Found here.

and i love my cat.

can't stop daydreaming

Don't know if you know - you probably don't - but T and I dream of opening our own restaurant one day.  We talk about it a lot, especially when we eat out at restaurants now because we discuss what we do and don't like about their restaurant to give ourselves ideas.  We also have a running list of places that we want to go visit to get good ideas as well as a list of ones that we want to sit down with the owners/chefs/restaurant people and have a little chat with.  Maybe over some coffee.  Or beer.  


We dream about the garden we'll grow, chickens we'll house, menu we'll create, and the community that we'll serve.  We try to imagine what the first steps would look like - getting small business loans, learning a thing or two about business, trying to figure out if we need a degree of some sort to do what we want to do, who our donors will hopefully be, which includes predicting which of our friends will become rich and, thus, becoming friends that we can mooch off of.  


We (maybe I) even have a location picked out already:

This is the McCracken-Mize house in Durham (read about it by clicking here).   When I first spotted it a couple of months ago (yes, it's actually been on the market that long), I wanted to live in it - and still do.  But as we've been talking more and more about the restaurant, I think I've decided to sacrifice it for that purpose instead.  It's perfect for how we imagine our restaurant to be set up.  Plus, it's absolutely gorgeous - especially with a little t.l.c.  To make matters better, it's owned by the Methodist Church next door (we grew up Methodist), who want a nice couple to move in that are committed to community.  Oh yea.  And to make it even better, there was an article written about it in which there were both church people and gay people commenting on the wonders of this one lovely house in need of owners in an up-and-coming neighborhood - and for that to be found in a North Carolina newspaper is solid gold for T and I.


Now we just have to figure out how exactly to get $350,000.  No biggie.  Especially with my school loans spinning us into an endless cycle of debt.


Still - a girl can dream.

"of love"

i have been in love more times than one,
thank the Lord.  sometimes it was lasting
whether active or not.  sometimes
it was all ephemeral, maybe only
an afternoon, but not less real for that.
they stay in my mind, these beautiful people,
or anyway people beautiful to me, of which
there are so many.  you, and you, and you,
whom i had the fortune to meet, or maybe
missed.  love, love, love, it was the
core of my life, from which, of course, comes
the word for the heart.  and, oh, have i mentioned
that some of them were men and some were women
and some - now carry my revelation with you -
were trees.  or places.  or music flying above
the names of their makers.  or clouds, or the sun
which was the first, and the best, the most
loyal for certain, who looked so faithfully into
my eyes, every morning.  so i imagine
such love of the world - its fervency, its shining, its
innocence and hunger to give of itself - i imagine
this is how it began.


- mary oliver

this is the cutest, saddest, most randomly funny little video.  quirky - just how i like 'em.



A Love Story… In Milk from Catsnake on Vimeo.

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.


solid.

ten things i have learned about the sea from lorenzo fonda on Vimeo.


my favorites are numbers 5 and 6.


and 7 and 8 together.

Sometimes I hate my cat because she's so cute

Yes, she's nuzzling my face while standing on my back.

Sometimes I hate Seattle because it's beautiful

Yesterday was one of the first, all-day warm and beautiful days this Spring.  I think Seattle is finally starting to come to terms with the fact that it's freakin' the middle of May and she needs to get her act together.  T picked me up from work at six, we went to Whole Foods to buy dinner, and brought a picnic to the park a couple of blocks from our apartment. 

Soaking.it.in.

 This is the dog, Ruby, that found our leftovers, and ate every

single bite of them.  Including some of the cardboard containers.

By the time we saw her and got over to the food, she had

devoured it all - so T took pictures because at that point, 

it was just funny.

 We wandered over to Kerry Park and I asked T how many pictures

he thought we would have from this very spot by the time we left Seattle.

We could probably make a whole album - and that's ok with me.

Feeding the caffeine addiction

Today I realized that it's bad.  I wasn't able to walk to school with my standard, single cup of coffee because after I had poured the creamer in my travel mug, little chunks of spoiled cream rose to the top.  I dumped my freshly made cup of coffee into the sink and ran out the door because I was already for class.  There is always free, freshly brewed coffee at school that I knew I could get a hold of at some point once I got there, but it's not ideal because there's never any creamer around or there's never any sugar.  I need some of both to make my coffee work.  


Since I was late, however, I had to go straight to class without getting a cup of coffee.  We have breaks only every hour and a half of our six-hour Ethics class, so I was counting down the minutes until we had a break so that I could run downstairs.  My close friend, Nick, was down by the coffee makers by the time I got there, and I was scrambling.  There were no mugs, so I was frantically opening every cabinet and slamming it to go on to the next in hopes of finding something, anything that even remotely resembled or served the same function as a mug.  While crawling on the floor and fumbling through cabinets, I explain to Nick that I have to have my one cup of coffee.  It's not a big deal or anything, I'll just have a splitting headache if I don't have the one cup.  Oh, and even though I have to have cream and sugar with my coffee, I don't really care if I find it today or not - I didn't have my coffee before I left the apartment.  I'll drink it no matter what's in it or not in it.  I'll drink it if it's cold.  


By this point I was most likely shaking and had possibly developed a slight tick in my neck and face.  Nick gently asked, "You know what that is, right?" I smartly replied, "Yes, it's an addiction.  I know."  (Translation: "Back off.  I'm seriously considering jumping you for the mug of coffee that you hold in your hands.")  I genuinely felt embarrassed by my desperation.


Then when I got home today, I found this beautiful piece of functional art:

Image found here.

This is a coffee maker.  A Chemex coffee maker to be exact.  You may remember a familiar discovery of mine from a couple of months back that was another example of caffeinated art.  I.want.this.one.too.

    The Chemex® coffeemaker was invented by Peter J. Schlumbohm, Ph.D., in 1941.  Schlumbohm was born in Kiel, Germany in 1896.  He received his doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Berlin.  After several trips to the United States, he settled in New York City in 1936.  Over the years, he invented over 3,000 items for which he was granted patents.  However, his coffeemaker and carafe kettles were his most long enduring inventions.

     Being a doctor of Chemistry, he was very familiar with laboratory apparatus and the methods of filtration and extraction.  He applied this knowledge when designing his coffeemaker.  He examined his laboratory glass funnel and his Erlenmeyer flask and made modifications to each.  He modified the laboratory funnel by adding an "air channel" and a pouring spout.  He added the "air channel" so the air displaced by the liquid dripping into the vessel could easily escape past the laboratory filter paper, which was to be used in the funnel as the filter media.

     To the well of the Erlenmeyer flask he added a protrusion, which looks like a bubble.  Consumers have often called it a "belly button."  This is a measuring mark, which indicates one half the volume that is below the bottom edge of the handle.

     He then combined the modified glass funnel with the modified Erlenmeyer flask to create a one-piece drip coffee maker to be made of heat proof, laboratory grade, borosilicate glass.  Last, he added a wood handle and called the item a "Chemex®," which was a fabricated name.  All that was needed then to brew the coffee was the coffee, hot water, and filter paper.

     Schlumbohm designed the water kettle, or carafe kettle, three years later.  His goal was to create an attractive yet simple and fabulous vessel.  Again he chose heatproof borosilicate glass as the material.  He designed a boiling kettle which has no lid, but which is nevertheless almost completely enclosed.  The "steam stopper" prevents the steam from coming into contact with the upper portion of the neck.  Thus, this portion remains cool and is used as the handle.

     Over the years, these items have been recognized as outstanding examples of American Design.  In 1956, the coffeemaker was selected by the Illinois Institute of Technology as one of the best-designed items of modern times and it was the only coffeemaker so designated.  The coffeemaker and the water kettle are in the permanent collections of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Smithsonian, the Philadelphia Museum and the Corning Museum located in Corning, NY.  The coffeemaker completed a traveling exhibition tour of a number of countries in eastern Europe as part of the "United States Information Agency's Design in America Exhibition."  In the fall of 1989, it toured with the "Design, USA" exhibition to the former USSR.

You know, as a kid (not that I'm a grown-up by any stretch of the imagination), I had a knack for collecting things.  One might say I had a collection of collections (humor me, please).  A few examples: collections of keychains, stickers, rocks (boxes and boxes full), "Garfield stuff" (yes, the fat, orange cat), and "Got Milk?" ads.  Now that I'm a mature adult, I wish I had more collections of things.  We've started a collection of rocks and sea glass - they come from various places that we visit or walks that we want to remember.  I love this collection.  But, I think I want to collect coffee materials too - different coffee makers, especially.  This one is at the top of my list.


My birthday is coming up.  Not-subtle-whatsoever-hint-hint.

A little catching up

Just got through my first full week back in class.  It's amazing how two weeks off can feel like a blink - a blink.  That blink did not prepare me for a grueling eight-week term; the summer term is tough because while it's shorter, the classes still cover the same amount of material as a class that would normally be completed in twelve weeks.  We just cram a whole lot in.  I'm only taking three classes and I'm already feeling the heaviness  - where does all my time go?  Will I ever not be scrambling?  Will I ever get to play?  Will I ever get to exercise?  Will I ever get to see my friends?  Will I ever get to see my husband?  Somehow, I do.  Somehow, it does.  The dust settles after it's been stirred up with new classes, professors, and schedules.  Then the dust is kicked around by an all new set of emotions to go along with all the newness, all the emotionality of the classes I'm in (because Mars Hill classes are not complete without emotional and spiritual intensity - I thought it might be different this term for some reason.  Silly me).


When asked the go-to question of the week, "How was your break?" my response was typically, "Busier than I wanted it to be, but full of both work and fun."  I did - I worked a lot, or what felt like a lot.  Somehow 15 hours a week really piled up on me.  I managed to be in the MHGS building, at some point during the day for some amount of time, for 75% of my break.  That's a lot.  That's what I get for working two jobs at my school.  But I also got a sweet visit from my mom and sister, I read a book for pleasure (although I didn't finish it), went to a baseball game with my favorite person, and spent a warm, sunny day on an island with my hubby (who is my previously-mentioned favorite person) and my friends. 

Squeeze his face - I do all the time.

I got to go to my first Seattle concert.  I felt truly ashamed that it took me almost two years to see a concert in Seattle; I mean, that's my thing.  That's what I do.  Two years?! Really?!  Appalling.  Seattle is music city central.  


T and I, and a couple of friends, managed to get tickets to one of the two completely sold out The Head and the Heart shows.  Lucky, lucky ducks we are.  The energy in that little theater was overwhelming; as a recent convert to the wonders of The Head and the Heart, I wasn't quite prepared for the cult-following they had.  In between every song, one guy just kept screaming, "Seattle loves you!!" (as The Head and the Heart are from Seattle).  It was really fun to be a part of.

Also over the break (after getting a baby kitty shnooks and the big Mars Hill name change event), T and I volunteered at the Inhabit Conference that my school was hosting in partnership with a couple of other organizations.  

1. Why Inhabit? …for an end of talking heads.It’s time for stories that come from the embodied experiences of seasoned missional practitioners in place!

2. Why Inhabit? …for an end to utilitarian leadership.It’s time to ask “What is really worth following?” Is it just those who wield the greatest influence? Or, is it people whose lives bear the fruit of loving God, loving their neighbor, and stewarding the ground they walk on?

3. Why Inhabit? …for the beginning of rooted collaboration.Our guides are not just coming to talk – they are experienced listeners who have come to tease out your stories from the ground, to nurture synergies, intersections, and change-making relationships!

It. was. Amazing.  Yes, with a capital "A" as if it were divine.  Granted, we were working for most of the conference so we didn't get to participate too much, we were lucky enough to hear the keynote speakers: Majora Carter (whom I want to be, who is my hero, whom I currently have the most profound woman-crush on ever) and Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil.  Both of these women are absolutely outstanding.  I'm not sure exactly what I was left with from hearing these two women speak and being in the midst of the energy of that conference, but it was powerful stuff.  What a celebration of and invitation to invest in the places - cities, neighborhoods, communities - that we're in.  Don't get too excited, Mom, but it really made me anxious to get back to North Carolina - to plant roots, to build lasting relationships, and to locate myself somewhere that I'm committed to.  We're still not rushing back after I graduate, but I feel encouraged and hopeful about wherever it is that we end up.  I'm excited to let my neighborhood matter to me, rather than being so transient that I'm unaffected, no matter where I am or where I'm not.


So at this point I'm writing, and I'm not sure to what end.  I wanted to share about my first couple of classes, but now that I've written all this stuff to catch up, my carpel tunnel is catching up instead.  The call of nature calls - in the form of shoulder, elbow, and hand pain.  Just so you do know, if it matters, I am taking Ethics, the second round of Practicum (you may remember me taking that my first year at MHGS), and Counseling Children and Adolescents.  I'm sure I'll have lots to say as the term goes on - I can already tell they're going to knock me on my hiney a time or two.