Domestic and excited about movies.

We had a whole bag of home-grown plums that were about to go bad, so I made jam. Put it in a teacup. Ate it on some toast.

Then there was cleaning and sewing and [special Olympics] Jeopardy with my dad.

Don't ask me about the apron. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about the fact that I measured once, cut once. ALWAYS measure twice.

Then- THEN- Ben and I raced over to

the closest theatre to see Captain America. I walked in (as I always do) at a luke-warm "5" mindset. Neutral as a jellybean. ... Assuming, if you will, that the jellybean hasn't been on a sunny windowsill or somehow tossed into the fridge.

Captain America wasn't a screenplay movie. It was a comic book movie. It was dramatic and over the top and very, very comic-booky. Worked great. Really liked it. Favorites:

• Her hair and costume
• His haircut
• Capt. America's special forces team inked RIGHT out of a comic book: classically, there is a distinct style for each hero, representing a different 40's version of a good guy: (the bowler hatted american, the got-your-back african american, the scarfed frenchman, the joking british man, the asian from Fresno*)
• All the Avengers elements finally looping together
• Multi-faceted character development

He never got a dance! Sad.

OH, PS, WORLD:

Recognize these faces from Inception?

Yeah, they were all pulled into The Dark Knight Rises. Thank you, Christopher Nolan, for making me excited 11 months and 22 days before the release date.

*Fresno's in California. Along with many, many asians. Represent.

meet my birthday TWIN

Klaus (Liam Akien) from Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Let's watch this!!!

"Bentie" at the Dentist

Tomorrow, I go back to the dentist. My thoughts about the dentist still stand true. Here are my dentist musings.

Tonight, I went to Spencer's house and

• Drank tea
• Talked with Brittany about crafty things
• Meticulously plated food for Salt & Spatula, Spencer's food blog (Christine photographered)
• Ate the "dud" chocolate chip cookies
• Ate a delicious bao -- Spencer always thinks of me when he gets sweet baos! :D
• Teared up about how COOL it was to get to go to Hume Lake
• Played a couple rounds of Hand and Foot

It's so good to relax at a friend's house and do nothing specific. Especially here. Especially when everyone is so thankful to be friends. And to be friends here. Thankfulness is its own light!

These kids crack me up.

The 20/20 Project

Tonight, Shelty, Matt, Nick, Brittany, Christine, Spencer, and I wrote letters, gathered pictures, prepared keepsakes... and placed them in a yellow box. Brittany splattered it with Hello Kitty stickers. Matt stood on the top of a chair-back and stuck the box in Nick's attic.

What I put in the box...

I wrote a letter to myself and stuck it in my prayer journal: the journal I've been writing in for the past 10 months. I modgepodged it with my unit last fall. It saw a lot of pain and a lot of uncertainty. It witnessed a lot of conversations and a lot of trust. There were only a few blank pages left. I'll read it when I'm 30 and write a prayer of thanks for God's provision.

The event: The 20/20 Project. A time capsule made by friends to be opened when they're all 30, in the year 2020. As we all know, hindsight is 20/20. On the outside of the box, Christine wrote, "Speak parseltongue to open this box." It seems appropriate, since the last Harry Potter movie just tied the bow on the end of our childhoods.

We each held the box and said something before it was put in the attic:

Bethany: "Here's to hoping that this box doesn't represent the best years of our life, but instead the beginning of the best lives we can live."

Brittany: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. Dr. Seuess."

Christine: "Are we supposed to say something smart, or something that we live by?"

Shelty: "You love you and you hope this box is the best."

Spencer: "Measure twice, cut once. Words to live by."

Nick: "May you have health, wealth, and long-life thankyouverymuch."

Matt: *shrug*

I have such great, unique friends. :) We danced to nyan cat for probably hours. We played 313. We said goodbye to Nick. It was a short summer of being all together. Only a week. But that hasn't made it a bad summer.

Side note for Ashley Harris: I mentioned you in my letter that I put in the time capsule. I mentioned you indirectly when I wrote about the impact my girls have had on me. I mentioned you directly when I referred to our $100 bet. :]

Tonight I listen to Jars of Clay Redemption Songs. I spend a few minutes with Ben. I let the big concept of "the future" wash over me. I say the words "trust" and "hope" a lot.

Post script: Pinterest is the new thing. Get on the wagon. My bookmarks bar will be so much less messy because of it. :)

A little friend time

Yesterday, the gang gathered for the final Harry Potter movie. When we walked in, we were excited. As the credits rolled, everyone exclaimed, "This is the end of our childhood!" When we walked out, we were satisfied. We'd all cried. It was over.

I found out that I interact with movies by making little exclamations like "Oh!" Shelty could imitate all of them. How embarrassing.

After some intense charades, tea, and sewing, we went to bed... Only to wake up to a perfect day for the beach! Spencer brought over donuts, we ate, picked up Christine, and drove to Half Moon Bay.

We read, took pictures, played with driftwood wands, got a HUGE kick out of some GIANT crabs ("She's got the crabs dear, and I don't mean Dungeness"). Name that movie. I never can. ANY other movie quote and I've got it. I always forget about Mrs. Doubtfire.

We ate pizza, played Psychiatrist, drank chlorine water, and drove through the miraculous "no traffic land" that existed just for us. How fortunate.

Back at Nick's, we played more charades and drank more tea. I got to talk to Mike on the phone for a little and Matt got a fohawk haircut from Nick. Very chill time with friends. Now I'm sitting with Nick, stealing all his pictures from our July excursions.

Spencer's home!

Spencer David Huey (Spinner, Spitty, Spin, Tumbly, Tantor) may not be a "Chance" or a "Shadow" or a "Sassy," but still he managed to brave the elements and make the trek from San Diego (Sandy) back to the Bay.

Spinner was a lead at Hume Lake SD. The fun he had and the impact he made was worth giving him up for the summer. I'm excited to sit down with him and watch all the videos from the DVD. I-MISS-HUME-LAKE. It would be SO great to retreat there sometime. I would absolutely eat that up.

Today. July 18th. 2011. The reunion. The dog days were over. Christine, Shelty, Spencer, Nick, Matt, and I convened at Spencer's house. We talked, played cards, took a little hike up the hill, watched the sunset, prayed communally, climbed eucalyptus trees, took pictures, ALMOST ordered Chinese food 1000 times, drank tea, and laughed a lot.

Best friends: hike up a hill to watch the sunset, then stand in a circle and pray. They thank God for their friendships, they praise Him for what has and what will be, and they ask that they will impact others and glorify God. Then they run through the hills and stand on rocks pretending to be meerkats (well, just Matt and I). THESE are best friends.

A couple highlights:

• Matt called Dolly Parton "Dolly Parker."
• Christine was available. Woo!
• Spencer was the swinging pendulum of Chinese food decisions. After a LOT of phone calls, a lot of menus, and a lot of research, we discovered that no Asian restaurant in the tri-state area will accept take-out orders at 9:30.
• The guys decided to make a blog called, "Where the H--- is Bethany?" They'll post things on it when I'm late or M.I.A. I'm excited to see that happen.
• We ate a loaf of chocolate bread that Spencer got from who-knows-where. We ate it while we watched a sunset. Just a normal thing people do around here.
• Matt hadn't heard of Rebecca Black's Friday... so we had to do that. Obviously. If you think Friday is funny/ridiculous, Jenna Rose's My Jeans is waaaayyy better. If you have three minutes and you're in the right mood, take a peek.
• Shelty ate a LITTLE bit of chocolate, then gave the rest to Matt. This doesn't seem like a highlight to outsiders. But everyone else knows that Shelty is to chocolate as the pre-36th-season-Cookie Monster is to cookies.
• Spencer didn't win at cards. Start packing your Armageddon survival kit. Matt won at cards. Start packing now.

Nick took a bucketload of pictures, so I'll post or link those soon.

Good moments

That is Michael. Those are bagpipes. I like him and them.

I read this article to Kayla as she drove from North Carolina to Indiana. 30 minutes down, only 8 more hours to go. It was a roommate moment. :) The article ("7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're Doing Wrong") was amusing AND informative. Does a better combination exist?

Wouldn't it be great to live in a little circle community in Denmark? How bizarre!

Steve Madden finally made it to Ruth 2 today. The sermon was inspiring! I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning expecting God's favor.

"Mayyahsk"

is how Hermione pronounces "May I ask" in HP 7 Part 1. Matty, Nick, Shelty, and I laughed for 5 minutes straight. About that... and throughout the whole movie. We were high on delicious food and cappuccino, and we released every atom of energy in all forms of laughter (as described by Bert in Mary Poppins).

Other movie highlights:

"Nipper, I'mma 'bout to snatch you like a snitch" was a Shelty threat.

"Ohh, you love Todd Hanks!" was Shelty's reference to Sweeney Todd.

"Yeah, because Ronald Ratcliff is good lookin'... he's not even sessy!" was Shelty's sarcastic remark about Daniel Radcliffe and his "sexiness."

Matt: Okay, I don't understand this. Why did they have to keep moving around? It would've been better to just stay in one place. Why did they keep moving? They should've stayed. They should've stayed put.

Bethany: MATT. They're not lost at Walmart. They're trying to find Horcruxes.

"No, I can't answer you or talk to you or speak English, 'cause I'm a snake... I don't know who the person in the picture is, 'cause I'm a snake... I'm having trouble walking and holding this candle, 'cause I'm a snake..." -The obvious thoughts of Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's body, as told by yours truly.

"First they get gagers, then they get majors, then they get playjors, then they get trayjors." -Shelty talking about engagement, marriage, sex, and babies. Rhyming. She'll write the next One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Some spells of protection:

wednesday the 13th

If I were a character from a book or a famous actor, I would name my daughter Wednesday and call her Wendy.

Nick and I went hunting for a fabric store on this particularly BEAUTIFUL California summer day. At first, we found everything BUT fabric stores. We found used bookstores and bagel shops and insurance companies... and it was only after Nick's mouth was full of a fish bagel and my arms were full of books that we came to Joann's. I got fabric for two aprons. If I'm going to cook in the Lodges (I am), I ought to wear an apron (I will).

As I was addressing letters and cooking and feeding the dogs (my daddy brought me coffeeee), a package came! My mother bought me a couple "teacher necessities" (cute clothes) because gifts are her love language and she loves me.

The rest of the activities of the day are as follows:

• Read "The Little Prince" in its entirety whilst drinking tea (Translation: Pretend to be intellectual and sophisticated).
• Read Jeremiah and True Vine; pray (Translation: Give God my day and my life instead of pretending to be religious).
• Take in the sides of the Sherlock Holmes jacket (Translation: Pretend I know how to be a seamstress).
• Watch Fantasia with Ben for kicks and giggles.
• Visit Nick, since he accidentally hijacked my apron fabric. Watch The Brother's Bloom. The first 15 minutes of that movie are genius.
• Read East of Eden.
• Probably read The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Horton Hears a Who, and Buzz, Buzz Go the Busy Bees.

hair and gator

This is great hair. This is an excited crocodile.

They aren't related.

I tailored a men's jacket to fit my shoulders. (Thanks, Zack!) I'll take in the sides tomorrow. Then, I'll look like Sherlock Holmes. I'll teach students and they'll say, "She looks like Sherlock Holmes."

Ruth

My (California) church is doing a "redemption" series on Ruth. It's been four weeks, and we still aren't in chapter 2. Over and over again, the same points are being reiterated (in different ways, from different angles): suffering is inevitable, grieve well, and count on God as faithful. Again and again.

Jehovah Rapha: God is the God who restores. He heals. He makes our bitter (Marah) water sweet again (Naomi).

Sometimes I have to allow this truth to stand for itself, instead of looking at it with an overwhelming feeling of comfort or even hope. I just sit in the truth until it scrubs away the layers of callousness.

stories (aka realities)

1. "for you"

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." -G. K. Chesterton

I have a friend who is adamant about the importance of fairy tales. And though their advocacy is not my life as it is his, my career will run in a similar direction.

Tomorrow, I start writing.

2. "about me"

You know what the best (ahemeducationalahem) computer games were? JUMPSTART. And Cluefinders! Those games taught me how to type -- that's probably why I'm a loud typer: it began as a competition. I think that's where I picked up my fascination with history, too. So... the nerdiest things about me are probably rooted in educational computer games.

Jumpstart is now having kids take a quiz to see what their dominant multiple intelligence is... two thumbs wayyy up.

3. "more for you"

The Hush Sound's album, Like Vines, is the THING. "We Intertwined" is hoppin', "Sweet Tangerine" is bluesy alternative, and "Where We Went Wrong" is acoustically delicious. Their newer album, though, has some goodies. Here's a smooth, chill number called "That's Okay."

4. "something that will always be a fairy tale"

If I'm very good, maybe Anne will let me have a pet finger monkey if/when we live off campus.

be vewy vewy quiet, i'm hunting poems

I'm on a hunt. A hunt for poetry. I'm a poetry juggernaut. I'm racing through names and crashing through walls of work with quick yes-no judgements. I'll find my gems and stuff them into my pockets and run on.

An excerpt from Billy Collins (I like the way he thinks), "Forgetfulness"

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

I laughed when I saw this puzzle,

so I decided it was going to become a family project. Get ready, family. Get ready, jazzy old ladies.

if i could have a pet dragon

it would be small and adorable and it would sit on my shoulder and be lightning fast and it would deliver my mail. look how CUUUTE:

oh and i'd LOVE this. i want it. it's the perfect teacher skirt. ahhh. i should just make it.