Monthly Archives: December 2014

Love’s Philosophy

Posted in Poetic, Thoughts by

I thought about skipping today, after all, I got forgot to schedule a post for this morning, then I came home late and then I was busy doing other things and now it’s 11:38pm and I thought to myself, “self, why are you doing this?” but, I’ve given myself this challenge so it must be seen through!

So, here, without further ado, another thing I love. One of my most recent poem finds…

Love’s Philosophy by Percy Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle–
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;–
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

——

On repeat: When Love Came Down by Point of Grace

 

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Thoughts from Places: Baltimore

Posted in Thoughts, Vacations by

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It’s very hard to visit another city and not compare it to the one I know. I try to, but when I look at the stats I feel admiration towards the city I spend my life in and appreciate what I have here. Baltimore is three times the size of Manhattan but has 1/10th of the population. The city is sprawling with tons of space and large sidewalks. It’s extremely well kept and from the little I’ve seen this past weekend, very family friendly.

I did quite a bit of sightseeing while I was there. Museums had dollar days that weekend and they were packed with families looking for something to do with their children. I visited the Maryland Science Center which had a lot of cool facts for kids – and where I learned to identify male and female blue crabs. Then took a walk to the Walters Art Museum, which is free all year around.

Walters Art Museum was one of my favourites, and I really appreciated the Walters family for donating their extensive collection for the world to see. I also visited the American Visionary Art Museum – and left a message there – which was very strange, but also fascinating. Some of the pieces there were magnificent.

I love a city with access to good museums, whether science, history, art, I love the curation of information displayed visually, and I love that I can always find something new or learn something different even if I’m visiting the same museum multiple times.

The main purpose of the trip was to see the Newsies, the show was excellent – though I thought the Broadway run had better singing, this isn’t to say that the singing wasn’t great.

It was a fun weekend and a great destination, I will definitely be visiting again.

Reflections on Hope

Posted in Religious Musings, Thoughts by

“Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying. And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what He said He will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is willingness to let God do it His way and in His time.” – Eugene Peterson; A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

A long time ago I had a conversation with a friend about faith and hope that lead to a verse in Romans 8 “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” I can’t remember the entirety of the conversation but I remember that verse sticking with me, following me around. It came back to me on Monday, when I read the above quote from Eugene Peterson in a Daily Office written for Advent by Rich Villodas.

Sometimes I think words lose their impact because of overuse. I’m often guilty of using words the wrong way, or overusing words like “awesome” to describe something that is just slightly out of the ordinary as opposed to something that really inspires awe in me. And I think sometimes I do that with hope.

So, this week I have been thinking of the word hope and wrapping my mind around the meaning of the word, the feelings that it draws from me when I truly mean it. There is expectation, but not anxiety, longing but not obsession and confidence that God will do what he said he would do; and in this season it is a reminder that I believe that Jesus is the son of God and that one day he will return to earth. It is my hope and that hope is illustrated through my faith in Him.

May I live my life never losing sight of this, never losing hope.

——

On repeat: Hallelujah (Light Has Come) by BarlowGirl

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December’s Dottie Box

Posted in Fashionista by

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Ok, this is my last Dottie Box (and thus post about it). I signed up for three boxes but I think I’m going to keep this subscription (though not post every month about it). All the boxes so far have been great and I’ve used pretty much everything in them, and this holiday box is excellent!

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Inside, the first thing I pulled out was a necklace from Sundrop Jewelry, a gorgeous blue pendant on a fine silver chain made by Tawny from CA who uses magnified sunlight to melt old glass into drop shapes for jewelry – geeky and cute, I am sold! Her site has a lot of great pieces, if you’re shopping for unique gifts.

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The next was a print from Spoon Lily Designs, I like the idea that the folks at Dottie Box did, in the picture on their Instagram, of placing the design in a red frame, very festive! There are some really cute prints on the site. I think I might put this on the wall of my cube to make it festive.

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Next were these gift tags from Dinglewood Design and Press. They do a lot of different designs for many occasions and work with you to create a unique design for you.

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Finally these festive candles from Scent Xpressions, which smell so delicious you can practically eat them. Actually, I’m just going to wrap up this post right now, put on some Christmas music and light one of these candles.

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On repeat: Christmas Time by Christina Aguilera

Conscientious Consuming

Posted in Fashionista by

There are a lot of sites out there that offer consumer goods and donate part of their profit to different causes. The first time I started noticing this was the (Product)RED campaigns that started some years ago where places like Apple and Gap would sell specific products and part of the profit went to help fund AIDS research.

It’s an appealing idea, paying a bit more at times for a certain item, having something tangible to use and knowing that part of the money you spent is also being used for good. Or, in some cases, knowing that the company has strong ethical values – taking care of their workers and the environment.

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The idea behind Toms is, you buy a pair and they give a pair to someone in need of shoes.

I currently own three pairs of Toms, but I’ve been a previous owner of about three more. In the warmer months Toms are the main shoes that I wear and they usually wear out from the constant wear. Currently, I have in my possession the navy blue, sand, and black glitter pairs. They are comfortable and go with almost anything. I stick to the classic slip on styles though, because I bought two pairs of the ballet flat ones and they did not last the month – the heel frayed, quickly!

There are a lot more styles now, so if you’re not into the classic look I’m sure something else will work for you.

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Similar to Toms, Warby Parker made a splash with affordable eyewear and the idea that, when you buy a pair they give a pair, by donating some of the profits towards training doctors and providing eyewear to folks in need.

It took me a while to join the Warby Parker bandwagon, but I finally did this year when I bought the Ainsworth pair in elderberry. I love my glasses! I mostly wear them for distance, and they are a great pair of glasses – plus the purple and green frame makes me happy.

If you’re shopping for someone else, they also have sunglasses (with and without prescription) so that could be a very thoughtful gift.

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I haven’t tried them yet, though I have my eyes on a few things, but I recently heard of Krochet Kids and I thought it was a really great concept. They started out by teaching folks, who wanted to be independent and provide for their family, to crochet hats and grew from there. They would then sell the product and pay the maker a fair wage. Every piece is personalized with the name of the person who made it.

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Two honorable mentions to this list are Patagonia (they take care of making their products in an ethical way) and Good Paper, very similar to Krochet Kids where they provide jobs for folks who want to be independent and help their families. I’ve bought cards from Good Paper’s Cards from Africa Christmas collection before, they are really well made and very adorable.

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On repeat: Patapan/O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Mindy Gledhill

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