New blog recommendations.

Hey friends,

I wanted to recommend a couple of new blogs on the market:

• ruminations

• love letters

Instead of describing them here, I will let you go & see...

Enjoy!

Kansas City weekend.

Some of my BFFs and I had a wonderful weekend in Kansas City. We went out to visit Jensie, and to meet her new little baby Marlo. We also got the added bonus of meeting Natalie's boyfriend, Dave, and Meredith's friend Michelle. There were actually quite a few first time meetings throughout the weekend & I am praising God for all these connections among great people.

A good day in Chicago.

A good day in Chicago yesterday:

• Hung out with Lois; always edifying conversations.
• Met up with my big brother @ L'Appetito, just a few blocks east of the agency.  He was feeling a little sick, but it was great to see him.
  
• A casting for a German sportswear catalog.  I haven't been into Elite in a while, so it was really good to see some of the other models & agents.
• Lois & I went up to Wicker Park to see Stacy, the girl I worked with at the Bridal show.  We walked Stacy to work, then stopped by Cafe de Luca for soup & coffee.
  
• Fun time on Amtrak hanging out with the crew in the Cafe Car.
• A happy birthday phone talk with my big sister.

L.xo

Running Cafe Aroma.

Hey friends,

Cafe Aroma, where I'm working, is run by The Vineyard church, and the pastor right now is kind of the general manager. However, he has a lot going on, and he has started talking to me about taking on more of the manager role, so he wouldn't have to be concerned with the day-to-day business of it. I told him that I couldn't do it without Cathy, the amazing woman I work with (we complement each other well & make a great team), so plans are now brewing (pun intended) for Cathy & I to try our hand at running the cafe next semester.

L. xo

P.S. Brandon, thank you for your letter in the mail. I really liked it, and it helped me think through some of my blogging issues. I love old-fashioned mail.

News.

Hello friends,

You are my audience. My friends & family who want to know what is going on with me. And please, if you read what I write, and are glad to have read it, leave me comments. I think when this becomes what feels like a one-sided conversation it's discouraging. Thanks!

Some news items:

• We moved to a new apartment through Keith's resident manager job, and it is wonderful. It's a two-bedroom that's over twice the size of our place at Lamoine Village. It really feels like I am a woman with a home. We are still just praising God for it. He taught us so much about contentment in our last two tiny places, and we are so thankful for that. Now it feels like our territory has been expanded.
• Keith is the new worship leader at the Vineyard church here in Macomb. They lost their former worship leader a few months ago, so one Sunday Keith and I guest-led worship there. To make a long story short, they loved us & created a paid position for Keith as the Sunday morning worship leader. It was hard to leave the Crossing, but the guys there commissioned us with all the best wishes; praise God.
  
• We first got to know the folks at the Vineyard when I started working at Cafe Aroma a few months ago. I was in the market for a local coffeehouse job and some good friends of mine had worked there in the past. So when they needed some help, I volunteered & it was a great fit. Cafe Aroma is run by the Vineyard church. I've had a vision for coffeehouse ministry for probably close to ten years, so this was a neat opportunity for me. Right now I'm working Tuesday through Friday 11a to 2p, and we often play music there on Friday nights for Open Mic. So come by & visit sometime.
• Speaking of Cafe Aroma, Nate & Mere's band Leaving the Boats came & played an amazing show there on October 24th.
  
• I was in this movie with Shia LaBeouf.
  
• I got myself a new Moleskine journal & I love it.
  

Love,
L. xo

Dictionary.com Word of the Day: Limn.

limn \LIM\, transitive verb:
1. To depict by drawing or painting.
2. To portray in words; to describe.

Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well."
-- Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003

In telling these people's stories Mr. Butler draws upon the same gifts of empathy and insight, the same ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Earthlings May Endanger Your Peaceful Rationality", New York Times, March 10, 2000

But used faithfully and correctly, language can "limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers."
-- John Darnton, "In Sweden, Proof of The Power Of Words", New York Times, December 8, 1993

What a wonderful word. To limn people, things, ideas is what I have such strong urges to do. Oh, Lord, show me how.

A new little miracle.

Welcome to the world, Marlo Valentine!

Congratulations, Jensie & Andy!

Could this beautiful little baby be real??

Planning my trip to KC...

The blogging cycle.

I've been going through my cyclical blogging identity crisis where I question the purpose & audience of my blog.  But I'm working through it.

If you read my blog & enjoy it & would like to see me write more, would you leave a comment?  Let me know what kinds of things you like to read about from me.

Thanks, friends!

I heart my poloroids.

I've had this vision for my blog title image for a few months, and have finally realized it.

What do you think?

I'm in!

I made the cut: I am in Eagle Eye!

I'm now on imdb.com, and someone mentioned me in a review.

It's been so exciting and strange...

Fike & Dana.

My latest aid in worship & source of edification: Fike & Dana. A beautiful couple ministering to their local church in Colorado & beyond. Their music worships & glorifies GOD in joy & suffering.

“In & Out of Season” was a bridge album between the happy-go-lucky praise-a-thon’s that permeate East Texas and the much more melancholy, pain-ridden honesty that the Fike’s encountered in Colorado. There were two parallel truths that ‘Seasons’ attempted to communicate, not so much as adversaries, but as companions… “Life is hard” & “God is good”.

“The Morning is Come” was another bridge album. It’s goal was to align another set of seemingly opposed ideas… “Sin is real” & “God has healed”. So often, post-modern Christians live a life resigned to the certainty of sin, but not so much to the certainty of God’s presence in their lives. “The Morning is Come” was Fike & Dana’s attempt to communicate the idea that God has given us all we need to live our lives in the palm of God’s hand. -fikeanddana.com

Thanks for introducing me, Lois!

Watch this short film!

A trailer:

"The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something. It'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever." -storyofstuff.com

Watch the whole thing at www.storyofstuff.com.

Proverbs 13:3.

In my arts & crafts I've noticed a theme of redemption. I like using found materials that would either be thrown away or used for evil or unused or common and turning them into something beautiful; valuable; meaningful. This (above) is torn from an ad on the back cover of a fashion magazine that a friend gave me. The brown paper is from a paper grocery bag, the typewriter is from my mother & father-in-law's basement, and the staples are simply staples. No new materials were used for its creation. I saw the birdcage veil over the model's face, over her mouth, and it reminded me of the idea of guarding my mouth, as the proverb talks about. The veil is like the guard: whatever passes through it must be closely watched. The mouth isn't hidden, or sealed shut; it is also not opened wide. It is delicately & gracefully guarded. With this our life is preserved, the proverb says.

My favorite event of the year.

Cornerstone Festival, here we come.

The theatrical trailer!

Ok, the second scene in this trailer is just a flash of "Jerry" (Shia) on the El--he is sketching my picture in that shot. He's standing, looking down at something he's doing (below the frame) and smiling a little. I got to know my scene very well over the two days I shot it, and I know for certain that this is it.

This doesn't guarantee anything about whether my scene will make it into the final cut of the movie, but how exciting to see a second of it in this trailer!

Finally, the teaser trailer!

The first shots of Shia on the El were filmed directly after my scene with him on the El. I was still there, hanging out with the crew & watching the filming.

Nashvisual art.

Yesterday Keith & I got to explore the local art scene a little. I've been using the local paper (the actual paper kind!) to guide all of my local explorations. At the Estel Gallery downtown we saw an amazing exhibit by Pamela Sukhum. What caught my attention in the paper was "The Beautiful Project" involving art by refugee children in Chad. I wasn't even expecting to see her own incredible oil/acrylic paintings. Both her work & the children's work were equally moving & inspiring.

After stopping in for a treat at a wonderful little European-style patisserie we went to The Arts Company and enjoyed a number of exhibits, my favorite of which involved Polaroid photos that had been distorted during the developing process.

More in Music City.

Last night at the legendary Exit/In we saw Merced and Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys. Sadly, we narrowly missed Deas Vail due to dinner with the 'rents & Kevin downtown at Big River Grille & Brewing Works.

Deas Vail and Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys will both be at Cornerstone!

I really enjoyed Homer. Beautiful, passionate art.

In Nashville again.

Tonight we went to the Grand Ole Opry. My favorite was Cherryholmes. I'm realizing how much I like bluegrass, and I'm fascinated with bands that are families.

Polaroid instant camera status: Secured.

Thanks, Camera Land (our local camera shop on the Square), for having one used Polaroid camera in stock, waiting to be taken home by me. Now I just have to buy film (Camera Land did not carry any instant film). And as far as the rumors go about Poloaroid soon ending production of their instant film, it appears to be true. However, as the man at Camera Land told me, and as I have verified, Fujifilm continues to produce it. ::relief::

I want to use Polaroid photos in my arts & crafts; we will wait to see the fruition of that.

Along the same lines, to my great joy, Countywide Office Supply (where I purchased my label maker) had my typewriter ribbons in stock. I was definitely expecting to need to order it. Local businesses are magical places.

Since procuring the typewriter in January (from my mother & father-in-law's basement) it has opened a new door in my creative expression. There is something about writing in physical reality on paper, at the speed of typing, and with the clarity and uniformity of typed text. The look of typewriter text is classic and evocative and tangible. I have been taking pages of beautiful catalogs or drawings and typing scripture or poems or other text on them (example to the right). I've written cards & letters with it, and I find the typewriter the easiest way to do creative writing or to journal. I love it.

Speaking of arts & crafts, I'm going to take another art class at Western this fall. I'm definitely ready to return to that.


Update:
Film secured. Walgreen's is still carrying the Polaroid instant film; who knows for how long? Hopefully when it's no longer produced they (or someone) will carry the Fujifilm instant film. And wow: expensive. Each picture is to be used wisely.

I carefully chose my first shot: the view out our front door. Isn't it beautiful? I can't believe the beauty of nature we get to live in here in humble university housing. Our outside surroundings definitely make up for the couple of flaws inside the apartment.

Eagle Eye.

Still trying to convince myself that I really had a speaking role in a scene of this movie.

Learning about words.

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Prv. 10:19; 11:12-13; Jas. 1:19

Wanted: Polaroid Instant Camera.

I'm on a quest for a Polaroid Instant Camera. If you happen to have one that you do not use, I would love to take it off your hands!

Because there are not enough sweater vests in music videos.

In February three of my best friends and I spent a weekend together in Chicago. Whilst perusing secondhand shops on Belmont Avenue we happened upon a rack of sweater vests at Ragstock. Taken by the rack's wry charm, we resolved to each get one to commemorate our weekend together. Unaware of the irresistible creative powers these small vests held, we tried them on that evening...



Comments welcomed.

Arts & crafts.

My label maker came in today. I ordered a manual, old-fashioned label maker through Countywide Office Supply on the Square. I've wanted one for months to use in my art & crafts. I like trying to find things secondhand first, just to avoid the unnecessary use of new resources. I bid on a couple label makers on Ebay, asked for one on Freecycle, and browsed the local thrift store multiple times, all to no avail. So, my next choice, after secondhand, is to support local business. Countywide didn't have any in stock, but they were happy to order it for me.

On the same trip to go pick it up, I got Keith a little memo pad that he had mentioned wanting to get. When I got home I promptly opened my new label maker & decorated the new memo pad.









My next order of business was to add the text to this drawing I had made of Keith.













I've found these two wood art gems at thrift stores. The one to the left has the definition of faith and has been a huge encouragement to me as I wait in faith.

I like the counsel in this one on the right to be still & listen.







Comments welcomed.