Messay: Obeying God

          How do I obey God when I'm not sure if it's His voice speaking to me? I don't know. Even talking about this is hard because using words to describe God is difficult. Sometimes, though, I hear a command—a statement or a calm yes or no—and I know I need to obey. My immediate reaction is often resistance, which causes me to want a repeat of the message. I think this is one place where I cloud God's communication with me. My next response is often to wish for an explanation and further instruction, which I don't think I've ever received. What do I do then? If I'm told not to do something, what do I do instead? 

          There are lots of things I could do. Maybe I'm supposed to listen. Maybe I'm supposed to move on to something else less spiritual, more pragmatic, and continue to pray for clarity about the issue and listen to God. That's how it was when I dropped my dance minor. I can see the strengths of this response, because it reminds me not only to bring my requests to God but also to listen before Him. What are other responses I could have? Besides, of course disobedience, which is especially a temptation in situations like this because it is hard to act in trust, to obey with no given reason. 

     Do you have any thoughts on prayer, listening to God, and obedience? I'm reading Prayer by Tim Keller, so hopefully that lends clarity. 

Baking: Favorite Target Buys

Health food is expensive, but leave it to Target to save the day! Here's a few items that I generally keep in my pantry:

Quinoa & Flax Pita Crackers:

10 crackers (a serving size) has 2 g fiber, 3 g protein, and only 1 g sugar. 

Freeze-Dried Edamame: 

These are one of my favorites. They have a crunch just like your favorite cracker or crouton, but a half cup has 12 g of protein!! Because of that, they're a perfect snack for on-the-go or between meals. They also are amazing on salad. Each serving also has 4 g of fiber and 8 g carbs. Also, 2 g of sugar is almost nothing, especially for anything freeze-dried (most of which is fruit).

Thin Stackers Puffed Grain Cakes:

These are little square crackers, maybe three inches long, and I love to pile all sorts of random food on them for an easy dinner or snack!

Fashion: Grammy Awards 2016

          Well, my favorite awards show of the year came and went last Monday. My opinions of the award distribution were generally favorable (honestly, it's because Taylor Swift won Album of the Year) except that James Bay didn't win any of the ones he was up for. Distressing. 

          However, apart from music, fashion ruled the night. The dominant trend was the ugly long black dress; it was astounding how many women managed to flop in this red carpet staple. To begin, then, the only three long black dresses that I liked: 

The style was simple, the detailing sparkley, and the cut was flattering. Stellar work. 

I don't think this is appropriate as clothing, but I included it because it succeeds as art. The red carpet is where street clothes meet catwalk art, so discerning what is appropriate is difficult. My discernment on this one told me it was okay to post, considering that it's not obscenely inappropriate, and it's an excellent use of fabric. 

The dress draws exactly the right lines, even from the straight middle part to the scrappy heels. The all-black color scheme—dress, hair, clutch—contrasts with her skin perfectly. Though initially off-putting, the look succeeded by staying true to its intent, allowing a clean manifestation of the vision. 

Next, a dress that broke the colorless trend of the night:

Kacey Musgraves pulled this wild dress off without a hitch, a greater accomplishment especially because I usually dislike her fashion choices. The large skirt, slim waist, and sleek ponytail with minimal jewelry worked together to give off vibes that were uppity yet fun. 

Now, for another colorful dress; no way you didn't see this coming: 

Of course! I liked this because it was Taylor. A more objective reason, however, is that I like the way it continued the clean-lines bright-color open-leg motifs from last year's Ellie Saab look. I think the look compliments itself well, the simple cut of the bob and the top balance the asymmetrical lines of the show straps and the bodysuit under the skirt. The metallic necklace and shoes also balance the bright orange and pink of the skirt. My central complaint is that it's not clear that the under-piece is a bodysuit cut, so it looked during some parts of the night like it was an awkwardly short and crooked miniskirt. 

I don't know that I have good opinions on tuxedos, but I have decided to include two looks. Common, because I respect his ability to switch it up while keeping it simple. James, because he's wonderful and also a Burberry model. 

And now, my personal favorite. I don't know this artist, and I had trouble finding her name, but the combination of her personality, class, pose, poise, dress, hair, and jewelry was absolutely successful. 

Isn't she the cutest!?

Well, there's your summary of the Grammy red carpet's highlights for 2016. Thanks to #googleimage for the pics. 

Baking: Dinner Party

Friday night, I had a few friends over for a dinner party. I've been reading Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist, and it's inspired me to host people for dinner. This particular group of friends and I call ourselves "Letterpress" after the name of the coffee shop we plan to open. More on that later, look for info in the newspaper! Just kidding. 

So we have an imaginary coffee shop and some super fun people. Two of us are out of town and one has work, so it's just a party of four tonight! 

First, I carried tons of stuff downstairs to the kitchen in the dorm basement. 

See all that? It's all mine. Hey, I got my steps for the day after my third trip up the stairs! 

We're having tacos. First, the sides. Lettuce, check! (bought it bagged. swag.) Tomato...I've never sliced a tomato before. How's this look? 

Good enough for me!

Wait that looks just like it's supposed to. YAY nice work. I should get cheese; I'll probably just steal it from the caf... 

Next was rice and beans, which I moved from the styrofoam container into a mug and a Tupperware. Again, college life. 

That's not sketchy at all, right? I'll keep telling myself that. 

Now the guac: Wholly Guacamole  with a few sliced tomatoes and scoops of salsa tossed in. 

Then, in lieu of Saran Wrap, I pressed some chips over the top. Inventive, yes. Will it work? We shall see. (update: it did!)

The meat was easy enough . . . 

It's cracking me up how unappetizing all of these pictures look. Perfect for a blog post about the difficulties of cooking in a dorm room! 

The next step was transport, which was a party. But we finally made it with our strange mix of dishes to Kathryn's house, where we were eating!

We talked and laughed for a few hours; it was lovely and so precious. So today, I'm thankful for amazing people, cooking meals, groups of friends falling together, and dinner parties. 

Love y'all. Go cook some dinner. 

Charlie 

Crafting: DIY Bookshelves

Recently I've found myself running out of storage in my dorm room. I wanted to get a little dresser to go in our entrance hallway, but all the ones I found at antique stores were a few hundred dollars. So I solved my problem with this homemade bookshelf, and it only took a bit of money!

I went to a resale store run by Habitat for Humanity. They had these old cabinet doors for $3! It's all about knowing where to go—the "thrift" store in a suburb will have prices much higher than those of a resale shop in a worse part of town. 

I cleaned them and the floor where they're going to be set up with Clorox wipes. (Yes, this is a paid sponsorship. All college kids need Clorox wipes.) (Actually, not a sponsorship. But Clorox wipes are necessary.)

Then (and here's where it gets complicated) (just kidding) you stack the books and the shelves however you like. Just make sure it won't fall. 

I haven't decked it out yet, but I love it already! (Here's a picture of it with things on it.)

I would do a step-by-step, but that's about all there was to it! 

Letters: Tickets and Packages

This morning, I took a load of various packages to the post office. The last one is the celebration, but I'll tell you about two other ones too.

This is a ticket I'm paying. I love this ticket because it is only $15, and I thought it would be 8x that much. (If you're wondering, I didn't put quarters in the meter downtown. Whoops. And I realized it walking back to my car, saw the ticked and hoped it'd be under $100, and thus was so excited that it was $15.)

This is what it looks like to get rid of superfluous five-cent stamps. 

This last one is a birthday present for a dear friend. She left college and is working in Anapolis as a nanny. That is so brave and new places can be so lonely and I'm such a fan of her. I got her a kitchen towel because she loves cooking, because it was cute, and because it symbolized to me that we're growing up and making our own homes in the world. 

Isn't the towel cute! Anyway, her birthday was 10 days ago, but I'm usually late to birthdays. Have a wonderful Thursday! 

Madeline

oh! also, Charlie.