freedom

It's raining, and is scheduled to for the next three days. Which makes it that much more fun to blog about our adventures two weekends ago, when the sun was shining and the weather warm.

Two Saturdays ago, we did the "tourist-in-your-own-city" thing again by finishing up the Freedom Trail, which we had started back in January.

This time we started where you're supposed to start: Boston Common, which was an adventure in itself. We listened to a saxophone ensemble, slurped down a fresh lemonade, discovered we didn't have enough cash to buy girl scout cookies from a junior scout and her cat on a leash ($4 a box?! inflation is painful), and watched tourists pose with a live statue.

All this before we got started on the actual Freedom Trail.

We only paused for photos at most locations, since we weren't in much of a mood to pay for indoor tours when we were enjoying the glorious outdoors for free. Not to mention the natural light was incredible for photos.

We spent the majority of our time in Granary Burying Ground, final resting place of Paul Revere. Maybe cemeteries seem less macabre to us because our family businesses are funeral homes and a memorial park. But it's fascinating to see an American culture long gone, what mattered to them, and the legacy they left.

Some remembered...

and some forgotten.

Even more interesting than the Freedom Trail, is observing the people on the Freedom Trail. For example, we walked past two Barbie types and overheard one girl ask the other, "So what did Paul Revere DO, anyway?" I think if we tried we could have convinced them he fostered the Revolution by stealing King George's under pantaloons. Other tourists were just heartwarming.

We also paused near Faneuil Hall where, like Boston Common, there always seems to be a commotion. That afternoon housed a combination of people protesting the healthcare bill and the break dancers that always draw a crowd.

(the most creative sign: I'm diabetic so I can't drink the koolaid.)

These large crowds lead to peculiar way-finding, like "yeah, we're right between the break dancers and Sam Adams." Never a dull moment!

We're lucky to be in a place we can see the sacrifices our founding fathers made for freedom juxtaposed with people exercising those freedoms. I wonder if they could have imagined where we are today. What a broken but beautiful world we live in. And I hope when it's all said and done, I will be remembered for using my freedom to make a difference. What legacy do you want to leave behind?

three days of water

Two weeks ago, we experienced our first nor'easter as Bostonians.

It started raining late Friday night, and I could hear the little patter of raindrops on the windows as we drifted off to sleep. The patter turned into loud plinks by the time we woke up Saturday morning.

We spent most of the day inside and dry, cleaning and preparing for the K-State KU rematch for the Big 12 basketball championship game. We invited several people over to enjoy cowboy spaghetti and an evening of purple.

Hanging out with Fox, Sara and Ben was fun, but the game, not as much. Since I'm writing this post after the fact, I choose to relish where we are now — the sweet 16, and not dwell on past emotionally painful events.

The next day we braved day 2 of rain to go to Reunion and decided since we were out already, we might as well use our free ICA tickets before they expired. (Our first visit occurred between exhibits, which meant we each got a free additional ticket to come back for the new exhibit.)

We vastly underestimated the difference in wind and rainfall between downtown and seaside, but had come to far to turn back. Bracing against the gusting winds off the ocean and bullets of rain we arrived, drenched, at the ICA to take in the Roni Horn exhibition. Coincidentally, one of the major themes in her work is water, which seemed very appropriate to our visit. I really appreciated all her work, especially in contrast to the view.

I also caught a few incredible pieces I missed on our last visit, and got a little braver sneaking some photos (sans flash of course, to protect the artwork).

tara donovan | untitled (pins)

On our way home, we ran through the rain and jumped in puddles. Despite our soggy appearances, we had such an amazing day!

The rain continued through Monday and flooded the boiler room at the office, which translated into no heater running. Everyone bundled up in coats and periodically visited the overlook right by my desk to monitor the flooding on the Charles.

Besides interfering with office productivity, the flooding also disrupted the T. It submerged bus stops, forced workers to sandbag the green line tunnels against a swelling Muddy River and substitute bus services for the above-ground trains, and even washed out a section of the D line.

Needless to say, we were happy to see the sun shining Tuesday, and are thankful we don't live in a basement apartment!

the balance of imperfection

As much as I love the blog world, I know it can skew our perceptions. Most bloggers write about their passions and talents. As readers, it's tempting to take all the successful and inspiring attributes of each and combine them into one unattainable ideal. It's the equivalent of an airbrushed model in a magazine: no one is that perfect. (Marta wrote about this in her blogging and jealousy post.)

Knowing this, I still fell victim to "blog envy." I kept incorporating more great ideas into my life, and was successful at first. Then I got a job. My time commitments drastically changed, but my expectations for what I should accomplish did not.

A couple weeks ago I had an emotional breakdown. All my expectations piled up. I got caught up in trying to do everything instead of pursuing my passions. I was uninspired and stretched too thin.

After a couple bear hugs, Ian sat down with me and we reevaluated what can slide and what can't: spending time together, serving at Reunion, investing in relationships, taking care of the environment, being responsible with our finances, and paying off debt.

In tandem with this reorientation is a new emphasis on God's command to rest — we weren't made to always be doing. Thanks to discussions in our community group, we're committing one day each weekend as work-free.

We rested that Saturday. After lunch with our co-community group leaders we headed downtown, found an eclectic button store so we could replace Ian's broken coat button, and wandered around Boston Common and the Public Garden. It was beautiful weather, and I felt so free.

As I rebalance my life, I also want to shatter any perceptions that I'm someone who has it all together.

I don't have the time, desire, or energy to coupon like a maniac. For us, it's worth passing up some deals in order to spend time on other things we care about more. We have a budget, so I've stopped feeling guilty for not getting $100 of groceries for 10 bucks.

I will continue my efforts at meal planning because it's the only way to get dinner on the table before 9 p.m. on work days. But I'm not perfect and we still sometimes end up eating ramen noodles or scrambling to Trader Joe's and making BLTs after most kid's bedtimes.

I accidentally fermented tomato juice in the fridge.

The pile of grit I swept off our floor last weekend looked like a gigantic ant hill.

I still have goals and want to grow as a wife, homemaker, and writer, but I'm learning to balance new pursuits with contentment, and to laugh at the tomato wine in the fridge.

Marilyn: the birthday girl

Three weekends ago we took another quick trip back to Kansas for Grandma Marilyn's 80th birthday celebration. It was another packed weekend, but we got to enjoy so much family time!

Ren picked us up at the airport and drove the long way to Grandma's. On the way, he told us stories from his trip to Europe and we rummaged through his souvenirs — currency, receipts, books, postcards. We got to hear the stories behind all his photos on Flickr. After we got to Grandma Marilyn's, Emily surprised Ren — he didn't know she tagged along with Dane, and his face when he opened the door was priceless!

Everyone made it back for the weekend to help celebrate. We haven't all been together since our wedding over 2 years ago and it was nice to catch up. We laughed, watched football and the Olympics and ate cheese balls from Jiffy Burger before turning in to rest up for the family photos/reception/birthday dinner on Saturday.

My parents and Caleb drove the few hours to see us at the birthday reception.

I showed Dad my new phone and he attempted his first text. With a little practice, I'm sure he'll be tapping out messages left and right. Caleb towered over everyone, as usual, and fielded lots of height jokes.

After the reception finished up, we took some time to visit Doris at the nursing home. When Ian and Ren were chubby little boys running around the funeral home in diapers, she took care of them. She's now in her nineties, but still is as sharp as a tack. I'm so thankful Ian and Ren had her to watch out for them, and she said she can rest easy knowing both Ian and Ren have great gals taking care of them now.

Grandma Judy was kind enough to put us up for the weekend. Time on the farm is so appreciated, especially now that we live in a city. She made us biscuits and gravy for breakfast, sewed the hole in my sweater, and made us feel cozy around the kitchen table. And so did Spud, her sassy, big-boned cat.

Grandma Marilyn was, of course, the star of the weekend. Dane and Micki put together a slideshow with photos of Grandma Marilyn; it started with the telegram announcing her birth and ended with last year's birthday. We got to see her grow up, have a family, play with grandkids... My favorites were the photos of her in pep squad gear and in front of Kedzie Hall with her dad — it looked like something out of Mona Lisa Smile.

That night we had a family dinner at a little spot called the Vineyard. It's decorated with trellises (trelli?) and bunches of grapes, and there's an enormous illuminated photo of Shanghai on the wall. Decor aside, some of my favorite moments were from that family dinner.

Everyone had a chance to share their favorite Grandma and family stories. We revisited some old favorites, like when 7-year-old Ian accidentally shot out some store and car windows with a bb gun then lied to the police about it. Our waitress turned out to be the owner of a minivan victim to Ian. Ian and Ryan also recounted a long car trip with Grandma Marilyn where they played DJs with a tape recorder, and Grandma Marilyn would "call in" to request songs. They didn't know most of the songs she requested, so they played whatever they had, including Michael Bolton and Puff Daddy.

Sunday morning we got around early to catch our flight. The weather was a little sketchy because of snow, so we checked our flights before we left: all on time. Ren got us safely to Wichita and the airport in plenty of time. We got ready to check in and as we were waiting in line, they announced our flight was cancelled. The earliest they could rebook us was early Monday morning.

Aunt Patti, who lives in Wichita, was generous enough to put us up for the night. And as it turns out, Uncle Bryan and his fiancée, Kim, were also staying the night for an early morning flight to their destination wedding in the Bahamas. We had a lovely evening curled up on the sofa watching Olympic curling and eating Patti's amazing vegetable soup, dinner rolls and brownies. We hadn't seen Bryan since Christmas a few years ago and hadn't yet had the chance to meet Kim, who is a lovely lady. As frustrating as it was to get up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight and take extra and unplanned time off work, spending time with them was definitely worth it!

And I realize I failed to take many photos, but we did get a few great ones, and you can see all of them on Flickr here.

Disappointed by the Oscars

Each year one of my favorite teachers of all time, Mr. Starbuck, attempts to watch all the Best Picture nominees by the time the Oscars roll around. I love the idea, but I never managed to commit enough time and/or money to this endeavor. Not to mention that even Mr. Starbuck, I'm sure, is challenged by this year's whopping 10 nominees.

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you might have caught my own variation on Mr. Starbuck's tradition: following the Best Animated Short category. I can catch all of the nominees in an hour and best of all, it's free!

Ian and I perused the nominees last night. We watched the trailers (it amazes me they can make an intriguing trailer for a 5 minute movie without giving everything away) and read recaps at this site. It has all the info for both animated and live action shorts, but we stuck to animated because that's how we roll here at life on the green line.

Our next step was to find the full-length shorts. Of the five nominees, four are on YouTube. Of those four, our favorite was Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty. Below is a playlist of all the nominees on YouTube. Click the button beside "play" to select a different short. Logorama is in two parts. *March 13: They've apparently taken Logorama off YouTube.

We had trouble finding the Wallace and Gromit short A Matter of Loaf and Death which is unfortunate because it looked great in the preview.

After watching, we headed over to the New York Times web site to see the results.

To my surprise and disappointment, Logorama won. Sure, it's impressive and creative they made an entire world out of logos, but I was less impressed with the quality of the picture and the creativity in plot as compared to the other three shorts. Not to mention it seems a bit crass for no good reason.

The other three shorts had fresh story ideas and executed humor through both dialog and images. Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty and French Roast address stereotypes then turn them around. The Lady and the Reaper tackles a medical field bent on saving people even when they're ready to go. Logorama illustrates how over commercialized our culture is, but it turns into a game of "identify the logos" while we watch a lame episode of cops with a natural disaster thrown in. Instead of a good plot driving the story, the plot was manipulated to squeeze in as many logos as possible (i.e. North Face at the end).

Even though the Oscar voters left me feeling like the best short got shorted, we still had lots of fun watching "our" category, and hope you enjoy them too! If you get a chance to watch a few, leave a comment with your favorite and/or thoughts. Do you have any Oscar-watching traditions?