Inside-Out

Long time, no post... I know, and I am rather sorry!

It's not that I have nothing to write about... it's more that I have too much to write about for things other than blogs! To give you an idea of this past month, the last two weeks (combined with this one that i'm just beginning) have contained:
- 6 papers (4 of them major & lengthy)
- 2 group projects
- a moderately ridiculous & late midterm
- 2 legitimate all-nighters
- at least 4 routine quizzes
- all the normal reading, and...
- life, with all its curveballs.

Today, I'm camped out in the library yet again with what will likely be an 18-page paper, due tonight at midnight. I'm about half done with the writing and 2/3's done with the research, so there's still a good bit left to do.

I just wanted to share a picture that illustrates my day:

Mis-labeled Dr. Pepper
- caffeinated
- computerized
- library-based, and
- inside out!

Hah! who needs sleep??!?!?

Pigeon for President!

I'm taking a short break from the "paper mill" (as a classmate affectionately calls this time of the semester) to say that I am RELIEVED. Election Day isn't over yet, but I made my decision and voted and I'm DONE with this election.

Done. Done. Done.

I've joked about writing in Pigeon for president, but I didn't really do that. :-) But just imagine...

Pigeon for President!
- Hot dogs for everyone! (Veggie, Kosher, Beef, whatever you like!)
- No bedtimes!
- Puppies and Walruses galore!
- Strong support for better education, by providing high quality literature to children everywhere - especially Pigeon books by Mo Willems!
- Reduction of wasteful campaign spending by driving his very OWN bus!
- Personal jetpacks for every man, woman and child so that all Americans can experience the joys of un-impeded personal flight!
- Respect for the feelings of feathered friends because, you know, Pigeon has feelings too!
- All attitude, all the time!



What children's book character would you write in??

(Not so) desperate times...

Several of my East Coast buddies have asked if it's cold here yet. The answer is emphatically, yes... for now. It's not as cold as it's going to get, but it's starting to move more consistently in that direction. My housemate, Cori, told me there's a saying for the Denver climate: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." So... who knows? It could be 70 out tomorrow. But for the past few days, the lows have been in the 30's, which makes for a chilly ride to class!

However, it's not consistently cold enough yet to turn the heat on...

And I'm conflicted about using the natural-gas fireplace... (expensive to run, but oh-so cozy!)

So I've gotten marginally creative:

international (midterm study) space station:
- coffee (mexican)
- candles
- computer
- quizzes for review
- lotsa notes

As I set up my little study space (complete with a little fire), I jokingly told Jeromie that "desperate times call for desperate measures," but realistically these are nowhere near desperate times or desperate measures. I was just being the dork that I am.

Hopefully sometime soon I will find the time to post about some of the incredibly thought-provoking aspects of my classes & experience here so far... but for now, I must study.

Easily amused...

I can't believe it, but we're already half-done with the fall semester here at Denver Seminary! Argh! Midterms are upon us!!

This can mean a number of things in my personal world, some of which are:
- greater evidence that i can be easily amused in general
- more time-sensitive tasks to complete
- less sleep in order to complete said tasks
- more instances of giddy-tiredness
- lower threshold for easy amusement at minor things

What amused me today?

The fact that the brand of toilet paper used by the seminary is "Heavenly Soft."

My nose has been running incessantly all day... and of course I forgot my handkerchief-thingy... so that means using TP for kleenex. I sure hope heaven's softer than that toilet paper! :-)

Just thought I'd share that for the benefit of those of you who are also easily amused (or mush-brained from mid-terms)!

* * * * * * *

In other news, Jeromie's brother, Jonathan, came out to visit this weekend, which was awesome! (Thanks, brother!) And I finally blocked the Shalom sweater! And I made it through last week without any embarrassing outbursts! And God is, as always, reminding me of how good He is!

And... I should probably get back to work... Whatever happened to "everything in moderation?!??" :-)

Happy Friday!

Jeromie + Jonathan + me + cinnamon roll & coffee @ Blueberry's + Colorado in general + weekend is here = beautiful end to a rather crazy crazy week.

Procrastination Station

The other name for... facebook. and gmail. and... my blog. Sorta.

Actually, I've been fairly responsible in moderating my web-related distractions so far this semester, as evidenced by the dearth of interesting blog posts. Heh... that might be going to far to assume that any of them are interesting in the first place. ;-) Anyhow, I've decided to take advantage of this particular procrastination station for a few moments to tell the world (or at least by east-coast homeys) that autumn has finally come to Colorado. The past few weeks have included highs in the 80's, which is in no way autumnal... but this week has become crisper and more colorful by far, and I'm giddy about it!

So far, I've celebrated autumn with:
- a run in which i wished for warmer clothing,
- a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins,
- some yellow garden vegetable curry,
- an Irish Cream mocha from Blueberry's,

AND

- a hike in Deer Creek Canyon, which is practically in our backyard.

This week is cram-packed with projects and assignments to finish, but I've got a a faithful Father, an amazing husband, good friends, a project on my knitting needles, and a plan of action... so I think I'll make it.

That is, if I survive Jon Buck's dead-fly-carrying paper airplane...

Mortified.

I may have committed, today, the most embarrassing act in my entire life thus far... I'm still evaluating it. But since I have grown enough in the past year or so to be able to laugh at myself... and since it apparently amused my professor, I'll share it here.

To set the scene: This week has been rough from the start. I was exhausted-sick all weekend and Monday, a little better but loopy Tuesday, a little worse but moderately okay Wednesday, and a little better again but REALLY LOOPY today. On top of this roller-coaster of wellness, I also have quite a number of things due in the next week that have me rather stressed out. And midterms are approaching. And, oh yeah... did I mention that I'm loopy today??????

Location: OT 511 with Dr. Hess - the most intense class I've ever had the privilege to take. It's just a lot of information, and Dr. Hess is pretty brilliant... and my head usually feels like it's going to explode before we get to the first break.

It's a three-hour/once-a-week class. And did I mention it's intense??

So, picture me sitting with a few friends about two-thirds of the way back in a classroom that can probably seat near 100 students. We've already exchanged a few glances (and messages on facebook - I promise I don't normally do that in class, but today's been crazy) to the effect of "break. soon. please." Just when I thought I couldn't handle any more, Dr. Hess goes, "Okay, so... let's take a break now."

Before I knew what was happening, my hands SHOT up in the air and I shouted "YES!!!"

And then I hid under the table and turned about 10 shades of red.

Thankfully, Dr. Hess seemed pretty amused.

I spoke with him after class and sincerely apologized for my outburst, and he seemed to understand. I love the class... it's *really* interesting, but today... well... today it was just too much for my enfeebled brain to handle.

Two Nerds Shopping

A few days ago, Justin posted the following amusing web-comic with the conclusion that he and Erin are nerds...



Well, it appears that Jeromie and I are nerds as well.

In addition to riding our bikes to Target/the grocery store with a mass amount of carrying capacity, we spent probably an hour debating over the best organizing strategy for Jeromie (in lieu of the options he's already picked out, which turned out to be unnecessarily expensive). Then we pedaled over to Sunflower Market (which is awesome) and proceeded to make a usually quick grocery trip take nearly twice as long. See web comic.

The moral of this story: I should probably go grocery shopping alone if time is ever an issue.

But, I shall embrace my nerd-dom and share with you my new favorite toothbrush. That's right, I said toothbrush.

the wild toothbrush in its natural habitat!

I'm notoriously hard on toothbrushes, so it came as no surprise to look at it this morning and decide I needed a new one. I read somewhere a few weeks ago about toothbrushes with removeable/replaceable heads & figured I'd see if the environmentally-conscious Sunflower had any. They did... and the price was competitive with the sorts of toothbrushes I normally get... especially when you take into account the cost of the heads you replace them with!

So, I have a new toothbrush.

Yay!

Of Hobbits and Happy Trails

I must say, I've had a pretty happy day.

Our hiking venture was full of fail (for lack of planning), but we've had a great time anyway! After a month here, Jeromie and I figured it was about time for some mountains, but we really had no idea of where to start without tackling on of the (in)famous Colorado 14-ers. Don't get me wrong, we'd love to hike five or ten or all of them, but we didn't want that to be the first trip out... so, on the recommendation of a new friend, we headed toward Boulder.

Fail factor #1: a late start (what with work, cleaning and laundry that needed to be done)

Fail factor #2: lack of a packable lunch

Fail factor #3: the decision to stop in Boulder for lunch

Upon entering Boulder, we headed for Pearl Street, and that was the end of any plans for hiking... downtown Boulder is just plain crazy. Perhaps it was just today, since there was a fall festival going on, but I feel like we saw a little bit of everything there, and it was awesome. We grabbed lunch at a place called the Falafel King (which was delicious), then puttered around taking the place in. We ended up spending a looooooooooooong time in a kite/toy store (can't remember the name) and found a furry friend that very nearly came home with us:

From K100D

They also had some hilarious band-aids at this toy store, like ones with sushi, kiss marks, pirate symbols, or Jesus on them. I don't know why, but sushi band-aids are kind of tempting to me. :-)

Once we finally wrenched ourselves free of the toy store, we headed for the car to salvage the plans for hiking, at which point the sky decided to threaten rain and then *dump.* We still might've made it out, had we not found a cozy coffee/bike shop in a TRAIN.

A bike/coffee shop in a train in the rain in the mountains.

From K100D

Folks who know me well will recognize that this is a win/win/win/win situation in my book... a lot of my favorite things all rolled into one. Add some thunder (of which there was some), and you've got one happy Liz. The only thing that could've made it better would be either hiking before, or biking to get there.

We'd planned on finding a coffee shop to crash & study in anyway, so we stayed. And it was the awesome. And it's still the awesome... because we're still there.

* * * * * * *

In other news, we now have confirmation that Jeromie is a hobbit:
- he has furry feet
- he eats about 8 meals a day
- he lives underground (mmmm... basement)
- and he gives presents on his birthday!

Meet Maple:

From K100D

She's an MSI Wind Notebook... about 10 inches wide & 3lbs. Tiny and cute. After a few weeks of school, we realized that one computer and two paper-writers was just not working out. While I love Macs to pieces, they don't make any particularly small and affordable laptops... thus we started looking at windows machines and found out about netbooks... which is what this thing is. Small, very portable, and great for all the things I typically use a computer for. What's funny is that Maple makes Jeromie's Macbook look fat... and Macbooks aren't fat at all! She came in the mail yesterday, and I've already been vastly more productive. :-D

Anyhow... back to my studies.

Itteh Bitteh Mad-Typin' Committeh

Yes, that is a spoof on the LOLcats. It's also an apt description of my new laptop, but more on that later... I've got a bike to ride!!

Um, so...

I promise I didn't fall off the edge of the earth. Really, I'll just have to agree with Corey. Grad school & sleeping are not exactly compatible some days. Grad school & blog posts are not exactly compatible most days. Unfortunately, neither are grad school and sewing, painting or taking the time to start a new knitting project. So far. But I still have a lil' hope.

One thing grad school is conducive to though (at least in our current living situation): riding bicycles. So far, Jer and I haven't taken the car to school yet... and we went about 2 weeks on a quarter tank of gas... only using that because we were heading to Nebraska!! All this bike riding makes me *very* happy.

Nevertheless, we've swapped our SC plates & licenses for CO ones:



The house in the background is the one that Ben and Cori Hamilton are so graciously sharing with us (for a small fee). We live in the rather well-lit basement & share the kitchen. We're really loving it so far... especially the "book nook" that we set up in the living room. At some point, I'll take some pictures, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Our commute to school is a whopping 1.75 miles (3.5 round trip), so we intend on riding regardless of the weather (even in the winter if we can manage it).

Pigeon likes it here... thinks there are plenty of shenanigans to be had, but hasn't been caught in the act yet... at least around Denver. But in Nebraska on the other hand...

He pulled a fast one on the Mattisons by moving the pig!

He snatched the camera and snapped a picture...

He checked on the bikes on the way home
(cause it was *super* windy)

aaaaaand... when we stopped at the Pony Express historic spot on the way home he insisted that "Nooooooo, it's not Pony Express, it's Pigeon Express... you know, homing pigeons?? they've been around for waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer. The horse & rider?? Oh, that's just our mascot!"


- - - - - - -

B vs. C: 171.2 / 52.4*

*(This does *not* count road trips. The goal is to use bikes more around town. Had it not been for the DNC though, we would've taken the train to Nebraska!)

And the winner of the 100th post drawing is... Teresa from Affectioknit! I used a random list generator & she came out on top! Maybe next time I'll draw names creatively, but I am just toooooo tired. (Please email me your address!! eliz(dot)rand(at)gmail(dot)com)

Surrounded by boxen.

Well, we made it, and we brought the rain with us! It's starting to feel like the Rands have the gift of rain since both our long-distance trips this summer have been to places that don't get all that much and it starts raining as soon as we get there... Red Lodge, Montana, and Littleton, Colorado. We got here Friday and got our first glimpse of blue sky & mountains this morning! Since the weather's been nice this afternoon, we unloaded the POD... now we're surrounded by boxen. Boxen upon boxen upon boxen.

(Translation: Boxes. Boxes here, boxes there, boxes freakin' everywhere!)

Since arriving, I've been downright giddy. I love the couple we're living with, I love the town we're living in. I love the bike trails that criss-cross the city. I love the mountains outside the front door. I love the cool, dry air. I love the fact that our housemates (who own the place) have an incredible garden in the backyard - an itty-bitty corner that produces a whole lot of stuff! (Maybe Cori's green thumb will rub off on me!) Most of the time, I feel like I'm home... but there's still a lingering feeling of having been uprooted. This uprooted feeling hit me like a train (even though I saw it coming) this morning at church. I realized that as much as I love it here, what's missing is deep-rooted community: the kind that comes from wrestling and discussing and playing and being together, the kind that comes from being real and open and honest, the kind that loves unashamedly, the kind that comes from fighting for each other, the kind that takes time. The kind that doesn't happen in a weekend. :-)

I miss my DCF family, scattered as it now is. I miss the pilgrims I walked with there. But at the same time, I look forward eagerly to the time I will spend here - wrestling and discussing and playing and being together in a new (to me) community, being real and open and honest, loving unashamedly, fighting for the family I will soon join, for as long as God sees fit for us to dwell in this place.

* * * * * * *
P.S. I hope to get the boxen under control by the end of the week, at which time I'll draw a name and having a special block-printing party just for that person!

Bike vs. Car: 8.7mi / 2.7mi :-)

Day 8 - Rollin', rollin', rollin'... in!

So, today's our final day of travel. Somewhere around 5pm mountain time, we should be rolling into our new town. Heh. "Town." Don't know if Littleton/Denver qualifies as a town. :-)

Here's the route:


View Larger Map


On tap for today:

- delicious breakfast at the Parkview House B&B
- adios Amarillo!
- hola pseudo-backroad that will take us through part of NM
- maybe a small-town antique store or two?
- ugh... hola interstate...
- COLORADO!!!!
- shenanigans of some sort, mixed with driving driving driving
- arrive in Littleton & meet our housemates, the Hamiltons!!

Day 7 - Dallas to Amarillo... still in TX

Today, we'll venture "onward and upward, whichever way that may be-" to quote my Grandy. In this case, it means heading out of Dallas in a generally northwestish direction toward Amarillo:


View Larger Map

On tap for today:
- stockpiling a bit of Dublin Dr. Pepper
- lots of Texas
- finding a good place to picnic, since my grandmother (who we call Mom-Pat) packed us an incredible lunch
- consuming some yummy Dublin Dr. Pepper
- more Texas
- stopping for the night at a bed & breakfast Jeromie found in Amarillo

Off we go!

Days 4, 5, and 6 - Messing with Texas

We've been in Dallas for the past couple of days hanging out with my family (mom, grandparents, aunt). We had trouble connecting to the internet initially, and decided not to bother with it until last night, so I'll edit this post later to add pictures & details of the fun.

Messing with Texas included:
- Dallas traffic
- expanding my mental map
- lots of outings with my mom
- a trip to the Dallas Museum of Art (Pigeon got attacked by an old Japanese warrior!)
- dinner with Leafy (Adam Green Grace)
- messing with the lifeguards at my mom's YMCA
- yummy Einstein Bros. bagels
- lots of monkey-doodles and merry-sunshines
- Dublin Dr. Pepper

Check back in a week, and I will have (hopefully) updated the post to include pictures.

Denver-bound, Day 3 - Mobile, AL to Dallas, TX

View Larger MapDay 3: Mobile, AL to Dallas, TX

On tap for today:
- early morning walk with Darla (hopefully!)
- drink some coffee
- drive a lot
- take pictures of Pigeon at every state line
- sing along to a lot of songs
- probably cry some more when we think of the incredible people we've left
- drive a lot
- drive a lot
- collapse on my grandparents' floor in Dallas!


Anyone know of any interesting stops on this route??

Denver-bound, Day 2 - Rockin' out in Mobile, AL

You know, sleeping in is awesome. Today has been the first day in weeks that I had the option to, and boy did I ever need to and take advantage of it. Just thought I'd share that. I don't prefer to sleep in, but sometimes it's a necessity.

So... today is a non-travelling day. We're in Mobile hanging out with the Rand side of the family and I *love* it. I am definitely a Rand at heart... no less a Goudelock, but definitely a Rand. Twas a perfect day to be here too... it's Darla's birthday and the weather played nice! We slept in, bummed around the house, and then went golfing at a local Par 3 course. I've never played golf before, so it was pretty amusing.

My impression of me golfing:
- 25% of the time - wind up, swing, keep swinging in a circle without hitting the ball
- 25% of the time - wind up, swing, dig a hole to China
- 40% of the time - wind up, actually hit the ball and make it go about 10 feet
- 10% of the time - wind up, actually hit the ball and get it actually kinda near the green!!!

All in all, twas a fun time though. Pigeon came along and elicited a chuckle from the golf course guy, who said he was the hugest club cover he'd ever seen. Pigeon also managed to keep his mouth shut for the most part, til the end when he begged for a picture with the Noodle ball & pouted when he didn't get it. :-)

Don't worry, he's been in plenty though:

Eating cars in Georgia


Signing the guest book in Alabama


Celebrating Darla's birthday in Mobile

Denver-bound

Well, we're officially en route to our new home.




View Larger Map

Day 1: Clemson, SC to Mobile, AL with a stopover in Atlanta!


On tap for today:
* breakfast with Kalbaughs
* little bit of driving
* lunch with the most awesome Diane and Drew
* good bit of driving
* 2 nights & a day with the Original Random Rands


We've made this trip many times before, so we're not in new territory yet... but I'm curious - does anyone have any interesting stops or stories along this route?? :-D

Take Me Home...

Well, the move's starting to sink in. Before the POD arrived this morning, it didn't take too much of a stretch to imagine that, perhaps, we were re-arranging the house. The normal person doesn't pack things up in boxes for a simple re-arrangement, but, hey, we're not exactly normal people here in the Rand house, so it could happen. This definite sign of uprooting has brought tears to my eyes much more easily than before. (For example: turning onto the campus that I once hated but now love to meet someone for lunch, hearing the first few notes of a song that I love sung by a favoritest musician.) I suspect this may continue for a while after we've moved too, especially when remembering the folks I'll miss & the unique places I've dwelled these past many years.

You know, I've called these places home because they are what I know of home:
- little house, large yard, plenty of trees (until I went off to college)
- a dorm room or apartment shared with a variety of fun characters (myself included!)
- the forests of my fluffy Blue Ridge Mountains
- the high limbs of favorite trees
- a cabin full of excited girls
- a tent miles from the nearest road
- a room full of truth-telling, BS-detecting family known collectively as house church
- a house in Greenville, an apartment in Clemson with my dear husband
- a basement full of folding chairs and leaks, surrounded by fellow children of an incredible, merciful Father
- eyes closed, lost in the music of the DCF band
- a deserted road on an early morning, by bike or running shoes
- a green lake surrounded by old peaks, history speaking from its depths
- deepening friendships with grace-giving fellow pilgrims

I could go on for a very long time.

I was reminded this morning (as I drove in to meet my beautiful friend Rachael for lunch) that these are only previews of home. Surprisingly, the song that usually reminds me of this is not a typical worship song... it's my favorite cover of any song ever: Genesis' "Take Me Home" as done by Dave & Co. Singing along (in the car... yes, I am one of *those* people), I remember that I am a pilgrim on a journey to the home God created us for. This doesn't mean I should disconnect from this world I'm in, but rather engage - love deeply, serve joyfully, persevere purposefully, ask meaningful questions, give meaningful answers, think bigger, believe even bigger than that, because God is beyond what I can fathom, and He's made a way to live and breathe and dwell with Him, wretched as I am.

That might be the longest run-on sentence ever. Or not. I don't care. :-)

The countdown stands at ~3 days now, but it's ticking onward. I will not coast through them, as I am prone to do, but live awake and aware as I'm called to. I'll probably cry some, but I really do welcome that now. :-)


* * * * * * *


P.S. This just happens to be my 100th post as the Prodigal Pilgrim. I feel like that (and so many other things) might just call for some celebration.

So. I'm giving away something handmade!

Set of 5 hand-printed cards,
which are also available in my Etsy shop

When I arrive in Denver, I'll do a random drawing to figure out who gets them. In the meantime, leave me a comment that includes your name and how you found the blog! If you pass it along to another friend who enters, I'll stick your name in again just for kicks. I'm a little curious to find out how people get here. :-)

We roll into Denver on the 15th, so sometime that weekend, I'll post the winner.

Introducing...

Pigeon!

* * * * * * *

Pigeon is the awesome main character of Mo Willems' illustrated children's books. Pigeon is also a puppet that's been living at the Open Book until this past Thursday. Pigeon now lives with the Rands. He thoroughly understands that he is in no way a replacement for Molly. Molly is irreplaceable. But he also thoroughly understands that living with the Rands means shenanigans... and a move to Denver. In classic pigeon style, he's been begging to drive the moving truck. The jury's still out on that one.

So here are some pictures of Pigeon's life so far with the Rands:


After his last day at the Bookedy, Pigeon eyes the hummus & pita at the Rands' favorite Greenville restaurant, The Bohemian!


Pigeon promptly selects a choice pita and... NOM!


Pigeon jams out with his flamingo friend at Horizon Records
(which is the awesome)


Pigeon participates in the tired & slightly blurry reading of a very good bedtime story for his new family


And now... on to the packing!