The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Riley made her appearance in the world at 7:23 this morning. My goddaughter is a big sister! Here is the pic Jen texted me this morning. She is such a little peanut- only about 6 pounds. Jen actually wasn't due for like, another 3 weeks. I just mentioned on here how she went into labor with Parker after I hung out with her. Well, once again, she went into labor just a little over 24 hours after I saw her. I stopped by the hospital to see her tonight, and she is just beautiful. Jen is white, and Ray is Dominican and Native American. I think the Native American features are really strong in their girls. I love this grumpy old man face Riley is making here: I was telling Jen tonight how lucky these girls are to have gotten Jen and Ray as parents. They will be so well loved.

Ok, a better title would be "I told you I was nerdy." Because this is not a post about my sexual activities. But I thought of that Flight of the Conchords song and went with it. Anyway, everyone knows I love Twilight. I used to have a little collage of Twilight pics on my bedroom door, which is visible from my living room. But then Ryan commented that guys would find that creepy, and he was right. So I thought, how do I indulge my inner teen girl while still maintaining an adult-like appearance? The answer? My closet doors. They are sliding doors. So, I created a collage on one door: It makes me so happy to gaze at while getting ready for bed. But, look how easy it can be covered up! Of course, then the problem becomes that people will see what a disaster my closet is...

All I can think about is Belize. I was looking at hotels, and look at what this hotel offers: "Guests staying at this small luxury hotel enjoy exclusive access to over 90 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails as well as many secluded pools and waterfalls set in tropical rainforest. For those seeking romance, one of the waterfalls may be reserved exclusively for the day." Seeking romance... private waterfall... hmm, this might have to go on my list of things to do in life.

I have two friends at work who are pregnant, one of whom is probably my best friend at the school. She is in my prayers quite a bit because it's a high risk pregnancy; she has two uteruses. How crazy is that?! Luckily, things are going well so far. She's due at the beginning of May. My dear friend Jen is about to pop. Her second baby is due in 3 weeks, but we're hoping she goes sooner; I don't think she can get any bigger! When she had Parker (my goddaughter), we hung out one day, and she went into labor that night. We hung out today, so I think she's hoping for the same result tonight. She is having another girl, whose name is a surprise. But it will be another name that could be used for a boy or girl. I heard it might be Riley at some point, which would be cool. Jen and Ray are amazing parents; their little girls are so lucky. Although I feel bad for them when they start bringing boys home someday. Ray is on the SWAT team here in Chicago and is also

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up. (Yes, I know... I was HUGE nerd. I still am, actually. I tease Ryan that he needs to take remedial classes in what's cool, but it's actually me who needs the classes.) I used to read about Egypt, Greece, and Rome and dream of going there and digging up cool stuff. My uncle Mark used to buy me these archeology kits where you would dig through clay to find tiny shards of pottery that you would then have to piece together. (Mine never fit together right, and I would always end up breaking some or losing some.) I even had a crush on Paul Sereno, a local paleontologist 25 years my senior. (He discovered the SuperCroc.) I recently thought that I should add "archaeological dig" to my list of things to do in life. Then I started thinking, why not this summer? Yes, I'm already going to Belize, but there are digs all over the U.S. So I could go to one nearby for a week or two, and it really wouldn&

Yesterday was non-stop crazy, at least until about 8 p.m. The day started off with me discovering that my checking account was $-555.00, through no fault of my own. It's true that I only had like, $20 in there to last me till pay day tomorrow. But Citicard withdrew $128 for a payment when I've actually entirely paid off that card. So I called and they were apologetic and said they'd send a check, but that really didn't help with me being overdrawn. Then, I had written my dad a check for $220 and told him not to cash it till the 22nd (pay day). He cashed it on the 19th. The result of these errors is $280 in overdraft fees. When I called the bank to argue, they insisted it was my fault for writing a check I couldn't cover, even though they cashed it before the date on the check. They were rude and I wanted to cry. I had to use quarters to put $3 of gas in my car to make it to work, then borrow $20 from a friend at work so I could get gas for the next few day

For our small group social last night, we decided to make valentines. We went on the Martha Stewart website for ideas and had so much fun. One involved lots of folding, and the directions went on about grasping peaks and Kris and I were just lost. Whitney and Carla, however, figured it out. And those ended up being really cool valentines. I can't wait to send them out! I love these girls. And we miss you, Gloria! Our friend Gloria had surgery and is stuck at home, but she still manages to attend our discussions via iChat. (That's what it's called, right?) Next week we finish our discussion of The Shack (which I was not crazy about), and then we're starting a new book called Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading . It's supposed to be about how to read the Bible and get a lot of it. Sometimes I feel like it's just another chore, like I'm not learning anything or growing from it. Hopefully this book will help with that. Anyway, I

Funny quote from this weekend: Whitney said to me, "10 years from now, I'll be living in Brooklyn, and you'll come visit me in your minivan, and I'll be like, 'Is that a snowman sweater you're wearing??'" I love Whitney.

I really don't have anything interesting to say. I'm home sick with some kind of infection. It's not strep, but the doctor still gave me an antibiotic, so I'm feeling a little better already. I've been laying on my couch watching Leave it to Beaver, and it's great. Too bad I have tons of work to do and really shouldn't be wasting time recovering. Ryan and I had another fight last weekend after a really fun night out at DC's. I've figured out how to handle him now, so it didn't escalate into anything crazy/awful like the last time. I thought about not talking to him anymore, because it really doesn't sound like a good relationship, but then I thought, we're just friends. It's not like I'm dating the guy and have to put up with this. I'm choosing to put up with it because I've got that whole wanting to fix people thing going, and I really do value his friendship. And there is progress- this time he apologized on his

I've been struggling for a while now. But my doubts aren't about the existence of God, or the truth of the Bible. I just haven't felt close to God in a long time. When it came to praying and reading my Bible, I started thinking, what's the point? I just can't believe that God cares about me and my stupid middle-class white girl problems when there are women being raped in the Congo and people being oppressed all over the world. So I stopped praying and going to church and really even thinking about God. And I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. I realized how easy it was to just do my own thing and not worry about God, because I don't think God is worried about me. I couldn't bring myself to pray about decisions I was trying to make, because I just thought, why would he care? I talked to Rachel about this out in Phoenix, and her reaction was, "Wow, your issues of self-worth have finally messed up your relationship with God."

At 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday night, my phone rang. It was Pete. "What's up, Erin?!" he said the way he always does (which cannot be described in writing). "I can't sleep, so I took some Nyquil." "Why can't you sleep?" "I'm freaking out about the future." "Why?" "I promised myself that on January 1st I would figure out my life, and I'm nowhere near knowing what I want to do." Pete, being the friend that he is, stayed on the phone with me for almost an hour, listening to my thoughts. When I woke up the next morning, it was crystal clear to me- I knew exactly what I needed to do this year. I am leaving my school district. I've been saying for years that I want to teach a remedial reading class at a middle school or high school; it's time to pursue that. If I don't now, I might never do it. The problem is that I'm pretty happy where I'm at. I love what I do every day. But it's not w