reverie

Thanks to my fabulous friend Shauna, I was able to take the Strengths assessment. My top 5 strengths are: *Connectedness: Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. *Empathy: You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. *Individualization: Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in e

On the suggestion of my older younger brother, Raj, in a continued effort to answer, "what should I do with my life?" I purchased StrengthsFinder 2.0 tonight. My dear friend Shauna has long extolled the virtues of StrengthsFinder, so I knew it was worth checking out and figured it would prove somewhat more useful to my life than the suggested move to New Jersey. I fully intended to share with you lovely people my top 5 strengths, but alas my access code to take the online test seems to have been misprinted or hijacked despite the fact that the packet in the back of the book was unopened. I'm quite disappointed about that. So now I wait to see if the website's Help people are able to fully live up to their name; I hope so. In the meantime, I will share with you what I was able to learn from StrengthsFinder 2.0 tonight. Well, I'll let author Tom Rath explain: In 1998, I began working with a team of Gallup scientists led by the late Father of Strengths Psychology,

I had coffee with my friend Jay tonight. At what point did Starbucks stop teaching its baristas how to pull shots well? A good 50% of the time, regardless of what establishment that I patron, regardless of what city, the coffee tastes burnt. Ugh. (I do realize some baristas are good at what they do.) Anyway, Jay's insight on the what should I do with my life? question was, "you should move to Jersey!" Throughout the next hour he randomly tossed in a few compelling reasons why it was a good idea and I've decided to add some of my own. Now, I'm not seriously considering any of these, but figured they were worth sharing for amusement's sake. :) 1. I've never met anyone from Jersey I didn't like--of course I only really know like 5 people from Jersey, but 100% is still 100% 2. I'd be closer to Boston=closer to the Red Sox ! 3. it's cheaper 4. there are still places to snowboard 5. I like Princeton 6. it's not likely to be 80 degrees in

(for part 1 go here ) And here tonight while the stars are blacking out With every hope and dream I've ever had in doubt I've spent ten years trying to sing these doubts away But the water keeps on falling from my eyes And heaven knows, heaven knows I tried to find a cure for the pain Oh my Lord! To suffer like you do It would be a lie to run away So blood is fire pulsing through our veins We're either writers or fools behind the reigns I've spent ten years trying to sing it all way But the water keeps on falling from my tries - The Cure For Pain - Jon Foreman I am all too keenly aware that difficult times are character building. Sometimes though it'd be rather nice to have more mountaintops or plateaus even than valleys. While a lot has changed in the past 5 years and I like the woman God's been growing me into, sometimes it's hard not to think that for all the heartache not enough has changed. I still have days where I fight against the idea

the sun is unseasonably friendly allowing an early hibiscus greeting I begrudge this January warmth longing for chillier days and snow on the beach (though it never seems to oblige) but I do not mind the bold presence of this homeland flower hearkening to simpler times and spice scented air

If all goes according to plan, on that date I will be sitting at Angel Stadium with my youngest brother watching the Red Sox dominate. :) Last week as I was preparing my cafe schedule from now until the end of the summer, I checked it against the baseball schedule and was delighted to discover that the Red Sox are playing the Angels much earlier this season than in the past few years. I'm so excited! In other fabulous baseball news, the MLB Network launched the first week of January. That's right, all baseball all the time. Really few other modern marvels are nearly as exciting for me. I've now seen footage from the 1946 and 1956 World Series (game 5 was Yankee pitcher Don Larsen's perfect game, amazing!). I've seen the original incarnation of Red Sox Nation--the Royal Rooters. I've seen a Red Sox Memories special. I would say something silly like, "The MLB Network is the greatest thing since sliced bread," except it obliterates sliced bread.

I've been in bed between 9:30 and 10:30 every night this week and it's been quite nice. Perhaps I'm too stocked up on sleep at this point because my brain & body are simply refusing to settle down for the evening. :P A million things have been going on this week. I've taken risks, been shaken from my comfort zone, been stretched to limits of compassion that are well beyond my own capacity, and been excited to expand my ideas about God & theology. I think at this point it's all sort of catching up to me and my brain is working overtime to process it all. Maybe blogging will help sort some of these things out... First, I could use prayer. God is stretching me in a way that is exciting & great & TIRING right now. Hope & joy & patience & faith & confidence in Him are amazing and renewing but at times exhausting. I don't have it within my own capacity to remember to be hopeful, joyful, patient, faithful, or confident enough an

I have been mulling over a new year's post for a couple of weeks or more now, but for whatever reason I just could not get thoughts to flow from my head to my keyboard in any sort of useful manner. Perhaps it has a lot to do with how I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that 2009 is already upon us. And while it still seems that 2008 was MUCH shorter than 366 days, church yesterday really helped me to put some things into perspective for this new year and so I will share those thoughts with you. :) I was blessed to share the remaining week of 2008 with one of my favorite people on the planet--my dear friend Shauna. It was quite a wonderful week filled with snowboarding, hiking, Gilmore Girls, karaoke (I even sang!), lots of coffee and delightful conversation. But as with all good things, her visit had to come to an end yesterday morning. I was feeling kind of bummed as I drove away from the airport mostly as the West Coast and Tennessee are simply too far apart and partly as