First purchase.

I made my first Lenten purchase yesterday.  Things I needed for school: index cards, binder clips, and paperclips.  I came here to make a confession.  It wasn't a rule, but I kind of felt like I needed to buy the most basic supplies.  I didn't.  I got shiny colored binder clips.  They made me happy, as my entire life seems to be color-coded by class and topic. 

So there you have it, friends.  I also bought skittles and lollipops (excellent tongue depressors!) for treatment and have now eaten some myself.  Oops. 

Now I have to get to work turning all these blank notecards into study aids for my 5 upcoming midterms. Eek.

Marked by ashes.

I thought I would post a prayer particularly relevant for my Ash Wednesday this year:

You are the God who feeds and nourishes. 

You are the God who assures that we have more than enough, 

and we do not doubt that

you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Even in such an assurance, however,

we scramble for more food. 

After we have filled all our baskets

with manna,

   we seek a surplus - 

enough education to plan ahead, 

enough power to protect our supply,

enough oil to assure that protection.

And in the midst of that

comes your word,

     that we share bread and feed the hungry,

even to the least and so to you.

We mostly keep our bread for ourselves,

       our neighbors,

       and our friends.

It does not occur to us often,

to feed our enemies,

to share your bounty with

those who threaten us.

We do not often remember to break vicious cycles

   of hostility

by free bread

by free water

by free wine

by free milk.

Until we remember that you are the giver of all good gifts,

     ours to enjoy,

     ours to share.

Stir us by your spirit beyond fearful accumulation

toward outrageous generosity,

   that giving bread to others

makes for peace,

   that giving drink to others

makes for justice,

   that giving and sharing opens the world

and assures abundance for all.

We pray this even as we ponder the gift of your Son

   whom we ingest as bread and wine

and tasting, find ourselves

forgiven and renewed. 

Feed us till we want no more!

- Walter Brueggemann

I'm not able to be physically marked by ashes today, but today we all remember that we are marked by ashes.  We are dust, and to dust we shall return.  I wish you well as we journey in to the beautiful wilderness of the Lenten season.

Yeah. You wish you were me.

No camera with me in the library to show you my super awesome study area, so here's me...making approx. 1,007 notecards for my Adult Neurolinguistic Disorders midterm.

Yeah. That's a crayola marker. I don't even care. 

I know I'm gross-looking...but seriously, you can only look so nice when you haven't slept much and are doing something you loathe. 

Lent starts tomorrow...more to come..

Fat Sunday, and a place I want to be.

This Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of Lent.  So as you probably know, the Tuesday before, Mardis Gras, is a day to indulge a little (or a lot) before beginning the 40 day discipline of fasting and avoidance.  

Tuesdays are no fun for me, since the entire day is spent in classes, so I had a Fat Sunday.  Since I will not be shopping for 40 days, I spent the morning at Target, skinny vanilla latte in hand, wandering around, looking at all the pretty things.  Now, I didn't really buy much, and the things I bought I really did "need", but it was so wonderful.  And an incredible example of what an over-indulged American I am.

But let me show you what I bought.  I've had an organizational problem for a while, when it comes to my school and therapy materials. Problem solved. Exhibit A:

Now this was just the beginning of what I accomplished in my little casita today.  My bedroom has been having an  identity crisis lately. It hasn't really been a place I actually want to be.  Not to mention the fact that in my little one bedroom apartment, it has to serve as an office, craft space, and bedroom.  So let me show you what I've come up with so far.  And I would love further suggestions (although I can't buy anything until Easter...).

My workspace:

My sewing machine and computer are now sharing a space. My computer is rarely here (I prefer to study at the dining room table) so it will mostly be for sewing.  I am very excited about having my sewing machine in a spot where I can sit down and sew without hassles! 

Please notice my corkboard, with some of my favorite things:

SC license plate, President Obama, friends, and this lovely piece of art:

Perhaps the best art on the wall, drawn by a sweet (then) 3-year-old.

There is a giant wall across from my bed that used to have vintage (can you call them that?) Communist propaganda posters from the Vietnam War that I bought while in Vietnam.  Although they are super cool and indulge my inner history nerd, they just weren't making my bedroom the kind of place I wanted to be.  I took them down a couple weeks ago, leaving a blah beige wall in their place. So I threw my silk scarves up on the wall as a temporary solution.

This will probably change at some point.  

Then there's the wall above my bed. More beige blah.  I saw once on either Design Sponge or the Purl Bee the idea of putting fabric in embroidery hoops and hanging them on the wall.  I wasn't sure how cute it would be on MY wall though.  I was at Taylor's house this weekend and saw that she had done it in her craft space and it was indeed super cute.  So I pulled out some scrap fabric and put them in some hoops I had lying around, and Voila! Super fast wall art:

Soooo much better than the beige.  Also, ignore the pillows...I'm waiting to find something I really like. It could take a while.

Now for the living room.  I have another big empty beige blah wall there, too. (See a theme? Beige is really the devil).  I've been trying to get some pictures together to go on the wall, and I started putting some up this weekend.  This is only the beginning, though...I need more frames.  But here's the start:

If you don't see your face up there, either 1) I don't have a frame yet, or 2) I don't have a picture of you and you should send me one.  It's a family and friends wall, and I pretty excited about seeing these lovely faces every day. 

So there you have it, the latest additions to my tiny abode. Now that I've wasted my entire Sunday, I must go plan tomorrow's therapy and study...it might just be a long night in my happy new workspace!

Another year.

Older, that is.

I'm officially 23.  And I have to say, I have some pretty rad friends.