Check it Twice

Here is my Christmas wish list...I only need four things (okay, maybe not 'need'). Well, I have a book list, too, but that will come later... A pretty passport holder. I will be using my passport next year and definitely want to travel in style. Note that this one is Tiffany blue, the best color ever.


Everyone knows Moleskine products are the best. I saw a daily planner at the bookstore the other day and it was the perfect size. (Note: black hardcover.)

I am not a big TV watcher, at all. In fact, this really is the only show that I follow, but I haven't seen any of season 4 yet. Once I get this, I will probably disappear from the planet for a few days, watching the entire season in my room, alone and happy. I can't wait to watch this!

Now, I obviously don't want a book embosser with Mike Stevens' name on it. I'd like one with my initials. How cool are these? Seriously! I'd love to have one of these to stamp all my books. Every bibliophile needs one.

So...what do you want for Christmas??

A Mystery

This weekend I thought about something. Something important. Something that I couldn’t shake. Something that was plaguing me.

Why did a box of Hawaiian Host chocolate-covered macadamia nuts suddenly appear on our kitchen counter?

Did it belong to someone?

Was it a gift for someone?

Would anyone care if I ate half of its incredibly delicious contents?

Why was it unopened? Was it poison? If I tried opening it, would I suddenly be hanging by one foot upside-down from a rope?

Was this a trap?

In the Birle house, there really is no explanation for an unopened box of chocolate. I don't get it.

And it’s still there…

It was a very good year...

Last week while Nicole and I were at lunch, she asked me what I want to accomplish next year. What a great and important question, and I can't tell you how much I love that she asked me that. It just reminded me of what a focused person she is; I know she knows exactly what she wants to do next year, and that she'll do it! Yet, it was a question I hadn't given much thought to. Now that the wheels are turning, here are some things I want to do next year:


PERSONAL

Spend less money (read: go out to eat less!).

Watch every movie on the AFI Top 100 list. (I'm about 60% there, without effort.)

Swim and run more (And by "run more" I mean "run").

Compete in a few swim meets.

Improve my tennis game. (Is this possible? I really am that bad.)

Read more. I hate putting a number on this, but I want to read around thirty novels next year. I usually read around twenty.

Write more-blogging and journaling.

Do more things involving art history-writing, studying, visiting more museums; it's one of my biggest passions and needs to be cultivated more.

Go to San Francisco. It's been a few years and it's one of my favorite cities.

Go to New York City.

Go on a PEACE trip.

Go to a Padres game (never been).


MINISTRY

Help ten girls start flourishing small groups.

Equip and empower adult mentors for Crave and get college students connected with great mentors.

Support those who will be involved with Crave's discipleship program, and complete it myself!

Do whatever I can to create a tight-knit community of women at Crave.

Empower and encourage our Crave leaders and volunteers and grow our volunteer team.


On New Year's Eve, I used to get a little depressed; I'd always look back and dwell on things that I did wrong, the times I messed up, the relationships that were strained, the things I didn't accomplish, or the expectations that I put on God that were not met. In the last few years, my attitude has changed and I've decided to look ahead; I think, "This next year is going to be the best year ever." And it always is...my 25th year rocked--God answered several specific prayers, I got an awesome new job, went to London, made new friends, took some risks, learned and grew and trusted...

I'm excited about 2009. It's going to be a great year...the best yet.

A Great Title

On Saturday I went to the bookstore to browse through the Fiction and Literature section and write down books that looked interesting to read. Losing myself in a bookstore on a Saturday afternoon was so fun, except when I spilled chai and ice all over one of the aisles. I found some great books that I otherwise might have never heard about.

I love Jack Kerouac and would be up for reading any of his books, but the title of this book stood out right away. Apparently there was a fire at a zoo or circus and a news broadcaster said the line, "...and the hippos were boiled in their tanks." Poor guys...but great title.

The book, in fact, is not about boiled hippos. It's about a friend of both authors who murdered a man he was obsessed with and then dumped the body in the Hudson River. He then told Kerouac and Burroughs about the crime, but they didn't say anything to the police. When the murderer turned himself in, Kerouac and Burroughs were arrested as accessories after the fact. This book is a work of fiction based on their friend.

I mean, come on...sounds fascinating, right?!

Things that Make Me Feel Stupid

Not knowing how to pronounce a word that I understand and have read a hundred times but have never heard pronounced aloud.

Strategy games, like chess, most card games, and Settlers of Catan.

Almost every computer-related or car-related problem.

Trying to text message with T9. I just don't get it.

The Week in Pictures:

On Monday Jaime, Brian, Bekah, and I trekked to Garden Grove to the nearest Red Lobster for Shrimpfest. I was a bit nervous about this excursion since I am new to the shrimp-eating world (I'd only really had shrimp twice before, at PF Chang's and Boneheads), but we had a blast and ate a whole lot of shrimp (and cheddar biscuits!).

The coconut shrimp was my favorite.

Jaime and Brian wore the EXACT same thing...and I doubt it wasn't planned. I mean, I could understand two people wearing black shirts or something, but yellow shirts with navy blue v-neck sweaters? Darling.

Also this week, I met my new friend, Mac McGill. Mac is a giant baby, weighing almost eleven pounds. I could barely hold him he was so heavy. He's also very hairy. Mac is SUPER cute and I'm so excited for the McGills!

This week, I fell down the stairs in my house. I don't know how well you can see the gnarly bruise on my left arm, but yeah...let's just say if I was eighty years old I'd be having hip replacement surgery right about now.

OH, and in case you didn't hear about it this week, Jim Sonnenburg has a girlfriend. Yay!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

My diaper bag

Let me preface this post by saying that I am not what I would call “obsessed” with very many brands…really, many generic-brand things sufficiently float my boat. However, I will admit that purses and handbags are very much the exception. That being said, you might’ve noticed my “thing” for Coach stuff.

Well, last year I got an awesome Coach totebag as a gift. It’s big. It’s black. It’s got the signature “C” print all over it, the leather handles, the little keychain tag. I couldn’t wait to use it on my trips to Seattle and London because it was so much more chic than my NorthFace backpack, or to use it for holding my schoolbooks and laptop. It even came with a little pad to wrap my laptop in, and has tons of pockets inside. Basically, it’s the greatest bag ever. I love it like McGill loves his minivan.

Turns out, this totebag is, in fact, a DIAPER BAG. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I, 25-year-old single girl Lisa, own and carry around frequently, a diaper bag. And that handy little cushioned pad that I thought was for my laptop? It’s a changing pad. To change diapers. Ugh. Please.

I’m sure hoping that I don’t give people too much of a maternal impression with it…I still love it, and will still rock it, even if it’s A DIAPER BAG…

Fragile

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star, like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are, how fragile we are
--Sting

Have you noticed that sometimes when you’re having a bad day, totally random stuff will happen to make your day worse? It feels like the universe is plotting against you to compound one horrible thing on top of another. One day in college, I was just having a really crappy day in class, and then my back started hurting so badly that I didn’t even want to walk to my car, and then when I finally got to my car, about to cry from the pain, I realized I had gotten a parking ticket—my first ever. And then on the way home a grown man cut me off on the freeway and then flipped me off. Really, who does that?!

Sometimes when days like that happen, I am able to laugh at life’s ridiculousness. I mean, really. There is definitely humor to be found in times like that.

And then there are days when I feel like a weak, broken little girl who can't emotionally handle anything. Where one flippant comment will make me dwell on an insecurity for the rest of the day…when someone’s unintentionally icy look or acidic tone makes me carry a heavy burden on my heart, or something everyday and seemingly benign will just make me sad, doubtful, or melancholy. I’ve noticed that I’ve entered a season of my life where I rarely cry anymore (in fact, I don’t remember the last time I cried. I think it was when my grandma died earlier this year), but have definitely been contemplating a lot of serious things…ministry, people, theology, etc. And it’s issues that arise in these areas that sometimes make me feel so fragile, like I'm not able to handle any of it.

My friends and I joke about being “mentally tough,” as in:

“OWW! OMG, dude, I have brain freeze…ugh!”
“It’s because you’re not mentally tough!”

But seriously, sometimes I wonder what the limit of my mental toughness is. Pastor Rick talked in church this weekend about how losing a spouse, either to death or divorce/separation, is the most devastating event in many people’s lives. I haven’t even come close to experiencing that sort of agony. How much can we, as fragile humans, handle? I just wonder sometimes how mentally tough I really am…and what will happen in my life that will show it to me.

twinkle toes, bloody heels

I bought these sparkly shoes at Target last week to wear to Wicked on Friday. I thought they looked like they might come from Oz. They're velvety with pretty blue sparkles...cute, right? By the end of the night, I could barely walk. So, girls, I just wanted to warn you. They're still so cute, so I wouldn't tell you not to buy them, but be mentally prepared for the pain they will cause you...

Red + Blue

My parents and I are going to see the play "The Color Purple" in a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd read the book before we go. And I found a great word...

"I see a wagon and a great big man in black holding a whip. We sure do thank you for your hospitality. She laugh again, look at the horses flicking flies off they rump. Horsepitality, she say. And I git it and laugh."

Horsepitality! Get it?! See what she did there?! Anyone who has hung out with me for more than five minutes knows how much I love combining words in ridiculous ways that are typically not very funny. Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, by the way! This is great stuff!

Josh Treece, after hearing about this horsepitality business, came up with a few of his own new words...he's on his way to a Pulitzer as well...

If she had been losing her voice, it would have been hoarsepitality.

If she would have been hanging out with prostitutes, it would have been whorespitality.

If she had been eating chocolate, marshmallows, and grahams, it would have been smorespitality.

If she had been doing tasks to earn money from her parents, it would have been chorespitality.

If she had been narcoleptic, it would have been snorespitality.

Oh, Josh...you're funny.