Thursday, March 25, 2010

Book Review: The Gospel According to Lost




I've been a Christian my whole life, and a dedicated Lost follower since the first episode. The Biblical analogies in the show haven't been lost on me, so I was very interested to read this book. It turned out not to be my cup of tea, but I could definitely see using it to create a discussion group.
After the initial introduction section, the book goes through character by character, equating them to their Biblical counterparts, and analyzing their actions through a Christian lens. Some of the analogies fit better than others- for example, equating Hurley to Jacob was a bit of a stretch, but using Sayid to illustrate the Christian view of God’s grace was more natural.
If you haven’t watched the show and plan to, you might not want to read this- it assumes you know everything that has happened through the end of the 6th season and will ruin most of the surprises. If you are into all of the spoiler resources out there, none of the references in this book will likely surprise you. It did help me connect the dots for some details I had forgotten in the 6 or so years since the show began, but since I'm not really into all of the conspiracy stuff it just didn't hold my attention.

I review for BookSneeze



Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I had an orange room too!


I love Naturally Nina's blog. She finds the most adorable and inspiring images. It's just fun to read.

Well, earlier this week she posted pictures of her condo, and I was was struck by how similar her dining area was to the one in our first house (we moved last summer). Check hers out here. Isn't it amazing?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Proof that God is a Man

Matthew 10:30: And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

If God knows all of the hairs on my head (which I beleive He does, after all, He created them), then he must be a man, because no woman would do this to another woman.

I have thick hair. In both senses: I have a lot of hair, and each strand is very, very thick. It's sort of wavy, sort of straight. Very prone to frizz. Very. I sway back and forth from very, very short, and trying to let it grow out. The longest it's every gotten is about 14 inches- I know because I cut off 12 of it and donated it to Locks of Love. I'm in the growing out phase now, it's almost to my shoulders. It's not quite long enough for a pony tail, but I wanted to do something fun this morning so I pulled what I could up into a barrett at the crown of my head.

The problem is that I did this while it was still wet. Which means that now it's looking like I have the "wet look" aka greasy going on. And I don't, it's just honestly still wet. It will more than likely stay wet until I take it out of the barrett tonight, because my hair is so thick that it doesn't dry when it's bound up. When it was longer, I once french braided it into 2 pigtails that literally stayed wet for two days. Before you think that I'm an unclean person: I showered one morning, braided my hair, and took the braids out the next night when I showered again. My hair was still wet.

I love my hair when it looks good. I just wish it didn't require so much effort!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Kindle for Mac is finally here

I'm so excited about this I had to post it. Here's the link.

Most Amazing Camera Bag Ever


Oh my goodness. I'm finally getting caught up on more than 2 weeks worth of blog reading, and Rockstar Naomi featured these AMAZING camera bags by Jo Totes. I want one. It's not in the budget right now, but if I get an art show I may buy myself one as a celebration. And an encouragement to carry my camera everywhere.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Oh what a night...

What a wonderful night! I got to hang out with my kids- I read Lily 12 books (well, she read me a few of them) fed Austin twice and got to do all of the snuggling that goes with that, and started to carve out my own writing space in the "Reading Room" - our downstairs living room. I realized my desk, although a cheapo from "The Store that Must Not be Named," weighs about a million pounds though so I have to wait for Chris to get home to help me move it downstairs. In the meantime, I am finally uploading some of my photos to Flikr so that I can apply for an art show at my church. I'm kind of excited- I know I'm no professional, but I feel like I have some pretty amazing shots. If I had the money, I would love to get a bunch of them mounted. I can add it to my "if I had money" list.

I'll post the Flikr link as soon as they're all up.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Race Relations

This is a bit random for this blog, but I was just pursuing Facebook and I am amazed at how many of the people I went to high school with are in inter-racial relationships, or have had children with people of different races. Not because I find anything wrong with either of those things, but because it is just so different than the culture we grew up in.

I'm white, and the first time I met a black person I was twelve years old. I remember wondering if her blood was red like mine was, or if it was darker because her skin was darker.

I don't think I grew up racist, I simply grew up ignorant. I know people who have disowned their children because of inter-racial marriages. I once considered dating a black man, but was afraid of what my parents would think (granted he was also 14 years older than me, I was worried about that too.)

All this to say, I am glad that although we grew up very isolated, I'm happy that so many have moved outside of our narrow past.

This is all not as eloquent as I would like, but I've had three glasses of wine tonight :)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Update on February Goals

Somehow it's March. That means it's time to revisit February's goals and make a plan for March. February wasn't the best month for me.

The only one I actually achieved was an artist date.

These are the ones I changed:
I participate in a writing workshop either online or in person. -- So excited about the Open University course I found on iTunes U, but then realized it was all geared towards stage writing. I thought I would still be able to get something out of it, but stopped about 1/3 of the way through when I realized I just wasn't getting much out of it.
By 2/28/2010 I have completed a “Best of” series of photographs and posted it on Flickr.
I have applied for an exhibit with The Village Chapel.--- Changed to 3/15
By February 28 I have completed 10 pieces for etsy store (3 per week)--Tabling this for now- def. still wanting to do it, but waiting until the book is written.
I write one chapter of The Pilates Lifestyle each week. -- Changed to 1/2 per week. Accomplished the revision.

Here is what I didn't accomplish:
I will complete one entire writing project -- didn't happen
I enter at least one writing contest
I write every day.
I write 10 query letters
I post on The Pilates Lifestyle blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday beginning February 8.
I post on the Pilates for Mommies blog every Tuesday and Thursday starting February 4.


The reason I didn't accomplish as much as I would have likes was because I didn't make a weekly plan. This is absolutely necessary for me. March goals will be up by the end of the week.

Monday, March 1, 2010

I miss you

Dear Blog,

I miss you. I don't know where the last two weeks went, but they are gone. I need to sit down and reflect on all of my February and March goals, but I don't know when I will have the tiem this week. But- I am taking a writing course tomorrow and Thursday night that I'm very much looking forward to.

I hope to be back soon.

Love,
Amanda