Just Bitten

I just couldn't quite believe this when I saw it. Revlon's newest lipstick color--Just Bitten. Hmm...who do you think is their target audience?

You know, the more I think about it, the more disturbed I become. How did vampires even become a national obsession? Really, vampires (if they actually existed) are very evil. They're undead murderers, not glittering vegetarians (Twilight) or powerful and erotic lovers (True Blood). But instead of being disgusted by vampires, we've completely glamorized them. Girls are screaming to become them. To become damned creatures. Just a bit unsettling.

What is this obsession saying about the American people? And, more importantly, when will it stop?!

Memoir Practice

"Now I feel a new power to write, the sentences just pouring out. I feel the books in a stack inside me. I have only to open them up, open myself up, and read off those words." - From Sam Savage's The Cry of the Sloth

How much I long to be experiencing these words, to be so filled with inspiration that I can't keep my fingers still! But I'm dry, and have been for quite some time now. I keep telling myself it's because I'm so busy, but really? My busy consists of a lot of sitting, dreaming, reading, watching the Bachelorette, playing with my hamster, and trying to elude boredom. So clearly, "busy" is not an excuse I can honestly use. You'd think with all this free-time I'd be wrapping up a novel! But no, instead I live off others' words and wish that I had written them.

I suppose I need more discipline in my writing life. Josh gave me a great book filled with writing prompts, but I've hardly broken the surface. It's called Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg, and it's a great book; I highly recommend it. Let's see--why don't we do one together!

Give me a memory of your mother, aunt, or grandmother.

In Maine, Mom ordered lobster. It was fresh from the sea and stared at her from the plate. When the waitress set it down, Mom turned the plate with the tips of her fingers so that the eyes faced Dad. I was so fascinated by this boiling red animal that I could barely eat my shrimp. I'm surprised, even to this day, that Mom even attempted to eat a creature that, but for its being boiled, could've walked off the plate and snapped a fork in its claw.
Mom picked at the lobster valiantly with all sorts of utensils, laughing and ewing the whole time. The tail was good, she said. But then, she busted open the midsection, where the lobster housed its now-cooked dinner. The substances inside were grey and mushy, and a shiver ran down my spine. Mom quickly pushed the plate away, sticking out her tongue. Our waitress laughed.
Before the dissected meal was removed from the table, though, Darwin ripped off the antennas and made them dance across the table, sometimes swirling them in his water glass while he made sucking sounds.


Alright. Now it's your turn!

Continental

Big News! Josh and I just sent in applications to do media mission work in Kenya! If we are accepted and all goes smoothly, we could potentially be leaving the country next October! Needless to say, we are very excited :) I will share more details as the process continues. In fact, I may even create a new blog dedicated solely to our next and biggest adventure.

Please keep us in your prayers as we surrender ourselves to God and seek to do his will.

Sibling

Nature is our sister, not our mother--a parallel creation
that gives glimpses of a divine artist at work.

--G. K. Chesterton

Dreams

In my lifetime, I hope to accomplish many things. But more importantly, to experience many things. I firmly believe that art is born through experience. Below, I've listed some of the things I hope to do in order to enrich my life, and in return, touch others' lives through the art I will create.

• Travel to England and Scotland and soak up all the beautiful history and literary genius of that island. And sip a few cups of tea.
• Live in Kenya and go on a safari, learn how to make African art, and dance alongside the lovely people who love God like I do.
• Travel to France to expand my French-speaking skills, stroll the halls of the Louvre, and experience romance the Parisian way.
• Visit Rome (well, all of Italy) because of its rich roots in the Western World. The art is incredible, and the language is sexy.
• Go to Australia and scuba dive (or snorkel) in the Great Barrier Reef. Where else could you go to see every color God created?
• Ride a hot air balloon over crisp autumn leaves.
• Hang glide down a mountain.
• Learn to waterski.
• Master archery. There will always be a part of me that will pretend to be a great warrior woman from the past.
• Go white-water rafting.
• Ride an ostrich. Ever since I saw Swiss Family Robinson as a child, I've wanted to do this. I have no idea where it could happen, but I can assure you that if the opportunity arises, I'll be on that bird!
• Gallop a horse on the surf of a pristine beach. Romantic much?
• Have an old-fashioned picture taken of me as a Western saloon girl. Gotta let that girl come out some time!
• See Josh Groban in concert. These are the only tickets I'd ever camp out for.
• Adopt a child, hopefully from an African country. I want to learn that child's culture and incorporate it into our American life so that he/she will never forget his/her heritage.
• Publish a book. Could be of my adventures. Could be a story for children. Just something that another person will hold and smell and find inspiration.

Shrinking

I never used to call myself a pessimist, but the constant job rejections are taking their toll on me. I'm becoming nothing more than a quivering, self-conscious, unmotivated, and apparently inadequate substitute for a human being. Life is cruel. I just want to run away. I thought God was supposed to provide. But instead I have a husband I hardly see, an apartment we probably can't afford, and dreams of grad school slipping down the drain.

Ah, yep. Here come the tears...