2009: What I’m thankful for

I can’t believe we’re heading into the final month of 2009.  This year will be one that stays with me for a long time to come.  It was an exciting year, a year full of change, and a year that made me think differently about things.  As we celebrated Thanksgiving this year, I compiled a list of all the things I’m thankful for this year.  So, here goes:

1. For my master’s degree from Georgetown.  Praise God for helping me persevere right through the end.  And I’m thankful for all the encouragement my friends gave me for all those times I wanted to pack up and quit.
2. For God’ work in the New People Ministry at Frontline.  For my awesome co-coach, a wonderful team of volunteers, and all the wins we’ve seen God accomplish through the ministry.
3. For all the new friends I’ve made this year and how they bless me in so many ways.  For all my longtime friends and all their support, encouragement and wisdom.
4. For new opportunities in my job and the chance to use some of the skills I learned at Georgetown.  And, I’m thankful for such job stability, knowing I didn’t have to ever worry about not having a job to go to. (Yes, being thankful for my job might surprise some of you, but I’m trying to be positive!)
5. For new experiences this yer: London, Paris, Savannah, Charleston, post-season Yankee baseball (yes, had to throw that in there!).
6. For the many ways that God has worked in my heart this year.  For opening my eyes to things I hadn’t seen before, for new truth revealed and for all the love that comes with it as He restores and heals.

So, there you have it.  If you haven’t already, I hope you take a chance to reflect on what you are thankful for.  If you’d care to share in the comments, I’d love to hear what you’re giving thanks for.

Let’s bring on 2010!

Mixed tape

My friend Bindu recently posted a question on her blog: “If your life were mixed tape, what songs would be on it?”  I thought the question was a good one, and I’ve decided to bring you my own mixed tape.  I’ll preface by saying that musically, it’s all over the map (but, I tend to be that way so it makes sense).

1. You Got It (The Right Stuff) – New Kids on the Block
   I think I was seven years old when I discovered NKOTB, and why my mom let me listen to them I’ll never know.  But, I do know that I was absolutely in love with Joey McIntyre and just sure that I was going to marry him.  So, instead of You Got It, I should probably have one of Joey’s high-pitched crooners up here, such as Please Don’t Go Girl.  And to add more weight as to why NKOTB is on this list, I saw them twice in concert in 2008 – once while standing in the rain at the Today Show and then when they came through DC on their tour. (Yes, I am crazy!)
2. Walkin’ After Midnight – Patsy Cline
   My list just wouldn’t be complete without this song.  As a child, whenever my cousin Rachelle and I would ride in my grandma’s car, Pasty Cline’s Greatest Hits album would have to be playing.  For some reason, as little girls, Rachelle and I loved listening to this.  We each had a favorite song.  My grandma loved Crazy, Rachelle would sing out to Back in Baby’s Arms, and I would belt out Walkin’ After Midnight.  A couple years ago I ended up buying this album on iTunes so I could recreate some childhood memories!
3. More Than a Feeling – Boston / Iron Man – Black Sabbath / Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down
   Yes, I know there are three songs here, but they sort of go together.  My junior year of high school, I met one of my good friends, Tiffany.  She was definitely different than the rest of the girls at Stanton High School, and after awhile we became attached at the hip.  Tiffany infused a little classic rock into my life.  We used to cruise back and forth to Omaha in her HUGE 1984 Buick listening to More than a Feeling and Kryptonite with the windows rolled down, wind blowing in our hair.  And how does Iron Man fit in?  Well, we figured out the melody line on our saxaphones much to our band director’s (and probably everyone else’s) annoyance!
4. Iowa State Fight Song
   This is kind of lame, but I really couldn’t think of any other song that represented my college years.  While I may have had grand ideas on where I wanted to go to college, I’m so glad that I chose ISU.  First off, it was just big enough for me to get lost in the crowd (something that never happens in a small town), and secondly, it was a life changing experience that helped shape who I am today.  I discovered Jesus in college, made lifelong friends and solidified my life goals and pursuits.  So, this one’s cheesy, but just go with it.
5. My Stupid Mouth – John Mayer
   This song is on here for two reasons.  One: Just like Mayer in this song, I have a tendency to stick my foot in my mouth, say things I don’t really mean, or just completely mess up what I say.  This is why I went to print journalism rather than broadcast.  It would be horrible!  Two:  I discovered John Mayer in college, and this song quickly became my favorite.  I probably traumatized my friend Amy because everytime she got in my car this cd would be playing.  Oddly, enough, six years later, John Mayer is still the cd in my car.  Some things never change.
6. Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson
   The first time I ever really listened to this song, I was immediately struck that it was all about me!  Here’s a sample of the lyrics: “Grew up in a small town / And when the rain would fall down / I’d just stare out my window / Dreaming of what could be . . . And I’ll make a wish / Take a chance / Make a change / And breakaway.”  As I moved away from Iowa on my own, first to Dallas and then on to DC, I felt that I made my own changes in life and did my own “breakaway.”
7. O Praise Him – David Crowder Band
   Not long after I started attending Frontline at McLean Bible Church, David Crowder Band put this song out.  I absolutely love this band; they are probably my favorite Christian group.  And this song to me is what it’s all about, to just praise God and the joyous noise we will be giving up to God in heaven.  I sometimes joke that I want David Crowder Band to have their own stage in heaven, because I’m going to be camped out right by them for eternity!
8. Say It Right – Nelly Furtado
   This song isn’t so much about what Nelly is singing about, but more about where I was when I first discovered this song.  I associate it with my mission trip to Romania, even though I heard the song in Budapest.  We were on the tail end of the trip, our last night to be exact, and had to leave for the airport at 4 in the morning.  So most of us decided that we would stay awake the entire night so we’d sleep on the long flight back to DC.  Well, if this was your last night in Europe and you were going to be awake anyway, you might as well explore the city at night, right?  A group of us ended up walking around the city the entire night.  We made a pit stop at what we thought was a jazz cafe on the isalnd in the middle of the Danube River.  Turns out it was a raving night club, and this song happened to be playing when we stopped and it just stuck with me.  I’d probably rank this night up there as one of the most memorable times in my life!
9. Glory Revealed – Candi Pearson-Shelton
   This song really spoke to me while I was in Burma.  One morning I was outside doing my quiet time.  Really, I was skimming through the book of Isaiah, when I came to chapter 40.  Verses 3-5 struck me as what we were doing in Burma:  A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Our main objective was prayer walking on that trip, essentially preparing the way for the Lord.  Well, I soon realized that the CD our leaders had made for us had this song on it that is based on Isaiah 40.  It was really fitting, and everytime I listen to it, I’m brought back to our time in the mountains of Burma, where we literally forged our own path for God.
10. Home – Michael Buble
    This song is for all the times I’ve wanted to just pack my bags and jump on the next flight to Iowa.  For as much as I love living in DC and wouldn’t trade it for the world, when I’m home in Iowa, my stress melts away and I can just relax.  I probably sleep most of the time I’m home.  While getting my master’s at Georgetown, I made plans to go home at the end of every semester.  I went home more often in those two years than I ever had before.
11. Perfectly Lonely – John Mayer
    Yes, of course John Mayer is on here twice.  If I didn’t know that certain people would give me flack over it, I’m pretty sure all the songs could be John Mayer songs.  Well, this on is off his new album that came out last week.  And for those who know me well, you’d know the lyrics of this song sort of describe the self-imposed state of my heart right now.  But don’t think it’s too depressing, the song ends on a hopeful note, which is where I’m headed as well!

So, I’m going to continue Bindu’s question – if you had a mixed tape of your life, what would be on it?  And to answer Bindu’s other question – no I don’t have a theme to mine.  I told you it would be random!

Lucky Day: John Mayer – Battle Studies

Today must have been my lucky day.

This morning John Mayer pre-sale tickets went on sale, and guess who had the pre-sale code.  Yep, I scored 10th row seats for his concert in DC in February.  Can we just speed up the next few months please?

And then this afternoon I received an email from my apartment building’s concierge letting me know I had a package waiting for me.  Now, the only package I was expecting wasn’t supposed to come until Tuesday . . . John Mayer’s new album, Battle Studies.  As luck would have it, I got my CD three days before it’s released in stores.  I’ve been waiting for this CD for months, followed its progress on Mayer’s Battle Studies blog, ordered it the day it was available for pre-order, and even took a sneak peek listen on Rhapsody last week.

I have to say, I think John Mayer knows how to take care of his fans!  Of course, I’m listening to it as I write this, and it’s just as great as I had hoped it would be.

It's just as great as I expected!

DC sniper executed

Just 30 minutes ago, DC sniper, John Allen Muhammad was executed in Virginia.  In 2002, the DC region spent three weeks in fear that they might be gunned down while doing everyday things such as pumping gas, shopping or mowing the lawn.  Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were convicted, but while Malvo received live without parole, Muhammad was sentenced to death.

This has been a big story in DC this week, especially as the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal and Governor Tim Kaine denied a stay of execution.

While reading all the stories, I felt a range of emotions.  I remember the feelings of sadness I felt for the victims back in 2002 as I could only watch the horror unfold on television from my house in Iowa – never realizing that I’d end up living in the same area three years later.  I read tales of the victims families who were still processing their grief.  Some who were obviously grief-stricken with the belief that only by watching Muhammad die, would they be able to move on.  And others who wanted nothing to do with the events in the death chamber tonight.

And today, as the Washington Post ran a story about how exactly Muhammad would die, I could only feel sorry for this man.  At 4:00 this afternoon, I thought to myself what would I do if I knew I only had five hours left to live.  What would my thoughts be?  Does he feel remorse?  Is he afraid?  If one of my family members had been a victim, could I forgive him?  All I could do was pray for him.

If you would have asked me in 2002 whether I thought he deserved the death penalty, I would have answered with a resounding yes!  But today, my view is a little more cloudy.

Muhammad and Malvo did horrific things, and I believe they needed to be punished by society.  But, I am torn in my belief over what is the fullest extent of the law.  Should the government be in the business of taking lives?  I’m not so sure that it should.

I know that God has worked out everything according to His plan.  But if Muhammad had not been executed tonight, at some point in his life might he have come to know Jesus?  I’ve heard some amazing stories out of the prison fellowship ministry.  Would he too have repented and been forgiven of ALL his sins, so matter how terrible they were?

I’ll never know the answer, but it makes me pause when considering the death penalty.  In the past three years, my heart has softened and my view of humanity is different, and I can see Muhammad as a human being, not just a killer.  I’ve realized that anyone can be redeemed through Christ.  Shouldn’t we at least allow them the opportunity in their lifetime?

Setting the record straight

While at a housewarming party this weekend, I was asked two questions that I dread answering.  The first: where are you from? I hate this question because when I answer “Iowa,” I normally get the shocked look that says, “wow, I didn’t think people actually live there.”

The second question came a little while later: “so, Jenny, what do people do in Iowa?”  Seriously?  What do we do, as in what do we do on a daily basis, for fun, for work . . .?  As this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this questions, I’ve learned to control my astonishment that someone (a grown man, no less) would actually ask this question.  Since we were playing a game, I just responded that probably at that exact same moment someone in Iowa was playing the exact same game.

But the more I think about the frequency in which I get asked this question, I begin to be troubled and worried for people.  I’m not saying that you have to go visit Iowa, but don’t be naive enough to think that Iowa is any different from any other part of the country. Sure, it’s no New York of Los Angeles,  but shockingly enough we do have cities, shopping malls and grocery stores, airports and great schools and colleges.

I’m going to go on record as saying that “Iowa is NOT one big cornfield.”

You can quote me on that.

I may have grown up on a farm, near a small town and attended a very small school.  But apparently that very small school gave me a better world view than your big city school that must have forgotten to teach you that there is an America between the east and west coasts.

OMG! We even have roads in Iowa too!

 

Book drooling, part 2

I. Am. In. Love.

I think I might have a problem; I’m addicted to books.  You might remember this post from April 10 where I expressed my undying love for a set of the most beautiful books I’d ever seen.  I may have spoken too soon because Penguin Classics and designer Coralie Bickford-Smith are at it again with a second collection of books.

We’ve got 10 more books to enjoy, and you can get them all from Waterstone’s in the UK.  Unfortunately, they are a bit pricey buying them in British pounds, and the Chapters Indigo site in Canada only has six out of ten books.  I may have to wait until they come out in the U.S., as the first set comes out tomorrow on Amazon.

Or, maybe I’ll splurge and get them anyway! This set includes:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles
• Oliver Twist
• Emma
• The Odyssey
• The Woman in White
• Treasure Island
• The Sonnets and a Lover’s Complaint (Shakespeare)
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover
• Little Women
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Yeah, I think I really need these. They’ll look so great next to the other set. 

The original set, which looks great on my shelf!

Happy Halloween!

Just a short post to say Happy Halloween! I spent the night carving pumpkins.  While I’m quite proud of this guy, you have to admit the peeping-tom quality is slightly creepy!  My roommate carved a slightly friendlier, yet sinister pumpkin. 

Eating and drinking our way through NYC

I spent a little less than two days in New York this past weekend, and besides the Yankee game, I can’t really tell you what we did, except for eating and drinking.  So, below is my restaurant guide for a New York City weekend:

I arrived in the city around 9:00, and the first thing we did was head to Union Square for breakfast, which ended up being at Pret A Manger.  I love this place, but it’s not very new to me since I’ve been to them in New York and London.  Still, I got a croissant, which reminded me of being in Paris!

After wandering around the vendors in Union Square’s Saturday market, we walked down to SoHo and ended up at DoJo for lunch near NYU.  I think I mostly loved this place because for $10 we got a meal . . . AND a drink.  While the other ladies went for mimosas, I had to go for the bloody mary.

We wandered around Washington Square Park for a bit, then headed back up 5th Avenue to our hotel on the East Side to get ready for the game.  Now, not only was I excited for the game, but I was kind of looking forward to stadium hotdogs.  Unfortunately, the game was postponed.  But, we still managed to make it a great night.  Not hard to do being a group of four lovely ladies. 

Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village

Now, I am not sure how people ever did anything before cell phone technology.  How did you find restaurants?  Directions?  I think we spent about 45 minutes searching Urban Spoon and Yelp for restaurant reviews before deciding on Amber, an Asian restaurant . . . no, a trendy Asian restaurant.  It was delicious, and I believe everyone loved their food and drinks.  Bindu and Natalie were especially happy with the lychee martini, and I was pleased with the tangerine chicken.

The night was still young and we wanted dessert.  After more Yelp consultation, we headed over to Madison Avenue to visit Sant Ambroeus, which is probably the cutest place ever with the most amazing desserts.  Described as a spot for the “ladies who lunch” crowd, it catered to our sweet tooth needs.  Let me tell you, the pumpkin cheesecake was amazing!

Day two saw us dining at a local diner for breakfast . . . think of the restaurant in Seinfeld and you’ll get the picture.  After dropping Natalie and Dani off at Penn Station, Bindu and I kept on our walking trek of the city.  This is when our food choices went downhill.  I don’t mean that we didn’t like the food, but we started to eat a lot of sugar.  On our quest to find coffee that didn’t come from Starbucks, we ran across the Buttercup Bake Shop.  Of course we had to stop in.  Good cupcakes, but still doesn’t beat Georgetown Cupcake, except these were only $2, which is a steal!

After walking across Midtown to the west side (and still not finding coffee), I decided that we couldn’t pass up Pinkberry if we were in the neighborhood (considering we’d already driven past multiple locations in taxis that weekend).  After that pitstop, I knew that if we continued north to the Upper West Side, we were sure to find some authentic coffee.  Believe me when I tell you, all we could find were Starbucks.  I think we passed by 10 of them before Bindu got desperate and I had to go to the bathroom.  Such a letdown.

Since we were no longer in need of coffee, but still hours before game time, we decided to stroll through Riverside Park.

Riverside Park - beautiful in the fall!

So, we wandered around and made our way down Columbus Avenue, when wouldn’t you know it – we ran right into Shake Shack.  Shake Shack had been one of our options the night before, but we opted to scale things up instead.  This place has amazing burgers! I highly recommend a stop, plus it’s pretty inexpensive.

By this time it was time to head to the Bronx for the game.  Sadly, the burgers filled us up so much that we never got our stadium hot dogs.  We were content with our overpriced hot chocolate to keep us warm as we cheered the Yankees onto the World Series!

So, there’s my weekend restaurant guide . . . and literally all we did all weekend was eat.  And it was great!

 

Just another Tuesday night

How did you spend your Tuesday night?  Well, this is how I spent mine?

It was the annual DC High Heels Race.  One, I’m a woman, and I doubt I could run like that in heels; two, it was raining pretty hard, so you’ve gotta give ‘em some credit.

I <3 New York

The tale of my spontaneous, amazing, wonderful, unforgettable weekend . . .

Once upon a time there was a girl who started watching baseball.  Because no teams were near her home, she could only watch during the end of the season to see who would be the winner.  When she was younger, there was one team that was very good, and won year, after year, after year.  Eventually this little girl fell in love with this team.

Now, the team wasn’t very well liked outside of its home in New York City.  So, said little girl had to deal with ridicule from family and friends as to why she’d latch onto what they called the evil empire.  But, the girl persevered and stuck with the team.  Even through the highs and lows, her love for them never failed.  She went through her frustrations like any good fan would, but in the end she loved this team.

Once the girl was old enough, she moved to the East to be nearer to her team.  This meant that she actually got to watch them play in person in their stadium in New York.  No longer did she have to only see them on television.  And she also made friends with other people who shared her love of this team.  They would travel to New York together at least once a year to watch a game.  Even though the team was going through a rough patch, life was good.

But then the year 2009 rolled through.  The team had a brand new stadium, and it was like they were a brand new team.  They played really well that year, making it all the way to the top of their league.  The girl wished she could see them play live at the end of the season, just like she used to when she was younger.

One day (last Friday), she was at home for the day when her friend called asking if she wanted to see them play in the championship game.  An opportunity like this could not be missed, so the girl dropped all her plans and made her way to New York for the weekend.  The friends had a great time in the city, even though it was a bit rainy.  By the time they were ready to go to the stadium, the rain was pouring down harder, meaning the game would have to be postponed until the following night.

After a lot of angst and drama about what to do, the two girls decided they had to stay the extra night to see this game.  If the team won this game, they would get to play in the ultimate championship: the World Series!  Luckily, most people thought they made the right choice.

Here’s where the story of the girls’ trip gets a little crazy.  Instead of just staying another night in New York, they decided to go to the game, which would end around midnight, and then take a train back to their town at 3 o’clock in the morning.  And yes, the girls did go to work that next day as well.

But, the team ended up winning the game.  The fans were cheering and celebrating, singing at the top of their lungs, giving out high five’s.  The girls had a blast!  And even though they were really tired the next day, they did live happily ever after knowing their team was going to the World Series.

Girl and friend at the game!

The team wins!

The crowds celebrate!

The team is a champion, and off to the World Series!