It's Me Manifesto!

2011-02-06T23:01:00.001-05:00

To Those Who Are Thinking of Leaving-

2011-02-06T22:45:00.002-05:00

There are some random days in my life that make me strangely nostalgic, and Super Bowl Sunday is one of those days.

I remember watching a Super Bowl in a bean bag chair as a kid, I remember watching it at a Baptist church in college (where they turned it off for all the beer ads), I remember watching it at Jason's house in college during the infamous "wardrobe malfunction", and I remember watching it six years ago.

This weekend is always significant for me, and as I stopped to get gas tonight at what has become my neighborhood gas station all of those memories came flooding back to me.

Six years ago this weekend, I was a wide eyed, eager, ready to get started, recent grad from college, and I was driving to northern Virginia to interview for another job as a church musician. I had driven to Georgia, Kentucky, and interviewed over the phone in places from Michigan to Texas. In many ways, this was just another interview, and I had gotten used to those.

What would I say to that girl at 24? I was thinking a lot tonight about what I would have done at that time if I knew all that was going to happen during these six years. Would I have turned around and high tailed it back to my North Carolina roots? What if I told myself that in the next six years I would-

Have six different roommates
Have four different jobs (one of them twice)
Date, fall in love, and have my heart broken
Question most everything I had always known to be true
Move three different times
Lose one of my best friends
Gain countless more
Reconnect with one of my dear friends from high school
Experience one of the darkest times in my life
Grow to know myself so much better than I ever did before

In these six years I have met so many people that it's hard to imagine my life without. Six years ago tonight I watched part of the game at Sarah's house in Baltimore and then we drove around and listened to my XM radio that she had just bought me. Six years ago, I stopped at what has become my neighborhood gas station, having no clue that six years later I would stop there again, as just another stop in my everyday life.

If I had told myself six years ago that I would no longer be working for the church, and have no more desire to do so, I probably would have stayed in North Carolina and continued to look for work. Why would a recent graduate with a degree in church music want to move somewhere knowing that in six years she would be a full time nanny only using her music degree in community theater?

I'm glad I didn't know all of that then because I have to admit that I'm pretty happy with who I am. I've done dumb things, but I'm happy with where I am because of those things.

Am I better for these past six years? Sometimes the doubt comes into my mind that moving here was a mistake, that the growing pains I have experienced couldn't possibly be part of a Divine plan.

But, if these six years have taught me anything, it's to do the best with what you've got, to lean on those you love (and who love you back), and that there's always a way out.

If you're thinking of leaving, listen to six years saying to you "if it works out, do it. You will be stretched and pulled. You will grieve and celebrate. But you won't be the same."

2011-01-24T22:27:00.007-05:00

So, I guess I'm writing this blog for Abbey, who wants me to write more. So Abbey, a glketa (present) for you.

I've been thinking a lot about life and death recently. I don't really think it's possible to go through life with a complete understanding of our mortality. I think that kind of understanding would drive a person crazy. I mean, maybe we catch glimpses of it, but overall, I think we're all in a huge state of denial. I remember one summer night at home when I was in college, lying in bed and just completely reaching the edges of my understanding of mortality and eternity. Finally, the most peaceful thought I could conclude was that if I believe in a god Who made the universe, and I trust Him to keep the earth on its axis, and I trust Him to keep things moving as He has for an infinite number of years, then I have to trust Him with eternity itself.

Recently, I was driving home and thinking about one of the children I have taught. I was thinking about how the kids who I taught as preschoolers are now in 3rd grade, and soon, they will be in high school, graduating, and having children of their own. I was thinking about my sweet surrogate niece, and how I wonder so much what she will be like when she is older.

But one day, she will be older. And then their will be new babies for me to wonder and dream about. Until eventually, it's all over for me and there's no more babies to watch grow up, and there's no more hopes or dreams to see fulfilled on the earth.

And then, eternity.

2010-07-14T23:53:00.005-04:00

Hmmm......
It's been awhile since I've written, but I'm definitely feeling the need to decompress a bit as I wind down for sleep on this Wednesday night.

I feel like I could go a few directions with this post. I could speak more about my theological views, about how, as I told a friend recently, I'm very middle of the road on most every theological issue. How I think I'm OK with that, although it scares me.

But I think I'm going to tell you tonight how incredibly grateful I am at times. Sometimes I look at my life, and I see such disrepair. Sometimes I look at my life as a beautiful puzzle that is slowly coming together. Sure, maybe it's still in disrepair, but it's being fit together into something beautiful.

I have amazing friends. I have a handful of friends in my life who know everything that I try to hide. And guess what? They still want to hang out with me. I still feel their love and their support, and I think that's a lesson to everyone to stop trying to hide.

It's Me Life

2010-06-10T22:20:00.003-04:00

Emmaline is...

like a TV whose remote control is stuck.

the girl who will try to cheer you up with shadow puppets.

the girl who remains steadfast when life has kicked her in the head, crushed in her skull and left her gasping on the ground.

These things have been used to describe me, and I'll take them. I wrote a really long time ago about my Tower of Babel existance, about how the theme of my life has been that I spend time building up something for myself, only to have it knocked down for me to build something better. And I'm really ok with that. I'm glad that God has not been pleased with my first, second, or third attempts at building something for myself.

This Tower of Babel existance makes it OK for me to look around at my life sometimes and see that it's in shambles, because that only means that it's time to start building again.

Thoughts on Christmas

2009-12-25T23:58:00.022-05:00

So This is Christmas...

My most poignant Christmas memory comes from what for some reason was also my most difficult Christmas. Two years ago I was travelling home after the Christmas Eve services early in the morning. At this point, I was working for the Methodist Church and having to wait until after 9 or so to be finished at church. Then I was traveling home and arriving in North Carolina at about 4 or 5 in the morning.

On one of my stops on the trip, I stopped in a gas station or Wendy's or something. It was probably about one o clock in the morning. As I walked in and saw the people sitting in the booth at a Wendy's I heard the music playing, "So this is Christmas". Yes, this is Christmas.

This year my thinking on Christmas has shifted quite a bit. Not being in a formal church I have missed all the Christmas carols and preparations for the season. In a way this has been fine. I used to work very hard every Christmas to make it feel special. I felt like I needed to feel the magic of Christmas like I did when I was a kid.

Last year, I let it all go. My whole family couldn't be together, and I realized that it wasn't going to be the same. This year, we were all together again. Yes, I know that Christmas is the day the church chose to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, but to me the miracle of Christmas is the joy and peace of families coming together. I celebrate the incarnation every day. Or at least I recognize that I should.

God so loved the world. And He sent Jesus, as a baby, and this baby grew and became a pretty incredible child, and the child grew and became the most amazing man to have ever lived. Fully God and fully Man, loving the sinners and hanging out with the untouchables. He did this to show God's love. This is something to be celebrated every day. We don't know what day He was born, but the fact that He lived is something to celebrate.

I see this year the miracle of a god so loving that He would orchestrate a day for the world to stop. All over the world, this day is different than all other days. There is a month on this secular planet where people think of others and prepare for a day to slow down and enjoy each other.

Christmas will never be the same as it was, but it's not supposed to be. One day, (hopefully), I'll have kids and be able to see the joy and magic of Christmas in their eyes, and the anticipation of this day that feels so different than all other days.

There are Two Kinds of People

2009-12-19T20:39:00.004-05:00

I've realized in the last few weeks how vastly different I am from many of the people around me. That's not to say that I'm the only one in the world who acts the way I do, but that things I thought were givens for all of human kind are actually just my personal personality choices. People often say that there are two kinds of people in this world. Here are mine:

There are two kinds of people. Those who take out their frustrations on others and those that don't. I'll call these the Displacers and the Nondisplacers.

You know the old psychology story about displaced anger, the one where the lady has a bad day at work so she comes home and kicks the dog. This is an extreme, but The Displacers are those who let their mood affect their actions. If the Displacer wakes up late, wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, eats a bad briskit, those around him will know it. On the other hand, the Displacer doesn't bottle up his aggresion only to explode in some other unhealthy matter.

The Nondisplacer has the ability to bury his frustrations. He keeps things in perspective and lets things go easily. He is not likely to lash out at an individual unless that individual is actually the one causing him distress.

Are you a D or an N?

There are also the Shovellers and the Revellers.

I wasn't really aware of this until today when my roommates and I became snowed in. "I'm going stir crazy" said my roommate. "Let's build a snowman" I said. You see, I'm a Reveller. I like to enjoy the snow for the beauty that it is. I don't like to see people shovelling their driveways because they are ruining the natural beauty that is a newfallen snow. The Revellers have to get out in it before the Shovellers ruin everything. Even footprints in the snow will upset a Reveller because it ruins the pristine beauty that is the snow.

My roommate on the other hand is a Shoveller. She said she wanted to build a snowman but once outside was all about shovelling her car out. Building a snowman is frivilous. This stretches into other areas, too. Saturdays are about sleeping in for me. She's done a load of laundry, made and cleaned up breakfast, and vacuumed the house before I've even gotten up. I stumble to the bathroom and go back to bed, she's finishing up her ironing and is ready for a nap. She's a Shoveller, I'm a Reveller.

We get out of the storm when we get out of the storm in my eyes. The sun will do its job and there's no need to speed up the process.

In addition, there's the girls who want an industrious guy and the girls who want a sensitive guy. We'll call these the Industrious and the Sensitive.

My roommate and I are also on the opposite ends of the spectrum on this one and I'll give you one guess as to which is which. "Look at that guy building the house on TV. He's so hot", the I would say. "Yeah", the Sensitive might reply, "But he'd be much more attractive if he had a guitar. The Industrious wants a guy who will build, protect, solve problems, and fix. The Sensitive wants a guy who will write, talk, or sing about it.

I'm an NRS. What are you?

It's Me Bucket List

2009-12-06T17:39:00.019-05:00

I have been overwhelmed the last couple of days thinking about all of the things I want to do with my life. It started when watching clips from my home theater's production of Hamlet on YouTube. And I thought to myself, "I really want to get into theater again". How!?!? When!?!?!?

So forget all the typical things that take up our time, and that our priorities to us- our faith, our families, our friends, our full time jobs, the day to day relationships that are the most important and fill most of our time. There is a full list outside of these things that I want to pursue. I love TV, I love listening to music, and Facebook, but that's all the stuff that takes up my time now. There's a lot of other things that if I were to focus all the rest of my energy on I could become quite successful at one thing. But I don't know which to focus my energy on, and I doubt that I could focus on just one.

Theater:

I was in three musicals from January 2008-May 2009 after a 4 year stint of not doing any. I used to be in one musical a year as I was growing up, and I love theater. Some of my best relationships here have grown from working on shows together. There's truly no people like show people, and it's amazing to work with such an eclectic group of people towards a common goal. I'd love to do a show again, but now that I'm working full time again, I don't know when I'd have the time. Outside of not having the time after work, there's the late nights that are required and having to get up for work the next morning.

I was even working on writing a musical a few months ago. I really want to focus more time and energy on that.

Running:

Yeah, you read that right. I ran my first 5k on Thanksgiving morning, and I'd really like to keep doing it. I want to reach my goal weight before I turn 30 next year, and that means I've got to lose 10 pounds. By running "for" things, I can help others and get in shape, too. Racing reminds me of my dad, as he used to always cart me around to different races when I was a young teen. It's a great feeling to be there with all those other runners and to complete a 5k. I want to get better at it. I'd like to run further and further distances. I don't know that I could ever be a top finisher, but I'd like to run a whole race without stopping. I want for it to get easier and easier. I've checked out http://www.runwashington.com/ and have found another race or two I'd like to do in the spring. I could be a good runner if I could take the time to do it.

Music:

I spent five years (and other people spent thousands of dollars) investing in my study of music. At one point I at least understood the concept of a Napolean 6th (even though I couldn't hear it to save my life). I get great joy teaching music (especially theory) to the kids I teach guitar to. I've settled in to 4 students, and I wish I could give them more time. I really wanted to take a guitar class at the community college this spring, but I think it will be too much financially and time wise. I want to practice more guitar myself. I want to write music again. I haven't written a full song in a couple of years, which is probably the longest stint I've ever gone without writing since high school.

Photography:

I decided to do something about these interestes this past year and get my feet wet by taking a photography class at a community college. It's amazing everything that I've learned. I was thinking last night about how photography is like driving a car (I tell my guitar kids the same thing about playing guitar). There's so much to remember at one time, and you have to do it a lot before it all becomes second nature. You've got vantage points, and white balance, and exposures and appeture. I'm not where I want to be yet, and I'd like to get better. My friend and I would like to get into wedding photography, and I plan on taking the electronic darkroom class in the spring.

Relationships, Saving the World, Etc.:

These are the things that really matter. How do I become a good friend? A good roommate? How do I balance all of my interests with everyday life? How do I care for the hungry and the poor and maintain my personal relationships? How can I focus on one of these things and not make the others less important? How do I get the most out of Mere Jazz, my book group? How do I put all of myself into work? How do I become a great teacher, a great daughter, a great friend? How and when do I start a family?

What are your ideas? Do I focus certain months or time of the day on my various projects? Do I just dedicate myself to running every morning and writing every night? Do you find yourself in the same position? How did you get through it?

2009-11-15T20:08:00.023-05:00

I love how apparently Sunday is not only funday but also blogday for me! I don't mean to only blog on Sundays, but something about the lack of corporate worship in my life, the ending of a weekend, the beginning of a week brings about something in me that longs to reach out to the world through my little corner of the blogosphere.

So, hello world!

For those of you who don't know, my life of faith has taken a topsy turvy road this past year. I'm quickly approaching the ripe old age of 29, and for my intents and purposes that's practically 30. So I'm beginning to think about my life and what and who I want to be and what I want to be doing. I feel like when you're young, 30 is definitely the age that you want to have everything figured out by, but I'm not entirely sure that any of us ever have it all figured out.

So, I think my changing faith can be summed up in a thought I had today. I was looking at this trash can that I decapaged (yes, I decapaged a trash can) in college. On the trash can is a snippet out of a magazine that says "The cross: Just a symbol in youth culture. You will make it relevant again." And very quickly my mind went to the question of, "What is the meaning of the cross?" "Do I know its true meaning now? Did I really know its true meaning then?"

And I really think I'm getting to the heart of what this Christianity thing is more now than I ever did before. I mean, I fell deeply in love with Jesus 12 years ago, and I'd love to go back to that "new love" feeling in my faith.

But then I fell into the ways of living out that love that have become popular in middle class America. I bought the Jesus junk (at one point my guitar strap was covered with lapel pins). I did the retreats and the Sunday school. I wrote Jesus love songs while sitting on my bed. I read the Bible as if it were written just for me and for my life. There is something so sweet about new love.

But I think that living and searching for that "sweet spot" for 12 years (kind of like chasing the feeling of the first time you take a drug), led me to a faith that was somewhat stagnant. I don't know, I believed and still believe all the same things, but in that place I was doing these things because that's what Christians did. And I did them with little questioning.

And I even sought out a career working for a church. It made perfect sense to me, since I love Jesus and love music, that I should become a church music director. And I was a good church worker.

I haven't talked much about this in this blog, but I was a good church worker. I played the games, and I didn't speak up or question things. I was very diplomatic. I was a good employee. I was quiet and supportive. I was friendly and a cheerleader. Clearly I didn't do everything perfectly because I lost that job this past year.

But because of this I have learned how far the structured church of America has gotten away from the early Christian church. It doesn't matter how much we say we're not competing with other churches, we are. It's human nature. We want the best programs, and we want notoriety. And if our feelings are hurt, or things aren't done the way we want them to be, we start our own church.

We appoint our leaders, and we follow them as if they were God Himself. And sometimes we're given our leaders in some denominations, and we follow them as if God Himself had physically placed them in the church building.

And if we don't follow our leaders, we find others who don't follow them, and we build up a little resistance until there is so much bitterness that the church is no longer a moving body, but a country club or a Kiwanis club or something. Might as well be playing bunco with the ladies on Sunday morning.

Let me interject here and say that Kiwanis clubs and the like do wonderful work, I'm just spouting off at the mouth right now and am trying to think of organizations that are more social than spiritual. I've played bunco, and somewhat enjoyed it. :)

I'm working to keep myself in check during this time in my life. I no longer go to church on Sunday mornings, and sometimes I feel like I should. I acknowledge the bit of selfishness that is involved in staying in bed until 2:00 on a Sunday. On the other hand, getting dressed up and schmoozing and acting "like a Christian" among people I'm trying to impress doesn't seem like a good way to worship God to me.

So, I have my book group. We've been a bit out of it recently because of fundraising and sicknesses, but when we meet regularly, we have the potential to become what the early church was. We don't argue. We have no leaders, we just talk about living the Christian life. We talk about matters of theology. We care for each other, and are reaching out to those around us. We bring ourselves and our imperfections together, and we even laugh about them.

My faith is shifting from something I do in structure to something I live out publically. I'm working to maintain my love affair with my Maker. And I talk to Him daily. I trust that He will sift out this mess of a life and put me in the place where I should be. While He does, I'm holding on tight.

2009-11-08T19:15:00.007-05:00

Sometimes I get in the mood where I just want to write. It normally comes when I'm listening to music, and I want to be able to pack such _______ into 3 minutes of rhythm and melody. Fill in the blank, such humor, such truth, such fun, such anger.

I haven't written music in a really long time. I've played around with the musical that I'm writing, but haven't written a song song since probably the song I wrote for Zach which was almost two years ago. I don't know if I've ever taken a break this long before!

I had an interesting revelation last night, that I'm sure I stole from Shane Claiborne. My roommate and I were talking about politics and health care and marriage rights, and I said that we as Christian Americans depend on the government to do what the church should do. I know that we don't live in a perfect world. Quite far from it, actually. But the early Christians definitely didn't depend on the government to meet their needs because they were part of a much larger and long lasting kingdom.

Why do we expect the government to pay for our health care when The Church should do it? I know I'm living in a fantasy world by thinking this way, but I think that's how the Church- the Body is supposed to function in this way. The Church is a living, breathing body, Christ's hands and feet in this world, but we don't even care about each other. How can we love the world when we gnaw at our own arms and legs?

I don't think that we, as American Christians, really have any concept of the church universal. We know our Baptist/Methodist/Presbyterian church, and we know their leaders and the programs that they have, and which church has the best childcare program, and which church has the most eligible bachelors, but we think little of being the functioning body that we're called to be.

As Claiborne quotes in his book, when Jesus comes back he's coming for a bride, not a harem.

2009-11-01T19:40:00.003-05:00

"I'm dangerously romantic when the leaves are coming down
When the air was clear this morning and the frost still on the ground
When I wore those cozy woolen gloves to bicycle into town
Well of course I'd want to fall in love
and finally settle down
But I'm dangerous
So be careful with me,
Cause I could fall for you
much too easily.
I'm usually cool,
I like to be free
But I'm dangerous right now
Be careful with me.

Dangerous by David Wilcox

What is it about this season? I guess my previous relationships have all begun in October, and there's some feeling about the time change and driving home with the heat on that makes me feel like I should be beginning something new and exciting.

I love fall. It all reminds me of being in high school and wearing thermal and flannel and falling leaves.

But the last few years it's always been a bit depressing when it starts getting dark at 5:00 and you feel like you can't get anything done in the evenings because it's dark outside.

And sometimes I just want to be dangerous with someone.

Last night I had a blast, watching scary movies with my good friend Rich and his friends. I found myself driving home a familiar path in the rain with my heat on. It was good to have that familiar feeling with a different reason, to have just enjoyed a night with a group of guys, most of whom I had never met.

I realize that all of this is very rambly, but maybe you can understand this feeling of wanting to be dangerous, of being glad that the past is the past, of falling in love more and more with each changing season.

2009-10-11T21:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday on the phone my mom told me about a church near her house who is hosting a Bible burning on Halloween. Yep, a church hosting a Bible burning. Why? Because they are burning every Bible that is not KJV:
"Come celebrate Halloween by burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect. These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible."

They are also burning music:
"We will also be burning Satan's music such as country, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel, contempory Christian, jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc. "

And burning bo0ks, some by favorite authors of mine:
"We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham, Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, The Pope, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young,etc"

I have to say that when the announcement ended like this, I almost thought it was a joke:
"We will be serving Bar-b-Que Chicken, fried chicken, and all the sides."

But it's not a joke. My purpose in reflecting on this is not to draw anger or negative attention towards this group. This new church is inevitably a group of Jesus followers who I believe are... misguided at best. There are so many things for Christians to be fighting for that it seems sad to me that they are using so much time and energy fighting against so many things.

I was tempted to email the pastor and get some first hand information about his beliefs, but then discovered that everything they believe is posted fairly clearly on their website. I am curious as to where they are getting their information, I'm wondering if they've read any Shane Claiborne or Donald Miller.

They speak rather strongly against various contemporary Christian artists for sounding too much like secular artists: http://amazinggracebaptistchurchkjv.com/gpage8.html.
On this page they speak against:
Aaron Shust for having long hair, creating worship music that sounds like "noise", being influenced by secular artists
Amy Grant for being affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church,
Barlow Girl for being too worldly and for quoting from "...corrupt Bibles like the NIV"
Chris Tomlin for not taking a stand against things such as alcohol use on his website, and for having Beth Moore (a woman) speak at a conference for which he led worship
Darlene Zchech for seeking out unity among various churches
DC Talk because they "blasphemed the name of Jesus, Jesus is not a freak, He is the Son of God" (I'd like to point out that nowhere in DC Talk's 15 year old song do they refer to Jesus as a freak)

They speak against the Methodists, the Anglicans, the Episcopalians, and of course the Catholic Church, whom they refer to as "The Great Whore".

They quote a 1982 Gallup poll stating that 34% of Methodists believe that helping the community and social work is greater than the great commission...

Well, first of all, these stats are 27 years old. Second of all, 34% isn't a huge percentage, and third of all, maybe it is more important. I mean, Jesus talks about feeding the poor a lot more than he quotes the great commission.

Also, apparently in 1984, all Methodist churches were called upon to stop using "He" and "Father" when referring to God. Really? I have to say that I've heard some He's and Father's in the last 24 years. Any die hard Methodists know if there's anything in the Book of Discipline about this?

There are things I see on their site that don't seem to line up with their doctorine- calling the pastor's father the "World's Greatest Preacher" for example. Seems to me that they would have left this honor for Jesus, St. Paul, or John the Baptist. Also, by burning materials on Halloween, aren't they in a sense celebrating it?

I do have to say, good for them for taking a stand for their beliefs and obviously not caring how much negative press they get. I'm just saddened that they are missing out on some of the amazing Grace and freedom that comes from being a Christ follower who stands for things and not just against them.

2009-10-10T19:47:00.004-04:00

I feel like I should preface this by saying that I am NOT that girl.

I feel like most little girls dream of their wedding day and have it planned out from the time that they're four. Or at least society leads us to believe that's true.

I don't have my bridesmaids picked out, don't have a location, I really don't have much of it planned in my head at all. If you asked me five years ago who my bridesmaids would be, my answer would be the same. If I had had to pick, my list would probably have been much different.

In college, I decided that I'd like to walk down the aisle to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. I'll still maybe go for that, but having it played by a harp ensemble, like I had planned, is becoming a bit less important.

When I was a freshman in college, 10 years ago, my dad told me at my orientation that I had to wait until I got out of college to get married if I wanted him to pay for it. At that time in my life, it seemed entirely probable that I would meet my husband there! I told him that we would do a car wash to raise money for it if need be. Any husband of mine would be happy to don a goofy outfit and wash cars to raise money for our wedding.

At one point in college I decided that my husband would have to be musical, and that we would sing Come What May from Moulin Rouge as part of our wedding ceremony. I was informed years later that that is tacky, and that I would want to throw up on my wedding day, and would be in no mood to sing anything. I then asked my friend Casey to be my barf bag holder.

All this to say that there's no man at the other end of the aisle, and until that becomes more clear, until I know where I am finacially at that time in my life, until I know IF there will be a man at the other end of the aisle, who knows what I'll like?

I used to think that I didn't want my dad to walk me down the aisle. Now I think maybe I'd like both parents to do it.

And then there's the first dance song. I used to think that maybe this song by David Wilcox would be a great choice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvtSBQf8RM

Now, I've discovered this song by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6r92a_jason-mraz-ft-colbie-caillat-lucky_music

And, reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistable Revolution the thought has crossed my mind that maybe, just maybe, I'll remain single. Although that's not my first choice for my life, it's easy for me to see how much good I'd be able to do as a single woman. I've always wanted kids of my own, but I see tons of potential godsons and daughters around me. I could be the mother of two kids, or I could be the crazy aunt of hundreds.

All that to say, I am NOT that girl. I'm not the girl dreaming of my wedding day,but I have just a few ideas. :)

State of the Date Address

2009-08-12T23:26:00.002-04:00

My Fellow Single Female Americans:

In the course of human events, it comes to our attention that we find ourselves in a simliar state. We are in our mid to late twenties, we are single, and we are tired of seeing so many of our friends in wedded bliss while we continue to struggle as singles in a world clearly designed for couples.

There are many solutions to our aforementioned problem. We can simply give up. Some of us have resigned ourselves to single home ownership and a life of feline companionship. Others among us have lowered our standards, seeking out the attention of anyone with male organs regardless of their creed, social status, or the way they treat women. Some have been incredibly lucky in love, but unlucky in longterm monogomous relationships. We float from relationship to relationship under the false pretenses presented to us via Jerry McGuire, just waiting for the one who will complete us.

Finally, some of us have done things our parents always warned us not to. We have met men in bars, gone on blind dates, and subjected ourselves to the personal turmoil that is internet dating.

When we enter the internet dating field, we think to ourselves that this is a good idea. We decide that we can have a scientific system tell us who is compatible with us, and that we can find wedded bliss easily, and sometimes, freely.

Sometimes, we pay out the nose for this service, believing that the more expensive a service is, the more likely it is to work. We join services like Yahoo! Personals, OK Cupid, Plenty of Fish, Match.Com, Chemistry.Com, EHarmony, and Isn'ttheretheperfectguyoutthereformesomewhere.com.

As single American women, we do not ask for much, but what we seek is nonexistant. I am making out a call to all single men. Please come out from your hiding places. Escape from your caves, your proverbial woodwork, your crevices and your shelters. It is a safe world out here. We will not hurt you, we simply want to drag you into a longterm monogamous relationship.

Here's all we ask:

Please share our beliefs. If we are looking for a man with similar religious beliefs, do not assume that we will want to date you if you do not share them. We are lonely. We are not desperate. Emailing us when we have made it clear that we are looking for someone who shares our beliefs just shows us that you don't care what we believe, or perhaps more accurately, that you haven't read our profile.

Don't tell us that we have a beautiful smile. Don't tell us that we're the most attractive girl you've ever seen. Don't tell us that we fell from heaven, or that we're tired because we've been running through your mind all day. We see through it. We're lonely. We're not stupid. We know that you send that same email to everyone.

We do not want for you to describe yourself as attractive. Please don't use a name like HotGuyLookingforYou. If you're attractive, then we will tell you. If you know that you're attractive, then you're not really attractive. I know this is all very confusing to you, we'll explain it when given the chance.

Please do not use American Slang when writing an online profile. If your profile says something like "im a hot guy lookin for all da single ladies", I'm probably not going to look anymore.

All women are looking for someone different. And this, men, is good news. The statements I have made above are fairly general for all women. Specifically, I implore any single men who are: tall, lanky, artsy but straight, musical, preferably with messy hair, intelligent, funny, and most importantly Christian, to contact me.

These traits are not set in stone, but if you find that you fit into the majority of these categories, please contact me at prn2wndr.blogspot.com.

Mostly, men, I implore you to stand up tall and proud of who you are. Women are a smarter breed than you may expect. The State of the Date is sad, my friends, but with your help, we can pull it out of its dismal existance and bring it back to the light.

Sincerely,
President of All-Things Date-Like

More Theological Views

2009-08-02T13:50:00.004-04:00

Have we not all been on the edge of our seats hoping that I will soon be able to put some sort of label on my personal creed? :) Well, since we all know that online quiz's are complete accurate I can safely say that I am "Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan":

"You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists."

You can take the same quiz here: http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/Theology/svensvensven/whats-your-theological-worldview/ and I would of course be interested in hearing your results and in beginning a dialogue about all things theological, although I'd prefer that it be more a dialogue and less a confrontation, as I am an INFP. :) http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html . Speaking of which, what is your personality type? Let's start a dialogue about that, as well. :)

My Personal Creed

2009-07-31T18:38:00.005-04:00

A couple of days ago I began a post stating my personal creed. I then lost it, and haven't had the energy to go back and recreate the post.

But, I'll do my best. My Blue Like Jazz group the other night was discussing the Emergent Church. What is the Emergent movement? Are we emergent? What are we to believe that we have heard both wonderful and horrible things about this movement?

And what do I believe? I've been a Jesus follower for years now, but what's at the core of my beliefs? In the years that I've been a believer, I've been fundamentalist, conservative, evangelical, born-again, am I now emergent? And aren't all of these things just titles anyway? How can I say that I'm any of these any more than I can say that I belong wholeheartedly to any one political party? What do I believe?

I believe that there is a loving God. I believe that He created the universe.

I call God He because Jesus referred to Him as Father when he was on the earth. I have a good enough relationship with my earthly father, that it doesn't harm my theology to think of God as my Heavenly Father.

Speaking of which, I believe that God speaks to us in terms that we understand. We understand relationships, so we understand God as Father. In the words of Joan of Arcadia:

Joan: Are you being snippy with me? God is snippy.
God: Let me explain something to you, Joan. It goes like this. I don't look like this. I don't look like anything you'd recognize. You can't see me. I don't sound like this. I don't sound like anything you'd recognize. You see, I'm beyond your experience. I take this form because you're comfortable with it. It makes sense to you and if I'm snippy, it's because you understand snippy. You get it?
Joan: Sort of.
God: Good. Cause I'm really not snippy. I've got a great personality. You'd like me.

This is not to say that I believe that God would change Who He is, but simply that He is relational, and talks to us in ways that we understand.

Speaking of which, I believe that God speaks to us through many ways: Prayer, His Word (the Bible), others, life experience. I also believe that often times people think they hear God when they're really only hearing their own voice. In the words of Malcolm Muggeridge: "Every happening, great or small is a parable by which God speaks to us. The art of life is to get the message."

I believe that Jesus is God's Son. I believe that He is 100% God and 100% man. God wanted for us to be complete and as close to Him as possible, but we kept messing things up. We are people who understand sacrifice. Being a relational God, He reconciled us to Him in a way that we would understand.

I believe that there is a right and a wrong. I also believe that the most important part of my life is not to tell others that what I'm doing is right and what they are doing is wrong. I believe that I am not called to point out the mistakes of others, but I am called to love everyone in the Name of Jesus.

I believe that what I do is sometimes wrong, too. I believe that I am an imperfect person relying on a perfect God. I believe that sometimes even when I want to do what is right, there is a part of me that still chooses to do what is wrong.

I believe that the church has gotten it wrong a lot. I belive that we have become a group of people who feel greatly loved and priviledged, but forget that we live among people who don't like their idea of who we are. And rightly so. The church throughout history has killed people, hated those we're called to love, and thought ourselves so much better than other, all in the Name of the One we claim to serve.

I believe that the purpose of the church is to be a group of believers that looks outward, not a group that sits in our ivory towers patting ourselves on the back for how good we are and how bad everyone else is.

1984!!!!

2009-07-31T18:32:00.002-04:00

Here's a book that I've been reading for awhile, but in the last week or so, I've made some major porgress, and I'm seeing the ending right around the corner. This book is amazing. I'm sure most of you have read it, and if you haven't, you should really think about it.

What is so good about 1984? It takes you to a world just deeply enough rooted in ours that it's almost believable.

It makes you realize the freedoms that we have as humans, the freedoms to know that past is past, that truth is truth, that love is real. It takes you to a place where it is the lower class who are the most free, simply because they are not watched as closely, and because they have no fear that there lot in life will change. They will always work, although the person they are working for might change.

There's also a love story thrown into the mix, and a wonderful taste of an argument about what is sanity and what is insanity.

Artomatic Part Deux

2009-07-12T12:46:00.030-04:00

So, last Friday I went into the city with my roommate where we met my boss to go to Artomatic. Neither one of them had been before, and I was eager to check out more of the displays.

We almost created a state of national emergency when my roommate bumped into the 8 foot tall Michelle Obama, almost creating a domino effect that would have injured the whole Obama family, but Chett came to the rescue while I just stood nearby frozen in fear. Anyway, here are the highlights:

This is one of my favorite displays. It's stuffed owls in a tree. I wrote in her guest book something along the lines of, "I loved your owls. I thought they were a real hoot." Yes, I was that girl.

Chett likes to throw himself in photos which became quite the challenge. But here's a closeup of one of the owls:

And here he is again:

And here's more owls:

And I think this is my favorite owl. I love the look in his eye, and I think his name is something like Lance Owlington, which seemed to fit perfectly:

And more owls:

This display was also a favorite. It reminded me of the art that Amity does:

So here's what I learned from this trip:

I really like mixed media art. I love looking at everyday objects in a new way. I love that you can make art out of a Barbie doll and green army men. I love art that I think I could do, too. I can admire a beautiful painting for what it is, but I especially love art that I feel like I could participate in.

Also, playing survivor-like endurance challenges on the metro is fun. And when your boss says, "Let's walk 10 blocks to get something to eat", remember that 10 blocks is a lot farther when you're hungry.

Also, I really want to make a 5'8" tallpapier mache giraffe like this one, seen at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria:http://www.flickr.com/photos/creativedc/2938796459/sizes/l/

Pardon me while I wax theological

2009-06-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

I've been doing some thinking lately. I mean, I haven't really reached many conclusions or really thought incredibly deeply, but let's just say that I've been scratching the surface of something so deep that I couldn't possibly fully understand it if I made it my full time job to seek out the answers.

Life situations have brought me to a place where I feel the need to examine the HOWS of Christianity. I've been living this faithful Christian life for about 12 years now, and it's really easy to get stuck in the rituals and the habits without remembering why we do them and as is true of many things, when things become habit we stop thinking about them, and just get busy doing them.

I'm not saying I'm super Christian. I'm actually far from it. Sometimes I'm more like the hypocrites, reciting empty prayers out of habit, while forgetting to love the One I'm talking to.

But, I've been thinking. What does this life changing faith mean? If we believe that there is a God Who is in control of the universe, and if we believe that although He is busy with things like keeping the earth in orbit, He still takes time to listen to our "God bless Mommy and Daddys", then what does this mean practically in our lives?

There is something to be said for letting that truth sink into our hearts. Sometimes feeling loved by the God of the universe makes us feel truly lovely and makes us more loving people. Sometimes feeling that kind of love is the catalyst for change and for action. Unfortunately, however, when faith becomes habit, it's too easy to get into the mentality of "God loves everyone, but I'm His favorite."

And what horrendous acts are done out of this kind of faith! We can promote ourselves, and become the center of our own universes to our heart's content as long as we're operating under this faith that says that I'm the favored child.

My main question here is this: What does this life changing faith have to do with the way we treat others? What are we doing for those who are suffering? Are we showing that we know Jesus by our actions?

Sometimes I wonder if God would be more pleased with Christian acts done with the right motives than He is with hearing me recite off my "God bless Mommy and Daddy"s.

I don't know what this means in my life right now. I believe that there must be a cause for me to fight for... not for the sake of being one of those people who fights for causes, but because it's the right thing to do... because I'm so in love with the One Who loves others that I have to love others to. And if this is true of me, then it must be true for all believers.

Using a To-Do List

2009-06-27T16:39:00.004-04:00

First of all, I'm thrilled that unless I want to, I don't have to leave my house until Monday morning. I have a weekend with absolutely nothing planned outside of small group tomorrow afternoon (don't worry guys, I'll shower and put on fresh clothes for you :) ). This is a huge difference from next weekend, in which I'm possibly overbooked, so it's nice to have a relaxing one to prepare myself.

To attack the many thing I needed to accomplish today I made a to-do list earlier today. Do you make to-do lists? I'm definitely a list maker, but my problem is that often just making the list makes me feel accomplished enough and takes the stress off of my mind and onto the paper.

At work this isn't a problem, because I know that I must finish what's on my list, but at home I can always wait until tomorrow.

I have slept on and off most of the day, but have gotten very little done on my list.

Artamatic!

2009-06-26T23:09:00.003-04:00

OK, so if you're a DC area local and an art fan, and haven't checked out Artomatic, you need to go. Now.

I went tonight to see one of the performances there, and while I didn't take the time I would have liked to look at all seven floors (yes, folks, that's right, seven) of art in all of it's many medias, the taste I got was amazing. I'm looking forward to going back at some point.

Apparently it closes on July 5th, so hurry!

www.artomatic.org

What I'm Reading Part I

2009-06-25T19:40:00.004-04:00

I am reading many, many books right now. More than I can really read productively, but here's the list:

Musicophilia

Churched

1984

Blue Like Jazz

Through Painted Deserts

So, if you don't want spoilers, don't read these posts. :)

Musicophilia is a book that I got for Christmas this past year. I've been reading it on and off, and although it's not light reading it's very interesting, and matches together my loves for music and psychology quite well. It talks about cases of people who have had brain injuries and then show a strange ability or interest in music. Also, it talks about what causes songs to come to our minds, how we hear music, how some people can hear entire symphonies in their heads while others can only hear melodies. If you're looking for an intense look into the affect music has on our minds, check out Musicophilia.

An Email from a Friend

2009-06-24T20:53:00.002-04:00

A friend wrote this in an email that i received today. Dang, this makes me feel good. What words of encouragement have you recieved recently and why did they mean so much to you?

It was nice to see you... You looked so nice. I think some of these changes have been good for you even though it must have been really hard at the time. The haircut and makeup and your pretty outfit looked really hot. (I'm not making a pass at you, I swear!!) I just wanted to tell you that. Keep it up! Seriously, you looked like you had been on one of those makeover shows...I almost didn't recognize you!

What I'm Watching

2009-06-22T20:41:00.004-04:00

Well, besides hosting Antapalooza in my room for the last week and a half, (and despite the fact that I'm slightly afraid of them, ants are still fairly fascinating), I've been watching some good TV lately. Here's what I'm watching:

Monday nights, 10:00 PM, A & E: Obsessed. My friend Marquis turned me onto this show. It's a documentary about people with obsessive compulsive disorder. Every week they follow two people as they go through cognitive behavioral therapy.

Wednesday nights, 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Fox: So You Think You Can Dance. I've been watching this show since the first season. I always wish I could dance when I watch this. I watched it with my roommate for the first time last week. When she realized that it was two hours long, she said, "That's like a movie!"

Thursday nights, 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Fox: So You Think You Can Dance results show

Saturday nights, 9:00 PM, CBS: Harper's Island. It's probably very cheesy, but I've been watching all of the episodes. A group of family and friends returns to Harper's Island where there was a murder 6 years ago. One by one, people are killed off. Who's the killer? Who's the next to die? How will they be killed?

What I'm Listening To

2009-06-21T12:51:00.004-04:00

I've recently been turned on by a couple of friends to pandora.com.

When creating my very own radio stations, it asked me to name a song or an artist, and the first one I could think of was a song that I had had in my head for weeks, Part Time Lover. I didn't realize that they use your first search to name your station, so my station name is now Part Time Lover Radio. It was too funny to change.

I've noticed that sometimes the selections they play for me make me feel like I'm shopping in Old Navy, but here's some of what I've been listening to this morning:

See You On Rooftops- Neil Halstead

Theologians- Wilco

Black Tambourine- Beck

Hey Ya!- Outkast

A Little Better- Gnarls Barkley

Praise You- Fatboy Slim

Currently playing is Skinny Dippin' Girl by Joe Purdy.

I love my music, but if I didn't love it, it wouldn't be my music, would it? What are your favorite artists? What's your pandora.com radio station?

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK

2009-06-21T12:44:00.005-04:00

I have returned to the world of blogging.

Arghedy Barghedy Barg

2006-04-17T22:32:00.000-04:00

I interupt this walking tour of DC to bring you my life. Where to start? What a busy weekend it was! I spent much of last week trying to get things done for Easter weekend. I made a tomb for the kids' Easter drama. I worked on it Monday night, probably some other night, Thursday, and Friday.
Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt, Sunday was Easter morning. After the egg hunt, I worked on the Media Shout presentation for Sunday during much of the rest of the day. I also took a nap because I was dead tired. After Sunday morning, I worked on taxes on and off for like 10 hours or more. What a way to spend Easter Sunday!
One of the coolest things that happened yesterday (Easter) was that I was playing so hard that I broke my pick, and three little boys (3rd and 4th graders or so) wanted it, like I was a rock star. I felt so cool. :) I must have been really jamming hard!
I got to see my sister on Friday and Saturday, and I get to see her again on Wednesday, so I'm pumped about that.
All right, I need to go do something productive, I'm sure.
-Em.

A Walking Tour of DC Part Three (Start with Part One)

2006-04-10T22:45:00.000-04:00

#1. This is a close up of the Atlantic Structure.
#2. Here is the Washington Monument again, I believe that in front of it are the pillars from the World War II Memorial, and you can also see the famous reflecting pool.
#3. Here is the Lincoln Memorial, which was behind me, though I'm not sure exactly how far away, in the previous pictures.
#4. Here is the Washington Monument again with the reflecting pool. Similar to the view that MLK Jr. likley had when he made his "I have a dream" speech. To the right on the bottom, you can see a group of people dressed in white tops. This was a band (probably high school) that was playing.

Walking Tour of DC Part Two (Start with Part One)

2006-04-09T18:36:00.000-04:00

#1. This is still at the World War II Memorial. The structure that read "Atlantic" is now kind of behind me to the right, and pictured is the structure that reads "Pacific".
#2. As promised, here are the pillars close up. One reads "Virginia", one reads "North Carolina". My current and my former states of residence. :)

A Walking Tour of DC Part One

2006-04-07T20:22:00.000-04:00

#1. I started by getting off the Metro at the Smithsonian Stop. When I looked to the right (towards the Capitol) I saw tents, and started to walk that way, but turned around and walked towards the Washington Monument.
#2. I walked on so that I could walk on the right side of the monument heading towards the Lincoln Memorial.

#3. I went to the World War II Memorial on my way. This is a stone relief-like thing of a family listening to the radio.

#4. Also at the World War II Memorial. On the opposite side is a similar structure that reads, I believe "Pacific". The pillars each have a state name on them, and I believe that there is also one for Puerto Rico. You'll see a close up soon. Look at the far right of the picture. I believe that the next picture is a close up of what is on that pillar/wall.

#5. This reminds me of a Boy Meets World episode in which every character is involved in a sort of time warp type thing, and Amy (the mom) becomes a Rosy the riveter of sorts. George Feeney tells Amy that she's rivetting. "Why thank you!". When he means that she is, in fact, literally rivetting.

Cherry Blossoms

2006-04-07T10:11:00.000-04:00

Once I can get myself out the door, I think I'm gonna go see the Cherry Blossoms. I think it's supposed to rain today, though. I'll try to take some pictures and post them here later. Have a great day!

Looks Like Santa Has Changed His Mode of Transportation!

2006-04-06T23:13:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday (or day before yesterday-Wednesday) I went to a local Italian place to order carry-out before going to Wal-Mart. I'm parked in a space facing the little driving aisle, there was an open space across from me, and in the next space... "what to my wondering eyes should appear, but" Santa sitting in the driver's seat of the van! Not in the passenger's seat, mind you, but the driver's seat. Why? Was the Santa used to trick police while the driver drove in the HOV lane? Was Santa making his naughty and nice list a little early this year? My sister convinced me to take a picture of it, and after I ordered my food and went to Wal-Mart, I snapped this shot.

2006-04-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

What a week it's been! Three major events happened this week at my two different jobs:
#1. Inventory. One of the craziest days of the retail world. This was on Thursday, March 30th. We use a company called R.G.S. but we call it Regis. They're OUTTA CONTROL! :) Unfortunately, their system wasn't reading the disk from our system, so it took around 3 hours to get started. I left shortly before 5:00, right before the system started working in order to go to my other job and direct the children's choir rehearsal to get ready for an event that you'll read about in #3. I got back around 8:00 and stayed until I think 11:05. Home around 11:30, asleep around 12:30, and back to work again on Friday morning.
#2. Thursday the 30th was also my mangager's last day. We are in between managers and are a people without a shepherd. A supervisor from a nearby store is helping out, and I'm officially store supervisor at our store, but we are still manager-less.
#3. Capital Campaign Special Event. My church is building on new land and we had a big event today on the new land. Yesterday I spent about 5-6 hours calling parents, setting up, having rehearsals, etc. This morning I got there a bit after 8:00 and stayed until around 2:00. The children's choir sang three songs, one with the adults (Here I Am to Worship), and two others: (our Theme song and Pharaoh, Pharaoh).
Then it was home for a rather long nap, and now it's 10:22 and I am still quite awake.
Thanks to Mary and Adam for leaving comments!
So, something that I've discovered recently, and you'll probably think I'm a crazy loser, but oh well. You might know that I'm a Disney Channel fan. Hey, it helps with the kids, right? That's the excuse I can use, but the fact of the matter is that I watched long before I started working with kids. Well, one of my favorite shows currently on Disney is Phil of the Future. It's actually been on while I've been posting! During the week it comes on at 12:00 AM which is often the time that I have read and am in bed and ready to fall asleep. So I'm in bed and I realize that there is music playing during the show. Like little sound effects, little do-do-do-dos, that sort of thing. So next time I watched/listened, it took up most of my attention. It came close to being a show-ruiner for me.
One more thing, my dad gave me a check for singing/playing/playing in the wedding. I decided to designate the majority of that money as "spend of fun things money". I bought some frames already, but decided the other day that since APRIL FOURTH is the day that NARNIA comes out on DVD, I'm gonna get it! I just saw on Disney while I've been posting that there are little pop-up facts on it, so that's exciting. I'm currently reading The Narnian by Alan Jacobs which is interesting, but a bit academic for nightly reading. I like to enjoy mindless activities as much as possible. :)
OK, one more thing- as I was drifting into napland today I was watching my Joan of Arcadia DVD. I am very sad that they took this show off the air. Almost a year later and I'm still mourning. If you haven't watched it, and you have the chance, I highly recommend it. It's a pretty show. I think I heard on the DVD that the cinematographer was a movie cinematographer, and you can tell. It's a show that combines science, faith, humor, and tragedy. Oh, and a lot of the main characters are self-proclaimed "subdefectives". Joan of Arcadia's friend/boyfriend, Adam Rove- I am in love with him, or at least I really like him. :) I don't know much about the actor - Chris Marquette, I believe, but Adam Rove is a great blend of sensitivity mixed with a troubled artist.
All right. That's all for now. I'm sure there's SOMETHING I need to be doing!

2006-03-25T21:12:00.000-05:00

"(Get) new (family), but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold!"

You asked, (Mary) so here you are. The two people on the left are the two newest members of my family, Will, my new step-brother and Carol, my new step-mother. Dad and Carol were married at the lake on March 18th. I sang a solo, played trumpet, sang a duet with my sister, and sang anther duet with my sister while I played the guitar. It was slightly stressful. :)

My friend Sarah flew down from Baltimore and then drove back up with me. Life has been craaaazy busy, but things are possibly looking up soon. More details when things become more definite.

Yeah for Zi-cam! I was feeling icky on Thursday, but took Zi-cam Thursday night, Friday, and this morning, and now feel so almost close to regular non-cold Emmaline!

Make sure to check out blog.cubecreativedesign.com to see what we did on last Saturday night!

2006-03-20T22:58:00.001-05:00

It's been a reallllly long time. Yes, I am posting a new entry, or whatever you call blog things. Shew, a lot has happened since October. I lost one roommate and gained another one. Well, I didn't lose her, but she moved out. :) I witnessed petty larceny, I got two more people added to my family, I directed a Christmas musical, performed in a songwriter's concert and became a blond. OK, not a blond, but a lighter color of brown, maybe blondish in spots.
I have a list of book/CD/whatever titles. Wanna hear some of them? Well, you're at my mercy now. So, if I ever wrote a murder mystery book, I'd like to call it "All Dressed Up and No Where to Go". But that title might be long. I want for my CD to be called "Honestly." with a period just like that.
Well, maybe I'll try to write more here if you'll try to leave me a message when you stop by!
Talk to you sooner than in 5 months, hopefully.

2005-10-29T23:42:00.000-04:00

It's not posting my pic. I don't know why it's not set to current time. I'll post this one to the REAL time. :)

2005-10-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so it's been a really long time since I've posted on here. Mary told me to post something. :) I was surprised to find my own blog when I googled "Mayhem in Bethlehem". Maybe that will create another link for it! :)
I've been pretty busy. I've had a cold or something for like 10 days now. It's almost over, except for a small bit of a cough, and my voice isn't quite 100%. I haven't been working as much the past wek and a half because of it.
We have DVR now (for around a month or so) and I have now set it to record every episode of Boy Meets World that comes on ABC Family and the Disney Channel. So that equals like 3 a day.
"Mayhem" is going all right. It's a lot of work and a lot of little pieces that have to come together. I think I have all of the parts cast now.
I'm really excited about the Narnia movie coming out. I've been looking at this movie book that Disney and the other company put out. I think I want to work in all of that stuff somewhere, sometime, in some aspect...
Anyway. These are just my thoughts for now. I'll post a picture of me as a cowgirl/ranch hand/farmer from the Harvest Festival last night. :)
I still need a roommate.

2005-08-28T23:25:00.000-04:00

Adam, I stand corrected on my Boy Meets World triva. In Season 3 the boy's bathroom is also often Mr. Feeny's office, except for one episode in which it's the guidance counseler's office. I bought the season 3 DVD on the day it came out this past Tuesday. It was a bit anticlimactic. (Not anticlimatic. Anticlimatic means that you're against the weather. I learned that on Joan of Arcadia.) There were no commentaries or anything. They did a lot of growing up in season 3. It's a pretty different season from the second one.
Wow. I sound like an addict. I could quit anytime I wanted to. I just don't want to. :)
I'm getting ready to start a new week. I need to clean more in my room so they can more easily clean the carpet. I'm highly unmotivated to do most of it.
Ah well.

2005-08-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

It looks like I'm happy with the results. :) It's great to have "real hair". Like not just stuff that I pull back so it doesn't drive me crazy. Overall, it was a great experience. It might have been the first time that I've gone to get my haircut in recent memory that I haven't had a friend go with me. How brave I am. :) I had the hardest time finding the place, and arrived about 20 minutes late, but finally had 10" cut off my hair, had highlights, and had it layered by Thomas at Andrew Taylore hair design. http://www.andrewtaylorehd.com/thomaspromo.htm
http://www.andrewtaylorehd.com/index.htm Thomas used to live in southern California when he was studying his craft and told me that it's more expensive to live there than in the metro DC area. That makes me feel better. :) At least I'm not living in the MOST expensive place in the country. :) This hair place was well hidden. It was in the brick office development like on the basement/ground level. Overall, it was a great experience. And I have real hair. :) Now I've gotta walk to Wal-Mart to buy some mousse.

2005-08-19T15:28:00.000-04:00

I'm scheduled to get my hair cut today! If I'm happy with the results, maybe I'll post an "after" picture. Today I was watching some of "I Lost It" on Discovery Health. This is a show that tells how people lost weight. One guy was over 600 pounds! He's now down to just over 300. I was slightly motivated to get in shape. Then I walked to the kitchen to get a cookie. I have this idea for a patchwork tanktop dress thing. Here are some of the squares I've cut all laid out. Some of them on the bottom are the ones that I don't know what to do with at this point. They likely won't be sewn in this order, but this give you an idea, anyway. I'm pretty sure I have over 100 squares cut! We'll see. I hope it doesn't turn into a tube with straps on it. :) Leave a message. I need to get in the shower in the next 30 minutes - an hour. I love having a day off!

2005-08-19T14:47:00.000-04:00

I should rename this blog "Adventures of Girl Living Away from Home". So, it's a Sunday morning. What am I going to wear to work/church? Here's an idea! I'll wear that trusty old standby, the pink interview shirt! Hmmm... did you know that whatever blend this shirt is/was doesn't iron at the same temperature as cotton? I'm sorry, Amity! Thanks for helping me pick out this shirt that served me so well through interviews in at least 3 different states!

2005-08-19T14:41:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are pictures from my successful attempt at cooking broccoli casserole and homemade macaroni and cheese. There's still some broccoli casserole in my freezer if anyone wants any. :) Yeah, that's a LOT of food!

2005-08-07T21:19:00.000-04:00

Guess what I did on Friday night!?!? I cooked dinner. Like COOKED dinner. Well, the sides, anyway. I mean, not french toast, stir fry, Kraft mac & cheese, or pesto where the pesto sauce is already in a jar. I made homemade macaroni and cheese and broccoli (I can never remember if there's 2 c's, or 2 l's) casserole! I made a lot of it, too. I think I'm gonna freeze it today. Look for pictures soon.
There's a band called the "Newsboys", and my old apartmentmate Jill and I had talked awhile back about how their lyrics don't make sense. For example: "Washed by the sun, dried by the rain..." So, today on my way to work/church I was listening to this song "Million Pieces". I had thought that the lyrics said: "What a freefall, what a thrill, bury them all in an ant hill". Doesn't make much sense. Who buries anything in an ant hill, right? But today I discovered that it says landfill not ant hill. :) Nothing like cracking yourself up when you're by yourself.

2005-08-04T13:32:00.000-04:00

Don't have much time, so I'm gonna type really fast. :) So, I went to Screen on the Green again and we saw "Suspicion" this time (an Alfred Hitchcock movie). It was really funny because we were farther back and a lot of times in this movie there will be shots where someone has received a letter or something written that is important to the plot, and they just show the letter. Well, we were so far back, that we couldn't read it all! It was pretty funny. I rode the Metro in with Laura, Brad, Sarah and Heather. We had a larger group there this time, but 3 of the guys that came left before it was over. I'm hoping that the other Sarah might be able to come this week. (My roommate from College who lives near Baltimore.) She's been at camp for about a month counselloring :).
Well, I best get back to work. I think I might have found a Christmas musical during my lunch break! "Mayhem in Bethlehem". Check it out: www.praisegathering.com .
-Em.

2005-07-31T00:48:00.000-04:00

My day:
I woke up at 6:50 AM, 10 minutes before my alarm was to go off, and went back to sleep shortly after. I hit the alarm for 45 minutes or more and finally woke up for good around 8:30 or after... to see a spider on my floor with what appeared to be an egg sac attached. I chased it out the door of the apartment with a flap from a cardboard box and got into the shower like 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave for work. I got there 20 minutes late, which is OK and not OK both because I'm in charge most Saturdays.
In the morning Duncan (think Rupert from Survivor but with glasses and former college prof.) drew a picture of what he would rather be doing, which was sailing. I told him to draw a picture of a girl in a bed watching TV b/c that's what I'd rather be doing. Here's what we came up with together: I'm in bed with my hair down and a big bow in it. I have a remote in one hand and a bag of chips next to me. There is a laaarge ice cream float on the floor with a straw and a spoon, and there are no spiders in the room to crawl in my float. Also, today is a special day where you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight. They are showing a marathon of never before seen Big Brother -Hunktown (Hunktown was Duncan's idea) episodes. Outside of my window is the sun and birds and a boy throwing rocks at my window, but I'm telling him that I can't come out because Big Brother is on. Ahhhh.... the perfect day. :)
After work in the real world I went to church to get the laptop and then came back to the apartment. I went to the fitness room thing and ran 1 and 1/4 miles at 4.5 mph without stopping! In all, I ran and walked for about 40-45 minutes counting the time it took me to walk there and walk back.
Well, now that you're completely bored, you know about my day and my perfect day. :)

2005-07-31T00:37:00.000-04:00

This is the beginning of the July 4th Parade in DC.

2005-07-29T22:31:00.000-04:00

These are pictures from behind my apartment building. I took a little walk one Sunday a while back.

2005-07-28T22:17:00.000-04:00

Actually, Adam, I think that the boy's bathroom was only Mr. Feeny's office for the episode in season 2 in which Shawn change Mr. Feeny's name to "Mr. Weeny" in the school newspaper. I think this is also the episode in which Eric falls in love with a "Georgia Peach" from Atlanta whose name is something like Desiree Emmaline Hollinger Beaumont. This is also the episode from which comes one of my favorite BMW quotes. Morgan is looking at the newspaper in the family kitchen and says: "Weeeeny! It says Weeeny! I can read!"

2005-07-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how to put this in an area just for links, but this is my friend Adam's blog: http://blog.cubecreativedesign.com/ he's the coolest. He was my "anti-date" to my senior prom, and now he has his own business. Wow, I'm old. :) He is also the proud winner of 70 cool points. However, I was not reminded of "cool points" by watching Friends. Rather we had the board game when I was younger. 20 Cool points to anyone who can tell me Eric's new name when he presents his manifesto. Gee, the quote Adam found makes my blog sound so much more intelligent! You too sound smart, Adam. :) I'm sure there were all kinds of commas that should have been in that sentence.

2005-07-28T11:43:00.000-04:00

Who would have thought the day would come when 70-some degrees would seem "cool" to me?
20 Cool Points to anyone who can tell me which show is quoted on the top of my blog. 50 Cool Points to anyone who can tell me which board game uses Cool Points.

2005-07-27T18:38:00.000-04:00

I'm at church, but I best be going... a storm's coming, and the wind's a blowin', and I'm in a trailer!

2005-07-27T18:36:00.000-04:00

Another picture from the 4th of July... me and Chelsea from where we watched the concert.

2005-07-27T18:34:00.000-04:00

A picture from awhile back... What's a girl to do with bread that was best if sold by yesterday and milk that (I think) was best if sold by today?

2005-07-26T20:56:00.000-04:00

So excited and slightly stressed out to have discovered that game show network is showing reruns of The Amazing Race and OLN is showing reruns of Survivor. Like 5 days a week.
I went last night to Screen on the Green on the Capital Mall (or is it Capitol Mall?). We saw Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was funny watching it with so many people close to my age. They were laughing at parts that were funny now but weren't supposed to be funny, and they applauded when the old guy saved the little boy. They also applauded at the line "We don't need any stinkin' badges." I met Brad there and met 4 girls for the first time. I rode the metro for the first time by myself! Yeah for grown-up me.
I have work I should do tonight.. I'll probably just watch The Amazing Race. :) I must go. Reality TV is calling.

2005-07-24T18:18:00.000-04:00

So, I actually had a social life this weekend! On Friday night, Megan & Mike (brother and sister) and Brad came over for my first game night since moving here! We ordered pizza and played Loaded Questions and Catch Phrase. A couple of Mike's friends also stopped by. Funny story... today at church Denise was teaching the kids a game. She was telling the kids that they would each get a straw. One of our male volunteers said over-excitedly and sarcastically "you get a straw!" Like it was a special prize in the bottom of the cereal box or something. Well, I thought it was funny.
I also went with Melanie and her sister Marsella to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night. It was good. Especially since I'm familiar with the old one and could compare. The Oompa Loompa songs were pretty good.
I've been looking at children's Christmas musicals today and now I need to go get my steps in (it's a diet that I'm on and not doing so hot with this time around) and look into any teaching positions I might be able to find. If you're from this area and hear of anything, please let me know! I'm not certified, but have a bachelor's of music degree in church music and a minor in psychology. I'd be happy with a teacher's aide position or a private school position, or even a substituting position if I could count on having work and benefits.

2005-07-07T12:21:00.000-04:00

The first of pictures from the Fourth of July.