Archive | June, 2011

new clothes.

20 Jun
I just ordered an alb.  [About time, eh?  It’s the robe pastors wear for worship.]  And a cinture.  [The rope that ties around the waist of an alb.]  And a short-sleeve-poly-cotton-tab-collar-button-front blouse. [A clergy shirt.  Again, about time, eh?  I didn’t wear one once on internship and the one I used in the cooking pastor videos I borrowed from a friend.]  I had to enter my “title” to register on this specific site [what does “the most Rev.” even mean? whatever it is, I don’t think I’ll ever be one.] and put down my role as ‘clergy – priest/pastor.’  
Seems like I’m about to be a pastor or something.

dessert table deliciousness.

19 Jun
The rain held off, the people were fun, and – if I do say so myself – the dessert table was very well received.
My baby for the last month and my excuse to abuse pinterest was the dessert table at the sister’s graduation party.  
The dessert table – in lieu of a cake – consisted of chocolate, lemon, and funfetti cake pops on red/white striped paper straws, salted caramel bars, raspberry bars, an assortment of cookies, scotcheroos, and my Aunt Jean’s famous zebra bars.  Oh, and mini yellow cupcakes with piped buttercream frosting.  Not all were made by me – oh heaven’s no.  Family pitched in and made the dessert table what it was.  
The tablecloths were red and large white/red paper dots were punched and scattered.  Platters were mostly from the dollar store – seriously.  I bought a candlestick ($1) and a real plate ($1), used special adhesive [I do love a good adhesive.], and made cake platters.  We bought paper lanterns and made a few paper flowers with tissue paper/newspaper, and fashioned a large hanging centerpiece.  It was fun.  There are also extra cakepops; you should come over.

the things I thought yesterday –

17 Jun
I miss Brent.  [I got my hair cut by a new person and it just wasn’t the same.  She didn’t dry the inside of  my ears or brush off my back when I was done.  The haircut itself is sketchy; stay posted.]
My sister was a darn cute baby.  [We put up photos for the grad party yesterday.  Never mind the fact that we looked a lot alike as children.  This leads to picture confusion; we’re often told apart only by the color of the carpet in the background, the clothing being worn, or the hairstyle of the person holding us.]
I need a red stole!  A set of stoles!  And an alb … and a cleric … [so unprepared and so do not know what happens next or what I need to do]
I love my cousins.  [Sam and Molly came out to help with housework yesterday.  They spread mulch like little troopers.]  Also, hammocks can entertain children for hours and children falling out of hammocks [if not hurt] is quite funny.  [That would be Sam who tried to jump backwards into the already swinging hammock that contained his sister.  He overshot the skinny gathered part of string and went straight over it and landed on his back on the grass under the hammock.  I can still play it over in my head – too funny.]
This graduation party is not a wedding reception.  [Wait.  That’s what my mother told me.  I was getting carried away.  It’s true.]
I wonder what my future craft room will look like …
Is a four-cup coffee make enough?
It’s strawberry season!  Plans to pick next week.
I wish I had guts like Skeeter in The Help; I kinda feel like I have her hair. [I finished this novel last night and was sad that it was over.  It also has made me wonder how I would act as a white woman in the south in the 1960s if that was my life; would I be a Skeeter or a Hilly?  It’s a scary thought for me; I fear I’d be one of the crowd.]

forward movement.

16 Jun
I haven’t been completely honest nor completely secretive about how this whole first call process has been going for me.  It’s been frustrating and confusing.  Waiting and more waiting.  Feeling both helpless and hopeful.  I spoke to the bishop of south eastern MN on Sunday night at my friend’s ordination.  He restored me to hope as I had scarcely allowed myself to hope before.  [Ten points for that movie reference.]  I became more hopeful in my waiting.
Though there have been minor break-downs and a few pouty lips, overall I have “trusted the process.”  [That’s what they encourage us to do.]  I think I have trusted the process and been patient in waiting because of what Dawson taught me.  I remember how it came out kind of wrong when I told my coworkers in Dawson that to be there was not my first choice.  It’s true; it wasn’t.  This girl was assigned to go to Brookings [also not a first choice], only to have that site fall through and then be given no choice but to go to Dawson.  I cried a bit, and thought a place with a gnome park was a little suspicious.  Please take no offense, Dawson-ites, because then I went and fell in love.  The process was good to me.  Learn to trust it I did.
Between us girls [as my pal, jD, likes to say] and blog readers, tonight I received a phone call.  From the church in Austin at which I’ve had two interviews.  I stood in the laundry room at my friend, Kim’s, house while her puppy sat at my feet, stared at me, and farted, and they offered me a call as their pastor.  It remains not official-official; a congregational vote – with two Sundays notice – will take place on July 10th.  So, please, calm down just a little bit – not that much – but I was too excited to not share.  I’ll keep you posted as the vote approaches, and let you in on the insider details [or at least some of them], as long as you [please] keep me in your thoughts and prayers as this process continues!

macarons hate me.

15 Jun
Is it something I did?  Is it my baking attitude?  Do I whip you too long or am I too careless in adding ingredients?
Tell me because we’re getting no where like this.
Seriously.  Just be honest.  I can’t stand the constant attempts and trying on my part with such unrewarding, not-so-pretty, and just ‘eh’ results.  
Help me help you become the best cookie you can be.
I failed again, macarons.  I used a hand-held mixer this time to beat the egg whites; I think that helped.  But somewhere after that, I pissed you off.  You spread too much on the silpat and then never baked with the proper macaron ‘feet.’  Where were your feet?
What the heck, macarons.  What did I ever do to you?
‘macaronsbyjane’ on twitter [who I’m just going to go ahead and guess knows something about macarons] randomly tried to help me out with my failure.  She recommends a kitchen scale to weigh my ingredients.  
Okay, macarons.  I’ll carefully weigh your different parts next time.  But if you still don’t turn out for me, this relationship will be revisited.  We might need some time apart and my infatuation for you may drain. But I hope it works out; I feel like we could have something special.  *french cookie/person embrace*

dessert tables.

15 Jun
A long while back, when I knew that I would be moving home for a portion of the summer and that Emma’s graduation party would be a big part of what I would do while home, I emailed my sister.  And I politely asked to be her party planner.
I get bored so easily.  I need a list of things to do.  [Even if those ‘things’ are clean the house or read a book.]  More than one day of nothing drives me nuts and, without living in a community with friends and the Cities as my disposal, I knew I might go a bit stir crazy.  I worked hard to have things to occupy my time.
And so I quilt.  I’m engrossed in a new book.  I’ve become a bit addicted to Twitter and watch How I Met Your Mother on Lifetime.  [Pretty sure I’ve talked about that before.  That’s how much I’m now in love with that part of my day.  And NPH.]
I knew I would need a bit more on my schedule and thus I bid for the position of party planner.  Bid and won.  [After little struggle or convincing.  Shoulders shrugged and, “Eh.  Okay.”  I got the job.  I didn’t even have to supply a resume.]
My main assignment has been the desserts.  Since cakepops are the main attraction, I gained charge of the dessert table.  Pinterest being my main source of inspiration, here is what I’m thinking so far:
Source: etsy.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

photos from home.

14 Jun
This pile of gravel?  I moved it.  [It doesn’t look that big from this angle but it really was.  Or I’m just really good at complaining.]

Were there foods you ate together as a kid or foods you eat together now that are a bit … strange?  One night, while at Joel and Melissa’s hanging out, I was reminded of how I used to love Cheetos in applesauce.  A moving home gift from J&M?  Cheetos and applesauce.  It’s still just as good as I remember.

Look at this cute kid!  This be Gavin, the son of my high school friend, Krissy.  Just climbing on the table.

It’s the Peppermint forest, a la Candy Land on this kitchen table.  It’s cakepop construction for the graduation party.  Edgerton’s colors are red and white and this straws I found at the Bibelot in St.Paul make perfect sticks.  Two hundred down today and four cakes left to do tomorrow.  

More red and white on my sewing table.  Garland central.  [And a few epic dance party glasses for smiles.]

J&M

14 Jun
I’m just not sure where to start, blog readers.  I feel like we’ve been apart for so long and much has happened …
Let’s start with s’mores.  
I met favorite friends, Joel and Melissa, in Black River Falls on Thursday evening for dinner at Culver’s.
Then we both drove the two and half hours back to our respective homes.
Joke.
Then we drove to the bat cave, aka my family’s cabin hidden in the woods.  The grand plan was to stay for two nights, sandwiched between a trip to America’s largest waterpark, Noah’s Ark.  Our plans were changed and, in a funny way, saved by this crazy weather.  Being so sickly hot earlier in the week led to temperatures in the sixties by the end of the week.  While this foiled our waterpark plans [65 degrees and possible thunderstorms was not ideal for water slides and wave pools] it made for wonderful cabin weather.  Cool night, perfect for campfires, and huddling in a sleeping bag.
And s’mores.
We still went to Wisconsin Dells on Friday but without our suits.  We explored, tasted cheese, and shopped at the outlet mall instead.  It was still a top-notch day, even if it didn’t include sunscreen and lifeguards.  [Lesson learned: The Dells is still a tourist trap.  My dad was right.  Even the Bavarian village was marketed as a joke.  Glockenspiel splocenspeeel.]
It was great to spend this time with J & M because come Sunday night [after we both drove back to the Cities in round-about ways] after our friend’s, Paige, ordination, we had to say goodbye.  Like the for real kind.  It’s beyond a doubt in my mind that we will meet again but the question remains when.  Because these friends, originally from WA and ID, are on their way home and to be soonly serving a congregation in Montana.  I’ll be in southeastern Minnesota.  Sad.  
These are my rapping friends, if I need remind you.  Before I left St.Paul the first time [a la two weeks ago] I was treated to another rap.  About me.  By J & M.  [“your wit is the shit/I can’t believe I just said it/you quote perfectly as your mind races through shows and movies so seamlessly/the expressions on your face/well they can’t be replaced/so get up and dance so endlessly/you drive and you sing and you do your thing/the people you meet/it’s been quite a treat/you are a great friend/may this never end”]  I don’t rap.  Or sing.  But I hope J & M know that I think they’re beyond pretty neat.  A great team and awesome friends.  And I hope they send me their new address pronto.  Because while I’m not musical, I can be a good penpal.  
In short and in lieu of painful conclusion, know that tearful goodbyes were said but with the confidence that this will never end.  
ps goodbyes suck.

Hello.

9 Jun
Hello.  You’ve reached the voicemail of Lindsay. 
I’ll be out of the office until Monday morning.* 
Please leave a message** and I’ll return to blogging as soon as possible. 
Have a happy day and a great forever!***
* Where am I off to until Monday morning?  Two nights at the cabin [no wireless there – no electricity!] with Joel and Melissa, perhaps a day trip to Wisconsin Dells [though perhaps a bit chilly for a waterpark day?], and then onto the Cities where the main attraction is Paige’s ordination at Luther on Sunday evening! 
** Comment.
*** I designed and ordered tshirts for a senior week activity at seminary.  I was put into contact with the tshirt point person for Luther at a specific company.  I left this specific person a few messages as we played phone tag back and forth.  How did his personal voicemail message end?  In an overly enthusiastic voice, “Have a great forrr-ever!”  It made me giggle every time.  What else about him made me giggle?  His name was Rocky.  Exactly.

S&S

7 Jun
I blogged here if you feel so inclined to take the effort and make the jump!  It’s only been well over a month since I’ve made an appearance over at Steeples & Stilettos.  In all this time at home, I have found chance to return.  [cue fanfare music]
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