December 23rd

I wanted to document our lovely little 5-year-anniversary celebration. Hope you enjoy the photos and  a little of our history.

Memory Grove. Where the party happened. There was lots of dancing thanks to the best little big band ever: The Sax Machine

It was a cold, wintry day December 23, 2003. Five years later it was the same. I loved having a winter wedding.

Here we are. Wish I had some good wedding photos...they didn't turn out, and I've been sad ever since.

The rest of the park.

We stopped by Backer's Bakery for a fudge doughnut. Another one of our favorite SLC places.

One of our favorite places to get heart-warming food, and a good cup of tea-Elizabeth's on 700 East and about 550 South in Salt Lake City.

I ordered the curried pumpkin soup with dumplings. Perfect.

Thank goodness for lovely people who offer to take your photo...there aren't many photos of Ceej and I together since we're usually the ones taking the photos.

I love the bare brick walls. Want to do the same in my home someday.

Also love the elegance of the whole place. Sigh.

Dinner at the cozy, romantic, Fresco restaurant at 15th and 15th. We L-O-V-E our Italian food, and this place is oh so yummy.

The warm interior. We were tucked away in a little private corner. 

We had a lovely day. We ended our big day with another tradition: Ballet West's The Nutcracker.

Thanks, Ceej, for a lovely and Awe-some five years. Here's to forever!

 

Manifesto Monday: Silliness

I believe in the liberating power of laughter and silliness. This is something I learned from my mom and her family. They are professional laughers, story-tellers, and jokesters. I remember when all of us kids were growing up we would wonder at how the adults could talk for hours and hours-laughing all the way-though the topics being discussed were of a somewhat serious matter. I have been grateful for the gift of laughter and silliness over the years. It has helped me to "let go" when things get overwhelming. It has helped me to laugh at  myself, and to not take myself so seriously. I am grateful for moments of spontaneous silliness that is unorchestrated, and has absolutely no meaning. I am grateful for impromptu dance and story-telling. It has made my heart light, and given me a renewed spirit to go forward with all that lays before me. This I believe.

A Rose E'er Blooming

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jesse's lineage coming, as those of old hath sung,

It came a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,

When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;

With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.

To show God's love aright, she bore to us a Savior,

When half spent was the night.

This Flower, whose Fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,

Dispels the glorious slendor the darkness everywhere

True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,

And lightens every load.

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols. I love that we celebrate such a glorious event during the darkest time of year...it goes along with my belief in opposition, yes? I am oh so grateful for this Rose. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Good Therapy

This morning was the best therapy session I've had in a year...I had a little get together with some of my favorite women from years and years ago. We still keep in touch, but rarely have time to get together to chat. Oh, how I love gathering with kindred spirits! Thank you Amy, Andrea, Linds, and Aleena! You keep me grounded and motivated all at the same time. We missed Nicole, Nat, and Jenny...Hope to see you all soon again. You are all dear, wonderful, and powerful women!

5 Years!

Today marks our 5-year wedding anniversary! I can hardly believe it...it's one of those things that simultaneously seems oh so long, but oh so short. I feel like CJ and I have always been together, but when I think of our wedding day, it doesn't seem so long ago. I am grateful beyond words for Ceej. We'll spend the day hanging out together and going to our favorite places. 

Manifesto Monday: Opposition

I believe that there must be opposition in all things. Day and night. Female and male. Masculine and feminine.  Right and left. Heaven and earth. Joy and sorrow. This is a principle that my religion teaches, but I did not actually learn this principle until I started practicing and studying yoga. I learned how to feel content when uncomfortable, and patient when discouraged. I learned that my sorrow is part of my joy--and not only is it part of my joy, but it is essential to my happiness. Without sorrow, my joy would not be full. When I cry because I am sad, my heart is happy because I know my broken heart is essential to a joyful existence. I have learned to make my darkest hours my most enlightened hours. I have come to love winter, when the world is most dark because I have found the most joy there. Indeed there MUST be opposition in ALL things. This I believe.

photo by cig harvey

Issue 2: Free the Slaves

Contrary to popular belief, slavery did not end at the end of the Civil War. Slavery still exists...and there are more slaves today than there has ever been in the history of our planet. There are 27 MILLION slaves world wide. 50,000 of those slaves are in the UNITED STATES. 8.4 Million are children. In the past, the cost of a slave would be the equivalent in today's money as $40,000. Today, a slave costs the average of $90. Slave made goods flow in and out of the country everyday. Every one is touched by slavery in some way. (So next time you buy something made in China, India, or anywhere in Asia--because that's where most of the slaves are and where most of our goods are made--think about the big possibility that it was made, somewhere along the line, by a slave)
Click here to visit the Free the Slaves website to read stories of former slaves, and to find out what you can do to help.

I first heard about this monumental tragedy when Ceej and I listened to the author of this book, E. Benjamin Skinner, give an interview with the National Constitution Center via podcast. These NCC podcasts are AMAZING. You really should subscribe. Make sure you listen to this specific podcast...it's under the Legacy of 1808 series. Skinner gives this definition of a slave:

Those that are forced to work, under threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistance.

Friday Issue Roundup: Issue 1 "Finding Beauty In a Broken World"

This is Terry Tempest Williams. A Writer. An activist. A beautiful woman. An evironmentalist. Last spring a good friend told me about an experience she had with Terry, and books that she had read for a class written by her. I was curious, and wanted to read myself. So I bought Refuge. Haven't read it yet, but hope to do so over the break. Then the same friend stayed with us this summer. She told me that Terry could be my light in this frustrating world...long story short: I've got a serious crush on this woman, and I haven't even met her, and am probably now way to shy to even approach her! Sheesh!
This is her latest book. I think I need this book. I know a lot of women (and men) who could really use something beautiful in this truly broken world. I invite you to read Terry's books with me.

p.s. I'll let you know if I finally get the guts to talk to this woman in person!

Holiday Cheer

So as the the big day gets closer, the days get busier--having get-togethers with friends from high school, friends from college, friends from the old neighborhood, family: cousins, aunts & uncles, grandma & grandpa, etc. Luckily none have overlapped (so far), and we'll be able to see so many people we love. Why am I telling you ALL of this? Because I just received the funniest invitation to one of these said parties...read it for yourself (names have been changed to protect the brilliant author and participants).

Let's Put the "Sleepover" Back in Christmas

Dearest Ann Marie and Chadley,

Please come to a Christmas Sleepover Pajama Party at this kids's house on Saturday at 7:30.
There will be some soup for dinner.

And a talent show.

And some cookies to frost,

and a movie to watch,

and some hell to raise,

and a barn to blaze,

and the latest craze,

and we will all be so dazed,

and amazed,

that our mothers will hope this is all a phase,

when we fall asleep where we layest

and all remain chaste,

till the morning lays waste,

with our sleeping debased,

though the punch not be laced,

it might as well have been.
So. Wear: Pajamas

Bring: Sleeping apparatus, and drinks

Practice: A talent, funny or serious, to perform, if you so please.

Be There at: 7:30 ish

Prepare for: Anything
Soup and bread and drinks and cookies will be provided. Questions/comments?

I'm pretty excited for this sleepover party. CJ and I are coming up with our talent as we speak (mostly I am laughing so hard at Ceej's dance moves...if any of you have had the privilege to see such a sight, count yourselves extremely lucky!)

Christmas Tradition: Miracle

Last night we watched this hilarious show. There's so so many good lines! You know, the old-fashioned kind of lines that make you laugh. Anyway, this movie is always a real treat. Remember when Fred Gailey says this:

Look Doris, someday you're going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn't work. And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover those are the only things that are worthwhile.

Protests & Celebrities

Tomorrow at 9:30 AM there will be a protest at the BLM's office in Salt Lake City (440 W. 200 S.). The protest is over what we've been so upset over for the past few weeks: the BLM in cahoots with the Bush administration, selling land to oil companies. Double boo. PLEASE GO AND SUPPORT THIS PROTEST! CJ and I are tragically stuck in Sacramento this time around, and can't make it...so please go for me! For some reason (which I know, but you don't) I really want to plea for all the women I know to go to this. Read this blog post, and then help me start a storm!

On Wednesday Robert Redford (who I previously had a little animostiy towards for commercializing the Sundance area, but now I guess we'll be friends) lent his star-power and is joining our fight.
"These lands are not Cheney and Bush's, they're ours," Redford said via satellite from Los Angeles during a media briefing at the National Press Club in Washington. "There's so much deception, so much sleight of hand here. ... So, I say: Stop it. Enough is enough."
See the rest of the story here.

Snow & Humanity

These photos were taken by CJ last year of trees in the park across from our apartment building. We were driving home from some holiday event, and we noticed how beautiful the trees were with snow and soft glowing light. So I made CJ take these photos. Beautiful, yes? Last night I read this passage from this book:

Awe is inarticulate. A sense of awe comes over us without our being able to say exactly what it is about. Reverence at such a moment forbids any attempt to put words around it. That is why awe is the most reverent of feelings. You feel, when you are in awe, that you are human, that your mind is dwarfed by what it confronts, that you cannot capture it in a set of beliefs, and that you had best keep your mouth closed and your mind open while awaiting further disclosure.

Last night and this morning I am also feeling my "humanity"--meaning, I am feeling very human, very full of error, arrogance, misjudgement, and unrealistic expectations. Who am I to make plans? Who am I expect so much from life?

Anyway, had another restless night, slept in, and ate a cupcake for breakfast. How's that for being human?

Distracted

A few years ago Ceej surprised me with one of these lovely cashmere hot water bottles for Christmas. For a girl with chronic cold feet, they were the PERFECT gift. Unfortunately, the lid is made of plastic, and the hot water melted it to a useless point. Boo. This afternoon I am wishing I still had a working one as I'm trying to finish up my senior thesis...I can't concentrate because I'm so darn COLD (even thought the thermostat is set at 70 degrees).

My Husband...So COOL!

Ceej. 1994. Xtreme skier. Babe.

Christmas Tradition: Wales

One of my favorites. We cuddle up with this little book, A Child's Christmas In Wales, and listen as the author, Dylan Thomas, reads us this story in his lovely Welsh accent. The woodcuts from this original printing are fantastic! Scroll down some more to see some of my favorites.
Here's Thomas. He wrote poems, short stories, and plays. He died, unfortunately, at the age of 39.

Manifesto Monday: Homesick

I believe in feeling homesick. When I was in high school I would tell my friends how I wanted to travel the world, and that I would live anywhere but my hometown. How boring to live in the same place all your life! There were so many "cooler" and more "exotic" places to live, work, and play. First, I moved out of my parents' home upon graduating, and moved a full two hours away. As I started out my schooling in Anthropolgy I thought about Italy first. So I started teaching myself a little Italian (Thank you "Italian for Dummies!) I lived abroad in China for 5 months teaching English--which has absolutely nothing to do with Italy, but it was exciting for sure! But, after all this, I moved back home. Inside I was so happy to be back home, but I also felt I had given up on my "big plans." Over the years I have come to realize how important it is to have a sense of "place" and to feel that you belong to a certain geography, to certain people, and to a certain neighborhood. I realized that many people don't like the idea of their childhood "home." They try to avoid it, visit rarely, and speak of its people and sites as "boring." I, on the other hand, love "my" mountains, "my" local stores, "my" friends and neighbors, and "my" family. They give me comfort and meaning. I miss all of these things on a daily basis as I live away from home. Some people call homesickness a weakness. But I think it is a strength that connects me to people and places. This I believe.

Fundraiser/Protest Update

Thanks to everyone who came to our fundraiser and donated to SUWA. Hopefully you got some good gear out of your donation. We had so much gear donated! Companies were really generous. I was amazed! This was all really encouraging: it made me realize that we CAN make a difference. We put this together in just one week! We raised more awareness and some money for a cause we really believe in. It all started with group of friends in a living room complaining about something, and deciding to actually DO something.

Earlier that day, Friday, our group, Visual Cacophony, had a little protest/demonstration outside the BLM office in Salt Lake City. Everyone poured black paint, representing oil, over Hasenpfeffer who was sitting in front of our sign "drill something else." Lots of people have made comments about how "stupid" we were for doing this. But what they fail to see is two things: 1) This "stunt" got our issue on the front page, rather than somewhere lost in the depths of the newspaper, and 2) This kind of thing is really fun to do/put together/participate in. People need to have more fun with things, and stop taking themselves so seriously, yes? Read about it here.

Friday! Friday! Friday!

We're taking off early tomorrow morning to come to SLC for the BIG EVENT! So here's a reminder/plea to come for our fundraiser/gear auction at Momentum.

8:00 Climbing and silent auction start
10:00/10:20ish the party really starts, more auctioning, winners announced, live music, and movie.
Midnight: go home.

What's being auctioned you ask? Backpacks, skiis, shoes, AND ONE FULL YEAR OF FREE GELATO from this little amazing place!

Bring cash, check, and everyone you know.

Christmas Tradition: For Laughs

"A Christmas Story"

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Homemade eggnog (don't worry, the eggs are not raw!).

Every year I am truly amazed at how well this movie captures what Christmas time feels like as a kid...especially the scenes of Christmas morning with new fallen snow, and Christmas night when all the hooha has settled down. It reminded me that Christmas Day really feels different from every other day of the year. Now I'm all excited to wake up Christmas morning...though we don't focus on presents as much any more (it's much more fun to have a yummy breakfast and to laugh with family).

A few lines from the movie to remind you how good it is:

Mr Parker: [after Mother "accidentally" breaks the Old Man's leg lamp] Why did you touch that? You were always jealous of this lamp.

Mother: Jealous of a plastic...

Mr. Parker: Jealous! Jealous because I WON.

Mother: That's ridiculous. Jealous. Jealous of WHAT? That is... The ugliest lamp I have ever seen in my entire LIFE!

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Now it was out.

If I Could, I Would

If I could, I would buy art to give to family and friends for Christmas. My favorite artists happen to be Utah artists. This first painting is by Zachary Proctor, and the second by Aaron Lifferth. Double sigh. One day I'll buy up their entire stock.

Be Careful What You Ask For...

Talk about instant answer...Last night I awoke at 2:30 AM because my mind was being filled with thoughts and ideas. Didn't fall back asleep until 5:30 AM. Had a hard time waking up this morning. But now I've got some direction. Hooray for angels who visit in the night time. Hooray for answers.

photo by Anna Wolf

Ama Yoga Blog

FYI: I'm blogging daily again on my yoga blog. Come on over for a visit.

You're Invited. Please Do Come.

What: Fundraiser for SUWA to help them fight legal battles against the BLM for auctioning off beautiful lands in southern Utah. Come climb, make art, and listen to great music. Part of your entrance fee to climb will be donated to SUWA. There is going to be lots of gear for you to bid on too.

When: Friday December 12th 8:00-11:59 PM (music starts at 10:00 PM).

Where: Momentum Climbing Gym 220 West 10600 South Sandy, UT...by the REI near South Towne Mall (the last time you'll ever see the word "mall" on my blog).

CJ, I, and lots of good people have worked hard to pull this together. We'd love you forever if you came to support us, the earth, and all people who are breathing. We're making the 9.5 hour drive to be there...so those of you who are local have no excuses.

Note: if you don't like climbing you can come anyway and just hang out (I stopped climbing a couple years ago altogether, so you can hang out with me). Or you can wait to come at 10:00 PM when the music and the gear auction start.

Need An Angel...

Filled with big emotions right now...hope you don't mind some out-loud soul searching. Right now I'm wishing for a certain angel, one that will tell me how to be a great woman, how to speak, and how to make a difference. I feel that I am supported by angels all the time, but I wish that they would sometimes whisper in my ears exactly what I need to do. Perhaps this is a lesson in and of itself: that I am not great because of what I do. But I am great because I am, because I exist. This is why my angels only love and support me, I don't have to do anything. However, this does not change the fact that I still want some heavenly advice.

Holiday Misc.

We've been oh so busy these past few days with holiday activities and fundraiser/protest organizing. Here's some photos to document some of it. Above, me with wreaths I bought at Apple Hill. They are oh so pretty and oh so cheap! One of you lucky readers will get one of these wreaths...you'll find out who it is in about 4 days!

Here is where we took a lunch break: apple cider doughnuts.

Can you see all that sugery goodness?!

Doing a little grocery shopping...hooray for pears!

Clementines for me, please.

We had this yummy treat while we watched the movie below:

My double chocolate caramels worked! Phew! They are pretty darn good.

My little fruit display...my grandparents are known for taking pictures of their fruit organized in pretty ways...I thought I'd keep the tradition alive.

My cheddar twist rolls. I can taste 'em now...they melt in your mouth!

A little bouquet for me!

I just thought this was pretty (and yummy!)

Lemon Poppyseed shortbread. I've made these twice in one week now. Soooo good.

Last night we had a Christmas Extravaganza party at our little apartment with a few of our neighbors. Homemade eggnog, twice-baked potatoes, mulled cider, and Abelskivers were served. We had a lovely time laughing and eating.

I sent a few of these lovley postcards off...will be sending more soon.