Trust God: Make a Blog

Hello there! Haven't see you in a while. Hope things are going well for you. I'd like share a little bit of what I've been up to while I've been gone. I started another blog! No worries though, this one's not for me. It's for my friend LuAnn.

LuAnn is a super sweet lady who moved to Pittsburgh with her husband, Sam, just a couple of years ago. They found our church, and were soon pitching in all over the place! They both spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy helping people, and are a blessing wherever they go.

Last fall, LuAnn was leading a women's bible study. (I must admit, I never attended.) In early December, she decided to stop teaching and start writing devotional reflections. She started by sending almost-daily emails to the contact list from the study. In just a few short months, her list has grown to nearly 100 women and men!

I asked LuAnn last week if I could help her reach even more people by setting up a blog for her. She said yes, and here is the result: trust4god.wordpress.com

It's simple, but I'm pretty proud of it! Now the whole world can access LuAnn's messages of hope, courage, and perseverance. I named it "Trust God" because it seems like she's always saying that in one way or another. It's something I need to be reminded to do often myself. In her fourth ever message she says:

"Trusting God is one of the hardest things I’ll ever do in life. Mike talked today in his sermon about waiting. Waiting isn't fun. Sometimes we want the answer right away and it isn't going to come for some time. Trusting God is hard but worth it in the end.

I know some of you are struggling with issues in your life and I’m praying for you. I don’t know what is troubling some of you but I’m here if you need a listening ear. Many times we just have to listen and in my case, share.

These devotionals are a reminder for me as well. I don’t have all the answers."

Two days before that she said:

Put today in the hands of the Lord who loves you and wants what’s best for you. He won’t let you down even when others do. Find something you can do for someone else and it WILL brighten your day.

That right there is LuAnn in a nut-shell! I guess I took her advice; because making a blog for her sure did brighten my life a wee bit. So please, check out the archive. It goes all the way back to the start in December. And if you like what you see, you can sign up for the email list just like that tiny women's group last fall. (The internet is awesome!)

Kira's Art Show

I would like to introduce you to my housemate Kira! I have lived with Kira for a year and a half now, and I've learned that she likes indie music, cute dinosaurs, and quiet time at home. She devours fiction books and gluten-free baked goods with equal enthusiasm. She is ridiculously skilled at braiding her super long hair, and is learning to play the glockenspiel. But I think the first thing most people remember about Kira is her art. She majored in art at college. She carries her sketchbook with her everywhere. And this month, she put up a public art show!

I got to help hang her pieces. Here she is making sure everything is just right. They had a really neat mounting system; a metal runner stretched across the wall and wires were hanging from it. Each wire had an adjustable hook attached, so we could easily change the height and spacing of every frame.

The ‘gallery’ is also a hair salon. Tula Organic Salon & Spa is a new business in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Every month they feature a different local artist on their walls.

(Fun fact: Tula means “balance” in Sanskrit.)

A week ago, she held an art show opening party. Here’s Kira in her cute new "I'm the artist" outfit:

(The dress is from ModCloth. And you can’t see it here, but her earrings totally match her tights!)

My husband and I bused straight from work to the event. We arrived a bit after it started and the place was packed!

Everyone had a great time talking and checking out Kira’s work.

And what was I doing this whole time? Why, taking pictures of course! Here’s a self-portrait of me being overwhelmed by all the happy people:

I suppose you would like to see the art itself. Here you go:

The middle frame in the top picture got a lot of attention. Kira is considering making prints of it since the original has already been sold. The right one is the background for her business cards. She works mostly in colored pencil, but has started adding water-color paint sometimes too. Her pictures are often semi-autobiographical, and tend to have a flowing feeling of movement to them.

You can check out more of Kira’s art on her portfolio page. And if you’re in Pittsburgh, you can stop by Tula to see them in person! The salon welcomes visitors. Kira’s work will be on display until February 28^th!

^{UPDATE: Kira has an album up now of all her pieces from this show. They look much better than my hastily color-adjusted snapshots. Check them out HERE.}

Christmas 2012

The penultimate day of January is the perfect time for a Christmas post, right? It took me forever to get to tweaking my pictures. But better late than never!

This was my first year with my very own full-sized tree! We bought it last year on New Year's Day, and left it in the box. Putting up the tree was extra fun because I had forgotten how nice it would be! I was also happily surprised to find that I own enough ornaments to cover it. (We made room for a few whimsical additions too. Like a fish. Kate made that. Rad, huh?) Kate also crocheted a gorgeous ivory garland for it, but I don't seem to have any good close-ups to show you. No topper this year, but I plan to make one for next year.

Kate's cats loved sitting under the tree. Mercifully, they did not climb it or break the ornaments. (Though we did worry for the ribbons on the gifts a few times.) I found the tree skirt at Goodwill last fall for $3! I love the random vintage-y mushrooms. We had a really happy number of presents too. Check out the homemade wrappings on the middle-right. Kira drew all of hers, and Beth made hers from an old Van Gogh poster.

Here's a close-up of one of Kira's drawings. I got a bit creative myself, and made a Firefly card for the ear-buds Shane got for Kate. I don't know who had more fun with it: me making it, or Kate receiving it.

Here are some other decorations. The poster is one my husband found online. I admit, at first it confused me. But it really grew on me after a while. The shutter is where we kept our cards. I put the ribbon on last year. It used to hang on the wall next to the stockings, but we put up the clock for our Halloween party and liked it too much to take it down. The stockings hold paper gnome friends that Kira made for us. The elaborate cross-stitched ones were done by my Mom. She did mine when I was a baby, and Shane's last year to match. I'm proud to say I did some rudimentary embroidery for the girls' stockings myself this year. The windowsills will probably look very different next year since Shane's mom brought over his childhood box of decorations. It is HUGE!

We opened gifts as a house the week before real Christmas because the girls all had family to visit. I can't imagine a more perfect way for us to celebrate. Everyone was cheerful, all the gifts were awesome and thoughtful, and afterward we went out to dinner at Gullifty's.

Speaking of food: Christmas isn't Christmas for me without chocolate covered cherries. Kate was the last to leave for family times. The night before she did, she and I had white wine and filo-baked brie with strawberry jam for dinner! (Shane doesn't like either, so he had to fend for himself. More cheese for us!) After the husband and I had the house to ourselves, we went on a cookie making spree.

Aside from cookie making, we spent most of our Christmas relaxing and bonding with the cats. The cats didn't give us much choice. In the middle picture, they are enjoying their Christmas present: catnip. I put a video of Isabella's indulgence on YouTube. (We must have been pretty lonely.)

Pittsburgh kept its decorations up long enough for me to catch pictures of them with a good dusting of snow. Now, even these are gone and it's just winter. Sigh... oh well. It's time to look to 2013.

Friends Are Like Stars

I made a thing! I did it because Jenny Lawson said something hilarious, and one of my housemates told me it needed to be a poster. You can (and should) read the whole funny story here:

http://thebloggess.com/2012/12/astronomy-classes-ruined-my-sense-of-romance/ 

I'm no graphic designer, but I like the results. It reminds me of old science classroom posters.

Version 1:

High Resolution

Version 2:

High Resolution

These beautiful photos were found at Wired.

Happy New Year!

Good Riddance to 2012!

Merry Christmas!

May you find peace an joy this winter

No matter how/if you celebrate

Birthday!

Last week, I had a birthday! The celebrating started a little early when we visited my family for Thanksgiving.  My Grandparents gave me delicious home-made cake and some nice gloves, and my parents gave me Downton Abbey Cookbooks!

Image Source: Amazon (1st book, 2nd book)

Closer to my birthday, I got the usual things: lovely cards, well-wishes on Facebook, etc.

Lovely Cards

My housemate Kate got me the TARDIS cookie jar I've been wanting forever. She and housemate Kira made cookies to go inside too. It lights up and makes noises when you close the lid. I smile compulsively every time I hear that "whoosh, whoosh"! (For the uninitiated, this is from the Dr. Who TV show. And by "uninitiated", I mean "not nerdy".)

Ooooo Eeeeee Oooooooo!

On the big day itself, I was home sick. No fun. But housemate Beth came to the rescue with cheesecake! Thank goodness it wasn't a stomach bug! (Yes, there are three housemates. I promise, no more.) 

Ambrosia from the gods

At the end of the day, it was time for my husband's big reveal. He's been nervously referencing his gift choice for weeks now. I was more intrigued than concerned by his worrying I might not like it. Still, when I opened the wrapping and saw this, I was at a loss for words:

Yes. Bidet. Here's the whole package unwrapped:

It attaches to the back of the toilet bowl between the seat and seat cover. 

What do you say to that? I mean really? Yes, I've been curious about them for a while. I read a great defense of the bidet this year on curbly. But for my birthday!? 

After the surprise wore off, I laughed for a long while. I am so glad to have such a quirky husband! How else would he be able to put up with all the wonky things I do? The best part by far is the operation instructions:

We have yet to install my birthday gift. Maybe I'll let you know how that goes. But one thing is for sure; these instructions are getting framed.