There's A Cotton Dress Hanging in My Sister's Closet

Because it is currently 44 degrees outside, I thought it was appropriate to discuss summer. As we are coming closer to the end of sweater and scarf season, I am getting more and more excited for cotton dress and sandal season.  And that's what brings me to this song, my current obsession, "Wildflower" by the JaneDear Girls.  I dedicate it to my sister for all of the summers we spent together growing up...and mostly because of this picture:

Here's the song:

Summer, here I come!

February

February: Possibly the longest feeling month of the year.  When I think of the month of February, I picture the color gray.  At times, this month can seem like one big yawn.

Yesterday, I was on a work conversation talking to a woman about programming at her Church.  As many conversations do, it led to a discussion about the weather while she mentioned the parent's complaints about the inconvenience of winter religious education classes.  Her childlike faith and simplicity caught me off guard as she told me, "Let's not focus on the 3 extra inches of snow on the ground, but on the fact that I heard birds chirping outside of my window this morning or that I saw a few blades of green grass beginning to peak through some of the snow."

I know that she didn't say this simply because she is an optimistic, bubbly, positive person.  She said it in such a way that she realized how often we focus on the inconveniences or setbacks in life an fail to notice the small ways in which God reminds us of his presence.

So, let's not focus on the pain the fresh wounds and the semi-healed scars in our lives or the homesickness for previous parts of life.  Let's focus on the fact that I heard my favorite song on the radio yesterday and that I had an awesome conversation with an old friend.  Let's focus on the small gifts we receive day to day, moment to moment.

They Don't Call Me "Cheaper Mc-cheaperson" for Nothing ;)

Behold: You are now looking at a picture of more than $250.00 worth of Old Navy goods (dresses, skirts, a sweater, jeans, tanks, camis, long sleeve tshirts...) purchased for a meager $50.00. 

Twenty percent. 

That's all I need to say.

Side note: On a scale of one to awesome, how great is the title of this post?

Father Knows Best

Whenever I am confused and need advice, I call my Dad and say something to the extent of, "Dad. This is a time in a girl's life that she could use a father figure," and then I ask him my question. 

Here is today's conversation:

Karmen: Dad, now is a time when I could use a father figure in my life.

Dad: Really?

Karmen: Yes...well, I just have a question about boys.

Dad: Stay away from them.

Karmen: Oh, okay. Thanks! 

If nothing else, he has wisdom.

My Job: Forced Evangelization

Working for the Church has some interesting side effects.  For example, when going out on the weekends, conversations with new people go a lot like this:

Mr. Attractive Man: Hello

Me: Hello

(blah...blah...blah...)

Mr. Attractive Man: So what do you do?

Me: Oh, I work for the diocese.

Mr. Attractive Man: Oh, does that mean your Catholic?

Me: Uh, yep.

Mr. Attractive Man: Oh, like hard-core Catholic?

Me: Yep, the sign of the cross and everything.

Mr. Attractive Man:  Well, I think that we should all be open to other religions.

Me:  I just want to seek the truth.

Mr. Attractive Man:  Love is my religion.

Me: Interiorly: hahahahahaha...because, out of context, it sounds like an awesome pick up line; Exteriorly: Oh?

Mr. Attractive Man:  Yeah, have you ever heard the song "Love is My Religion" by Ziggy Marley?  That has some good lyrics....


If only we had met at another time, another place....then maybe I could try to discuss how weak his statement , "Love is my religion" seems. 

Of course we were probably working with different definitions of "love" and "religion", but as I understand it, religion is under the virtue of justice because we, as creatures, owe worship to our creator.  Who does this man offer worship to?  Noone in particular...just an abstract concept.  Ziggy, himself, says, "I don't condemn, I don't convert,...noone is gonna lose their soul."

And then we come to love.  Love is to will the good of another for his or her own sake.  I am assuming that this man just meant that we should aim for peace, harmony, and compassion, but that taken alone is very dangerous.  If to love is to will the good of another, but we do not have Truth guiding our love, then how do we know what the other person's good is?  I think that this is an important discussion to have as we are seeing the implications of this thought in our society.  Euthanasia is one example: we have one side claiming that it is more loving [compassionate] to allow suicide while the other side says that this allowance of suicide goes against moral law.  This means that my blog post discussion about this issue is not simply a way of me trying to attempt to have some form of dominance over another person's thought, but it is an honest attempt for dialogue.

As Christians, we believe that God is love...this religion of love that was explained to me simply removes the God of the Christians because it is more tolerant to forget a God than to offend someone else's God. 

Nonetheless, I think we can find a certain simplicity in this religion of love. As Ziggy Marley says, "I don't want to fight, hey let's go fly a kite."  And as I always say, "Who doesn't love flying kites?"

this is why you budget

My string of blog posts without true insight is about to continue.

Here is a list of my recent impulse buys and what was going through my head. 

 Casablanca DVD

 
 
It is ONLY 5 dollars!  Wow!  That is a ONCE IN A LIFETIME deal!  It is a classic, right?  Everyone should own it...and, oh man, who knows when the next time I might hit a deal this great.

-$5.00


Dress from Old Navy

 

I walked right into this one.  It was the Saturday before Christmas and I was Christmas shopping.  "Hmm...," I thought, "Maybe I'll go into Old Navy!"  The problem here is that no one who was left on my Christmas list had anything remotely close to "Old Navy items" on their Christmas lists.  My subconscious got me again.

We all know how it starts.  "Wow, that is a cute dress...Wait, they have it in MY size and THE color that I want!...I could at least try it on....It is only $20.00..."  Then it happens.  You try it on and it fits great, you have all the necessary accessories, you have at least 2 events scheduled for which you could wear the dress.

Ka-Ching.

-$20.00


Torani Classic Caramel Flavoring Syrup

 

 My family bought me a new espresso maker for Christmas.  My roommate bought be Starbucks espresso coffee beans.  We all knew that this purchase was bound to happen.  At least it was 58 cents cheaper at Wal-Mart.  (This purchase was somewhat pre-meditated, but I really thought that my self-control would prevail.)

-$3.59


Elf Make-Up

For some reason when something is only a dollar, it is okay. 

- $5.70

Next.


Granite City Pomegranate Margarita



This, my friends, is a pomegranate margarita.  Sure, I could have had a beer.  I was at Granite City, right?  It also would have been the manly thing to do.  Well, apparently a $6.50 drink is justifiable if one simply chooses a "cheaper" menu option.  So that is what I did. (I would like to note, however, that by going with the soup, my total was under $15.00)

-$6.50

Guess who's back?

"The serenity of my facebook world has been shattered."

I love how dramatic that sentence sounds.  I thought it deserved it's own post.