life as we know it

I've been a bad blogger. Life sort of got in the way, which is ok, of course, because we all know life is more important than the internet.

*crickets chirping*

Don't we?

Anyway, here's what I've been up to lately:

• Mostly, working two jobs. I started working as an Independent Arbonne Consultant in July, and it's been a lot of fun. If you don't know what Arbonne is, it's basically natural, botanically based skincare & wellness products that rock your face off. Well, not your face, really, just your wrinkles. Anyways, it's awesome, but starting any new business is certainly time-consuming. If you want some great products that work & aren't going to kill you with chemicals, I can hook you up.
  
• Enjoying the (slightly) cooler end-of-summer outdoors. Until the ragweed ruined everything. I'm hoping fall gets here soon.
• Watching Firefly. I went through the whole season and the movie in a couple of days. How did I not know about this sooner? I have some serious geek love for this show.
  

Aaand that's about it. Work has taken up most of my time. When I do have a few blissful moments of free time I want to sit and veg, not expend more creative energy.

Speaking of creative energy, these are the blogs I've been loving lately:

• http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ So much amazing fashion inspiration.
  
• http://www.newdressaday.com/ This girl makes me want to sew.
  
• http://www.clothedmuch.com/ A minimalist, Mormon fashion blogger.
  

Notice how all of these revolve around clothes? I seriously think I missed my calling. Is it too late to switch my graduate degree to fashion design? Oh, I wish.

And just to avoid posting a blog with no pictures. . .

do yourself a favor, and go watch this.

(you can find it on amazon.com, or netflix instant)

Reprieve

Summer is almost here. I can tell because the days are getting warmer and more humid, my second semester of grad school is officially over, and the sun is staying up nearly as long as I am in the evenings.

I am so grateful for the reprieve that is summer.

I received very, very good news this week. I am not allergic to any foods, much less the entire food pyramid. Apparently skin testing (which I had done this week) is much more reliable than blood testing (what I had done a couple weeks ago). As in, blood testing has a 50/50 reliability rate, while skin testing has a 95% reliability rate. I wish I had known that before, but I don't regret cutting all that stuff out of my diet for a few weeks. I diversified my food repertoire quite a bit. I've added everything back in except wheat and dairy, and I think I'm going to stay away from those for a while just because I feel better.

I decided against taking summer classes this year, just because I need a break and some time to finish settling into our new home. I'm excited to (finally) unpack that last room full of boxes, to paint my kitchen and bathroom, and to hang things on the walls. Time at home that doesn't involve sleeping or doing homework will be a good thing.

Summer hours start in two weeks. I love working at a school.

I hope you find rest and reprieve in at least some small way this summer, even if your work is not dictated by the school calender.

playing grown up

I have a life now.

Yes, a life. I’d forgotten what it was like.

My new job is wonderful. Right now we’re working summer hours, which means roughly 8:30-4, Monday through Friday (no working on the weekend!). We actually get vacation days and breaks (fall break, thanksgiving break, Christmas break) . I almost dissolved into tears of joy when I learned the break schedule. I have new toys to play with (aka, a laptop and design programs). And this afternoon I have been sitting in Stone Cup designing a book cover from old yearbook photos.

I have evenings again. Evenings mean bike rides, playing outside, pilates, and cooking dinner. Actually getting to the bank before it closes. You know, normal people activities.

Plus, I actually enjoy what I do. Lots of design, which is really fun. Really cool people.

I hung a whiteboard on my door and started a word of the day. Everyone has come to enjoy it; I get complaints if I don’t get a new word up by 9 a.m. each morning. Contests then ensue to see who can write the best sentence on the board. It gives people a reason to stop by my office. And maybe the routine will bump me up a few points on the GRE . . .

I can definitely say I haven’t been bored. It’s been some adjustment, as all new jobs are; and lots to learn.

God is good.

God was good before, too.

I often feel like a kid playing “grown up.” I go to my office, where I can initiate projects, call meetings, make suggestions. And people listen to me. They like what I have to say. And somewhere inside I think “but I’m just a kid. Don’t you know I’m just pretending to be a grown up?” I think the same thing when yet another friend gets married, has a baby, makes some life-altering, very adult-like career move.

It’s making more and more sense.

forbearance

I am learning a lot about patience, and grace, and bearing up under something, or rather I need to be learning these things. I got to work today and I wanted to cry again, on top of the impossibile and growing workload expected of us, I have a cold, I am tired, and patience is the last thing I want to practice.

It would be easy for me to shut down, tune out and just bide my time until I can get out of here. But i don't want to do that. I want to be able to treat those around me with respect and kindness, to remember the hope to which I am called and the One I am to be working for.

But I am human, and fallible, and rather selfish. If only I truly realized how great a loving Father I have, how much power is at His children's disposal.

Forbearance is not what we percieve to be "just." It is patience under wrongdoing, the delaying of what is right. I deserve to be treated much better at work. But I am not called to happiness, I am called to holiness. It's not that the two never meet, but that sometimes the latter is realized in the absence of the former.

I do believe! Lord, help my unbelief!