I want to post something more substantial than just plans, but I am at work and completely caught up on grading, with a free plan period. Therefore, I have no access to my (Tony's) camera to upload pictures of beautiful flowers I purchased for myself the other day or other pictures that would provde the visuals for the afforementioned "substantial" post.
Plans for the weekend... Well, since I bought the 2 movie tickets for $9 from LivingSocial earlier in the week, Tony and I will be enjoying Johnny Depp in digital form while screening the new Rango. We're very excited since the Coen Brothers reignited the allure of the classic Western and Rango seems to be right up that alley. Our close 2nd place movie choice is the new Matt Damon/Emily Blunt film, The Adjustment Bureau...
Tomorrow I have an appointment that I'm not ready to share (nothing medical) yet. Let's just say, it's a creative appointment. After which I am hoping that Tony and I will drive by one of the random grocery stores/pharamcies where little girls are selling their coveted cookies.
Also, my kitchen and freezer smells like onions, cilantro, and vinegar (+other items). This can only mean one thing: My beautiful friend, Joya, has made me a new batch of SOFRITO, and Puerto Rican food must be made this weekend :) Pictures + Recipe to come soon on the foodie blog...
I'll probably plan out the rest of the semester as well, making sure to fit all of Lord of the Flies + a Short Story Unit + The Importance of Being Earnest, if I can fit it...
What are your plans for the weekend?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Approaching Lent...
Somehow the snow from the first week of this month is still having little impacts here and there. One of those impacts over the past few weeks has been that our church, Sanctuary, has not been able to park all of its community during its two services. Therefore, they created a third service, which began at 1pm. I say began in the past tense because that lovely 1pm service is no more after today. I enjoyed for my last Sunday the luxury of not having to get ready to go anywhere until noon.
Today, Pastor Ed began preparing the little crowd that came out to the 1pm service for coming into the Lent Season. Though we are evangelical (whatever that means these days), Sanctuary does participate in a lot of "traditional" practices, such as taking the Sacrament every week, saying the "Our Father" together as a community, and singing our "doxology" at the close of every service. Along with those few actions, we also celebrate Lent as a community. It was around this time last year that Tony and I decided to call Sanctuary our home church. Ash Wednesday was a very memorable moment for both of us, having never had ashes placed on our foreheads before. As we sipped our complimentary coffees during service, and listed to Pastor Ed, we enjoyed the last of a series that he's been giving on the concept of Love and Relationships. Today the conversation culminated into a talk of "fasting" or giving things up for Lent in order to "date" God. Though I've heard these kinds of things throughout my life about loving the Lord, sacrificing in order to get "closer" to him, and thinking of him as a "lover," I just felt myself being pressed to take this season seriously.
After service, we went down Lewis to Mimi's Cafe. We enjoyed a small sampler appetizer and bread, so that by the time our meals arrived, I was already full. I have a big plastic to-go container full of fries, breads, and two different kinds of burgers (Tony's and mine) sitting in the fridge. When the food came to our table, we prayed that God would show us what we specifically should give up for Lent. Minutes later, Tony told me that the Lord wanted me to give up the breaded zucchini spears because he wanted them all for himself :)
We then went to Borders on 81st & Yale because they're having a Store Closing Sale. I bought two new cookbooks, which I hope will give more spice to my food blog. I also purchased a small copy of short stories by Dostoevsky. Tony and I have been reading (I've been re-reading) The Brothers Karamazov out loud, which is quite a tedious thing to do with all those Russian names. Now I am back in my apartment about to finish grading Vocabulary Tests and Essays regarding our last read, Romeo and Juliet (If only I had a dollar for every time a student asked if we could have a "field trip" to go see Gnomeo and Juliet).
I leave you, whoever you are that has taken the time to read this, with chorus lyrics from a song I wrote years ago:
"I'm making more room,
Opening doors,
So you can come and live in the home of my heart
Unclenching my fist,
Opening wide,
So you can come be held in these arms of mine"
I hope you'll begin to celebrate Lent in your own way, and make room for God.
Today, Pastor Ed began preparing the little crowd that came out to the 1pm service for coming into the Lent Season. Though we are evangelical (whatever that means these days), Sanctuary does participate in a lot of "traditional" practices, such as taking the Sacrament every week, saying the "Our Father" together as a community, and singing our "doxology" at the close of every service. Along with those few actions, we also celebrate Lent as a community. It was around this time last year that Tony and I decided to call Sanctuary our home church. Ash Wednesday was a very memorable moment for both of us, having never had ashes placed on our foreheads before. As we sipped our complimentary coffees during service, and listed to Pastor Ed, we enjoyed the last of a series that he's been giving on the concept of Love and Relationships. Today the conversation culminated into a talk of "fasting" or giving things up for Lent in order to "date" God. Though I've heard these kinds of things throughout my life about loving the Lord, sacrificing in order to get "closer" to him, and thinking of him as a "lover," I just felt myself being pressed to take this season seriously.
After service, we went down Lewis to Mimi's Cafe. We enjoyed a small sampler appetizer and bread, so that by the time our meals arrived, I was already full. I have a big plastic to-go container full of fries, breads, and two different kinds of burgers (Tony's and mine) sitting in the fridge. When the food came to our table, we prayed that God would show us what we specifically should give up for Lent. Minutes later, Tony told me that the Lord wanted me to give up the breaded zucchini spears because he wanted them all for himself :)
We then went to Borders on 81st & Yale because they're having a Store Closing Sale. I bought two new cookbooks, which I hope will give more spice to my food blog. I also purchased a small copy of short stories by Dostoevsky. Tony and I have been reading (I've been re-reading) The Brothers Karamazov out loud, which is quite a tedious thing to do with all those Russian names. Now I am back in my apartment about to finish grading Vocabulary Tests and Essays regarding our last read, Romeo and Juliet (If only I had a dollar for every time a student asked if we could have a "field trip" to go see Gnomeo and Juliet).
I leave you, whoever you are that has taken the time to read this, with chorus lyrics from a song I wrote years ago:
"I'm making more room,
Opening doors,
So you can come and live in the home of my heart
Unclenching my fist,
Opening wide,
So you can come be held in these arms of mine"
I hope you'll begin to celebrate Lent in your own way, and make room for God.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
It's Been A While...
Having never before been fully committed to blogging, or perhaps not knowing how exactly I personally would morph into a blogger, I blogged randomly, sparsely, and quietly. However, after months of inspiration of looking over other's blogs, I've decided to settle down and start my own, start two even...
Last night, I started my Recipe Blog, Beginning with Celesté. Along with my adorable boyfriend, there's already a little web show, complete with musical intro, perhaps even a logo and catch phrase (lol) in the works. I hope to post that video by this Friday.
I'm really very excited to start sharing myself in some creative fashion with the world, whoever may be in the "world" I'll reach.
Since 2008, I have often thought and re-thought about taking a break (or leaving) my career path in Education. I've toyed with ideas of going to Cosmetology school, taking Culinary classes, or starting an Etsy shop (selling who knows what)... I've just felt so, so... stuffed up... like I have had a lot to say, to share, to be and haven't been able to find my way to do it. I hope the new blog, the web cooking show, and another perhaps surprising endeavor I've undertaken will stir around whatever dormant creativity I've got going on inside and give me ways to channel it into something tangible.
I hope whoever is reading will join me in my weirdly hopeful feeling that something will actually come out of all of this...
and please "follow" this blog and my cooking one, Beginning with Celesté :)
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Bloggers
I've been spending a lot of time reading blogs this weekend in between writing lesson plans, making Kung Pao Chicken, Cornbread Souffle (recipe here), except I make a sweeter version by forgoing on the garlic and paprika and instead adding 2 tbs sugar and 2 tbs heavy whipping cream. I also cleaned up a bit...which means my living room is now livable again.
I watched Christmas Carol (the new Jim Carrey version with the animation like Polar Express). How many versions of this Dickens classic can we have? I don't know the answer to that, but I will confess that a tear did drop during Christmas Present's showing of the Cratchett family to Ebenezer. I cry all the time over the most sentimental things. The movie GrownUps was also on my TV some time yesterday while Tony was editing a wedding video from months ago and making the DVD menu for the edit. I barely watched it, but when I finished later that night, I realized one of my favorite Bing Crosby movies, Here Comes the Groom was now available to Watch Instantly. It's quite rare these days that I find a movie that I love enough that I quickly press the PLAY button instead of simply Add to Queue and then continuing to add thousands more...not literally, but I'm sure I have over 400 in my Queue and I can never make a definite decision on which I should actually watch.
All back to the blogs I've been reading. Of course, Tony and I read Todays Letters everyday. I also, thankfully, stumbled across the blog that is written by Stephanie Neilson, (click her name to see her story on youtube),a woman who has survived tragedy and continues to inspire. An hour on her blog, the Nie Nie Dialogues, today made me add her to my Bookmark Bar...
I was talking with Tony about Blogging and Writing this weekend, and as we looked over a few, and he said, "Man, babe, if we were going to have a blog, we'd really have to live." We chuckled for a bit and I said, I'd love to blog and write and hopefully I'll be in a position in life where I have a writer's room in our dream house and I have children, and cooking, and decorating, and volunteering to share with the world out there.
Friday, September 3, 2010
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