cold tangerines

My friend Shannon got me this book for Christmas. It's a easy and thoughtful read filled with stories and life lessons. I love it. I'm just a few chapters in and decided to save it for Mesa. It seems to be the perfect 'get away' read.

This link brings you to the book's website, where you can click on a link to read a quick chapter to get a feel for her style.

***edited: I wrote all of these posts on Tuesday night, but now it's Saturday morning and I have finished this book...read it on the airplane and devoured it. If you're looking for a good book, order this one and start passing it around your circle of friends.

six.

Six. That's the number of gallons of windshield wiper fluid I have gone through this winter. This might be because I am a little trigger happy, but it also might be because I drive a ford focus that doesn't defrost the windshield until the car is in motion. But the car can't be in motion until I can see out the windshield. It is a wicked little cycle. And since my car resides in a parking lot and each morning is covered in a coat of ice, I really do love of this sweet potion.

But a girl can only take so much winter. The week we came back from Christmas in Minnesota, we had another snowstorm. And I took matters into my own hands. I called my sister. I called my mom. And Annika and I made tickets to meet up in Mesa where my parents spend six weeks of their winter. So today, I am here. Paradise found.

at a student union near you

In the next month I will visit ten different colleges to recruit my camp staff. Tuesday was my first day, and it was successful by all measures. I have the contact info for some really great potential staff, and I am excited.

But I work for that contact info. You can basically picture me standing in front of this table, saying on repeat, "Have you ever thought about working at a summer camp?" "Would you like to work at Bible Camp?" "Do you have a job this summer?" "Are you looking for a great summer gig?"

I say one of these phrases to each and every person who passes. Many pretend I am invisible. Others pretend they need to check something on their phone. Some smile kindly and still don't answer back. A few say they've got a job for the summer, or need to take classes or have an internship. But then, once in a while, in a long, long while, someone stops. They look at the board. They look at me. And then they light up. "Yeah, I have thought about it before. Where is this camp?"

And then I begin phase two: my smooth pitch. I probably said it 20 times today. And I ended up with 12 names and emails and phone numbers. Next, I will email these 12 with personal follow ups. And after ten college student unions, I should have accumulated 120 names and emails in an effort to find the 40 Summer Staff I am still looking for (We already have 30!)

So look for me. I'm the lady being ignored all day at your local college. :)

Truth is, I love this part of my job. I love that I get to be a part of God's work, calling this staff together. I also love that my skinny jeans tucked into my boots were right in style with the female college clones who all dress alike. At least I know I'm keeping up with the times.

pink hearts

I am getting excited for February and thought I'd make us a door decoration.

I made this innocent little wreath while Rory and I watched No Country for Old Men. He convinced me that the acting, writing and cinematography was worth watching a psychopath blow up everything and everyone who gets in his way. The movie was interesting, (though not worth the utter violence) but just try to imagine the contrast of this horror movie to my sweet snipping of pretty ribbons. It just would have made more sense to have been watching the Love Boat or something...

***edited: Rory read this post and begged me to add a head shot of Javier Bardem. And since this post was about Valentine's and since marriage is all about give and take, I will humor him with a teeny-tiny picture of this freaky man.

add this one to your reader....

I recently entered a giveaway on a design blog. The question you had to answer under 'comments' was: Who is your fashion guru. Most people wrote fancy names of people who live in fancy places. I wrote down the fancy name, Kristin Jagodzinske who lives in the fancy land of Seattle.

Kristin is my cousin Daron's wife and I'm pretty sure I've referenced her blog here a couple times. She married into my extended family when I was an impressionable 6th grader and I've always thought she's wonderful. And she just announced big news. She is now a writer for HotMama, a boutique that sells fabulous clothes to fabulous mamas.

There are a few different Mamas who blog for this site, but Kristin just started her gig as ADOPTIONmama. She will be writing the details of adopting two siblings from Ghana, how the first year has gone, what the waiting period was like (they waited a long, long time...) and how she parents five kids between the ages of 4 and 10.

She's a fun writer to read, shares her life with honesty and I, for one, can't wait to hear more of the details of how she has processed the last two years. Be sure to keep tabs on her at ADOPTIONmama.