They only care about the green stuff

I walk up to the bus stop awning and see George's smile, deepening the wrinkles around his eyes.

Over the past year we've gotten to know one another. We wait for our buses. He tells me about his job as a cancer researcher, visits to his mother-in-law, when his family is going back to China for a visit. He says I look Russian and I laugh. He asks about Ian, my job. We discuss classical music and hard work.

He scoots over so there's room for me. I sit between him and a woman in a teal hat and coat, hood lined with fur. It contrasts with her Revlon 31 dark auburn hair.

George tells me the schedule for the 52 has changed, but the 502 is still the same. He now has to wait for the 6:20 bus. The woman interjects a comment about the approaching 57, but I have a hard time understanding her unusually thick Boston accent. We weren't talking about the 57. Puzzled, I nod then turn back to George. We talk about the weather. It's supposed to start snowing tomorrow night. Over a foot, I've heard.

"What a day I'm having," the woman interrupts again.

My manners tell me to acknowledge her. "Oh?"

"I took my black coat to the cleanah's and asked them to fix the zippah. I picked it up today and paid. I get home and they cleaned it — I didn't want them to, and they didn't fix the zippah!"

"Can't you just take it back and ask them to fix it?" I ask.

"Yeah. But I didn't want to go out in the snow. That's why I picked it up today. Now I'll have to wait until Friday."

"Oh."

"You know they only care about the green stuff." She rubs invisible coins together between her fingers as her rings glint in the twilight. "Because they're Chinese."

I wince, even though George is no longer paying attention — his bus has just arrived and he says goodnight with a courteous bow.

I turn back to the woman. "He's Chinese," I tell her. I don't point out I'm half-Filipino and the only other person waiting for a bus is from Taiwan.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend. You can't tell." She adjusts her jean purse and sniffs her prominent nose.

That's like saying you couldn't tell rain is wet, I think.

"Well, it doesn't matter," I say. "Anyone can be greedy. White people are greedy." I try to phrase this tactfully, instead of using the other words coming to mind.

"They should learn English. I can't understand them." She is defensive. Is this why she changed the subject?

I can't understand you, I think. Maybe it was her accent, not theirs, that left her zipper broken.

"If I lived in Floridah, I'd learn the language."

Florida is still in the States. Does she mean Spanish?

I mumble something about how hard it is to learn English.

"They just have to go to the library and get some tapes."

She tells me about her son's wife, who is Portuguese and lives in New Hampshire — she learned English and her son is bilingual. "Her English is beautiful."

The 502 pulls up, and I make sure to put several seats between us before I allow myself to chuckle at the absurdity.

MLK

photo from the Library of Congress

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

our twelve days of Christmas

We left Boston on Thursday before sunrise, snow accumulating on our suitcases as we waited for the T. We arrived in Denver to no snow.

The disappointment was mitigated with a hug from Ren, who picked us up curbside. We headed east to spend the next eleven days in all four corners of Kansas.

Corner of Kansas 1 preface
It was so good to see Dane, Micki and "the kids" Pfluff and Ming. Last time we saw Ming he was a tiny kitten, and now he's all grown up (and huge). He's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but he is the fluffiest.

We also witnessed the church building in action at the Christmas Eve service. Before we moved to Boston we helped with the construction, but left before they finished phase 1. It's kind of fun looking up thinking, "I installed all those canned lights while navigating a fully extended genie around carpentry equipment."

Corner of Kansas 2
After the Christmas Eve service, we headed south to Susan and Marilyn's. Lots of hot cider, hanging out, football, and fire stoking. Possibly one of the best moments of the weekend was Grandma Marilyn playing up and down the river.

Corner of Kansas 1 chapter 1
Sunday we headed back to spend a couple more days with Ian's family. We opened more presents, watched more football, and had fun in the kitchen. Grandma Judy came down, we played cards (Grandma Judy and I pulled off an incredibly high pinochle score), and made a three-generational coconut cream pie.

As luck would have it, Karen and Jeremy were on their way home from a skiing trip, and they stopped by. So we conned them into taking our family photo. Please note, Ian's yellow sweater is not a CU sweater. We love Ren, we do not love CU.

Corner of Kansas 1 chapter 2
Then it was on to spend time with my family. We watched and analyzed Inception, assessed Caleb's dreds (it looks like he has a giant tarantula on his head but he looks good), and relaxed together for a couple days before heading to Grandma's (catching Voyage of the Dawn Treader along the way).

Corner of Kansas 3
Friday night, we introduced Grandma to Mom and Dad's new Mac and Photobooth.

Caleb stayed up with Ian and I to watch Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark ring in the new year. I have now lost all desire to see this in person.

We woke up early the next day and made a quick trip to Manhattan to catch Jordan — we had breakfast a Bluestem and Steve made our drinks. It's like we never left.

Coleen, Eldred, Brian and Ellen arrived, and the next 24 hours were filled with epic uno games, ESPN's 30 for 30, Alice in Wonderland, spritz, potato sausage, Grandma thanking us for her "postcahds from Bahston," and Chaos (pronounced chay-ohs), the friendly barn cat who is trying to convince Grandma to let her move indoors.

Corner of Kansas 4
Monday morning we got up bright and early, said goodbye to Grandma, and my family drove us to Wichita. Thanks to a cancelled flight and ensuing rebooking through Memphis instead of Atlanta, we got an extra hour to grab Starbucks with Micki, Ren and Aunt Patti (spending a few days with Patti after their family Christmas take 2). With a twinge of homesickness, we said goodbye.

Home again, home again, jiggy jig jig.
Thanks again to our rebooking, we picked up some Memphis barbeque on the way back. I glared at Ian in first class (again, rebooking). We were home by seven.

It's hard to say goodbye not knowing when you'll see family next, but it's also good to be home, just the two of us. And Ian's excited to be back and using all our new Christmas presents. I got a lot of kitchen things, so he thinks I'll be cooking him lots of treats. Little does he know, he'll be using them all too.

Thanks to everyone for your hospitality and generosity. We love you and miss you all so much. Feel free to visit us — we'll leave the light on for you.

20 inches.

We're still catching up from our extended Christmas vacation. We have an apartment to clean, photos to upload, groceries to purchase, bills to pay, laundry to wash, a belated Christmas letter to write, thank you notes to mail, blog posts to edit. But in the meantime, it snowed.

The T was still running, so the office was still open. Even though a snow day would have been nice (see above), it meant we got to experience a beautiful snowfall.

And then there's today. Of all days to forget my camera at home. The puffed up doves sitting on a branch along the river. The brilliant white snow sliding off tree branches. The mountains of snow in every parking lot. The sleds leaned next to front doors.

Thankfully, there are loaner cameras at work. Because my 365 project has helped me learn my camera, using something else feels like driving an unfamiliar car. But it still gets you there. So I borrowed one and Ian and I spent lunch outside.

I'm enjoying the view while it lasts.

For more photos, click here.

Concrete Aspirations 2011

These 28 things are my concrete aspirations for 2011. This year I want to create healthier habits, learn more, and knock off some projects that require a little extra motivation. I try not to stress if I don't get everything done, but this year I've tried to make my goals more measurable so it's not easy to just put it off until next year. You can track my progress on the concrete aspirations page. (Italics are in progress.)

1. Go through the Tagalog Rosetta Stone lessons - do at least one a week.
2. Read 3 of Ian’s creation care books.
3. Write something for “Riding with Charlie” once a month.
4. Keep my inbox under a maximum of 25 email at any given time - I get stressed when it piles up.
5. Upload our professional wedding photos to Flickr for peace of mind.
6. Learn two quick, cute ways to style my new haircut.
7. Organize and clean up photos in iPhoto.
8. Make one new soup each month - most soups are healthy, right?
9. Make grandma’s cinnamon rolls, rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage.
10. Eat fruit and veggies at lunch and dinner for one month (in theory this will turn into habit).
11. WiiFit 3x a week for one month - when I got my job and had less time I fell off the Wii-gon and want to get back on (again, in theory this will turn into habit).
12. Floss every day for 2 weeks straight (again, habit).
13. Make or get rid of all the recipes in my recipe box. And nothing new goes in without cooking/baking it first.
14. Only eat out one meal a week max (this means packing lunches regularly).
15. Read through the Bible chronologically again, this time in NASB.
16. Have date night with Ian once a month.
17. Call or e-mail one friend a week.
18. Write to Grandma once a month.
19. Go through Sacred Marriage and Celebration of Discipline with Ian.
20. Figure out my personal style and give away at least 10 items in my wardrobe that don’t fit that.
21. Do an at-home pedicure once a month.
22. Design personal cards and print them with moo.com.
23. Design and order/print a bookplate stamp/sticker/embosser. Between that and my dust jacket covers, I’ll feel like we have a library. Dream come true!
24. Curate the rest of the bedroom, then move on to the kitchen and bathroom so they all are as streamlined and simplified as the living room.
25. Figure out and implement a good system for our under bed storage.
26. Choose one evening a week to go without electricity-powered entertainment (read! play games!).
27. Paint and decorate the pink floral round box to match the living room.
28. Obtain a better aquarium for the frogs with a light and a filter.

Advent Conspiracy: give presence

Now that the wrapping and bows are demolished, we can share our Advent Conspiracy without giving away any surprises. We hope it gives you ideas for giving relationally in 2011 — Advent Conspiracy doesn't have to stop after Christmas.

Advent Conspiracy encourages giving presence. Bake cookies together. Go sledding. Give a bag of fair-trade coffee or a (PRODUCT)RED Starbucks card specifically for together time. Trade in expensive and forgettable obligation gifts for the cherished and memorable gift of time.

But for those of us who live halfway across the country from the rest of our family, how do we still give presence?

After some thought, Ian and I came up with a project — we turned our best photos of the year into postcards (moo.com was great for this!). It used our passions and talents (and lots of time and effort) to create something meaningful for our families. And we hope this project allows us to share life and connect across the many miles.

Write a poem, a story, or a thoughtful letter. Go online and make a photobook. Schedule a Skype date. Send a care package of homemade goodies. What are you good at? What do you enjoy? How can you share it?

Click here to see all 24 postcards.

Concrete Aspirations 2010 in summary

These 28 things were my concrete aspirations for 2010. The purpose in most of these goals was changing my habits — get more creative with cooking, explore the city, read, develop a routine so the things that are important to me don't fall through the cracks. While some of the specifics didn't happen (some of which will carry over to 2011), it's been mostly successful. We're cooking new things, exploring, and doing things that matter. On the other hand, things that I put into practice thanks to Concrete Aspirations 2009 have fallen by the wayside (like exercising regularly). Maybe that means I've met my limit, and now need to figure out what good things go and what stay.

1. FIND A JOB.
2. Make all of the recipes I got from Grandma and get good enough I would be proud to share with other non-family members. (I worked in spritz, but cinnamon rolls, rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage are still in the queue.)
3. Learn how to make at least 4 different soups from scratch, starting with French Onion. (I only got around to football stew and cheeseburger soup, but this will carry over into 2011.)
4. Bake an interesting treat at least once a month (can overlap with Grandma's recipes). (May, September, October, December)
5. Make all of the clipped recipes in my recipe box and take out everything we don't like — can overlap with interesting treats when applicable. (I didn't make any headway in this one...)
6. Explore the Freedom Trail in it's entirety.
7. Visit at least 4 museums in the Boston area. (ICA, MIT Museum, MFA, Gardner Museum)
8. Find somewhere to volunteer/make a difference. (Given our schedules, this hasn't worked out like I thought it would. However, we're helping lead a community group, do a lot at Reunion, give to things we care about, and are helping build community with our neighbors, so I feel pretty satisfied with this one.)
9. Go through all of our Rosetta Stone lessons on Tagalog. (This will move to 2011!)
10. Read at least 3 of Ian's creation care books. (I've read lots more books thanks to my book club and accomplishing the following two goals, but I'd still like to read some of Ian's green collection.)
11. Read A New Kind of Christian trilogy.
12. Read The Great Divorce, The Reason for God, and Jesus Wants to Save Christians.
13. Read through the Bible in a year. (Read in The Message, and made possible by biblegateway.com's rss feed.)
14. Go through Sacred Marriage and Celebration of Discipline with Ian. (Moving to next year.)
15. Design bookplates for our library and put them in all of our books. (We came up with lots of options — like maybe even an embosser, so this will happen in 2011.)
16. Simplify our apartment so there aren't any random homeless items and everything looks neat and tidy. (living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom)
17. Clean the apartment once a week on a regular schedule (we do clean, I just want this to be a predictable habit instead of a random, I-think-its-been-a-week urge).
18. Finish crocheting the things I've started.
19. Journal at least once a week.
20. Call and/or e-mail a friend back home once a week.
21. Write to Grandma at least once a month. (February)
22. People watch on public transportation as inspiration to write, at least once a month, a creative piece and post it under the "riding with Charlie" topic.
23. Go to the library at least once a month for books and movies on my to-read/-watch lists. (January, February, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)
24. As we run out of cleaning products and personal care items, replace as many as possible with homemade eco-friendly options (ideas on Vanessa's blog). (We've done this as we've run out, and I want to continue replacing what we have with green options.)
25. Spend one evening a week without electricity-powered entertainment — read or play games instead of watching tv or using the computer. (We're getting better at this, but I'd still like to make it more intentional.)
26. Design personal cards — idea from Real Simple magazine. (Now that we've discovered moo.com, this is going to happen in 2011.)
27. Clean out my iTunes music collection — I made a feeble attempt last year and I want to do better. (Eventually...)
28. Have an intentional evening with Ian once a month — even if it's just a library movie or game night. (Again, I still want to get more intentional about this.)

More details on my progress are in related posts.

a CookieFest throwdown

Our last Saturday in Boston before home and Christmas was reserved for CookieFest.

After speeding through our final bits of Christmas shopping and wrapping, I settled in the kitchen for my first ever attempt at Grandma's spritz recipe.

I've wanted to make these for a while now, because it doesn't feel like Christmas until I've had one of these butter cookies. They melt into nothing, leaving behind a deliciously sweet almond flavor that makes you crave more. I kept putting it off — they are intimidating, but the tasting contest at CookieFest finally gave me the motivation of a deadline.

So, armed with a vintage cookie press Grandma gave me last December, I tossed the butter and sugar in the KitchenAid and crossed my fingers.

After some trial and error with the cookie press, I got into the swing of things. They came out of the oven with that barely golden edge, and they were edible. Unfortunately, I think I added just a smidge too much flour, so they didn't quite measure up to Grandma's (that means I need to practice; friends in Boston, you've been warned).

We packed up the spritz anyway and headed to Brett and Emily's in time to help with the sugar cookies for the decorating contest. From there the doorbell kept ringing, cookies kept piling on the table, and the competitions commenced.

Erin snagged the golden reindeer in the tasting competition, while the snowboarder's lodge won the gingerbread house competition — judged by real architects Dan and Ian.

I think Erin, Wen, and I's turned out pretty good though. Ian assured me we had the best landscape. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that we're married.

A speed sugar cookie decorating session followed, and Erin and Gerald awarded the third and final golden reindeer to Jenny, three-year CookieFest veteran.

Exhausted, the remaining CookieFesters settled in for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This was my first time to see it in it's entirety, and while the look-beyond-appearance message is a good one, I was surprised at the sexism ("the important thing was to get the women back to Christmas Town" ... really?) Critique aside, it was a fun bonding experience, and we could all laugh together in the progress society has made since.

After the movie, we trudged home and collapsed in bed, half wishing we hadn't eaten quite so many cookies.

Thanks to Brett and Emily for hosting this great event — we can't wait for next year.