no more phone books!!!

Sorry for blog number 70 mil! This is what happens when I get my blog (read: groove) back. I go crazy for a few days and then things will calm down and I'll recede to only 2-3 per half day.

I thought this was such a great idea I just had to blog about it!

What: Cease the distribution of unnecessary phone directories to your home and/or office.
Why: Green is the new yellow.
Where: Online at yellowpagesgoesgreen.org.

Do it seriously!! Think about how much paper it wastes when we have the internet to use instead!!

photo

I want to start taking more pictures during life. I always seem to leave my camera at home when I go places and inevitably something picture worthy happens. Por ejemple, the unicyclist I saw cycling around our apartment complex the other day.

Here's a photo I took of the bathroom in Kenichi, a restaurant where my friend Briana works. She actually works at the one in Austin, but was up in Dallas for our friend's wedding and picked up some shifts at the Dallas location in Yuppyville, USA, a.k.a. Victory Park. The restaurant was AMAZING, and we were able to enjoy some fine asian dining and sushi thanks to her generous discount. The atmosphere was so sleek and contemporary and we sat in a booth that had a little curtain you could pull closed. It was so much fun.

Anyhoot, here's the picture:


Camera phone isn't great quality, but the smaller the less grainy, right? RIGHT?!!? anyhoot, I hope this picture blog trend blows forth like the wind from the east! or........that I just keep doing it.

who needs labels....i do, i do!

I may or may not have (read: definitely did) stolen this from hampton, and I, too, found myself to be a true blue helvetican. I have to say, I'm pretty pumped. I've always liked me some helvetica with those nice, clean sans serif lines!! I guess Kevin will be excited, because now I guess we have to get a loft like he's always wanted. WINK!

Donald Miller

I must admit, I didn't come up with this blog on my own. "(Har)Monica" posted about it and I thought I'd follow suit because it was awesome.

Donald Miller, one of my favorite authors, gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention. It's a great prayer and I thought I'd share it here. He'll probably update the info on his home page in a day or two, so if you check this and the link doesn't lead you to something about the DNC, then check out this video, too.



And for those of you who would prefer not to point and click, here's the transcript of the prayer:

"Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen."

Well played, Miller, well played!! He's a great writer AND he lives in Portland, OR, possibly one of the most beautiful places in all the land, and also home to my cousin, her boyfriend, my aunt, and several college friends. PORTLAND REPRESENT!! Three cheers to one of the places that's way ahead of the rest of us when it comes to organic food, an abundance of the color green, recycling and just generally caring about this big ole earth on which we live. HURRAH!!

Jeff Tweedy

Quick anecdote since I haven't blogged in literally almost TWO DANG MONTHS!!!

Kevin and I were driving home from meeting some friends at the Ginger Man tonight listening to a mix cd he'd made for work. Until You Came Along by Golden Smog came on and Kevin screamed.....yes, that's right, screamed...

"JEFF TWEEDY!!! YOU HAVE THE VOICE OF A GOSH!!"

He's so huggable.


Post Script - There's more to come as I need to blog about Kevin's graduation and me ole pal Adriana's wedding! I promise!!

Post Post Script - This picture is in no way an accurate representation of the current and majestic state of Kevin's beard.

weddings, denton, & nostalgia

[UPDATE: This is about 4 weeks after I started writing this post, and I just forgot to finish it, but it's a rainy Saturday, and it feels like the right time to sit inside, listen to music, and finish this post.]

This past weekend, one of my great friends Adriana got married to her beau of about 5 years, Ryan in our old college stomping grounds - Denton, TX. She and I have been friends since high school, and she was my first roommate ever.

Roomies!:


On our first day in the dorms, we had already had it all planned out...we would bunk our beds to optimize the most possible space in our 19' x 10' living space for the next semester. We get there only to find out that one of the bunk beds is longer than the other. BLAST!!! What are we going to do? We don't know anyone else in Clark Hall (represent!)

Enter this charming red-headed vixen - Jillian M:


She came and introduced herself to us and let us know that she lived diagonally down the hall from us if we needed anything...we traded bunk beds, discovered that both Jill and I were raised in the teachings of one Martin Luther and the rest is history.

After Adriana and I lived together, Jill and I lived together in an apartment....where we paid rent and learned how to be (and not be) responsible. Then after Jill and I lived together, Adriana and Jill lived together. Then our little roommate triangle turned into a geographic triangle when Jill & her beau moved to Portland, Oregon and Adriana & her beau moved to Boston, Mass.

The nuptials of Adriana and Ryan, the aforementioned beau, brought us all together again back in Denton, TX, home of the UNT Eagles where all our history once began. The rehearsal dinner was at this great Italian place on Locust called Guiseppe's. Lets just say silver and gold jordan almonds abounded!!

our candy grills brought us together, and ne'er shall we part.


the happy almost nuptialized couple.


here are some more pictures of the good times and good peeps that weekend.



















It was a really great time and a really effortless reunion. I love those friendships where you can go a few months in between talking, or a few years in between seeings (sic), and when you get back together, it's like no time has passed. All three of us have our own things going on, we're all (now) married and things in all of our lives have changed, but we're just as close as ever. I really love these girls. We were all big parts of each others lives in a very transitional and integral time in our lives. I'm grateful to know them.

FRIENDS FOREVAA!!!!!!