6 random things about me

i was tagged by my friend max, and as the only person he tagged, i feel special and a little bit honored as well as compelled to post this now, just after reading his post. so here goes:

1. hi, my name is mindi and i'm addicted to shoes. there are currently 21 pairs by my front door. we won't talk about how many are behind the couch, under the bed and in the closet.

2. i love seasonal dishes. i have themed serving plates and dishes for christmas, valentine's day, and easter.

3. for my 14th birthday, my parents gave me a canon ae-1 set: camera body, flash and a couple lenses. over the years, i added an auto-advance, more lenses, filters, etc. i was a photographer for the hs yearbook and newspaper and continued into the first couple years of college and then burnt out and sold it all. in the last year, i've really begun to miss having a great camera.

4. i really need to update the photos in my house. the pics of my neices and nephews that are up show the oldest at 8. he's now 16.

5. my favorite website is the bbc in pictures page. it's updated daily.

6. two of my closest friends were born within a week of me. one, i've known since birth; the other since sophomore year of college. i enjoy reminding both of them that i'm the youngest even if it is only by 6 or 5 days respectively.

and there you have it. 6 random things about me. as for tags, if you're reading this & haven't done this meme, consider yourself tagged.

'comfort' food

as a kid, i was a finicky eater. my mom was a terrible cook. there was some circular relationship between the two. i didn't eat much so mom didn't attempt much. and when she did the results weren't good which made me reluctant to try new things.

it all changed in 7th grade when i took my first home ec class. the first cooking project was actually making peanut butter cup candy. mine were great. the teacher said i must have a knack for cooking. after that, i decided i loved to cook. i learned what i could from other cooks in my family, home ec, recipe books. by my junior year, i was making all the holiday meals for our family--thanksgiving, christmas.

i still love to cook. i love to cook for friends and entertain. i love to cook as a stress reliever or when life gets overwhelming. there's something soothing and cathartic about it. and i love that there's a finished product in a reasonably short amount of time. and i also love that when i cook for friends they feel the love i put into it and find it nurturing and comforting as well.

tonite, i cooked for the women in my small group. we had spinach-artichoke dip with chips, paula deen's chicken georgia, roasted yukon gold & petite red potatoes with carrots, green beans, crescent rolls, and for dessert, pumpkin cheesecake pie. we shared our hearts and lives with each other over dinner.

and i think that is the real comfort of food, the way that it brings us together.

quote of the day

just came across this quote. i love it.

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."
Mother Theresa of Calcutta

church marketing

i've been thinking a lot lately about what attracts people to jesus particularly due to this election, a talk by francis chan, conversations with a new british friend about religion and life and politics in england, and knowing some 'churched' teens who are struggling with having a faith worth calling their own plus a long conversation with a youth ministry educator about the 'disney-ification'of the american church.

all of this has messed with my head and heart in really good ways--challenging my assumptions, thinking and complacency.

tonite, i received a targeted ad saying "Loud Music at Church? You bet! You'll get loud music, relevant messages, great kids' programs and a casual atmosphere."

really, we've got jesus and the best marketing hook we can come up with is loud music at church? i get that we need to have the gospel be understood and relevant, but is loud music going to be that draw?

i'm sure i'll post more about all of this in the coming weeks, but for the moment, i'm just shaking my head about how the church is positioning itself sometimes.

childhood memories

so, as a little kid, i grew up on sesame street and schoolhouse rock. tonite online, i stumbled across this gem from sesame street. i didn't remember this song having verses!

bizarro dream

for as long as i can remember, whenever i am overtired or overstressed or some combination of both, i have really odd, one might even say, bizarre dreams.

this morning, i woke up dreaming that greg kinnear, lauren holly, allison janney and dakota fanning were making chocolate chip cookies in my flat in london. greg kinnear was doing a really bad british accent which allison janney was mocking him for and lauren holly was defending him for and dakota fanning was rolling her eyes like 'grown ups are really idiots'.

i can't figure out what led to this cast of characters in my dreams. i can account for the london part--i was shopping online for flights last night to visit london in december and even the chocolate chip cookie part as a new friend from the uk gave me some yummy chocolate chip cookies over the weekend. but the rest, well, i have no idea.

an update

just a little update on what's going on in my corner of the world (in case you were wondering. if you weren't, please disregard this post and go back to whatever else you were doing, but thanks for stopping by.)

what i've been doing: working. really mostly working. getting ready for the crazy fall season: national youth workers conventions in sacramento, pittsburgh, nashville. association of youth ministry educators & sales conference in grand rapids--getting ready for more new books to be launched there. all of these are events i'm really excited about.

and when i'm not working: building relationships with my new small group of 7th grade girls and my 2 new co-leaders. 3 weeks in, so far, so good. this wednesday will be week 4.

most fun memories from the summer (in no particular order--by the way, i'm feeling very parenthetical as i write this): the death of snake in my yard (okay, not really a 'fun' memory but it was a highly memorable event), girls weekend with my best friend from childhood & another good friend, and a trip to the tall ships festival.

normally, i go thru klutzy phases but: i've been more of a mechanical jinx recently--car repairs (several), blue screen of death and the demise of my old laptop, and my tv just decided to stop turning on.

biggest surprises of late: how much tv i can find online if i want but how the only time i really miss it is in the morning during the morning news and today show; how much i love my sony reader; how much i like peach green tea from whittard of chelsea (trying to give up my diet coke habit)

a couple of book recommendations: my name is russell fink (fun and surprisingly captivating characters) and reading lolita in tehran (fascinating memoir that prompted me download henry james books and the great gatsby to my sony reader)

and if you've made it this far, thanks friend!

snakes in my yard!

so a couple weeks ago i had a graduation party for my small group girls at my home. the girls and their little brothers went swimming. one of the boys noticed a "super wiggly worm" in the pool. i looked at and realized it was a baby snake. i got the skimmer and fished it out. i'd thought it was a rattlesnake, but wasn't a 100% sure. one of the dads didn't think it was a rattler so we chucked the little thing into the canyon area across the road. these are pix of the little guy in the skimmer basket.

today, i'm pretty sure it was a rattler and we found him momma. when i went outside this morning, my friends who are housesitting next door told me that their little guy who is 2 and his grandpa were met by a huge rattler on their way to the pergola which sits to the end of my house at the end of a square that has 4 little box gardens. they were trying to figure out where the snake had gone when i came out. i walked around the area carefully and didn't see or hear any sign of it. i got a shovel and a hoe out of the shed just in case and went to cleaning up after the party we had last night. dave (housesitting next door) & i started down the path to put up an extra table when he said snake. sure enough there it was about 8 feet ahead of him, a big rattler who was making a meal of a squirrel. this pic is of the snake waiting for his venom to paralyze the squirrel. we were deciding it was going to be super gross to kill the thing mid meal with shovel or hoe when the gardner showed up. woohoo for the gardner who wasn't grossed out enough to not kill it mid meal. and yeah for him disposing of the remains of the snake and the squirrel.

and i have to say, i'm still queasy. i may be all day. watching a snake kill something on tv is gross, but seeing it happen 6 ft from you is so unbelievably disgusting. i know the whole circle of life and nature's way, etc., but it's still just really gross!

great chick flick movie lines vol. 3

from the holiday:

iris: "you're right. you should be the leading lady in your own life for god's sakes!"

in my head right now

there are a couple thoughts that have been dancing around in my head for the last day or so. at first they were just waltzing around and now they're holding a rave with a full-on mosh pit. i'm hoping that putting them down here as place holders will get them to sit down and be quiet for a few minutes.

the cynicism, sarcasm, bitterness continuum. is it a continuum? is it a cul-de-sac? i know they're related but i'm trying to clarify in my head how that relationship plays out. plus, there's a tie in this to the 'out of the heart, the mouth speaks' thing.

moving beyond isolation... when one finds they've become isolated, how do they begin to repair that? how do they figure out how they got there so they don't go back again?

as i have time in the upcoming weeks to dance with these a bit more, i'll update this.

great chick flick movie lines vol. 2

sweet home alabama: earl smooter to melanie: "you cain't ride two horses with one a** sugar bee."

surprising myself

i'm a fan of sex and the city. i love the clothes, the shoes!. i can relate to being single and past 35. and yes, i'm very excited about the movie. i'm going to go see it friday nite with a friend. and i can pretty much count on one hand the number of movies i've made it a priority to see on opening day.

so here's what's surprising to myself: there's a part of me that hopes the character of carrie has a happy ending that doesn't include big--or any other guy.

i grew up on the fairytales that end with the princess getting the prince and everyone living happily ever after. and typically, i'm a hopeless romantic who wants to believe the fairytale ending--that true love wins out. that there actually is a true love for everyone. i have a shelf full of chick flicks and chick lit that all have exactly that ending.

but as i'm writing my own life story, i'm learning that i can have my own happy ending as a single woman. realizing that i'm almost rooting for carrie to have a happy ending as a single woman tells me that i really might be on my path to my own happily ever after. it also tells me that i want a pop culture princess to have a happily ever as a single so that i and other little girls have one more happily ever after to look at in the fairy tales.

great chick flick movie lines: vol. 1

as a chick flick aficionado, i frequently encounter great lines that i've decided to start blogging in an ongoing series. to start, here are two from today:

the wedding date: nick to kat "i think i'd miss you even if i'd never met you."

elizabethtown: claire to drew: "don't call me before you get home. i want you to get in the deep beautiful melancholy of everything that's happened."

wrangling the messies

as a kid, messy was never an option for me. everything had to be in its place--at least on the surface. drawers, cabinets and closets could be messy, but anything visible had to be immaculate. there was never a speck of dust and every bit of tchotchke had its exact spot. a very exact spot. when i was a teen and was acting out at my mom, i'd go around the house & just barely nudge all her little figurines and tchotchke. there was never a dust circle to disturb so i never knew how mom knew, but she knew they weren't in their proper spots and she'd spend how ever long it took to nudge everything into just the spot they were in previously. (i'd later learn that mom has obsessive-compulsive disorder and that was one of the manifestations).

anyhow, as an adult, with my own place. i enjoy a certain amount of messy. i don't mind my most frequently worn shoes being in a pile by the front door along with a stack of my currently rotating purses. i don't mind a few dirty dishes left overnite in the sink. or a pile of clothes that needs to be put away for several days. but there's a limit. and actually, messy cabinets, drawers, etc. can drive me a little nuts after a certain point.

i have reached that limit and hit that point. this long weekend, i'm on a declutter mission: clean out the closets & drawers. put the winter shoes back in their boxes, purge the old clothes, toss out or donate stuff that isn't being worn depending on its condition... a clean sweep. i'm looking forward to it... all the fun begins saturday morning ;). i should get some rest.

thinking about risk

i think i know why it's 'jump first, fear later'. if you think about things too long, it's way too easy to let the fear set in. and when you fear first, you rarely jump.

movie watching

over my vacation, i watched 4 movies:

• juno (i know, way overdue)
• penelope (fab chick flick to share with girls of all ages)
• miss pettigrew lives for a day (favorite of the week-a must have dvd when it releases)
• death at a funeral (i laughed a lot but i don't recommended for those who don't like british humor, can't laugh at dysfunctional families or are easily offended)

tonite in catching up on my blog reading i saw this post from my friend josh. he posted the american film institutes top 100 films for 2007 and noted in bold the ones he'd seen. i've done the same here:

The American Film Institute's 2007 list of the top-100 American movies

1. Citizen Kane, 1941.

2. The Godfather, 1972.

3. Casablanca, 1942.

4. Raging Bull, 1980.

5. Singin' in the Rain, 1952.

6. Gone With the Wind, 1939.

7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

8. Schindler's List, 1993.

9. Vertigo, 1958.

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939.

11. City Lights, 1931.

12. The Searchers, 1956.

13. Star Wars, 1977.

14. Psycho, 1960.

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.

16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.

17. The Graduate, 1967.

18. The General, 1927.

19. On the Waterfront, 1954.

20. It's a Wonderful Life, 1946.

21. Chinatown, 1974.

22. Some Like It Hot, 1959.

23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.

24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.

25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.

27. High Noon, 1952.

28. All About Eve, 1950.

29. Double Indemnity, 1944.

30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.

31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.

32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975.

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.

35. Annie Hall, 1977.

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.

38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.

39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964.

40. The Sound of Music, 1965.

41. King Kong, 1933.

42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.

43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.

44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.

45. Shane, 1953.

46. It Happened One Night, 1934.

47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.

48. Rear Window, 1954.

49. Intolerance, 1916.

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.

51. West Side Story, 1961.

52. Taxi Driver, 1976.

53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.

54. M-A-S-H, 1970.

55. North by Northwest, 1959.

56. Jaws, 1975.

57. Rocky, 1976.

58. The Gold Rush, 1925.

59. Nashville, 1975.

60. Duck Soup, 1933.

61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941.

62. American Graffiti, 1973.

63. Cabaret, 1972.

64. Network, 1976.

65. The African Queen, 1951.

66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.

67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.

68. Unforgiven, 1992.

69. Tootsie, 1982.

70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.

71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.

75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.

76. Forrest Gump, 1994.

77. All the President's Men, 1976.

78. Modern Times, 1936.

79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.

80. The Apartment, 1960.

81. Spartacus, 1960.

82. Sunrise, 1927.

83. Titanic, 1997.

84. Easy Rider, 1969.

85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.

86. Platoon, 1986.

87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.

88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.

89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.

90. Swing Time, 1936.

91. Sophie's Choice, 1982.

92. Goodfellas, 1990.

93. The French Connection, 1971.

94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.

95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.

96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.

97. Blade Runner, 1982.

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.

99. Toy Story, 1995.

100. Ben-Hur, 1959.

random sunday morning musings

• so i took a 48 hour computer sabbatical--i haven't been online from Friday @ 9am PST until Sunday 10am PST.
• that makes my random saturday musings random sunday musings
• being unplugged was nice. returning to being plugged in i feel very behind
• chocolate chip cookies from paradise bakery are a good thing in the denver airport
• talking theology with a southern baptist who became an atheist who became a transcendentalist who's currently exploring channeling makes my head hurt
• on the other hand, i'm glad the person i had the aforementioned theology conversation with sees enough of something he finds real in my faith to have the conversation with me
• why women should rule the world should be on everyone's reading list--i'll do a separate post on this
• i'm on vacation through the 25th-number one vacation goal: no alarm clock except easter sunday
• i'm visiting fam and friends in OK which will be fun
• i hate being exhausted and having insomnia
• two desserts in one night is fun especially when you're sharing them with a friend
• a cool thing about good friends--you're never too old to stay up half the night talking and giggling
• i'm going to hobby lobby this week...my favorite craft/art/project store ever that sadly we don't have in san diego
• tulsa and grand rapids might actually be the same city only one is snowier

random saturday musings 2

since i have a habit of reviewing my week and noting things that stuck with me, i've decided to also try and make a habit out of sharing a few of those here every saturday night.

• i just might be a quirkyalone meaning i'd rather be on my own than in a lame relationship or settle just to be in a couple (note to self: order book)
• i'm looking forward to my trip to ok for easter
• i'm not looking forward to packing (i wish there was a service that would do my laundry and pack for me)
• it's always a good idea to keep popcorn & cake mix on hand when you host small group at your house
• i still wonder if i'm being selfish when i'm happy for a friend who's beginning a new adventure but sad for how it will change our relationship
• i've finished 3 of the 4 books i set out to read this weekend--not sure if i can finish the 4th by monday
• i'm excited that we'll have an extra hour of daylight in the evening but i really hate losing an hour of sleep

ambitious reading days

i'm trying to catch up on my reading. i perpetually have books lying around in various stages of progress. at the moment on the table behind my couch, there's rhett butler's people (so far so not as good as gone with the wind) that i'm having a hard time really getting into, but am determined to read. there's also my sister's keeper by jodi picoult, probably waiting for my next flight. enduring lives which i recently finished and real sex: the naked truth about chastity which i've been using as a resource for curriculum for my middle school girls.

this week, i'm focusing on some work-related reading plus one other book. one of the cool things about my job is that we publish really good books for teens--invert books. i read them so i know what they're about first-hand. we have a bunch of great new ones that have just released or about to so i'm reading those. this evening, i finished it's easy being green by emma sleeth which released today. i'm almost finished with generation change, an upcoming book from zach hunter that will be available in april. also on the reading schedule for the weekend are confessions of a not-so-super model (i've read excerpts but i'm excited to read it from start to finish) and wisdom on...making good decisions.

the plus one other book is why women should rule the world by dee dee myers. she was the first female press secretary in the white house. so far i just love it.

in the upcoming week, i'll do a little post about each book i'm reading this weekend.

thoughts from a volunteer small group leader

i lead a little small group of 8th grader girls. we've been together as a group since they started 6th grade. in just a couple months, the girls will move onto high school. over the last few days, i've had opportunities to talk to the girls parents for a variety of reasons including having coffee with a couple of the moms last night.

as i've been thinking about this, i keep noticing how blessed i feel to have good relationships with the parents. i can think of times, especially in my early years as a youth worker, that it just wouldn't have occured to me to get to know the parents of my girls, especially being a volunteer. now, a little older and hopefully wiser, i can't imagine not getting to know the parents of my girls.

below are a few things i've learned as a volunteer working with parents:

• introduce yourself. send a letter, email, or make a phone call to get started. make a point to meet them in person.
• make yourself available. be sure they have your phone number and email. let them know you're available as a support and resource for them and their student.
• help them connect to the larger ministry--make sure they're in the loop on total group events, upcoming outings, etc. (i can occasionally be absent-minded about this)
• remember that they're trusting you with the most precious thing in their life. as much as you love the kids in your group, you'll never feel about them the way their parent does.
• remember that you're not the parent. don't try to be one. and don't criticize the parent's choices to the student. instead, be the student's adult friend and a good listener. when appropriate, you can sometimes help a student see their parents point of view.
• i have a friend who's a school teacher who tells the parents of her students, "i'll only believe half of what your child tells me about you, if you'll believe only half of what your child tells you about me." the idea being kids can sometimes exaggerate the good and especially the bad about the grown ups in their lives.
• partner with the parents--encourage them to help their child's spiritual development.
• tell the parents ways you see their child growing up--if you have a reason to praise a kid, be sure you let the parent know too.

if you do these things, when things go well for the kids in your group, the celebration is even bigger. and if things go wrong, the kids have a group of adults around them who can work together to love and nurture them into better places.

random saturday musings

• cars are good; car maintenance is a pain
• i like orange vegetables--butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, yams
• haricot verts are just french style green beans
• i like cooking for friends and having them over
• i don't like cleaning before and after i have friends over, but it's a necessary evil
• dublin dr. pepper is available just 2.7 miles from my house and i just found out this afternoon
• our country needs accessible, affordable health care for everyone
• easter candy is better than valentine's candy
• prices are really going up at the grocery store
• what does it say that my 3 fave celebs at the moment are all food network hosts: guy fieri, robert irvine, and duff goldman
• i love being a volunteer in youth ministry more than being a youth pastor
• meeting our parent company's new ceo was good--i'm really excited we have a woman ceo
• i'm looking forward to going to oklahoma for easter
• if barack obama really is going to be the democratic nominee and the next president, i sure hope he figures out a way to come even 1/2 close to the hype he's created for himself
• if barack obama is the president and can't live up to the hype, i think bush's current approval ratings will look really high
• i still think if the democratic party genuinely wanted to fix things and not play politics as usual, they'd figure out a way to run a clinton/obama ticket; clinton focusing on foreign issues; obama on domestic and after a 4-8 year run, then obama could run and the dems could potentially have 16 uninterrupted presidential years

and i'm home from grand rapids

what do you get when you add snow + pizza + the skit guys? you get an event for youth groups in grand rapids that is a whole lot of fun.

we (ys) along with the skit guys and compassion hosted a free event for youth groups. free pizza and lots of laughs with the skit guys. it was sort of a "launch party" for their new dvd series called you teach. volumes 1 & 2 have just released and volume 3 will be out in august.

there were a few hundred people there, lots of pizza and mostly a lot of laughs. seriously, the skit guys are a hoot. "have you ever heard how dodgeball started? it started as dodge rock. you knew when you were out." and then there's the need harmony video (i'd link to it, but it's not available yet). i'm still laughing when i think about it. as someone who's dabbled in online dating, it is just painfully funny.

oh, and the snow. it snowed--a lot--while we were there. it was snowing when we got off the plane monday afternoon and didn't stop until mid-day wednesday. much to the chagrin of the michigan residents who are completely sick of the stuff, i really love the snow. it's so pretty and i love how everything is so clean and sparkly and still in the midst of a snowstorm. of course, it's much easier to love snow when you're only visiting and you don't have to shovel any of it.

and finally, in case you're unfamiliar with the skit guys, here's a video of them i found on youtube.

excitement!

so there's been a little excitement going on in my work life lately. recently i was promoted to marketing manager, resources. i'll still get to work with our denominational and network partners and the youth specialties academic support network. the rest of my time and energy will be focused on connecting people with our resources: books, curriculums, dvds, etc. i'm really loving the new role.

tomorrow morning, i head to grand rapids to sit in on sales conference. we'll be presenting about 20 new resources to our sales team so they can start working with retailers to bring the resources to local bookstores. i'm so excited about this new batch of resources--there's great stuff for youth workers: new bible study curriculum, some encouraging words from one of my favorite people, some cool new stuff for teens... i should stop for now. anyway, i'm looking forward to this week in michigan. except for the cold. that i could do without.

oh happy shopping days

yesterday i stopped by borders just to browse for a bit and they had a huge clearance section, and there tucked away on a top shelf in a corner was a copy of Rhett Butler's People. it was a hardback copy marked 75% off! and all of the ones at the front of the store were regular price. i took it to the register and asked if the book had something wrong with it or if it was just mismarked. there wasn't anything wrong with it, and it was mismarked, but the border's associate honored the discounted price anyway! i brought it home for only $7! i've had to hide it from myself because i was reading it instead of getting my chores done! gone with the wind was the first "grown-up" novel i read and i fell in love with it immediately. i read the entire thing in just two days as a freshman in high school. and i've seen the movie a ridiculous number of times. i'm so liking reading more about rhett. the funny thing for me is that when i read what he's saying, i totally have clark gable's voice in my head.

these shoes were my other happy shopping moment of the weekend. i found them marked 1/3 off in the clearance section at my local dsw shoe warehouse. they were just so fun i couldn't resist trying them on just for kicks. and then they fit perfectly so i decided to splurge. as i walked away from the clearance section, i saw a whole stack of the same shoe for the regular price. a sales associate was there so i showed her the shoes that were marked sale and pointed out the display of regular priced ones. apparently my pair was from a previous shipment so it didn't matter they'd received more at the regular price, mine were still on clearance. so yes, i now own these adorable and fun shoes. they're therapeutic in my recovery from the recent loss of my favorite knee-high, high-heeled, black boots that died due to irrepairable heel breakage while in chicago o'hare.

it's been happy shopping days. and now i'm stopping while i'm ahead.

a bad day

so i don't typically post news stories, but i couldn't resist this one from the bbc. my favorite part is, "Crocodile attacks and shootings are rare in Australia.
To suffer both at once is - to say the least - unfortunate."

read the whole story here.

editor's note: i just reread this post 3 weeks later and that line still just cracks me up. i mean seriously, the guy is shot while they're trying to save him and the best way it can be described is "unfortunate". it's just so understated. and so part of why i love the uk.

good line

i'm a fan of sex in the city now that it's on tbs. not that i agree with everything, but if you're single and over 30, there's some pretty funny stuff in it.

tonite charlotte says "i've been dating since i was 15. i'm exhausted. where is he?" i saw that on a t-shirt in the turner store at cnn center last fall and seriously considered buying it. all i can say is "ditto".

looking back

ok last post was late october (really didn't mean to go that long without posting) so looking back, here's where i was:

• st. louis (national youth workers convention--8 days)
• atlanta (national youth workers convention--8 days)
• tulsa (thanksgiving holiday--7 days)
• colorado springs (meetings--2 days)
• pasadena (core test--1 day)
• tiajuana, mexico (staff christmas party--1 day)
• tulsa (christmas holiday--12 days)

if you're counting that means i was gone for 39 of 67 days since my last post. that's just crazy! and since this post has developed a counting theme, the last 67 days have also held:

• 18 flights
• 1 piece of luggage "redirected" (note: the "redirected" bag was on xjet--and my non-stop san diego to tulsa flight--the only non-stop trip i took and they couldn't get my bag on the plane!)
• 1 plane bathroom not working (also on xjet--"we'll be landing in tulsa in about 2 hours, try to wait.")
• 3 movies (4 if i count seeing enchanted twice)
• hundreds of photos taken (i took our ys photo album pix from st. louis & atlanta plus part of the ones from mexico and lots of family pix)
• countless hugs and laughs with friends & family

and then there's the food. here are the highlights of where i ate

• ted's cafe escondido (fabulous chips, salsa, queso, tortillas and the best sopapillas ever)
• sonic (love the 1/2 price happy hour on sodas)
• braum's (crinkle fries dipped in chocolate shakes)
• chick-fil-a (favorite option in the cnn center in atlanta)
• coney i-lander (ah, the best little coneys smothered in chili, onions, mustard and cheese--they deserve a post of their own one day)

the only regret over the past couple months is that i have a bunch of tulsa friends i either didn't get to see or didn't get to see enough of, but that is something to change and look forward to in the new year which will also be the subject of my next post.