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]

favorite things.

5 Jun
Today I did a lot of my favorite things.  [incredibly narcissistic post follows this point.  you’re warned.]
I finished this cake by mixing the frosting and assembling the cake rounds I baked last night.  It was the post-cousin-and-sister-graduation cake.  Enjoyed by all.
I watched my baby sister and cousin graduate and receive their high school diplomas.  [Not that watching people graduate is a favorite thing.  It probably doesn’t happen enough to be a favorite thing but it certainly was a highlight once we moved past the cliches in the commencement addresses.]

I laid in the hammock and read.  Current read: The Help.  I’m intrigued and will continue reading at a reasonable speed.
I made cakepop bites with Molly.  She’s currently the vice-president of her fifth grade class and wanted to treat her classmates.
I began a new quilt.  Complete design and approach to be yet determined.  Circles – a new quilting adventure for me – formed with freezer paper are stacked on the ironing board.  
Good day and good night.  [Only to wake tomorrow to my mom’s list of putting down landscaping fabric, laying rock and mulch, scraping paint, and cleaning the kitchen.  Game on.]

a quilting mystery.

4 Jun
Our house is a busy place.  I moved in a few days ago, my sister graduates tomorrow, and a graduation party is slated for two weeks from today.  Just for kicks and because my mom isn’t busy enough already, let’s throw hosting an auction on the calendar.  My mom is looking to downsize a lot of antique furniture, collectables, and the family is throwing in some other odds and ends.  [You know, tractors, an old car, and guns.  Yes.  Guns.]  The auctioneers visited this morning to makes lists, take photos, and get things in order for the end of July.  That meant that last night I was helping Mom carry, organize, and find treasures in the basement.  
There has been a lot of “Lindsay, do you want this or should I sell this?” going on in the process.  I’ve inherited a bed set that once was my Grandpa’s when he was a kid, living room furniture, and a rocking chair that was given to my mom by her grandma [or something like that].  And then last night, we uncovered a quilt mystery.  
My mom and dad used to go to lots of auctions themselves and, in addition to buying furniture, my mom would buy antique quilts.  Sometimes, there would be unfinished quilts or quilt squares.  Old, antiquey quilt squares. We came across some quilt pieces last night.  “Lindsay, do you want these or should I sell them?”  Heck yes!

These quilt pieces are awesome – yellow and orange – and far more intricate than I would ever make squares.  I think they are super cool and old looking, and I would love to make them into a quilt.  [Especially since the hard, delicate work is already done!]  There was also an envelope with the quilt pattern … or such.  The pattern doesn’t have all pieces accounted for so I guess I design the quilt how I want.  But, as I ironed them last night, stains began to show, especially on the orange.  And then I began to wonder how I would ever sew them together without the points of the triangles [particularly in the long rectangular pieces] being lost in the seam.  Is it worth it to try and sew it together, now with the stains that appeared? [Please tell me yes!]  And if so, how?  Help, quilters, help!
[I’m actually quite uncertain that anyone who reads this quilts.  But humor me just this once?]

I’m home!

3 Jun
I made it home Wednesday night, after breakfast at the Finnish Bistro with my college roommate, Amanda, and her husband, Joe.  I arrived home at eight and unpacked, unpacked, unpacked.  What I don’t need is being stored in my brother’s closet [he doesn’t need it since he’s in alaska placing second in ski/bike/kayak/run races with his girlfriend]; the things I do need have been put away and organized in my bedroom.  It’s starting to feel like I live here again.

Just to clue you, my blog friends, in, here is the place I will be blogging from for the next month, maybe two.  This is “home,” or at least has been since I was sixteen and we built/moved down the road from the farm.  You can picture me in the left upstairs window, blogging to you.  [Actually, don’t picture that.  Creepy.]

Since I’ve arrived home and settled in, you may wonder how I’ve been spending my time.  [Or maybe you don’t really care.  If that is the case, I advise you to stop reading now.]  Unpacking and organizing took its fair amount of yesterday.  I have also baked four cakes [in anticipation of graduation party cakepops], cleaned the house, mopped the porch, went grocery shopping, cooked evening meals, a couple loads of laundry, bought fabric for a summer quilt [oxymoron?] and discovered that the tv show How I Met Your Mother is on Lifetime at least three times a day.  I may begin to plan my days around it.
I also hung up my hammock this afternoon and may or may not have taken a brief power nap as the wind [we live on a hill.  it’s always windy here.] rocked me to sleep.  I plan on spending a bit of time in the hammock tomorrow, beginning a new book.  [The Help is next on my list and it’s already loaded on my kindle after a recommendation and seeing the preview for the movie to be released soon.]
While I do find myself missing my friends and the Cities life and while my last long list was about what I would miss in St.Paul, here is a beginning list of the current joys of being home:
1. Four country music radio presets in my car.  [compared to a measly one in the Cities]
2. My mom pays for the groceries.
3. Campfires.  [My sister and I successfully started one the other night.]
4. Hammock.
5. No noisy neighbors/noisy parking lot/noisy children. [quiet!]
6. A house = space and open window air flow.
7. Satellite television.
8. Family adventures. [already been shopping with Miss Molly … always an adventure with that fifth grade cousin!]
9. I spend less money.  [no Starbucks drive-thru nearby, no happy hour with friends, etc.]

moving again.

1 Jun

Moving.  The story of my life.

I’m taking a packing break.  My room is nearly empty, yet still amazingly messy.  My collection of kitchen goods have been packed up and sent home.  Things of mine still hang on the living room wall, but I fear they may not actually fit in my car.  The car is already nearly filled to the brim, and there’s still more.  If this quart ziploc bag filled with fridge magnets is any indication or if it is in any way proportionate to my other belongings, I have too much stuff.  Ugh.  [Like my “chillin’ with my gnomies” magnet?  I have two – orange and blue.  Favorites.]

I went out with friends last night.  For the last time.  Because I move today.  Today.  There was clinking of glasses, laughing, and hugs galore.  As I said goodbye to each friend, I couldn’t quite do it without a “See you soon!” attached.  And actually, with lots of my friends, that is the case.  I’ll be back to Luther in a few weeks for a friend’s ordination on campus [and to take home the rest of my things].  Joel, Melissa, and I have plans for a Noah’s Ark day [Noah’s Ark.  America’s largest waterpark.  WI Dells.], coupled maybe with a sleepover at the cabin.  There are other ordinations, the Cities are close, and roadtrips to friends’ new places.
But be warned, faithful blog reader.  As I return to live at home, the blog always seems to suffer.  Wireless internet in our house we have not, and to blog on our home desktop is not convenient.  [#macsnobbery]  Stay patiently tuned for my summer adventures in completing the to-do lists my mom gives me, macaron attempts, and party planning for Emma’s graduation but likely not everyday updates.  Thanks for sticking with me, friend.

two lists.

31 May
Things I will miss about the Cities [in no particular order]:
1. Fancy bakeries with macarons.  [I finally tried a real one this morning with Joel and Melissa.  “Real” meaning one I didn’t make.  It gives direction to my macaron adventures.]
2. Random adventures with MN friends.  Like the nine of us who saw Bridesmaids last night at 9:45.  
3. Friends who play geeky games with me.  [New Carcassonne game!  New Carcassonne game!]
4. Discovering fun, unique new places in the Cities.  [Gems like the Riverside Theater, Wilde Roast Cafe, and cute stores like Patina.]
5. Museums.
6. Consistent proximity of Target.  Rosedale Mall.  A great JoAnne Fabrics.
7. Walking about campus.

8. Downtowns.
9. Community education courses.

10. Walks around lakes.

11. The seminary neighborhood. [The post office on Como, the Bibilot, Finnish Bistro, and Park Service.]

12. Friends who quote Friends and other movies with familiarity and general awesomeness.

13. Miss M and her family.  Family dinners in Stillwater.

14. to be continued …

Things I will not miss about the Cities [in no particular order]:
1. Children screaming outside my window.
2. An apartment without air conditioning.
3. Traffic.
4. Lack of stars and prevalence of pavement.  
5. um.  um.  [please note which list is longer]

the 411 on 5/29.

30 May
It was a long, wonderful weekend that began on Saturday with the arrival of my mom and sister for a picnic on the lawn of the Bockman dorm on campus.  We ate in the sunshine with my friend, Cassie, and her parents, and then meeted and greeted the CYF staff.  A group photo was taken on the steps of Bockman.  [My sister had my camera and took some great shots.]  Grandma and Grandpa Danielson arrived in time for baccalaureate – a communion service – in a tent as it poured outside and Grandma’s chair got wet. 
After baccalaureate, we ran off to my apartment where my awesome family helped me lift, move, and load boxes and a bed into their vehicles.  Truth is, I haven’t completely moved in the last five years – meaning some of my things had always remained in storage somewhere – and now that I finally have to completely move, I have a lot of stuff.  It’s actually quite frightening.  Between mom’s car, Grandma and Grandpa Danielson’s car, later a car of Aunt Peggy’s and a few bags and boxes into the back of Reilly’s van, a dent was made in getting my things from MN to WI.  [But I still have work to do.  Packing.  Loading.  I procrastinate by blogging.  And by going to the movies later with my friends.  Eh.]  We went to one of my favorite places for dinner – Big Bowl Chinese and Thai – and all settled in for the night with the family staying at a local hotel.  

Sunday was the day!  The family and I – with additions of Karen and Mark from Stillwater, and M. and her parents – had brunch at a local restaurant.  The food was delicious and we were able to entertain ourselves with boots of crayons and the white paper that covered the tables.

From the restaurant, we moved onto Central Lutheran in Minneapolis for the ceremony.  It was a fun service. Clapping, yelling “Amen!” and grinning ear to ear as Joel rapped his speech on behalf of the students.  I couldn’t help but smile after I walked up the steps and across the platform to receive my diploma and master’s hood.  I loved my hood – it felt so great around my neck.  [I think it looked pretty good on me too!]  Four years of class and work completed and symbolized in the master’s hood.  Truth of the matter is that we use the hoods for the ceremony and then must return them after photos.  I wanted to keep the hood and not give it back so I could wear it around the house.  *sad face.*
We took many a photo with the robe, the hood, and the diploma.  It was a mess of searching for family and friends in the chaos outside of the doors of the church, but once we found each other, hugs were given and photographs taken.  Watch the slideshow.  *giddy face.*

My family made off for home right after the ceremony.  I grabbed an ice coffee, stared at my diploma with a goofy grin, and had pizza with pal, James, who was visiting.  More friends and I met at Mannings, the unofficial seminary bar, to celebrate further.  To simply sit at home last night would have seemed far too anti-climatic.
It was a great weekend of celebration with friends and family alike.  With graduation behind me, it’s onto serious packing with hopes of moving home on Wednesday.  Two words: too soon.

master of divinity.

29 May
It happened.  I graduated.
And I just feel giddy about it!
I’ll post more about the day tomorrow – all you could ever want to know about a seminary graduation and more – but for now, a three-photo preview:

oh-em-gee.

28 May
I graduate tomorrow.

I sit at a hotel in Roseville, staying with my mom and sister since my bed is already packed into the back of my mom’s suv.  Three grandparents and an aunt are also here, and we await an aunt, uncle, and two cousins tomorrow morning.

I’ve talked about it before, ad nauseam.  But now it’s so close – within twenty four hours – that I’m really just not sure.  The emotion of graduating, leaving friends, moving home; it’s too much to articulate!  [glass case of emotion!]

One emotion I can articulate – nervous!  I’m not even speaking [as my rapping friend, Joel, is] but I do need to walk across a stage and lean down to be hooded.  [so not a big deal really but I’ll make it into a big deal]  Smile pretty for pictures.  Hug people.  Say goodbye?!

And then it will be over.  My family leaves for home tomorrow night; what my celebration will look like is questionable.  I’m not quite sure what  I’ll do with myself when the hype of the day is complete.

Even the gnomes are being worn by all this transition.  Just look at them –

  

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