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.