Every now and then, you just hafta create.
It’s simple. I needed a planner…in the middle of the year.
I had some free time…in the middle of the day.
Problem solved.
papers and such
supplies. inside. outside. crazy eyes.
a workspace that works with the space you got.
also, let’s talk about how much Lee Adama is working my nerves this season of BSG.
Can’t wait to fill my newest notebook (in an overwhelmingly and likely unnecessary collection of notebooks) with ink and things to remember. yay.
it’s always so hard to figure out exactly what to blog about post-blog neglection. i mean, along the way i’ve had all these wonderful ideas and exciting possibilities, but since i woefully didn’t write any of them down, they’re lost somewhere in the back of my mind.
it’s also challenging because even if i could remember them i wouldn’t want to overwhelm you with weightier issues and thoughts (yes, i have them from time to time) when you would surely be unprepared due to my leaving you in solidarity for so long. so here’s where i’ll start. i’m going to give you a short list of some of my MOST favorite newly-ish discovered blogs and since almost all of them can be used as a segue into those unnamed “other things” i haven’t told you about recently, i think it’s a good plan.
#1 GOODREADS.
it’s in all caps because it’s so awesome. my new friend anna (click her name for her blog) introduced me to it, and since i have committed to a slightly ambitious reading plan for the year, it’s phenomenal and perfect.
#2 bookmania.
i know two in a row is revealing my geek nature hard core, but this blog is just SO wonderful. inspiration galore and it’s not just words; they post pictures too, so now you have no excuse not to go.
#3 The Blog.
designer Jon Contino. his tumblr is fun, but his portfolio is where it’s at. it makes me drool. (click here to swoon alongside me) also i really love it when people put articles in front of words and thus create a definitive tone. fun.
they take fun pictures and literally show you how to dress like the nerds in them. it’s awesome! and there’s a girl version too. clever, clever.
i’ll stop there because 4 is my favorite number, and i also think that gives you pah-lenty to enjoy for now. i promise to come back soon and debrief the Lord of the Rings series with you since i finally processed through finishing it.
-j
i have loved OK Go for a while now, and their creativity always astounds me, but this. this is gold.
i’ll probably watch it twice a day for the rest of forever.
So the other day at work I had the most ridiculous conversation with three of my sweet kindergartners. All girls as if the following conversation wouldn’t be enough proof. It all started because one of the 5 year olds kept talking about how one of the other 5 year olds was her boyfriend. It went like this:
Me: You’re too young for a boyfriend.
G: I’m SIX years old. (this stated with an eye roll so intense I’m still amazed it didn’t hurt her)
Me: Ok, well why do you need a boyfriend?
J: BEcause, we like boys.
Me: Well then what does that mean?
G: We have a friends and it’s a boy.
Me: So you have lots then?
J: Nooooo. A boyfriend is someone you’re gonna hafta marry.
S: I’m gonna marry my daddy even though he’s gonna be a grandpa when I’m old.
J: YOU CAN’T MARRY YOUR PARENTS!
G: Yeah. Because he’ll be dead when you’re old.
[everyone shrugs and continues coloring pictures of tinkerbell]
and that friends is why i love my job.
To feel today what one felt yesterday isn’t to feel– it’s to remember today what was felt yesterday, to be today’s living corpse of what yesterday was lived and lost. -Fernando Pessoa (Portuguese Poet)
Man. Those poets know what’s up. Am I right?!
Recently I’ve been going through Celebration of Discipline, and this week the chapter on the discipline of service really stepped on my toes and encouraged me all at once. I have a lot of friends who love to serve. Some serve with kind words and letters of affirmation, some sacrifice time to just sit and listen, some spend their weekend cutting grass or babysitting, and some invest the little money they have in organizations that meet “the least of these” right where they are.
I’m sure you know lots of people who will serve too, but as I was reading this particular chapter I wondered, “How many of us are willing to be a servant?”
Foster writes, “Self-righteous service comes through human effort. It expends immense amounts of energy calculating and scheming how to render the service. Sociological charts and surveys are devised so we can ‘help these people.’ True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, divine urgings. Energy is expended but it is not the frantic energy of the flesh.”
He continues to later say, “Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. It can serve only when there is a “feeling” to serve (“moved by the Spirit” as we say). Ill health or inadequate sleep controls the desire to serve. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need. [...] Self-righteous service is temporary. It functions only while the specific acts of service are being performed. Having served, it can rest easy. True service is a life-style. It acts from ingrained patterns of living. It springs spontaneously to meet human need.”
What I think we so often forget is that we are called to be servants, to be slaves. To die to ourselves and daily esteem those around us as higher and more important than we are. And when we do that, when we seek Christ first and love our neighbors fully, we become servants.
It shouldn’t be about serving, about working to check something off a list so we feel holier. Instead it should be about seeking, being fully present and meeting needs around us so faithfully that we hardly realize when we do it.
I like to serve others, but I would rather be a servant. Who or where do you serve? Do you think it’s easier to serve or be a servant?
I was reflecting the other day (before 2012 actually began) about 2011, and I thought that since it’s time for a new one, it might be fun to share some of my favorite moments of the year. I learned an awful lot in 2011, and the Lord was very gracious to teach me some very important things about Himself. I think I can say with confidence that I experienced lifechange, and I’m really just not sure what more I could ever ask for. So here they are, [A FEW OF] my most favorite moments of last year (in chronological order).
we love a good game of signs.
File this one under, things I want to be part of. And by “want to” I mean, I’m probably going to become a professional salsa dancer AND a professional photographer. Recently I’ve stumbled upon this up and coming wonder called The Skillery and because this is my blog because I love y’all, just haaaad to share.
click this picture for their twitter page
And holy cow, it’s like the jackpot of all jackpots for learners everywhere. (I’m a learner) (I’m ecstatic) Basically they’re out to provide opportunities for the creative and talented in a community to teach the ready and willing. The subject matter varies profoundly, but the outcome is the same. You enter as old, regular you, but you leave with a new skill, understanding, or passion-you, but better! What?! The coolest. In fact, in case you decide not to visit their site (stupidly because you’re busy) read them explain what they’re trying to do here (because goodness, they’re good with words):
Visit their site, follow them on twitter, then tell me when they offer a cooking class, just in case I miss it. (yeah right, like that’s going to happen. I’m waiting for that cooking class like nerds are waiting for the premier of The Avengers movie)
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I need a date to the midnight premier of The Avengers. Takers?
So I met this site via THIS fun girl’s twitter, and now I’m kind of obsessed with it.
It’s called Emotional Bag Check and it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You go to their website and see this:
Then you choose which you have and see one of these:
THEN you get emails from people with a song of encouragement and sometimes even sweet messages, or your songs and sweet messages get emailed to someone else. It’s humanity at it’s finest! The interwebs are getting all Galatians 6:2 on us!
Go! Try it! It’s the most fun.
