all good things: luck, love, and lava cake

All Good Things started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. We both contribute things to the list, so I'll tell you who said what to avoid confusion.

So get cozy and get ready for this week's batch of good things!

1. Song of the week: Get Lucky sung by the Russian Police Choir. I may be a little late with this one, but I saw the video this week and it is excellent. These guys obviously had so much fun with it.

2. Love letters. My great-grandparents wrote each other love letters while Grandpa Arvid was in the war in Europe. This year, one of my dad's cousins found letters her dad (my great uncle) wrote to Great-grandma Clara about a woman who became my great-aunt... And they are a beautiful testament to the power of love! - Clara

3. Canelazo. This is an Ecuadorian hot alcoholic drink made from cane sugar and cinnamon. I've been itching to go back there for awhile now, but for Valentine's Day we decided to cook Ecuadorian instead... and made canelazo at home! It was so tasty and hot and definitely reminded me of going out in Quito. (If you want to make it yourself, here's a recipe - but I would cut the sugar in half.) - Clara


4. Car sing-a-longs. Luke and I were driving home from the mall this weekend, and I was in charge of the music. We ended up singing aloud to Teenage Dream, Shakira's Wherever Whenever, and Unbreak My Heart by Toni Braxton. There's nothing like singing "Without you I just can't go on!" at the top of your lungs! - Cassie

5. Brussel Sprouts. Ok, so I know some people hate them. But there are great ways to eat them! I had a salad with roasted brussel sprouts, yams, sweet potatoes, and greens this weekend at Common Roots. So good! - Cassie

6. Galentine's Day! On Parks and Recreation (awesome TV show that should probably be a AGT itself!) the main character, Leslie, has a lady's version of Valentine's Day on February 13th. My gal, Emily, had a get together and it was so fun. We listened to music, danced, decorated cookies, dressed up for funny photos, and had sparkling apple juice. Lady times are the best times :) - Cassie

7. Finishing a long, classic book. I just finished a book I've always been meaning to read and a long one to boot: Moby Dick. It was challenging but really lived up to my expectations. I'm also just proud of myself for reading Moby Dick. It feels like a small sort of accomplishment. - Cassie

8. Getting the push you need. On Friday I couldn't get out of my parking space because my wheels were spinning on a sheet of ice... So J came out and gave an extra shove to get the car on pavement, and I got on the road! - Clara

9. Having something to look forward to. Cabin fever is starting to eat me and I haven't had an actual day off from work where I wasn't doing something else... So I'm taking a long weekend at the end of this month and just the thought of having a few days to chill out is getting me through the weeks. - Clara

10. Lava cake. Seriously the best thing ever. 'Nuff said. - Clara

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Thank you, readers, for being with us tonight, and for giving me reasons to write, and things to write about.

And thanks for joining us every Sunday night! Join the Baby Steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for good things every day, and updates on new posts. Come back next week for another reminder of 10 more things to be thankful for!

Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile!

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: more than one love

All Good Things started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week.

Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: One Love by Bob Marley. We sang an adapted version of this song at the retreat I went to this weekend, and it was awesome. It's really just a good song all around, and makes you feel alright.

I'm having a really hard time finding a video of Bob Marley singing this, so here's a cover from Playing for Change that seems fitting.

2. Roadtrip. This one is fresh in my memory since I just got back: the ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod's annual high school retreat. This waas my second year as a small-group leader, and so far it has been very spiritually enriching. More on that in this Wednesday's post...

3. Snow days. We had a snow day and a half this week. I was working from home, but given the bitter cold I did enjoy being able to work in my huge sweatpants for once.

4. Ergonomic office chairs. On the other hand, by the end of a day and a half of working from home, my back and shoulders really appreciated the padded ergonomic office chair I use at work.

5. Ender's Game. I've been working on this book for months (renewed it twice from the library) and finally finished it last night. To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that the plot was compelling, and the twist ending lifted me up with a stroke of idealistic brilliance. Definite recommend for dystopia junkies like myself.

6. Company. I was planning on driving down to Ocean City alone on Friday night, but at the last minute I called my friend Abby, who I haven't seen in awhile, and worked it out to drive down together. It made the trip a lot more enjoyable for both of us, and it was a great opportunity to reconnect with her since I haven't seen her in a few months. She's awesome and I hope this was a catalyst for us to hang out more and get closer in the near future.

7. Chili. My favorite food, and one of J's specialties. When we have days off from work a lot of times "we" make a big pot of it (read: he actually makes it) and pack it up for lunch for the rest of the week. Plus, when it is so cold out it warms me up from the inside.

8. Big D's. Stay with me here. Big D's is a Delaware staple. Dave (D himself) used to have a shop half a mile from my parents' house, but I never went there and it closed this fall. But Big D recently started supplying smoked and grilled meats to the shop where J works, so I got to try ribs for the first time this week, and they were AWESOME.

9. A fellow Ole has had a family mystery (the fun kind of mystery) broadcast on TV, radio, and the internet this week! It's an awesome story and it's been really cool watching her updates on Facebook about it. Check out the Google search results on the story.

10. Prayer. Whatever this means to you, it is important. This week I have prayed for a lot of people: friends who live far away; new friends; myself, my family, people at home; people I've never met; those affected by the Columbia mall shooting. A lot of times I say I will pray for people so they will know that I care about how they are and what they are going through; but this week I felt more than usual that I had offered up these things in prayer and that they were actually lifted. Not completely erased, but the weight of these difficult things changed, and I do believe that, if I said I would pray for you this week, those prayers are being heard by someone. So have hope!



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Thank you, readers, for being with us tonight, and for giving me reasons to write, and things to write about.

And thanks for joining us every Sunday night! Join the Baby Steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for good things every day, and updates on new posts. Come back next week for another reminder of 10 more things to be thankful for!

Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile!

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: keys to happiness

All Good Things started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week.

Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: Let Her Go by Passenger. This is the song that has been stuck in my head all week long... probably because it's playing on the radio almost every time I turn it on. After song of the week, I officially name it overplayed.

2. The Princess Bride. My local Regal Cinema is playing classic movies on Sundays and Wednesdays this winter, and last night it was Princess Bride which is one of my all-time favorite movies and the first thing J and I really connected on when he was still just Coffeeshopcrush. So of course we went to see it for date night and it was really cool to see it on the big screen, surrounded by middle-aged couples who were quoting the movie and laughing hysterically the whole time.

3. New shoes. I signed up for the Spartan Sprint again this year, and I thought a new pair of running shoes would be a good way to kick off six months of training. I got some New Balance trail running shoes and took them for a spin around the neighborhood this afternoon. They are awesome.

4. Opus No. 1 by Tim Carleton and Darrick Deel. I turned on NPR this afternoon on the way back from DSW, and This American Life was on with a story about tracking down a song somebody had stuck in his head endlessly. The song ended up being some obscure hold music from Cisco, and it's super 80s and kind of haunting. I put it on repeat while I ran this afternoon and it has a nice feet-on-the-pavement beat to it... With plenty of synth over top.

5. This article from Slate about the "Do What You Love; Love What You Do" mantra. I rarely read an article and find myself or my perspectives immediately changed. But this article made me think, and while I'm not making any rash decisions about my professional life I suspect I will find myself approaching work, and the way I talk about it, differently.

6. Getting back on the horse. My workout routine came this close to extinction through the end of last year, but this week I went to three classes and ran a couple of times. It feels good to get moving again.

7. We got WiFi! Our friends and family have been very concerned about our lack of internet and cable, particularly since we moved. To be honest, I have really enjoyed not having it; but it does make a lot of things hard, and it makes our house less of a draw for friends to come and hang out. So now we have it, and it's been awesome. Now I just have to work on not letting it take over my life...

8. Cleaning. We're mostly moved in to the new place, but there are of course a few things still out of place. So today I did a bunch of actual cleaning, to make way for organizing and nesting that needed to be done. It's not quite finished yet, but I'm really satisfied with the progress I've made.

9. The New Castle Farmers' Market. This place is a local legend in New Castle County where I live, but I have only ever been there on Sundays 'til now, which means the Amish section has always been closed. This time we went on Saturday, and got some great stuff. This includes a couple of delicious New York strip steaks that J then cooked on the charcoal grill that came with our new house. Yummm.

10. Surprising conversations. I went to church this morning, and had a few surprising and really fulfilling conversations with people. I laughed with two people I haven't laughed with before, and talked about happiness and shared perspectives I never expected to share.



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Thank you, readers, for being with us tonight, and for giving me reasons to write, and things to write about.

And thanks for joining us every Sunday night! Join the Baby Steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for good things every day, and updates on new posts. Come back next week for another reminder of 10 more things to be thankful for!

Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile!

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: so much love in this room

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: Let's Go Crazy by Prince. Prince featured heavily in this weekend's adventures, and this song seems particularly fitting. The best video I found was actually Janelle Monae's convincing cover, which is great because her song Tightrope was a close second this weekend thanks to my favorite movie: Friends With Benefits.

2. What Would I Say? Suddenly on Wednesday this was my Facebook news feed and it was wonderful. Normally I don't like Facebook apps but this one is worth it. SO worth it.

3. Twelve Years a Slave. I saw it yesterday afternoon and was really impressed at how well they adapted the movie from the book. Super powerful

4. Getting to the washer and dryer in my apartment in the morning on Sunday before anyone else. I always feel super triumphant!

5. I went to a going away party for my friend Megan this weekend. She's going to China for a year! I love going away parties because I get to see so many friends at once.

6. BJ's. A lot of people may not have heard of this, but it's pretty much the same thing as CostCo and it's awesome. I hosted a birthday shindig this weekend, which literally lasted all weekend, and we were able to feed a lot of people food and beer so cheaply. Plus, we are now well-stocked on frozen pizzas and corndogs and beer.

7. Networking. I know you are confused by this, since I recently wrote a post about what I dislike about networking, but I went to an event on Wednesday morning that was so energizing. I met a lot of smart, interesting, successful people and spent the rest of the workweek feeling super inspired.

8. Getting things done. Thanks in part to that inspiration, the second half of this week was so productive both on a personal and professional level. At work I checked so many things off my list, and I also forced myself to get around to things at home that I've been putting off for eons. It's a weight off my shoulders.

9. You know you are a nerd when you and a bunch of your friends sit down and start drinking beer and it devolves into doing imitations of NPR personalities, and it seems like the funniest game you have ever come up with. Seriously though, it was hilarious and it's all I wanted to do all night.

10. Being in a room with a lot of people I love. Like I said, this weekend I hosted people at my house, and this is one thing that never fails to make me happy: having great people around me and hearing constant laughter and good conversation.


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Thanks for joining us this Sunday night! Stick with the Baby Steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for updates on new posts and other stuff about new adulthood. Come back next Sunday night for a reminder of 10 good things that haven't happened yet, and on Wednesday night for a more in-depth reflection on post-grad life. Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile.

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: i should be over all the butterflies

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: I'm Into You by Paramore. Great. Power frontwoman. Mushy: I should be over all the butterflies... but after all this time / I'm still / into you.

2. Monday morning Power Yoga. When I was sick last week I found out that I have a perforated ear drum, which means no swimming until it heals, or until we decide it's not going to heal and I just have to resign myself to ear plugs for the rest of my life. Anyway, that means a new Monday morning routine at least temporarily. This week started with a new class at the Y closer to my house, so I went to class and then made breakfast at home before trucking off to work. Plus, the room was so warm it was almost like hot yoga. Sweet. (Sweat...)

3. Chili. J.'s project for his day off this week was to make chili. I came home to a house smelling like peppers and beans, and a week's worth of lunches and dinners. Delicious. Plus, it's been perfect chili weather lately.

4. WDSD 94.7 - Delaware's Country Station. I've been searching for "the right" country station since I moved to Wilmington over 2 years ago, and finally found it. You may not like country; but I do, because there is a lot of humanity in it. I used to say in college, "I want to be loved like a country song" because it's all in the details. It's all about the eyes and the moonlight... You know what I'm saying.

5. Football Sundays. Our regular Sunday routine got a twist this week; instead of the usual family dinner we headed over to watch football, drink beer, play video games, eat pizza and wings with some friends. It is a great way to finish off the weekend. Great company definitely doesn't hurt either.

6. Rolling with the punches. Last night we left the house planning on a hayride and bonfire... But right as we got on the wagon the wind picked up and the rain started slicing sideways, so we rescheduled and a few of us headed to a local bar for fall beers and french fries. Not a bad replacement, if you ask me.

7. Staying in touch. This week I finally got around to writing some letters and Facebook messages to old friends, and so far I've had some really heartwarming responses. I'm hoping to be able to spend some time this week getting back to them. That is something definitely worth my time.

8. New sneakers. I bought my last pair of running shoes just after Christmas, and they have carried me through at least four 5k races and a Spartan, plus the training for those races and my regular gym schedule. It was definitely time for a new pair. Can't wait to break them in!

9. Co-host Cassie is on her honeymoon in England right now! After the mind-meltingly beautiful wedding, the bride and groom are traveling through the UK with a decidedly literary focus. Luke has appeared in recent photos with busts of Virginia Woolf -- classic for book buffs.

10. Fall weather. October is finally starting to act in character, with cooler mornings, sometimes cold rain all day and sometimes perfect golden slanting sunshine... Either way, I'm ready for it. It makes pumpkin-flavored things and sweaters feel a lot more appropriate.

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Thanks for joining us this Sunday night! Stick with me on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for updates on new posts and other stuff about new adulthood. Come back next Sunday night for a reminder of 10 good things that haven't happened yet, and on Wednesday night for a more in-depth reflection on post-grad life. Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile.

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: flying high

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: Don't Stop Believing by Journey. This is an All Good Things classic, and tops the list today in honor of Cassie and Luke, who played the song at the reception AND danced to it, even though he hates both Journey and dancing, because he loves Cassie and Cassie loves him. (I started yelling as much when he chose the song, and was pointedly ignored, but the romance of this situation is not lost on me.)

(Also, I have to share with you all that I somehow managed to write the name of the song as Don'tCassieBelieving, which strikes me as important for some reason...)

Also, most importantly, never stop believing.

2. Being part of the pool crew at the Y. I have kept up swimming since it made #11 on my list of "things I want to do in life" back in June of last year. The regulars, mostly in their 50s and 60s, have started to recognize me and this week I got into a discussion with some of them about getting old, staying in shape throughout life, staying healthy and disciplined. They are so encouraging to me, even if they are good-naturedly self-deprecating about themselves, and I always tell them, "If I can be as active as you are, I'll be happy!" Just keep swimmin', just keep swimmin'...

3.Conduct Us. This week from Improv Everywhere, a Carnegie Hall orchestra plays for a motley crew of amateur conductors. "Causing scenes of chaos and joy," indeed!

4. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. I had to wait a couple of weeks to get this book from the library, and I started reading it on the way to Minnesota on Friday. I have to tell you, it is PHENOMENAL. I blazed through almost 250 pages of it on my four-hour travels, cried on every plane, in every airport, about every other chapter. A sad, but beautiful, true book. The love in this book is just the most profound, real love of almost any book I've ever read. Also, I didn't realize initially but it's written by John Green the YouTube sensation. A multi talented man.

5. Reunions! Over the past three days, I have got to reunite with my sister, more college classmates and friends than I can count on both my hands, not to mention almost all of my inner circle. Pretty amazing, and so good to catch up and just be with these people. I do know a lot of very loving and generous people, who put me up and welcomed me smiling with huge lingering hugs, shared drinks and food and shampoo. Plus, it is good and interesting to remember parts of myself that don't get a lot of airtime in my new life and my new home in Delaware. Maybe I'll bring some of them back with me, or maybe I'll just visit them every now and then.

6. ...and making new friends too! I met a ridiculous number of new friends this weekend, starting with Cayenne the dog. Other new people I met included Emily, Jose, Francesca, Jordan, Kaitlyn, Emily, Kristy, Mitch (who, it turns out, is from Delaware originally), Ginny (who I have been hearing about since freshman year) and Matt, a few St. Olaf classmates I had not officially met or spoken to before, Tim and Megan, Neil and Jill, Brent, and Henrietta the cat. I was particularly and pleasantly surprised at how quickly I felt some solid rapport with so many of these people (and animals -- especially Cayenne) and that I was legitimately sad to be leaving them with no guarantee that we will meet again.

7. The Forster-Brotens! (Known to fans, readers, and former listeners as Cassie and Luke!) I am giddy, ecstatic, smitten, proud and honored about this latest union. And I think they are probably even happier than I am.

8. The wedding itself.I have desperately tried to avoid making this entire list wedding-related, so it can be more accessible, but I think the happy couple deserves more than one number this week. Some highlights: hanging out and goofing off with the girls while helping Cassie get ready; the look on dad's face when he saw the bride in her wedding dress for the first time (we all lost it at that point); Cassie's old stuffed puppy dressed in his wedding best: dress pants, a tailored collared shirt and vest; said stuffed puppy hanging out with Grandpa all night (the handsomest men in attendance); a beautiful ceremony in the Rose Garden, short and sweet and unassuming and intentional; the bride and groom's running commentary through dinner; dancing with wild abandon; and of course our reason for gathering trumps all.

9. Uplifting flight crew speeches. Lead flight attendant of my first return flight today gave a parting speech highlighting achievements of fellow passengers, and finished it off by telling us to be kind to one another, treat each other well, and take care of ourselves.

10. Coming home again. No matter how good the trip is or how I'm feeling about my home itself, there's nothing like a homecoming.

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Thanks for joining us this week. I hope it made your Sunday night! Like second set of baby steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga, tune in on Wednesday for reflections on new adulthood, and come back next Sunday night for the good things that are going to happen soon! Until then, be kind to each other, and treat yourself well.

posted from Bloggeroid

all good things: on the run

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: I Could Get Used To This by Treva Blomquist. This song came up on my Eva Cassidy Pandora station this week and gave me pause.

2. Ed Sheeran. I have liked this guy for awhile, but after seeing him live on Wednesday night I am so impressed. He's a great musician with a great stage personality. It was just him on stage and he built his songs with a looper, to this huge climax and gets the whole crowd involved... Phenomenal. Also a lot of his lyrics are really jaw-dropping.

3. The Wilmington Polish Festival. The latest on Wilmington's arts, food and culture scene, down on the Riverfront. Pierogies, kielbasa, Polish beer... Jelly donuts and chrusciki and golubki. Yum!

4. Brandywine Park. My roommate and I finished the week with a run through Brandywine Park on Friday evening, right before it got dark. The path winds along, over and around the river, surrounded by trees and old bridges and other stone structures. And with the sunset, gorgeous and peaceful.

5. The annual LCS 5k for Hunger. This is one of the first activities I did after moving to Wilmington, and every year it is one of the things I look forward to most. It's a walk/run sponsored by Lutheran Community Services, and the proceeds go to feeding the hungry. The weather is generally the kind of beautiful you almost can't believe, it's at Rockford Park which I love, and this year we raised $44,000-something for the cause! Plus, everyone has the most positive attitude. I really do love Lutherans...

6. Avocado and fried egg on rice. I've been trying to keep a few servings of cooked brown rice in the fridge lately, for emergencies, since it takes 45 minutes to cook it... Picked up a few delicious avocados last week at Trader Joe's, which is fortunate since one of my favorite quick-and-easy lunches/dinners is rice, with a tiny bit of almond milk or olive oil poured over top, a runny fried egg slapped on top and avocado slices all around. Grind some salt and pepper on top and you have one of the simplest, most satisfying meals that I eat these days.

7. Apple picking. We went apple picking yesterday, with our fams. The apples this week were golden delicious, red delicious, and jonagolds which are divine. The weather was lovely, and it started raining right when it was time to leave. (The orchard closed at 5:00 and it started raining at 5:10. Can't get timing much more perfect than that!) Apple picking is always a fun activity, and when you finish it off with fresh cider donuts it can't be beat!

8. Birthdays. Lots of September birthdays: two of J.'s uncles, his sister, his dad and a couple of his dad's friends; both of my parents; plus a bunch of other people. Makes for a lot of parties, and a number of mass parties which are an even bigger event.

9. Coffee table photo books. I discovered one of those big heavy hardcover photo books at J.'s parents' house today called Wilmington: On the Move. I don't know why it's called that, but it has a lot of lovely full-color spreads from all over the area, with mini history and culture lessons to accompany them.

10. International Day of Peace. Yesterday was World Gratitude Day and also the International Day of Peace. If you ask me, peace is something we could use a heck of a lot more of these days. Maybe I'll celebrate Peace Day all the time, even when it's not September 21.

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Like second set of baby steps on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theBabyStepsSaga! New posts show up there first, plus other articles about post-grad life, plus teasers and other important information. Thanks for reading! Tune in next Sunday for more All Good Things, and come back Wednesday for a guest blog from a friend who quit his job to "travel aimlessly" for awhile.

all good things: arts and culture and local pride!

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and her radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: Glad You're Here by Macy Gray. This song has been on the BodyFlow playlist the past two weeks, and it makes me smile every time. I always feel like closing my eyes and swaying.

2. The Brandywine Festival of the Arts. This is an annual local arts festival with all manner of crafts: clothes, jewelry, home decor, gifts, yard embellishments, ceramics... Beautiful things and great culture. I went yesterday with a friend and the weather was perfect. We also discovered local duo Nalani & Sarina. Twins, my age, with voices like Joss Stone and a vibe like Andy Grammer.

3. Fresh mojitos and soul food. When J. got home in the afternoon I started cranking out mojitos with fresh mint from the backyard. So refreshing! And then we made cornbread, fried chicken and roasted okra from the CSA last week, and corn on the cob my mom got us from a local farmers' market. Yummm!

4. Triple chocolate hill. We rescheduled date night for Friday this week, and made a reservation (which we never do) at Iron Hill Brewery on the Riverfront. The food and the beer are always good there. I had a really rich, delicious triple and J. had a toasty dunkel. But then we splurged on dessert: chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and peanut butter-caramel sauce. Plus, 75 cents of it goes to NCCF and 75 cents to each location's local charity of choice: in this case, the Be Positive Foundation. Feel good dessert all around.

5. The library. They have free internet, AND books, AND movies, AND full seasons of awesome TV shows I wouldn't otherwise get to watch. For example...

6. Parks and Rec. I caught an episode of this at someone's house, and found the first season at the library, and powered through five episodes on Wednesday night while vegging out HARD. Something I never let myself do... And it's so funny! (Plus, Aubrey Plaza, who plays April, is a native Delawarean!)

7. Figuring out football...bit by bit. It was on at J.'s parents' house today and I was miraculously able to stay focused on it, and it made some sense! It's still not something I would choose to watch, but I like sort of knowing what's going on at least.

8. Going the Distance. A chick flick that J. actually likes, but I hadn't seen in full until this week. Also very funny and feel-good. And Justin Long and Drew Barrymore are a lovely unlikely pairing.

9. Cleaning up the road. My dad's church has adopted the highway in their neighborhood, and we go out once a month or once every other month, and then we have church and breakfast and it's a really nice community event. And today, I got J. up and out and all the church ladies were telling me how handsome he is and how glad they were to see him at church. Which also made me happy.

10. Cassie's bridal festivities! Sadly I missed the parties yesterday but it sounded like there was a good time in store for that girl. And she definitely deserves it!

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Like second set of baby steps on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theBabyStepsSaga! New posts show up there first, plus other articles about post-grad life, plus teasers and other important information. Thanks for reading! Tune in next Sunday for more All Good Things, and come back Wednesday for my latest reflections on being a "new adult."

the summer of 2013

Labor Day has come and gone, and, with it, summer. The weather is still nice -- in fact, out here in Delaware it's a lot more pleasant so far this week than it has been for most of the "actual" summer. And I have heard that in Minnesota summer is having a late hurrah with temperatures so high that Minneapolis closed 27 schools at the end of last week. Crazy.

But school is back in session, and off-season traffic patterns are starting to kick in: more school buses, later rush on Friday afternoons, less beach traffic. I already mentioned that the fall beers are starting to replace the last of the summer brews on liquor store shelves, and late-season produce is starting to dominate the in-season selection.

The summer has gone so fast. I feel like I only just got into the swing of summer and now it's over and I didn't get to do all the things I spent last winter dreaming about. And when I mentioned this to an old friend on the phone on Friday, he said he remembered last summer being the same way for him. (He was a year ahead of me in school, so maybe it's a second-summer thing? 

...A girl can dream!)

The girls at work and I have been planning our summer collage since May, and since I have virtually nothing on my mind today (for once) I'll throw it together in list form for you guys. Add to it! What else defines the summer of 2013?

1. Blurred Lines. Ain't no denying this one! No matter which side of the fence you fall on, you probably couldn't get away from this song this summer. (I was toying with the idea of also writing a post entitled The Top 5 Versions of Robin Thicke's Hit Song, but I don't think it quite fits the vibe here. I will tell you that one of the chart-toppers is definitely Bill Clinton.)

2. Boardwalk salt and vinegar kettle chips. We practically lived off these in the office this summer.

3. Those, and Hoagiefest classic hoagies. We went halfsies on them, we ate them for lunch two days in a row, we housed them whole. So cheap, so delicious, so summer. Also Wawa bagels and Sizzlis kicked off many a road trip over the past three or four months. And salted caramel mocha frozen cappuccinos.

4. Caprese salads with fresh basil and, when we could get them, tomatoes! Summer is mostly about food, right? 

5. Cutco knives. This comprised probably 50% of all the conversations I had with my sister the Cutco saleswoman this summer, and a good chunk of the jokes I had with anyone and everyone who spoke to her at all this summer.

6. These $1 tiger shades I found at Goodwill for the Spartan race in July.

7. Rain. Almost weekly. Flood warnings galore.

8. Homemade iced tea and coffee. Bring the ice from home, make it in the office.

9. Playing Bananagrams at the bar. This is what my roommate and I did for fun this summer. I don't see that ending anytime soon.

10. Maxi dresses.

11. Eating, drinking, and just sitting on the porch. Everybody on our block does it.

12. Raspberries. Mostly in drinks. But really I ate raspberries in pretty much every way I could get my mouth around them.

13. Babies! Suddenly about twelve hundred people I know are having babies, and baby showers, and taking pictures of their babies, and letting me hold their babies, and I love it and they are so cute. Again, not like the baby thing will stop necessarily when fall comes, but since this is the first time I'm noticing this, it will be associated at least for awhile with this summer.

Fall 2013, here we come...

Update: Oh no! I forgot something very important! Hell or High Watermelon should have been on this list. Since shandy spiked in popularity and price I took the hipster road and pretty much lived off of this light and delicious beverage. Plus the can is classic.

all good things: brought to you by the letter B

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and her radio co-host Cassie.

1. Song of the week: The Wire by HAIM.  Girl power band with some serious talent... Plus, the video is great. PLUS, men getting broken up with like women. I really do think we do it right.

2. Bonus song of the week: Red Hands by Walk off the Earth.  It's everywhere right now, and hasn't gotten old... At least not yet!

3. Cowboy Monkey Rodeo at the Wilmington Blue Rocks. We already all know how I love the Blue Rocks and minor league, hometown baseball in general... But this took my love to new heights. Hands down, the funniest thing I have seen in months. Legitimately: monkeys dressed in fringe jackets, riding on border collies and herding goats around the field. Priceless. I highly recommend you watch this: http://youtu.be/jGqfQuy14pA

Also, Wilmington was the City That Started It All! Now the Cowboy Monkey Rodeo does shows all over the country.

4. Birthday surprises. A bunch of us gathered at Grotto on Friday for a friend's birthday, and he didn't know we would be there. The look on his face was priceless.

5. Playing it by ear and rolling with the punches. On Friday night I was trying to split my time between two birthday parties, and coordinate with a bunch of different people about who would be where when... And of course nothing went according to plan! But I did get to see and spend time with a lot of different important people. So it all worked out in the end... More or less!

6. Babies! There were babies at the barbecue yesterday. One of them was a rambunctious two-year-old who had us all wrapped around his finger... And then of course there's Jason's niece, who I swear gets cuter every day.

7. Barbecue. We had burgers and dogs every day this weekend. Delicious, of course... But mostly great because it means we're with friends.

8. Beer. Had some homebrew that was good this weekend... Also, pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest season is already starting! Not quite ready for it yet... But I'm definitely getting used to the idea!

9. Caprese salad. The "B" here being fresh basil. I am OBSESSED with caprese salad right now, since Jason grabbed all those local plum tomatoes, and has been nursing his basil plant back to health in its new, much larger pot. It's so delicious, so simple, so light and fresh!

10. Random singing. This is actually a large part of my life in general, but this week it has come up a lot. I'll say this is a sign of good feeling all around, sharing music and laughter with different groups of people, lots of "motor mouth" belting out songs in the car, and "harmonizing" with the radio and with each other.

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Like second set of baby steps on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theBabyStepsSaga! New posts show up there first, plus other articles about post-grad life, plus teasers and other important information. Thanks for reading! Tune in next Sunday for more All Good Things, and come back Wednesday for my latest reflections on being a "new adult."

all good things: history and more heartwarming things

1. Song of the week: London Calling by The Clash. For some reason I've been hankering to listen to London Calling by The Clash this week. It's a completely random urge since I don't normally listen to The Clash.

2. Visiting friends! A friend from St. Olaf just moved to New York for grad school, and she came down to hang out for a weekend. It was really good to see her and get to talk about lots of interesting things. And an excuse to go to all the cool places there are to go to around here, and get people that I like together.

3. Old New Castle. I'm sure this one has made the list before, because I love Old New Castle. (It's also known as Historic New Castle, but I like the contradiction of "old new" right next to each other.) I also like the tours and the museums and just walking up and down the cobbled streets... I could take the old courthouse tour a hundred times (and I'm already well on my way). I like walking past this huge purple house that was up for sale a few months ago, and has since been taken off the market, but I still gaze at forlornly every time I walk past. And I always leave feeling more relaxed than I do at any other time.

4. Baking soda, tin foil, and hot water. We found a few pieces of really tarnished silverware, and discovered that if you line a pan with aluminum foil, set the silverware in there, sprinkle baking soda over it, cover it in warm water, and let it sit, the change is pretty impressive.

5. Puppies and babies. Separately, these things are both really cute. Together, they are unstoppably adorable. I'm not even a big dog person, but today at family dinner there was a new puppy who is SO CUTE and rambunctious... AND a baby that, as we have already determined, is endlessly charming, captivating, and the apple of everyone's eye. Is "too much cute to go around" even a thing? Because if it is, we achieved it today.

6. Someone bringing treats to work! I absolutely love walking into the break room at work and finding some type of treats in the break room. Last week there was a meeting in our building that had an entire tray of leftover desserts! It made my entire day. Nothing like an unexpected brownie, cookie, or bar to make your afternoon go by more quickly.

7. I've been working at my job for a little over a year now, and I got certificate from my boss the other day. It honors my "1 year of service changing lives and communities." Sometimes it can feel like no one notices or appreciates the things I do at work, so little things like a certificate really brighten my day!

8. Bunnies! My friend Kristy is moving out to Massachusetts which is really sad. But until her boyfriend, Mitch, gets back from moving her out there Luke and I get to watch her bunny, Noah! He's chocolate brown and super cute. We're learning his likes and dislikes. Likes: carrots, apples, head scratches, hiding under the coffee table. Dislikes: being picked up, loud apartment noises (slamming doors,etc), and going to bed at night. I want to keep him forever!

9. The National. Luke and I saw them in concert last week, and they were fantastic as always. They played at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium which has the worst acoustics in the world, but they still managed to be so great! At one point the lead singer hopped off the stage with his mic and sang a song while walking through the crowd. Such a lovely time!

10. Writing thank you's. I've been having some bridal showers lately, and my friends and family are so incredibly generous. Writing thank you's to them after the shower I get to really think about how grateful I am to each person and take a moment to explain why I feel so lucky to have that person in my life. When I first start writing thank you's I always feel like it's a chore, but by the end I'm feeling so overwhelmed and happy to have these people in my life!

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Like second set of baby steps on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theBabyStepsSaga! New posts show up there first, plus other articles about post-grad life, plus teasers and other important information. Thanks for reading! Tune in next Sunday for more All Good Things, and come back Wednesday for my latest reflections on being a "new adult."

all good things: simple pleasures and beautiful things

1. Song of the week: Let It Go by the Zac Brown Band. This song came up in my Spotify playlist called "feelgoodjams." (Are y'all surprised to hear that I have this playlist?) It seemed fitting this week. "Like the fear that grabs ahold ya / Let it go." "Save your strength for things that you can change / Forget the ones you can't / You gotta let it go."

2. One night this week Katy, Jason and I were eating dinner at the kitchen table and heard some weird noises coming from the front of the house. We were understandably a bit spooked, but instead of freaking out we each grabbed a random houehold item (steak knife, ShakeWeight, chopsticks) and did a sweep of the house to make sure there were no intruders. Like group therapy, only... Funnier.

3. Luke and I picked up some coffee last night and went for a drive while listening to 80s music. We had a blast and it was so relaxing!

4. Play-Doh! I bought some the other day and have spent so much time playing with it. I forgot how nice it is to create. Another relaxing and fun activity.

5. Humphrey Bogart movies. This week I've watched a few of his films again that I haven't seen in a while: To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, and Key Largo. The dialogue is so wonderful, and Bogie is always so handsome and rugged :)

6. MN weather this weekend! It's been really autumnal here. The daily high is around 70, and it's been such a lovely weekend! Perfect for outdoor activities.

7. Babies! J's niece is starting to make noises and really react to her environment, and she is SO. CUTE. Also a really cool dad with a stroller decked out in glow sticks at the Electric Run last Saturday.

8. Instagram. I know, typical of me, the social media behaviorist, to include a platform on the good things list. But let me tell you that it is the only one I want to check and update when I'm not working. I find it beautiful and simple and expressive in a totally different way from anything else I've ever seen. And mainly, it's fun and it's cathartic, both to post and to scroll through the news feed. Check me out @claradetierra.

9. This bluetooth keyboard I am using to update the blog from my phone! So cool. A coworker-friend picked it up and gave it to me this week and already it is 100 times faster and easier to type and to update. Plus it is thin and compact.

10. Kitchen and home goods stores. I feel so boring and grown up, but this is where I spend the most time and money shopping these days. Today Jason and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond looking for a spice rack and a few other things, and of course had way too much fun comparison shopping and making lists of things we would want in our over-extravagant dream life. (The glamorized $350 Margaritaville-branded blender, for example.)

Here's to a peaceful week for all of us, dear readers. No matter what happens, though, you can count on a full list of 10 good things next week!

a rare musical love affair

One question I dread when I'm getting to know somebody new is the "what kind of music do you like" question, or more specifically "name 5 bands you listen to the most."  (Thanks, Steve.)

I then complain that I can't listen to the same artist for the length of an entire CD.  In fact, I'm far more likely to play the same song on repeat 12 times than listen to a 12-track album all in one pop.  Weird, I know.  But I get very irritated with most artists by about track 04.

With a few exceptions: Simon & Garfunkel, Bruno Mars, Norah Jones, Natalie Merchant, and Train.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.  Go ahead, laugh.  I have no shame.

Anyway, part of the reason I'm thinking about this is because Train recently released a new single, which has been plastered all over my Spotify homepage for at least a week now, and for some reason it took me a long time to listen to it...  But I did, and it's pretty much all I've been listening to for the past 4 days...  Interspersed occasionally with the rest of the discography.  I'm smitten.  Here's the new song:

I would like to point out to all the haters that Train has been cranking out hits since 1998.  That is quite a long pop career.  Or alternative, or whatever they do.  I struggle with genres almost as much as I do with artists.  Plus, somebody pointed out to me yesterday that they've also written music for other people, which is cool.

Now don't worry, because this is more than just my global profession of love for Train (which may very well be stricken from the web, anyway, if SOPA and PIPA all that were to ever go through).  (Also, I have to admit that I'm struggling to take these campaigns seriously since in Spanish sopa means soup and pipa is a pipe.  It trips me up every time, and I never immediately think "oh, internet privacy!"  Despite the fact that this has been going on for quite some time.)

Yes, this post is more than just a profession of love for Train.  It is also my brief, ditzy contribution to the current political uprising.  And it is also about to become a musical deconstruction.

You might have noticed that Train's video features all the lyrics to the song, and you might also have noticed that a few of the lines don't quite make sense.  I'm not too worried about it, though, because life doesn't make sense and love doesn't make sense and even lust doesn't really make sense.  I'd say that's part of the point, is it's irrational, and if you try to organize it too much then it all goes out the window.  I tried to come up with an illustration for how the beauty gets sucked right out, but I couldn't think of anything non-beautiful enough to do the comparison justice.  Nothing bland enough to represent a life so structured and analyzed that there is no room to actually live it.  Nothing hopeless enough.

The title line of the song strikes me, though: This is not a drive by.

There is a low-key commitment in this statement, an awe-inspiring resonance.  I have been here, in this same house, this same tfoL, this same job, 4 months now.  Going on 5.  This is not a drive-by.  I'm not going to pack my car one of these days and split, like I have in the past.  I don't want to.  I want to break that habit.  Desperately.  And in the same vein, I would love to not be the bystander in a drive-by anytime soon.

It's the simplicity of the image, it's not straight up, "I'm never going to leave."  It's more of an, "I've parked my car and turned it off for the night and that's what matters."  The promise exists in a state of extended present, in the current moment that stretches on indefinitely into the future.  Refreshing.  Tantalizing.

And admittedly catchy.

This is the cherry on top I can't ever pass up.  Not that I am inclined to pass up any cherry, really, maraschino, bing or otherwise.  But if it catches my tongue I'm done for.

like-a-love-song irrational

All I want to do these days is listen to love songs.  The song that's been stuck in my head for at least the past 24 hours is I Won't Say from the animated movie Hercules.  (You know the part where Meg's girl choir is accusing her of being in love with Hercules, and since she's been dragged over the coals in the past she won't admit that she loves him?  That's the one.)  The song that saved me is Melt With You by Modern English.  And since that fateful night when I heard it on Delilah, it's been EVERYWHERE.

Actually, I've basically been listening religiously to Delilah, which most likely qualifies as both the disease and the cure.

It might be that I can feel the holiday season coming up.  It's Halloween weekend, and I get to wear a costume to work tomorrow night.  The region's first snowstorm of the year is also forecast for tomorrow, with wild rumors about 10-24 inches of snow in New Jersey throughout the day -- New Jersey being a mere 7 minutes away from my house.  Also, today was frigid, compared to what it has been.  Even in the sun it was cold.  I really need the snow to hold off, because I need new tires on my car before it comes.  (As a matter of interest, this is my latest great talking point for Starting Conversations With Strangers.)

The holidays always make me feel like falling in love.  I know I'm not the only one, and that the feeling is one of the most cliche feelings to ever strike human emotions, but there's something about even the image of snowflakes floating down under streetlamps in the hazy winter twilight that makes falling look so nice...

I was totally mind-blown yesterday when Alex used the marvelous term "emotional detox" in an email, as in: "This is the emotional detox I need from four years at [St. Olaf], because there isn't anyone here I want to fall in love with."  Brilliant.  And semi-fortunate, since I really have been cringing at some of the memories I have of Love At and Around St. Olaf, and I can't think of anything that could be better for me now than a little break from drama and the whole who-was-more-screwed-up-before-we-screwed-each-other-up-even-worse-than-before thing.  It's also unfortunate: as he also noted, my straitjacket-esque defense mechanism keeps me from even wanting to talk to anyone, because it seems that he or she will inevitably turn out to be either more screwed up than me and therefore a threat, or less screwed up than me and therefore vulnerable.  Besides, the easiest and most fool-proof way to successfully complete an emotional detox program is to not really have any relationships, of any kind, with anyone, because relationships are inevitably complicated and there is always some miscommunication that just ruins the peace.

Ha.  I'm still captivated by Modern English and that image of snowflakes falling underneath a streetlamp...  Preferably one of those old, hand-lit cast iron ones, represented in Kincaidian brushstrokes...

It may come as a comfort to you that all my ranting and griping here actually does get me somewhere in life.  All that talk about vocation worked some magic on my self-image -- after a six-hour plunge into what felt like intense depression yesterday, which I decided was brought on by a combination of dehydration and widespread belly-laugh shortages.  I'm forcing myself to get comfy, so now my real personality is rapidly coming into focus for the benefit of the DE crowd.  For example, I took a break with The Partners yesterday to do the twist, and when the Boss-man teased me about it, I told him he hasn't seen the half of it.  "The half of what," he asked, cracking up, "your dancing abilities?"  That's right.  My dancing abilities.  I've got the moves like Jagger.

I love dancing, remember?  And Zumba.  I really try to recommend it to every person I ever talk to.  Also, I should really just win VH1's Motormouth right now, because I've taken to belting along with those power ballads Delilah plays when I'm driving home at night -- to the extent that I often get distracted wondering how Adele's vocal cords got to the point of hemorrhaging.  That's not a joke, and if it was, it wouldn't be funny.  I seriously wonder about this.

The human body is a pretty incredible thing.

The crickets have started coming back, after at least a week or two of their notable absence.  They're back in spite of my ultrasonic pest control plug-in and my giant, hairy spider friend that recently appeared among my boxes.  I tried to keep him in the other room at first, until I realized (a) that my efforts were futile, and (b) that the cricket count seemed to have significantly declined since he turned up.  The crickets are so gross.  I'm getting pretty good at smashing them with a flyswatter, but they're so juicy and disgusting and I really don't want them to eat my books and/or clothes.  (Please do not let this dissuade you, dear friends, from coming to visit me.  Like I said, I'm slowly becoming a cricket's worst nightmare.)  Otherwise, as my mom keeps reminding me, some cultures consider them good luck, and I'm starting to think that my long, jointy limbs look oddly cricket-like.  Speaking of bodies being amazing.  That was my segue, just at the wrong end of the paragraph...

I'm starting to recognize some signs of delirium in my writing, perhaps because it's long past my boring post-grad bedtime.  So I think I'd better cut this off here before it gets any worse.  I need to go dig through my old mix CDs for power ballads anyway.  Wish me luck, and boa noite!

vocation (disclaimer:

I am well aware of the mass eye-roll this title will elicit.  Also, having grown up Lutheran, survived and succeeded at St. Olaf College, and conducted intense research for a year on what might as well have been called "the Vocation Project," I am even more acutely aware of the complex historical, lexical, and emotional context surrounding the signifier: vocation.  Keep in mind as you read that I have critically examined the shit out of this word, and I'm choosing to use it anyway.)

The musical director at church is this incredible musician.  You wouldn't believe anybody could spice up the old Lutheran-plain-and-tall liturgy with just a piano riff here and there, a creative hymn choice, or sock-foot organ recessionals.  He'll sit there during communion and just fix his eyes on the altar to time the music perfectly with the religious ritual.  Meanwhile, his fingers are in no way fixed to any particular piano keys.  He transitions between the pre-chosen hymns with these soaring, rippling piano solos.  It may sound mundane, but trust me, it's completely (if subtly) out of this world.

Speaking of music, you might know that I love Delilah.  (In Delaware, she's on 99.5 FM from 7pm to midnight.)  Her voice is so syrupy and soothing, she picks the most hilariously perfect songs to match a caller's situation, and she's just so human -- I actually love that she gives horrible advice sometimes, and that although she's pretty regularly cynical she still makes a whopper of a living giving love advice.  Go figure.  Maybe I'm just jealous of her job.  But she's been doing it forever, and she really speaks to a TON of people.  Nationwide.  And she's been broadcasting nationally for as long as I can remember listening to the radio.

Today I got a regular update email from LinkedIn which shares what my connections have been up to lately as well as job postings I might be interested in.  One of this week's postings was for a Healthcare Research Analyst position, and it suddenly occurred to me (again) that I really love doing research.  Seeing this after I'd spent my morning putting together a report, and enjoyed myself immensely, brought the word vocation to mind.  I Love Making Reports.  And presenting them.  And lucky for me, I get to track data and trends, and report them, all day, every day.  That is my nerdy fact of the day.

My existential crisis of the day involved a "twittervention" from a couple of friends who got me on Twitter in the first place.  I should be embarrassed to admit that I was really quite devastated when I got their messages, and that I spent the whole drive to yoga debating with myself over the trump card: I really love tweeting, but I don't want to alienate the really important people in my life by doing it too much, because when it comes down to it, it's really not that important.  Fortunately, after yoga I was able to distance myself enough from the situation to see it clearly, and to see that it's really not such a dramatic either-or situation.  I can tweet a little less.  It would probably be good for me.

My "vocation" right now is not super clear.  It's like driving in fog, where you've got your headlights on but you can still barely see the stop sign.  That's mostly ok.  I'm learning a lot every single day and things keep happening that make it a little more clear.  Like all the positive messages I've received today from people I work with on different jobs and projects: "you are good at ____."  This is important to hear and to say.  Because it turns out I have not only good report-compiling skills, but some people skills that I really love to use more than most everything else in the world.  And I have been using them, as it turns out, but I haven't been giving them much credit lately and that is a shame.

For some people, it's very clear.  Even Jordan and Delilah probably still struggle from time to time.  And, all things considered, I'm in a pretty good place right now...

Namely, right up the (really gorgeous) street from the best coffee shop of all time, which I would love to link to but it's really not online -- which actually probably just adds to its charm.  Anyway, the crowning moment of today was that I spent the second half of my lunch break getting (incredibly delicious) French Caramel cafe au lait and I got to chat with the guy while he whipped up my delicious drink.  And then he gave me a discount, for no reason, on a two-dollar cup of coffee and I was PUMPED.  Not because I was particularly attached to that 50 cents, but because it was a real-life, real-nice moment.