friday photos: week 4

friday, october 22

i passed this tree while going for a walk to meet up with some friends to head to a happy hour party. i couldn't resist taking a picture.

saturday, october 23

a fall saturday night in nashville = wine, fire, and music.

sunday, october 24
our friend dan works at a flower shop and brought these over to our house, just because. (i think they were leftover from a wedding.) they're so pretty and fall-y and match our dining room perfectly with its red walls.

tuesday, october 26

the wind was so crazy on tuesday. see that picture frame on the floor near my bed? that's where it was when i got home from work. it used to be on top of the radiator next to the window.

wednesday, october 27

i spent all of wednesday on set of the blue like jazz movie as an extra. we weren't allowed to take pictures, so i took this real fast as i was leaving. i know. it's an exciting picture and you can totally tell it's a movie set.

thursday, october 28

my friend regan played a show at the darkroom in edgehill village. this was her first show in months. she's pretty great.

look for me on the big screen

about six years ago, a group on my college campus was giving away copies of don miller's "blue like jazz". i thought hey, why not, and read the book. and it changed my life. this book helped me realize that it was okay for me to question my beliefs, to challenge the christian ideologies i had grown up with. this isn't to say i ever stopped being a christian, or doubted the existence of god. it was more of a "do i believe in god because that's what i was told to believe or do i believe in god because i see the evidence of his existence in my life and in the world" kind of doubting. and it was hard. and it was good. and from that, i grew. i don't think it's possible to grow without questioning.

and the thing that i liked about the book was this raw honesty. and don's writing is so conversational, it makes for a quick easy read. my friend and i always joked that it felt like we were sitting down with him over a cup of coffee and just having a conversation with an old friend.*

well, a few years ago, some filmmakers from here in nashville approached don about turning this book into a film. so they worked together and changed some aspects of the book to turn it into more of a storyline, and hired actors and a crew. and then about a month ago, they announced they no longer had the funding to go ahead with the filming. until two guys started up a kickstarter campaign on behalf of the film. they set the goal low - with as little as $125,000 they could scrape together what they needed to get rolling. but records were broken and at the end of the campaign (which was this past monday), they ended up raising almost $350,000. and they began filming yesterday. and i got to be an extra.

so really i spent all day yesterday sitting in a lecture hall pretending to be a student at reed college. we sat in that room for about 10 hours, which will translate to probably 10 minutes of film. and though it had it's boring moments, it was still exciting, especially knowing the story behind the whole thing. and the actors were all incredibly nice. marshall allman is playing the lead character, and as a huge fan of lost, i was totally geeking out over the fact that tania raymonde was brought in as well. and of course, don was around for the whole thing.

so when this movie comes out, keep your eyes peeled for yours truly. there's maybe an 80% chance my shoulder will be seen. if you're lucky, i might sign the dvd when it comes out.

*ever since then, having coffee with don has been on my bucket list. so if anyone reading this knows anybody or has any strings they can pull, please, hook a sister up. he'll be in town for about a month.

wednesday wisdom: #4

"and i watched the leaves fall all of the way to the ground. and i knew that that was what love was, to die so that it could be found."

-ben rector

mistakes and frivolity.

god doesn't make mistakes. and as i write this, i'm reminded of what that means. it means it's not a mistake that i'm where i'm at in life, in my career, in the world. i think it's fair to say god also isn't frivolous. i think these two things mean so much more than they seam. it means i was born on february 21, 1983 with a purpose. there is a reason i was born that day, and not the day before. there is a reason "glosli" by sigur ros started playing as i'm writing this. there's a reason i'm in nashville, a reason i live in the house i'm renting with the girls i have as roommates. there's purpose behind my job, even if it's hard to see. he doesn't make mistakes. he did this for a reason.

the question is: what am i going to do about it?

monday meals: chickpea pasta salad

this recipe is the result of a late afternoon trip to the grocery store sans shopping list, and me trying to throw random things together with what i already had at home. it ended up making a lot of food - i ate off it for a week, which made it that much cheaper.

the ingredients in this can easily be altered, which i think makes it even better. throw in whatever you have lying around the house. for example, i think peas and water chestnuts would be awesome, but i didn't have any.

ingredients:
1 15-oz package of whole wheat pasta (i used rotini)
1 can of chickpeas
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
salt to taste
1/2 c black olives, chopped
1/3 c raisins
1/3 c sliced almonds
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
balsamic vinaigrette

directions:
cook the pasta according to directions on package. meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. drain the can of chickpeas, and sautee with the salt, basil, and oregano for 20 minutes. when the pasta is done, drain the water and pour the pasta into a large bowl. mix in the chickpeas, olives, raisins, almonds, and apple cider vinegar. chill over night.

just before serving, add in a bit of balsamic vinaigrette for some extra flavor.

friday photos: week 3

hopefully i eventually get better about taking a picture every day. here we go. week three.

saturday, october 16
remember my perfect weekend? here's a four-in-one photo from saturday. the lighthouse, the pumpkin patch, the vineyard, and stacy lantz's cd release show.

sunday, october 17

day two of the weekend: the cabin stacy's dad built, kirsten fishing for the first time, and the silo we all climbed.

tuesday, october 19

this peaceful pond is over near my office, and i often go there on my lunch break to walk or to read.

wednesday, october 20

a typical day at the office.

hindsight is 20/20

the thing about hindsight is you can look back and see exactly where one small decision led to another decision which led to a life-changing decision. here's one example in my life:

-spring of 2004 i made the small decision to go to my friend angie's church.
-fall of 2004 that church planted a new church and i made the small choice to go with my friend jenna.
-spring of 2005 i made the decision to be a part of the internship that church was having in the summer.
-summer of 2005 that internship totally changed my life (which is a post all of it's own)
-spring of 2006 i chose to move to nashville, which probably wouldn't have happened if not for the people i met during that 2005 internship.

and when i reflect on moments like that, it makes me wonder what small decisions i am making today that will change my life a few months or years down the road. it's kind of crazy to think about sometimes. i guess it's sort of along the lines of the movies "the butterfly effect" or "sliding doors". will my life have a completely different outcome depending on whether i choose to go to frothy monkey or fido to get my daily caffeine dose? i would say most likely not, but you never know.

i think this is just a reminder that god is in control. if he wants to use a cup of coffee to change my life, i'm all for it.

wednesday wisdom: #3

"we are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, but we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."

-deitrich bonhoeffer

a perfect fall weekend

this weekend past weekend will go down in the history books as one of the most perfect weekends. it was a combination of everything i love about nashville, about fall, about my hometown, and about road tripping.

roommate kirsten and i each took off work a little early on friday afternoon for a raod trip north. we stopped by fido to grab some coffee for the road, and to say goodbye to our roommate karissa, barista-extraordinaire. while waiting to order our coffee, we noticed the guy in front of us. the first thing i noticed was how short he was. yours truly stands at a measly 5'1" on a good day, and this guy was at most the same height as me, if not shorter. definitely not taller. next i noticed he was fairly attractive (though he was there with his wife and infant child), and then i realized he looked really familiar. i turned to kirsten and before i could say anything, she whispered "i think that guy was on some show we watched as children."

we spent the first 15 minutes of our road trip googling and imbding various 90's sitcoms and finally figured it out. the guy we saw was jason marsden. (not to be confused with james marsden). jason played jt's best friend & dana's boyfriend on step by step, eric matthew's friend on boy meets world, and dj's boyfriend on full house. he seemed nice and we actually talked to him for a whole 30 seconds after i miraculously caught the coffee beans his wife almost knocked onto the floor (i never catch anything).

we arrived at my mom's house in michigan around midnight and talked with her and played with the dog for a bit before hitting the sack. kirsten had never been to michigan before, so after breakfast we hit the krasal art center, silver beach, walked out to the lighthouse, met my grandma for pizza, visited an apple orchard and pumpkin patch, went to a cider mill which had cider tastings, and then a vineyard/winery with wine tastings.

then we went back to my mom's house for some pumpkin pie and apple crisp, then drove down to mishawaka, indiana. which was the whole purpose of this trip - our roommate, stacy lantz, was having a cd release show near her hometown, which is conveniently near my hometown. after the show, kirsten, stacy, the boys in her band, and i headed out to her parent's house. they have a lot of land, and her dad built a log cabin in the woods where we slept for the night. us girls woke up much earlier than the boys, and stacy's dad thought it would be fun to wake the boys by blasting led zepplin on the sound system while shooting off his shotgun. so he did. only they didn't wake up.

after they finally woke up, we went fishing in their pond (though we didn't catch anything) and climbed their silo. it's a 60-foot silo. dan and clayton made it all the way up, and kirsten and i chickened out after 6 feet or so. and scott didn't even try.

then we loaded up the trailer and cars and drove back down to nashville. the whole weekend was amazing. we did so many things in a short amount of time, but we never felt rushed and it was all just very relaxing. and it was peak fall colors up in michigan, and in my opinion, it was the perfect temperature at 65 degrees.

monday meals: pumpkin spice granola

i love pumpkin. y'all know that by now. i've also been on a kick lately of having granola for breakfast, so i decided to make my own and to make it pumpkiny. this is so easy and so tasty.

ingredients:
2 cups oats
2 tablespoons pumpkin butter
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup raisins

preheat oven to 350*. in a medium sized bowl, mix the oats, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. in a small saucepan, mix together the pumpkin butter, pumpkin puree, honey, and brown sugar over low heat until warm. pour the pumpkin/honey/sugar mixture over the oats and mix well. spread the mixture into a 9x13 baking pan (lining it with aluminum foil & cooking spray makes it super easy to clean up). bake for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and adding the almonds and raisins in for the last 5 minutes. cool before serving/storing.

friday photos: week 2

i forgot to take a picture on friday 10.8.10, but i'm getting better at remembering :)

saturday, 10.9.10

todd carey, seth philpott, & nathan angelo at 3rd & lindsley.

sunday, 10.10.10

despite the 86* weather, it's definitely autumn which means pumpkin granola! (stay tuned for the recipe, coming on monday)

monday, 10.11.10

my roommate stole my phone and put a password on it. i had to sing "kumbaya" (with emotion) before she told me what it was.

tuesday, 10.12.10

gracie reached this milestone on my way home from work on the 65 north ramp off 440 west.

wednesday, 10.13.10

taken earlier in the year at radnor lake, this was edited using new apps i downloaded today.

thursday, 10.14.10

this silly photo and horrible photoshoping is brought to you by boredom at hotel indigo while waiting for our friends to play a writer's round. we were playing with the cinnamon, and my roommate sent me a text saying, "oh my gosh where's lumier and cogsworth? i can't believe it's real!"

ipod playlists, revisted

back in august i mentioned that i needed more playlists on my ipod. and i'm getting there. here's what i have:

8th & walnut - songs that remind me of the summer of 2005. a very life-changing summer. this list pretty much consists of coldplay, ben folds, and gorillaz.
falling for autumn - songs that mention or remind me of my favorite season.
favorites - self-explanatory.
flashback to younger days - self-explanatory.
get off your butt and do something with your life - songs that inspire me.
i dare you to just sit there - songs that demand to be danced to.
nashville artists - self-explanatory.
new music - an ever-changing playlist, where i stick new music until i learn it well.*
praise be to jeevus - songs about god, whether that was their intention or not. "jeevus" is a joke with my small group.
say no to miss kitty cause kitty go to dabbs house - the name is based off a joke with some friends, but this is a playlist of cheesy love songs.
slow jams for slow days - self-explanatory.
sometimes you have to move a little bit - songs that make you move, but not quite as much as the "i dare you to just sit there" playlist.
sometimes you need a little kick - songs that are a bit "crunchier" than what i normally listen to.
sunny happy driving with the windows down - self-explanatory
the evolution of a band - all of the songs by my favorite band, in chronological order.
the sky is falling - rainy day tunes.
there is no good category for songs like this - completely random, some of which just make you go "what just happened?"
this playlist is full of all kinds of awesome - a more picky version of my favorites
welcome to the south, y'all - i don't typically listen to country, but i have a few songs i like, or a few that are borderline country, and they all go in here.

*new music playlist currently consists of: grant terry, jon troast, and matt haeck. what new music have you been listening to? what playlists do you have?

wednesday wisdom: #2

"real religion, the kind that passes muster before god the father, is this: reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."

james 1:27, the message

childhood memories.

i have a few memories of my grandpa (mom's dad). he passed away when i was three, so these are some of my earliest memories. i remember eating ice cream with him, and getting it all over my nose. i remember i would sit in his lap, and i would lean backwards and point my foot up, and he would lift me up so my foot touched the bottom of the lamp that hung from the ceiling over the chair. and i remember the one time he cut my fingernails, and nipped the corner of my pinky and it bled... after that, i was terrified to get my fingernails trimmed.

do you ever wonder why certain memories are the ones that stick with you for forever? what was so special about those moments?

monday meals: pumpkin turkey chili

yeah. kind of weird. that's what i thought when i first saw this recipe over at allrecipes.com but i love everything about fall, including both pumpkin and chili, and i'm pretty brave when it comes to trying food, so i figured worst case scenario, it would be disgusting and i'd make something else for dinner. well, it was far from disgusting. the first thing you taste is sweet, and then the heat from the spices. a very interesting combination indeed, i was pleasantly surprised. i will be making this again. i also made some jiffy cornbread in the cast iron skillet - another fall favorite, and i paired it with some winzerwald schweizer spice wine, or as they refer to it, "liquid pumpkin pie". unfortunately for me, this wine is not available in nashville. i have one bottle to last me through the fall, and i will treasure it.

i adapted the original recipe (linked above). this is my version:

ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 pound ground turkey
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 large can of libby's pumpkin pie mix

seasonings (i didn't measure these, but let's just say that i like it hot) :
chili powder
salt
ground black pepper
cayenne pepper
ground cumin
allspice

directions:
heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and saute onions and peppers until onions are near-translucent. add the ground turkey and brown evenly. drain the excess grease. add the tomatoes (drained) and pumpkin, as well as the seasonings. stir and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

easy, quick, delicious, and definitely unique. and all things autumn. :)

friday photos: week 1

last week i mentioned that i'm trying to start taking at least one picture, every day, for a year. well, i already forgot two days, but that's okay. here's what i have from this past week:

friday 10.1.10

friday after work i traveled up to indiana to attend my college homecoming. one of my favorite parts of the drive up north is the massive amount of rock face in kentucky. as a kid (living in michigan), we often traveled south for vacation. i remember fighting to have the backseat with my brother - the backseat was easier to nap in. i remember at one point i wised up and realized if i got the backseat first, i could nap through the corn and soybean fields of indiana, and then be awake in the middle seats for the pretty rocky hills of kentucky.

saturday 10.2.10

saturday was homecoming. this is the on-campus coffee shop. i basically lived here my senior year, and it was in this room i decided to move to nashville. many haikus were written here, as well as crosswords completed, and i consumed many free lattes courtesy of my good friend sara.

sunday 10.3.10

this is the mercy house, which i blogged about tuesday. they meet in an old elementary school building. and that's my friend matt speaking.

tuesday 10.5.10

i joined some friends at fido for some coffee and journal-making. a simple moment. those are my favorites.

thursday 10.7.10

my roommates, karissa lacour and stacy lantz, sang some songs while i sold journals at the hillsboro village art walk. thanks to cori at social graces for the opportunity!

i left a piece of my heart where i've never been.

that might sound weird. but it's true. for years now, i've felt like a part of me is in portland, oregon. but i've never even been there. while it is at the top of my list of u.s. cities to visit, part of me is afraid.

afraid that if i visit, i'll want to move there. but i don't want to move. i love nashville. maybe the two cities are playing tug of war with my heart.

maybe i'm full of crap. maybe if i visit i'll hate it. that scares me too. i don't know why. i don't even know anyone who lives there.

but everyone who has visited has told me i would love it.

i've always said the world is too big to stay in one place for too long. i used to think that meant i wanted to move a lot. that was before i fell in love with nashville. i just need a job with lots of vacation time. :)

wednesday wisdom: #1

"the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world." - ammon hennacy

tuesday talk: homecoming 2010

this past weekend was homecoming weekend at anderson university. after just recently coming out of 90+ degree weather here in nashville, i really enjoyed the rainy 50's in indiana.

i was pleasantly surprised at the number of old friends i was able to see over the weekend. and i was able to attend my old church (which i've been lucky to do several times this year). it's funny how, recognizing only a handful of faces, i can still feel right at home. and a lot has changed over the past six years.

SIX years. that's when the church (the mercy house) started. the first time i attended church there was the second week it existed. which was exactly six years prior to this past weekend. and then that following summer i was one of several interns. our primary focus was on the new building we had acquired, and how we could use that building to strengthen community - both amongst ourselves and with our literal neighbors in the area.

five years since that internship, it's happening. it's amazing to see all the ways the church has grown there and the creative ways they are reaching out to their community.

monday meals: sausage risotto

this recipe is so yum. so so yum. f'real. (bed intruder reference, anyone?)

and not only is it yum, it's easy. so here you go.

ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
16 ounces of sausage (my favorite is trader joe's chicken sausage)
1 clove of garlic
1 1/4 cup of arborio rice (risotto)
1 cup dry white wine
3 1/2 cups water
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup parmasan cheese


directions:

-heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat. add sausage (sliced or diced) and cook for about 3 minutes. add the garlic clove and sautee for about 1 minute.
-add the rice and the wine and heat until the wine is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
-add the water and simmer until it's absorbed, about 10-15 mintues, stirring occasionally.
-add peas and cheese, heat for about 2 more minutes
-add seasonings to taste and enjoy.

i didn't list seasonings in the ingredients, because i feel like you can be creative here. my favorite to add to this is salt, pepper, and tony's.

myka's toms, tulsa 2009

taken may 2009 with a canon rebel 2000 eos on expired 35mm film. unedited.