Before heading out
Bridgewater, MA
Legion Field
Patriotic Footsies
And Pretty Fireworks!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Weekend with the family...
Fun times out in Boston with S's Mom, Dad, and Little Bro...
The Public Garden in Boston Common
Awkward Me on the Bridge
The Bromance of S and L
Awkward Me on the Bridge
The Bromance of S and LSecret Agents: Or today's random, silly, potentially deep thought of the day.
Don't you just want to save the world sometimes? I mean, to lift it up in your hands and squash injustice or equalize/eliminate disparity or just make it sparkly and clean all of a sudden?!?
I think God is in the process of doing this, and inspiring us to do so each day, but not in a way that solves our own issues immediately (that takes humility and introspection and TIME!) or gives us any of the real credit. It's not about us, after all...
In the mean time, however, my colleague and I have been wishing we could save some of the kiddies we work with from exposure to alcohol and other drugs, while all we can do is:
1) Give the adults in their lives helpful data about their community for the sake of improving things, and
2) Invent super-woman aliases for ourselves.
Here's me - "Sydney Bristow" from Alias, of course.
And here's H, "Sarah" from Chuck.
Tee hee.
I think God is in the process of doing this, and inspiring us to do so each day, but not in a way that solves our own issues immediately (that takes humility and introspection and TIME!) or gives us any of the real credit. It's not about us, after all...
In the mean time, however, my colleague and I have been wishing we could save some of the kiddies we work with from exposure to alcohol and other drugs, while all we can do is:
1) Give the adults in their lives helpful data about their community for the sake of improving things, and
2) Invent super-woman aliases for ourselves.
Here's me - "Sydney Bristow" from Alias, of course.
And here's H, "Sarah" from Chuck.
Tee hee.
Friday, June 18, 2010
White walls
Now that the entertainment center has been satisfactorily assembled, we are looking for decorating ideas in the S-D-O household.
I think new O would like the place to be full of peacock feathers, but we've got to be realistic. Along those lines, we're not thinking of curtains for the time being, because the little guy has a penchant for attacking everything that moves, sways, steps or tilts.
We always don't want to go nuts, because a perk of having a simple home is being able to keep it pretty clean. The free space allows us to relax and melt away the stress of the work week. However, I'm always thinking of what to add, revise, or renew.
So what would you do with this white wall?
I think new O would like the place to be full of peacock feathers, but we've got to be realistic. Along those lines, we're not thinking of curtains for the time being, because the little guy has a penchant for attacking everything that moves, sways, steps or tilts.
We always don't want to go nuts, because a perk of having a simple home is being able to keep it pretty clean. The free space allows us to relax and melt away the stress of the work week. However, I'm always thinking of what to add, revise, or renew.So what would you do with this white wall?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Bieber Fever
No, I do not actually have a fever over Justin Bieber, but I do enjoy pop culture these days more dare I say than I did when I was a market-driving, trend consuming teenager.Why? Maybe it's because I work for an organization that needs to be up-to-date with what kids think is cool. Maybe it's because unlike the first 24 years of my life, I now have time away from homework, applications, and extracurriculars and a tired career-brain to relieve instead, with lots of frivolous nonsense. Maybe it's because, unlike my teen days, I can take or leave fads without it affecting my identity. What was once crucial to my knowledge of the world is now fluff, recreation, and a treat to indulge in.
I like how
I can be a sophisticated, together young woman (some days) and still be counting down the hours until pop culture events of the summer like the Twilight Saga's Eclipse release in theaters/The subsequent release of the Hillywood parody music video, and The 2010-2011 NBA season draft pick (I am thinking, and now hoping, it's The Bulls
for LeBron, becase 1) The Celtics Assistant Coach was just made head coach in Chicago, 2) Joakim Noah's hair is cooler than Varejao's, and 3) I bet my mom really wants to start watching bb again once another Bulls dynasty is set up (right, Mom?)).Justin Bieber is pretty cool, don't get me wrong, but there's so much media to observe (OMG cat and What the Buck on YouTube; The Cecily von Ziegesar GG series books that I shamelessly checked out of the Young Adult section of the library last weekend) that he and his Zac Efron copy cat hair flip are only part of the youthful equation.
And maybe, just maybe, all this is due to the scary potential fact that at 25, I am turning the corner from trying to grow up as fast as possible to trying not to get "old," which S considers 30 and up.Speaking of being a cross between a college kid and an old fogey, I cannot not wait for my quickly impending next Ikea project - an entertainment center! We need one n
ow that the motherload of all boy-junk, the gaming desktop computer, is making its way to the apartment via S's parents this weekend, and our desk (the most appropriate space for a big computer, no?) used to be where we kept the TV. Let's just say there's been lots of obsessive home staging going on by me, and we'll all now be a lot happier with our Ikea treasure assembled and ready for good use!Wish us luck blending households. :)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Outreach
What is it that gets us to reach out and do or be something we are afraid of? In a good way, like a more generous friend, or a more forgiving family member, or a less judgmental colleague?
How about being better to ourselves, like being less worried about gaining weight or being ugly, but more willing to love oneself so that one does exercise, eat well, do small things that bring out natural beauty in his or her form, function and character?
Usually when I try to be better in a way that's scary, usually revolving around human relationships, I feel ridiculous and second-guess myself the entire time. For instance, I'll go out of my way to encourage or counsel someone I don't know very well and wonder if they think I'm being nosy about their personal troubles and inappropriate. It feels odd to do this sort of thing, but also sad that I'm sometimes more "comfortable" being aloof, isolated, and disengaged with my fellow humans. After all, I think I would like that sort of compassion were the situation reversed, but there's that anxiety and self-scrutiny all the same.
A month ago, I went to a colleague's birthday, and it was one of those moments. We'd only worked together twice, but she went out of her way to invite co-workers to her 50th birthday party, and I thought that was really kind. So S and I made the drive south to join her family and friends for the casual day, and it was wonderful, but AWKWARD to me on the inside.
Yesterday, though, I got a simple card from her that reads, "It was so cool you came," and that makes all my paranoia all worthwhile.
It makes me think that our life's happiness and/or regrets aren't all made up of those big scary decisions, like where to live, what job to take, and how many kids to have (and what tattoos to get, hee hee), but are more about the small shifts we make in our attitudes to carry us forward.
I am going to try to be more brave in these itty-bitty ways.
How about being better to ourselves, like being less worried about gaining weight or being ugly, but more willing to love oneself so that one does exercise, eat well, do small things that bring out natural beauty in his or her form, function and character?
Usually when I try to be better in a way that's scary, usually revolving around human relationships, I feel ridiculous and second-guess myself the entire time. For instance, I'll go out of my way to encourage or counsel someone I don't know very well and wonder if they think I'm being nosy about their personal troubles and inappropriate. It feels odd to do this sort of thing, but also sad that I'm sometimes more "comfortable" being aloof, isolated, and disengaged with my fellow humans. After all, I think I would like that sort of compassion were the situation reversed, but there's that anxiety and self-scrutiny all the same.
A month ago, I went to a colleague's birthday, and it was one of those moments. We'd only worked together twice, but she went out of her way to invite co-workers to her 50th birthday party, and I thought that was really kind. So S and I made the drive south to join her family and friends for the casual day, and it was wonderful, but AWKWARD to me on the inside.
Yesterday, though, I got a simple card from her that reads, "It was so cool you came," and that makes all my paranoia all worthwhile.
It makes me think that our life's happiness and/or regrets aren't all made up of those big scary decisions, like where to live, what job to take, and how many kids to have (and what tattoos to get, hee hee), but are more about the small shifts we make in our attitudes to carry us forward.
I am going to try to be more brave in these itty-bitty ways.
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