Now Presenting....

Welcome to "Pearls of Wisdom!"

After - like - seven years.... I have changed the name of this blog.

"Deterioration of the fight or flight response" sounded cool (it's the name of an episode of Grey's Anatomy, which I watched religiously in my post-college years), but it was kind of long.  It also wasn't very concise.  I think I had written one or two posts in particular on the ideal of striving to act kindly, rationally, and considerately, rather than brashly and instinctually.

I think that topic fits into the broader scope of wisdom in general.  As I tend to write equal amounts of anecdotes, life lessons, and stuff learnt whilst reading... I decided to "officially" change the title and refine the purpose of my blog.

Therefore... Welcome, readers!  I'm looking forward to discussing and sharing tidbits of knowledge, and having some fun along the way.

Cheers!

Change of Address

Well, my husband and I loaded up the ol' Uhaul again this weekend.  It was our second move within the year, and it won't be our last.

No longer in remote Centre County (home to Amish farmers and Penn State), we're living in exurban West Chester.  There is plenty to do here!  The county is filled with apple orchards, independent dairies, wineries, breweries, art galleries, restaurants and markets specializing in local whole foods.  It's a pretty hoppin' place!  And it's pretty great that we don't have to drive forty-five minutes to get to town now.

Although we'll live here only temporarily, we are both excited to enjoy some culture, a time of rest (a "winter break," if you will), and time with family and friends (we can even go to visit some by train!).  Huzzah!

Happy Friday!

The menu for this weekend includes:

• baking brownies
• dehydrating apples
• hosting groups at camp
• continuing work on seminary applications

What's on your plate for the Sabbath?

Here's a great, thoughtful essay to start off your weekend:

How Feminism Hurts Men

November again

It is November already!  A month of traveling caused me to basically forget that October existed.  I missed Halloween!  For the first time... ever?  I think ever, indeed.

I find myself beginning applications to graduate schools.  Essay-writing, proving myself, telling my story...  it kind of comes naturally and conversationally, but I also feel odd in trying to sell myself.

"Accept me!  I'm really great!  I am smart!"

S-M-R-T

So... November will be spent writing essays, sending out reference letter forms, and packing.  Packin' it on up!  I feel like we just moved here, anyway.  Back to the liquor & grocery stores for boxes we go!

This month:

October will be spent traveling.  My husband and I concluded our summer of directing a camp (three months of s'mores, energizers, crazy college students and curious children) and are very minimally employed.  We still live at the camp.  We serve retreat groups on the weekends, but our weekdays are completely unscheduled.

As much as we enjoy hiking the grounds of our camp, we have seen it all - so we are seeking new places to explore.  In September, we went up to Maine (as usual) and got to check out the towns of Eastport and Winter Harbor (not the usual).  Last week, we did a spontaneous excursion to Niagara Falls and Toronto.  Let me tell you, that was THRILLING.  I have never been to Canada before; it was the second time I've used my passport.  All the Canadian stereotypes you've heard ("Have a donut, eh!") are true! Oh, and Niagara Falls was pretty awesome/beautiful/impressive/marvelous, too.

Anyways, as we're looking to what to do next with our lives, the prospect of grad school keeps appearing faintly on the horizon.  School!  Again!!  I so loved the academic life.  Even though I did fine arts for my bachelor's degree, what I truly loved were history classes, and specifically, art history classes.  The thought of sitting through lectures, scribbling furiously - as I had done for so many years of my life before! - is rather titilating. Arouse my intellect once more, o' university!

So this leads us to October.  We will spend three weeks traveling throughout the southeast, visiting as many schools as we can.  Many of these are in the Charlotte area.  The thought of dedicating myself once more to study - in an even warmer environment (more outdoor playtime!  longer garden growing season!  grits!  barbecue!)  is very, very intriguing.  I am not sure whether it's feasible financially, whether it will make a difference on the future of our careers (maybe each of us will actually acquire a career along the way?)... but I will find out soon!

On travel

Although my heart desires travelling into the unknown, I haven't been to very many different places.  Spring break trips with a college ministry group took me and friends to Florida, West Virginia and Texas.  Dallas, Texas, I would say, is the most "different" place (from homestate PA) I've seen.  Excursions to Maine have been a part of almost every summer in my teen to adult life.

This year, I'm looking forward to seeing the Dominican Republic, possibly San Antonio, and Maine, once again.  I'd love to add in more adventures, though; to see more of this country than I've considered.  I feel a call to the West:  California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon...  I'd love to make it to those places someday soon!  To see canyons, deserts, redwood forests and the Pacific ocean would add so much to my personal experience of the world.

A recent aquisition of mine:  a Passport.  Never had owned one before.  It's a ticket to anywhere in the world, so long as it's backed by funding for a plane ticket.  How does one travel internationally on a small budget?

Perhaps I can finally expand my travels to, finally, the Great White North.  :o)

Weddings comprised most of the excitement of 2011.  My own eleven-month engagement took prime focus for most of the year, in addition to serving as a bridesmaid (or rather, matron?) for dear friend Bridget in November and enjoying Adam & Kate's wedding on 12/30/2011.  2012 will bring high school friend Lauren's wedding in March, Monica's Hawaiian elopement in May and Jake's wedding in June (with Greg serving as Best Man), as well as plans for my sister Sarah's wedding to take place on 4/13/2013.

Is this the time of life during which a lot of folks wed, naturally?  Mid-twenties seems to be all the rage for matrimony, nowadays.  However, our parents' generation may have exchanged their vows from age 19 to 30.  Do young people nowadays just consider 24-27 to be the best time to settle down with someone? 



The end of 2011 is nigh...

Most of 2011 I spent working and preparing for marriage.  Having a single wedding day requires much work to be done beforehand!  It's just amazing how the weight of planning and preparation laid on our backs for most of the year, and evaporated within 24 hours, when it came.  Settling into married life has been interesting... with much joy and a few arguments along the way.

Work has been... work:  pumping out shots of organic, fairly traded espresso for the masses who don't care much about coffee's origins at all.  I've undertaken quite a bit of the marketing "department" at the shop, which is at least a miniscule outlet for creativity.  Besides that, it's making sandwiches, filling sacks with coffee beans, cooking bacon and whipping up 20 pounds of hummus at a time.

When do I figure out what I really want to do with my life??  2012?

Engagement

Greg and I are finally engaged, after having been a'courtin' for the past three years.  Yay!

Family celebrations ensued at the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, with many toasts and much story-telling and support from everyone.  I think the wedding will be a great, fun party with all these excited family members, plus good friends from home, summer camp, church and college.  We are very excited!

Even more exciting is the fact that we have a place booked.  Yes!  In the most difficult month to find an available venue, my parents succeeded in nabbing a catering place with a beautiful hall, great yard with many pine trees and a kind and detail-oriented catering lady.  We're stopping by her open house today to sample cakes.  This will probably be the most fun part of the wedding-preparation process.  Yum.

Besides that, we've got my parents' church reserved for the early afternoon on our special day, which I think will prove just perfect for the size crowd we'll have there.  Next up:  starting pre-marital counseling with our pastor, planning the ceremony with him and our Camp Hill pastor and a church wedding planner, picking out attire and flowers and making invitations and whatnot.  Oh boy!  I'm actually sort of excited to finish our Save-the-Date postcards, and later, make up our lovely printed invites; it's been a long time since I've dedicated myself to a design project of any sort.

What a  busy time!!  I'm glad we still have eight whole months to finish working on all this stuff.

And now, off to brunch and taste cakes!

French Cooking!!

Some conquests for my upcoming personal adventurement:

aioli

Bouillabaisse

branade

cassoulet

confit Byaldi

Cozze gratinate

crudites

escargot

gratin Dauphinois
gratin Languedocien

gougere

hollandaisse

insalata Caprese

lobster Thermidor

piccalilli

pistou
quiche
ratatouille
remoulade

rouille

roux

salade Nicoise

Tapenade

Tourtiere

 
 
And now, to polish my skills in the kitchen, refine & awaken my palette to new flavours, discover wine pairings, and to learn how to properly accent the accents in these French words. Pronounciation as well?  A French language class, perhaps?  Julia Child, please!

plants

Okay, went to Rodale yesterday to pick up the scraps of what was left of the plant sale.  Parsley, broccoli & some Japanese leafy green that starts with ,M'.  Then poked around in a rack of seed packs & found carrots, turnips, lettuce, leeks, muskmelon & some other stuff.  After that we went to Renningers & the two ladies there had a greater selection of vegetable seedlings [perhaps not usda certified organic, but - ?].  They had at least a dozen breeds of tomatoes for sale, & I'm interested in getting some with a chronological difference in maturity so we'll harvest different sizes & flavours at different times.

AND we've already got a little strawberry plant in a pot [I hope it spreads like a weed & gives us many, many berries] and some thyme & basil growing nicely from seed.  Pesto this summer!

failure

failure:  emily drinks real milk, phil drinks real milk,
    french dairy farmers of 1944 drink real milk; 
    milk is boiled to scorching, milk is skimmed
    milk is bleached, milk is tainted. 

failure:  using coordinates & clues &
    global positioning units for geocaching for hours & finding nothing.

failure:  reading "best meteor shower of the decade", reading "11 pm to 4 am",
    not reading "best view around 4 am", seeing only 4 shooting stars.

failure:  setting goals, breaking goals daily,
    seeking help in the wrong place, self righteousness, self decay.

failure:  landlord remodeling, research demographics &
    rent rates, nowhere to go, close store, lay off employees.

failure:  job searching, another opportunity for failure?

aspiration:  new job, new town, more meteors;
    drinking real fresh milk straight from the milk bucket.

April 1st

April 1st is the best day of the year to use Gmail/Google. Those guys are great.

So now that it's April, it seems summer approaches more quickly. Currently I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself... advice, please?

Option A :: continue working at Dick Blick
+ relaxed schedule
+ teach classes at Carlisle Arts Learning Center
- Blick doesn't pay a lot (7.50/hr)
+ could earn money teaching at CALC

Option B :: work at Krislund, again
+ being outside for the summer (this is necessary)
+ not living at home
+ hanging out with kids & great people
+ help the new camp director as an alum staff member
- very low pay (0.22/hr)
- quitting Blick, or returning to work in August?

Option C :: potential employment at local state park
+ pays a freakin' lot more (12.75/hr)
+ would involve playing outside for the summer
+ could perhaps continue part time at Blick?
- 1 hour commute (2 hrs daily!)
+ continue involvement at CALC

Option D :: day camp for "at risk" jr. high kids
+ decent wages (8.50/hr) and hours (10-3)
+ fun activities (hiking trips, amusement parks...)
+ loving on kids who need it
+ could work afternoons & weekends at Blick
+ continue involvement at CALC

So that all has been on my mind lately.

Also this summer, if I'm around Camp Hill, I'll be able to continue hanging out with the youth group, which would be sweet. I am definitely going on the summer mission trip, July 18-26 - and hopefully Wallace will be coming as well! Plans may work out that I simply stick around in Maine after that and head east to Petit Manan to spend a few weeks with Greg's family on the coast. Wallace and I area also thinking about doing some sort of white-water rafting trip around here (PA, MD, VA). A summer of adventure!

This morning I made an attempt at vacuuming, but it broke, smoked and made a seriously awful smell. I turned on the bathroom and kitchen vent fans, opened windows, went upstairs for an hour - it still smelled, so I used a name-brand air spray and 2 hours later the scent still lingers lightly. Ew.

Yesterday I went shopping for my good friend Megan, whose bridal shower will take place on Saturday. The proprietor of the lingerie store was very kind and helpful; a lovely woman. Kept telling me how glad she was that I stopped in. Made me wish I had a reason to visit there more often, just to say hello.

I'm quite glad to be able to use the studio space at CALC. Last night I helped Thom with wedging some reclaimed clay and he told me all about teaching opportunities for the center. I can basically just make up a class curriculum, put together a materials list and then they'll make up advertisements for the thing. I got to see the creepy, creepy basement that extends under the entire building and has a cast-iron boiler the size of a steam engine in it, as well as some art materials. Apparently, the back room of the building had been used as a beauty school to get women off the streets in the 1970s - so they took beautician classes upstairs and lived in the basement. I can't imagine how anyone would want to live down there - I'd rather sleep on the sidewalk!!

Anyways, it's wet out, and spring is settling in, soon to dry out (I hope). Looking forward to sunny days, hiking, kayaking, and maybe some bouldering down at White Rocks. I think if I get that state park job I'd get a chance to do some paddling on their lakes. Maybe I'll look into pricing for kayaks...