more recycling (& reading :)

cherith just provided another recycling tip- Skirt Magazine pages as gift tissue! (works well w/solid-colored gift bags, apparently)

and i urge you to read c.s. lewis's lecture "a slip of the tongue," about our affinity for guarding "our things temporal." below is a link to an excerpt:

http://cs80.wordpress.com/about/cs-lewis-the-weight-of-glory/cs-lewis-a-slip-of-the-tongue/

full text is in the weight of glory, a collection of essays, etc:

http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Glory-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060653205

maybe this will whet your appetite: "for it is not so much of our time & so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time & all our attention; it is ourselves... for He has, in the last resort, nothing to give us but Himself; and He can give that only insofar as our self-affirming will retires & makes room for Him in our souls."

an engagement announcement & free wrapping paper

future sister in law Cherith (whose engagement to my brother is announced here: http://www.legacy.com/TheState/Celebrations.asp?Page=Announcement&PersonID=146126196... thanks for showin me, Caroline!) recently shared a tip that i feel has to be passed on. however, only locals need read on. Skirt Magazine is a columbia/augusta/aiken monthly rag; it's free; it has a clean layout. it's (sometimes) interesting to page through. the idea- recycle it by using as wrapping paper. not every page has a cute/fun design that lends itself to this second use. but i'd say in each issue, you should be able to rip at least 4 or 5 out that could double as gift paper. also- it's free! being redundant, i know, but who doesn't love free stuff in these hard economic times. also- the pages are longer than the traditional magazine page. try it! you might like. (side note in case you were curious: the gift depicted in photo to the right is Cherith's engagement surcie. thank you Aimee, for helpin indecisive me land on some cute, earthy notecards from target. high excitement!)

p.s. by way of a heads up, future posts (depending on my mood) might be written by paco. see below entry, item #3. paco, with his penchant for dancing, might make things more interesting. we'll see.

3 things i need

1. i need for someone to make lyrics like these GO AWAY:

"it feels like i'm drowning... in ice water"

HUH!?!

"i used to be lovedrunk, now i'm hungover"

or

"boys boys boys, we like boys in cars. boys boys boys, buy us drinks in bars"

really??? make it stop!!!

2. also- i need to watch roman holiday. it was recommended to me recently, audrey hepburn's in it, i need to see it.

3. also- i need to tell you about the best greeting card ever. paco is on the front. paco is a dancer. paco is eager to dance with you.

the outside reads: "your birthday makes paco want to dance. will you join paco in the dancing? even if you will not... paco... must... dance!" & inside: "don't disappoint paco. dance!"

fireside dessert

camping. the word conjures visions of fires, tents, sleeping bags, streams in which you brush your teeth & wash your dishes (dishes at a different place in the stream, please), walks through the woods, & starry nights if you're lucky. unless you kick it RV-style & then i can't tell you what's in the mind's eye cause it's not a realm i've ventured into. this post isn't about camping in general, though. it's about a very specific moment on the last camping trip i went on. best dessert around a fire ever. s'mores are aight...

but this banana ridiculousness was life-changing. friend who planned our trip said she heard about it from a friend; i wanta send this person a very large, generous gift. she has brought heaven to me in the form of bananas, melted chocolate & marshmallows.

this heavenly package should be wrapped in tin foil. place banana in the foil. cut banana (still in the peel) down the middle, leaving the back side of peel uncut. stuff marshmallows in the middle of banana, and chocolate bar pieces around banana & marshmallows. tuck them in wherever they'll fit, really. no exact amount on the chocolate, & placement isn't crucial. it's not crucial because you wrap it up & put the banana in foil somewhere near your campfire coals, then it all melts into something ridiculously messy & glorious.

it helps that i love bananas. but even the campers among us who aren't as crazy about bananas were saying how delightful it was.

it also didn't hurt that we had a small, GREAT group of women. something about being around a fire... definitely tends toward laying the soul bare. next time you're camping, enjoy the soul-baring & banana-boating. and you can thank my friend's friend. and the Giver of all good gifts!

your generosity undoes me

recently watched nicholas nickleby, a 2002 film based on a charles dickens novel set in late 1830's england. it's about a 19 year old who's thrown into the role of breadwinner / head of the family after the untimely death of his father. maybe because of the less than gracious way his uncle deals with him in the wake of that loss, he's surprised to find kindness in some of the places it surfaces. the most stirring example is when a guileless stranger offers him a reputable job at twice the salary he was paid in his former employment (which was at a home where orphaned boys were treated cruelly). i love nicholas' reaction to the offer. noticing his surprise, the gentleman offering him the new job says "were you expecting more?" nicholas quickly responds "no. it is your generosity that undoes me."

it made me think of the startling generosity of Jesus. for our sakes He became poor. i was His enemy, but He called me friend. the beautiful but of redemption- i was once vile & unclean & far from Him (as far away as i could be), but i was WASHED & brought NEAR. thank you, Father! what else can i say? i'm disarmed by this incomprehensible grace & unlimited patience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7hVInkfes&feature=related