Feast of St. Valentine

Tuesday was the feast of St. Valentine (and Saints Cyril and Methodius, but that's neither here nor there.) It was a day to celebrate love and the fruits of love - marriage, friendship, and joy...and I'll venture to say, life!

To honor this wonderful day for love I took a personal day which was just so refreshing. I had an appointment in the morning and afterward had a little Downton Abbey viewing party with my roommate Jen. We were both effectively stirred up by the amoral Grantham family and their antics. After one hour and fifty three minutes of a spinning plot, the death of the only virtuous character, and the continuation of drama between Mary and Matthew I was ready to take care of a few things in my own life

For the next hour or so I cleaned the house while listening to my new favorite band, Paper Bird.

Once the dusting, vacuuming, and sweeping were complete I moseyed over to the Laughing Latte where I was met by a thousand red rose-petals and the friendly face of Mindy a new barista there.

I found a seat by the window where I read LOTR over long drinks lavender infused chamomile tea.

After a delightful afternoon with Merry, Pippin, Gandolf (the white), and the men of Rohan I walked back to my house. Shortly following Trish, John Paul, Anne and I went to dinner and then to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to see the Marriage of Figaro. 

Certainly love was in the air on Tuesday and I think it was mostly coming from God and being reigned down on me. I hope your Valentines day was full of love too. 

I'm soaking my mind in these thoughts

This week has been a montage of time with family, friends, and good reads.

 From the gifts of these conversations and epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings is emerging a morsel of truth. The truth that God is whispering is both assuring and sobering. Here it is: life is hard, but it is totally worth it and full of help. There will be moments, days, years even that seem impossible but help from God, friends, and family is abundant. Frodo is a prime example of this - he is responsible for a task that would crush him on his own. He must rely on the help of his motley crew... or at least the faithful companionship of Samwise to carry on with this seemingly impossible feat. We all have our own ring to carry. Something that seems impossible and, in fact, might be if we try and go it alone.

Here are the thoughts that  keep me going on my own perilous journey:

• Finding order in life is like riding a unicycle- you constantly have to be moving and readjusting ...this paraphrased comment came from Curtis Martin by way of a great chat with Hilary. An apt comment when thinking of the challenges that await us in life. Never is  there a dull moment and never is there a moment when autopilot is an option. Like riding a unicycle you constantly have to be assessing the situation and making little adjustments. 
• "Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope!" In this episode of LOTR Gandalf is charing the dwarf and elf to continue being faithful to their journey. He is not merely ushering them on, but challenging them to see the possibilities that lie in the future... possibilities that are full of hope, not dispair.  
• "Be very small and very loving" ...this was advice from Father Dave Nix and I just can't stop thinking about it. How true!! If you are very small and very loving you can also be very patient, very maleable, very humble... and not take yourself too seriously. 

I feel like Christmas continues to be a big hug from God. A quiet God. A simple God. A humble God. A God so humble as to make Himself a tiny child. This God is willing to become so small to show His love is asking me - tiny me - to become big in order to be His hands and feet on this earth. His request requires thoughts like these about order, hope, and being loving to go where I must go. Bear my own ring. And to hope. 

Thinking light

I don't know that I learned anything today or read much worth while. Sorry to say, there's not much to synthesize.

At Mass Father Nathanial talked about three kinds of power according to Pascal. He said there is political power, the power of knowledge, and charity. I think Pascal's distinction will be helpful in assessing my own motivations and methods for doing things. Obvi charity is the best, but it is easy to fall into being motivated by knowledge or politics/money.


After Mass we had a lovely morning here at the 2241 dream house. My roommates and Justin (Jen's bf) had breakfast. It was what a Sunday should be. Kim later came over to work on her quilt. Then my cousin and her friend picked Kim and I up and we went to the Bronco's game. De-light-ful!! We had our faces painted, enjoyed food and libations, and my uncle generously sponsored the whole ordeal. Clearly he was motivated by charity. It was a great time!!


A Sunday this great can only be followed by an equally great Monday. Here's hoping!

Long awaited San Francisco visuals

As I mentioned in my earlier post about San Fransisco I love the intricate details of the buildings they are breath taking in my opinion. And the colors! Oh the colors! They just make me melt- Dark Cyan with Maroon amidst the ever-present white with the scrolls and the molding... ah! I adore it.

There were quite a few highlights on my lightening-fast jet set trip... roaming around San Fran by my self, stumbling upon flower markets, a hippie boy sitting cross legged playing his guitar in the middle of the sidewalk on Height Street (I didn't have the guts to snap a shot of that one), and many other little bright moments. Not the least of which was Ali's "detour" on our way home from frozen yogurt at Alan and Jarad's. We were in the thick of an excellent conversation and before I knew it she was pulling the car into a dark parking lot. Now, I don't know SF very well, but I do know this is not where she lives. Unless you use the term "live" in a different way- like when you kick off your shoes, laugh with reckless abandon, take a chance, do something out of the ordinary- that's the kind of place where she "lives" if that's what you mean. Anyway, we hopped out of the car, it was colder and I could hear a distant rhythmic rumble. The ocean!! We walked down to the cool sand, I kicked my shoes off the moment the sidewalk ended and the beach began. The black night sky and the white waves kissed and parted the way waves do and Ali started to spin me around and sing our favorite old standard "Frim Fram Sauce". I felt so loved and honored and after she dipped me and we shared some giggles we headed back to the car. I told her if a movie is ever made about my life I certainly want that moment included.

I also took some pictures if Ali's street (California if you're familiar with the Bay Area you know that really is right down town) Anyway, the pictures didn't turn out to well- it was too dreary. But I decided to use the opportunity to use "GIMP" (a highly recommended free program for editing pictures) and make this one a little funkier.

And here is the most beautiful picture that was taken while I was there. Ali and Alan after they ran the San Francisco Half-Marathon. It was wonderful to witness such a victory! I am so glad I got to share that moment with Ali. What a great trip! I think I'll go back :). Love you, Pal!