Author: Allison

Friday Finds

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A couple links of reactions to Tuesday’s election.  My heart is heavy and I’m struggling to articulate it. I’m slowly writing a post that I may or may not share…we’ll see.

What the Exit Polls Reveal About America

Victories That Will Never Satisfy – this is written by the husband of a dear college friend.

And on to lighter things, because that is what we all need right now.

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These are the conversations I have with my students and it’s why I love my job, even during the harder  years.

My sweet sister is getting married three weeks from tomorrow! You can view Amy and DeWayne’s engagement photos here. I cannot wait to stand next to her while she pledges her life to best guy for her.

And finally, I just read this amazing blog post about a little girl who was recently adopted. Our God is one who works miracles of all kinds. Check it out! 

Friday Finds

~ Allison ~ 1 Comment

This is the last Friday before the Presidential election! The ads and the idiocy will [maybe] be over! #canIgetanAmen

It’s also my sister Heidi’s 25th birthday –woohoo!

Are You Taking the False First Step? This post is so challenging and convicting.  How many times have I invested money into a new initiative or goal before actually doing the work? This advice is so good: Build the habit before spending the money.  My (broken) FitBit immediately comes to mind.  “Don’t let buying something be the action you take towards accomplishing your goal.”

The Gone Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the Train – this was so interesting to me.  “A number of patterns emerged in our analysis: The ‘girl’ in the title is much more likely to be a woman than an actual girl, and the author of the book is more likely to be a woman. But if a book with ‘girl’ in the title was written by a man, the girl is significantly more likely to end up dead.”  Side note: I’m currently reading The Woman in Cabin 10.

Any other Hamilton fans out there? It was just announced yesterday that “The Hamilton Mixtape” is coming soon. Pre-orders begin today, and I personally can’t wait. My favorite song in the musical is “It’s Quiet Uptown” and I’m excited to hear Kelly Clarkson sing it. I’m pretty sure Usher’s version of “Wait For It” will be memorable, too.

Finally, since my one and only regular reader has asked for an update, I’ll share some more about Blue Apron.  I’m 2/3 of the way through my second week of meals and I am most definitely a fan.  This works for me — the two person/3 meal plan provides me with all of my dinners for a week, so all I have to buy is eggs and coffee for breakfast, and salad fixings or hummus and pitas for lunch.  The impact on my grocery budget is negligible.  What I’ve noticed is that I have far less food to throw away, since Blue Apron sends me exactly what I need for the recipe (example: 2oz of baby kale for last night’s dinner, so the other 6oz that I would have had to buy at Kroger don’t get wasted).  It also allows me more variety in a weekly menu, since I have yet to figure out how to make a meal that serves fewer than 8 people (thanks, Mom). I will be the first to admit this type of meal service won’t work for everyone (or probably any super picky or nonadventurous eater – this week includes beets, cranberries, farro, kale, collard greens, and saffron) but I love it.

What I Read in October

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October was pretty much a reading slump for me. I managed to read 6 books, but found most of them somewhat disappointing based on the hype.  Here they are (in the order I read them):

  • The Secret Chord (Geraldine Brooks) – a fiction novel loosely based on the life of King David. I usually like Geraldine Brooks’s work but this one disappointed me. There wasn’t anything wrong with it — well-written — but I didn’t like the direction she took with David and Jonathan’s friendship.
  • This is Awkward: How Life’s Uncomfortable Moments Open the Door to Intimacy and Connection (Sammy Rhodes) – lighthearted and entertaining, Rhodes broaches deep and challenging topics with enough humor to make it go down easy. A good read.
  • Everyone Brave is Forgiven (Chris Cleave) – again, this was a great story and inspired by Cleave’s own grandparents.  However, this book came so highly praised that I couldn’t help but feel let down.
  • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (J.D. Vance) – the best book I read in October. A personal look at rural Appalachian poverty with insights that are easily broadened to apply to the whole.  I highly recommend this book and think it should be required reading for teachers in my school division.
  • Lilac Girls (Martha Hall Kelly) – yet another highly anticipated read based on true events. This one covers a truly dark topic – human experimentation done in the Ravensbruck concentration camp. A hard, but beautiful, read.
  • The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective (Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert) – I’ve been reading up on the Enneagram lately because I am fascinated with personality theories and have been for a long time. I appreciated this book because it fairly addresses strengths and weaknesses of all types and is both convicting and comforting. I still haven’t figured out what I am but I’m slowly narrowing it down.

Hopefully a month from now I will have a list I am more excited to share.

Total books read in 2016: 84 and counting.

Friday Finds

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It’s coming! I will definitely be having a Gilmore Girls marathon on Black Friday.  No shopping for me! Netflix put out an official trailer this week and you can watch it here.

A beautiful rendition of “Hallelujah” from Pentatonix here. I’ve listened to this quite a bit the last few days.

If you aren’t watching NBC’s new show “This is Us”, you are missing out. It is my favorite show on TV right now. The first five episodes are still available to watch if you want to catch up.  Seriously, I laugh and cry and feel good about humanity every Tuesday night.

This is Not a Day Care – this was written about a year ago by Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, but is still so relevant today.  I just read it for the first time this morning after hearing Piper on Eric Metaxas’s podcast this week.  What is wrong with the world? The episode can be found here, and you’ll want to listen to October 26, hour 2. I am so thankful to have attended Grove City College – where faith and freedom have always mattered.  For those of you who don’t know, Grove City does not accept any federal funding for education and therefore is not obligated to abide by the arbitrary and capricious mandates of every “Dear Colleague” letter.  Hearing what’s been going on lately makes me want to give Grove City even more of my money.  Have mercy.

Enjoy your weekend, y’all.

Friday Finds

~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

And I’m back with some of the best things I’ve found this week.

Some political humor: Trump Book Report.  This hashtag might be the only thing good in politics this week.  I loved it.

I tried Blue Apron for the first time this week.  The two meals I’ve made so far were AMAZING.  I’m making the third tonight.  This week’s menu was Caramelized Onion & Kale Quiches with Frisee and Pear Salad, Pan-Seared Chicken with roasted honeynut squash and apple, and spiced pork burgers with pickled beets & cone cabbage slaw.  I am now seriously considering getting it more often.  I’ve gotten into a rut with meals lately and the 2-person, three meal plan covers all of my dinners for a week! It also gives me variety and no leftover waste, something that happens a lot.  I do think it could even save me money in the long run.  Consider me a fan.

I love this video of the Virginia Tech football team singing “Tech Triumph” after their win over Miami last night.  Oh the joy of sport! And I am pleasantly surprised that they actually knew the words.

Lastly, I just want to say how excited I am for tomorrow. It’s the Saturday since the school year started with NOTHING on the calendar. I am so pumped! I plan to sleep in as late as I can, drink lots of coffee, read Hillbilly Elegy, and listen to Johnnyswim’s new album on repeat. I hope whatever your plans are for the weekend you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. 🙂

Friday Finds

~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday!

Here are a few things I’ve “found” to share this week…Actually, these first two I found last week, but forgot to post before I got on the train last week.

Beware the Instagram Bible – great thoughts from Jen Wilkin.  I am working through her Hebrews Bible Study right now and appreciate her approach to studying Scripture.

Three Questions to Ask Before Quitting Your Church – this is so good.

…Now for new finds…

I went to NYC last week to visit a dear college friend and wish I’d seen these articles prior to my trip — Bookstores of Manahattan and Bookstore Tours of New York.  Laura and Adam actually live close to a few of these shops and I did happen upon and walked through both Westsider Used and Rare Books and Book Culture on my Sunday stroll.  I would have loved to see the Strand, had I known about it.  Alas, it’s probably better that I didn’t, because I had a tightly packed bag and did not need any excess weight to carry home 🙂

How Evan McMullin Could Win the Presidency – I had not heard of Evan McMullin until yesterday.  I am ashamed.  But he’s on the ballot in Virginia and he may end up with my vote.

Lastly, if you haven’t tried Starbucks’s chile mocha, you need to get one ASAP.

 

 

What I Read: September 2016

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I’m pretty proud to report that I read 10 books in September!! Because some of you have asked, I don’t set particular reading goals for each month. At the beginning of last year, I set out with a goal of reading 52 books.  Before January 2015 I had never tracked my reading so I really had no idea how many books I usually read in a given year.  I set a goal of 52 because it seemed daunting.  I felt like I had no time to read and wanted to get back to being the reader I was a child.  In 2015, I hit my goal in early summer, and continued the pace, reading 100 books in 366 days. J

In 2016 I hope to read 100 again, but I again didn’t think I’d be able to reach that number. I am busy! I don’t get lunch breaks so I can’t read for an hour during the work day unlike many reader bloggers I follow.  I am also taking classes for a school administration certification and therefore spend a great deal of time reading textbooks and writing papers. So my goal has always been this: read as much as possible but don’t let it become a stressful thing.

Somehow I’ve still managed to read 78 books in the first nine months of 2016. 100 does seem doable, but again, I’m not going to worry about it.

Here’s what I read in September:

  • Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Tom Franklin) – not my favorite but I know many people have love this one
  • Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) – I think I want to read everything Krakauer has written. This was about an Everest expedition gone horribly wrong. I felt like I was gasping for air the whole time.
  • The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend (Katrina Bivald) – this had been on my to be read list for a long time and I somehow had the whole premise of the book wrong in my mind. Therefore, I found myself confused for a good portion of the book, but also enjoyed it.
  • The Light Between Oceans (M.L. Stedman) – fantastic. This one made me cry. I’m glad I read it before the movie comes out.
  • Truly, Madly, Guilty (Liane Moriarty) – this was not my favorite of Moriarty’s works, but it held my attention and it would make a good beach read.
  • Once, Then, & Now (Morris Gleitzman) – this is a children’s book trilogy about two children, Felix and Zelda, during World War II in Poland. This was heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. I’m not sure I’d read it to an 8 year old though.
  • When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi) – this one has been mentioned all of the place. Paul Kalanithi was about to finish his training as a neurosurgeon when he learned he had terminal cancer. This was deep and moving. I made it to the end without crying but then the epilogue written by his wife made me lose it.
  • The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) – Finishing this book while reading Gleitzman’s series provided a valuable juxtaposition. Bonhoeffer was killed in a concentration camp after plotting to kill Hitler. He lived and died during one of the most ugly times in world history, and yet he preached love for one’s enemies. His words are powerful even without an acute awareness of the evil with which he was surrounded, but were made even more so by reading about the events through the eyes of a child in Once and Then.

Friday Finds

~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a dreary, rainy week but temps have finally started to come down and feel fall-ish so I can’t complain!

I hope to do a little decorating this weekend and thought this article had some cute and rather easy ideas.  I really love the plum front door.

My FabFitFun fall box arrived this week and it may be the best one yet.

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This eyeshadow palette alone is worth the box.  The colors go on so smoothly and the brush is soft.

If you want spoilers – you can see everything in the box here!  Personally, I like to be surprised each quarter.

Finally, if you aren’t watching NBC’s This is Us, you should be.

The Narrow Way

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I’ve been slowly working my way through The Cost of Discipleship and just wanted to share some of Bonhoeffer’s words here.

“The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one’s way and stray from the path, even after years of discipleship.  And it’s hard t find. On either side of the narrow path deep chasms yawn. To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way. To confess and testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time to love the enemies of that truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way. To believe the promise of Jesus that his followers shall possess the earth, and at the same time face our enemies unarmed and defenceless, preferring to incur injustice rather than to do wrong ourselves, is indeed a narrow way. To see the weakness and wrong in others, and at the same time refrain from judging them; to deliver the gospel message without casting pearls before swine, is indeed a narrow way. The way is unutterably hard, and at every moment we are in danger of straying from it. If we regard this way as one we follow in obedience to an external command, if we are afraid of ourselves all the time, it is indeed an impossible way. But if we behold Jesus Christ, going on before step by step, we shall not go astray. But if we worry about the dangers that beset us, if we gaze at the road instead of at him who goes before, we are already straying from the path. For his is himself the way, the narrow way and the strait gate. He, and he alone, is our journey’s end.” (p.190-191)

Friday Finds

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Week Two of Friday Finds – here we go!

I actually found this last week but forgot to share: Open Letter to the Female Dog in Go Dog Go. This was apparently my favorite book as a toddler…I loved it so much I memorized it and could recite it verbatim, complete with well-timed page turns, so people would think I could read.

There were other funny/random things I wanted to share, but my heart is so heavy right now because of what’s happening in Tulsa…in Charlotte…really everywhere there are people with sinful hearts.

I struggle to understand my place, my role, in this movement and how I can make a difference.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading and have a lot more to read while I try to understand the whole of the situation and discern the Lord’s will.

To the White Parents of my Black Son’s Friends – this has been circulating on Facebook lately and I thought I’d add it here.

Books I’ve Read

  • Democracy in Black
  • God Help the Child
  • The Bluest Eye
  • United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity
  • Brown Girl Dreaming
  • Between the World and Me
  • Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County
  • Just Mercy

Books on my TBR List:

  • Jesus and the Disinherited
  • Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit
  • Negroland: A Memoir
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
  • Men We Reaped
  • Bloodlines: Race, Cross and the Christian

Lastly, this song by Natalie Grant has been my anthem this week.  “We’ve gotta do better than this because we only have one chance to make a difference/Gotta to better than this because we only have one life that we’ve been given/A little love, a little kindness, a little light in this time of darkness/It will be what makes the difference/It’ll be what makes us human”