"Classic" Design

So much for writing, huh? So I probably won't be "catching you up" on my summer...it will probably be more like a summer recap in photos. Later.

I've been home about a week, but I think I've been on the road and on the go more than I have been at my house. Which explains the utter chaos that is my room. I figure there's no point in unpacking just to repack a week later, so there are various suitcases and pieces of furniture and piles of new bedding growing from my floor. Have you seen/read the last Harry Potter book where the trio break into the LeStrange Gingotts vault, and everything they touch multiplies? That's kind of what my bedroom has been like. In the time that I HAVE been at home, I normally would have spent a little more effort organizing this clutter; however, last weekend, creativity struck, and pure genius can't be wasted on cleaning.

It started with a bookshelf...

And then a lamp. And I planned to stop there, but...


I eventually covered my old journal from Sophomore year and my planner, too. What can I say? Mod Podge is addictive. And yellowed pages from classic books makes ordinary stuff look AWESOME. The shelf and small lamp are going in my apartment. The big lamp and clipboard went to my BFF Katie for her birthday. Everything else will be sold in my Mom's booth at the local flea market/antique store.

I only have a few days left before I move back to Russ, and they are already booked with various appointments and get-togethers. This being said, I suppose it's time to put the craft box away and continue my quest for what is, if I remember correctly, a hardwood floor.

Rain is a Good Thing

This morning, I woke up the sound, smell, and feel of rain through my open window.

Dixie took my car to work, thus confining me to the Shelton Shelter (home to 4+ people and 6+ animals at any given time) all day. I was going to get my oil changed and run a few errands today, but I am actually quite relieved that I have the excuse to go nowhere today.

Rainy days are beautiful, and even more beautiful in the summer when they cool the temperature. They are most beautiful when they happen on days that I do not have to answer a telephone at Garmin International. This is 2nd weekday I've had off work all summer, and the animals and I are enjoying it thoroughly.

Barbara Walters and I are making muffins and drinking coffee (yes, the cat is actually sharing my coffee). Thaddeus Stevens and Gertrude Stein are wrestling on the kitchen floor. Steadman Graham and Jeff Buckley are curled up in the ficus tree, and Neil Patrick Harris is sleeping on the stairs. They will be sad when I leave the zoo, and I will miss them as well.

I need to clean the house. I need to pack for this weekend. I need to pack in general--I am going home in 4 days!

I think it's a good atmosphere for some Peter Bradley Adams this morning...enjoy.

Coming Soon

It's been over four months since my last post.

I have no excuse for my lack of blog dedication; I have had plenty of time to write this summer, so naturally, I haven't written a thing.

But fear not, four people who read this blog! I plan to update several times in the next few weeks. I have a lot to write about, and I will have nothing else better to on Thursay and Friday when I have PAID TIME OFF, as well as this weekend when I visit Hannibal, MO with my sister (yes, the boyhood home of Mark Twain and inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg).

Also, tonight I took a big step. I made this blog visible to a select but significantly larger-than-before group of people on my facebook. I doubt that many of them will read it, but lately I've felt the desire and need to write for more than myself. Maybe someone else will come across and be encouraged or get a good laugh for the day.

I better get some sleep: tomorrow is my last "normal" day at Garmin, and my customers depend on me to listen to them yell and help them learn to use their computers.

Hello, Employment!

It's ironic that I, the directionally-challenged, will be spending my summer working for Garmin. I was recently hired for a summer/seasonal Product Support position at the headquarters in Olathe, Kansas, and I am stoked! This job was totally a God thing, as if He brought it right to me. Praise the Lord for open doors!

I start training a week from tomorrow. Eeek! This will be my first ever "big girl" job. I'm kind of nervous about that. But even more so, I'm excited about it.

(Just don't tell them I'll be making my way to work via TomTom. Shhhhh.)

Spring

Winter is over, and Spring is here...
both in the natural world, and in my heart.

Praise be to God,
who makes all things new.

braving memories

Dumbledore: "I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form."

Harry: "You mean... that stuff's your thoughts?"

Dumbledore: "Certainly."

* * * * *

Music is my Pensieve. There's something wonderful about music's ability to capture and preserve memories and emotions. Take seasons, for example. There are certain songs and certain albums that I only listen to during specific seasons of the year. During the rare out-of-season occasions I listen to these songs, I am taken back to the "season" they represent.

Music preserves seasons of life, as well. I love this about music--it's like a time machine. However, sometimes remembering a season can be painful.

* * * * *




Meet Alexi Murdoch: Scottish folk singer and pure bliss to the ears and soul. I love Alexi Murdoch, and his album "Time Without Consequence" is one of my favorite albums of all time. It is soothing and peaceful, yet still complex and brilliant. Additonally, Alexi is one of the few folk singers I know of who writes positive music. Seriously, if the man isn't already taken, I want to marry him.

This album, however, is a pensieve. This album contains the memories of a very lovely season of my life, as well as the memories of a very difficult season of my life; both of which are very painful for me to think about. The memories stored in these songs are memories that I avoid, times in my life that I don't often allow myself to even think about.

In the past few months, I have briskly swept through the "As" of my iPod, ignoring Alexi Murdoch as if he were an ex-boyfriend I didn't want to make eye contact with. I have missed his sweet melodies. I have longed to listen to them. I thought about it a few times, but I never brought myself to actually tap the song and let it play. I kept telling myself, "maybe tomorrow. Soon, one of these days. But not yet. You aren't ready yet."

I don't know what possessed me to do it. I wasn't in a nostalgic mood. I wasn't feel sad or overwhelmingly strong. I wasn't setting out to prove anything. But tonight, I came in from Age to Age, pulled up my iTunes, and did it.

I pushed play.
And I've almost made it through the whole album.

spring cleaning

out with the old, in with the new.
let go of the past. embrace the present.


i think this is what they call "moving on."