Raindrops on Roses

I am forcing the clock to allow me 15 minutes of blog time. I've got tons of things to do, and am heading out of the office for an hour of shooting here in a few minutes, but I'm taking a second to write this blog. I didn't write anything yesterday, and nothing original the day before that... I'm putting my foot down. And by putting my foot down, I mean, I'm going to write a short list of my favorite things. These items are all things I was thinking about this morning, things that make me smile, so I'm sharing them - a few of my favorite things (in no particular order)...

Clever people. You just can't get too much of individuals who crack you up and influence your sense of humor in a positive way. Quirky movies. Rainy days. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of sunshine too, but there's just something soothing about a warm rain. People watching (I guess you could file that under guilty pleasures, but still...). Reality Television. Spiral Macaroni and Cheese. Little kids. Sunflower fields. A timely book. Being part of something significant. Gel pens. Wild Berry Skittles. Eating out. Finding a great buy at the dollar store that everyone compliments, and thinks you spent way more on. Bonfire/Guitar sing alongs. Sister time. Love notes. Learning about your heritage and the lives of the people you come from. Stimulating conversation. Hearing music from new-to-you musicians. Taking pictures. A comfortable pair of jeans... that you found on sale. Traveling. Making friends in the most unlikely ways and places. Seeing someone you love succeed. 'When a good plan comes together.' Sleeping in...

Feeling like your everyday life counts.

Thoughts from Hebrews

Hi All -

Busy past couple of days... tomorrow will be too. For today's entry I am including something I read this morning in a commentary from a Bible I have. I thought it was really good - an introduction to Hebrews. (James, your clan will probably find this particularly timely because of the study you're embarking on).

'It seems odd to have to say so, but too much religion is a bad thing. We can't get too much of God, can't get too much faith and obedience, can't get too much love and worship. But religion-- the well-intentioned efforts we make to 'get it all together' for God -- can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us. Jesus is the revelation of that action. Our main and central task is to live in responsive obedience to God's action revealed in Jesus. Our part in the action is the act of faith.

But more often than not we become impatiently self-important along the way and decide to improve matters with our two cents' worth. We add on, we supplement, we embellish. But instead of improving on the purity and simplicity of Jesus, we dilute the purity, clutter the simplicity. We become fussily religious, or anxiously religious. We get in the way.

That's when it's time to read and pray our way through the letter of Hebrews again, written for the 'too religious' Christians, for 'Jesus-and' Christians. In the letter, it is Jesus-and-angels, or Jesus-and-Moses, or Jesus-and-priesthood. In our time it is more likely to be Jesus-and-politics, or Jesus-and-education, or even Jesus-and-Buddha. This letter deletes the hyphens, the add-ons. The focus becomes clear and sharp again: God's action in Jesus. And we are free once more for the act of the faith, the one human action in which we don't get in, the way but on the Way.'

Photo Album

For those of you who I haven't connected with in a while, I thought I'd include a couple of relatively recent pictures on this site. I am still quite the novice on uploading to the blog, so I'm merely attaching these as posts. (Maybe one day I'll figure out how to attach them to the profile and title...)

The Darlin' (Lacey's daughter Ella) 

My sweet sisters Olivia and Lacey 

This is me last summer 

Our American Heritage

Okay - You know your excitement for blogging is catching on when your friends start sending you emails that read 'Happy President's Day w/ potential Blog topics' in the Subject line. Here are a couple of presidential facts from Laura (she sent 20, I'm just including 5).

1. Andrew Johnson never attended school. His future wife taught him to write at age 17 (sounds like he had something in common with Bill Clinton).
2. Both ambidextrous and multilingual, James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other (sounds like he had something in common with me. Kidding).
3. GWB and his wife Laura got married 3 months after meeting one another (Laura and blind date Chad?)
4. Sedated by brandy, James Polk survived gall bladder surgery at age 17 (I know a few people who do most things sedated by brandy...).
5. Calvin Coolidge required 10-11 hours of sleep and an afternoon nap every day (see last line in 'To dream or not to dream...').

Was it The Chad?

Welcome to a new week.

I had a relaxing weekend, and caught up on my high school sports. As I mentioned before, my cousin Justin was slated to break his high school's basket-scoring record last Friday... and he did. In fact, he shattered it. All he needed to tie with the score held by our other cousin for over 15 years was 12 points. He made 26... and isn't finished with the season yet. Before the game, I was sitting with my family and Ross, the record holder was sitting beside me. He secretly showed me that they had a plaque engraved with Justin's name, the number of baskets, and the date. When Justin broke the record, they called Ross from the crowd to present him with the award. It was a really special moment for our family, and Ross was really gracious about it. There was also a large sign made and hanging in the gym with both of their names and player numbers that read, 'All in the Family.'

I have to admit, there was one dark spot in the game though. I guess you can't go see a high school game in Northern Michigan without at least one mullet moment. We had two. One mullet was worn by a helpless 6 year old boy, playing innocently on the bleachers. The other, I'm sorry to say, was within our own family... Yikes. (He married in though, NO blood relation).

Saturday I spent the majority of the day watching a volleyball tournament. My sister Olivia played hard, although they did not walk away with the overall win. They placed third in the conference. She has just one more game on Thursday and a final tournament next Saturday.

I met with my girlfriends Laura and Lauren last night for dinner. We hadn't spent time together chatting in awhile so it was nice to catch up. I told Laura that I had written a blog about our talk- show idea and included her picture. She panicked and asked which one I had posted, hoping that it wasn't the one I actually did in fact, post. Sorry Laura, but I think you look cute. I'm including a shot of my other friend Lauren and I with this post as well. Cute story about Lauren --

The last time the 3 of us met for dinner we were talking about an upcoming blind date Laura was to have with a guy named Chad. While we were getting Laura's thoughts on the set-up, Lauren came out with 'I knew a squirrel named Chad.' Laura and I just looked at each other not sure what to make of the comment when she continued, 'While I was in college, my roommates and I used to feed this squirrel that we named Chad... until he started eating over at the neighbor's house. He cheated on us, so we quit feeding him,' she said matter-of-factly. She later showed us a picture in her college scrapbook of him... sure enough, there he was with a nut in his little hands staring right at the camera. The attached photo of us was at her sister's homecoming football game last fall... I intend to include Chad's photo on here sometime soon.

Today I would like to leave you with this thought. It's a favorite quote of mine from Helen Keller that I've shared with many of you in the past, but it's worth repeating.

'One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.'

Our goal should be to experience genuine contentment in whatever state we're in, trusting that where we are is exactly where God wants us right now, while knowing it's not our final destination. It's okay to have dreams and reach for them, because we are designed to grow and learn. This is the challenge and balance of the journey we're on. Don't grow tired and despise where you are - but don't neglect the yearning in you for more either. We should always be challenged and moving toward where we feel we are destined to be... Remember Proverbs 3:5&6 always and trust God to open the doors into the next leg of your journey. I am constantly reminding myself of this these days.

Have a great Monday!!

Lauren and I

The quiet place

Today is many things.

Some would say it's the first day of the rest of your life. Others would say it's the day that the Lord has made. One friend of mine loves today because it's her birthday. (Don't tell anyone - but Rachel Reyman in Grand Rapids, Michigan is 26 today! She shares it with Cybil Shepherd and John Travolta, although both are older than her... a little.) While all of these are true, I'm mainly celebrating today because it's Friday.

Last night was a quiet one for me. I've been living back at home for 11 months now - for those of you who didn't do the math, that's ONE month short of a YEAR. Quiet nights don't come around that often. My sister Olivia is a senior this year and had her last volleyball game last night, so my parents were both there to watch her. I opted to stay home, relax a little and catch her tournament on Saturday. This turned out to be a wise move for me. I took a long, leisurely bath, watched an hour of television and then headed to my room, where I spent the next couple of hours reading... just for pure enjoyment. It was great. No hectic schedule, no thoughts of the day swirling in my head, no need to answer anyone, no solving of the world's dilemmas... Just me, God, cozy blankets, and some simple solitude.

The contentment I experienced in those moments of quiet reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in a long time. I was driving downtown about a year ago and stopped at the light next to Maggie's Tavern. (You know how when you have some sort of revelation, some epiphany, you remember for the rest of your life where you were at that moment? Maybe even what you were wearing?) I had just left the gas station and was on my way back to work after lunch. I was going through the darkest time of my life and I prayed a simple prayer for comfort as I waited for the light to turn. In that moment, sitting there at the light I had this thought... 'Life slows down in the quiet place.'

It was God's way of reminding that no matter how overwhelmed I get - no matter how many times I try to break a negative pattern of behavior in my life - no matter how stressed I get about life and where I am headed, it can all slow down and all of the shouting can turn to silence during a quiet time.

I did that yesterday. I paused, got alone and spent some time silent.

I can't say that I really tried to get a new perspective on anything or even challenged myself to break down any more pieces of the life-puzzle... but taking a break, and turning it all over for God to think about sure helped.

That's one reason why today feels particularly sweet. I'm looking at it through quieted eyes.

Happy Birthday Rachel!!

Can I buy space on your face?

I've turned out to be relatively busy here at work today, but I couldn't wait another second to share this disturbing piece of information. Another ridiculous press release discovery... www.bodybillboardz.com.

As if we aren't bombarded enough with advertising on TV, radio, magazines, and alongside of the road... now you can have products shoved down your throat just from looking your friend in the face. Pretty weird. You can rent space on your body for as much as you're willing to charge. I guess you'd have to live in a large city, pass thousands of people in a day, and spend many waking hours out and about to really give your clients their money's worth, especially if you were charging thousands. And wouldn't you want to if you were going to wear around a picture of canned soup, or mountain biking equipment on your forehead for a few months? There is one guy at the site who's renting out his arm for a mere $25... Must have small biceps... :)

Seriously!

Since I've been working for an advertising agency (nearly 2 years) I've become an avid subscriber, and reader of national press releases. I somehow landed myself on a mailing list that updates me daily on the newest things happening in broadcast advertising. I came across a release that nearly made me gag today.

Mattel is coming out with a Lindsay Lohan doll.

Apparently it's on the heels of 'Mean Girls.' (Did it really do that well!?)

To coin a phrase from a beloved friend, Laura, 'What is wrong with people... seriously!?'

For awhile we had thrown around the idea of starting a local talk show on Channel 2, the low budget station that's housed in Cadillac High School. We were going to rotate in guests (all those from our immediate family and close friends), who would be assigned a topic to cover that day. We would sit around with coffee cups, laugh, make our viewers feel outside of all our inside jokes, and discuss topics important to us... movies, music, the newest OC scandal, why Jen and Brad would ever split up and how it's so much more her fault... important stuff. The word would travel about the crazy, attractive, witty girls from Northern Michigan who had the genius idea for the talk show, and we'd soon be syndicated. This would morph into a platform to launch her book about all the weird encounters she (and people close to her) had had with people over the years. The only qualifying factor to being named within the hallowed chapters would be if we felt like shouting out that quote when we thought of an individual... I think it's a great idea. Plus, Laura manages rental properties, so you know she's got plenty of stories to tell.

And don't THINK of stealing our idea. We're the next big hit... the next Wayne's World. The next Oprah. Even Lindsay Lohan will want to meet us.

You're just jealous you didn't think of it first. (So am I). *wink*

'What's wrong with people, seriously' Laura

John, I can explain

Yeah, so I just posted a response at your blog site and now you're reading mine. I didn't mention this to you sooner because, although I took my cue from you to start one, I cannot write posts that drip with the wit that yours do. I try though... I figured I had to give myself a little headstart. I'm sure you understand... we both know you're funnier, let's not skirt the issue. Hehe.

You should be happy to see that you've already been mentioned in my entries. I hope you enjoy yourself in here... it's like the roles are reversed. You just had to wait a lot less time for a shout out. :)

More on THIS later,
Amber

Sunny Wednesday

I couldn't be happier. A chai in hand, sun pouring through my window, and me at the keys. It's amazing how a little blogging can lighten the soul :)

I checked out my blog list this morning expecting to see a no responses to my posts. You can imagine my surprise when my cousin Heather had posted not one, but two!! Thanks girl. I would be happy just writing these to post out in the 'infinite abyss' (I know you can appreciate that comment), but I'm happier knowing that at least YOU are reading them.

Speaking of my cousin Heather.... Cool news, her brothers both play on the same high school varsity team in our area. Her brother Justin is slated to break the school record of the most baskets in a career this Friday. He needs just 12 more. They are planning to stop the game and recognize him as soon as it happens. That will be cool for us all... especially since he'll be breaking the 15 year old record held by another of our cousins!!! Heather - where did our basketball talent go???

On a more personal note -
I was talking with a good friend John last night and I was reminded of how easy it is to get caught up in our lives and lose that sense of peace. I think as individuals we focus so much on what busy things we can entertain ourselves with, we get frustrated with the stage or location we are at in our lives, and sometimes we just get plain caught up in self pity. It's nice to know that God is present when 2 of us sit down and chat about Him, and how you can feel that peace return, just by spending a little time chatting Him up with a friend. He is faithful, and it's a good reminder that life isn't as bad as we sometimes let it feel, and we aren't hopeless. We're on a journey that will have bends in the road, but it's all for a bigger purpose... and in that we can find peace.

I'm going to do a little work here before we leave for Chinese. Is it bad if you crave the same dish at the same sketchy Chinese eatery everyday of the week, and have to literally STOP yourself from eating it everyday?? We average House of Hunan twice a week, and I get the same chicken and mixed veggies in brown sauce every time. Mark, the guy I work with, and I literally hop in the car and just drive there. It's never like we have a 'where do you wanna eat?' 'I don't know, where do you wanna eat?' conversation. Ever... we just know.

With that said - I'm going to work on a television script and try to stop daydreaming about the rangoons...

I'll share my fortune cookie later.

To dream or not to dream...

Do you ever go through those phases where you have a span of something like 3 months worth of 'no dreaming' and then several nights where you are bombarded with them? I've been in the bombarded phase lately. Dreams are bizarre. Experts tell us that we dream every night even when we don't remember them. I know people who have super-human powers in their dreams, leap from tall buildings, get in fights, save people in distress. Overactive imaginations? I am not one of these people... I like to think I reserve my imagination for my waking hours... yeah, I'm going with that explanation. You could file me under the Nonsense Dreamer category... mine don't make much sense and are generally some crazy combination of conversations I had that day, things I thought about, or being incredibly thirsty.

I recently had a dream in which I was begging my dad for a drink of his water. He was talking with someone when I interrupted by stealing the bottle out of his hands and just chugging it. I was actually embarrassed in my dream when I finished it without taking a breath, wasn't at all satisfied, and then looked for more. I ended up waking shortly after that completely parched. Makes sense I guess.

I am thankful that I've never really struggled with insomnia. I have a great friend who rarely gets a full night's sleep and I can tell that it's very frustrating.

All of this thinking about sleep is tiring me out. I'd take a nap right now if I could. I guess I'll just have to settle for attempting to go to sleep by nine, and actually turning my light out around 12:30 like I usually do.

Going to sleep any earlier would be a dream come true.

So this is how it is...

I am not what you would call a technology buff by any stretch of the imagination. Granted, I'm not nearly as bad as my dad, who tried to save a Word document to a blank DVD yesterday, but close. I didn't fully understand what the iPod buzz was all about until I was given one as a gift, I am still a little afraid to sign up for the free text messaging service that my friends keep sending me (there has to be a hidden cost somewhere!), and am just now 'blogging.'

So here it is - the beginning of a great journey into the unknown, sending out a virtual update on the life of Amber. Maybe someone will even read it sometime! I can't guarantee this will be a daily event, but I'll try to keep it somewhat regular. At any rate, here's to technology... and here's to an attempt at updating those of you who are interested, or have time to kill reading about someone else's life. Maybe this will eliminate my need to mass email you all twice a year... Lucky you!

At any rate, welcome to my blog, my brain, my heart. I'll try to keep it coherent.

In the words of the great Kip Dynamite, "I love technology..."

Amber