thirty-five

It's been a while.

A lot has happened.

Most of this won't be news to those I've spoken to. For those I haven't had the privilege of corresponding with lately, I'm truly sorry. I hope to tell you more about the wonderful things that have happened in the past two months in person. Or at least on the phone, and soon. I miss my friends and family and have been neglectful of keeping up with them.

First things first. I'm engaged. To the most wonderful person in the world, James Briggs. I'm very excited! After an absolutely wonderful picnic on June 6th, 2009 in Prospect Park, Mr. Briggs asked me to marry him and, of course, I said yes. We'll be getting married September 5th, 2009 on a NYC rooftop at sunset. It will be wonderful.

After much consideration, and prompting from the groom-to-be himself, we decided to apply for jobs in his home state of Michigan. We began our search at the end of June, and as I write this on July 23rd, I have almost completed my second day of work in my new job. Tomorrow will be round out James' second full week of work at annarbor.com, a digital replacement for the now out-of-print Ann Arbor News.

Our story is incredible, and if you want to know more, please just ask. God has blessed us both beyond reason.

I hope to post much more regularly from now on. Also, be on the lookout for my movie blog that I will be starting sometime in the indeterminate future.

thirty-four

After a much too short trip home I am back in New York. The trip was wonderful, albeit crammed full of time with various people. My parents loved James, who came with me. I wish the trip could have been about 3 days longer, but we could only afford to take 4 days off from work.

I know I haven't blogged in a while; I haven't had a lot to say recently. Hopefully that will change.

thirty-three

Today I am privileged to celebrate our Lord's resurrection. I think Easter is my favorite holiday because the commercial powers that be may have exploited it, but they can't manufacture a convincing reason as to why we celebrate with bunnies and candy a day that is about love and hope. A day where our brave Savior rose from death, allowing us the chance for redemption. It may seem silly to other people, but Easter always excites me because it is the day Christ defeated death, the most important day in my faith, the crux of what I believe.

It was a lovely day today that started out with a sunrise service in Central Park on the Upper West Side. I was a little exhausted, having only had two hours of sleep, but I manned up and even came armed with my camera (photos to follow). Afterwards James and I hit up Fairway for some brunch items and came back to my place to eat and rest. We trekked back to the Upper West Side to our mutual friend's apartment to partake of Easter lunch/dinner. It was absolutely fantastic. I ate way too much. After dinner we had a chance to relax and just hang out without Trader Joe's owning our time. And it was great.

I'm so exhausted I'm going to hit the sack. Hopefully pictures will follow soon.

thirty-two

Today I was threatened by what I am assuming was an eleven year old. I was running to catch the subway and threw my hands between the doors. I know this wasn't the brightest idea, but my overwhelming fear of being late for my crummy retail job took control. While my hands were wedged between the doors and struggling to push them open I heard some yelling behind me. I didn't pay too much attention to it because people are always yelling for completely unnecessary reasons in NY. I managed to wedge the doors open (thank you Trader Joe's for beefing me up) and squeeze into the car. I grabbed a seat and looked up to see this eleven year old running up to the doors. He hit his hand against the window and shot me an angry look. I tried to apologize via body language for not understanding/hearing his calls to hold the door. He raised his hand, pointing his index finger and middle finger at his eyes and then turns his hand and points his fingers at me. As soon as this happened I burst out laughing. I better watch my back because there is an angry eleven year old who frequents the Franklin Avenue 4/5 stop, and he's watching me.

thirty-one

As I wrote my post last night I forgot to mention one of the funniest things that happened to me yesterday. While babysitting I was asked quite a few times for a snack or meal by my tiny 4 year charge. She doesn't eat a lot or often, due to a pickiness associated with 4 year olds and my 27 year old boyfriend, so I was happy to oblige her anytime she asked for food. Each time I responded unconsciously with a variation of "I'm fixin' to" or "I'll fix that for you". And each time my gregarious ward would respond, "Fix? You are not going to fix anything." To which I would have to answer, "Forgive me, I meant make, I'm going to make you a sandwich." Sometimes I don't realize when I betray my Southern roots so blantantly, especially to a child who doesn't understand why I'm fixin' to do anything.

thirty

Finally, I feel like winter is beginning to recede. I was convinced for quite sometime that it was never going to stop being cold. But Mother Nature has finally taken note that winter should be over. The highs have reached the 60s, which if I were still living in Baton Rouge or Mobile I would consider that to be chilly. Now I can't wait to get outside and enjoy the lovely weather.

I wish I had more to talk about other than the weather, but I'm pretty exhausted from work (I just worked 5pm-1am last night, 8am-4pm babysitting, then 5pm-1am tonight). I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep with a short nap while the child I was babystting napped. I don't really mean to come off as complaining (maybe groping for a little sympathy), but I feel like I'm truly beginning to understand working for every dollar, or as my parent's would say "honest work". It is hard and sometimes doesn't feel rewarding at all, but I don't know if I have ever worked harder in any job that I cared absolutely nothing for.

In other equally thrilling news my cat Margot has learned how to turn on my bedside lamp (it is a touch lamp so this isn't some great evolutionary leap in the feline species). But it is a little disturbing to come home to a lamp that has been turned on by what you were previously assuming to be some mild poltergeist or electrical discrepancy.

Other than my great disappointment at the end of BSG I have very little else to update anyone on. Oh, I want to wish Tara a very Happy Birthday again. She turned 13 on the 26th and is no longer a little girl anymore. My youngest sister is now a teenager.

Time for bed, or should I say popping in Back to the Future III for my bedtime viewing. I'm a dork, I know.

twenty-nine

Tonight I attended my first free screening that didn't involve Free Fridays at MoMA. I arrived at Union Square early so I decided to hit up Barnes & Noble for it's free public restrooms. While there I did scope out an interesting series, Conversations With Filmmakers. I picked up The Coen Brother's book and read a short interview about Fargo. While it was not the most enlightening article, I have hope for the rest of the series. Kurosawa and Fellini looked particularly interesting. I would love to read interviews with Fellini, although I hope he lives up to the eccentric I envision him to be. In the future I would love to kill some down time in Union Square by reading more from this series. Buying the books is out of the question with prices at $22.95 per book. Sorry University of Mississippi Press, I cannot afford to support you.

The screening I attended was Alien Trespass, a 1950s throwback about a space invasion. The director, RW Goodwin, was available for a short Q&A session after the movie. I enjoyed hearing his inspirations (War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and It Came from Outer Space) as well as the caveats of working in such a tight niche. I learned that there are people who have specialized in composing film scores specifically for 1950s inspired sci-fi films. Afterwards I had the opportunity to ask him about writing a strong female lead in a genre where women were often viewed as accesories. He felt strong and intersting female leads were lacking from the genre as a whole and sought to integrate that into his film. Also worth noting in the film are the little idiosyncracies placed within the movie, for instance an intentional poorly timed green screen sequence. For more information you can visit the website or even better, go see the movie when it comes out. It won't change your life, but it will be an hour and a half enjoyably spent. (I promise I was not asked to promote this movie. I just wanted to share a pleasantly spent Monday evening.)

twenty-eight

What is the best part of walking home at 2AM through heavy snowfall?

Being the first to jump in the giant piles of snow.

twenty-seven

I've been terrible about updating my blog. For being unemployed and lacking a sustainable social life I have been quite the busy beaver these days. Fortunately my unemployment will end quite soon. And while my new job is nothing glamorous, I'm probably looking forward to it more than I have any other job I've ever had. Partly because a purposeful day and a sustainable income are appealing, but also because I would rather work in an environment where my contribution of being a pleasant employee, keeping shelves organized, and treating people kindly is immensely more worthwhile than designing for giant corporations with the sole purpose of enticing people to spend more money on absolutely worthless products.

Per my last post, I really feel that I am being challenged more now to grow in my faith than I ever have before. My journey with God has been very dry for the past three years. I would say that during this time I never felt my belief in God wavering, but I can not say that I was in any way challenged. My beliefs were intellectually challenged, but never was I exercising the amount of dependence that I have in the past 6 months. In the past three years I lost that feeling of immediacy in my relationship with God and with seeing His kingdom made known here on earth. Moving to NY has brought a lot necessary things back into focus. I have been exercising faith in a way I never have before. I have always been in control. No matter what I was able to figure a way out to pay for things. It hasn't always been that way here. But each time I step out in faith, no matter how small the matter, God has taken care of it. By no means do I have the faith of a mustard seed, but I am growing and learning that the only thing limiting God is me.

twenty-six

I'm so happy. I have a retail job at Trader Joe's. In my last post I postulated that I would be rejected once again. Earlier in the week I decided that I needed to have a little faith in God and rely on Him to provide for me. By no means has this one exercise in faith made me completely reliant, but it is the surrender of one thing at a time. I've been thinking a lot lately about how to increase one's faith. I have come to the conclusion that it is much like lifting weights. You don't go into the gym expecting to be a body builder in a week. You go in and push yourself to your limit and each week you begin to increase the weight or repetitions, constantly stretching and growing your muscles. At least in my case this is how growing my faith seems to be happening.

Today was a lovely Valentine's Day. My date and I ended up moving on the senior citizen's track (matinee movie, dinner before 6, after dinner dessert, and home by 10) and I totally did not mind. It is so nice to be home at a decent time. Not to mention it was a fantastic date and we had loads of fun.

I'm hoping to visit Alabama/Louisiana some time in May. I would love to see everyone! Melanie, when is graduation? I would like to see you in my visit. I'm pretty sure everyone else will be in Louisiana, but if not let me know. I want to see folks.

I'm off to bed, maybe. The Princess Bride is on TV. Although, it is ridiculous that I would stay up and watch it (seeing as how I own it), I think I might. Only an hour left...