Monday, October 15, 2012

woohoo!

i got a two minute phone call from lance last night to say that he passed florida, the very last phase of ranger school! he is finally finished!

he sounded so good on the phone - finally like himself again. i can only imagine how relieved he is to be finished and i can't wait to hear all about it. or whatever he's allowed to tell me. or really whatever he deems to be enough to satisfy my curiosity without making me sick to my stomach with worry. he knows me so well.

ahhhhhh! i was so excited i couldn't fall asleep after he called. i just laid in bed squealing and kicking and singing and in the morning when i was talking to my mom she said, "i know, i couldn't sleep either and i could hear you singing." hahaha ... i felt like a kid again, excited for a field trip the next day.

except no field trip today. but there might be one this weekend if i can get off work and work out travel plans. he is still out in the field all week (cut off from communication) until his graduation on friday morning. so if it crosses your mind, you can pray for all of those travel details to come together. thank you much!

Friday, October 5, 2012

terrain




if you like gardening or anthropologie, you would love terrain. it is another creative brainchild of the people at anthro and urban outfitters. i am blessed to live close to one of the only two terrain stores in the country.

essentially it is a glorified upscale gardening center and shop with a lot of beautiful items that mimic antiques. nothing for sale there is really in my budget, but it is amazingly inspiring and great for ideas.

mostly i just wanted to eat at the styer's garden cafe at the same location. you eat in a cozy greenhouse with lots of plants and twinkly lights and candles. a jazz band played the night my friends and i went so the whole experience was divine.



the food definitely made my ongoing mental list of all the best meals/foods i've ever eaten. i want to go back for the fresh bread and magical butter alone. i don't know what was in that butter, but if you like the cinnamon butter at texas roadhouse you would love this. see the bread in the picture above? it comes out in a terra cotta pot. and you drink out of mason jars. so yeah, everything about the place is really hipster, especially the people who work there.

{photo credit: jeannette's phone ... all others my cam}
the other best part of the night was convincing my friend to leave her number on her receipt for the (hipster) waiter. she normally hates hipsters but there was delicious wine involved so maybe her true colors were shining through? ;-) being a girl is fun.

terrain is a great girls night place, because the portions are small. small as in, a fine amount for me, but lance would need a few entrees to fill up. i had scallops piled with other fresh deliciousness (like purple cauliflower, who knew?!) cooked to perfection.

we stopped at anthropologie afterward, love that place. and here is one last picture, just because i love happy, laughing pictures.

Monday, October 1, 2012

the last latte

there is nothing like walking past a twitching homeless looking person on your way into starbucks to make you feel like a complete monster.

and (yes mom) i know, i know, i know - i should never go to starbucks in the first place because it is a waste of money.

but i do. i am a sucker for good atmosphere and i love going to cafes to read. so the other sunday i was going to read before work and i walked past that man sitting outside the entrance. i ignored him. i got my pumpkin spice latte and sat down with my bible and journal spread out on the table and i could not stop staring at the man sitting outside, feeling like the biggest hypocrite in the world.

i bought some bread to give him. (funny how overpriced and ridiculous starbucks seemed when i was not buying it for myself.) he came shuffling into the store with some kind of limp, and he had a credit card and i thought, 'oh geez chelsea, he is not even homeless you are just incredibly judgmental of how he LOOKS.'

but there was some sort of scuffle at the register, and i assume the card was declined because he did not get anything and the cashier seemed miffed. he went back out to his spot outside by the door and began saying something to everyone who came in and they would look at him with an extremely uncomfortable expression.

the day before, my devotions were VERY specifically all about helping the poor. does this happen to anyone else?! or does God love me extra?

i could not concentrate on reading, and i don't think the Lord had me there to read at that point anyway, so i was about to leave and give him the bread when the cops showed up to talk to the man. the employees cheered, but when the cop came inside he spoke to the manager and more or less seemed agitated by the whole thing. he did not make the man leave. peculiar, but then again the city i work in is full of shootings and stabbings galore, so i suppose those things take priority over loitering.

the cop left and i went outside. the man was smoking and wearing dark glasses and i just said, "do you want this?" and handed him the bag of bread when he said "sure." as i turned to walk away i heard him say, "thank you darling."

he seemed sweet, like the kind of character i enjoy listening to. aside from his black, gnarled upper lip he reminded me of willie nelson. i don't know why i didn't at least talk to him briefly. i was curious about him as a person, but the huge glass windows allowing a packed coffeehouse of gawkers to watch our interaction must have scared me away.

which is sad. because now i'll probably never know his story.

was he an alcoholic? a freeloader or con man? was he there as part of a psychology experiment for an ivy league university? does he have a deep faith or none at all? was he lonely? does he have a home? what happened to his lip? how did he afford cigarettes? where was he going after starbucks? does he get a lot of guilt muffins like mine? what was he saying to all the people as they walked in? where will he go for christmas? has he cried himself to sleep so many nights that he is all cried out? or is he content with his life?

what would he want the world to know about him and about life?

i drove away convicted. (in all honestly i sat at the red light beside the shop so long that someone honked at me when it turned green because i was still staring at him thinking, 'what if he was Jesus and i just effed that up completely?! what if he was an angel and i totally blew a really easy test?!' ... i take things to the extreme, people, but you probably know this.)

i didn't really stop thinking about it and last week at bible study a woman shared a very similar experience she had with homeless people at panera bread. what i experienced and what she shared really stirred something up inside of me.

the conversation that followed did not resolve anything in my mind, but maybe it wasn't meant to. there is something more that God wants me to see and do, and parts of myself i need to face and change.

if we don't respond in the "little stuff" we will not respond at all.