Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Day 4

I am thankful for order, control, traditions, and friends.

Every Wednesday, we all get together to watch Project Runway or Top Chef or whatever is on TV and talk and eat during the commercials. 

Sometimes, we do good things, too.

Like making Valentine's Day cards for charities (Some of us are more creative than others.)

I like to be spontaneous, but sometimes, it is nice to have something that you know will be constant. Like Wednesday night TV or Saturday morning brunch or study sessions eight hours before a test. I am thankful that my life is stable. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 3

I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve.

I will serve by leading or serve by serving. I will serve by leading an example and I will serve with all my abilities.
If your gift is serving, devote yourself to serving others. If it is teaching, devote yourself to teaching others.
Romans 12:7
I will stop looking for thanks and I will stop feeling resentful when I don't get a "thank you."
Watch out! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in Heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do--blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-4
I will give as much as I can, as often as I can. 

I'm thankful for my health. I read Kylie's page every day, and it's hard to believe that a girl who lives in my town and is younger than my sister was diagnosed with bone cancer. I sit here, lazily, avoiding my homework, and I know that my family is safe, even though they're 70 miles away. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to any one of them. I'm thankful for their health, too. I really couldn't get through the day if I knew that something was wrong with them, or, worse yet, if something happened to one of them. 

I'm thankful that God always seems to have a hand in my life. Even in small things that most people call "chance" or "luck," I see God looking out for me. 

That's a good thought.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Day 2

Today, I am thankful for my family. I don't seem to appreciate them as much as they deserve. They really have been too good to me. And I know without a doubt that our vacation would NOT have been the same without tiny Hanna here. I would not have made the world's tiniest snowball, nor would I have made a "snow angel" (actually read "snow mixed with dirt angel" seeing as there was only an inch of snow on the ground!) for the first time in 7 years. I wouldn't smile as much, either, because every time I talk to her, she says something funny.

I am also thankful for music. Not just any music, because, let's be honest, some of it stinks (see: The Fray, Nick Carter solo).

I'm thankful that some people can play the piano. I am thankful that I can read music and can at least play the melody of a song. I'm thankful that some people can play other instruments, like the euphonium, the flute, and the guitar. 

But more than anything, I am thankful for the emotions that the song "Zero Percent" by Jason Mraz evokes. Every time I hear it, I feel ecstatic, content, excitement, giddy, and even a bit sad and overwhelmed. I hope I never become callous to this song.


Zero Percent- Jason Mraz
Well our friends on the front porch, well they're telling jokes
And they swing swiftly towards them happier times.
They're expending a line and finding more energy for the effort
And getting distance from that front porch spotlight.
But, us, we found peace in the shadows
Long enough to see the monsters rise.

Candy's got some space to fill in her daydream
Living high on yesterday's lies
Talking to me about some zero percent interest
And how she got a better deal than the next guy.

Oh my God, and the way the lightning shocked us
When we were lost and we were looking down that long deserted highway
Your hair was longer then and now I can remember
See now I remember oh, so well.

Oh, the roads encumbered by cats
They're burning like wet matches
Through my miracle mile mind

You left your thumbprint inside me now for months it seems
But mine only brushes your soft surface
And somehow,
Somehow it leaves me listless
My tongue curls under my lips, oh, oh, yes.
So I can't speak to tell you of the months before I met you

And the way the truth it locked us, oh,
Right 'bout the time after the lightning shocked us
I'll say it again.

When we were young, when we were young and missing
'Round that small New England byway
Our lives they were sheltered then and now I can remember
See now well I remember, oh, so well, almost too well
Well, it's not even being about that anymore
I gotta get you down tonight.

Those tiny fragments of perfection
They please me in a time unchanged
When it's not the same beginning
Or a long-awaited end.

If I knew all the words, 
I would write myself out of here.
If I was all the colors 
I would paint you pretty in gold
In a picture, so I'm told, little sister.

So now I'm sold, little sister
Why don't you tell me all about the sunsets in Sweden
And the laws of Eden
And how you were the rock of Gibraltar
And how they called you "foxy."

Well, that's another whole box of Pandora's,
That's another whole box of them ties.
Slide your foot off the gas
Before we crash
Right back into the median, Lord.

It separates our house
From the middle of the street.
Mi casa, en el medio de la calle. 

Our house.
It's on the front porch where we're telling the jokes and swinging oh, so swiftly toward those happier times.
They're expending all those lines and finding more energy for the effort and getting distance from that front porch spotlight. 
But us, we found some peace in the all of them shadows, oh, long enough to see that monster die, oh long enough to see the monster die. 

Is it long enough? Is it long enough for me?
Oh, my. If it isn't, and if it isn't, and it ain't, and if it don't. If it can't, then it won't. 
And that's just the way that it goes, over and over again.
That's just the way things go.


She said, "Hello, Country Bumpkin"

When a Georgia girl sees snow for the first time...
...she will want to make a snowball. There wasn't a lot of snow at first, but it was enough to make us all happy. And cold. As cliche as it is, it really did feel like we were in a snowglobe (which aren't allowed on airplanes!).

It had only been snowing for less than an hour, but it was still nice to see it.

Baboons...in their natural habitat?

The biggest bear we'd ever seen.


Lovely ladies under a bridge hiding from the snow.

At that point, I had my camera in one hand, a hotdog in the other, and a prayer in my heart that God would keep my feet from becoming frostbitten.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Day One

Today, I am thankful for 
  • Going to the University of Georgia, one of the few colleges with green spaces; I love the way the campus looks when the sun is rising
  • When the clouds ACTUALLY look like sheep.
  • Country music when I'm driving
  • Rock when it's raining
  • Rap on good days
  • Pop on bad
  • Jazz when I'm cooking
  • Bluegrass when country gets old
  • The 366th day
  • Red hair.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

10 Things

That I Like
1. Seat belts
2. Text messages
3. H&M
4. Green tea
5. Automatic spell check
6. Typewriters
7. Clementines
8. Finding a friend in a new class.
9. First coffee dates
10. Banana splits without the bananas

That I Love
1. God
2. The first day of classes.
3. When the call log on my cell phone shows that I have more calls coming IN than going out.
4. Jason Mraz
5. The sky
6. Jazz Music
7. Macs ♥
8. Brightly colored umbrellas
9. Athens, Georgia
10. Prospects of an amazing future.

That I'm Surprised I Like
1. Longchamp
2. Toby Keith's older songs.
3. Bass Pro Shop
4. Service projects
5. iPhones (JUST A LITTLE)
6. Down Home With the Neely's
7. Bell Peppers
8. The song "Mary Jane"
9.  Purple
10. Jewelry

That I Don't Like
1. UGLY BROWN SHOES !!!! (Eco friendly does NOT have to be Fashion hateful)
2. When people touch my hair
3. Fur lining in jackets.
4. Shorts in the winter.
5. Extra-long jeans
6. Thrift/Vintage stores
7.  Katy Perry
8. The Fray
9. Eggplant
10. That when I laugh, my face turns burgundy and stays that way for hours. STOP FLUSHING.

That I'm Thankful For
1. That I have an amazing family
2. That people are embracing the color yellow.
3. That I've proven that I can do anything I set my mind to.
4. That I need help in the things that I don't totally set my mind to do.
5. That I have 4 friends who would do anything for me and I can tell them anything without feeling like I'm weighing them down or bothering them.
6. That I have other good friends who are always there for me, too.
7. That I've been given many more opportunities than my parents and grandparents had. 
8. That I live in America, but am free to go wherever I like (except Cuba and Aruba, but I'm okay with that)
9. That I can read, write, spell, walk, talk, love, 
10. Jesus, bien sur!

This week, I'm focusing on being thankful. I tend to say "Thank you" for a lot of things. I told God "Thank you" for the color of the sky every day last week (it was absolutely gorgeous) and for the stars that I could finally see. I told a friend "Thanks" for holding the door open for me. I told a stranger "thank you" when she told me that she liked my scarf. It seems like I say it every hour. Which is good, it means that my parents raised me to be a polite Southern girl. But I'm starting to wonder what being thankful ACTUALLY means. Right now, I believe that being thankful for something, like the color of the sky, means that you are incredibly glad that it is in your life and you don't know what you'd do if it weren't. 

I think saying "Thank you" should be a humbling experience. Not all the time, of course-- that would be exhausting. Sometimes it is okay to say it just to be polite. But truly being thankful for something has to be bigger than that. If I tell say "Thank you, God; the stars are beautiful," if I MEAN it, I'm saying "It is truly amazing that You are bigger than I could ever be and that even though I don't deserve it, you show me glimpses of beauty in this world." The words mean that you owe the person you are thanking, in a way. 

And I'm falling in love with that idea. 

Thank you, God, for everything you've given me. Everything on the list and everything that wasn't. 

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

To take or not to take...

My sewing machine is glaring at me. I finally fixed her and made stockings, but then I went on vacation and she's been sitting there, unused, ever since Christmas Eve. It's so sad. Her little light is on and everything. In a few hours, I will pack up to go back to Athens and I'm contemplating bringing her. If I did, I would have to buy a card table to put her on, but I'd also be able to sew whenever the notion strikes (it's really awful when I wake up at 3 AM with an idea for a picnic blanket. It starts out so wonderfully-- the lights go on in my room, the fabric comes out of the drawers,...then my face falls when I realize that both my sewing machine and my scissors are a la maison).

I have a hundred ideas for Valentines/Mardis Gras/birthday/Special day presents.



And I have three others that I'm trying to keep a secret. Only one of the pictures requires a sewing machine, and only two of the secrets needs a sewing machine, but it really is a drag to WANT to make a blanket or something and have to haul myself 140+ miles just to THINK about making it.

New York was loads of fun, ruined surprises and all. I took pictures, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. When I do, this blog will have them. Go see The Little Mermaid on Broadway! My favorite movie turned into one of my favorite plays!

The packing must commence, and I should at least sew SOMETHING before I leave, in case poor Sheila the Singer has to stay home.

P.S. I hate PCs. I miss my Mac.