I don't talk about it much, but the political environment in our country has been on my mind a lot in the last couple of years. Ever since I worked for the Obama campaign (right when I started this blog), I've had a much harder time ignoring the nastiness. And while I could say so much more, someone has already said it better.
I write such a tease of a blog - post post post, then nothing for months, then post post, then more radio silence. And although I hate to say it, that's probably not going to change much in the next couple of months. I have the mother of all updates for you now, then an explanation for my anticipated disappearing act. Here goes!
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A few days after my last post, while we were still in Whistler, AJS asked me to be his wife. Of course I said yes - in fact, I don't think he'd even said "will you marry me?" before I said "YES YES YES YES YES!!!" - and it made our trip north even sweeter. It was the most amazing, perfect vacation; we'll remember it forever and it already makes for a great story. I would love to post some pictures but I can't get them to upload. Someday the internet won't thwart me...
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April was nuts. AJS quit his job to study for the MCAT, and because I was studying for the GRE and finishing off my second semester of grad school AND training for a half marathon AND lots of other little stuff pertaining to being a seminarian in Holy Week, it was just a ridiculous month. I guess it's a testament to our relationship that we made it through both of our exams and finals and Easter without killing each other or starving to death.
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The rest of my semester finished off well, although it was almost as hectic as April. Grad school is hard. I think I wrote something like 86 pages' worth of papers in just the last week of the semester. The second I was finished, I hopped on a plane bound for Colorado and got to spend two weeks in Fort Collins and Rapid City! AJS joined me for most of it. We knocked out a bunch of the major elements of wedding planning - we set the date, picked the venue and reception, bought my dress, and booked our photographer - so the rest of the year should be relatively manageable. We also took in a Dispatch concert, watched my cousin graduate from high school, celebrated about a dozen birthdays, had our families together for dinner - twice - and took the dog swimming and had BR in town for a few days and so many other awesome things. He took my best girl MJ's son fishing. I went for a couple of 16-mile runs. Seriously, it was as relaxing as it gets. Total Colorado bliss.
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June and July have pretty much blended together. I was awarded a summer fellowship through an organization called The Beatitudes Society and have spent the last eight weeks working at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. It's rad! I like the work I'm doing and I've been really grateful to spend it at this church - it's interesting, it's relatively easy and it's been greatly formative. I feel like I'm making a very big difference in the life of this congregation and it has informed my own sense of call from here - like, I will make different choices going through the rest of my seminary education because of this internship. I've written a whole summer's worth of posts in this blog, so if you care to see more, check that out.
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August has me getting ready for...the rest of my life. I need to finish my transfer application: I'm staying at PLTS, of course, but switching programs, and there are some essays and things I need to have squared away before school starts. I need to figure out my fall classes and register for them. I need to write my Endorsement essay, a piece of candidacy for the ELCA that keeps me on track to graduate with a Master's of Arts in Systematic and Philosophical Theology in May. I need to make sure my other graduation ducks are in line. I need to finalize my choices of Ph.D. programs, request applications, and begin applying. Above all, I need to start writing my thesis, which is the most intimidating of all. Yikes. Luckfully - as Courtney would say - I have CT2011 to look forward to! Katie, Amy, Courto & I are going to Las Vegas in the middle of the month. I already can't wait.
Kelsey: (disbelieving this, I look it up to find he's correct)
AJS: "I read a lot of pirate books."
Here's a short and sweet, quick and dirty synopsis of our last 48 hours . . .
- The tour of Vancouver was AMAZING! BS drove us through Stanley Park (the largest public park in North America, evidently) and around the city, where we were ultimately caught up in a belated St. Patrick's Day parade and couldn't find a way to get back to his apartment. The luck of the Irish was not with us.
- Coffee with (the other) BS was super fun. He hasn't changed a bit since the last time I saw him, which, unfortunately, was almost four years ago.
- AJS and I hit the road around noon and stopped in Squamish to hike The Chief. It reminded me a bit of a hike I did outside Glenwood back in the day (you can see pictures here), even though the views were totally different. Again, I'll post pictures later.
- Skiing today was absolutely incredible. There are no words for how rad Whistler is. My legs are completely shot. As soon as my brain can give it some credence, I'll post some pictures and an idea of what we skied.
We're skiing again tomorrow and taking a hut trip to Duffy Lake on Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll likely post another update when we return on Thursday night. Adios, amigos. It's been real.
My next few blog posts will be written with the intent of keeping my family (and friends who care) up to date on my international travel over Spring Break, rather than detailing the random US I encounter. Okay? Okay.
AJS and I left Berkeley on Friday around 2pm in a super-full VW Passat - we have gear for skiing, alpine touring, running and yoga, clothes for a chic city and apres, tons and tons and tons of books, enough grub to feed an army, and an iPod, the contents of which were meticulously chosen. We literally drove for 10 hours straight, stopping only once for gas and a quick bathroom break at a Shell station at the foot of California's fabled Mount Shasta. (It was breathtaking.)
We stayed in Portland on Friday night at the home/apartment-thing of some college friends (who weren't actually there). Their cats were really, really unsettled by our presence.
Saturday morning (that was just yesterday - it feels like a week) we hit the road around 9am, bound for Seattle. The drive was fine but traffic sucked - we hit the city pretty early but it took well over an hour to get through it and meet our buddy RC for lunch near the University district. Lunch was a blast, and the rest of the drive to Vancouver was a breeze (including the border crossing - we made it across with two oranges!).
Last night we laid pretty low, grabbing some take-out and watching SportsCenter. We're staying with my high school bff, who lives in an incredible 20th-floor apartment in downtown Vancouver. I'll post pictures later.
Here marks the end of this post. Our tentative plans for today include:
- Having coffee with AJS's cousin, BS
- Possibly taking a tour of Vancouver with BS (my bff - too many people have those initials!)
- Hitting the road to Whistler pretty early
- Hiking "the chief"
Wish us luck! The weather is incredible and is supposed to stay that way, so me thinks we're in for a pretty good week. Happy Sunday!
I have found the world's greatest time suck. Readers, I present to you: pinterest.com.
It's like an online bulletin board: as a member, you can "pin" the pretty things you find online to your board in whatever category or order you like, and the site displays your finds altogether. I'm not doing it justice, but trust me, it's wonderful. I'm so anxiously awaiting my invite (because they don't have enough bandwidth to support as many memberships as, like, Facebook - I am literally on a waiting list for a membership).
Anyhow, I sat in the back of History of Christianity II on Tuesday with my dear friend CK, both of us listening to our professor and blissfully clicking through the "best of" board. It was parallel play at its finest. I saved my favorites to repost here.
(File this post under "sometimes you just want to write about things that aren't very important.")
I will argue it until I'm blue in the face: our president is absolutely remarkable. I love this.
So fun! I would make popsicles every day with these molds!
I don't know whether I like this photo because of the instructions or because of her striking coloring - what great red hair!
Everyone needs a teddy.
Cute.
I think I might make some of these wings out of felt and sew them onto my running shoes.
I LOVE this because the little one looks just like a kiddo I babysit - so sweet!
Pretty.
It doesn't hurt to admit it.
Such a great new take on the family photo
I hope this catches on
I'm going to print this and frame it and hang it in our apartment. It's my motto and it's SO true.
Ah! I want! What a fantastic piece of furniture!
I'm glad.
This is too cute to be true
I think we should do this - it's a nice use of space, and goodness knows we have enough books
I actually made this for lunch today after my run and it was AMAZING: apple slices with peanut butter, granola and chocolate chips. It covers four of my food groups (fruit, nuts, carbs and chocolate chips) and it's delicious!
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I'll close today with the video for my current favorite song, "Airplanes" by Local Natives. When I showed AJS, he said, "Yep, that's a Kelsey song." As you listen, keep in mind that it's a tribute to the keyboardist's late grandfather. (His name is Kelcey!)
Somebody's going hungry and someone else is eating out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
Somebody's heart is broken and it becomes your favorite song
The way your mouth feels in your lovers kiss
Like a pretty bird on a breeze or water to a fish
A bomb blast brings a building crashing to the floor
You hear the laughter while the children play war"
- Dave Matthews Band, "Funny the Way it Is"
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It is funny, actually. Or interesting. I began this post a week ago and I filled it with cute, funny, upbeat little remarks, but a few things have happened since then that give me pause. My heart isn't as light as it was last Friday. I've many things on my mind. In that light, I'll go ahead and post last week's lightness . . . and follow it with more serious matters.
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I found this in my Facebook news feed last week and it just made me smile. I don't know what it is or from whom it came, but it makes my heart warm.
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My drive to school is about 11 minutes long. I always listen to NPR. It's amazing what I've learned driving up the hill on just ONE morning:
- Scott Simon reported on the new men's must-have from Fashion Week: some sort of pashmina cashmere hood thing, retailing at $645. He chuckled. I chuckled.
- the economic crisis in Egypt resulting from protesters' not working
- the fact that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid comprise a whopping 40% of our national budget
- a dinosaur fossil was discovered in an empty Utah quarry last week; its hips were huge, leading scientists to reason that its quadriceps were much larger than most dinosaurs, so - naturally - it must have used those legs to kick its mating competition. (I'm not making this up.) The best part is that they gave it a Latin name that literally translates "Thunder Thighs."
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AJS and DW and I were watching trash TV on Hulu last weekend (so I guess it's not TV anymore - ?), and this commercial popped up:
It's so funny, and then all of a sudden, BAM! Impact. That matters. I followed the link to another commercial from the same campaign:
And I went to one.org and signed the petition, not because George Clooney asked me to but because I believe that budget cuts could cost ACTUAL HUMAN LIVES. The fact that people are doing something about it - making their voices heard, gathering together to change things - gives me just the tiniest shred of hope.
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My beloved mountains claimed a good person this week. My friend AT's roommate was caught in a sidecountry avalanche and died. He perished on a slope I've skied many times.
Another friend, TB, a ski patroller in Snowmass, was gravely injured in an accident at work 12 days ago; he was airlifted to Denver and was in surgery to repair his spinal cord mere hours after his coworkers found him in a tree well. Although his condition has vastly improved in this teeny time frame, he has such a long road ahead of him, and my heart aches that he's trapped in a hospital bed when he should be working and playing and skiing.
It's such a scary thing - that mountain town I love so much is also so, so dangerous. Five people have died in-bounds this year. My boss' son was killed two years ago, and a first-year lifty died in an accident before the season even started this year. It's REAL. I think if I sat at home and prayed for the safety of the people I love in Aspen, it would be a full-time job.
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Kelsey Grammer divorced his third wife two weeks ago and married his fourth tonight. I'm embarrassed to share a name with him. He doesn't deserve it. The worst part, I think, is that his behavior is totally legal, whereas it remains illegal for a committed gay couple to marry in the United States. This kind of bullshit just makes me want to put my head in my hands and cry.
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One last plug for a fantastic humanitarian cause: DW and I signed up for the National Bone Marrow Donor Program a few months ago. You can find the link here. You should do it, too, but read about the program on the website before you decide. Informed consumers - even informed volunteers - will change this world for the better, and although I'm sure you already know this, you shouldn't do something just because I ask you to.
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I guess if I had to come up with an Unexpected Spark this week, it would be this: I'm so incredibly grateful for the gamut of experiences this life serves up. We are so damn blessed.
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One more thing. The title of this post comes from the fact that over the course of the week, when I find things that I want to blog about later, I leave the tabs up in my internet browser (Google Chrome, if you care about such things). By mid- to late-week, I have so many open tabs on the page that I can scarcely navigate between my email and Facebook. I hope it goes to show that I really care that you take the time to read this - I'm so flattered, watching my little page counter go up and up - and I hope that you like the things I choose to write about.
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Okay, one more thing. I made this for my friend RE's birthday tomorrow. She reads my blog, so she may see it before she gets it. That's okay with me. I'm really glad she's my friend.
Never in my (wildly insufficient, cursory) knowledge of human history has there been a forum for someone to have a thought and then instantly share it with the whole world, and for someone like me - with no filter - Twitter can be a lot of fun. And it can be a lot of trouble.
"I think there is something wrong with my brain where I don't have an on-deck circle for ideas, you know, just 'Batter up!' A lot of the ideas are bad and are at the plate going, 'I don't know about this one, Mike.' I turn into a drunk Little League dad: 'You go take some cuts, Son.' That pretty much sums up my social inadequacies." - Mike Birbiglia
Generally I'm not too embarrassed by Tweets that escape my fingers before my brain has a chance to step in, but there are times when I'm glad I've stopped and thought. Take, for example, my genius disclosure at the grocery store yesterday. I (finally!) found some tea that I was convinced was no longer available, so my micro-update was going to be:
"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people! For unto you today is available regular-caffeinated Celestial Seasonings Chai tea - not that decaf crap! Hallelujah!"
Before I could send it, something made me think of my classmate TR. She must be one of the most pious people on the planet. I remember one chapel service when another classmate put her tea bag on the communion plate (this was AFTER the service was over when we were cleaning up the altar, so the plate was going to the kitchen anyhow) and TR almost had a stroke. She held so much reverence for the plate. In her eyes, if the body of Christ was on that plate - even for a second, and even if it were gone now - it was unfit to carry garbage.
Then I thought of my friend and classmate AN. She alone makes me so excited about the future of the ELCA because she's going to be a fantastic pastor. She's funny, smart, interesting and kind. She wouldn't Tweet something that used a verse in a cavalier way, and I ought not, either.
It's funny: I used to relish finding Biblical allusions in everyday life. I remember watching an episode of Dawson's Creek in junior high; Joey's older sister scolded her for betraying her, saying, "Your name isn't Josephine - it's JUDAS!" I wanted to jump up and down in front of my friends, like, I get the reference! I get the reference!
I think it's different now. I meant no malice in the Jesus' birth/finding my favorite tea remark, and in the same breath, I'm finding it important to treat all things religious with more reverence. I guess these little revelations are why we came to seminary.
This is a screen shot of the most-read articles on CNN.com at 9am Pacific Time this morning. At the end of the day (or, more accurately, at the beginning), people care about what matters.
I don't know whether I like this photo because of the instructions or because of her striking coloring - what great red hair!
Everyone needs a teddy.
I think I might make some of these wings out of felt and sew them onto my running shoes.
This is too cute to be true
