Ode to the Mundane

This morning Christian took a look at my shorts and tshirt ensemble and said, "Kali, you look nice today." I thanked him, and told him that I appreciate the compliment. He replied: "You look a lot more put together than you have the past couple of days."

I guess the tshirt was a step up from the pool towel I've been sporting.

Or maybe, it was the fact that I was standing next to Andrew, our homeless potter-in-training brother, that made me look so put together.

Andrew cleaned up and went grocery shopping with me today:

Andrew: "Kali, why are you taking a picture?"

Kali: "Because I might blog about this."

Andrew: "Grocery shopping?" And then he proceeded to make some comment about my assumption that other people will be interested in my mundane life.

Kali: "I just figure it's best to take pictures all day, and then at the end of the day I can choose the most exciting ones."

Andrew: "If this is the most exciting part of your day . . . . "

What, Andrew? What are you going to do if I think grocery shopping is exciting?

Speaking of exciting, I played Quelf last night with the bros and Peter and his brother William.

Quelf is hardly mundane, Andrew.

And Emily ran errands with me, and kept me company afterwards.

And we entertained ourselves.

hahah

It looks like my wink sparkled. HA.

Mundane my foot.

"It made the biggest plop" . . .

. . . the frog, that is.

Thanks, Amanda.

Christian caught it and rescued it from the chlorine!

It was bigger than Andrew's hand.

A new, frog-friendly, home. Rescue complete.

I watched a heated game of water polo instead of reading.

I've been thinking lately about how absolutely full of love my life is. The Lord has blessed me with incredible relationships and gracious people.

I can only begin to try to love these men as much as they deserve :

Right to Left: My brothers, Christian and Andrew, and Peter (who we would probably legally adopt if his family wasn't as wonderful as they are). They love having their picture taken.

My dad. He might know me better than anyone else in the world does (though mom might give him a run for his money). I respect him immensely.

Shifting gears again.....

I had coffee with my dear friend Courtney this morning.

We were told we that we need Jesus. Boy is that the truth! But I'm always a bit put-off by people who toss tracts at me, maybe I should be more gracious. Maybe the man who handed them to us should have paused long enough to look me in the eye and give me a chance to respond. Regardless, I was a bit tickled - the south and all that comes with it.

I spent some time acquainting myself with the new member of Courtney's family! Baby Sam. He's a dear, and I'm smitten.

To my handful of readers, you, my friends, all bring joy to my life. Thanks for that!

The Weekend

I'm a master of creating comfortable, non-productive, study spaces:

Too hot, but oh so irresistable.

Fell asleep.

Notice the MS word page is blank?

But really, I was just too delighted by biscuits and coffee to focus.

So I decided it's time to learn how to cook:

Blue cheese and red potato tart

Fourth of July cake! An annual tradition; I initially resisted because it's still June, but mom insisted that the holiday is soon enough.

We had some cute guests this afternoon:

We watched Youtube clips of baby animals. "Baby pips" were the favorite.

This is Emily. She loves cake, and I love her - even if she grabs my armpit sometimes.

This is Hannah. She doesn't always look like this, but I kind of like her best this way. We had a very nourishing heart-to-heart tonight. I'm so incredibly blessed.

In other non-pictoral news:

-Amanda and Brian, our former youth pastors, and adopted family members, are visiting. It's so great to have them here.

- I love having a camera on my phone.

- I think God was pretty smart inventing the concept of a sabbath. I'm hoping to take full advantage of a lax summer schedule and to allot time to focus on some spiritual discipline and reflection. It's so incredibly difficult to simply be still.

- Claritin. Who invented it? I should name my firstborn after that person, because I wouldn't survive Tennessee summers without it.

The past couple of days:

Breakfast with Mom at Brother Juniper's (a fave)

My adorable mother sets a good example: homework over breakfast

Dr. VanZanten and I are bonding over the summer

U of M library

Sonic = summer. Why don't we have one in Seattle?

Carrot cupcakes: procrastinating working on my honors project

dropping eaves; 6/21

I eavesdrop. A lot.
It might be rude, but I blame it on my love of people and story.

Today:

My phone sales rep. told me all about her fiance, their relationship, how much her family hates him, and how she would like to wait two more years before getting married, and he would like to have the wedding tomorrow.

The middle aged, male, barista at Books-A-Million's cafe told his coworker about his 14 year old son who wants to be a ventriloquist ever since a brain tumor has altered his development. He then, unprompted by his friend, launched in to a very tragic story about his son's condition, casually I might add, as if discussing lawn-care. People are strange. I was baffled.

melted spatulas

Today:

- finished my Honors Project prospectus - HALLELUJAH!

- bought a grown-up dress. It has no frills, florals, tiedye or bows. Mom said that it's time to think about not looking like a little girl for job interviews. I shrugged. I guess she has a point.

- I melted a spatula, but made yummy chicken piccatta.

- thinking of buying a camera

Change of Pace

Welp, it's sure been a while.
Charis told me that I should blog this summer - I'm not sure that I like the idea very much.
But I'm going to try something new, and rather than diary or philosophize, I'm simply going to post a highlight (or two or three...) a day for the rest of the summer.
We'll see what happens.

So today:

- My best friend got married yesterday! Weird.
- I made successful souffles and delectable corn bread
- i discovered that fireflies live in my backyard
- green frog caffe: http://www.greenfrogcoffeeco.com/jackson.php