blogging: ideas...

So, faithful readers, I have a new idea that's been gnawing at me. I think it'll be a reality soon, but that means that regular blogging here might be taking a backseat. I'll let you know as soon as there's something to share!

writing: dispatches from the YMCA: overheard

Top things I've overheard at the Y so far:

•housewife one, walking out of the Y: it's cold today.
housewife two: I know. I'm not leaving the house today
hw1: oh. good idea.
hw2: and if you do leave, try to stay warm
hw1: ok. have a good day.
[50 degrees in february in alabama]

•I'm singing on the treadmill today. I should charge tickets to this. Wooooo

•you look like you've exercised before [see part one]

•desk attendant to me: is aerobics class over already?
(I really look like I should have been in aerobics class?!)

•guy who should have been minding his own business: If you give it a little twist at the top, it'll really give you more in your chest. (story to come)

reading: a complicated kindness

I didn't realize it while I was reading it, but Miriam Toews also wrote The Summer of My Amazing Luck, an almost-classic YA novel, I think.

And she's done it again here. A Complicated Kindness is about a girl named Nomi living in a conservative Mennonite community. I'm a sucker for this kind of story line for sure.

Nomi's mother and sister both escape the community respectively, never to be heard from again, basically. She's stuck with her dad, who is almost as confused about their religion as Nomi is.

My favorite part of the book was Nomi, at the end, explaining that She doesn't know how she got so messed up and confused. She doesn't know exactly what about her religion bothers her. The only thing she can pinpoint is that she wishes she could make decisions and experience things in the world without wondering if they're a sin or not.

Story of my life.

I'm not sure if this book will be as relatable to everyone else as it was to me, but if you like "coming-of-age" YA novels, you've got yourself a solid one right here.

watching: sports

This weekend was a very big weekend for sports. After an already busy, fun and exhausting day on Saturday, we gathered at a new neighbors'/fellow pair of Mizzou alums' home to watch what may be the last border showdown between Mizzou & Kansas.

I'm not the biggest Mizzou fan. I know it sounds strange to say you're not a fan of the school you attended. I have nothing against Mizzou, and cheered for them in every Big 12 matchup they ever had.

But, I was taught to call the hogs at the tender age of three....and all of that is a little hard to undo in three years of college.

It'll be even more difficult and confusing to cheer for the tigers now that we're in the same conference. Oh well....

But, when it comes to Kansas, there's no question. I place all loyalties aside. I know there are over 100 years of history concerning why these two schools/states really hate each other. My own personal reason is that looking at that stupid jayhawk mascot makes me want to claw my own eyes out. I just can't stand it.

The evening was fun, but the game was stressful. I'm glad the tigers prevailed in the end.

Sunday night was, of course, the Super Bowl. And when it comes to this game, I'm one of those people who's in it for the food & the commercials. We decided to stay in. We missed the first quarter because we decided to go to the grocery store and we didn't even know what time the game started....



We made it back just in time to make some turkey sandwiches & guac & see what ended up being my favorite commercial of the evening.

I'll be a mostly-retired sports watcher now until March Madness. Then I'll take an even longer sports-watching break until football starts again...and I'm OK with that.

writing: dispatches from the YMCA part 2: "Yoga"

Dispatches from the YMCA | Part 2 | "Yoga"

During part of my discussion with Duke at the front desk that first evening, he introduced me to one of the personal trainers at the Y who also teaches many of the fitness classes offered ...including yoga, which I thought was strange.
So far, since moving, I'd visited the town's only legit hot yoga studio. I felt like a beef cake among the skinny-armed waif-y girls nailing their tree poses and warriors.
But this man made me look like a weakling. THIS man was one of the largest and most-fit dudes I'd ever seen in real life.
He looked very Billy Blanks-esque in his work-out gloves, wife beater and basketball shorts.
I told him I'd love to come to his yoga class the next evening and in a gruff, Southern accent he replied, "Great. See ya there."
So I did. I was early for the 6 p.m. class and took my mat upstairs to the studio to sit down among overweight house wives and overweight girls my age and a few gangly young guys who probably thought yoga could improve their flexibility for sports.
I tried to take time on my mat to clear my head like I usually do before practicing. Though, with the noise from the gym, the freezing temperature of the room and the people walking back and forth to pick up rental mats from the side of the room, I just couldn't.
My head buzzed with distraction, and as soon as the "yoga instructor" arrived, he put some terrible music on the stereo. I'm not a fan of typical yoga music, usually, but this was 10 times worse because it sounded like dying cats...in the '90s.
"Yoga instructor" warmed up with a few headstands & spine twists, and as the cats continued departing this world for the next, he instructed the 20-or-so of us students to sit "Indian style," and roll our necks back and forth.
It was an interesting beginning to class. I was, of course, expecting something much more basic than what I was used to. It was the Y, after all, but I was also looking forward to a basic explanation of breath & various poses. Just kind of a relaxed, restorative atmosphere.
Nope.
The class continued with what reminded me of a warmup before an elementary-school dance class. We stretched our hamstrings and fluttered like butterflies with the balls of our feet pressed together. We moved our arms up, down and side to side. And when it was over, my mind was just as full and my body just as tight as when we began.
I have not returned to the Tuesday, 6 p.m. Yoga class since.

reading: one thousand gifts

I had heard SO much about this book and I've seen a ton of Christian bloggers & Facebook write their own "gift lists" for months, so I decided since it had been awhile since I'd read a book in the "Christian Lifestyle" genre, I'd give this one a gander.

I was a little disappointed as I usually am. One Amazon.com reviewer said the book ad a poetic narrative with mystical undertones. I think that's a very good description of the writer's style, and I don't think it worked all that great. You have to be really good and really profound to write that way, and I just don't think she had enough to say.

Her story is very compelling though, and I did take a lot from it, I think. Mostly, the underlying idea that you can find love and grace and peace in God no matter what your daily circumstances are.

The last few things I was really worried about included Aaron moving down here & finding a job and a scary medical-related test I had.

The test came back perfect. Aaron is here and his job hunt is going well. He had an interview this week with lots of other leads & really nice people who have offered to help him out for no reason.

So, since I have peace & answered prayer in those areas, I feel a little bit assaulted from all directions. This morning is a pretty good example: cloudy & gray, which really affects me; my phone is BROKEN!; a car was blocking mine in as I was trying to leave.

If I hadn't just read this book & wasn't feeling hyper sensitive to all of these ideas of peace and thankfulness, I think I would have had a really terrible morning. As it is, I am so thankful for what I have and what I have to look forward to.

Back to the book, it's a quick read, so why not give it a go....

photographing: things via instagram

I kept up with the instagram challenge! Today I'm starting over with day 1. The final post will be days 1-9, but here's what I collected during the second half of January: