Moments Past - #1

Howdy.

I am putting off my History of Doctrines reading for tonight, so I thought I'd do a little blog post in the meantime...

side note: I usually love to read, but this is one of the hardest textbooks I've encountered so far... "The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundation of Doctrinal Criticism" by Alister McGrath. I usually love his writing, but this particular book is terribly theoretical and dense, and has some pretty dang hard vocabulary. I am fishing for sympathy, so I'm going to type a small section of the last reading so you understand and can properly sympathize...

"The facility with which such declarations are made has frequently engendered the suspicion that those engaging in ecumenical theology employ language to conceal differences, rather than bring them into the open. Indeed, it is possible to suggest that the explicandum (if not necessarily the explicatum) of Lindbeck's book is the apparent anomaly which arises when doctrines remain unchanged, and yet cease to be regarded as conflicting."

Dr. Charles, I love you dearly, but I am not sure that I will be able to adequately summarize and respond to the reading.
And let noone ever tell me that Christian liberal art schools have low academic standards.


Now for the actual post...
Sometimes I don't blog because I feel like I don't have anything to blog about. I do alot of homework these days, I'm working on my thesis, and going grocery shopping. I don't think you would like to hear about my exegesis and textual criticism of biblical passages, so I usually wait to blog until I've done something outside of school. Instead of being absent from the blogging world in these in between times, I'm going to pick a special moment from the past and tell you about it!

Moment -
The South Pittsburgh National Cornbread Festival.
I dearly love cornbread, and meeting interesting characters. South Pittsburgh (Tenessee, mind you) is full of both, especially at the cornbread festival. We saw an advertisement in a booklet of events around the south, and knew we had to go. So one sunday afternoon, we drove on down!

Here's some of what we saw:

We were delighted to take advantage of the kettle corn samples. Best I've ever had!

A friend is someone you can confide in.

This cool cat was hanging out near the gourds.

Just to add a little perspective, Jordan, pictured to the left of Maggie, is approximately six foot eight.

There were alot of bikers. There was almost a fight in the grocery store parking lot as we were walking towards the festival.

Digging that Gospel Music.

Phillip is also digging his turkey leg.

We all loved this lady, who worked on the Cornbread Alley. (Ten kinds of cornbread for Two dollars!)
Hers was the clear winner... the "Whoo! Corndog Pups"

Cornbread Kids

I dubbed them "the Chicken-on-a-stick family"

This little one had some pretty fierce dance moves.

We had a whole week's worth of fun in that afternoon.
Plus, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back for Dip Cones.
What could be better?

Found objects

Hello there!
I rarely share links, as there are few websites that I frequent...

But I can't resist this one. It is my latest obsession.
These are all things that people find on the pavement, in the laudromat, on a post, in an abandoned house...
Given my penchant for all things preowned, I just can't help but fall in love with these little lost bits of people's lives. They're shopping lists, forgotten letters, old photographs and negatives, and diary entries. They're each like little archaeological digs, telling something about the people that came before.

Here are some of my favorites today.

Poor kid. Just because you wonder what would happen if you shot a cop doesn't mean you're a snot... you're just curious about how these worldly systems work :)

I can't describe how much I love this kid.

I'm not sure about ramen being tasty, but it's charming nonetheless.

I love when people make ordinary things, like shopping lists, personal.

Stretchy Pants.

This sortof makes me sad, but I also think it's hilarious. I hope cousin Tommy and friend got their candies.

Mmm, lollies!

It's okay, bud. Popcorn does that to the best of us.

I think the teacher should have given them at least ten points for style.

The caption on this find was as follows: (I think it's neccesary for the full impact)
While driving in early December, I hit a duck. It was either hit the duck or cause a multiple-car accident. The duck was flying one foot above the ground, looking disoriented. Plus, I think it was selling drugs to kids. But usually when you hit an animal, the animal does not attach itself to the vehicle. So I didn't think anything of it. And when I got back to my car, there was this attached note. But, there was no duck. So, in the course of 3 hours: -I hit a duck with my car. -I didn't notice the duck when I left my car. -Somebody else did notice, tried to claim it for themselves, and when they couldn't, they left a note. -A third party (human or not) also noticed the duck, and was able to successfully remove it. Also notice in the upper left hand corner of the note, what looks like 'PL2' I believe is actually 'PLZ'. For a while, I was worried that these two guys carry around a collection of template lunch bags and the one they use for stuck ducks is 'PL2'. And, before you ask, the duck was not (to the best of my knowledge) selling quack.

For more finds of the day, go to http://www.foundmagazine.com/

Back 2 Skool (as titled by Colton, in jest)

I got my film processed last night!
Pictures always help me tell stories.

Rach got a new internship at Bob Corker's office (He's a politician), so Kate, Erin, and I tagged along to wander around the city while she got her security badge.

We stopped for coffee at Starbucks, and wrote down a huge list of things to do this fall (such as the Ham Festival, the Apple Festival, the Bluegrass Festival, etc. We like festivals.)

We felt like such hipsters. Or at least I did.

Then we saw this buffalo.

That night, Jordan and the guys cooked us a stinking delicious dinner of seared chicken with mango salsa, served with rice atop a bed of spinach. I provided apple streudel for dessert.

Phillip and Cameron enjoyed themselves.

Saturday came the All-College Picnic. I snuck Colton in too, because he came to visit us! (That's Kaity, though, not Colton.)

Tommy smuggled quite a few sandwiches out in a gym bag.

I met Haddassah after lunch, who is the new baby of Melanie and Andrew. She's a little doll :)

Bryce bought this shirt at the Goodwill in St.Petersburg (his hometown). It reads "Pride in Paradise", which he mistook to mean pride in the great Sunshine State, despite the presence of rainbow palm trees printed by the text. His mother informed him of his mistake, but he can't bear to let it go.... he wears it inside out.

The boys had fun on the Blob, but I forgot to bring a swimsuit. (And also, sophomore year two of the biggest guys at school double blobbed me... I went soaring. I'm a little cautious now.)

We went to the Bluff, which has a pretty insane view, then headed home!

Then last night, I made Colton take embarrassing pictures with me. He's such a good sport. (Notice the absence of his glasses... Jeremy accidentally stepped on them, so they're taped together.)

Ps, I don't know if you can tell since it's in a ponytail, but I chopped off my hair!

Perfect. I fought for this shot... I didn't have a tripod, so I had to tie my camera to a broken tree branch and try to balance it at the angle I wanted. My light was fading fast.

He's just the cutest.

He took this one. :)

That's all for now! We also hit up an outdoor concert featuring our friends Third Lobby, but I forgot my camera. Oops! You should check out their tune "I Am a Stone" (Or Napolean. They're tied for my favorite.)

Whirlwind Week...

Today is the second day of classes here at school!

I've moved into the new townhouses... they're FANTASTIC. I'm pumped.
Plus, I rigged up this pretty canopy for my bed out of this robin's egg blue satin curtain.

And Colton's coming to visit tomorrow! There's a Third Lobby Concert tomorrow evening, so we're all gonna go catch some great music then head to Philly's house for dessert and conversation.

Also, I bought a record player for eight dollars yesterday. What a great find! I've been wanting one for ages.

I've started a roll of film, so I'll definitely post it once it's processed. See you!

Moving Day!

Today is the day I'm going back to school for my senior year. Crazy! I really can't beleive it. I'm excited and nervous and unsure and hopeful about graduating and being... well, an adult I guess.

I can't stay long because I still have a little packing to do (oops.), but I'll let you guys know when I'm all settled. See ya!

Oops-a-Million!

I have abandoned you!
I didn't mean to.
I don't think I'm used to blogging regularly yet...
But I've tried to keep up with everybody else's as much as I could.

I'm going to try and catch everybody up with my goings on, but without writing a novel :)

1) I've been spending alot of time in Birmingham. Here's some pictures of recent times...

One afternoon, Colton and April and I went out for some delicious sushi! I thought his glass was too cool not to take a picture of.

My sweet sister :)

Colton showed me this crazy factory with big, fiery smokestacks. I hope that's steam...

Colton is so talented :)  Check out his flickr photostream Here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coltondavie/

And guess what? Colton and I, along with our friends Bryce and Kaity, went to a Spoon and Arcade Fire concert! It was absolutely fantastic.

We were pretty pumped.

My Mister Moves us to Marietta (at least, I'm pretty sure where the concert was. I get Marietta and Alpharetta a little confused.)

Bryce and Kaity were happy to be reunited after she spend the summer in the Middle East, and he was busy doing shows with his band, The Grecian Urns. Check out their album on itunes!

I was glad to spend some time with her.

2) Shopping!
I generally buy most of my clothes at goodwill on the 1st saturday of the month half off sale. I don't have any money :)
But! Mommy and Daddy said that they would buy me some new clothes for school. Here's some things I got!

These booties from the DSW clearance room... about $25, I think.

I've been wanted a pair of lace up boots like this for ages... I thought I was crazy, but when I got the Urban Outfitters fall catalog, I felt completely vindicated. I ordered these from an Etsy seller, and I can't wait for them to get here!!!

Denim shirt/jacket from Charlotte Russe

Pretty floral dress from Charlotte Russe

Slammin lace minidress from Charlotte Russe (to be worn with skinny jeans and my new boots)

Laceless Steve Madden Oxfords from DSW. Mine are black patent leather, and only $10!

Levi skinny jeans. I love them because they're mid rise instead of being ultra low like most skinny jeans.

I think I'm set for fall.

3) Cooking.
My mom's visiting April in Birmingham (hurray! She hasn't gotten to visit in ages) so I've been cooking up a storm. I made:

Guacamole
Curry chicken salad
Fettucine Alfredo with chicken and steamed broccoli
Lemon Panna Cotta
(Here's some pictures...)

All the ingredients...

Infusing the lemon rind...

Poured up :)

I snuck a taste last night after they had set... unfortunately, it's a lot less like creme brulee and a lot more like Jello than I was hoping... :)

Maybe Mommy'll like it anyway.