Easter

I absolutely love Easter. Along with falling in line with Spring, it is such a glorious time of renewal.  A couple of years ago, I spent Easter in Scotland.  I got up before sunrise and walked down to the beach and from the West Sands, I watched the most gorgeous display of colors fill the sky and ripple across the waves of the North Sea.  It was an Easter like no other, and will stay with me for the rest of my life.  This year was more of a typical Easter for me.  I went Shreveport to visit family and attend church at St. Paul's United Methodist Church where I grew up going. The church recently got a new pastor, Rev. Beverly Connor, and she is unbelieveably fantastic!  Her sermon was dynamic and touching and spiritual and wonderful and oh, I could go on.  She was just that good.  I was surrounded by my wonderful family, little girls in springy dresses and white stockings, good food and loud laughs, and a striking awareness of love and grace.

Jesus suffered every pain and every humiliation possible from man... and then from God.  And then He died.  He died an absolute death, one that we will never have to face.  Jesus, who had not one iota of glory on earth, died for our sins, and for our pain, and for our humiliation, descended into Hell taking the worst parts of us with Him.  But by His eternal power, He rose from the dead.  He defeated death for us.  We can never be separated from God because Jesus sacrificed himself for us.  He died a criminal's death, a temporal and human death, and then conquered it.  He then ascended into Heaven, to His Kingdom, with full and eternal glory.  There's no story or miracle like it.  Thousands of years after His death, Jesus' blood still washes me clean,and His love is eternal along with the grace we have been given.  Oh, it just makes my heart swell with gladness.

And now my belly can swell with gladness, too.  I get to eat cookies again, and trust me, I've already begun to make some real progress on a box of Girl Scout cookies. 

vernal equinox

March 20th was the official first day of spring, the vernal equinox.  Well, Texas - having predictable and consistent weather like always- decided that the DFW region might like some more snow since it hadn't had enough already.  It's completely crazy.  My grandparents have always warned us about that Easter snap... but it was always around, oh I don't know, Easter.

I must admit, snow is very pretty, but in order to have beautiful snow, near freezing temperatures are required.  That's the not-so-pretty part.  I hate being cold and then really despise being near freezing.  Winter was supposed to over yesterday, but decided to make another surprise visit.  I'm really looking forward to an enduring heat wave that will bring gorgeous mid-seventies temperatures, sunny days with cool, light breezes, and rain/thunderstorms that let the sun shine through.

I really like the transitional seasons, spring and fall, but I seem to near fall apart during my own transitional seasons of life. This is all kind of cheesy, but Texas' unpredictable weather patterns and nebulous seasonal changes are turning out be similar to my life.  For a few weeks, everything will seem temperate and cool, only slightly cloudy.  At the drop of a hat, a massive storm cell moves in or some freaky cold front freezes everything.  I'm left waiting for things to clear up and return to "normal," but never really sure when that'll be.

Lent… and I don’t mean that dryer stuff

Although not all Christians participate in Lent (I believe it’s more of a traditional thing), our church and family do. I think growing up in Louisiana where everyone celebrates Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, I had to learn the significance of the celebration and the meaning. Way, way back in the day, the Catholic Church established a fast that would last 40 days leading up to Easter. The 40 days would start on Ash Wednesday, so the day before was supposed to be one super huge feast and celebration to get you through the next 40 days. I can’t imagine fasting from Ash Wednesday to Easter, so clearly Fat Tuesday was serious business. It’s like a bear eating tons of food to add up a hefty fat storage right before it goes into hibernation for a season.

Nowadays, the tradition lives on, but it doesn’t demand total starvation for 40 days. It’s customary to give up certain things for the duration of Lent season. In the past, I have given up things like eating after 7:30 PM, cokes (soft drinks/sodas, not the drug), fried foods (so difficult!), and sucking my finger (that was a long time ago like 1st or 2nd grade).

This Lent season, I have decided to give up cookies. Oh, cookies! They are my downfall. No more chocolate chip, oatmeal, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, shortbread, Girl Scout, sugar-frosted, Oreo… I should stop. No Cookies! Not even on Sunday (which Sundays are not counted in the 40 days). I also decided to do something different this year. Not only have I committed to subtracting cookies from my life, but I’ve also committed to adding exercise to my life. Everyday, I must actively exercise. I count taking Beta for a walk as exercise (if you tried to walk him on leash, you’d agree it’s a workout), doing self-led yoga, and Wii. Oh, how I love the Wii. It keeps track of minutes and progress and is ridiculously fun.

Lent also makes me more aware of my faith, and lately, I’ve been more contemplative of God, Christianity, the human condition, other religions, freedom, philosophy, politics, and how in the world are we supposed to make sense out of all of this. Just for today, I have constructed a concept may while sitting at my desk, waiting for those work-related emails to trickle in. It’s quite basic, but I figure a concept map is supposed to be pretty basic, showing correlations and main ideas.
 
 
 

 
Hmmm... I took a picture of my computer screen.  I'm not sure if it'll get larger when clicked on...(?).
 
After Easter, I will be eating a Mrs. Field's cookie cake.  The entire thing!!!

Scatter-brained

I can't seem to focus my mind right now. I probably should have waited for my mind to clear some before writing this entry, but I figured it needed to be now or then who-knows-when… So, my sincere apologies for jumping topics, non-cohesive paragraphs, and scattered remarks.

And it's happened, folks!!! I got a car! I love my new car. J It's a Nissan Versa SL hatchback that's very bright red. I've named her Harriet…my chariot. So far, it's been two weeks with Harriet and she already has about 420 miles on her. She started out with a mere 11. She has already taken her first road trip, too. Just a few days after her purchase, she transported my friend Chelsey and me to Waco. It was delightful. Absolutely delightful.

I've started working solo now, no more training. I really like my job. They gave me the title of Instructional Support Associate, but my self-proclaimed title is Webmaster, B.A. (and the "B.A." doesn't just refer to my degree) *wink*. My job is assisting in the management of all the online courses… and I'm nothing short of amazing at it. Well, I think so anyway. I hope the professor and students feel the same way. Ha-ha. I get my very own little "studio" (another one of their fun titles for cubical) complete with textbooks, computer, all the office supplies I could ever need, mini file cabinet, and a coveted window view. I think the best part about my job, is that the professor takes the time to get to know me. He asks about my interests and goals, and he's always giving me different organizations to look at or suggesting different grad schools. I really appreciate that. I like that he's encouraging and sees my potential even when I at times cannot.

Oh my goodness! The snow! I almost forgot to mention the snow! Dallas/Fort Worth had record-breaking snowfall today. It has snowed ALL day long. I tried to make a snowman earlier, but Beta kept eating and attacking my piles of snow. But honestly, I could make an entire snowman family or a snowman army. I've never seen the snow get so deep. It was gorgeous but at the same time… annoying. I wonder, is that an indicator that I'm getting older? Yes, the snow is very pretty and I wanted to play in it, but at the same time, it's an impediment to just about everything. I have my teacher certification test tomorrow, and I had to call around all afternoon to figure out how the snow and icy roads would affect my test. I wanted to take Harriet to the library today and then to the grocery store for key lime truffles ingredients, but no. The snow foiled that plan. So, does that make me half a grown-up? Enjoy the snow, but sick of the snow simultaneously?

 I'm currently obsessed with two songs that I recently downloaded. Song 1: Bloodline by Matt Morris. The music is gorgeous, I'm in love with verse two, the harmony is sweet, and his voice is wonderful. Youtube it… fo realz! Song 2: Undertow (feat. The Fray and Estero) by Timbaland. Listen here! I love the beat, the rhythm, and the voices. Hooray iTunes.

I baked snickerdoodle cookies and worn knee-high music note socks today. J

The End.

PS. I'm sad I won't be going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but I'm sure it'll be crazy with the Saints win at the SuperBowl. I'm going to brush up on my baseball knowledge. Target has awesome spring/summer sandals already on the shelves (bought two pair already). Valentine's Day: chick flick or an Indian Jones movie???

Dog! Job! Car?!

 So I challenged the new year, 2010, to "bring it"!... well, it brought it! Praise da Lord!

Many things have happened since the start of the year both sad and happy. I would like to start off by mentioning my beautiful and beloved grandmother, Betty Jean Lattier. She is a fallen hero of mine. She passed away a few weeks ago. She had been sick for years and was constantly undergoing all sorts of treatments since I was a little kid. My mother believes that she let herself get ill when 'Bubba' Lattier, her husband/my grandfather whom I never met, passed. Although she was sick, I could always remember how funny and kind she was. Apparently I get my wit and humor from her. She was sharp and brilliant, loved puzzles, a school teacher, and a strong mother of 8 kids…. DANG! So, the beginning of the new year was spent in Louisiana with family. Her funeral was great. Of course I cried buckets, but the service was beautiful. I'm not used the charismatic services, but it was fitting and truly a celebration of a joyous life. And I had forgotten how powerful and moving black gospel choirs can be… oh, how I'd missed it and didn't even know. Grandmother Betty Jean will forever be with me. She was a true gem.

After regrouping and returning back to Texas, life of course has to continue. A new season for job hunting…
ugh. I had registered to take the Texas Teacher Certification exam, so I figured I'd divide my time between

cover letter writing and studying. Great… two things I'd rather not do but must. But before Christmas my mother had adopted at dog that had been living on the street and hit by a car. He's a German Shepherd/ Lab mix. Well, finally a couple of weeks ago, he was healed, healthy, and ready to come home with us. The day we went get him and bring him home, a lady that my mom works with at the Vet Tech office told me about her friend in the Biology department that would be in need of an assistant. She gave me the number and I called. In a matter of minutes I found myself in his office discussing the position in dirty jeans and a hoodie. He asked me to send him my resume and come back the next week to discuss paperwork. Could it be? I was getting a beautiful dog and a job all on the same day?!?!

We brought, Beta, our new large puppy home. It's been almost three weeks and I'm pretty much in love with this dog. He's so cute and sweet. He doesn't bark much, plays and naps, and adores a good neck rub. He also likes it when I give him hugs which is great because I love hugging this dog. He's wonderful!

I went back the next week about the job, and thank you God, I got it. I started working last Monday. My official title is Instructional Support Associate… it means I'm basically a glorified T.A. It has to be a part-time position because of budget cuts and school funding, but no matter. A job is a job, and so far I really like it.

So I'm employed! Hurray! How am I getting to work, you might wonder? I'm still borrowing my mom's car. But this system can't last forever. That's right, folks. Mama's getting her own set of wheels real soon!! We looked at cars two days ago. I'm so excited. I'll be sure to post more about the coming changes. All these wonderful things are happening at once. It's quite overwhelming, undoubtedly in a good way. I've prayed for so long. I didn't exactly wait patiently, but I did do a lot of waiting. God knows I'm still impatient and undeserving, and just as He gives, He also takes away. So I think during all of this I can say that I've learned to appreciate the little things I'm blessed with more and more. And I understand what it means to fully enjoy the company of others, to be and to have real friends.

Boy oh boy, life sure is swell.

You better bring it, 2010!

I realize that it has been awhile since my last blog. The holidays get really busy and exciting, so I forgot. I mean, I’m sure I had the time to write, but I just didn’t think to do it. So anyway, Happy New Year! 2009 was a good year. I graduated in 2009… which was cool, also somewhat unfortunate, but cool nonetheless. I had a lot of adventures that year, too! I’d rather not go into a full-detailed recap of 2009, but in broad, vague terms just know that spring semester of senior year was legendary with a most-epic spring break in Florida with friends and family, along with a random-awesome summer, a formative and transitional fall, and a ridiculously cold winter. I did a lot of complaining in 2009, but I did a LOT of laughing as well. Fun always wins, and I surely had a fun year.

I’d like to share the tale of my New Year’s adventure. It would only be appropriate that my first post of the 2010 be about the events leading up to and occurring at the start of 2010. So…

December 29th: I’m sitting around the dinner table with my family. My sister has been in town for Christmas, and tonight was the night before her early morning departure back to Florida. As we sit there enjoying dinner, a friend from church drops by to deliver a Christmas gift, and she then talks about the choir schedule with my parents. She reminds my parents that there won’t be any rehearsal tomorrow night. It was then that my dad replies, “We weren’t planning on going anyway because we’ll be at that concert.”

Concert? This gets me thinking. What concert? And then like Wile E. Coyote, I got a ton of bricks dropped on my head… oh, crap!!! I had been making plans to go to Amarillo to see my good friend Cole - who now lives and works in France –while he’s in the U.S. on holiday. It was to be a road trip with Claire and John. John and I took this road trip during the summer, and were pretty excited to go again. The plan was to leave Wednesday, December 30th and return Friday, January 1st. But this concert was that Wednesday night to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra with my parents. When my Dad bought those tickets, he was so excited. Early in November, he emailed me the ticket confirmation the day he bought them. He talked about them for days afterwards. Then when the tickets were mailed to our house, he gave them to me for safe keeping. The issue at hand was that the going to the concert would cancel the Amarillo trip. By going to the concert Wednesday night, the trip to Amarillo would be pushed back to Thursday. There was no way for us to push back our return day because Claire and John had things to do that Saturday. An overnight trip to Amarillo, 12 hours being spent in transit, would just not be worth it. We would drive all day there, spend the night, and drive all day back. We at least needed a full day with Cole and his delightfully crazy family. So it all came down to me. I had to choose to either sacrifice the concert for the trip or the trip for the concert. I was also made to believe that if I didn’t take this trip, Claire and John would not go without me. So… no one would get to see Cole. But it would have made my Dad so very happy if I didn’t waste this concert ticket he was so excited about. After thinking about it long and hard, I’d be guilty no matter what I decided. I was going to disappoint someone. As awful as it sounds, I choose to disappoint my Dad, but realistically, I can make it up to him later. And by nature of being an awesome Dad, he’d understand that a 22 year old would rather road trip to Amarillo to spend a few days with friends than not and attend a 2.5 hour long concert with him and Mom. Love you, Dad!

The morning of the 30th was spent packing and talking to Sallie Mae (she’s a greedy ho!). When John arrived, it was no surprise that I wasn’t completely ready since it took a little over an hour discussing my student loans with a lady in India on a computer. Eventually John and I set off to get Claire. We took her car and then set off towards the wild west.

Once west of Fort Worth, Texas becomes the textbook stereotype everyone knows: flat plains with those oil pumps scattered about, cotton fields, windmills, crazy big wheels of hay, and cattle ranches. But let us not forget the most important part: the Texans! Oh glorious, Texas and its priceless inhabitants. After a few hours of driving, Claire asked if I could drive some. Well, of course I could. Thank you, Texas driver’s license. Well, we stopped at a timeless gas station somewhere off highway 287. This place didn’t have an actual store, but instead had a large double-wide mobile trailer/home acting as the convenience store. Then outside beside that wonderful establishment was a line of about 8 port-o-potties. It was most high-class. And yes, we took pictures. How could we not photograph a roadside gem such that?!

So then I drove. That was fun… until it was time to stop for gas. I guess I underestimated the width of the car when getting close to the gas pump judging by the awful destructive sounds we all heard. If you’re on the edge of your seat right now, let me comfort you. No, I didn’t crash into the pump. No, the car was not damaged. But yes, I got a wee bit close. The hubcap/tire banged and rubbed the curb. It was pretty embarrassing. Of course, it wouldn’t be right if someone else didn’t see what happened. So yes, there was a lovely Texan named, Wade, finishing pumping his gas on the other side. He got quite a kick out of it. He reassured us that no damage was done, but I’m without a doubt that later on that night, dear Wade would be pulling up to some little honky-tonk bar in the middle of West Texas with a slew of bad jokes about women drivers. But the cherry on top of the pie was when Wade – without even a hint of hesitation or couth – just opened the passenger door, popped his little West Texan head in the car, and while giggling said “Now y’all drive safe now,” before driving away in his pickup truck. So that was terrifying. Note to self: never leave the doors unlocked even for a second… immediately relock. I thought Claire was going to have a heart-attack in her seat because Wade so boldly invaded her personal space.

The rest of the journey was fairly normal. We made two other pit stops: one in Chillicothe to get some “Dang Good Candy” for the Casper family and the other to switch drivers again. When we arrived it was a big welcome by the Casper’s and dinner. Then Cole, Claire, John, and I all went to Roasters for coffee and meet up with Cole’s Amarillo friends – all great people I’d met in the summer. Then they all came back to Cole’s house for cakes, cookies, and drink. Merriment and laughter ensued… followed by the next day.

It was a good New Year’s Eve day filled with yummy bagels, Baylor paraphernalia and Chinese jackets found at antique shops along Route 66, and another Roasters run. New Year’s Eve night has never been terribly exciting but this was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. We all went to Chase’s house for their New Year’s Eve party. They had just gotten back from a hockey game and had invited the hockey team to the party. Oh my word! The guest list was a pretty good representation of West Texas demographics – quite a few honky-tonk hillbillies with trucker caps and their crazy wives. Thrown into the mix were a few pseudo-Canadian toothless hockey players and then… us. It was great. We toasted at midnight with wine and then continued the night with wine… oh and then champagne… and maybe some beer too… was there some beer pong, too??? YES. Let’s get real, though… would beer pong even be remotely shocking?! It was complete and total fun.

Around 2 AM or so I was hailed over to stand back-to-back with Chase’s girlfriend, Nicole. I thought it was pretty weird. Clearly, she was the taller one. But was it was later said that they were measuring the length of our hair. Hmm… I won and my prize from the middle-aged hicks was to take my top off. O_o eeerk! NO! HA-HA. These people…

About an hour later: “Hey you with long hair! Why do you still have your top on?!” Oh dear, sir, could it be that I’m not a drunken whore?

Around 5 AM, we went back home. What a fun New Year!

The day, post-sleep and post-hangover (kidding…hmm) day consisted of Looney Tunes followed by my first trip to Waffle House. My stomach has never known such sudden indigestion and grease with fists, but I survived… and so we headed home. But not before hiding Cole’s Rubrix cubes in the bathroom. It was for his own good and my sanity. Great trip!

Whelp, Happy New Year! 2010 has to prove itself now. 2009 had its ups and downs but it’s over. This year commenced with fun and great friends and will hopefully end just the same. What happens between that time… surprise me, God.

Birthday Blog

Whoa, I'm 22!! Yea, I never expected my 22^nd birthday to be very exciting. Fact: it was on a Monday this year. Fact: most of my friends are working young adults or still in college. Fact: my parents bought a box cake which I was to prepare for my own birthday celebration. Fact: I always feel awkward on my birthday…

I find it awkward and a bit narcissistic (although it really isn't) when I have to gather my friends together to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, for the celebration of me and my birth. I love celebrating others' birthdays… just not always my own. The best birthday I've had was junior year when my bestie, Nikki J, planned everything out as a surprise for me. I didn't have to think about anything; I just got in the car, applied the blindfold, and enjoyed each little planned segment of my birthday. I didn't have to make plans to have my friends focus on me HAHA. I'm pretty extroverted, but I've neverd like being the center of attention, and on one's birthday, isn't that the point?!? So yea, birthdays are weird. And besides, my other birthdays in the past were never a big deal. It's around that time of year when everything seems to happen. Usually my birthday is too close to Thanksgiving to celebrate with friends and my mother's birthday is three days before mine, dad's birthday is nine days after mine, my sister Robin's birthday is five days after that, and then it's Christmas!!! There's just too much going on, holiday celebrations, and too many cakes to worry about. I remember one birthday when the 3/4ths of leftover pound cake from Thanksgiving became my birthday cake. We stuck candles into a partially devoured cake. Even on my 21^st birthday, it was that Sunday of Thanksgiving break. My parents had to get me back to Waco pretty quickly because they had to be back in Dallas for church. They barely got the chance to say "Happy Birthday" (they may have forgotten), and before leaving me in Waco they bought me lunch from Wendy's… to go. Most of my friends weren't back yet or busy getting ready for Monday classes and couldn't celebrate with me at Crickets but I was blessed enough to a few GREAT friends join me. I really do enjoy small groups of people, and it was probably for the best that I didn't have one of those wild and crazy 21^st birthdays. So typically, birthdays = no big deal.

This year's birthday was unexpectedly fun. I hadn't even thought about my birthday until Claire asked me few days before what I was planning to do. I thought, "Oh gosh, what do I want to?" I really came up with some nerdy, ridiculous ideas like laser tag or a board game night, but I finally decided upon ice skating. I've been ice skating once when I was ten or eleven. I didn't remember it being terribly fun but actually terrifying. But then I thought… "I'm 22! Why not?! I can try to ice skate."

My birthday kicked off with the traditional call and/or visit at midnight from Richard! He did both this year… so fun!! During the day, we had sushi for lunch at Chaucer's, coffee at Starbucks, visited Justen, and saw the movie Precious. OMG, I need to write another blog devoted to Precious. I think I will. It's so freakin' good. I cried throughout and after. It's a beautiful, heart-retching and tragic story. Once we left the theater, Richard and I met up with Claire, Dana, and Julia for dinner and ice skating at the Galleria Mall. Richard, Claire, and I were the only three able to ice skate, but the three of us had such a great time. None of us ever fell, although we all had our ungraceful and spastic moments on the ice. I think we looked graceful for about 1.5 seconds at a time before one of us would stumble (usually me!). Richard and I finished off my birthday night with a drink from Idle Rich… delicious. We didn't stay too long because I knew that I needed to get back home to bake my birthday cake… but my parents graciously baked my box cake for me and we sang before going to bed. It was a marvelous birthday J !!

Dear God,

When my parents sang the Happy Birthday song, finishing it off with "and many more," it made me realize that "many more" aren't always promised. I truly hope for "many more." There is so much this life has given me, and I hope I can still give back. Happiness may be for today, but my deepest joys are steadfast in Your LOVE and abundant GRACE that is consistently and constantly reflected by the friends, family, and people I have around me. The "many more" is indeed in Your hands, but I honestly want "many more" because I LOVE waking to Your many more blessings.

Love,
Elizabeth