New Bakery Just Opened In My Neighborhood!!

I received an unexpected, but oh so pleasant, visitor today at my apartment. It all started with the front-door-security-buzz. I expected maybe UPS or FEDEX, but what I heard was even better, "May I please come up to give you a flier" in a small 6-year-old voice (her R's aren't quite mastered yet, which made it all the more charming). Up came the CUTEST 6-year-old in all of Salt Lake City. She's starting her own bakery. In the picture she provided I can tell that what she bakes is going to be GOOD. I'm putting in an order this week.

Great Idea!

These days when it's hard to know what to do and what not to do when it comes to be friendly to our earth, this little bag seems to be a pretty great idea. It's a nylon bag that can be bunched up into a little pouch (easy for carrying in one's purse/backpack). Use it when grocery shopping, running errands, or picking up a surprise for your honey. The best part: only $5!! Go to http://www.chicobag.com/ to get at least one. My only question is, how much energy does it take to manufacture one? No matter how much energy it does take, I bet it's less than the paper/plastic bags that we use only once from the grocery store.

Waternish

I received a note in my inbox begging me to come to Waternish...great deals going on right about now. If only someone surprised me with a large inheritance today and I could buy my plane ticket, and be off to this lovely place.

In Love...

Thanks to a post of Ali's I've found a new Irish love...LISA HANNIGAN. I really don't know why I haven't heard her before. I think I owe Ali my first-born child.

More Choices

Menlo Park, CA

Sacramento, CA

So our choices are becoming more and more each day. Boston would be my absolute favorite place to live, but I think the close runner-up is Sacramento. Sacramento seems to be a lovely city (it's the most 'green' city in all of CA supposedly, and from what the internet has told me the yoga scene looks genuine and encouraging...AND we could actually be home-owners there!).

Do-Over!

Last night a friend commented that whatever you have to cut back on for your wedding DON'T settle for any ol' dress--it should be the dress of your DREAMS. Well, because CJ and I had to do some quick planning to accomodate family travelling I had ONE measly day to find a dress...so did I love my dress? NO! Consequently I find myself still planning the wedding of my dreams (since in reality time-restraints stole my dreams). Yes, I still buy wedding magazines etc. First of all, the wedding celebrations would last two days, it would be a Lothlorien-themed wedding, and I would have TWO dresses (above). Perhaps I'll stagger some more wedding dreams throughout my blog in the future. I must confess that though my wedding itself wasn't dreamy, I am blessed to have married my dream-boy! Love you, Ceej!

Rock Star Mania

So by now you've probably guessed that I LOVE anything that has to do with the British Isles...and music is no exception. For the past week I have not been able to get the Kinks, Led Zeppelin, or the Rolling Stones out of my head. It's funny how when I listen to these bands that I begin to feel that my own life is as hip and cool as a rock star's (but better because I'm sober). Three cheers for rock!

It's Been A While

It's been a while since I've listened to Gillian. Been too long, really. While I've been enjoying her company I have also been cooking with every vegetable I can find in my refrigerator. Can't wait for CJ to come home.

Discussions over a weekend...

This weekend was spent down in Southern Utah with a few friends. As always, we had some enlightening conversations...many of them on the same topics as usual (but each time we discuss we learn something new). So, if you're interested, here's a list of topics that we mulled over.

1. Education: Why didn't any of us really learn about Marxism, Socialism, or even Capitalism?! We vowed to institute research projects for our families.

2. Love Thy Neighbor: If all of us truly knew our neighbors (what they were talented at, passionate about, or what made their hearts ache) we might be more tolerant of different view points. Suggestion: start more groups to meet regularly, like a Current Events group, at church where anyone can talk about anything.

3. Speak UP: Many people want to be heard, but are never given a chance. When we don't feel heard our hearts break, and often become bitter. Wish: that each week we had a different teacher for each lesson at church.

4. Give me, give me, give me: Wal-Mart, Urban Sprawl, the environment, humanity, and consumerism. Reminder: EVERYTHING we buy has an impact on humanity and the earth.

5. Gulp: how uncomfortable, but true, is the history of our church. What to do with all that info?: keep studying, discussing, and praying.

6. Endemic: boys who are apethetic in relationships and have no desire for marriage. Prediction: 45-year-old creeps.

7. Disconnected: There needs to be more awareness between our diets and how our bodies are breaking down. There needs to be the connection that what we consume causes, yes, even mass killings in other parts of the world. Plea: think more on our inter-connectedness before we think of out-of-control-consuming selves.

8. Teenagers: What are we going to do when we have them ourselves? Hope: that our own examples will lead the way.

9. The Status Quo: How to get out. Institution Reform.

10. Jokes. To lighten the air.

Don't Know

Well, today I don't know ANYTHING. I would like to know where I will be living within the next month, if I'll have to learn to drive on the left side of the road, if dreams can support us ( I sure hope they can), whether or not I'll finish out this school semester, if people care about other people (of course they do, I'm just hoping some particular people care for our livlihood and success)...on and on and on.

The remedy to all of my questions: take today each minute at a time, and love the happiness in each minute.

A Day In the Desert

We drove down to Southern Utah LATE last night, arriving at 3:00 AM. Our late night journey was well worth it. We spent our afternoon hiking in Snow Canyon. I noticed for the first time how the wintered sage brush truly has a neon and metallic glow...it's really quite amazing and beautiful. I wonder at why I have never noticed it before this day. But I am glad to have finally opened my eyes a bit wider. We found some absolutely wise trees and definitely some Ents...I'll be posting those photos soon. I'm glad we were able to come down. Our conversations revealed that the desert is CJ's and Ashley's first love. Mine, obviously, is Ireland, though I do indeed love the mystery and beauty of our more dry climates.

Theme nights, theme nights, and MORE theme nights!

Following our Friday night Zora Neale Hurston extravaganza, we brought out Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" epic concert on DVD (this took place Saturday night). What can I say? I think I love Robert Plant...I've known it for years, but I'm now just coming to terms with it. Especially after watching his medieval quest for love, and Jimmy Page's journey to find himself in the wizard that awaited him atop a cliff. Truly, there is no band like Led Zeppelin these days. What happened?

She Called in Her Soul to Come and See

Tonight I am hosting my annual "Zora Neale Hurston Night." We'll eat delicious home-made treats, read from Mules and Men, and tell our own stories. Here's to a beautiful woman! If only all of us could have her...everything.

"The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see." Their Eyes Were Watching God, p.193

Craving...

Turkish Delight!

Sutton Hoo

I'm finding out that nothing is for certain when it comes to early Medieval England. There is so much that we don't know, it's crazy! You'd think in our day and age we would know everything about history. But we DON'T! There's so many theories and a lot of speculation when putting together the puzzle of Anglo-Saxons, pagans, Christians, Celts, Germanic peoples, etc. It is truly a mystery...perhaps that is why I find it so interesting.

This week we're discussing the burial mounds of Sutton Hoo. Many suspect the ship burial is that of a king. Others say that the whole society was flourishing at this point, and so it's difficult to say if this burial was royal or not. Whoever it was though, I find it fascinating looking at the mounds and its contents, wondering who these people were and why the mounds are there.

Let it flow

I'm now in my second week of Tai Chi classes. I am already in love with its grace and mindfulness.

This photo makes me think that the perfect place to do Tai Chi is under an ancient and blossoming tree. (And it makes me a little anxious for spring, but not too much yet).

Not in the Forecast

I'm pretty sure that when I looked at the weather forecast yesterday there was only a "partly cloudy" picture. But somehow today it's SNOWING. Hooray for beautiful things that aren't "in the forecast". I wonder what other unexpected beauties await me in the near future.

Every Sunday Night!

Anne Elliot

Capt. Wentworth

Every Sunday night for the next few weeks PBS's Masterpiece theater is showing a Jane Austen film. This last Sunday was Persuasion. I love this book because it's about second chances...and who doesn't need second chances, especially when it comes to love? The movie was great, but short (not 6 hours like our beloved Pride and Prejudice). It was definitely worth the trip to the parents' house, since we don't have TV at our own. I am most certainly looking forward to next week's Northanger Abbey.

And the Choices are...

Perth, Australia

Boston, MA

OR

Salt Lake City, UT

Where do you think we should live?

Utah Winters

A group of us went up to a cabin just outside of Oakley, UT this weekend. I needed that. We drove as far as the snow would allow, and then skinned up on our skis the last mile of our journey. Basil pasta and a 7-grain baguette made up our dinner menu (no vegetables! there was no way I was packin' in any extra food). Our discussions went from bettering our communities to how to raise healthy kids in this day and age (none of us having kids, but thinking we're experts already!). The majority decided to stay the night.

Saturday breakfast consisted of muffins, clementines, bagels, cream cheese, and tea. After eating we took skis and sleds out for a run, built a jump, and experienced a few white-washes in all of the "pummeling". It was oh so nice to get some nice, crisp, fresh air in the Uinta mountains. Dinner was minestrone soup. We cleaned up the cabin and headed home just as it was getting dark.

It was all just so lovely.

I Could Use __________ Right About Now

A warm bed to warm my heart, and pillows to let the cathartic tears flow.

A reading of my favorite excerpts from the most beautiful book I've ever read, Till We Have Faces."Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was teaching me to write in Greek the Fox would say, “Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words.” A glib saying. When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the centre of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words."

A walk in the mountains with my grandpa, Newel, as he tells me stories of how the world used to be. (photo by: CJ)

A dance with the love of my whole heart and soul, CJ. (Photo by: Jeff Edwards)

Live music accompanied by laughs with friends (photo by: Jeff Edwards)

Lunch with friends in NYC (photo by: CJ)

A walk in fall leaves...just to be able to BREATH (photo by: CJ)

Late Night Chats

Here's to nights spent discussing the things that are nearest our hearts and souls! Today I am grateful for people who care for humanity and not for numbers. I am grateful for my history, and that in my genes is the hope that someday there will be no inequality among us. I am grateful to live in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I am grateful for desires to do and BE better. Three cheers for good people and late night chats!

Happy Thinking of...

I like to think that we could stay here in our apartment for another year or two...if only we could just BUY this place, then I could be content with settling here forever and ever. It really is a charming little place don't you think? We shall see what happens.

Good Night, Sleep Tight

I spent my evening sipping Egyptian licorice tea and listening to Keren Ann. What more could I want for a lullaby? I'm sure to sleep well, and dream of whimsical places. Perhaps, in the morning, I will tell you the secret of my dreams.

Mmmmmmmm

Yesterday I used this cookbook (my new favorite!) to make some yummy Black Bean & Vegetable soup. And, to my joy and satisfaction, the soup tastes even better the next day (proving what the authors say).

Crossing My Fingers

This past winter solstice we made a yule log wish. This is a tradition that I think is originally Scandinavian (but don't rely on me as a source for that). You write down a wish you have for the coming year and attach it to a yule log. And after everyone has done so, all the yule logs are tossed into the fire and the ashes carry the wish away--hopefully sending it to the powers that be to make your wish come true.

Our wish: TO IRELAND WE GO!

A Day of Miracles

A few minutes ago I recieved an email from my Uncle David (the boy pictured above). He is a professor of English, and obviously a good one because he is so generous. I last saw him at my grandparents house during the holidays. He shared with me words of wisdom and kindness concerning my senior thesis (that thing which has consumed my thoughts to the point of anxiety). Today I received an email from him with more words of encouragement and kindness. Hooray for people who ease our burdens and make them light!

I often find that when looking for miracles, it's not that something hard or sad has gone away, but that I am changed in one way or another to be able to bear it. Today I know my heart has been transformed to bear the things that have been oh so hard.

Medieval England it is!

This morning right before I was to go in for my new job, I had a heart-to-heart with Ceej. I decided not to take my new job and take the class I've been waiting for my whole college career, Early Medieval England.

I rushed to class, and was pleased to hear that we would be learning much of kings, queens, and legends as well as learning about the lower classes during that period. This is most certainly a miracle!

I'm about to become a gardener

I have decided to give up my role as a consumer, and take up being a producer. I'm just plain sick and tired of buying things...why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we shop 'til we drop? Why do I have so much furniture--so much that it is making our in-the-future move seem impossible. Why? Honestly, it sneaks up on us, but thankfully we consume so much that at some point we have to vomit it out of our lives.

When I think of being a producer I think of being a gardener-not the commercial type, in it for the money. I think of making things grow...things that bring beauty to the earth and more of the very thing that allows us to live--oxygen. How lovely would it be to spend your days in a place filled with flowers and plants of all colors, smells, and tastes? How absolutely lovely would it be to invite people to enjoy what I had helped to create? How lovely!

In the mean time, I think a winter yard sale is in order because I'd rather be a gardener.

I call it REVELATION

25 minutes of

+

25 minutes of
+
25 minutes of

So many things came to my heart and mind this morning as my yoga practice consisted of the above recipe. Indeed there is much wisdom in being STILL. Everything became clear, and all was and is possible. Here's to allowing the body, mind, and spirit to speak to us.

Death and Rebirth

This is a photo of the flame nebula, near orion. A nebula is the first stage of a star's cycle...when the material of a nebula collapses under its own weight, massive stars form at the center. The nebula dies in order to give life to new stars. (At least, that's how I understand it).

Today I am feeling some intense emotions coming from knowing that the death of this part of my life is about to come to an end. But I am trying to find joy in knowing that it is simultaneously the birth of many new and wonderful things that I am not yet aware of.

Isn't it strange, but perfect, that we truly must know sadness to know joy?

Dream Home

This house is just two blocks east of where we live now. It has an enormous yard, which is a rarity in this neighborhood, and reminds me of an English cottage. But, alas, now is not the time in my life for such a lovely thing. For some reason these past few weeks I've been feeling that I need to be in this simple apartment-living-time for a bit longer. I need to feel more tightness in my wallet. Weird? Perhaps. I want to budget, I want to save, I want to cut back on my consumption. I want to buy nothing. That does not mean that someday I want this house, yes, THIS house and non other.