EMeriah's Xanga

Still alive ...

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:17:06 GMT

So, who's ready for some consistent weather?? Yes. Me too. Today was amazing and wonderful, and we're expecting snow tomorrow. Oh, but first, up to two inch pieces of hail are expected to shower down around us. That is quite enough from you, mother nature. Quite enough, indeed. Just give us the summer and go on vacation.

Here's a juicy confession I have to share. For the first time ever, I have been watching American Idol. Typically on Tuesday nights, I watch Gilmore Girls, but as the show is currently showing reruns (which are not worth re-watching because, let's face it, the show is going downhill), I am left with no choice! So, it's kind of fun. I don't watch the Wednesday show to find out who got kicked off, and it's nothing I would go out of my way for, but still, I think it's a pretty big deal that I'll even allow it to be viewed on my own TV - let alone watch it! Confession over.

Have you ever heard of Zach Hunter? He's a 15 year old abolitionist. Watch this clip about him - it will inspire you, I think.

What an inspiring kid - and what a sweet passion! I just ordered Zach's book, Be the Change, using the birthday gift certificate I got from my brother. I will let you know what I think once I have read it.

Time to enjoy the last few moments of this beautiful day. Happy Passover, everyone!

A whole bunch of randomness ...

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:22:59 GMT

So hey, my last entry was months ago, and it was about Advent. Here we are, mid-February, and we have none-other than the season of Lent! Now, I'm all about Advent (as you may have read way-back-when), but I am even moreso a Lent enthusiast! That kind of seems funny when I think about it; Advent seems pretty easy to be excited about - the anticipation of the birth of Jesus, hope entering the world, the works! And then there's Lent - a time of reflection and repentance. Sometimes it can be a really tough season, but it is always rewarding and it ALWAYS ends in a triumphant celebration that, in my opinion, trumps Christmas any day!

Anyway, I have given things up for Lent before, but I don't think I will this year. It sometimes seems like giving things up can just end up being more of a personal challenge, and I might even go so far as to say that it can become a bit of an idol in one's life. Not always, but sometimes. I digress, though - I am not giving anything specific up, nor am I taking anything up, but I do intend to take this season seriously, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me.

I've been enjoying some great new music lately! Number one on my list of new favorite bands is The Fratellis! You may have heard these guys on the fantastic iPod commercial they have been showing. They only have a 4 song EP released in the US right now, but a full CD is soon to follow some time next month, and I fully intend to purchase it and rock out to it for days on end.

I also bought the second-to-newest Switchfoot CD, Nothing is Sound. At first listen, I was not too impressed. There were a few songs that stuck out, but in general, I was not thrilled with my investment. However, upon additional listenings, this CD has really grown on me. I would not say that it is my favorite Switchfoot CD, but I think it is better than The Beautiful Letdown by far. With time, I am sure I will get their latest, Oh! Gravity.

When my sister was home a few weeks ago, she generously left me a copy of the new Shins album, Wincing the Night Away. Leave it to The Shins to put out some great tunes. So fun to sing along to, but great to just have in the background, as well. I knew when I saw them on Saturday Night Life a few weeks back that this would be a good one, and they did not disappoint.

A few weeks back I was surfing around iTunes, trying to find something to spend an iTunes giftcard on (man, those things just burn a hole through my pocket if I don't use them fast enough!) and I thought I would try to get some new Jason Morant tunes. It turns out that Jason Morant only has his first CD available on iTunes, but his page linked to other artists. For some reason Leeland jumped out at me, and after hearing about 10 seconds of the iTunes-promo clip, my gift card was s-p-e-n-t! And it was very much worth it. I really hope to hear more from these guys, and I'd really like to see them in concert, as well. Chances are good that both of these things will happen, as Leeland was actually nominated for a grammy this year! Even though they didn't win it, that is a huge achievement, and I'm pretty sure the lead (Leeland, himself), is only 18 or 19. It's amazing what the Lord can do, really!

And now I am trying my hardest to not buy more music - but Patty Griffin just released some newness, and I would love to get my hands on it! My, my, my.

Well, I intended to write a few, short segments, but instead I feel that I've rambled too much already. I do hope to get back into the habit of blogging, though. I've been wanting to, but I just couldn't think of a way to start an entry! Whenever I am blogging a lot, my thought process is frequently based on "if I were to write an entry about this, what would the first line be?" I kid you not. Hopefully I will get back into that mindset ... but don't be mad if I don't!

He's coming!

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 01:51:37 GMT

While much of our society seems to have began celebrating this Christmas season a few weeks ago, my own Christmas spirit did not descend upon me until this weekend. It began to sneak in on Friday, when my dad and I braved the elements (and the madness!) and tried our hand at shopping. At that time I experienced that tingle of excitment as I found "the perfect gift" for so-and-so. The Christmas spirit tickled me again Saturday night as I sipped my first Starbucks peppermint mocha of the season with April, who loves Christmas (and gingerbread lattes) more than anyone I know. But today, today it hit me. We began the celebration of Advent at church today by singing O, Come Let Us Adore Him and once again I was struck with wonder that my God would come to rescue me from death, and that he would come as a helpless baby. A baby King - how beautiful.

And as we lit the first candle of the Advent wreath I remembered the Advent cheer that we always did during the children's message growing up:

Give me an A!                       A!
Give me a D!                         D!
Give me a V!                         V!
Give me an E!                       E!
Give me an N!                      N!
Give me a T!                        T!
What does it spell?              ADVENT!
What does it mean?            HE'S COMING!
Who's coming?                    JESUS!

Yes. We did this cheer every week. And I will never forget the meaning of the word advent, thankyouverymuch. Anyway, all this to say that I hope you're enjoying this Christmas season. And I hope you're enjoying buying and/or making things for your loved ones and getting together for parties and drinking seasonal coffee drinks. But moreso I hope that you're remembering what this is about - the celebration of the coming of the King. May the cry of your heart be Come, Lord Jesus. Come!

a love, a dis-love, and an announcement.

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:16:46 GMT

I love thanksgiving for two reasons: turducken and tofurkey. Not so much eating them (as I have had neither), but the opportunity to say them profusely. For instance, "You know what would taste great right about now?? A thick slice of turducken!" Or, "Mmm, is that tofurkey I smell??" Or even, "I'd like a tall caramel macchiato and two pieces of tofurkey to go, please." These words bring nothing but smiles! Go ahead, add them to your lexicon.

I am pretty disturbed that two of Cleveland's most popular (statistically) radio stations have already converted to 24/7 Christmas music. It drove me nuts even for the week or so before Christmas like it was in the old days, so this is basically intolerable. Don't get me wrong - I'm all about celebrating the birth of the Savior, but not so much with cheesy songs about Santa and snowmen and the like. Bleh - see last December's entries for similar rants, I'm sure.

I'd like to close with a big announcement. Please prepare yourself. For the past five or six years, my hot tea of choice has been Orange Tea. While Orange Tea will always remain a favorite, it is no longer the favorite. Recently I have been delighting in the wonders of Chamomile Green Tea. It is like drinking flowers or something lovely like that. I can't describe it but I highly recommend it. It's funny because it is one of those teas that I would run across every once in a while, love, but then forget what exactly it was and, thus, never invest in a whole box of it. This last time I was quite intentional about what exactly I was enjoying and now have a whole box of it. If you've never experienced the goodness of Camomile Green Tea, please, come and enjoy a cup with me!

Trickery at the Polls

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 19:27:48 GMT

Don't get excited. This post is not really about tomfoolery in my voting booth. In fact, I voted with an absentee ballot. Truth be told, this post will probably have nothing to do with voting. I only named it that because the other night as I was watching the news one of the newscasters said something to the effect of, "when we return, our report on the trickery at the polls," and it just made me laugh and think, sounds like the title of a blog entry. So there you have it.

No real reason for my absence in blogging. Just haven't had much to report on. Let's see ... follow up from the last entry: the chipmunk was never to be seen again, so I think it quickly scurried back outside while my dad frantically searched for it, and King Tut died a mere two weeks after he moved in to his luxury home (aka cool flower vase with marbles and fake sea weed). Dang. One of these days I'll be off to get a new fish again.

I saw the movie The Prestige last weekend and must say that I highly recommend it. While it was a bit dark and even a bit morbid, it was moreso intriguing and mysterious. Well worth the time and money. I'll definitely see it again when it comes out on video because it's one of those that you keep thinking about for a day or so afterwards and start really putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Do you know what I mean? I think you do ... And before I leave this subject, I'd like to add that Christian Bale is still the dreamboat that he was in Newsies and Little Women.

Well, this is kind of a short one, but give me a break! I'm easing back into this blogging thing!

Okay, wait. I do want to say something about the polls. Or actually, about the outcome. I am very happy because all of the issues came out the way I wanted them to! No more smoking in Ohio! (Well, not indoors anyway!) No gambling! (Thank goodness!) The Bay levy passed! The one about preserving our parks and artsy stuff passed! The other one that I wanted to pass passed! Um yeah, that's all I got.

TWO new pets!

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:31:24 GMT

That's right. In the past three or four days our family has acquired two new pets - one that is quite welcome and one that is more of an intruder than a welcome guest. Here's the scoop:

My cat caught a chipmunk today ... and brought it in the house. Alive. So, unless it ran back out when we weren't looking, we now have a nasty, flee-covered rodent running around in our home. This, my friends, is our unwelcome new pet.

Did I mention yet that our pet fish committed suicide? Yes, after two beautiful years of life, sweet Daria just couldn't take it any longer and so she jumped out of her tank and asphyxiated on the kitchen floor. By the time we found her, all hope was lost.

After a long week of mourning, however, we got a new beta - King Tut! From the moment I saw him I knew he was royalty. He's really liking his tank (unlike some ungrateful fish, who will remain nameless and DEAD) and we even got him some fake plants to make it more homey. Feel free to stop by and welcome King Tut to the family!

A long overdue bullet-point entry

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:33:28 GMT

Even though the season premiere of The Office was not necessarily all that I hoped for, it was still great and I am so glad it is back. Same goes for ER - and thank goodness that Jerry pulled through!
Yesterday a huge bird with a wingspan of at least a foot and probably closer to 18 inches swooped down and flew smack into my window. Luckily my window was closed, but it made such a loud smack - totally freaky and one of those slow-motion experiences.
I've been celebrating what the Lord has done through Tim Schlatter and his family and their 19 year commitment to place the New Testament in the hands of the Tabo people of Papua New Guinea. Tim, his wife Karen, and their family traveled half way around the world, befriended the Tabo people, learned their language (at that time only an oral language), created a written language, taught the people to read, and then translated the entire New Testament into that language. This blows my mind!
FACT: When you ask someone what their disability is and they tell you they have Muscular Dystrophy, the proper response is not to say, "Ouch!" (though it does lead to hilarity and will surely prove to provide laughter for many years to come!)
Speaking of the dystrophy, I was in jail for a few hours today - had to post bail in donations to the MDA. Okay, really I wasn't "in jail," I was the spokesperson, but I joined in the fun and hit up my boss for money anyway. If you think about it, it would have been pretty awkward and crappy if he turned me down, and of course he didn't! Good times.
My sister is coming home this weekend and my brother was home last weekend. I freaking love seeing my siblings! Score! And did I mention that Chris brought us chocolate from Belgium?! Ah!
Haircut on Saturday - thank you, Jesus!

Sweet Anticipation

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:21:14 GMT

And the countdown begins, friends! In just 8 days it will be September 21st, and that brings three great things:

The return of a dear friend, Meghan, from a summerlong stint in Thailand! I cannot wait to see this girl and hear stories of growth, redemption, heartache, and hope. I don't doubt that we will also hear about Thai food, infected mosquito bites, and other such things as well!
As much as I love Meghan (and I assure you, it's a lot!) I have a curfew of 8:30 on the 21st, as it is the season premier on the world's favorite show, The Office! I have to know - what will happen with Pam and Jim?! It's about killing me! (Really, I won't leave the party early for the Office -- but I WILL buy it on iTunes if I miss it!)
And just an hour after the season premier of The Office is the season premier of ER - another one that has kept me in tremendous suspense all summer! Pretty much something traumatic and dramatic has happened to each of the characters at this point - even Jerry! If Jerry dies, I'll pretty much stop watching ER. Only not really.

While the 21st is the big highlight night, I am also looking forward to tomorrow night as it will be the first installment of Knitting Night. If you are a knitter (or would like to be), and want to join a group of us in fellowship and craftiness, feel free to join us at my house from 7 to 8:30!

A stirring

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 23:52:05 GMT

Friends and ... friends,

I want to inform you that Derek Webb has released his latest album, Mockingbird, for free as a download. While his style of music may or may not be right up your ally (I for one, think it's great!), I highly recommend downloading this CD. I have not even gotten all the way through it and it has already convicted and challenged my heart. As you can read on the website, one of Derek's main reasons for getting this album out for free is to start conversations about issues we wouldn't necessarily think of or wouldn't necessarily bring up. Give this album a listen to, and let's talk about it!

Click HERE to download Mockingbird.

Is this something we're going to have to talk about?

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:23:39 GMT

While these may not be the ultimate top 10 simple pleasures in my life (because that seems like such a commitment), these are the first 10 simple pleasures in my life that I thought of:

the perfect mocha or caramel macchiato
clean sheets, clean pajamas, clean body
all of my chargable items to be fully charged at once
when i have the same day off from work as one or more of my friends
hearing a song that used to be a favorite of mine, and finding just as much joy in it as i used to
when someone does something for me, but i know it was a gift from jesus more than from the person he used to deliver it
spending quality time with my brother and sister, and when either of them engages in conversation with me
sitting in the sun and feeling it warm me through, but not getting too hot, even after hours (with suntan lotion on )
amazingly good food
completing a project and knowing it is well done

So, some of those you may have known. I'm somewhat predictable, I think. Or maybe I just like to talk about things I like. Deal with it.

I suppose I will tag Christy and Lindsey.