What is it about the Oscars that are so exciting? Is it the suspense of just what movie is seen by members of the Academy to be the greatest of the year? Is it the opulence that is thrown in the faces of normal human beings? Or is it the sitting on the couch wondering just what it would be like to be dressed in a gown that costs more than my current year's salary, and having thousands of people screaming at my arrival, just because I'm me.
Yesterday I found myself more excited about watching the Oscars than I had been about watching the Super Bowl, which is practically blasphemy in New England at this time!
A few comments from the couch...
* Cate Blanchett is one of the classiest people on the planet
* What was up with Beyonce's lime green eye shadow?
* Antonio Banderas reminds me incredibly of Aaron Kuffel
* Why did Jake Gillenhall shave his head??
* Morgan Freeman makes me smile
* I was happily impressed that they managed to keep politics as low-keyed as they did. Maybe because Susan Sarandon wasn't a presenter?
And then, mixed in with all that, are the things that remind me of how completely different are the beliefs of those in that theatre, and myself. The things that grate against all that I stand for. "The Passion" only receiving two nominations, and those for small, insignifigant awards... Chris Rock's five minute "non-bashing" of Bush... the accepted crass humor & "open-mindedness" of everything but conservative Christianity. And I realize, I'd far rather run in the circles that I do, happily never experiencing the cheers & the bling that Hollywood offers, because I have the hope of a far better thing... and that will be for eternity!
Monday, February 28, 2005
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Hugs & Tulips
Last night I crashed. Not in my car, so Geico couldn't fix it - I crashed emotionally, and don't have any insurance for that! I was on the way home from swimming laps after work, and just couldn't handle life any more. So, I did what I do in those situations. I cried!
Still crying, I pulled into my driveway & noticed that my front light was on. I knew I hadn't left it on in the morning, so guessed that someone had dropped by & turned it on for me. (If you lived on Chestnut Hill, this would make sense... kind of an open house policy) Sniffling, I walked up the pathway & opened my door. There on my table was a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of tulips & a note full of love from my friend Amy. I turned around & she had also done my dishes, leaving my counters oh-so-clean! This, of course, made me cry even harder. I called her & could barely get any words out. She was asking, "Lindsay - what's wrong?" and all I could get out was "The tulips are so pretty!"
When I was finally finally able to get out a few more words, she ascertained that it had not been a good day, and hopped in her car to come up & give me a hug. (I do love it that she lives less than a mile away!)
After I finished wallowing, and she finished comforting, we had dinner & then laid on the living room floor & listened to a CD of Brian Regan - quite possibly one of the funniest men God ever created.
After she left last night, I began thinking about the Holy Spirit, and how He's known as "the One who comes alongside." And how there are times in our lives that we really need someone to come alongside, and God loves us enough to not only give us part of Himself to do that, but to send His own people to comfort as well. I'm thinking it's because He knows there are times that we need human arms to hold us, not just Heavenly arms. How grateful I am for the network that He's supplied of both human & Heavenly.
By the way - Amy is somewhat of a celebrity in these parts right now. President Bush stopped in NH last week to talk about his social security plans, and Amy was not only sitting right next to him on the platform, but gave a speech after he did! We're very proud of her!! Chestnut Hill has our own super-star!
Still crying, I pulled into my driveway & noticed that my front light was on. I knew I hadn't left it on in the morning, so guessed that someone had dropped by & turned it on for me. (If you lived on Chestnut Hill, this would make sense... kind of an open house policy) Sniffling, I walked up the pathway & opened my door. There on my table was a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of tulips & a note full of love from my friend Amy. I turned around & she had also done my dishes, leaving my counters oh-so-clean! This, of course, made me cry even harder. I called her & could barely get any words out. She was asking, "Lindsay - what's wrong?" and all I could get out was "The tulips are so pretty!"
When I was finally finally able to get out a few more words, she ascertained that it had not been a good day, and hopped in her car to come up & give me a hug. (I do love it that she lives less than a mile away!)
After I finished wallowing, and she finished comforting, we had dinner & then laid on the living room floor & listened to a CD of Brian Regan - quite possibly one of the funniest men God ever created.
After she left last night, I began thinking about the Holy Spirit, and how He's known as "the One who comes alongside." And how there are times in our lives that we really need someone to come alongside, and God loves us enough to not only give us part of Himself to do that, but to send His own people to comfort as well. I'm thinking it's because He knows there are times that we need human arms to hold us, not just Heavenly arms. How grateful I am for the network that He's supplied of both human & Heavenly.
By the way - Amy is somewhat of a celebrity in these parts right now. President Bush stopped in NH last week to talk about his social security plans, and Amy was not only sitting right next to him on the platform, but gave a speech after he did! We're very proud of her!! Chestnut Hill has our own super-star!
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Yumm-o!
Since I've given up LoLo for Lent, I've had to find some new sources of food. So I've been using my crockpot. And I love it. I like putting a small roast in there with dry onion soup mix & cream soup, and then when it's cooked for hours, putting sour cream in to make stroganoff. And I also love getting raspberry salsa & putting it in the crock pot over boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
So, there are a couple quick & ultra-easy "recipes" for the busy ones among my readers :)
So, there are a couple quick & ultra-easy "recipes" for the busy ones among my readers :)
Monday, February 21, 2005
Driving Miss Lindsay
Driving in the snow brings out funny sides of people.
Some people think they are invinsible & pass on roads that are slick with ice... only to meet the ditch a mile or so up the road.
Some think they are 60 years older than they really are, and don't go a smidge over 25 mph!
And some just pretend it's an ordinary day & don't change their driving styles at all.
I go mainly between old lady & ordinary. I'm actually thinking of buying a gray wig, so that when people come up along side me on the road & throw angry glares my way, they'll feel bad, b/c all they'll see is a little gray haired lady.
Some people think they are invinsible & pass on roads that are slick with ice... only to meet the ditch a mile or so up the road.
Some think they are 60 years older than they really are, and don't go a smidge over 25 mph!
And some just pretend it's an ordinary day & don't change their driving styles at all.
I go mainly between old lady & ordinary. I'm actually thinking of buying a gray wig, so that when people come up along side me on the road & throw angry glares my way, they'll feel bad, b/c all they'll see is a little gray haired lady.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
On my bookshelf...
Sassy, Single & Satisfied: Secrets to Loving the Life You're Living
Michelle McKinney Hammond
A truly great book that I've immensely enjoyed... until I saw it yesterday (yes, yesterday was Valentine's Day) & wanted to hurl it across the room.
Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls
Stephanie Wellen Levine
I'm only 60 pages into this one, and it's a slow read, but very enjoyable. It's a touching view of the devotion that these girls have to staying seperate from the world, yet trying to evangelize those who have left strict Judaism behind.
Reflections: Life After the White House
Barbara Bush
Though I don't like this one as much as her first book, I do love autobiographies... and she is a very personable writer.
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
Cokie Roberts
Another biography (definitely my favorite type of book!), but this one is of many people. I find it very interesting, and yet a little disturbing to read some of the stories that the author has un-earthed. Isaac, was Benjamin Franklin really such a horrible guy?
Crime & Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
I think I'm reading this one just because I love saying "Dostoevsky!" This one has been on my bookshelf for too long. It's hard to get into, and very dark, but most of my college-attending friends have had to read it, and I don't want to be the only ignoramus when we get together!
Michelle McKinney Hammond
A truly great book that I've immensely enjoyed... until I saw it yesterday (yes, yesterday was Valentine's Day) & wanted to hurl it across the room.
Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls
Stephanie Wellen Levine
I'm only 60 pages into this one, and it's a slow read, but very enjoyable. It's a touching view of the devotion that these girls have to staying seperate from the world, yet trying to evangelize those who have left strict Judaism behind.
Reflections: Life After the White House
Barbara Bush
Though I don't like this one as much as her first book, I do love autobiographies... and she is a very personable writer.
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
Cokie Roberts
Another biography (definitely my favorite type of book!), but this one is of many people. I find it very interesting, and yet a little disturbing to read some of the stories that the author has un-earthed. Isaac, was Benjamin Franklin really such a horrible guy?
Crime & Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
I think I'm reading this one just because I love saying "Dostoevsky!" This one has been on my bookshelf for too long. It's hard to get into, and very dark, but most of my college-attending friends have had to read it, and I don't want to be the only ignoramus when we get together!
Friday, February 11, 2005
How do you spell euphoria?
I spell it...
G-O-I-N-G-T-O-A-J-O-S-H-G-R-O-B-A-N-C-O-N-C-E-R-T-W-I-T-H-A-M-Y!!
Highlights from the evening include:
*Eating at Gaucho's - a Brazilian steakhouse. You get a salad first, and then when you're ready, the servers start coming by with eleven different kinds of meat all roasted on swords (like slices of prime rib, filet mignon, sausages, & turkey wrapped in bacon) for you to choose from, all cooked in delectible spices that I'd never tasted before (Rachelle's kind of place :)
*Laughing til our sides ached because Amy couldn't understand the waiters when they came to offer her meat. One poor guy came over & offered her some beef. He had to say it four times, and even then she didn't get it, so with the threat of tears streaming down my face from repressed laughter, I told the waiter "She'll just take some!"
*Walking under our inadequate umbrella (it was snowing & sleeting, with a very gusty wind!) on the trecherous sidewalks to make it to the arena.
*The lights going down and the anticipation of just which song will he sing first, where will be come out on stage, etc...
*Calling Drewey on the cell phone during "Vincent." And how beautiful it was, b/c they had Van Gogh's painting of Starry Night behind him as he sang. And also, having her on the phone during the song from "The Soundtrack of Our Lives." So many memories...
*Josh calling himself a "dork" after making a dumb joke... How can someone who can sing like that be a dork?
*And the best part was just soaking in the music. Music is such a deep thing, and touches a part of the soul that is hard to describe in words. Therefore, I will stop. Just know that it was one of the best evenings of my life...
G-O-I-N-G-T-O-A-J-O-S-H-G-R-O-B-A-N-C-O-N-C-E-R-T-W-I-T-H-A-M-Y!!
Highlights from the evening include:
*Eating at Gaucho's - a Brazilian steakhouse. You get a salad first, and then when you're ready, the servers start coming by with eleven different kinds of meat all roasted on swords (like slices of prime rib, filet mignon, sausages, & turkey wrapped in bacon) for you to choose from, all cooked in delectible spices that I'd never tasted before (Rachelle's kind of place :)
*Laughing til our sides ached because Amy couldn't understand the waiters when they came to offer her meat. One poor guy came over & offered her some beef. He had to say it four times, and even then she didn't get it, so with the threat of tears streaming down my face from repressed laughter, I told the waiter "She'll just take some!"
*Walking under our inadequate umbrella (it was snowing & sleeting, with a very gusty wind!) on the trecherous sidewalks to make it to the arena.
*The lights going down and the anticipation of just which song will he sing first, where will be come out on stage, etc...
*Calling Drewey on the cell phone during "Vincent." And how beautiful it was, b/c they had Van Gogh's painting of Starry Night behind him as he sang. And also, having her on the phone during the song from "The Soundtrack of Our Lives." So many memories...
*Josh calling himself a "dork" after making a dumb joke... How can someone who can sing like that be a dork?
*And the best part was just soaking in the music. Music is such a deep thing, and touches a part of the soul that is hard to describe in words. Therefore, I will stop. Just know that it was one of the best evenings of my life...
Monday, February 07, 2005
Yup - Uh huh!!!
The Pats did it!!
It may have been a close game, but when it all comes down to it, it was a win, and that's all that New Englanders were asking for!
Hurray for the Pats! Hurray for this year that has brought so much pleasure to New England fans in both baseball & football!
Now if only those silly Celtics could get their act together! I miss Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale... you know - the good ol' guys!
It may have been a close game, but when it all comes down to it, it was a win, and that's all that New Englanders were asking for!
Hurray for the Pats! Hurray for this year that has brought so much pleasure to New England fans in both baseball & football!
Now if only those silly Celtics could get their act together! I miss Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale... you know - the good ol' guys!
Three guns & a stuffed carrot...
Is it the title to a random B grade movie??
No!! It's the outcome of a Saturday afternoon, a doting Aunt, a four-year old nephew, a nearly two niece & a Dollar Store!
I told Jed that as a treat we could go to the Dollar Store & he could pick out THREE things! He was as ecstatic as only a four year old boy can be when given the opportunity to buy the world! He spent nearly half an hour picking out his treasures, and made me laugh out loud when he handed over a rifle, a machine gun, and a package containing a camouflaged cell phone, pistol & watch.
He was also highly disturbed that I didn't think Chloe needed three things as well. It didn't seem fair to him, but being nearly two, Chloe didn't seem in the need of three things. She had latched onto a heinous, bright orange stuffed carrot the moment we walked in the store, and it took some convincing to even get her to give it to the lady to ring up a half hour later... though when everything in the store is a dollar, I don't see why the cashier needed to hold it just to ring it up, but that's another subject all together!
So back in the car, I had a happy army guy with an entire arsenal of guns, and a happy little girl happily clutching her newest love, a bright orange carrot w/ big white eyes & a red yarn mouth, and a heart glowing with love for a store that gave my precious children the world... for only four dollars.
No!! It's the outcome of a Saturday afternoon, a doting Aunt, a four-year old nephew, a nearly two niece & a Dollar Store!
I told Jed that as a treat we could go to the Dollar Store & he could pick out THREE things! He was as ecstatic as only a four year old boy can be when given the opportunity to buy the world! He spent nearly half an hour picking out his treasures, and made me laugh out loud when he handed over a rifle, a machine gun, and a package containing a camouflaged cell phone, pistol & watch.
He was also highly disturbed that I didn't think Chloe needed three things as well. It didn't seem fair to him, but being nearly two, Chloe didn't seem in the need of three things. She had latched onto a heinous, bright orange stuffed carrot the moment we walked in the store, and it took some convincing to even get her to give it to the lady to ring up a half hour later... though when everything in the store is a dollar, I don't see why the cashier needed to hold it just to ring it up, but that's another subject all together!
So back in the car, I had a happy army guy with an entire arsenal of guns, and a happy little girl happily clutching her newest love, a bright orange carrot w/ big white eyes & a red yarn mouth, and a heart glowing with love for a store that gave my precious children the world... for only four dollars.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
New England-isms
Most of us in New England are on a first name with Dunkin Donuts, because there is generally about one per every 500 people in any town. I counted one time & depending on how I went to work, there was the possibility of passing up to seven Dunkins on my 25 minute drive to work. And if I went 25 minutes in any other direction, I can count about that many going those ways as well.
When someone from New England mentions “Dynasty,” we’re not talking about the longest running soap opera... we’re talking in hushed tones about the possibility that our Patriot’s may win their third Super Bowl in four years, and therefore rule football for the time being!
Last weekend it got over 30 degrees for the first time in over a month. Jed got out of the van & said, “Wow - it’s wicked warm. It feels like summer.” My heart swelled with joy & pride as I realized that he is truly a New Englander... not only the “wicked” used as an adjective, but realizing that any break in the cold weather is a cause to lose the winter jackets and rejoice!
And then the most stereotypical thing of all... dropping our “R”s & adding them where they don’t belong. It’s a longstanding joke, even making it’s way into “Finding Nemo,” where the lobsters have New England accents. A guy at work has new twin girls, born several weeks ago. Their names are Emma & Sophia, which I find to be very classy names... until he says them, because then they turn into “Emmer & Sophier.” Since I’ve moved back to NH, I’ve found myself getting slack, and falling into the habit of dropping “R”s. Part of me thinks, “What am I doing? It’s not very classy!” and the other part of me is proud to bear the “mark” of being from the best part of the country ever!
When someone from New England mentions “Dynasty,” we’re not talking about the longest running soap opera... we’re talking in hushed tones about the possibility that our Patriot’s may win their third Super Bowl in four years, and therefore rule football for the time being!
Last weekend it got over 30 degrees for the first time in over a month. Jed got out of the van & said, “Wow - it’s wicked warm. It feels like summer.” My heart swelled with joy & pride as I realized that he is truly a New Englander... not only the “wicked” used as an adjective, but realizing that any break in the cold weather is a cause to lose the winter jackets and rejoice!
And then the most stereotypical thing of all... dropping our “R”s & adding them where they don’t belong. It’s a longstanding joke, even making it’s way into “Finding Nemo,” where the lobsters have New England accents. A guy at work has new twin girls, born several weeks ago. Their names are Emma & Sophia, which I find to be very classy names... until he says them, because then they turn into “Emmer & Sophier.” Since I’ve moved back to NH, I’ve found myself getting slack, and falling into the habit of dropping “R”s. Part of me thinks, “What am I doing? It’s not very classy!” and the other part of me is proud to bear the “mark” of being from the best part of the country ever!
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Always carry small bills...
Yesterday I stopped for a bagel and coffee on the way to work. My total was $3.34 and I paid with a $10 bill. Not a good idea! My change came back $6.66, and that was the beginning of a truly horrible day.
And, yes, for those of you who remembered & are wondering, I'm off the no-dairy thing, because it wasn't making me feel any better. Bring on the iced coffees!!
And, yes, for those of you who remembered & are wondering, I'm off the no-dairy thing, because it wasn't making me feel any better. Bring on the iced coffees!!
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