I got awesome mail today. July 30, 2008

I got not one but TWO cards from Carmen today.  One was a very sweet friendship card and the other was a hilarious birthday card.  My first birthday card of the year.  Carmen is going on vacation next week, so she is on top of things.

I also got a letter from my husband, who is currently in Wichita, Kansas, telling high schoolers how to play volleyball and having too much fun with them, I’m sure.  We have spoken to each other for a total of 20 min this week because our cell phone coverage plan doesn’t even cover the whole state of Missouri.  Getting that letter made me so happy.

This weekend is road trip weekend!  We have fine destination in mind…Ames, IA.  Luke will be working at Iowa State and I will be visiting Carmen and Nick before they leave for their own vacation.

I am officially done with my summer class.  Phew.  I am glad that my co-workers pushed me to take it, because it honestly was a lot of fun and I got to know the other students in the program a lot better.  I start my 4 (Eeek!) fall classes August 25th, in less than a month.  With that, I’m going to go read in bed because I have a stack of 14 books waiting for me to finish my class so I can read them.

Words of Wisdom From Jonah of OneLineDrawing July 25, 2008

I’ll leave with this: The other day, I was being overwhelmed by all the stuff I had to clean and organize and all. I was berating myself in typical ways; “I’m not getting anything done”. As soon as I’d said that, I realized that the real problem was that I wasn’t having any FUN. I don’t necessarily mean that I should’ve just gone to the beach or whatever (though that would have been better than stewing and procrastinating). What I mean is, if I’m cleaning or paying bills or whatever, I get to choose whether to be happy or sad in that moment. It’s kind of the only choice I’ve got. So why the drama? Of course, it is sort of complex, but it seemed really simple in that moment. Still does, really. File in the BIG drawer of easier-said-than-done.

Jonah could be the sweetest rockstar ever. 

I switched work days with a co-worker this week, so I have had the day off.  My day has been filled with attempts (and successes) to get things done off the to-do-list.  Luke comes home tomorrow night after a week in Wisconsin and Iowa and I know by now, that the to-do-list gets put on the back burner when he’s home.  I like Jonah’s words of wisdom and they come in a timely manner.

I recently asked my friend Kyle how to not be nervous when giving presentations and he told me to see God’s goodness and grace in my speaking opportunties.  He said to thank God for an opportunity to be genuine and to share my heart and thoughts and to approach the speaking engagement in humility.  Kyle is a wise man with a gracious and humble heart who serves God and those in his life. 

I could certainly pursue my life’s endeavours, especially the mundane tasks (paying the bills) and the challenging opportunities (speaking engagements) with more humility, gratefulness.  And I could try to have more fun doing it.  Because as Jonah said, it’s kind the only choice we have.

I love sparklers. July 8, 2008

I didn’t play with any this year, but I had a great 4th of July weekend. 

Thursday night= 5 hour drive to DeKalb which included rainstorms, a test on the New Testament,  jalapeno poppers, and singing Weezer at the top of our lungs.  When we got to the DePauws we played Settlers on the front porch like parents waiting for their teenagers to come home from their date.  (Tobie and Anna really were on a date.)

Friday= lunch with Jenn and Mom at Red Star Tavern at the outlet mall.  (Jenn wanted to go into the Coach store….I will never go in one again.  There were definitely more than 100 women in the very small store.)  Picnic at the Gins, then dinner on the grill at the DePauws, then fireworks from the front lawn.  Luke and Tobie and others went on a late night bike ride.  They are brave.

Saturday = Settlers on the porch and Anna’s delicious sticky buns for breakfast.  Then, the Whites to see their new deck.  Then, I headed south for Fairbury where Joe, Feliciy, and Carmen met me at our hometown pizza place Marchelloni’s.  Joe, Felicity, and I met up with my family to go to the stock-car races.  (If you don’t know that I’m from a small-town and you don’t understand, that’s okay.)  Joe and Felicity were a lot of fun to be around at the races.  My family takes it pretty seriously so it was nice to have friends who are confused by the racing culture too. I still can’t believe we only saw 1 mullet the entire night.

Sunday = Dad’s pancakes, reading The Host on the deck with my morning coffee, helping Dad, Jenn, and Bo with some chores. We went through some old stuff in our closets.  I found a journal from 5th grade.  It was awesome. My favorite things to do with my family were to go camping and go shopping.  My favorite room in the house was the living room because I could eat and watch tv at the same time.  (Why did my parents let me watch so much tv when I was younger???)  We watched the Cubs beat up on the Cardinals and then I began my three hour drive home.  I listened to some nostalgic music such as Hole and MTV’s Buzz Bin 1 cd.  I also really enjoyed Kathleen Edwards new cd and Scarlet Johannson’s cd.  I never got into Tom Waits so maybe that’s why I like it. 

Monday morning, I was in denial about having to get up and go to work.  I’m a tired girl.  I will need lots of coffee this week because I have a paper and presentation due Monday.  Hopefully, this rainy day will make me stay inside to work on it…aw, crap, I can see the sun beginning to shine….sigh…

I told myself to be in bed by 11 tonight, but here I am. June 24, 2008

I also told myself that 10 would be even better.  ah well.  These past few nights have been late.

On Sunday, Luke and I slept in and totally missed church.  I think we both kept waiting for the other one to get up and make our usual Sunday morning breakfast of orange rolls and coffee.  We both pretended like it wasn’t Sunday until 10.  When we got our motors running, we made our mix cds for our next swap in the club, then we set off to drive to Joe’s then ride bikes to the zoo.  We were on our way to Joe’s when Luke realized his bike was locked up in a coach’s office.  That did not deter us from the zoo though.

We were only there for 3 hours, which is light compared to our five hour tour in early May, but we saw some great animals, including hippos (finally!), a baby elephant, a baby giraffe, and penguins, my favorite.  We took lots of pictures and you can find them on my facebook.  We had leftovers from the Italian dinner Luke cooked up the previous night while we watched Scrubs. 

Then, we wanted to go get coffee and play Settlers of Catan, but Kayak’s was closing.  We went to The Loop where I spotted a group of women sitting outside The Culture Cafe.  Luke dropped me off to ask if they had coffee and if we could hang out.  Our conversation lasted 10 min and poor Luke he was honking at me and circling around the block and honking at me some more, while I was getting offered cocktails and body oil.  Whew.  We ended up at Messugah Cafe’ or something, but they were only open until 10 so Luke got on the internet and I read.

When our bloodstreams were full of caffeine, we headed back to Joe’s, watched Scrubs and played Settlers.  I came from behind and all I had to do was build 1 Road and the game would be mine, but NO.  Aaaaah.  It was an aggravating loss. 

Yesterday, class was at the SLU Law Library and honestly, it was pretty boring, so my thoughts drifted to stuff on my to-do list.  When I got home, I stayed up doing them.

Tomorrow night I have class and then I am staying with Luke at Joe’s.  I’m bringing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to watch, so it will be another late night.  Guess I will just have to drink extra coffee the rest of the week.

I get to see my husband again tomorrow!  One good thing about all these volleyball camps pulling my husband away from me in the summer is that it feels like we’re dating again.  We’re making arrangements to see other and make time for each other.  We bring each other things when we see each other.  It’s not so bad, but I’m still not excited about an empty bed tonight.  With that, goodnight.

Happy Summer Solstice! June 21, 2008

I am spent the beginning of the longest day of the year writing a short paper for class while my wonderful husband ran errands for me.  We don’t have anything planned for today, which excites me.  Unplanned days evolve into one of three things: 1) I spend a lot of time working on the ever-growing to-do list 2) I spend a lot of time doing spontaneously fun things 3) I have a lazy day.  All seem like great prospects. 

 

So the Sox got beat by the Cubs yesterday…hmmph.  And it’s not looking better today, as they are down 4-10 in the bottom of the 4th.  Sometimes I think I’m more of a sports fan than Luke.  I keep relaying the play-by-play to Luke, but he doesn’t care.  He’s busy pimping my bike and watching “The Woodshop With Ron” on PBS.  When I asked him what he was watching, he gave me the name of the show, and said, “What else would I be watching?  I’m having manly time, Lisa.  Fixing your bike, watching Ron work in his woodshop…”  He’s quirky as all get out, but I love him.

 

Last weekend was indulgently introspective. I’ll have to report on it later, but it all began when I decided to read the first three volumes of my journals.

 

I think we are going to go swimming soon, and Luke told me he wants to make an Italian dinner for us tonight.  He came home with wine and spinach ravioli so I guess it’s on.  Did I mention that he’s pretty awesome?

 

I would like to play Settlers of Catan tonight, and with that, I think we’re going with option 2 for the day.