The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

This morning I went to church at Willow Creek because I couldn't get my butt out of bed early enough to go to my usual Lutheran church. Also, I start to miss contemporary worship if I haven't done it in a while. I got a lot out of church this morning. The sermon was about hearing God speak to you through scripture. And that's exactly how it is with me. I don't hear God's voice very often, and I know it's my fault because I'm so bad about prayer and that kind of thing. But when I do hear from God, it's almost always through a Bible verse popping into my head. So I've always thought that I need to be better at memorizing more Bible verses. We had lots of memory work to do for confirmation class and also in college, but I've neglected it since then. Today was a great reminder about what I need to be doing. I now have post-it notes of Bible verses plastered to my bathroom mirror to help me with my memorization. I also fell in love with a so

Faye reminded me how awesome this song is the other day. I thought I'd post it for everyone's viewing pleasure.

This weekend was absolutely perfect. Lately I've been feeling like there's just so much joy in my life. I love it. Thursday night I played tennis with Nina and kicked her butt. I was just joking when I was trash talking her (we've never been competitive before, at least when it comes to tennis), but it felt really good to win 7 out of 9 games. And after taking lessons this summer, my serve won't hold me back anymore. I can't wait. Also, I just have to say that one of my favorite sounds in the world is my sneakers squeaking on the tennis court. Friday night I went over to Jen and Ray's, where I got to see my adorable Goddaughter, Parker. She is 9 months old now, crawling, pulling herself up, cruising... My favorite is when she plays Peek-a-Boo. She does it backwards; she holds something in front of her face, then pulls it down and waits for you to say "Peek-a-boo." Adorable. Saturday night I went to DC's and danced my butt off for hours. I

Last weekend I went to Eureka with one of my favorite friends, Whitney. We've been friends and accountability partners for several years now and never met each other's families, so we decided it was past time to take care of that. I've heard so much about her family; I couldn't wait to meet them. It was a very relaxing weekend. On Saturday morning we went to the secondhand shop in town, which was an interesting experience. They sell so much random stuff, like these empty containers: They even sell used underwear. Hilarious. They are owned by the Mennonites, so there are signs like this displayed throughout the store: After lunch we headed over to the sesquicentennial celebration (is that how you spell that?). The description in the paper sounded really exciting: people in period costumes, reenactments, demonstrations, and a medicine man show. I was especially looking forward to the stained glass exhibit. It ended up being extraordinarily lame. The stained glass

Pete is not a vegetarian. I played a little joke. He was really irritating me the other night and arguing with me about being a vegetarian. He commented that that would be one of the worst names someone could call him. "Oh really?" I commented as I moseyed over to the computer. I wrote the previous post, then asked a few friends to text him and say, "Hey, I heard this rumor that you've gone vegetarian." And when he asked where they heard that, they would say, "On Erin's blog." It all went according to plan. He called around midnight that night to ask what was going on, and I said, "You should hear what people are saying about you on the internet." I love that Nancy called him a hipster in her comment... that's like, one of the worst things you could call him. Anyway, he kept saying, "That is effed up!" But it sounded like he thought it was funny, too. So I thought it was pretty hilarious until he showed up at my h

Pete is a vegetarian.

One of my text conversations today went something like this: Pete: I love DePaul girls. Me: I love wearing my flowy skirt and flip flops and doing double dutch. Pete: I love getting commission checks. Me: I love hope and possibility... You are loving a lot of things today. Pete: I love everything. Me: Not true. Pete: What don't I love? Me: Girls who don't shave. The pitcher for the Sox. Clingy girls. See, I listen. What don't I love? Besides my class. Pete: No idea. I started thinking about what I don't love. And by the way, saying I don't love my class isn't true; I do love them all individually. So after school, I asked Michelle. "Can you name something I don't love?" Michelle replied that I love everything, but then thought about it and said, "Meat." And then we got deep and decided I don't love myself. Then LaJoya joined the conversation, and we started discussing things Michelle doesn't love. People who act like ad

I set my alarm for 6:45, five minutes later than usual, because it just looked so much nicer than 6:40. I usually spend time checking email and stuff in the morning, but I figured I just wouldn't do that today. I walked into work exactly five minutes late. When I went to tell my principal about the vandalism in my classroom, she informed me that my autistic student urinated all over in both stairwells yesterday, and then I went to my classroom, and C came in to talk to me about a surprise shower. Even though she was pleasant, I still don't like talking to her. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My kids were loud and disrespectful when I was trying to teach, and the most popular couple in the class broke up, so there was all kinds of drama, and we didn't even get to go outside for recess. I think I'll move to Australia. I saw my principal later in the day, and she asked me when I was going to get my reading certification. She

When I was little, I was so terrified of storms that I would throw up. My mom used to buy me all kinds of books about storms to show me there was nothing to be afraid of, but they had no effect; I would still puke. I was young enough that I only have a vague memory of this. I also remember how, when it stormed at night, my parents would hold my ears for me. And my mom was better at it than my dad. I don't know when this shifted to fascination, but for years now, I've wanted to go storm chasing. I really really really want to see a tornado. I know Tom Skilling has this trip you can go on, but I think it's in April, so that won't work with my teaching schedule. But I have to find a way to do this. I've been unsuccessful in my solo attempts so far. Last year I went to Cedar Point with my mom and some extended family. I was alone in the room when the tornado sirens started going off. A quick viewing of the Weather Channel revealed that there were several torna

Work was just awful yesterday. I try so hard to be positive, but some days, it's just impossible. Monday was great. We played a game that went so well, and I was so encouraged. And then yesterday, the girl drama resurfaced and girls were literally screaming at each other. On top of that, I realized that my class lacks integrity. That's the word I've been looking for all year. Every time I turn my back, someone's trying to see what they can get away with. They're just not good people. A huge part of the problem is the parents. But I have some great parents whose kids are still crazy. I just don't get it. And since they get no real consequences for their actions, the behavior continues and escalates. I was in such a terrible mood yesterday that, when I got to the gym, my trainer immediately commented that I looked like I was going to cry. I didn't feel like crying, though. (I'm not a crier.) I just want this year to be over. My friend Nancy&

Sarah posted a link to this blog on Facebook. So funny. www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com The best part is the post called "Happy Falker Satherhood."

Paula!!!!!! Okay Paula, you said I should add you to my list of things to do this summer, but this seems a little inappropriate. Perhaps I should change it to: Visit Paula and her family in Portland!!!!!! I'm going to try. I really am. I will most likely use student loan money to do it, but I've always wanted to go there. And I miss you like crazy. If I come visit, can we go to a meadow like the one Bella and Edward went to? And can we go to Donald Miller's church?

Yesterday couldn't have been better. I went to church. I went out to Naperville and surprised my parents with a visit. All four of us went to my grandma's and brought her a pie. We watched the Cubs game and teased my dad for being so petulant. He would leave the room every time things got intense, and even when they won, he still wasn't happy. His comment was that they should have done better. Grandma then told us stories about our grandpa and great-grandpa's love for the Cubs. Apparently my great-grandpa, who was a pastor, used to sneak out of church functions to listen to games. I attempted to climb the tree in my grandma's front yard and discovered that I have no upper body strength. I played the piano. I sucked because I haven't played in a really long time, but it felt so good. My mom gave me a bouquet of lilacs from the yard, and now my apartment smells heavenly. My dad gave me one of many boxes of my old books for me to sort out. I got dinner from No

Mother's Day is a holiday I'm somewhat ambivalent about. My mom is not a sentimental person. At all. We show our love to each other in lots of ways, but it's very rare that we're all mushy and "I love you" with each other. Actually, this year I got her a nice Mother's Day card instead of a funny one, and I got made fun of. But she knows I love her; I got her and my dad tickets to see Star Trek at the IMAX last night. And this summer, I'm taking her to the U.P. to see glowing mushrooms. If that's not love, what is? With my birthmom, I'm never sure what I'm supposed to do. I love her to death; she's one of my favorite people in the world. But I can never remember what I did for Mother's Day the year before, so I'm always trying to figure something out. I'm bad with sending cards on time, and I can't afford a gift. Maybe I'll just call her later. Lame, I know. Then I start thinking about myself as a mother.

Right now, at this moment, I want to... -Stand with my feet in the ocean and let the warm waves crash into me -Go to a used bookstore and buy a whole bag of old romance novels and read them all -Lay in a meadow and be completely alone -Get in the car and head west -Smell some lilacs -Dance to "Redneck Girl" at DC's

Last night I was feeling like this song: I was honestly upset last night, but I'm pretty much over it this morning. Also, today I'm wearing khaki capris. I'm so happy to be wearing capris, but I'm afraid they're too long and look like floods. If my students make fun of me, I will definitely have hurt feelings. But I'm so excited for this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last weekend I went up to Devil's Lake to do some serious hiking. Well, as serious as you can get when there are no real mountains in the midwest. And without going overnight, because the idea of an overnight hike sounds amazing, but I think the reality would suck considering how much I hate camping. Nancy was supposed to come with me, but she had to cancel at the last minute for totally valid reasons. (Don't worry, Nancy, I promise I'm not mad.) So I went alone, and I think maybe it was better that way. When I was climbing up the west bluff (which totally kicked my butt for some reason), I could stop and rest and not worry about slowing someone down. Conversely, when I started listening to the Ting Tings on my iPod and was super energized, I didn't have to worry about someone slowing me down. Here are a few of the views from the west bluff and a bad picture of me: The east bluff was a lot more interesting and higher than the west bluff (but for some reason, easie

My friend at work kept telling me to watch The Biggest Loser. We are all trying to lose weight, and she loves it. Not a good idea. It left me feeling depressed rather than uplifted. I've been working with a trainer for over two months now and have only lost a few pounds. And I say I don't care about the number, but I'll be honest for a moment- I do. I kept a food diary this week for my trainer and didn't think it was that bad. I'm not great about my diet, but I'm a lot better than I used to be. She said I'm starving myself. She doesn't know how I'm alive. I'm definitely not like, anorexic starving myself. But I got this lecture about how I need to be eating a lot more frequently and I need a lot more protein. She was especially upset about the day my diary looked like this: 10:30- Grapes 12:30- Apple with peanut butter, granola bar 6:30- 2 Cookies 7:30- Granola bar Anyway, I apparently have to re-train my metabolism, which seems overwhelming

There's something satisfying about hearing people say your name. Maybe this sounds weird, but I love it when I call Rachel and she exclaims, "Erin Shmerin!" or when my dad calls me Munch, or when Tim used to call me Erinello. Oddly enough, I also enjoy the occasional "Emma Lou" from my grandma. Even just plain Erin is fine, especially during private moments. I was listening to an episode of This American Life where they were talking about the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," and one of those ways is to say their names. I agree. Pete was recently reading my blog (and Pete, that rambling there was just for you), and he seemed fascinated by any mention of his name on my blog. Since he enjoyed it so much, this post is all about him. Pete Pete Pete Pete Pete. Or we could go with Petie, like the neighborhood kids called him, or Peter. What can I say about my friend Pete? Here are my favorite things about him. 1. He's happy. He&#

I bought art today! Sarah's boss owns a gallery up in Michigan, and we went to visit. There were so many amazing things I wanted, and then I realized I could actually afford something! Here's what I ended up with: It actually looks a lot bigger in the picture than it is in real life. Also, you can't see the pretty colors and textures in this picture. It's painted and collaged on wood, and the bird is a lovely shade of blue. It's actually one in a pair, and the other painting is on hold until I can afford it, which will be soon. The other painting has a bird done in reds and yellows and complements this one perfectly. I can't wait till I have both! I also bought this little item, a framed print of a World's Fair poster. I liked it because my grandma always tells me about how her parents went to it.