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snowshoein’.

14 Mar

The sun was shining.  It felt warm[ish] outside.  I could have sat in the library and wrote the rest of my sermon but I could also do that tomorrow when the weather is icky and gross.  So today, after my noon -2 pm meeting, I chose sunshine.

The Hormel Nature Center in Austin rents snowshoes and cross country skis to use on their trails.  Luck would have it that on Thursday afternoons beginning at 3pm they are free.  I strapped on a pair of snowshoes and spent a couple hours on the trails, meeting some deer and snowman friends along the way.

mr. snowman
maple syrup.
can you see my deer friend?

Weekend update.

3 Mar

[Weekend update.]  After a week of three funerals in Lent, I was ready for a weekend.  I turned off the alarm clock and enjoyed a lazy day and a half [until I had to write my Sunday sermon on Saturday night].  It was wonderful and much needed.

On Friday, I hung out with my favorite three classes of first graders, got a manicure [I had a gift certificate from Christmas to use.], and made potpies with butternut squash and kale.  Yummy.  Since all I ate last week were funeral lunches and bowls of cereal, it was simply super fun to cook again.  Can you smell the garlic sautéing?  So delicious.

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On Saturday, I found time to quilt and sleep and go for walks with Miss Mabel.  Today after church, Paige and I hit up the outlet mall and I came home with new treadmill kicks and pajama pants with rowboats on them.  [I’m anticipating a sleepover this coming weekend with two friends; I needed new pajama pants.  Naturally.]

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A bonus story:  Ever since I’ve moved, my mailbox has received an odd piece of post or two.  Odd because they’re not addressed to me; they’re addressed to my mom.  At my address.  The Scrubs magazine?  Makes sense since my mom is a nurse.  However — Beyond the Bean?  Addressed to my mom?  At this house?  Weird.

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shoes.

19 Jul
I’m going to get all girly on you right about now.
I’m so excited to begin working again in a congregation.  I’m so thrilled to think about doing ministry again as a pastor.  I can’t wait for many reasons [new people, children’s ministry, a house] but one of those reasons is pretty silly.
I miss wearing heels.

I miss dressing up on a daily basis.  Last year, while on internship, I discovered I loved heels with a nice pair of Gap trousers.  First of all, the pants are too long for me to wear without heels.  [I’m short.]  But second, I just feel much more put together and I know I carry myself taller when I’m propped up a few inches by my shoes.

I loved the feeling of a fun pair of heels on my feet while wearing a robe leading worship.  [It’s nearly the only part of me that people can see, not covered by the alb.  Might as well make it fun and my style.] There were many Sundays people commented on the shoes.  Many times the women loved them and often time, the men made fun of them.  
I still remember wearing my shiny black pointy-toed heels for the first time on a Sunday.  As I recessed out with Kendall at the end of the service, an usher stopped me in the narthex and asked me if I had a license to carry a lethal weapon.  “What?” I asked him, seriously confused.  He pointed to my shoes.  “You could hurt someone with those.”
Wearing heels requires some strategic planning.  To not wear the ones that clicked the loudest on the hardwood floors of the altar area at funerals was often a part of my thought process.  In the winter, to transition from the actual funeral service to the graveside meant a quick switch of heels to boots or flats.  Often times, I actually just kept my heels at church, especially in the winter.  They sat in a line behind my desk in my office and I would wear my boots to and from, changing when I walked in the door.
I don’t have much cause to wear heels right now.  I’ll be honest – most days I don’t do my hair and some I don’t even change out of my sweats.  It’s pretty lowkey here on Aarback as I make cakepops and prep the ordination bulletin.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t added to my heel wardrobe in the last few weeks.  I scored a pair of red low heels as ordination footwear [The color of the day is red.] and the other two pair I bought today, all mega on clearance.  I figure they’ll be put to use once I’m back in the parish.  Or maybe tomorrow, just for kicks [get it?  kicks.], I’ll wear them when I go off to Madison to get my hair cut.  [My hair needs a major boost of life.  It’s pretty dead.  Hopefully Mallory can help me!]

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