The Hunger Games soundtrack

Okay, so I know I *just* posted, but let me say one more thing: The Hunger Games Soundtrack? Freakin' awesome. Lots of acoustic folksy-type music that is so totally what I've been in the mood for the last few months. Ever since hearing the likes of Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons last summer/fall, I've been in a very folksy mood and I've been seeking diligently for new artists who have the same flavor. What a treasure trove then to receive this CD from my darling and giving husband just this very evening. I mean, of the first four songs, three of them were women. I mean, really?? Rarely do you find a compilation CD (beyond Lillith Fair) that has three women on the entire CD let alone three out of the first four. To find some new gems (to me) like The Secret Sisters and The Civil Wars and Jayme Dee. . . I'm researching them on last fm, jocolibrary and Pandora as we speak :)



We're going to see the movie tomorrow morning at Cinamark. I kinda hate to waste a perfectly beautiful day in the theater but. . . . well.

It's a funny thing, something I've been thinking about. I started reading The Hunger Games in, what? January or February I guess? Since I've read them, at least four other people in and around me at work have begun or have read them. I mean, it's wildfire. And these books aren't new. I only just read them because I've been on the waiting list at Jocolibrary for the past year or so (no kidding). The power of suggestions, yes? I read them and inspired another who inspired another who inspired somebody else.

It would be a very interesting human study.

Perhaps I should've been a sociologist after all. Darn me and my art-degree / communications  background. Oh well. That's the price you pay for choosing a degree on whether or not you'd have to take math or science (I did not with mine. Haven't taken a science class since I was 17).

Yay! The Rain Stopped!

I mean, just within the past ten minutes, the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. It has been raining for nearly 5 days nonstop (a few stops perhaps and even a few hours of sun yesterday) but the reprieve never lasted long. And NOW it is over. Sun and 70-80 degrees for the next four days. . . three of which I have off work. So amazing. And so pleased I was that I ran and grabbed our little pentax to take some shots of the sun as it glittered off the grass and trees. Sigh.

Have I mentioned yet that I love where we live?

A slight scare

About a week ago, I was laying in bed, reading a book, and Jade was curled up beside me. I petted his soft kitty fur and wondered if this was possibly the last time he'd be laying next to me. He hadn't been eating. He'd been throwing up for four days. He was losing weight and we were starting to worry.

So Jered and I bit the bullet and took him to the vet. They were nice and all but did some X-rays and saw something "mysterious" looking in his stomach. Maybe he ate something? Maybe it was cancer? Had we gotten his Feline Leukemia shots done? Why, no we had not. Jade hadn't been to see a vet since we'd moved from Hannibal. They wanted to keep him overnight, hook him up to some IVs and they'd check back with us in the AM. Oh, and it's going to be about $350.

We agreed to this and with heavy hearts went back home. We were both thinking the same thing. It was possible our kitty wasn't coming back. We loved our pet but we can't afford kitty cancer treatments. And the vet mentioned at possibly having to do surgery if there was something lodged in his stomach. We wouldn't be able to afford surgery either. The entire next day was awful. I called Jered to see if he'd checked up on the cat. He had. Jade was doing okay. Not great. The vet wanted to keep him another night. We declined. Jade came home, his legs shaved, a bandage around his right leg from where they took the IV out. He still didn't eat or drink. It was a sad night.

Since then, he's progressed. We got him to lick beef baby food off my fingers and just this morning he ate a small bit of dry food. Still recovering, he spent a good chunk of today lounging with us on the couch. It's been nice to have such a compliant and snuggly kitty!

So today was a nice, rainy day off with Jered and Jade. I'm just so pleased that he came home!

Spring

What can I say? Spring has arrived in Kansas City. Today, I planted my seedlings, started tilling our garden, took a 4-mile walk at Shawnee Mission Park and lounged outside while reading my magazine. Oh yes, spring is here.

So, seedlings. I planted Arugula, basil, jalapenos, green peppers, cilantro, lavender, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and rosemary. They'll be ready to transplant by May and I'm pretty darn excited. I also have Spinach and lettuce seeds that we'll plant in a soon. The ground was pretty soft today so I didn't turn over much dirt in our plot. . . the plan is for Thursday to finish up that and put our seeds in the ground! Thursday is also Rake The Leaves day and Get Rid of the Gophers Day (if you have suggestions on this, I'd love to hear them). Then Saturday is Mulch Day.

Oh Spring. You are so dear to us in so many ways. Oh to live where Spring lived eternal. I'm thinking San Diego or some regions of the South.

We sat out on our porch tonight. I plugged in our twinkle lights overhead and we sat eating ice cream and listening to our resident bull frog, Lieutenant. He lives in our fountain (that we haven't turned on yet). There must be a creek that runs along our property in some way because the past couple nights, we've put open the window and we've listened to the croaking of fogs as we've fallen asleep. Lieutenant is different, though. He sounds like he's singing. . . in a melancholy sort of way. That's how we got his name. . . but you'll have to ask how this all connects. . .   :)

I sang on Saturday. We did pretty well as a whole--- especially for hardly any practicing. I'm not the best singer in the world, but I had fun. We went out to dinner with our friends from Emporia after. We ate at Zios, this Italian place in Olathe and they bought our dinner for us which was SUCH a surprise and we didn't leave until way after 10p. What a joy and blessing they were! We don't get to see them very often, so when we do, it's always a good time :)

So that's all from KC. Spring is here and we've been spending lots of time at the park and with friends. On that note, I can't wait till this Friday and we're doing dinner with some couples from the church. Corned Beef and cabbage, here we come! (Just kidding, friends from church. We're having roast)     ;)

Missed my Thursday Post

Missed Thursday's post because we went on a tour of the Roasterie in KC with my friend, Liesl and her little 4-month old foster baby. Jered and I had done a tour of the Roasterie before (free tours 10a M-Sa) but it was a Saturday and there were no less than 40 ppl there and I couldn't really hear much of the tour so we decided to tour again. Plus, you can buy the burlap bags their coffee comes in and while we bought a couple the last time (and cut one in half and put it up in our house) Jered wanted a couple more for sack races at church. So Rachel and I were talking at work one day about how we should hang out and low and behold, we made plans for the Roasterie and also invited Liesl who was a fellow Starbucks-ian from back in the day when the three of us worked together.

Well, Rachel couldn't make it after all, but Liesl, Jered, and I went. Jered turned on the roaster and got a button. We bought another burlap bag. I had an Americano. We chatted with Liesl a bit. Then Jered and I had lunch at Margarita's on SWblvd and then I went to work. Quelle Jeudi!

Today is Friday and I had Food Safety Management Certification which meant I sat in a little hotel conference room for 8 hours learning lots and lots of truly horrible yet interesting food/food borne illness facts. The kindof stuff that makes me want to become a vegetarian and swear off restaurant food for the rest of my life. I've never washed my hands so well as I did while making dinner tonight!

When I got home, Jered and I took a looong walk at Shawnee Mission Park (such a beautiful day!) and then we cooked dinner together (what a treat, I must say.) We made tilapia (each of our five fillets was seasoned a different way-- from Frank's Red Hot to Liquid smoke), roasted potatoes, diced corn and jalapenos cooked in Lime Olive Oil, and some King's Hawaiian rolls.

I admit the Frank's red hot tilapia was my idea and that coupled with the jalapeno corn was enough to make my mouth burn. Lots of water followed.

Tomorrow Jered, myself, and Cameron are playing our first show in 6 years here in Kc. I'm singing. I've had quite the head cold/allergies for the past week so I'm interested to see how tomorrow goes. My old friend, Harmonie is going to be in town and I'm quite excited to see her. Jered is good friends with her husband and it's so nice to hang out with another couple where we all really truly like and get along with each other. They're driving up from Emporia, KS just to see us so that's quite the honor :)

So. Running. I'm not the die-hard runner where I run while I'm sick. I tired last week maybe? I thought my head was going to explode. We haven't registered for our 5-K in April yet and I'm debating on whether it's worth paying somebody $75 for the two of us to run a 5-K when I haven't been able to barely run half a mile in 1 1/2 weeks. Please, head cold, please go away. Life would be so much better.

On the plus side, Spring is Here! We have a daffodil in our yard (yes, just one) and the bushes are budding. How wonderfuly early it is and I think it will stay. Thank you, Lord!

As a last note, I just got an invite to my old college roommate, Melissa's wedding. So excited! It's in NJ and we are SO READY for a vacay. I filled out her response card ten minutes after we received it. I'm such a sucker for weddings anyway. And I do so like going to ones I don't have to work. . . plus, I am SO EXCITED to see all my old college roommates. One of them has three boys now (last saw her with one) and the other two are twins. How fun! And Another one is pregnant! Boy oh boy how times just keeps trucking on! Come on, May!

Jade. Waiting for spring :)

Thoughts on Holiness

I awoke to a spectacular morning. On Thursdays, I don't have to be in to work until the afternoon, and I claim Thursday mornings as a time of grace. In 1 1/2 hours I have drank two cups of tea (darn cold that I have), made a pot of rice and a pot of beans for meals for the weekend (it's my opening weekend), checked all there was to check on facebook and email (I'm not a huge one for living in the computer) and attempted to do some yoga. In the middle of a down dog, Jade decided to take up residence in the middle of my mat (he does this) and I was much too polite to shove him off. It's not as bad as him jumping on top of my back and curling up while I'm struggling through the plank position. And even that wouldn't be so bad if he weren't 20 lbs.

But I digress.

For the time I had been stretching and posing, I'd also been thinking. The thoughts are almost meditative since I've been coming back to them day after day, touching each thought as they pass through my mind. They are extensions of what I've been blogging about lately and extensions of what I've been reading. I'll give you a sample:

Holiness. How many people out there truly strive for holiness or even want to? How many people in this world, people I come into daily contact with, know what holiness looks like of how it affects our daily lives? I would guess most people-- even Christians (who seem to have the utmost claim on holiness) don't really want holiness in their lives. It looks too much like being "goody-goody" and it looks too much like "not having fun". It looks too much like being a prude and a cheap scape and a small-minded thinker. It looks like the uneducated. It looks like the drone. It looks like circa 1950s white middle class suburban America. It looks like repression. It looks like segregation.

No. Who in their right mind would want those things. I get that.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what a holy life looks like. A holy life is something that is lifted up. A holy life is drinking Brita Filtered water instead of lake water. A holy life is living in the light and not in the dark. This last thought is pretty cliche, but think a minute of what it implies. Utter honesty. Utter integrity. Having all you do and think and say out in the open for inspection and introspection. No secrets. No lies. Nothing to hide from anybody. Getting pulled over by the police but having complete confidence that you weren't speeding. Getting singled out by your boss and you know in your heart it's for a promotion and not the other way around. Because you have done nothing duplicitous or wrong or deceitful.

Who doesn't want a life like that? Who doesn't want to live in the light?

A holy life is one with meaning. I see people all around me who search and search and searching-- trying to find happiness or trying to find purpose or trying to find themselves. Not that I always have it figured out-- but I know when I wake up each morning and strive for holiness in my thoughts and actions, that there is something grander beyond myself to live for. And Faith is knowing that holiness will bring blessings of happiness and purpose and self-knowledge. Because I will be holy as He is holy and I will be one with the most complete and self-knowing person who ever lived.

Oh yeah. That's what I'm striving for.

So this season for Lent and on after, I am giving up my nature to live in the dark. I will be open and honest and when a friend at work asks me what book I'm reading and it's a book about Hell, I will not shy away from a difficult topic and I will be honest that I do believe in Hell and in darkness and in light and in salvation. Then she and I will have a wonderful conversation and I will learn about her heart and her desire and in the end, I will have gained knowledge of a sister in my workplace.

Oh to live with purity and without corruption! It's true and possible and if there's any time of year to truly believe it, it must be Spring. The rain washes the grime away. The sun opens up the world. Holiness in every sunrise, every minute, every breath.

With that said, I'm going to resume my workout.