Ode To A Ringworm

I've posted this before on my Kenya blog, but Steve posted it tonight...so I thought it might be worth re-posting.

After seven months in Kenya, bragging about how my DNA was so strong--both of my roommates had malaria, I did not--I found out I had ringworm...in the middle of my cheek. Lovely.

Since it was the end of the trip, Steve and the Saddleback team arrived a few days later, in the midst of my ringworm-glory...and Steve was so pleased with my disease that he wrote a little poem about it.
ODE TO A RINGWORM

There are signs that mark our journey,

As we move from land to land

Some are told and some are written

Some in ink, on back or hand

One such marking I will carry,

Of Kitale- home with me

It's a circle--it's a virus

On my cheek, for all to see

I won't cover or deny

This tiny 'O' upon my face

It will be a sweet reminder

Of these people...of this place

I will never forget this journey

Or the changes that I see

Tho' this mark will some day fade, I pray

I KNOW, that these children stay with me.

I, of course, cried as he read it to me...then I cried reading it to Connie, Katie and Jana...and cried again typing it out on my blog...

Those kids really do have my heart...and as much as I remember that silly ringworm, I love that I have that memory of having been so close to those lives, to those hearts, to those faces...

Do Not Carouse With Drunkards, Or Feast With Glutton Fools

I drew this...it's an owl.

"Seventeen years ago today..."

When I came in tonight, the newscaster caught my attention.

I thought, "17 years ago? I wonder what it was..."

He said, (something along the lines of) "The LA Riots, started by the verdict from the Rodney King beatings, began 17 years ago tonight...1992."

1992?

Seriously?

I had to do the math about 5 times...surely 1992 couldn't have been 17 years ago.

Nope. It's true. So, I was ten years old, seventeen years ago.

Crap. I was not ready for that truth.

Then, it hit me...I'd spent the last five minutes saying "seventeen years ago" in a puzzled tone of voice...out loud...to myself...while I put on my pajamas and brushed my teeth (I did that 'stop brushing, look at myself in the mirror, say it again' thing like in the movies)...

And that confirmed it...I'm totally an old lady.

When You Read, You Begin With A B C

Today's trip to Target had a shopping list that consisted of Febreeze and bathroom cleaner.

I came home with both of those necessities PLUS a dress, two movies, one present for Chris Wohlers (you're welcome) and these three books (all of which I already own, but these covers were so beautiful)...Each book contains a link to Amazon, in case you'd like to make a purchase.

LORD OF THE FLIES
FAHRENHEIT 451
Have you read THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET? If you have not, please pick it up today...it is one of my very favorites.
I am so, so excited to have my own place soon (hopefully) so I can, once again, have all of my books on my big bookshelf and read them anytime I'd like!

Friday Night Heavy(s)

When I was a little kid, I would fall asleep each night to one of the many Psalty tapes we have. (Present tense because I know exactly where they are even today).

As time went on, I began to memorize each cassette. I know most of the dialogue (verbatim) and a majority of the songs...and, it's funny when those choose to rise-up in my memory.

Tonight, as I was thinking and praying and crying a bit, I began to (subconsciously) sing to myself...not until I was brushing my teeth did I realize what song was "playing" in my head.

I cast all my cares upon You.
I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet.
And anytime I don't know what to do,
I will cast all my cares upon You.

And I began to cry a little more...just thinking about God's unbelievable provision. That, in the moments of my own vulnerability: when I'm acknowledging the dirt in my life, God can bring a simple--and albeit silly--reminder of His love, His support, His strength, His direction, His omniscience.

God is good, all the time.
And all the time, God is good.

Plastic Chandelier

A chandelier made up of thousands of recycled plastic containers by Katharine Harvey at Brookfield place.
I would absolutely hang this (a smaller version, of course) in my home. (Riley, I think this is our next project...)
Saw this HERE.

Whoa, Molly

Tonight was a night of blessings: finally, Molly was willing to perform for the camera...

It began with a choreographed dance routine:


Which lead to a few songs, this one is called "The Birdy Song" and is, quite obviously, written on-the-spot.


And, the night would not be complete without a little break-dancing.


Oh Molly.

All The Little Birds On J-Bird Street...

Last night, Jaime recommended tweetstats.com.
The site takes all of your tweets and graphs them in such ways that, even as a single-semester-Math-major, I could never truly comprehend need for...but the colors are pretty and the concept is fun...so, check it out.

One of my favorite parts is the tweet cloud: an alphabetical list of frequently-used words from your 'tweets'...alphabetical...how could I not love this feature?
Oh and the bottom says: "Your top five words: love, day, dinner, really, home."
That sounds like me.

It also says, "Tell your tweeps", which is enough to make me re-think future visits to this site.

Then there's a link to Wordle! Now, the inventor of Wordle could be my boyfriend--not that I've ever seen him, or even know he's male--I just like the idea of a dude that loves words and fonts so much that he creates a program that takes text from a web page and mixes it up in different fonts and different colors for no reason other than "the beauty of words"...

All that to say, here's the Wordle from my Twitter. (There's a sentence you could not have said in 1995.)

Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN

This week, Ashton Kutcher raced CNN to become the first person to have over 1 million followers on Twitter.



I watched this video last night and think it's pretty interesting for a few reasons:

1) It is a one-shot. No editing, no scripting...and it's great. But I was thinking, I can't imagine celebrities--even five years ago--putting out videos like this...until recently (and even some still today), there was a desire to seem articulate, put together...I love to watch videos like this, though. I really enjoy the part in this when Ashton is trying to do fast math in his head and just smiles because he knows he won't figure it out..."do that math"

2) I love the last two minutes of this video. I think his take on social media is really intriguing.

3) I love the cause...When he reached 1 million, there was a prize for that specific follower, but also 10,000 mosquito nets were given by this organization, Malaria No More. And Here is a short description of how malaria is spread, what the symptoms look like and what happens when the disease goes untreated.

So, if you want to give to Malaria No More, it's not super expensive...and mosquito nets really can save lives.


"fight malaria together...because together we can...nah, I'm not gonna say that"--Ashton Kutcher

Dear DNA,

You've really out-done yourself with this one.Mazel tov.

Some Like It.

Two nights in a row...this list is a piece of cake.
Tonight: Some Like It Hot.

I had no idea it was a comedy...I was looking in the wrong section of Blockbuster.

It's amazing to me how beautiful Marilyn Monroe is on-screen...
Can't wait to see what's next!

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend...

One more off the long list of movies I should have seen a long time ago.
Tonight: The Graduate.
I'm sure you, too, are disappointed that I hadn't yet seen it, but no one was more upset by this fact than my father. He actually said, "Really? You haven't seen this? [curse] Danielle! It's a classic."

So, we watched it.
It was excellent...the cinematography, the music, the storyline...
Anne Bancroft is beautiful. And! the girl that plays Elaine is also the girl from Butch Cassidy...what a coincidence.

Just really, really good.

What An Athletic Monday.

This morning, after moving my craft table (which should be the topic of a future post), I met Josh and Phil for an afternoon hike.

To be quite honest: I had no idea what this hike would entail...and the thought of the unknowns (what to wear, what to bring, where do we go, how far will we walk, what will we talk about) just made me want to try to convince them to do something else with the day (beach, pool, sandwiches)...but we went, and it was awesome.

We walked up a few trails including "Mustard" and "Billy Goat" (which took us all the way up to a beautiful panoramic view of the park--Phil took some pictures and I will try to get them for posting.)

On our way back down the trail, we encountered a baby rattlesnake. Josh wanted to throw a stick at it, but instead took to arguing with me about why it would be okay to do so...Phil froze and then whined as he took the three steps necessary to pass the snake.

After the hike, we had some salads at Claim Jumper which seemed like a reasonably healthy end to the hiking day...

I think I'd like to hike again sometime.

Art For Art's Sake?

I have an idea for (what I think could be) a pretty interesting art collection.
I'd like to make them...but what the heck do I do with them once they are finished?

It's logistical issues like this that really curb my artistic urges.

P.S. the water I'm drinking as I write this taste like a combination of pennies and blood.

Who Are Those Guys?

Tonight, in quest to fulfill at least one of the things on my 30 Things to do Before I'm 30 list, we watched one of the Top 100 Films of All-Time: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(I like this picture because it's written in German, but the only word that is different is 'und')

Now, I've heard great things about this movie...but I was never told about how handsome both of the leading men are. I've written about young Robert Redford before...but, seriously, Paul Newman? I would move to Bolivia with the two of them...what smart, 26-year-old school teacher wouldn't?
So...here's which movies are left on my list...I'd like to watch at least 50 of these before October 2012. Would you care to watch any of these with me?
1. Citizen Kane, 1941
3. Casablanca, 1942
4. Raging Bull, 1980
6. Gone With the Wind, 1939
7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
8. Schindler's List, 1993
9. Vertigo, 1958
11. City Lights, 1931
12. The Searchers, 1956
14. Psycho, 1960
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
16. Sunset Blvd., 1950
17. The Graduate, 1967
18. The General, 1927
19. On the Waterfront, 1954
21. Chinatown, 1974
22. Some Like It Hot, 1959
23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939
27. High Noon, 1952
28. All About Eve, 1950
29. Double Indemnity, 1944
30. Apocalypse Now, 1979
31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941
32. The Godfather Part II, 1974
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957
37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964
41. King Kong, 1933
42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967
43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969
44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940
45. Shane, 1953
46. It Happened One Night, 1934
47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951
48. Rear Window, 1954
49. Intolerance, 1916
52. Taxi Driver, 1976
53. The Deer Hunter, 1978
54. M-A-S-H, 1970
55. North by Northwest, 1959
56. Jaws, 1975
57. Rocky, 1976
58. The Gold Rush, 1925'
59. Nashville, 1975
60. Duck Soup, 1933
61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941
62. American Graffiti, 1973
63. Cabaret, 1972
64. Network, 1976
65. The African Queen, 1951
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966
68. Unforgiven, 1992
70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971
71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998
75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967
77. All the President's Men, 1976
78. Modern Times, 1936
79. The Wild Bunch, 1969
80. The Apartment, 1960
81. Spartacus, 1960
82. Sunrise, 1927
84. Easy Rider, 1969
85. A Night at the Opera, 1935
86. Platoon, 1986
87. 12 Angry Men, 1957
88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938
90. Swing Time, 1936
91. Sophie's Choice, 1982
92. Goodfellas, 1990
93. The French Connection, 1971
95. The Last Picture Show, 1971
96. Do the Right Thing, 1989
97. Blade Runner, 1982
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942
100. Ben-Hur, 1959

Yep.

I would never describe myself as someone who is in a hurry to get married.
I'm actually very, very content in being single.

But, this afternoon I thought to myself: I'd really like to get married just so I have "some other family function" to attend on holidays.

Disjointed Thoughts

1) I really want to go on a hike. I've never wanted to hike in my life, but for some reason, it's all I can think about. Now, I know enough about hiking to know that I can not go alone...you are supposed to take three people. That way, in case of an injury, one person stays with the victim while the third goes for help. So...I need to find two more friends that want to come along...

2) These pretzels are making me thirsty. Seinfeld seasons are on sale at Target this weekend ($12.99 each)...I had seasons 1 & 2, so I bought 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 today. (They were out of 5 and 9 at that Target, but I think I'll check another tomorrow)

3) I'd like to learn to drop-in on a skateboard...without getting severely hurt. That's possible, right?

4) Oh, and do a back walk-over. This is probably less realistic than dropping in.

5) I really liked "I Love You, Man", but did not really love "Role Models".

Happy Easter From Mariner's Church

I had lunch at Mariner's Church on Thursday afternoon and was lucky enough to catch the filming of the dance sequence in their Easter video. Their Student Ministries Team is (almost) as fun as ours...

If You're Bored Then You're Boring...

I'm so bored of all of the music on all of my computers.

I click SHUFFLE SONGS and I skip 10-15 songs before I find one that I don't mind listening to...then I click through 10 more before I find another...

Even in the car...nothing on the iPod that I really want to listen to.

I need some musical refreshment...
Can you help with this?

To whom should I be listening?

I Love You, Man

I was given "How I Met Your Mother" seasons 1 and 2 to take with me to Kenya...and I totally, totally love it. Jason Segel plays Marshall, who might just be my favorite character on the show.

This afternoon, I was feeling slightly useless at work...so I went to see "I Love You, Man". I mean, Paul Rudd...Jason Segel...

(Here's how I justified this in my head: since I am hourly, sitting at my desk being unproductive is not a very good steward of the church's money...)

(Oh, and I answered all of the work-related texts that I received during the movie so I wouldn't feel like a total slacker.)

Really America?

There's a new reality TV show coming to TV Land in April.

The Cougar

Here's the premise:
From the creator of The Bachelor comes a game-changing, provocative new reality show that redefines the rules of dating. One sexy, single, sophisticated woman is set up with younger men who are all vying for her affection. Through a series of weekly challenges, the men must prove they have what it takes to satisfy a woman of a certain age and avoid the kiss of death: a kiss on the cheek. Watch as The Cougar narrows her choices from 20 to 10 to five, ultimately choosing one lucky man to be her soul mate.

She's 40.
They are all between 20 and 25.

Yikes.

Two Conversations With Dom:

This morning, Dom came by my desk to tell me he was going to join me at the Tafalla's house for dinner tonight...though he was standing about 4 feet away from me, I could smell him...so I commented on how much I love the way he smells.

His reply: "Well, it's like you're a vampire and I'm standing in front of a fan. You have to plug your nose because the smell is too much...then you will fall in love with me and I will take you on a journey to the top of the Refinery...running there..."

Then, this afternoon, he came by to sing Jaime a song on his guitar and ended up showing me a video on youtube...the video is a woman singing about Jesus' life. I said, "Wow! It's over 4 minutes long?!"

His reply: "Well, there's a lot to say about Jesus."

I Went Camping Once

Jaime just twittered about this...

Evidently, there is a better way to go camping...it's called GLAMPING.

Check out the website HERE.

THIS is where I'd love to go camping:

Or...in this drainage pipe.

Thank you, Jaime, for giving me so many more things to dream about!

Easter Egg Lotto

Cute Ellie planned an Egg-citing night for Abby, Dylan and Molly. (I know: boo.) I was planning to join-in any Edwards/Maguire Tuesday night fun, so why not head to Ellie's?

After a tasty dinner, there was an egg-dying bar set-up in the kitchen...

Dylan, which did you make?



"Super Fun Alli" (That's what the Maguire kids call me...which is unprompted and so funny) taught Dylan to dye an egg two colors...you know, like it's wearing a belt.
Molly giving her biggest smile.
Ron took us back to the '80s with a sweet splatter-paint egg
Ellie had a full schedule: while the kids were dyeing, Jeff had to hide pre-filled eggs and a basket for each kid. There were three strings (one for each kid) that zig-zagged through the house and, eventually, ended at his or her basket. They were so excited to hunt. While they hunted, Amanda ate candy out of the Easter eggs that were hidden within reach of her chair. Jeff told her she was like the Easter-version of the Grinch. So we sang "You're a mean one, Easter Grinch"...
Molly did not care what was inside the eggs, but she was very excited to have found the polka-dot egg.
Abby, on the other hand, was stoked to find coins inside!
Though they had eaten, dyed, and hunted...the night was not yet over. Ellie had made cookies and three colors of frosting for a decorating party. Each kid got three cookies (and I ate one, too).
Abby was very meticulous with her decoration...yellow chick, blue egg...
Molly had a bit too much candy...but was still so dang cute.

The best part of the night was sitting and laughing with the grown-ups while their kids were fully entertained by Ellie...How can you not love that?

A Pop Culture Update

When I came home from Kenya, (almost two months ago--crazy) I was 16 weeks behind for most TV shows...not to mention TOTALLY out of touch with current music and movies.

Since then, I have caught up on How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, The Office, Gossip Girl, LOST, I'm 2 episodes away from "real time" for Grey's Anatomy, and began the current season of 30 Rock this morning...not bad, right?

I'm still completely off with music...and am not totally sure how to jump back in...I'm not totally sure I was ever super "in", so I'm not trying very hard.

Movies...yikes...I did just watch Ironman, which came out before I left...but, other than that, I have a long, long list of movies I've yet to see...and the list is growing as weekends pass without a trip to Regal.

So...you tell me...what do I NEED to see...and what can be missed?

More Things I Totally, Totally Love...

You can read the first list HERE.

The feeling of freshly-brushed teeth
The sound of a fan blowing while I fall asleep
Clean sheets
The relief of going to the bathroom after having held it for a long time
A giant bottle of water
Knowing the lyrics to ridiculous songs
Friends that know a movie or TV reference
30 Rock
Realizing it's never too late to become a better person
Completing a giant task (or task list)
Making someone laugh
Buying "thought of you" presents
A really good plot twist
Learning
A beautifully-crafted sentence
Across-the-room eye contact
Continuing to understand God's gigantic love

So...what else do you love?

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

This clip is only about 18 seconds long, but this song has been stuck in my head all week...and it makes me laugh every time.

I Heart Charts

Here's just a sample of the charts I made in preparation for PDYM.
This, is (half of) the list of each person involved in PDYM and each of his or her responsibilities.
As much as I tried to get this all straight in my head, it is so much easier for me when I can see it.Poor Jana, this all took place in her office. On her white board. I can't even count the number of times this board was erased and re-listed for various pieces of the conference. Ending, finally, with the last-night task list (my conference tradition: everything that is left to do goes on the list and, as I finish each task, I get to cross-off or erase it until nothing remains. Yeah, it's pretty much my favorite thing about planning a conference.)

I am, pretty consistently, mocked for my love of lists and charts...
Here's a list of those people...just kidding.

Can We Go Here?

Please?!

PDY-Not?

One of my favorite on-going conference bits this year was PDY-not?!
We had about 12 of our staff in sandwich boards giving out candy and drinks pre-session...and then during 4 of the 8 sessions, interrupted the games (and once, teaching time) to hand out some ridiculous food item...night 1: ice cream, day 2: chips and salsa party, day 3: meatballs (watch the video HERE), day 4: corn dogs.

I had mentioned, early in the week that, more than anything, I wanted a photo of all 12 people in sandwich boards...and a picture of the stenciled trashcan (courtesy of Joel Dievendorf and a quick Banksy-lesson for Matt Hall) on the back.

Needless-to-say, no photo was taken (in the chaos of packing, repacking and cleaning up each bin all day--Thank you Jamie!)...until the final morning...and these were taken simply to appease me...

So, who's got the last laugh now, buddies? I'm posting them for the world to see. Ha.

[Some Song Lyric]

Last night, my mom and I went to see Elton John and Billy Joel play at The Honda Center. Needless to say, it was incredible.
They opened with a set of songs that flipped back-and-forth from Billy songs to Elton songs, taking turns singing verse and chorus...

Then Elton sang a ton of his classics, ending with "Crocodile Rock", one of my favorites. Billy came out and played a super long set, too...singing both "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"...

They ended with another duet set..."Bennie and the Jets", "Candle in the Wind" (not my favorite) and, finally, "Piano Man"...

What an amazing concert...definitely one of the best I've ever seen!