Why is it always Thursday? I feel like every time I turn around, Thor's day has come once more. It's like Groundhog Day. This summer--well, the part after all the traveling--seems to creep by in a haze of repetition, but the individual weeks also seem to fly by. And now it's Thursday. Again. I don't want to wish my life away, but I am glad for July end and for August, the month when things actually happen, to begin. I'm looking forward to heading up to Louisville for a week or so to work on the film. The producer I'm assisting contacted me today, and now we're Facebook friends! And then right after we wrap up the shoot, I come back to BG and begin rehearsals for The Giver. That extends through October, and I'll hopefully be getting a steady job when I get back from Louisville, too. Also, lots of fall tv shows are coming back. I'm particularly intrigued--if a wee bit skeptical--to see what Once Upon a Time does with Frozen. 
I looked at my calendar the other night and after a pretty barren month, it was nice to turn the pages and see lots of colors, arrows, and notes. I'm the kind of person who operates on goals, checklists, steps, and events. In short, it's very important to me to have something to look forward to. Yes, I have huge things to look forward to, like Heaven, but I'm talking about the short term. I'm happiest when I have lots of milestones, even if they seem small. But plans don't just appear; you have to make them, which is exactly what I intend to do. I'm planning ways to better myself for the everyday: studying languages, reading more, maybe even trying to learn an instrument. I'm planning to work a lot more on personal creative projects now that I'm out of school and can't use that as an excuse. I'm planning friendship gatherings and adventures (which may involve Shakespeare and/or fire). And, biggest and best of all, I'm looking at my options for leaving the country, planning how to travel and do new and exciting things!
But there were a lot of "I"s in that paragraph. I may have lots of plans (half of which I may never follow through on, because, let's be honest, I dream more than I do. I'm trying to change that.), but in the end, I don't get the final say. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." In other words, it's all up to God. It is my goal and my desire to have a more open and receptive heart to receive what God wants me to hear and wants me to do. But the Bible doesn't say "sit around and twiddle your thumbs, waiting for a neon sign pointing to your destiny," either. I hope I'm not wrong, but I'm going to continue to make plans, praying that they will fulfill the Lord's will, and if they don't, that He will prevent them from succeeding. I've already spent too much of my post-graduation time not doing anything productive. It's time to act, to get serious, and to make some real plans. There are a million things to look forward to. Now it's time to stop looking and start moving forward. 

Until next Thursday,
Anna Beth

1. Cuddle!

There’s nothing better after a busy afternoon of working and errands than cozying up on the couch with a warm blanket and your favorite movie. It takes your mind off all the chaos going on and gives you the chance to laugh and relax for a couple of hours. And you know what makes your movie night that much better? Having someone with you to cozy up to and share in the fun! So what are you waiting for? Grab your boyfriend/stuffed animal/cat/Anna Beth and prepare to squeeze all your tensions away!

2. Exercise

I am generally a fairly pro-exercise individual. Except when it comes to myself, of course. But there are some forms of movement that even I can manage to fit into my day. Walking, for example. Perfectly healthy habit, gives you a chance to get out and enjoy the scenery, doesn’t make you melt into a puddle of sweat. Sara stamp of approval. Other activities can be fun, too. Skating is fun- take care of your need for speed without burning nearly as much energy as running. The same goes for biking. Until you’re heading home and trying to force your way up all those hills that seemed so nice on the way down…

3. Chocolate

After all that walking, you’ve probably burned a whole 100, maybe even 150 calories. You deserve that warm, gooey, rich, chocolaty brownie that just came out of the oven. Topped with some sweet, cool vanilla ice cream fresh from the freezer. Drizzled with hot fudge. Add a sprinkling of nuts. Whipped cream. Cherry on top. Perfect de-stressing dessert. Unless what you’re stressing about is gaining weight. Then maybe leave off the nuts.

4. Read

Grab a good book and get lost in another world for a few pages! Forget your own troubles and adopt those of Harry Potter, Elizabeth Bennet, or Katniss Everdeen, for example. Their problems are probably a lot bigger than yours, but they’ll be solved in a couple of hours, with plenty of hijinks and tomfoolery in the process. And anyway, other people’s problems are always preferable to our own, right?

5. Sleep

Nap for an hour before dinner. Head off to dream land early. Just lie on the couch and do nothing for awhile. Nothing is good for the soul. It gives it a well-deserved break so it can return to reality ready to face whatever problems may plague you.

Everyone gets stressed sometimes. What do you like to do to calm down and take a breather?

Love,

Sara

Hey! It's me, Anna Beth. My blog was, as Amber mentioned, mysteriously missing this week, along with some others. BUT...Exactly one year after we left for our California road trip last summer, I finally made the video I've been procrastinating on. Without further ado, the summer 2013 road trip video. WATCH IN HD OR ELSE!

Hello from a day of hiking! (and from a week of mysteriously missing blogs... ;) )

Today Mark and I went with another couple to go hiking in Hocking Hills State Park, a gorgeous forest filled space with cliffs overlooking gorges and small caves. It is about an hour southeast of Columbus, so it made for an excellent day to enjoy each other’s company and see some very interesting sites. We went to three places- Ash Cave, Cedar Falls (pictured above), and Old Man’s Cave. Yes, Old Man’s Cave was named after a recluse that used to live there! We kept expecting there to be an elderly man sitting in a rocking chair in the cave shouting at people to get off of his property…

Sometimes it’s nice to be able to go on a mini road trip with friends and just enjoy being together. :)

The other quite interesting part of my weekend was going to see The Barber of Seville on Friday night. It was being presented in a park in German Village by a local theatre company and was quite hilarious! All of the actors were their normal characters X 1000000, which meant that the elderly guardian had a blue mohawk, Figaro had a thick country accent, and Rosine was frequently hysterical. It was lots of fun to see it- and I rather liked the quaint set too.

The song of the week is a song I heard as I was leaving work Friday a week ago… and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. It’s just a cute country song. J Not to mention, I react similarly whenever I hear a song I really love… Enjoy!

<3,
Amber

"Play It Again" – Luke Bryan

So, I know I didn't post on Sunday--but here's my blog. It's just a little late.

I was babysitting the whole weekend because John and Lori took a mini vacation for their 10th wedding aniversary. I had to sit on Daphene's bed as she held my hand so she could fall asleep. I would have been a lot cuter if I hadn't been so tired.

Anyway, as I told Jill and Anna Beth when they visited, I came up with a list of how to spot a tourist:

1) They wear comfortable clothing

Including, but not limited to, khaki shorts, sneakers, ball caps, regular t-shirts, and funny hats

2) if they are in a group, they could be wearing matching t-shirts

3) If in a large could they could be following a guide who had a tiny flag

4) If a large group is waiting for a tour bus

5) Tourist are most likely to be traveling ad a couple or family

6) They also wait for the crosswalk light to change

7) They have a fancy camera

8) Speaking of cameras, they are the ones taking pictures of random buildings and posing for any picture

9) They have their arm (fully) outstretched and pointing while arguing amongst themselves about which direction to go

10) They have no idea how annoying it is when they stop in the middle of the sidewalk in order to check their phone or to look at something

11) If they have a backpack they are probably a tourist; if it's on backwards they are definitely one

12) They are the ones who buy pretzels from the gross food trucks

13) They gather around the sketchy sidewalk sales that you know are selling fake Coach bags

14) They make eye contact with the sidewalk people who try to sell you tickets for a tour bus or other tourist related activity

15) The most annoying thing that tourists do is spread their family side by side on the sidewalk while taking up all the walking space and walk at an agonizingly slow pace

So, this is just what I think about when I walking to/from the subway and when I'm running errands.

Ps

When I told this idea to John, he commented that it should be a form of punishment to drink a gallon of iced tea and have to walk behind tourists

5. Liquid

Sure, it has that sickly sweet taste to it. The sticky residue may stay be stuck in your mouth for awhile. You wonder what you did to deserve having to gag it down every 4-6 hours until your symptoms go away. But all in all, liquid really is the best way to take medicine. It’s over quickly. The taste really isn’t that bad. In fact, sometimes it’s actually kind of good. And it’s so easy! Everyone knows how to drink! Swallow, swallow, all done. Don’t have to think about it anymore. Not until time for the next dose, at least.

4. Cream

Realistically, cream isn’t that bad either. Whether it’s applying sunscreen on your face or rubbing Neosporin onto a cut, the process is simple enough. It’s a little messy, seeing as the medicine is getting spread across your skin rather than disappearing through your digestive tract. But not all of your body consists of your insides. Sometimes you have to take care of your outsides too, even if that means getting a little oily or slimy.

3. Injection

I feel like injections tend to get a bad reputation. And this is understandable. To administer medicine this way, after all, a nurse has to poke through your skin and make you bleed, even if it’s just a little. But it’s really not that bad. In my opinion, it’s the anticipation of the pain that’s the worst part, and if you have the right nurse, even that is minimal. My last shot was a tetanus booster right before I left for Spain, and the woman who administered it was still talking and explaining what she was doing when she gave me the shot. I didn’t even have time to flinch in preparation before I felt the tiny poke that meant the deed was done. And then I got a lovely little Band-Aid and was on my merry way :)

2. Eye drops

Though I have now been poking little plastic films into and out of my eye balls for the last decade, I am sorry to say that the art of the eye drop still eludes me. I guess it’s the fact that I just haven’t been exposed to them enough. I mean, the last time I had to use eye drops was in middle school. And anyway, it’s just human instinct to react negatively to anything coming anywhere near your eyeball, be it a pointy stick, someone else’s finger, or a single drop of antibacterial saline solution. The eyes are highly sensitive and important organs, and we tend to get a little nervous when foreign objects with questionable motives get too close.

1. Pill

Unfortunately what seems to be the most prevalent and accepted method of medicine administration is also the very worst of them all. Who knew so much misery could be packed into such a small amount of space? It’s just completely unnatural! Who came up with the idea to force people to go completely against their instincts and shove a large ovular object to the back of their throats to swallow whole? We have teeth for a reason! We are meant to chew things and, in doing so, protect our fragile throats from potential blockage and sudden DEATH.

Author’s Note: This list comes only from my own limited experience with medicine. If I never have to experience anything worse than swallowing a horse pill, I will consider myself lucky indeed. Seriously, though. Am I the only one who cringes at the very thought of trying to swallow an Advil? What’s your least favorite way to get un-sick?

Love,

Sara

“Water and ice were made of the same thing. He thought most people were made of the same thing, too. He himself was probably little different, constitutionally, from the cynical, corrupt people around him… But here was the interesting thing. Ice was distinct from—and in his view, better than—what it was made of. He wanted to be better than what he was made of. In Mumbai’s dirty water, he wanted to be ice.”

Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Author: Katherine Boo
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 256
Publication date: 02/07/12
Genre: Historical Nonfiction

Review:

Welcome to Annawadi, a once unwanted marshland outside of the Mumbai airport that today holds hundreds of migrant families squatting in temporary-made-permanent huts. To the government, the police, corporations, and middle and upper-class citizens, the people living there are uneducated thieves who are to be kicked out, beaten as drunken entertainment, and used as toys in a game where foreign funding for schools, purified running water, and food for the impoverished can be easily diverted into personal pocketbooks.

Well, that’s the outsiders’ perspective. Here’s the other story:

Meet Asha, a middle-aged housewife turned slumlord who dreams of escaping her drunken husband, lazy children, and lower-class status by obtaining political power and influence. With this influence, which can include a small part in the same governmental corruption which hurts Annawadi residents, she can earn enough money to feed her family and to finance her daughter Manju’s college education.

Meet Manju, the soon-to-be first Annawadi college graduate who hopes to better society by educating young children with her college teaching degree. Instead, she must support her mother (as all good daughters do) in the corruption she disapproves of so that her family can eventually become lower middle-class citizens.

Meet Sunil, a young scavenger who finds out that stealing trash and scrap metal from airport construction sites to be sold for a dollar or two a day yields more money than just picking up trash (somewhat legally) along the side of the road. In a life where finding underage temporary work is difficult and reporting on drug deals to policemen can pay well but possibly lead to being killed by enraged dealers, his proudest moment is when he finally realizes he is eating enough to begin growing again.

Meet Abdul, a sixteen year old boy who buys trash collected by other families to sort and sell to recyclers. He makes slightly more money than picking up the trash himself this way, and his family is saving up to put down a deposit on a plot of land back home, where they can legally own their own place. However, after an unfortunate encounter leaves him under arrest for possible murder, he finds himself contemplating about how good things happen to some people and bad things to others.

In a book where you are almost forced to read the people and stories as fiction to keep yourself from going crazy about the lives the Annawadi residents live, Boo does an excellent job of reminding readers that there aren’t “good people” or “bad people.” Just people.

Reflection:

I’ll be honest: it was very hard for me to get through the first couple of chapters. Not because of Boo’s writing style, descriptions, lack of action, etc., but because the characters were real. Honestly, almost too real. I enjoy reading YA fiction, where the characters are set in a dystopia or at least in circumstances different enough from “real life” so that the majority of things that happen could happen sometime to me but likely wouldn’t affect me in the same way. You know the type: the books set abroad, in travels, in boarding school, etc. Places that I may go to visit at some point in my life but would likely not have as crazy of a turn of events.

What hits you about this book is that it’s real. The stories, the political events, the corruption, and -most importantly –the people are all real people going through lives that are drastically different from ours… but still lives. Honestly, I am the type to read an article about terrorist attacks in the Middle East or a public passenger plane struck by a missile that killed tens of civilians- normal people, like me- and wonder how those sorts of events can happen on the other side of the world so different than mine. Yet, after reading for about 5 minutes, I’ll do nothing about it, continuing through my business and my life as usual. Because what else is there to do?

Obviously, as a twenty-one year old woman living on her own a year removed from college, I don’t have all the answers and can only try to begin to wonder about the lives of those in Annawadi and other similar areas around the world- before actually thinking of ways to help.

But perhaps my most important takeaway from this book is that I can try to be more aware of people. Rather than glaze over breaking news stories, I can try to do more investigation into them. I can try to learn more about people living in poverty around the world and figure out other ways to help. I can try to listen more to my coworkers and friends to discover their joys and challenges- and love them for them. And I can try not to cast others in different circumstances into a giant group of people “different” from me. Because while their lives are different from mine, they are still people who are living lives, the same as mine.

Here's to embracing the dirty water and the ice,
Amber

"Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle"- The Mountain Goats

Hello from the worst blogger on this site. I've missed my last 2 appointed times to blog and have not given myself enough to write anything today as well. To be fair, I'd planned on being a tad cheeky and posting a painting I'd completed as "worth 1000 words." But 11 o'clock has rolled around and I'm still not done. Maybe next week, eh?
So instead, I'm sharing 2 videos I've watched this week that I've really enjoyed as they speak more eloquently and with better words than I could come up with. (I'm also imagining Anna Beth being a bit annoyed as she's seen both of these videos already, and thus, no new content for her. hehe.

idk. I just really liked both of these and thought I would share. so yeah.

Maybe next week, 
Jill

Hello there, everyone. Today, thanks to Jill's suggestion, I'm going to be talking about the moon. Okay, not really, but I do have a little survey question for you all. 

Do you think the moon looks more like a rock or a shiny disc? Ignore your actual knowledge of what the moon IS. Imagine for a second that you don't really even know what the moon is. You don't know it's composition. You don't know if it shines on its own or if it reflects light. It's just a thing you see in the sky every night. Now what is it? What does it look like to you? A shiny-looking disc or a big, smooth rock? Please answer in the comments!

So that was a weird tangent, but it's me, so you should be used to that by now.  And speaking of weird tangents, let me tell you about the things you can do with mac and cheese. Okay, so it's really not that exciting, but I made something kind of delicious tonight: Kraft mac and cheese cooked with broccoli, mushroom Prego spaghetti sauce, and Italian seasoning. It was scrumptious. Even my parents thought so! Take that, real world! I may not have prospects, but I can cook exciting macaroni! 

In other news, I'm thinking of moving to Ireland. Their work visa policy seems a bit more American-friendly than the UK's. Thanks a lot, United Kingdom. 

Speaking of Ireland, today's Theatre Thursday selection is from the musical Once, which I was lucky enough to see when I was in London. It's the story of an Irish hoover repair man and a Czech immigrant who find friendship and happiness through making music together. When Jill suggested that I blog about the moon today, I thought immediately of this song:

I watched the movie Once today. I'd never seen it before, so when I saw the musical on the West End, I went into it having no idea what to expect. And let me just say, that's a great way to do things, because it was so pleasantly surprising. The movie was okay, but it was nothing compared to the stage version, which was thoroughly delightful!
And you know what else is delightful? This rendition of Falling Slowly: 

David Hunter is so lovely.

Love,
Anna Beth

After breaking the fast we pray as a family. To me there's nothing as peaceful or gratifying than praying side by side with my family. Being with the people who love me most and only wish the best for me is such a nice feeling, especially during Ramadan.

Following prayer, we eat dinner. In my house meals can get pretty diverse what with the Pakistani and American influences. One day we may have a traditional curry with naan, the next day pasta, and on a night like tonight, a fusion of both cultures: pizza topped with curried chicken. I cannot even describe how amazing it tastes.  Too. good.

Sharing is caring, so tonight I want to share a special recipe of mine for a dish that I'll be making for the family at an upcoming Iftar/dinner. It falls into the category of American, but like all the other home-cooked dishes at my house, it's got a few Pakistani kicks and it's fantastic! Try it for yourself!

Shepherd's Pie


Ingredients

• 2 cups ground chicken (you can also use ground beef or skip the meat and go vegetarian!)
  
• Optional: 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
  
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
  
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
  
• Optional (recommended for veggie Shepherd's Pie): 1 cup cooked/canned lentils, 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, 1/2-1 cup chopped green beans)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
  
• 1-1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (I just mix 1 cup boiled water and a Maggi chicken bouillon cube)
  
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  
• For the adventurous: red chili powder/For the mundane: Paprika (both to taste)
• 1 Pillsbury Deep Dish Pie Crust or 2 Pillsbury Regular Pie Crusts
• 2 cups mashed potatoes (I use Instant Garlic Mashed Potatoes)

Recipe

1. In a medium skillet cook the ground chicken. For best taste cook with optional garlic and ginger.
2. In a large skillet saute onion and celery in 1 tablespoon butter until soft/tender. Add vegetables and remaining butter. Cook about 2-3 minutes longer.
3. Stir in flour and curry powder til blended. Gradually add broth and milk. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Add chicken, parsley, salt and pepper. Be sure to taste the mixture at this point and add more curry powder/parsley/salt/pepper/red chili powder or paprika to taste. 
4. Transfer mixture to pie plate(s). Top with mashed potatoes so that mixture is covered. Sprinkle top with red chili powder or paprika. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Everyone I've cooked Shepherd's Pie for has absolutely loved it! Enjoy and Happy Ramadan!


Sanaa