There may be more quotes on here than original content, but I can't help it. Stumbled across these quotes and thought they may lift your soul a bit. They're beautiful. Thanks, Richard. :) Consider these an early valentine.
"A husband ought not to love his wife in word and tongue only, but in deed and truth, that if his heart were opened, her name might be found written there." -Richard Steele
"True love doth more study to better the object beloved, than to advantage the subject that loveth." -Richard Steele
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I Left my Heart in the City
Hot tea is part of my normal routine after work. I sit down on my bed to rest my feet and unwind. Tonight I had a little bowl of ice cream instead, just because. I wanted a few minutes of ice cream to sit and think... about the city. Today I missed it terribly. Not any one city in particular, just the city. Tonight I remembered experiences mostly from Los Angeles, New York, and Rome. Let my try to pinpoint what I find so enchanting.
New friends can be found everywhere you go. In the city you can talk to everyone or you can talk to no one, and get away with either. They have the highest concentration of talent and creativity, making for fantastic variety in music, restaurants and markets, boutiques, specialty shops, museums, and art galleries.
You can walk down the street with hundreds of people you don't know yet sense a bond with all of them, or you could feel completely alone. But when you walk down an empty street, you're just alone.
The city contains tremendous energy. Cars, buses, trains, airplanes, bicycles, people, even dogs are on a mission. Any time of day or night offers something.
So where do you go to get away from it all? That's easy: your rooftop garden. Or, more realistically, your backyard garden. Confession: the backyard in "Return to Me" is just about perfect. Confession: Meg Ryan's townhouse in "You've Got Mail" combined with that garden would be a little paradise.
Some favorite things about aforementioned cities:
Los Angeles
The view of city lights from the Getty Museum.
Aroma Cafe.
Mountains, sea, desert. All in one.
L.A. is the entire world on a micro-scale. Almost every culture is represented.
California architecture.
So many mini-cities to choose from: Pasadena, Burbank, Venice, Santa Monica, Westwood...
New York
I could stand on a corner, jaw dropped, for hours, taking it all in.
The subway.
People on street in winter = dark trench coat, iPod, looking down or straight ahead.
Central Park
Visitors (me) can't blend in, even when they really try.
Rome
Chocolate croissants and cappuccino
Scooters!
Early dinner reservations are 8pm. 9 or 10 is normal.
Fashion
History/architecture
The sweet lady I stayed with and the amazing view of Rome from her window.
I've tried this before, and I can never quite express why I love it. It's like asking me why I like chocolate. It's just wonderful. Hopefully I'll return to the city one day, but until then, it's always in my heart.
New friends can be found everywhere you go. In the city you can talk to everyone or you can talk to no one, and get away with either. They have the highest concentration of talent and creativity, making for fantastic variety in music, restaurants and markets, boutiques, specialty shops, museums, and art galleries.
You can walk down the street with hundreds of people you don't know yet sense a bond with all of them, or you could feel completely alone. But when you walk down an empty street, you're just alone.
The city contains tremendous energy. Cars, buses, trains, airplanes, bicycles, people, even dogs are on a mission. Any time of day or night offers something.
So where do you go to get away from it all? That's easy: your rooftop garden. Or, more realistically, your backyard garden. Confession: the backyard in "Return to Me" is just about perfect. Confession: Meg Ryan's townhouse in "You've Got Mail" combined with that garden would be a little paradise.
Some favorite things about aforementioned cities:
Los Angeles
The view of city lights from the Getty Museum.
Aroma Cafe.
Mountains, sea, desert. All in one.
L.A. is the entire world on a micro-scale. Almost every culture is represented.
California architecture.
So many mini-cities to choose from: Pasadena, Burbank, Venice, Santa Monica, Westwood...
New York
I could stand on a corner, jaw dropped, for hours, taking it all in.
The subway.
People on street in winter = dark trench coat, iPod, looking down or straight ahead.
Central Park
Visitors (me) can't blend in, even when they really try.
Rome
Chocolate croissants and cappuccino
Scooters!
Early dinner reservations are 8pm. 9 or 10 is normal.
Fashion
History/architecture
The sweet lady I stayed with and the amazing view of Rome from her window.
I've tried this before, and I can never quite express why I love it. It's like asking me why I like chocolate. It's just wonderful. Hopefully I'll return to the city one day, but until then, it's always in my heart.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
300 Voices
Please click on the link on the right of the blog: 300 Voices. This is a program that speaks for itself. I'll get the statistics for you later, but the group is trying to rally 300 people to commit to supporting the water project in Liberia for 2009. We're currently at 126.
This information is from charity:water, the parent organization ---
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of the money goes to direct project costs. With the help of exemplary organizations on the ground and individuals here, we can drill wells and provide people with this basic, essential need.
$20 gives one person clean water for 20 years.
It seems impossible that such an impact could be made with $20. Go to http://www.charitywater.org/pages/waterforallseasons for full details. Look at the pictures of the water, before the well is installed and after. The water they drink before a well is built is water I wouldn't even want to step in. Think about Jesus and his comment to the woman at the well: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." What a priceless opportunity we have with these people. Think about it.
This information is from charity:water, the parent organization ---
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of the money goes to direct project costs. With the help of exemplary organizations on the ground and individuals here, we can drill wells and provide people with this basic, essential need.
$20 gives one person clean water for 20 years.
It seems impossible that such an impact could be made with $20. Go to http://www.charitywater.org/pages/waterforallseasons for full details. Look at the pictures of the water, before the well is installed and after. The water they drink before a well is built is water I wouldn't even want to step in. Think about Jesus and his comment to the woman at the well: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." What a priceless opportunity we have with these people. Think about it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Live!
Last post today. Promise.
Fantastic quote:
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
-Oscar Wilde
Hope that helps you get out of bed in the morning...to watch the sunrise. ;D
Fantastic quote:
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
-Oscar Wilde
Hope that helps you get out of bed in the morning...to watch the sunrise. ;D
domino...no, no, no
domino is my latest discovery...LOVE. I just subscribed and got my first issue in the mail this month. I go on their website today to browse, get some ideas, you know, the usual. On their home page they have the announcement that they're not going to publish anymore!!! Really? Really?!?! Now I have to search for an equally delightful mag. Finding one? Not likely. Send any recommendations my way.
Anxiety. No, Strength.
By no means am I a social commentator, but I would like to share some thoughts I had this morning about the current state of affairs.
Several days ago I received an email from a friend who lost his home and most of his possessions (including lots of music equipment) in the recent California fires. He suggested I read Matthew 6:19-34 as it had been a daily dose of strength to him since then. The words written there speak so clearly to the economic crisis! We are taken care of. We are sustained by the Almighty Creator. "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? ...your heavenly Father knows that you need them all."
I'm almost done, but also read 2 Corinthians 5. Chapter 4 ends with this: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 5:1 -- For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
This puts all (most) of my anxiety to rest. No matter how big the government gets...egh. We have a hope and a promise beyond this.
Several days ago I received an email from a friend who lost his home and most of his possessions (including lots of music equipment) in the recent California fires. He suggested I read Matthew 6:19-34 as it had been a daily dose of strength to him since then. The words written there speak so clearly to the economic crisis! We are taken care of. We are sustained by the Almighty Creator. "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? ...your heavenly Father knows that you need them all."
I'm almost done, but also read 2 Corinthians 5. Chapter 4 ends with this: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 5:1 -- For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
This puts all (most) of my anxiety to rest. No matter how big the government gets...egh. We have a hope and a promise beyond this.
Fortune Cookie
This is what cookie told me:
Stop waiting! Buy that ticket. Take that special trip!
How did they know my soft spot?! Cruel.
Stop waiting! Buy that ticket. Take that special trip!
How did they know my soft spot?! Cruel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
