zooey deschanel

well said.
hanging out with zooey deschanel is on my bucket list.
so is going on a double date with steve carell and his wife.
get kissed by a seal or a sea walrus,
run a half marathon and maybe a whole marathon,
have something published in Vanity Fair magazine,
see Lady Antebellum in concert,
go to Israel (and a lot of other places, most recently I've added Antarctica to that list)
... and the list goes on!

harry potter and workouts

"i'm in a book club." [my dad]

"what? really? what are you reading?" [me]

"oh i forget what it's called, but it's about some boy ... who's a wizard ... and it's got all kinds of wizards and witches and dumb made-up stuff like that. i hate it."

"YOU'RE READING HARRY POTTER??"

"yeah, that's what it is. have you read it?"

no dad, not even i have read harry potter. and i have not read twilight either, but if they start that next at your book club i don't know what i'm going to do. i thought it was funny to hear about my mennonite-raised father going to catholic mass, but picturing him at a harry potter book club takes the cake.

*****

this is from an email from lance that cracked me up. to preface this, you should know that lance is a certified personal trainer. and when i talk about working out i do not know the names of exercises or explain my workouts ... succinctly. but then i think it's safe to say i don't explain anything succinctly. ;-)

"... maybe someday we'll have a gym and you'll be able to cater to the women who need obscure exercise explanations.
me - "up for today we have 5x5 bent over rows."
you explaining to all the women in the class - "hold the bar thingy and put the circles on the ends then push your butt out and pull towards your chest."

reporting my first fire

i am absolutely loving my new job. it's still surreal and i can't believe i'm working at one of my dream jobs! i am so very blessed - thank you Jesus. i am a general assignment reporter, but my main "beat" is health and features. which is perfect. i get to cover fun community events and what's going on in the world of hospitals, healthcare, and healthy living. i couldn't ask for a better beat.

general assignment means covering just about anything that needs covered, so this week i covered my first fire. technically it was my second, but the first one i only had to make a phone call after a fire was over. this time i went to the scene of the incident, panicking all the way that i was going to get lost and miss it. (i really want a gps!)

that turned out to be a silly notion not only because i found it just fine, but also because you don't really "miss" fires. at least not based on my one experience. the crews are there for a long time working. i parked where they had the road closed off and walked down, regretting my choice of outfit that morning - a cute dress and cardigan with boots, that didn't exactly send a "hardcore reporter who knows what she's doing" vibe. but that could have just been my nervousness. nonetheless while i stood around waiting to be able to talk to people i played a mental game of tennis, tossing around pro's and con's of dressing a bit more butch for work. (butch did not win, just for the record.)

the chief talked to me and i did my best to pretend i knew what questions to ask even though i was thinking about the movie ladder 49. so often when i'm interviewing people i glance around expecting someone to say, "look, we all know you don't know what you're doing, get outta here kid." so far that hasn't happened.

after i talked to him i had to wait across the street for them to finish up until i could talk to the red cross and the homeowner. a shady public adjuster came over and told me a bunch of (what seemed like) important information, but when i checked those facts with the police it turned out he had made all of it up. i'm not sure if he thought it'd be funny to test me, or just felt like being a total a-hole. either way i was glad when the red cross shooed him away for trying to capitalize on the situation.

it turned out the homeowner was a single mom who had told her elderly mom not to cook, because they had just finished remodeling their home. but that morning the mom cooked anyway, fire broke out, and now the house was a total loss.

i had to hold back tears and refrain from being a creepy stranger/reporter giving the lady a hug - it was so sad! you could see the devastation on her tired face, and i wanted to hug her and let her cry. but she was hiding the tears, trying to smile even, and i felt so lonely for her.

the whole day made me think 'i can't wait to write books.' because when i am observing things i would naturally rather write it from an emotional perspective. or details like the way the smoke smelled. or how i met my first mitzy that day and she acted exactly the way you would expect someone name mitzy to act. for now i can save the emotion, insight and opinion for my blog, but someday there will be a book about a brand new reporter - and a lot of other things too.

my editor said the story was great (phew!), and then he made some changes before it went online and in print. this is a bit hard to get used to - watching your stuff get tweaked. i like the help and most of it is super beneficial, but sometimes a clever intro i come up with after a lot of thought and am happy with, will get replaced with something bland or cheesy that i am embarrassed to have under my byline.

or a typo will get added by whoever works on the story, making me feel like a moron when it is not even my mistake. like with this fire story: " ... and four people were displayed from their home." displaced, c'mon! oh well. i think my nerd wart is showing, better quit complaining and cover that thing up.

God bless firefighters for all of their hard work! it really is amazing what a solid family of volunteers we have at local fire companies. i am super impressed by them, and thankful for their hard work. i can't help but add that i found it quite ironic to watch one of them smoking a cigarette beside the fire. and the cops there were eating donuts! okay so i added that part about the police. maybe it's good they have me stick to writing the straight facts. ;-)

33 Ways to Stay Creative

source

11 Reasons to Read a Real Newspaper

1. You retain information better when you read it in print. A study at the University of Oregon found that readers of the printed New York Times "remember significantly more news stories than online news readers." The study also found that print readers "remember significantly more topics than online newsreaders" and that print readers remembered "more main points of news stories."

2. When you read a hard copy of a newspaper you are more likely to read information that does not pertain to your natural line of interest or bias - making you a well-rounded person. Reading online means you click on what you like, rather than holding the pages of a newspaper in your hands and reading a wide variety of stories.

3. If you care about having good, accurate and trustworthy news - pay for it. As readers continue to absorb news online without paying for it, newspapers are forced to make staff cuts and the quality of reporting goes downhill. Nothing is truly free, and as fewer people pay for their news, quality will continue to suffer. Investigative journalism will fall by the wayside and we will not get solid information. Instead you'll just be getting super fast blips of news without the meat that makes it complete.

4. Am I the only one who loves cutting things out of newspapers? Grandma Shank's newspaper scrapbooks are awesome. If you're not a nerd like me, at least have some sentimentality.

5. Reading the Sunday newspaper with people around you is cozy and wonderful. It's way better than a room full of people on their laptops or phones. Be present.

6. Staring at a screen too long is bad for your eyes and posture.

7. Subscribing to a local or national newspaper is great for the economy. Printing newspapers keeps a lot of people employed who will all lose their jobs if newspapers continue to spiral into oblivion - suppliers, printing companies, deliverers, and so on.

8. You know how some people are boring to talk to? If you don't know anyone like that, there is a chance you are the boring one. Or maybe all you ever talk about is yourself and how busy or stressed out you are (newsflash: everyone is, get over yourself) and while there may not be a solution for annoying-ness, boring-ness can be fixed by READING. Automatic conversation ammunition.

9. Local newspapers clue you in to not only local news, but local culture and activities.

10. Going paperless isn't necessarily "greener." Newspapers are easy to recycle, plus this study in the New York Times found that "the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library." Go figure.

11. If you're saying: calm down, there will always be people buying newspapers, I can keep reading online and someone will subscribe to the old-fashioned paper, I'm betting you're a twenty-something like me. Do you know anyone around our age who subscribes to a daily newspaper? Who reads a hard copy newspaper on a regular basis? If you have lots of friends our age who do, let me know, because I'd like to be friends with them. But if not, please consider the distinct possibility that in about 30 years there could be no more newspapers.


I am fully aware that everyone has different media needs and preferences, and I realize that I am very biased in my own. I also realize I'm writing this for you to read online. My love of newspapers is steeped in sentiments, and to someone who did not grow up reading a newspaper, my arguments may not carry much clout. Observing my family read fostered my own desire to learn. I like to know what's going on and newspapers are a reliable way to take in the news. If you're not aware of what's going on, how do you pinpoint where to take action?

"Journalism is an act of faith in the future." [Ann Curry]

quirky full circles

i used to think being able to see the future would make things better. then i waffled back and forth with whether i'd like that or not, before finally reaching the point where i am today: content with where i am. and laughing at the idea of wanting to see the future, knowing that i probably would not believe it if i saw it.

sometimes life comes full circle for me in the funniest ways. on friday at work i was sent on an errand to buy cigarettes for someone (not even kidding). it was the first time i ever bought any (still not even kidding). i was embarassed to be buying them actually - smoking disgusts me. when i see politicians smoking in front of the capitol, i want to tap them on the shoulder and say, "really? it's 2012 and you're still smoking? you do realize this makes it ten times more difficult to take what you say and do seriously, right?"

i brought the cigs back to the conference room, interrupting a meeting to give jack his fix as he thanked me and the man next to him said, "hey chelsea's going to be a reporter, she'll write stories about you so you'd better be careful around her." (i got a full-time job as a reporter and start next week! woop woop!) then he told me he has a summer home in holtwood, along the susquehanna and wants me to do a story on the waterskiiers.

would i have believed it if someone had told me when i was growing up in holtwood that someday i'd be working with someone who had a summer home there? if someone had told me as a kid writing my pretend newspapers out on lined notebook paper with crayon drawings and who knows what news headlines, that someday i would be a real reporter, what would i have said?

driving into church this morning it struck me again how much my life really does intertwine. the sign at the elementary school where we meet read "good luck to our spelling bee participants!" i squealed and got excited for all the kiddos. that was the same stage i stood on each year for the district spelling bee.

in fourth grade when i took second place and my pal brittney won, i felt like i had eclipsed the sun. life wasn't about the hokey pokey - this was what it was all about, and i had made it. second place in the district spelling bee, and another year had passed where i wasn't one of the kids who put the whole thing on hold by puking on stage, and i couldn't ask for more.

a moment where it sure seems like a glimpse of the future could have offered some beneficial clarity is at my seventh grade spelling bee. i evidently had a very stupid idea that being smart was not cool. i was one of the top two finalists, but i panicked about how dorky i'd look for winning the spelling bee and i spelled abdomen wrong on purpose. ugh.

i like to think that seeing my 24-year-old self would have been encouragement to embrace being smart. maybe then i would not have worried about what my fellow middle-schoolers were thinking - which probably wasn't much of anything since they were most likely in the same boat of self-consciousness as me.

i read about a lot of people in their thirties and beyond who say they love their age and being out of their twenties, because your twenties are rough. i love my twenties, but when i consider the clarity and growth that has come in the past ten years of my life, and continues to come, i can certainly get excited about what lies ahead.

i can laugh at the quirky moments life feels like it's come full circle. i can smile at how much i've grown and how much has happened. if someone had told me that i would not only get to go to hawaii, but live there for one and a half blissful years, i wonder what i would have said? it makes me want to dream about the next ten, twenty, fifty years.

i like making predictions when i go to a party, like - "well i guarantee if so and so is here, he will not remember meeting me and will ask for the twentieth time if i know the bosley twins and i will groan and tell him again that yes i do." (repeat conversations are the worst!) maybe i'm cynically writing people off as predictable, but predictability can be completely endearing and i love it when it's not repeat conversations.

as much as i love goofy predictions, i am not going to make predictions of my future. but i am going to dream and wonder what will happen that will be absolutely amazing and make me want to squeeze God and everyone around me for how blessed i am!

what dreams are lying dormant inside of me, waiting for the time to be released? what will happen this week and this year, that will make me go - wow God, you really did hear my prayer! You really did see my heart and you gave me the thing i was hesitant to even ask for! maybe God is smiling at me, and the angels are cheering for me, knowing that i will become such a famous actress that i will have to hide out at my summer home in holtwood ...

you can do anything

i love when men say that they "married up." i feel like that is one of the top ten compliments a husband can give his wife. who wouldn't want to hear that? what better way to honor your wife than with a heartfelt compliment like that?

an older italian gentleman who has succeeded at many different career paths (he taught high school and started nine prospering naturalizer shoe stores, plus he was a state legislator!) before ending up as one of the top dogs at the lobbying firm where i am an intern, said that when he first told me about his wife. he also tells me every friday night about how much he is looking forward to "date night" with his wife. he recommends amazing restaurants that make me drool, but are completely out of intern budget. i have them tucked away in my memory for later when i have a triple digit salary like him.

of all the perks and benefits of this internship, watching my confidence grow might be the best one. i had no political background or experience, and was shocked to be offered the position. i had applied thinking it would be a long shot. when they said they wanted me i almost did not take it. at the time i'm sure i had a list of reasons why i shouldn't, but looking back now i'm sure it was nothing but fear hiding under a pile of excuses.

right before i was going to email them to decline, i did not feel peace about saying no. i tend to be a mess (a.k.a. freak out) when it comes to making major life decisions. that "tend to" is added in the spirit of optimism and believing this will change, and i will become confident to the point of making decisions without fear.

as i prayed and started going through my journal, suddenly something i had taken notes on about confidence popped out. when you assume that someone else is better than you, you automatically limit yourself. but when you explore areas of your life where you have said you're not good at something, you will learn to walk in confidence and understand that the Lord really trusts in YOU. the Lord has more confidence in you than you have in yourself - that alone should free us up to try new things.

oh boy. i decided to take the internship. and you know what? i have loved it. it was overwhelming and took time and stress to catch on, but i realized i could do it. succeeding at something i was scared of makes me feel like i can do anything. but no matter what the success, or even whatever the failure is, that realization that 'i can do anything' is true for all of us. you and i can do anything.

one of my favorite parts of andy byrd's message at church this morning (the whole thing was amazingly-spectacular-phenomenol-too good to put into words) was when andy had us all dreaming with him about a culture where cynicism, criticism, gossip and negativity are wiped out and replaced with positivity and life. imagine the freedom we'd step into if all we could speak was life?

let your mind run wild with dreams of a culture where truth is agreed upon and sin is acknowledged as the opposite of what is true and good. yet instead of shame and condemnation for that sin, there is a freedom to fail along with an appropriate response of joy-filled repentance. joy-filled repentance. how did i never think of that before? isn't it a joy to be able to walk away from a sin and start fresh? to align our ways with the Word of God? when did repentance become a nuisance instead of a delight?

what i really wanted to reiterate from andy's message goes along with the fact that nothing is impossible. not only are the things that the Lord wants to do POSSIBLE, they are INEVITABLE. is it possible that we could have the same embarassment over abortion that we do over slavery? (watch the movie "the help" if you haven't seen it yet, i bawled my eyes out and got ten times more excited to be a journalist!)

is it possible that human trafficking and abortion could end in our generation, in this country, in this world? YES. it is possible, and if it's not then the gospel must not be true. big gulp. might wanna read that again, because it's a major reality check on whether what you say you believe is really what you believe. i can't help but get completely pumped up for living life when i listen to andy byrd speak! (you can go here to listen to it) he truly brings the Word of God to life.

fear doesn't have to hold you back. negativity from the world around you does not have to hold you back. your circumstances are not forever and they do not have to limit you. you have everything you need to accomplish whatever the Lord has called you to do - in life and on this day.