grid project - week 5

Your weekly GP update (sorry it's a day late!):

Sunday, June 20: Went to Third Service.
Third Service is a contemporary worship service at a non-denominational church up the road from me...I have been meaning to go check it out for several months, but I finally got around to going for the first time on Sunday. While it's nothing like the Catholic Mass, I really enjoyed it a lot, especially the music. They do several praise and worship songs at the beginning, say the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed, and then do a sermon on a Scripture passage...and they encourage folks to bring their own Bible so they can follow along and make notes, which I always appreciate. I am definitely planning on going to Third Service as much as I can this summer (in addition to Mass, of course). I think it's going to be a nice supplemental experience for me--something away from my parish so I can really focus without all the distractions of worshiping where I work.

Monday, June 21: Learned a new song on the guitar.
I learned how to play "Eleanor Rigby"...the chords are about the easiest thing in the entire world (literally, C - Em - Em7 - Em6), but the rest (the finger picking and all) is kind of difficult for me since I'm self-taught...so I stuck with the chords. Maybe someday I'll be able to play it all fancy-like, but this is good enough for now!

Tuesday, June 22: (though it applies for this entire week) Survived a bunch of elementary school kids.
Though it might not seem like much of a feat for most well-adjusted adults, it's a serious challenge for me. I was in some skits for Vacation Bible School at my church all last week...and I really don't like kids, so I struggled a lot with it. I know, I know: "But Jessie, aren't you a youth minister?!" Well yeah, because I can deal with middle schoolers and high schoolers...but any younger than that and I go nuts. Maybe someday I'll be able to handle spending significant amounts of time with small children, but for now...nope. Not there yet.

Wednesday, June 23: Did ALL of my laundry.
I'm the type of person who waits until the last possible moment to do laundry. Normally, I just do a couple of loads and have a bunch of clothes left in the hamper. I think, "No problem, I can just do the rest tomorrow!" or something equally ridiculous and improbable...and then the next time I see that awesome shirt is the next time I find it in the bottom of the hamper and say, "I'll do it tomorrow." So on Wednesday, I did all of my laundry. All of it. And it felt AMAZING!!! Yeah...

Thursday, June 24: Read a book for leisure.
I know, seems pretty commonplace, right? Well, it should be, but it isn't. I hardly ever take the time to just sit and read a good book...so I think I'm going to change that by making a conscious effort to read at least a few pages every day. Seems like a good summer project, right? I also want to get back into some of my theology books from college. As crazy as it sounds coming from a person who struggled a lot in school, I've found that I really miss learning.

Friday, June 25: Encountered a GDC without screaming, but instead delivering a clever CSI-like one-liner.
Mmmmmhmm, you can say it. I'm a total BA. So I found another Giant Demon Centipede in my bathroom. I calmly went into the kitchen, got my trusty green creepy-crawly-catcher cup, trapped the GDC in it, and because I had to leave and didn't have time to take it outside, I looked down on it with squinty eyes and said, "Now you stay in there and think about what you've done." Okay, probably not the cleverest thing in the world, but it sounded cool at the time. Never mind that I was talking to a centipede.

Saturday, June 26: Cheered on some friends at a softball game.
The other coaches for the St. T's softball team are all on a team together, so I decided to go to one of their games...it was pretty exciting--it was interesting to see how different grown-ups play than high schoolers. For one, there was wayyyy less walking (like, four-balls-and-you-automatically-go-to-first-base kind of walking) and things were a lot faster. It was a good way to spend an hour, anyway! And I learned more about the game, which is always helpful. Annnnnnd I was very impresssed with my fellow coaches too...they really played great!

Okie dokie, that's it! Until next time...

grid project - week 3

Your weekly GP update:

Sunday, June 6: Saw the Avett Brothers in concert.

I don't really think I need to talk more about this, since I already wrote a whole post on it. But let me say once again that it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. AMAZING!

Monday, June 7: Cleaned my apartment.

It was badly needed. Like...reeeeeally badly needed. So I did it! Anyone who's ever lived with me knows that it's difficult for me to give a flying rat's nose about how tidy my living space is...so it took a heck of a lot of willpower for me to clean everything up. (SIDENOTE: The GDC [that is, GIANT DEMON CENTIPEDE] made another appearance just moments ago. But this time, I didn't scream. AHHHHHH. Well, I dunno...does a digital scream count?)

Tuesday, June 8: Squeezed some lemons.

I know this seems kind of silly, but I'd never squeezed lemons before, and we were having lemon oregano chicken for dinner, so I was charged with this difficult task. And don't worry--I completely prevailed. Who's "we," you ask? Well! Tuesday was an exciting day, because I spent most of it with a fellow youth minister who works down the road (Caroline), her husband (Chris), and their two daughters (one's two and the other is nine months). Caroline and I have similar interests (namely, social justice-y things) and we have very complimentary personalities, so it was nice to spend time together--we accidentally locked ourselves out of her car (thank you, AAA membership! I knew I'd need you someday!), perused the Ten Thousand Villages Store, went to the South Side farmers market, had some delicious dinner, and generally just had some good conversation. It was a wonderful day, and I hope Caroline, Chris, and I can continue to get to know one another and all that. So you see, squeezing lemons was one of many things I could have used...Tuesday was a great day!

Wednesday, June 9: Went for a late-night, post-thunderstorm walk through my neighborhood.

It was so nice...there was hardly any traffic, the stars were finally starting to peek through the clouds after several dreary days of rain, and I was able to sort through some complex thoughts I've had recently.

Thursday, June 10: Went early-morning grocery shopping.

Here's something you might not know about me: I absolutely love grocery shopping. Like, it's one of my very favorite things in the whole world. I especially like going when hardly anyone's there (so, either really early or really late). Even if I do go during a peak time (say, right when people get off work), I like being able to take my time, follow my list, and smile through the chaos. And even though I really could use the self-checkout line, I never do. I love talking with the folks who are working at the register...I remember what it was like to work at Target--having crabby and mean-spirited people snap at me for no reason, or not even acknowledge my existence aside from asking who to make the check out to, or get angry at me because of a store policy that I had nothing to do with creating...and I try to bring a little bit of sunshine to that person's day (or night, depending on when I go). This grocery shopping adventure was especially wonderful because this last month has been a little challenging financially and I was down to soup and sandwiches every day. I admit, I was getting a little stressed out and sick of it, but I kept reminding myself that it's good to want and need things, and it's good to know what it's like to not have something you need. (Sidenote: I should also mention that Pasutti and one of our other friends from CSB/SJU came up for the Ingrid Michaelson concert and it was fantastic...a beautiful night for an outdoor concert enjoyed with good company!)

Friday, June 11: Went to the Farmers Market!

HOORAY! I don't think you understand how much I love the farmers market. It's probably because I was utterly spoiled with the farmers market in St. Joe (the town where my college is located)...either way, I love the farmers market here. I got a bunch of stuff--strawberries (which turned out to be terrible and sour, but oh well...there's always next week!), fresh pasta (the dude who was working gave me an extra whole wheat spaghetti for free!), rhubarb, potatoes, and kettle corn. HOORAY AGAIN!

Saturday, June 12: Had two very nice telephone conversations.

I got to talk on the phone with a couple of my friends from college (separately, of course). I like maintaining those connections back home, whether it's letters or phone calls or Skype chats or whatever...though I've readily admitted before that those aren't ideal means of communication, they still matter to me, and I still get great amounts of joy at getting a letter in my mailbox, or hearing my phone ring and seeing a Minnesota area code, or watching a little conversation box pop up on my computer. So talking to Madeline and Laura was absolutely lovely.

Okay, sorry this is a bit late (not that you really care, I'd imagine)...tonight was a crazy night of youth ministry and I didn't get back to my apartment until 10:30 or so, and I had some other stuff to catch up on too! So please forgive me.

Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

shoot i forgot to change the month on my calendar again

As promised, here's a little post about the Avett Brothers concert I went to on Sunday night. I originally didn't think I could go, but things rearranged themselves in my calendar and I was able to go at the last minute! A friend of mine was also going, so I called her a couple hours before the concert and we met up with another one of her friends and drove down to the venue together.

Here's a video I took of one of my favorite songs by the Avett Brothers ("Laundry Room"):



I didn't get home until almost 1:00am, but it was totally worth it...it was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to!

And this Thursday, Pasutti is coming into town and we're going to see Ingrid Michaelson again--this time, she's doing a concert at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. It's a good week!

Alright, time to go do something productive! Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

i wish that some fireflies would give ME dancing lessons

First, please watch this video...it's this dude named Sam Tsui doing a cover of the song "Fireflies" by Owl City. He recorded himself doing all the different parts and then made a video of it using the magic of technology. It's brilliant, and (in my humble opinion) way better than the original! So...just watch:



This morning, I woke up and sang at 7:00am Mass. Whew. Only by the grace of God was I able to perform that feat. Obviously I was tired, so as soon as I got back to my apartment I went back to bed for another hour...and I experienced the most realistic dream I've ever had in my entire life.

In this dream, I was leaving St. T's after Mass, and the parking lot was almost empty. This family in a big white SUV started circling around me, closer and closer, really slowly. Just as they were about to hit me, I rolled down my window and yelled at them, "What the heck [okay, I didn't say heck] are you doing?!" and they just looked at me and kept going. Then I thought (just as I would have in real life), "Oh no, now those parishioners are going to think I'm a mean person and won't let their kids come to youth group because this is the only contact I've had with them. CRAP!" So anyway, they pushed my car a little ways (not sure how, but...it was a dream, so it just happened.) Needless to say, I was SO MAD, so what did I do? I drove to a different part of the parking lot so I could watch them as they continued their circles, get their license plate information, and give it to Fr. Bob so he would kick them out of the parish, of course! But when I got out of my car, I stepped in a pothole...and I knew they were watching me, so I tried to make it seem like it was on purpose. And all of a sudden, I was in the kitchen of my really old house (the one in Ranier, MN from when I was very small--but it was in PA and doubled as the St. T's parish office). The secretary at St. T's was there, along with another random person and...my mom! I noticed that she was wearing a new wig and figured it was just because her hair was growing funny or something. I was just about to call Fr. Bob when my mom just started talking to him on the phone. I kept trying to interrupt and give her the info to give to him (like when I was little and would always bug my mom when she was on the phone), but she just ignored me and kept talking. I kept at it, though, and I was right next to her ear...so when she finally got too frustrated, she turned really fast and hit me in the nose with her head. I was like, "Mom. That really hurt." (And it DID!) And then I woke up to my alarm. It was weird.

Again, I have wasted your time on something uninteresting. But it was SO REAL! You have no idea how disoriented I was when I woke up. Yikes!

Okay, what else...last night, I went to this thing called Catholic Underground with Erin (she's one of my awesome Core Team members who volunteers with the youth group, and one of the only people I know here who is my age). The night was sweet. There's a Holy Hour and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and then there's music and food afterward. I've had a lot on my heart lately, so it was absolutely wonderful to go to Confession. What a perfect way to start the season of Lent! I feel so much more able to keep my Lenten resolution now that I have a clean slate...it's hard to explain. It's like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders or something. So for a couple of days, at least, I will have that invincible feeling of grace that says, "I'M NEVER GOING TO SIN AGAIN!" And then I'll punch a kitten and that feeling will go away. Just kidding, I would never punch a kitten...unless it clawed me in the face and set my apartment on fire. But I know that something ELSE will happen and I will be unpleasantly reminded of my humanity. I guess that's why we have Jesus!

Looks like I'm working backwards...so on to Saturday morning. I watched the movie WALL-E (yeah Netflix!) and it was so good! It's so amazing how they can have Wall-E and Eve express so much without really using any words. Easily one of the better movies I've seen lately--I would highly recommend it, if only for the BRILLIANT end credits. Seriously.

Friday night, I worked at my first St. T's Fish Fry. Now I don't want to brag or anything, but our fish fry is SO AWESOME. I got to run orders back and forth between the take-out area and the kitchen. Basically, it was rushing around for three straight hours...and I loved every minute! Plus I got some delicious fish, and the best macaroni and cheese in the world! Is there a better combination?! (Answer: NO!)

Okay, today we're having our First Annual Youth Ministry Family Potluck...so I have to go do stuff. Wahoo! I'm so excited! We have something like 50 people coming, and I need to go get some lasagna and put the finishing touches on a prayer service! I LOVE MY JOB!

Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

archie taking the gang for a ride

Okay. I need to talk about something really important. This may come as a shock to some of you, but it's something I've been thinking about and reflecting on a lot lately, and I feel that I really need to get this off my chest because I value our (mostly one-sided) correspondence and believe that, especially where this is concerned, I just need to be honest with you. Okay. So here goes.

I LOVE THE JONAS BROTHERS. I know. I know! They're so ridiculous! But have you SEEN their TV show? (Thank you, Netflix!) Honest to goodness, I challenge you to watch one episode of it and not tell me that it's super hilarious! Seriously! It might be one of my favorite shows ever! AND don't tell me you can't listen to one of their albums without tapping your foot to those unbelievably catchy beatz! And I think you should also know that talking about the Jonas Brothers makes me use exclamation points in excess! So YES! Hate me if you want! I DON'T CARE!

So now that THAT'S out of the way, I feel much better. Phew! On to other exciting things in my life.

Well. It's snowing. Again. Two weekends ago (February 5-8, because I'm counting Monday in there), we had something around two and a half feet of snow within the span of about four days...which, because of the hills and other factors I haven't quite figured out yet, resulted in a week where most school districts in the Burgh called off school for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. What?!

We (me and five of my kids) were supposed to be going on a ski retreat with another parish on the weekend of the 5th to the 7th, but we had to cancel it because of snow. How funny is that?! Of course, the decision to cancel was made after driving two and a half hours...in the snow...in a coach bus...but apparently the place we were trying to get to already had over a foot of snow and we most definitely would have been spending the night in a snowbank. No gracias! But I ended up going skiing that weekend anyway with four of the five kids--after the roads had been cleared well enough to get up to the mountain. I messed my knee up pretty badly and broke my glasses on my last run, which was awesome...but a broken pair of glasses is nothing that some Gorilla Glue can't fix! Now if only Gorilla Glue could get rid of this wicked limp. Oh well! I'm sure that when I walk around in public, people just assume I got in a fight with a ninja...which kind of makes it worth it, when you really think about it.

I just found out that one of my favorite bands (other than the JONAS BROTHERS!) is coming out with a new album this year! That's right, The Weepies! Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I can't WAIT! It's like my soul is doing the "I'm-going-to-pee-my-pants" dance (you know the one)!

Yesterday was a fun day in Youth Ministry World. Several kids, adult chaperones, and I attended the Lovewalk for the Poor, which is basically an annual event sponsored by the Diocese of Pittsburgh that happens around Valentine's Day. It's a chance for youth to collect donations for a few local Pittsburgh outreach programs and gain a tiny bit of perspective about issues of hunger and homelessness. There were hundreds and hundreds of young people there, which is always exciting to see. We had Mass with the Bishop and then walked as a giant group for a little ways before dropping off our donations at a truck along the route and dispersing to return home. We came back to St. T's, had some pizza, and then the chaperones left and I played a few rounds of Deaf Karaoke* with the kids. Let me tell you, that game never gets old! I was only expecting to stick around the youth room until 6:00 at the latest...but then it was 7:45 and the last of the kids were trickling out. Oh, it was so fun!

*Deaf Karaoke is a game where you pick a song on an iPod (preferably one you know the majority of the words to), put the ears in, turn up the volume as loud as you possibly can, and ROCK OUT. The reason it's so awesome is that you can't hear yourself sing at all, but no one in your audience can really hear the music in your ears. Basically, it's a smashingly wonderful way to make a complete and utter FOOL of yourself. Perfect for parties or when randomly sitting around with a bunch of high schoolers, and the only supplies you really need are iPods and the ears for them! YEAH!

Okay, that's it for now. Sorry about the big gap between the last post and this one...not that it's a huge deal, I just forgot about the blog for a little while there. Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

PS: I was just thinking about what would happen if I stuck my hand in the garbage disposal and it somehow turned on accidentally. Is that disturbing? Yes. Yes it is.

don't run with scissors, OKAY?!

Today, I went to Sam's Club and got my official business card. Here's the dangerous part: having a Sam's Club business card in my possession means that I can make purchases for the church and charge it to the card (like chips and whatnot for youth group events), but I can also make personal purchases as long as I pay for it another way (like a huge container of hot chocolate mix). So I need to be careful with how I spend my money (both the church's money and the stuff that comes out of my wallet) at Sam's Club.

(I just realized that is not an interesting thing to write about.)

When I got a ride to St. Cloud from Tibby's family on my way down to the airport in Minnesota (a couple days after Christmas), we listened to Mika's album The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Ever since then, I've been listening to it basically all the freakin' time. It just seems to get better and better with every hearing. I especially like the songs "I See You" and "Blue Eyes," but honestly, the whole album is quite a wonderful experience which I would highly recommend to the WORLD! Maybe I'll mail a copy to President Obama. He'll probably write me a thank-you card for changing his life with the power of pop. And he'll probably also send a thank-you card to Mika for writing the music, and then Mika will write me a thank-you card for exposing President Obama to his high quality tune-age, AND he'll give me a plane ticket and a VIP pass to one of his European shows and then we'll fall in love and be together forever...err, maybe that last bit wouldn't work out so well. But everything up to the VIP pass would be quite possible, I think.

I got my car back yesterday! AHHHH! It was awesome...apparently, the folks at the shop started referring to my car as "The Little One" because all the other cars getting fixed there were twice its size or something...and when I walked in the door, the lady sitting there gave me one look and said, "I bet you're looking for a little car." I was very relieved to be reunited with my baby after weeks and weeks of sadness and despair...and the inability to drive to a grocery store. Things were really looking a bit desperate there for a few days. I kept thinking to myself, "One can only survive on crackers and peanut butter for so long!" So since there's been a SUPER INTENSE snow storm ravaging the Burgh the last few days, and since I'm generally pretty good at driving in such admittedly perilous conditions, I braved the snow and ice last night and went to Giant Eagle for some super fantastic grocery shoppin' awesomeness. My fridge is full of good things like...eggs, yogurt, carrots, broccoli, cottage cheese, and MORE!

Oh, small note, but worth mentioning: one of my New Year's resolutions is to take better care of myself...so I am proud to say that I did not buy any junk food yesterday. None. Not even a little bag of chips or candy or anything. All good things--fruits and vegetables and the like. So my first trial has been successfully overcome...we'll see what happens the next time I go grocery shopping! But I'm really serious about this, so hopefully I can continue to stay away from all of my favorite things...haha! But really, living by myself, I don't have someone who will see what I'm eating and judge me (consciously or not) if it's something terrible...and sometimes that judgment is a good thing because I often adjust my behavior when I'm in the spotlight...but no one's here to do the judging...it's like when you know company is coming over so you clean your house. Okay, now I'm just rambling.

But on a serious note, I'm going to be doing more legit cooking from here on out, so if I find any delicious recipes, I will be certain to post them here!

That's really all for now. I'm going skiing up in the mountains tomorrow with the Campbells. I don't remember the last time I went skiing...so this will be an adventure. Pleeeease God, don't let me break my leg!

OH and I won't be back until Sunday afternoon, so the next time I post anything will be after the kick-off...meaning that I may or may not have a different hair color. AHHHHHH!!!