packs and the vehicle.  He treated us like dumb pot-head teenagers the entire time saying things like, "This won't take long if you're not lying to me", and "Yea, everyone says they've never smoked pot before".  He even said "Well, I'm gonna search the van and show you what pot smells like".  Just an all around jerk, in my opinion.  Apparently, there was no chance that maybe we had NOT smoked pot.

After searching the van, of course yielding nothing, he said to us, "Well, I guess you guys slipped through my fingers ... I'll just be honest with you, I really believe you smoked today".  It was a wretched feeling to drive away knowing that he still thought that.  I can't imagine what people feel like that have been wrongly accused of murder and live their lives in prison... sheesh.  

The good news is that we didn't get a parking ticket for some reason.  My mom said it was because he didn't want us to file a complaint.  I would have rather paid for part of the ticket and hear him say, "Well I guess I was wrong, sorry guys".  It's like the famous play, "The Crucible" where the main character is told to admit (falsely) to witchcraft and he refuses, upon pain of death, for "... it is my name!!"  

I know this is talking about deacons... but it still works:

1 Tim. 3:7 "... He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap."

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Oh, Her Hair!


     Meg Ryan is one of my favorite romantic actresses.  Further, Sleepless in Seattle is one of the best romantic movies of all time.  Last night, Jim and I rummaged up our VHS copy and snuggled on the couch (if he's embarrassed that I indulged this information, he shouldn't be... it's things like that that make him my prince).  
     Meg Ryan is known for her beautiful, perky hairstyles but I think her hair is the most gorgeous in Sleepless in Seattle.  It's that haphazard/classic/graceful look that my hair never does.  
     The subtitle of my blog ("I got my hair layered today") reminds me how long it's been since I've had a haircut.  I'm usually the no-nonsense-cheap-Great-Clips-haircut kind of girl, but I've had it with my stupid hair.  My last "layered" haircut was awful and now it won't lay right or do anything I want it to and so I end up pulling it up in a ponytail which furthers it's damage and breakage.  I need to just break down and spend the money for a worth while haircut.  Any recommendations for a good stylist??