25 November 2010

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope your day was full of things like these:





Today, and everyday whether I think of it or not, I am thankful for these things:

My parents; who are way cooler and smarter than I am.

My brother; who is a smart kid and has the world open ahead of him.

My boyfriend; who is swell.

My friends; who are crazy, awesome, godly, smart, stunningly beautiful, goofy, honest and otherwise wonderful.

A home, a car, an excessive amount of food, warmth, fun, laughter, extended family, health and a million other things.

I'm very happy and lucky. I hope you are, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

19 November 2010

The Who's Who

There is a phenomenon in the United States and the world over. It pervades conversations between close friends, gossip amongst rivals and diplomacy by leaders around the world. Sometimes it can be useful, but often it rationalizes poor decisions or behavior and assigns unrealistic values to people or things.

Ranking.

We love to rank, to grade, to sort, to arrange. We have the Billboard Top 100, "Sexiest Man of the Year", Best Cities in America to Raise a Family. There is the World's 10 Wealthiest People and the 25 Poorest Countries. The list, no pun intended, goes on and on.

The idea of ranking things irks me very deeply. It generalizes people and issues and usually it isn't pretty. It carries through to all elements of our lives, and to be honest, I'd love to eliminate it completely.

In Christianity, it springs up and makes for uncomfortable differences and distinctions -- problems are created unnecessarily between people. Too many times I have heard people minimize the struggles of others by comparing and ranking them.

"I had a rough day today, and I haven't eaten dinner yet."
"Well, you should be glad you are getting a meal at all, since hundreds of children die of starvation everyday."

Does this exchange help those starving children? No. Does it help the person who had a rough day and just needs a meal and a friend to talk to? No. It only serves to belittle the all-too-real struggles of someone who is right here, right now. And believe me, I'm not trying to say that our needs here are more important than starving children. There is no "more important" or "less important". There are only needs that must be satisfied -- ranking and valuing them doesn't help anyone. You should help the people you are equipped to help, right where you are.

What are the greatest commandments?

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

If we are following this commandment, then the second should become an extension of the first -- if we love God with everything we have, then won't we love the people he loves?

"Love your neighbor as you love yourself." (Find those in Matthew 22:37-40)

Our reaction to suffering or unhappiness in the lives of people around us should not be to put them in their place or even decide whether their struggle is big enough for us to care about. It should be to love them, because that is what God would do.

I'm not saying this will always be easy or fun. It probably won't be. But don't the people around you deserve God's love -- not because they are a starving child, but because they are His child?

So: love. Love the person next to you in class, or on the bus. Love the homeless man on your streetcorner. Love Billy Graham and Britney Spears. Love the poorest of the poor and the wealthy entrepreneurs. Just live it out, and don't bother deciding whose best or worst.

16 November 2010

It's What's for Dinner.

No, not beef, although I do have a healthy and abiding love for it.

Am I the only one missing the meat around here? I know since I'm the author of this here blog, I'm the only one responsible, but I thought I would bring it up.

I'm feeling a little under-nourished, that my posts have been a little shallow.
But you know? It happens. October was a busy month for me, and I had a lot of Halloween posts set up for publishing, so I didn't do as many spontaneous postings, which are usually my favorites. (Are they yours? Or do you find my ramblings less interesting?)

So with that understanding, I'm hoping to get back a little more to what RFP is all about: growth.

I hope to return soon with some interesting posts, and I hope you are here to read! Please let me know if there is anything you want to know about or see my opinions on (though I admit I am an expert on almost nothing. But I love conversation!)

Leave a comment and feel free to heckle!

09 November 2010

Dorm Decor: All The Leaves Are...

Orange? Well, at least the door is brown, in any case. Ready for some "door dec" as they RA's like to call it? Since the nameplates that our RA so lovingly created for us had continued to fall off everytime the door opened, I decided it was high time to create new decorations for our lovely door.

Having some real fall leaves for inspiration, I went to work with my X-acto and cut out some leaf sillhouettes. I had intentions to use to the cut outs first of all, but I liked the shapes left behind enough that I decided to use them instead. Thus:


Voila! Sweet leaf cutouts, each with a simply penned initial for each of us (mine of course is Stephanie, also, Amy and Jordan -- they're great) and taped on up.


But I couldn't leave the original inspired pieces to be thrown in the trash, that just wouldn't be right. So, after rubbing the edges with the same green marker that I used for the initials, I bunched up a scrap of tulle (from this project!) and strung it all together with a brad. (Bonus fact: brad, en francais is attaches parisiennes.)


Pretty cute, I think. And they only took about 30 minutes, start to finish. Not to mention they are easy to change prior to cutting, I made a lot of sketches on the back before I cut, but you can't see the back so no one has to know! Well... other than all of you.

Share a fun paper project with me! I love crafty cutting.

07 November 2010

Halloween 2010: Presto Change-o

I think we've established that I have a deep and enduring love for costumes, right? In light of that, is it really that surprising that I should have two this year? I know. Out of control!

Anyway, in my desire to avoid ruining the surprise of my original costume, and since I'm attending two parties, my roommates and I have come up with another fun but not too complicated idea.

Thus, the muses were born. (Actually, I'm pretty sure there is some myth that relates to their birth, but I don't remember nor do I feel like wikipedia-ing at the moment. Check yourself, eh? Report back.) If you loved the classic Disney films, then Hercules probably was a favorite of yours, and those lovely, toga-clad Muses narrate his story. They are sassy and harmonious, and we knew that was our costume!

So here we are, in all our narrative glory!



Here is the breakdown to do it yourself -- we kept it cheap!
  • Full or queen-size flat sheet (mine came from Saver's!)
  • Metallic belt or ribbon (Dollar bin at Michael's!)
  • Metallic hair accessory (99 cent christmas decor, sewn onto a headband!)

Depending on the weather where you are, you can vary what you wear beneath your toga. We wore leggings and tank tops since it was rather chilly! I wore it again on Halloween night with jeans under it, so it's flexible in that way. But please, do wear something under it.

  • Wrap your toga (I'll post my methods of wrapping another time, but there are plenty of videos to instruct you on the internet) and secure with safety pins.
  • Tie your ribbon or fasten your belt in place.
  • Place your hair accessories, and in our case, spray with gold glitter hairspray. It gets everywhere!

Done!

How do you like them? Have any easy but cute costumes you wouldn't mind sharing? Comment and fill us in!

06 November 2010

Homebody: Trinkets

The first "finished" section of my bedroom redux is the wall you enter through! Through the door that is, I assume people aren't just whisking themselves through my walls. (Sir Nicholas?)

I'm particularly fond of this step, as nearly all of the items are hand-me-downs or neat things I've picked up in the past. I actually didn't buy anything expressly to put on these shelves! There isn't a whole lot of instruction on this, I just moved things around until I liked where they were.
That definitely applies on this first shelf, with a couple of the books on their sides. They were so much larger than the rest that they just looked silly. Solution? Knock 'em down! The armadillo-pig is a piggy bank, and it's next to a bell from Switzerland and my grandmother's baby photo.
This shelf may have a little more on it as I continue to redo my room, but don't you just love that fish? It has a slot in it, so it's anyone's guess as to what it is. I love it. The little pigs are salt and pepper shakers. My grandma loved pigs.
And this top shelf at the moment is rather uninspiring, but I'll be getting something to put in those bud vases eventually. If you like them, they came from Pottery Barn! The sea shells are there from various trips as well.

Bonus shelf! This is the top of my desk, which is still a bit cluttered, but I can't live without that carved wooden colt and the white horse bottle. Great stuff.

So, what do you think of my progress so far? I know, there isn't a photo of the whole wall, which is embarrassing, but hopefully I can put that up after I get something in those bud vases. Give me some comments on progress or ideas!