What I've been up to during my nine-month absence from livejournal:

Getting married.

Writing stuff.

Blogging for a paycheck.

Attempting to quilt.

Contemplating a geographical move.

Contemplating a career change.

Among other things, but those are the sweeping basics.

I haven't written here in a long time. Work has been busy, and the rest of life has, too, what with planning this wedding and all. I've sat down a few times to hammer something out, post an interesting link or a funny anecdote from my ludicrous trip to the bridal salon or a brief tirade about my outrage over an acquaintance's insensitivity. But I ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Most of you know that I'm in a serious relationship headed towards marriage. As a wedding inches closer to reality, I'm discovering a heap of idiosyncrasies and inanities that I never, ever anticipated dealing with. Already, these include a well-meaning but slightly overbearing future mother-in-law, pushy suggestions from people I barely know about ( Read more... )

"Truly he taught us to love one another;
his law is love and his Gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother
And in his Name all oppression shall cease."
-O Holy Night

Three for the holiday that teach us to embody faith, from the annals of public radio:

01. An Immigrant's First American Christmas - Congolese Diary. Heard this as I was driving from Michigan to Connecticut on Wednesday morning. Crushingly beautiful.

02. Couple Gives the Gift of Electricity to Town Residents. A couple in Iowa paid the December ( Read more... )

Reason #3,900,344 that Nathan is the best boyfriend ever:

On Saturday afternoon, we were browsing at Penzeys Spices with his parents, who were in town for the weekend. They were playing Christmas songs on the store PA, which usually drives me crazy. I had mostly tuned them out that day, when one came on that was so obnoxious that it may actually ( Read more... )

I don't know if any of you know this, but I used to be a ballet dancer. Starting when I was in elementary school, I spent hours and hours every day in classes and rehearsals at Connecticut Dance School and the Connecticut BalletUp until I graduated from high school, ballet provided my identity. Most of my friends were fellow dance students (a ( Read more... )

Three photos from Lake Michigan, and one from my apartment. All taken by my friend John during his recent visit.

(You should be able to see them now, previously forbidden ones.)

In this week's New Yorker, George Saunders has a genius solution to all the problems plaguing the Middle East: make the Iraqis a super cup of coffee.

(via Bookslut)