the Good Earth

toms and herberts fresh from our garden.

and...check this out

giveaway update--jeff (again..)

Okay I already posted this giveaway, but the pics I got back from jeff et al were too wondrous to keep to myself. best day ever!

hope

this morning I cut the heads and tails off my celery and washed what was left and the green smell on my hands was fresh and wonderful. Then I smeared them with my favorite peanut butter ever--which is the fresh made-in-front-of-your-eyes kind from Whole Foods, made with honey roasted peanuts, that is grainy and crystally crunchy from the sugar. Then I got out the big marshmallows (because we don't have any little ones right now) and got out the kitchen shears and clipped the marshmellows into little bite sizes and laid them on the logs. I love using scissors in the kitchen and cutting mellows is the second best thing I love to do with them (second only to cutting long lengths of kimchi). Last but not least I put raisins in between the marshmellows and saran wrapped the bundle of celeries and packed them into my and leslie's lunch sack.
and now that lunch sack is waiting for me in the nutrition department refrigerator. and that's how I know it's going to be a good day.

Signs of the times

sometimes I enjoy cheesy staged pictures of cute animals.
sometimes I get the urge to forward them on to you.



(I have resisted, so far...)

giveaway update--Jenny, Gma, and tang

(and these guys didn't even sign up...)

giveaway update--Jeff

happy birthday jeffy-pie

Happy Birthday old Beck,
I love you the heck.

More holiness give me, more strivings within.
More patience in suffering, more sorrow for sin.
More faith in my Savior, more sense of His care.
More joy in His service, more purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me, more trust in the Lord.
More zeal for His glory, more hope in His Word.
More tears for His sorrows, more pain at His grief.
More meekness in trial, more praise for relief.

More purity give me, more strength to o'ercome,
More freedom from earth-stains, more longings for home.
More fit for the kingdom, more used would be,
More blessed and holy, more, Savior, like Thee.

"I Can See Obama Right Now!"

(quoted from a little girl looking out from the top of the lincoln memorial)


my work sent me to DC. yahoo.

my bob's getting hitched

Congratulations Andrew and Ashley. A blessing on both your houses!!

WORK

yes, that is the kraken on my desktop

Disappointment

complete.utter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY E

you great goose!

I had a vision

flying home from california.
I looked out the window to the sea . I saw one wave form out of the water. Pick itself up into a violent, pointed peak. then resolve itself back
into flat ocean.
my eyes opened and I saw a million waves. form and rage and die.
the sea looked to me like a battle ground. like passion.
the plane lifted.
out my window
the waves lost something
the higher I went.
they grew squatter.
and less menacing.
Rounded hills.
to ripples.
to nothing.
until the ocean turned to smooth blue glass.
and I thought about my prayers. and passions.
and God, looking down. from his jet plane in the sky.

giveaway update--Moflo

Dear Boston,

Thank you for the day of warmth and sunshine yesterday.
it was nice and made me feel like it's summertime, rather than one long, eternal, dark and bitter winter.
let's do it again sometime.
love, erin

All Grown Up

yeah, I live with this bad boy. don't be jealous.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY LESSIZLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

giveaway update--tye

has anyone ever needed you

and you flubbed up. bad.


:(

giveaway update--ju

last sunday

leslie's blog with the full story and links to media

SPRING !!!!

Last week was Lilac Sunday in the Arnold Arboretum-the only day of the year they allow (and welcome) picnickers. I always have time for a picnic, so leslie&I packed up some ranger cookies and cold hotdogs and followed the ebb of bostonians to the park. much to my delight, not only was lilac sunday on a sunny day, but it included lilacs. gazillions of them! down a lovely walk (in the giant, green and winding arboretum) we found lilac tree after lilac tree, each with a different smell, color and petal design, and each with a handy metal tag on the trunk to tell us the name. A few winners included: "Bella de Nancy", "President Poincare", and "Bridal Memories". what would you name a lilac breed?...makes you wonder.


The Arboretum also had lots of beautiful other things, like this bell chime flowering tree and awesome tree caves, like this one where we settled down to picnic until the day cooled down enough to chase us back home.


Boston has broken into blossom. Leslie and I couldn't resist a princess photo shoot during lunch in the Harvard medical quad.


These blossoms popped out down the street from my house. I can't help sticking my nose in everything. I love love love blossom smell. it makes me as happy as riding a bike or petting a ragamuffin dog. if you close up on the last picture you can see the pollen on my face...

Happy spring time!! we finally made it through the winter.

my new rockstar name

Honda Iceman

giveaway update--Wardies

Dream Song 14

Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatingly) "Ever to confess you're bored
means you have no

Inner Resources." I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as Achilles,

who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into the mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.

-John Berryman

stay

we baked your hunger in a pie
I ate it forkless
licking my fingers
the tart taint of unity
the crumbling crust

giveaway update--Deb

Earth Hour

This Saturday the world is celebrating Earth Hour by turning off the lights and unplugging every unnecessary thing for one hour. Consider it your way to give the earth a little hug AND an excuse to play in the dark. What's better than that?
Here are some ideas I came up with for enjoying the hour
(alone, with a sweetie-pie, with your family, what have you):

play night games
(of the mafia, murder in the dark, escape to alcatraz variety)
eat dinner by candle light
roast things in a fire
(reducing carbon emissions...?)
star gaze
bathe by candle light
tell secrets
call to night owls
make homemade music
and dance
(take advantage of the fact that no one can really see you)
draw things and laugh about them when you turn the lights back on
pretty much anything by candle light
bite into wintergreen life savers and try to see sparks
practice warbling
throw bananas
pray
snuggle
sleep

8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009
http://www.earthhour.org/

enjoy :)

My Dictionary Word of the Day

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:

We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.

A well-boiled icicle ["well-oiled bicycle"].

It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.

Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?

Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

(Dictionary.com)

happy patty's from Boston

we know how to celebrate

GIVEAWAY (2.0)

Respond to this post and you will get something handmade by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done in the near future.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. But I promise that I will take time to think of something that seems right for me to send you! :)
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6- Available only until some crazy unknown cut-off date (to be decided by me)--so ACT NOW!!


The catch? There is no catch!! So leave a comment and you will win a RAD-I-CAL homemade gift by me!

Personal Notes:
Feel free to repost this or your own version of it on your blog. It's ok if you don't want to do it, but it could be fun. :)
Please don't be shy, I'm excited to make you something!!!!!
Really, I mean it.

bring it on

For a while lately I have been feeling hurt and picked upon as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am a mormon and my faith is precious to me--without price. It is the reason I am every good thing I am, and the reason I am always trying to be better. It is my connection to God, to the divine, and to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Nothing is more sacred and dear to my heart. To have others mock or viciously criticize my religion hurts my heart, the way it would hurt my heart to see this done to a close family member or friend.

Even so, I am grateful for persecution. I am grateful for it, because it has made it impossible for me to remain neutral. It has forced me to firmly decide where I stand. It has refined me as dross in a refiner's fire. It is turning my testimony and my heart into gold.

In response to this persecution, a friend recently posted the Standard of Truth. My first companion (trainer) on my mission had me memorize this--along with D&C 4 and two other quotations. Every morning at 6:00 a.m. we would sit on our beds and sleepily recite these words. They became dear to me during my initial struggles with the language, the new culture, the heat and the homesickness. Now when I am far from my heavenly home, in the midst of mobs, persecutions and calumnies, these words again have brought me profound peace.

“The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame. But the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say, ‘The work is done.'”

I know that God lives. I know His hands guide the destiny of this world. I know that His humble servants have nothing to fear.
It is our choice if we will be on the side of truth speaking, charity, and compassion. If we will seek after praise worthy things, or if we will wallow in the mires. But regardless of our individual choices, there is no earthly thing that can be said or done, that will sway the work of God.

hypocritichondria

well I'm some kind of hypocrite. I crouch in wait for blog entries from everyone else--everyday I hover around my google reader so I can be the first to pounce! But when it comes to actually sitting down and writing for myself I'm just plain fat and lazy.
What's that? Not cool. that's what that is.

besides repenting, I am:

doing good.
working
taking one class in the masters program that will never end
making my own bread and yogurt and sometimes granola and icecream
re-teaching myself how to knit and how to play the guitar
dreaming about spring
wondering how old I'll be when I can finally have another dog in my life
wondering if it's too late to join Tye's blog give-away (okay, I just did--so we'll say no)
reluctant to do dishes when it's cold
excited about my upcoming trip to Te-Xas!
finished with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night" (thought it was all right)
looking for a new reading book
open to suggestions
getting better at cooking
getting better at flossing
getting worse at actually doing my hair (vs just showering and letting it air dry/freeze on my way to work)
thinking about starting a health blog
keeping this one too (don't you worry)
wearing paint-by-number vans leslie gave me
falling in love with printing service providers who I only communicate with through little emails
certain they are falling for me too when they say things like "thanks for the go ahead" and "we'll get that shipped out asap"
misspelling icecream

trying to keep it real.

<3

sniff

Spring is coming I know it. I can feel it-the wind smells different.

Hallelujah Spring. welcome welcome.

resolutions

I am keeping:
hanging up my clothes/putting them in the hamper as soon as I take them off (it's amazing how well that works)
sometimes I floss
I am not keeping:
sometimes I don't floss
I hope to start keeping:
studying even a little Spanish DAILY
increasing my peesh lips, I mean, pushups
being so honest it hurts

Hit me where it hurts

Polaroid announced they are no longer going to be making film. Kind of a sad day for me and my little fleet of polaroid cameras.

I think I'm too low on the financial beanpole to notice most of the effects of our failing economy. but when they come after my film (or my cookies) it starts to hurt

in the meantime, anyone who wants to get me some film for Christmas, Hanukkah, a happy new year, because they feel like it, I am hoping to stockpile.

happy birthday whitney

we miss you

I'll be home for the Holidays :))

Hey peeps.

just wanted to heads up everyone that I will be in Provo for Christmas (20-27th or so). So if you are reading this chances are I would love to see you. let's make it work&get it together.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
I am brimming with blessings, not the least of which include:

leslie
my new job
(update: it's pretty fun. I got to fold mass amounts of paper yesterday with a machine)
the gospel
& Bob Marley

I'm grateful for you reading my blog. your comments make me feel loved.
<3
erin

2 years (and a little) ago when I first moved out to Boston I had a lot of philosophies brewing in my head--one of which was that buying things is dumb. so for a while I shunned Targets and gave thoughtful letters instead of gifts and did whatever shopping I did need at second hand shops (me thrift store shopping, I know it's hard to believe). and then for a while I was unemployed and didn't have money to spend anyway. then it was really easy to be anti-stuff.

so now I am so blessed to have a new job. My first real job as a college graduate--by "real" I mean one which truly requires the education I have painstakingly payed for for the last 10 or so years.
I am working as a research assistant at Harvard's School of Public Health on a study looking at the causes of autism. I have a cubicle! (which is supposed to be a bad thing, I'm aware, but which to me is highly exciting) and a salary and I take lunch breaks. It's all very grown-up.

along with being grown-up and full time I decided I wanted to dress professionally. I bought some slacks and some shirts to go with my slacks. then I realized I needed shoes, and then of course Leslie taught me about trouser socks. I bought a dress coat (my old coat had a hole in the lining so you never knew if your arm was going to end up coming out the sleeve, or stuck somewhere in the abyss inside of it). Looking so great made me finally accept that my current messenger bag was too holey and shabby to see the light of Harvard, so I borrowed a bag of Leslie's while I search for one of those too.

there's still the matter of grown-up makeup and jewelry, hair styles. who knows what else. Being a woman suddenly seems to require a whole lot of accessories. And suddenly I am remembering why I swore off materialism in the first place: because having more leads to wanting more, leads to having more and up and up until I don't know what happens. until you end up in a park somewhere chasing down squirrels and calling them "baby" (note: this lady exists)

maybe materialism isn't bad. Maybe it just seems excessive because I'm trying to make up for years and years of living like a hippie. afterall, the things which I am replacing are things which I've loyally used for years (and have the holes to prove it).
I don't know, I'm still seeking further enlightenment. enroute, however, I'm also in the market for a good desk calendar, if you have any suggestions..

la vida dulce

have this thing lately about photographing our meals.

where was I

October has been my favorite month ever since I got born in it. I like to take it as a kind of 2nd chance at new years: do some hearty self evaluation, set new goals, then charge at them with all the mid-semester zeal I can muster.
this October I am sticking with tradition but I have to admit that this year the self evaluation has been a pretty depressing process. I feel like I've been asleep at the wheel for the past year and am only now waking to find myself miles and miles off course. How did I get all these unpaid bills? How did my running mileage get so slow? where did this extra body fat come from? How have I gotten so out of touch with so many of the people I enjoy most? Where was I when all of this happened??
I could try and blame it on being so happy in my immediate circumstances (AKA living with Leslie) that I forgot to think about long term consequences, like late fees and back fat. but I know myself well enough to remember that things like this have happened before. I've loved procrastination almost as long as I've loved Octobers.
There's a part of me that wants to let out a little mouse shriek then run right back to whatever hole I must have been hiding in. Denial is not just a river in Egypt baby!
But this is October, so I have to be tough. Work myself out of this wreck. Pay the piper.
It's a painful, but humbling, process.
and for now, I am humbled.
humbled and huffing through my morning runs.
stinking.
huffing and stinking. oh man..

Something's Wrong

sometimes when I run in the morning I pass people that smell good.
then I think "hmmm, I stink."