The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Just finished reading Into the Wild. I have mixed feelings regarding Chris McCandless, but there is one thing to which I can relate- his "itchy feet." I get so restless. And I'm never satisfied; the more things I do, the more places I see, the more my feet itch. (Okay, maybe I do need a new phrase for it, because that does sound kinda gross...) This was the wrong time to read a book like Into the Wild. I'm already going crazy being stuck in flat, boring, urban Chicago. But on top of that, it's winter, so there's nowhere within a day's drive where I can go hike. Unless I want to freeze. Which I don't. Anyway, I've also had a quite a bit of downtime the past few days. When I wasn't reading, I worked on planning my road trip. The plan is to be gone for 52 days. In that time, I will visit 14 national parks. 12 of those days will be spent canyoneering with Kristin in southern Utah. Then I will head up to Portland to see Paula, stopping at Lassen Vo

Christmas this year was less than awesome. My brother chose not to participate. The ugly fight that occurred while we were opening gifts on Christmas Eve was actually captured on video. Andy did not join us for church or opening gifts afterwards and did not show up for Christmas Day at my aunt's house, either. Not going to go into detail here, but I'm so disgusted with him. And then my dad gets mad at me for not being more understanding of my brother's issues. And everyone's trying to pretend everything's fine, but my dad has this awful depressed look on his face and it's all just so fake. On top of that, my grandma was doing her best impression of Aunt Bethany from Christmas Vacation ("Are we at the airport?... Is Rusty still in the Navy?") and didn't seem to know where she was or what day it was. We were just glad she didn't have a cat to wrap up and bring as a gift. There were a few good things about this holiday. I had breakfast on Christ

I love to craft. I would dearly love to be a part of Amy Sedaris's craft circle in New York. Anyway, each year I try to make as many Christmas gifts as possible. Here are this year's crafts For the ladies in my small group, Inspiration Jars. I bought a bunch of different scrapbook paper and printed out quotes from some of my favorite people: Donald Miller, Rob Bell, Taylor Swift, Fred Rogers, and God. If they are having a bad day, they can pull out a slip for inspiration and encouragement. I really enjoyed finding the quotes. I may send them "refills" in a few months. All the different colored paper looked so pretty! For Rachel (who loves Scrabble), Scrabble coasters. For Liz, Sonal, Anne, and Jenn (high school friends), pointsettia ornaments. For Whitney, a Packers candy jar. (These are SO fun to make.) (Okay, I KNOW I took pictures of this and can't find them! But here's a picture of the one I made Ryan last year. It's kinda like this.) For my cousin Kat

It started with me asking my dad to help me paint my new apartment. It ended with him basically telling me I'm going to die alone. This all came from a place of wanting me to be happy. It wasn't meant to be critical or mean. He just worries about me because he's my dad. And his life experience is so different from mine. He married his high school sweetheart. Being single was something he never had to worry about. The trouble began when I mentioned the two month road trip I'll be on this summer. Honestly, I don't remember everything that was said. Actually, there was a lot that wasn't said, but was just implied. But he's very critical of my love for hiking/canyoneering. And it goes beyond concern for my safety. Basically, he thinks that if I'm spending all my free time in canyons, I'm never going to find a husband. He said that I spend too much time hanging out with the same groups of people and unsuitable guys, so how am I ever going to meet someone?

Can you believe this boy is 11 today??? Seriously, time flies. His mom sends me pictures and a letter every year. This year, the letter talked about his traveling soccer league, his baseball team that won the championship, and his basketball team that still hasn't won a game in a season and a half. She also sent a copy of his test scores. My little genius is in the 99th percentile in some of the math categories and also did really well on comprehension and vocabulary. But grammar? Just a little over the 25th percentile. He just can't be bothered with those insignificant details. I called a little while ago to say happy birthday and apologized for only sending one gift this year. (I'd promised I would never combine his Christmas and birthday gifts; I felt bad having him so close to Christmas.) He called back about 5 minutes later and asked if the gift was for his birthday or Christmas. I was kind of confused and said both. 5 minutes later he called back again to thank me for

I did so many fun things this weekend. I finally watched The Help on Friday night. Great movie, but the book was better. Saturday was a looong day filled with great things. It started with my annual Christmas lunch with my birthmom. We had Lou Malnatis, and she reminded me of the time she caught my half brothers rappelling out their bedroom window. Clearly, the sickness I have runs in the family. Since she reads my blog, she knew about the brunch I'm planning and got me champagne glasses for mimosas! Such a thoughtful gift! I can't wait to use them! After brunch I stopped for a quick manicure, then picked up Jen and headed over to the Music Box Theater for White Christmas. The Music Box is this cool vintage theater that does things like the sing-along Sound of Music and midnight showings of 3D 70's porn. Every year they do a double feature of White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life. People get all dressed up in their Christmas apparel and sing along and heckle and, I&

There are few things more joyful than singing the Hallelujah Chorus with 500 people and a full orchestra. Jeffrey (my friend/coworker) and I went to the Do-It-Yourself Messiah last night. We stopped at Handlebar for dinner, which is this really great hipster vegetarian restaurant. It was delicious, and I'm excited because it's really close to my new place. When we arrived at the Harris Theater (right next to Millennium Park), I pulled out the tickets and froze. They were were TUESDAY night. I had marked my calendar for Monday. Typical me. I felt so bad. Jeffrey was super nice about it and said he didn't mind coming back downtown the next night. Luckily, they were great and just swapped our tickets, even though it was sold out. What a great experience! I wish I was more familiar with the music. (When I bought the tickets, I didn't realize that The Messiah is 250 pages long!) I didn't practice much, so there was quite a bit of sight reading happening. And, I suck at

I love the book Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans. My pastor in Phoenix recommended it to me. He knows the author and thinks we'd be best friends. After reading the book, I totally do want to be her friend. It was kind of like how I felt when I was reading Blue Like Jazz . Rachel also has a pretty great blog, and her latest post about women in the church is awesome. http://rachelheldevans.com/daughters-will-prophesy

Well, today's picture is a no brainer. Paula (my college roommate and one of my very best friends) had TWIN GIRLS today!!! Reagan Elizabeth is on the left with the blonde hair. Maggie Isabelle is on the right with the dark hair. So precious! I can't wait to meet them. Congratulations, Paula!

Today was a completely average day at work. The school leadership team (of which I am a part) was asked to conduct interviews with staff members to see how they feel about a new iniatiive. I was assigned to someone I don't know very well who is only in our building part time. We sat down to talk during 4th period and went through the questions. As we finished, we made polite small talk. She mentioned she was from Grand Rapids. "Oh, there's this great church there!" I exclaimed. And so began a conversation about Mars Hill. She'd heard of it, but didn't know much about it. She wondered if it was super conservative (because apparently it's a conservative town). I mentioned the uproar Rob Bell had caused with his book. "What's it called?" she asked. "Love Wins." "That sounds perfect, like exactly what I need right now. I've been doing some soul-searching lately..." "I understand. I've been there."

The concert was a success! At least, I think it was. I didn't make any major mistakes, and it was so amazing to sing in that trio with my choir director and this other awesome girl. Nina recorded it, so hopefully I will soon have a video to post. Some people in choir were joking about my entourage. My parents and their friend Dave came, as well as Liz and her fiance, Nina, Steph, Nina's friend Giovanni, and Whitney. It meant so much to me that they were all there and seemed genuinely happy to be there. Afterwards, we hung out at Old Town Social. I like the living room atmosphere of that place. Here's Nina lounging on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table: And here are Nina, Steph, and me:

Two days of fun things happening, and I didn't take any pictures. Last night we celebrated Kestelle's birthday at Hot Chocolate in Wicker Park. That place is amazing! The desserts were out of control awesome, made by an award-winning pastry chef. And Kestelle looked adorable in her fabulous pink dress. It was a lovely evening and I'm mad I didn't document it. Today I had rehearsal all morning. I'm super nervous about the concert tomorrow. I shared this with Professor Brown, who is singing with me on the Praetorious, and he gave me a hug and reassurances. He is the nicest man. I can't believe I get to sing with him. I got a haircut today, which, come to think of it, could have made a good picture because I got a great blow-dry. But that would mean taking a picutre of myself right now, and I am currently wearing my glasses, no makeup, and Tinkerbell pajamas. Not happening. Tonight we had Family Movie Night. This was, of course, at my insistence. Predic

I think the problem with this project is that it's showing how mundane my daily existence is... My picture for yesterday (Wednesday) is an assignment I gave to my 6th grade Reading Strateges class. We've been reading Maniac Magee and talking about identifying confusion, and it seems like their greatest source of confusion is unknown words. So I did a simple lesson on Context Clues. I did a Think Aloud to model the strategy, we practiced it together, then they tried it on their own. Partway through the lesson, I paused and apologized to the class because we haven't done anything too exciting lately. "It's okay, Ms. B.," one of my students replied. "We like this because we're actually learning something." And he meant it! High praise from a middle school student. I love that I don't need anything gimmicky to get their attention; the power of great literature is enough. When an absent student (also one of my most reluctant readers) ret

Dieting has been difficult since moving home, and without mountains to hike, I haven't been working out. I started Weight Watchers again last week. When I stepped on the scale this morning I was down three pounds! 16 more till my goal weight. Let's hope the holidays don't mess me up too bad.

Okay, yesterday was a bit of a fail. I went to Lessons and Carols at Concordia and wanted to get a picture of everyone singing "Noel Noel" with their candles, but it was too dark. But I still took a picture! It was a beautiful service. We epsecially enjoyed the chamber orchestra accompanying the choirs. And, of course, the Bach piece was awesome. My favorite part was the reader for the reading about the shepherds. He sounded like Kermit. Today's picture is from my classroom. One of my former students posted this quote on Facebook, and I loved it so much I put it up in my room. I worry that my students think they're stupid because they're in my class, and I want them to feel good about themselves. It says, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it'll go its whole life believing it's stupid."

Okay, Jenna, I'm in. I will attempt this December Photo Project. However, I am not a photographer. Also, I'm really awesome at starting new projects but rarely finish. Today's picture comes from Anne's baby shower. I thought these were a super cute treat!

Loving this quote from Taylor Swift: “To me, “FEARLESS” is not the absence of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, FEARLESS is having fears. FEARLESS is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. FEARLESS is falling madly in love again, even though you’ve been hurt before. FEARLESS is walking into your freshmen year of high school at fifteen. FEARLESS is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again… even though every time you’ve tried before, you’ve lost. It’s FEARLESS to have faith that someday things will change. FEARLESS is having the courage to say goodbye to someone who only hurts you, even if you can’t breathe without them. I think it’s FEARLESS to fall for your best friend, even though he’s in love with someone else. And when someone apologizes to you enough times for things they’ll never stop doing, I think it’s FEARLESS to stop believing them. It’s FEARLESS to say “you’re NOT sorry”

What a difference a few weeks makes... Work is not awesome. But neither does it suck. I've been really busy, and it's amazing how good that makes me feel. 10 hour days are good for me. I don't know why, but I like having a million things to do at work, especially because I feel like the work I'm doing is a good thing. A lot of my students are making good progress. The ones who aren't are making me crazy, but that just makes me work harder. I found an apartment. A huge one-bedroom with a dining room (perfect for entertaining), a sun room, and a view of the park. The floors are dark, so I'm going to need rugs. The thought of decorating has me really excited. I think I'm going to get a big dining room table from Ikea, and then collect vintage mismatched chairs for it. And I'm thinking about getting this Banksy picture for my living room: The thing I'm most excited about is entertaining again. I haven't hosted an event in years. My apartm

I came across this quote from Donald Miller this weekend: “I do not believe a person can take two issues from Scripture, those being abortion and gay marriage, and adhere to them as sins, then neglect much of the rest and call himself a fundamentalist or even a conservative. The person who believes the sum of his morality involves gay marriage and abortion alone, and neglects health care and world trade and the environment and loving his neighbor and feeding the poor is, by definition, a theological liberal, because he takes what he wants from Scripture and ignores the rest.” ― Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What

This was pretty much the perfect holiday week. Nancy and I went to see Breaking Dawn on Tuesday night at the iPic theaters. I love going to those theaters for special occasion movies! You sit in Lazy Boy chairs and you get a blanket and pillow and they wait on you during the movie. And we loved the movie! This is the best one yet! I wish they would go back and remake the other ones, especially the first one, now that they've figured out how to do it. There were only 3 criticisms I have: 1. The whole conversation the wolves had in their heads was just ridiculous. I almost laughed out loud and chose that scene for a bathroom break. 2. I had to close my eyes during the birth scene. Too gory for me. But that's how I felt about the book, too. 3. I wish they'd had more of the Jacob/Rosalee banter that they had in the book. Other than that, I thought it was well done and don't know how I'm going to wait for the next one! I definitely want to reread the book now, but it'

1. Canyoneering in Vegas for my 30th. 2. Going to the Shake Your Asana hot yoga class with my cousin Katie. 3. Spending all day Wednesday crafting for Christmas. 4. My mom's mac and cheese and fruit salad and French Silk Pie. (My Thanksgiving dinners are a bit non-traditional. 5. The Muppet movie 6. Possibly subletting an apartment from Nina's brother that has washer and dryer IN-UNIT! 7. Going to see Breaking Dawn with Nancy tomorrow night 8. Winning in both my fantasy leagues 9. Black Friday sales ($3 waffle iron! $10 blender!) 10. Practicing for the Do-It-Youself Messiah

When I left Chicago, I was convinced I’d never find a small group as special and amazing as the one I had here. I loved being a part of this group of girls who were all close to my age and at the same place in life. I loved being an Incubator. But when I was finished incubating, I ended up in Phoenix and found myself attending a Mennonite church. Who would’ve thought? I was eager to join a small group, hoping that would help me get to know some people in the congregation. I had no idea how these women would change my life. Amanda and I instantly connected because she’s close to my age. We went out one Friday night to Pita Jungle and then made mosaics at a craft place, and I totally fell in love with her. We just had so much in common! To be honest, when I met the other ladies, I wondered what I’d have in common with them. Denise and Ellen are close to my mom’s age, and Jodi and Sheri have kids in high school. I was afraid I’d feel all awkward and we’d have nothing to talk about. I was

This weekend we celebrated Whitney's 30th birthday! Her boyfriend is visiting from India, so we spent all day at the Shedd Aquarium, which is just such a cool place. We were especially fascinated by the Jellies exhibit. Jellyfish are so crazy; Whitney and I just don't understand how they are even alive without a brain, blood, etc. The exhibit piqued our interest, and we continued to read about jellyfish after going back to her apartment. There is this one kind of jellyfish that has tentacles that are 120 feet long! How ridiculous is that? Anyway, that night we went out to Whitney's favorite bar in Andersonville, In Fine Spirits. Their menu is a lot like The Violet Hour; I don't understand half of the ingredients on the drink menu, and just one drink is guaranteed to knock you on your ass. I was super excited to see Buffalo Trace bourbon on the menu (I picked up a bottle of that down in Kentucky a few weeks ago), so I ordered a Manhattan. Bad idea. My cheeks were flushed

Well, my list of things to do this summer was a total failure this year. Although, to be fair, I moved across the country and went on an epic road trip (that I'm still trying to organize into blog posts) and did some pretty awesome things. But still- time to get back to making a list to ensure I'm never bored and not wasting a single day of my life. That's really important to me, as I'm sure everyone can tell. Anyway, Nancy made a really great winter list, and she inspired me to make one, too. So, this winter, I want to: Drink peppermint hot chocolate Go to hot yoga at least once a week Go ice skating in Millennium Park Watch the entire 1985 season of Bears games with my dad (When I suggested this to him, I was like, "Let's not look at the box so we won't know who won and it will be even more exciting!" And he was like, "Well, sure... but you know they were 15-1 that year..." That's okay. That one game they lose will be a surprise.) Go sn

So I won't tell my coworkers to suck it. But I really really wish I could. I'll just have to hope that they have strong enough inferential thinking skills to understand that when I say, "As you can see, the data supports what I was saying about..." they know that what I'm actually saying is, "Suck it, motherf-ers."

During my first year teaching in Calumet City, I was part of a disturbing conversation at lunchtime. My coworkers were all sharing stories of former students who had died or gone to prison. I realized it was inevitible that I would someday have stories like this to share as well, but I hoped it wouldn't be for a long time. That time finally came on Friday, when I found out that one of my very favorite students from last year died on Thursday. At the beginning of the year, I thought, "There is no way I'm going to make it through a whole year with this kid." Edwin was defiant, disrespectful- a classroom management nightmare. But our team all shared the philosophy of not giving up on kids, and so we persisted with Edwin. Especially Lanette, the writing teacher. And all of a sudden, it was like someone flipped a switch in him and he became such a sweetheart. He was in my room every day before school, and I'd make sure he had everything he needed to get through the day

I'm going to come clean here. I've been acting like I'm fine for a while, and I'm not. The only times I've been truly happy in the past few months have been my weekend with Kristin and my weekend in Kentucky. The truth is, I hate my new job. And my coworkers hate me. Seriously. I have no friends at work. The truth is, I'm questioning my abilities as a teacher and wondering if I'd be better off somewhere else. I'm wondering if I should even be teaching. The truth is, I'm subsisting on a diet of Xanax, Diet Coke, and chocolate to make it through the day. The truth is, I don't feel like seeing or talking to anyone. I just want to lay in bed and watch TV. The truth is, I feel like my whole life is on hold while I'm living at my parents' house. I feel like I'm in high school again and have no life. I've been trying to read my Bible and pray and focus on the good things (because life is never all bad) and spend time with people who make

The title pretty much sums it up. Last weekend I went rock climbing in the Red River Gorge near Lexington, Kentucky with Nina and Stephanie. This is the view as we pulled up to Torrent Falls Climbing Adventure . Behind the building were cliffs on which you could do the Via Ferrata . We signed up for a full day of rock climbing and rappelling with our own guide. Nina and Stephanie demonstrate how to properly check each other's gear. I sucked at climbing. No big surprise there. I am uncoordinated and unathletic. But, I still did it. At one point, our guide Rick (whose middle name is James) told me I was doing something awkwardly. I explained to him that awkward is my middle name. And then we tormented him for the rest of the day for being Rick James. It was so so cold! Our hands were numb, making it difficult to climb. Nina was a rock star and loved it. It was Steph's first time, and she was a bit apprehensive at first, having Googled "rock climbing deaths in the Red

Last weekend, I met an interesting guy named Lang. He's from Alaska. He enjoys rock climbing, milking goats, reciting Shakespeare, and trying to change the world. We got into a conversation about the awesomeness of my favorite Dixie Chicks album, Home. When I mentioned how much I love their harmonies, he suggested I check out The Wailin' Jennies. So I did and they're amazing and everyone needs to be listening to them. Their music is peaceful and beautiful and uplifting and their harmonies are so pure and sweet you'll want to cry. If you liked Home, you will love everything by The Wailin' Jennys.

For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid. I've been convinced I will fail. In elementary school, my dad would sit with me at the kitchen table and help me with my math homework. By 4th grade, I'd be in tears before we even started. I felt there was no point in him helping me because I'd never understand it. Another perfect example of this occurred when I was in chamber choir in college. We were singing a beautiful piece that required the first sopranos to hit a high C. The first soprano section consisted of me and one other girl. When I saw it, I said, "Sorry, P.B., I can't do that." (P.B. is what we called our director.) "I'll just drop out and let Jen sing it." He didn't seem to mind or think it was a big deal. And it never even crossed my mind that I could sing that note. Jen is a very talented singer, so I was happy to leave that feat up to her. At first, I just concentrated on making sure it wasn't too obvious when I dropp

The drive to Cathedral Canyon was quite entertaining due to scenery like this. (Notice the Confederate flag and the silhouette of a hunter with his rifle) We went down a few gravel roads before turning onto the “primitive” road that would take us to the trailhead. I wasn’t even sure this WAS a road; it looked more like a trail! But this “road” was no match for my badass Subaru. Kristin and I realized we were in a Subaru commercial. The directions said to follow an old road, and after a few hundred yards, when the road forks, take the trail to the right. Well, we did not see a fork. And we knew the hike we were doing had no official trail at all, so we figured we’d find our way. We knew we were supposed to climb a “low divide” on the way to the canyon, so we weren’t concerned with going uphill at first. But then, it started to seem like we’d been going uphill for a long time. I thought to myself, “’Low’ is a relative term. If someone from Backpacker Magazine used the word low, they coul