curiouser and curiouser

so this weekend, i hosted a tea party.  the main conclusion i have drawn from this event is that tea parties are a crapton of work.

bean wanted to take her small group girls to aunt sue's tea house in marion.  because it's amazing.  duh.  but...there was a fire.  and since aunt sue's was no longer a viable option, my sister decided i was the obvious next choice, having never hosted a tea party in my life.  i think we all know i am very much a sweatpants girl, and my mother will attest to the fact that i have been rockin the sweatpants look my entire life.  lace is a swear word.

but i do love tea.  and cooking.  and eating.

so.  i hosted a tea party.

lovely, right?  we had to be careful.  the tea set was borrowed from my mother, and i have it on good authority that heather had to leave a kidney on deposit.

after the girls arrived, they were invited to choose the different types of tea they wanted to sample. 

the meal started with the choice of vegetable or tomato soup, followed by scrumptious chicken salad (made by travis, and it's amazing) and crackers. 

the next course was fruit salad and scones.  we used a new favorite recipe of mine: melon, berry, and feta salad.  it is fresh, full of unique flavors, and so tasty.  mj was kind enough to suggest two awesome scone recipes: caramel apple scones and petite vanilla scones.  i had never made scones before, so they were a decent first effort.  they tasted very good...they just may have been lacking in style points.  and there was nothing petite about my scones.  ha.

we then served finger sandwiches.  there was egg salad on white bread.  i made cucumber, cream cheese, and dill on pumpernickel.  and not so much a sandwich...we had bruschetta: fresh mozarella, basil, and cherry tomatoes on crusty french bread.

and finally, there was dessert.  like they needed more sugar after the scones.  i had my go-to dark chocolate brownies.  we made red velvet mini-cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  and then there was the peanut butter fudge.  it tasted really good, but i did something wrong when i made it, because it turned out pretty crumbly.

the girls were all in food comas at this point, so we kind of just rolled them out the door and sent them on their way.  good times.

not being a fancy girl, i never know, but i just assumed a good hostess should wear pearls.  was i wrong?

it's a boy! it's a girl! it's an epidemic!

i was away from my desk for about 27 minutes.  when i came back and scrolled through my facebook newsfeed to see what i had missed over lunch, there were three birth announcements. 

sigh.

i am excited for these friends.  they are from three different stages of my life, so it's neat to be able to watch as lives and families develop.

but.

maybe three in half an hour felt like a little bit of piling on...especially on the day where it has been snowing for hours.

seasons.  seasons.  seasons.

they all end.

oh i guess i could catch you up.

i've [slowly.  oh.so.slowly] been doing things on my list.  it is highly unlikely i will accomplish them all before my birthday, but you never know.  if i assume that attitude, i just won't do anything.

on saturday, i participated in my 'fun/unique race.'  five of us ran an urban obstacle 5k.  participants were encouraged to dress as superheroes.  so...we did.  some of us got more injured than others.  this may surprise you, but i was NOT the most injured.  that title belongs to iron man.  yes, heather looks like someone literally attacked her on the mean streets of indianapolis.

 

pictured left to right:
kim: the sworn enemy of turtles.

liz: the spiderlanterine.

ashleyne: captain, my captain.

heather: leave no pebbles behind.

holly: almost had to punch a guy because he was dressed like the joker.

late again

i had a whole bunch of 'i need to do' things this weekend that somehow slipped past me.  like blogging on time.  oh well. 

i went on the women's retreat with my church on friday and saturday, and i think my biggest takeaway from it was this:

i am extremely blessed to have a community of single women in my life stage in my immediate and physical presence.  there have been many seasons of life where this wasn't true, and i am beyond thankful for it now.

but having our small group surrounded by many other women who are no longer in our life stage was useful, too.  because we have much to learn from one another.

i think many churches today struggle to serve single people--and single women in particular.  mj shared a really great blog the other day that discussed this very idea.  (here's the link, if you missed it: http://lindseysthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/6-ways-to-love-single-women-in-your-church/)

so it is easy for me to sit in a group of women who are married and have kids and feel grossly misunderstood and forgotten.  it is easy for me to let waves of sadness drown me instead of listening to their hearts.  it is easy for me to close off and not want to be vulnerable with women whose lives look nothing like mine.

BUT--and this is a big old giant but--i know i do a huge disservice to my church (and the Church) when i allow bitterness and sadness and jealousy to cause me to miss the many ways they are really loving, connecting with, and serving me.  it is a delicate balance, and there will probably always be a tension surrounding it.  that's usually the case when people who are so different are in the same space.  that doesn't, however, mean that the tension cannot be couched with love and grace.

my favorite grownup has been loving on me, listening to me, encouraging me, challenging me, and speaking life into me for the past twelve years.  she and i have been in completely different life stages for that entire time.  i can't even begin to imagine all the wisdom, laughter, joy, and community i would have missed out on had heather dawn not come into my life...or if i had chosen to shut my heart off from her because our lives look so different.

my heart is free and vulnerable with heather dawn because she has modeled abundant life to me.  she has genuinely cared for me.  she has laughed and cried with me.  so i trust her.  i choose to be authentic with her because i believe she loves me.  if i am going to love the church well, i must consistently choose to believe that they love me.  even if their lives are different.  even if i feel misunderstood. 

because i believe that's what the church is supposed to be--intentional, authentic community moving toward one another in a spirit of love and grace.

by the bright shining light of the moon

 

oh, wisconsin.  how do you do what you do to me? 

 

as many of you probably know, i was in madison and appleton for a very brief stay this weekend.  i have recently been quoted as saying that i really love and miss wisconsin, but only in the summer.  turns out...that's not quite true... 

 

as soon as i got on the beltline, my heart felt different.  i drove past fish hatchery road and todd drive and was flooded with memories.  the places and faces and tastes of madison...there aren't enough words.  i got to see dan and holly.  i ate pho.  i played ultimate.  i got adjusted by chad, the best chiropractor in the freaking world. 

 

although it was butt cold, the weather was relatively cooperative and not much worse than indiana.

 

...and cheese.  OH, THE GLORIOUS CHEESES OF WISCONSIN!  it's something you just can't understand unless you have lived there.  when it comes to cheese, every other state is terrible.

 

and oh yeah, there was that great heart time with mj and jb.  nbd.  lots of giggling, quoting, and eating. 

 

considering i moved to wisconsin seven years ago on a pretty much just a whim, that state grabbed hold of my heart and refuses to let go, no matter how long i am away.

 

it's a terrible, good ache.  just think how bad it would be had i gone to a brewers game or the farmer's market or the farm...

puns

my brother recently sent this to me, and i found it amusing.  if you don't, you probably won't enjoy the rest of this post.  also, i'm shamelessly stealing them from the internet.

-did you hear about the crime that happened in the parking garage?  it was wrong on so many levels.

-i wrote a novel about a fellow who had a small garden.  it didn't have much of a plot.

-i was arrested after my therapist told me i should take something for my kleptomania.

-she was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

cradle it; don't crank it.

there is something wrong with my neck.

when i was a baby, my nickname was 'floppyhead.'

i don't know if it goes back to infancy, but there has definitely been something wrong with my neck since at least third grade.

i have a very vivid and awful memory of throwing my neck out in a game of duck, duck, goose in the gym at cumberland road elementary school.  for days or maybe weeks afterward, mrs. mcintire would have me come to her desk and help me straighten my head because i couldn't hold it up correctly.

it must have felt better after a while, and i don't even know if i told my parents.  but sometime later in that school year, i was running on the playground and turning my head too quickly.  23 years later, i still remember seeing a white flash and the feeling of lightning streaking down one side of my body.  i am not overstating the pain level.

now, i think we all know i have never been gentle on this body of mine.  it's just the way it goes.  i've broken my wrist, separated my shoulder, strained and sprained almost every joint, strained my groin, given myself a concussion, had multiple ribs go out of place, shattered my nose, etc. 

but.  my neck is the most sensitive place on my body (this is a big statement, because i have really sketchy wrists).

sometime after college, i was stretching to go for a run.  i tweaked my neck but just decided to go about business as usual.  as i was showering later, i noticed it was hard to lean my head back.  and as i drove to the house where i was babysitting that night, i could tell i couldn't turn to the right well at all.  by the time the parents got home, my neck was locked: my head was facing left and slightly down.  i, the champion of pain and wounds, was rendered helpless. 

at the doctor's office the next day, he tried to turn my head.  i screamed, burst into tears, and nearly kicked him in his boy parts.  i got a neck brace and muscle relaxers for my troubles. 

i don't know if my neck issues have contributed to my history of migraines.  i don't know if they factor into my stupid ribs sliding out of place.  i do know chiropractors must rub their hands delightedly when they see my cocked head walk into their offices.

so.  since your prayers were mighty and beyond powerful for chuck, i wouldn't hate if you directed some at my neck.  just saying.