Recent Favorites and some Anne Lamott

• Two weekends ago, I played my first role of bridesmaid in the wedding of my little sister from my college sorority. It was an all-around great weekend and we got to stay with Brian and Kay at their place which was mere blocks away from the hotel and church!

The gorgeous cathedral I snuck a picture of.

DGs at the rehearsal dinner

All DGs at the reception! (minus the bride!)

Mike and I at the reception!

                                 

• I've also had some pretty scenic running adventures lately. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things post-move and weekends out of town!

New running path at our new place! It's right near a nature trail and river and is a pretty scenic substitution for the monuments I miss running by.

Saturday, I walked past the Capitol to meet Mike at the law school for a study break lunch and had to play tourist for just a second!

Today, I treated myself to a morning run past the monuments (after dropping MJ off int he city to leave for Baltimore) and this is the closest I've ever been to the Washington monument! So close I couldn't get it all until I had run a little further away!

There it is:) At this point, I had to turn around or I was going to be late for work. Not my fastest day;)

• This guy in his overalls.........the MOST adorable....

• Mike sent me a Bar Eve text of the dragonboats in Inner Harbor because he knows I love them. At first I thought it was a picture of the trash cans and I had just had a trash can gifted to me by a neighbor (ours was accidentally stolen because we didn't put our house number on it...which apparently happens a lot). It was such a kind and welcoming gesture and now I don't have to go through the hassle of contacting the city.

• Mike will be done with the bar by Wednesday evening! I realize I've taken many of his projects for granted, just because after so many exam periods and interviews and mock trials and shows....it feels routine for things to be intense every so often, but I've seen and heard that bar study is the kind of intensity that is meant to unhinge you. I don't know if I believe in the necessity of the mind games, but I DO know what a blessing it will be to get past it! GO MIKE GO<3

• This post from Anne Lamott. The news has had me feeling kind of down lately and she always finds a way to put words to it and to also help me focus on the hopeful and positive beauty of life. I posted a shortened version below.

"Many mornings I check out the news as soon as I wake up, because if it turns out that the world is coming to an end that day, I am going to eat the frosting off an entire carrot cake; just for a start. Then I will move onto vats of clam dip, pots of crime brûlée, nachos, M & M's etc. Then I will max out both my credit cards...

The last two weeks have been about as grim and hopeless as any of us can remember, and yet, I have not gotten out the lobster bib and fork...

Hasn't your mind just been blown lately, even if you try not to watch the news? Does it surprise you that a pretty girl's mind turns to thoughts of entire carrot cakes, and credit cards?...

It's not that I don't trust God or grace or good orderly direction anymore. I do, more than ever. I trust in divine intelligence, in love energy, more than ever, no matter what things look like, or how long they take. It's just that right now cute little platitudes are not helpful.

I'm not depressed. I'm overwhelmed by It All. I don't think I'm a drag. I kind of know what to do. I know that if I want to have loving feelings, I need to do loving things. It begins by putting your own oxygen mask on first: I try to keep the patient comfortable. I do the next right thing: left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe. I think Jesus had a handle on times like these: get thirsty people water. Feed the hungry. Try not to kill anyone today. Pick up some litter in your neighborhood. Lie with your old dog under the bed and tell her what a good job she is doing with the ruptured ear drum.

I try to quiet the drunken Russian separatists of my own mind, with their good ideas. I pray. I meditate. I rest, as a spiritual act. I spring for organic cherries. I return phone calls.

I remember the poor. I remember an image of Koko the sign-language gorilla, with the caption, "Law of the American Jungle: remain calm. Share your bananas." I remember Hushpuppy at the end of Beasts of the Southern Wild, just trying to take some food home to her daddy Wink, finally turning to face the hideous beast on the bridge, facing it down and saying, "I take care care of my own."

I take care of my own. You are my own, and I am yours--I think this is what God is saying, or trying to, over the din. We are each other's. Thee are many forms of thirst, many kinds of water."

-Anne Lamott