My spare time

Written by jamie on February 25th, 2010

I sometimes wonder about how I spend my spare time. I am not the most disciplined person, and I think my life suffers because of it. I complain about not having time for all the things in my life, yet I don’t use my time wisely. Drew and I have talked about taking time management classes, and I am beginning to think more and more that this is a good idea. And you know I have to take the obvious joke… if we could only find the time for the classes.

I am blessed with a job where I don’t have to show up until 10:30 most days. After opening most mornings at a coffee shop for a year and a half, sleeping in a bit has been bliss. Getting up at 5 a.m. wasn’t so fun. Now I drag myself out of bed at 8, stumble around the kitchen for some breakfast, do my yoga, and sip my coffee, usually while on Facebook.

Sure, it sounds blissful. And some mornings, it truly is. But then I come home after work and look around my house at all that needs to be cleaned, boxes that need to be unpacked, and I stare at my guitar that should be practiced and wonder when I’ll have the energy for it. I wish I could channel my energy and use it and my time effectively in the morning so I could come home to a more relaxing atmosphere. I’ve had a hard time doing it. Trying to get myself up earlier has been ridiculously difficult. My sleep schedule feels all wacked lately. I never thought getting myself out of bed before 8 a.m. would be so hard. I feel like a lazy, good for nothing bum.

And of course, I feel like with all the spare morning time,  I should be having great, inspiring devotional time. I rarely even crack my Bible in the morning, I’m ashamed to say. I know I just need to DO it. I think I need some accountability.

So with all that said, I feel like I’ve wasted my morning yet again. I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. I have had some trouble sleeping the past week due to various reasons, and I’m just starting to get myself back into better sleep. As a result, I’m dragging and feeling really tired while my body gets back to normal. I know my body needs down time, and perhaps lounging in the morning is the best thing for me.

After yoga and breakfast, I took some time to catch up on some blogs I read. There was only one new post, so I started reading old posts on our blog. Drew imported some of his Myspace blogs from years ago, and I hadn’t read most of them. So I spent about 20 minutes reading them. Not a total waste of time, and I enjoyed getting more insight into my then single husband. I especially got a chuckle out of him using the word “cutie-pie” to refer to some cute girl that he might meet. I love you babe.

So anyway, I’m still sitting here on my couch, not having accomplished much this morning, and my boss having texted me and telling me I don’t have to be in until 11. So, more time wasting, here I come… I suppose I should actually try to accomplish something. Like get dressed.

 

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Our Classy Neighborhood…

Written by drew on February 18th, 2010

One sign that we’re living in a more upscale neighborhood is that the trash on the side of the road is of a much higher caliber…

40 ounces of... well, at least it isn't malt liquor

 

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In Company with Angels

Written by jamie on February 15th, 2010

Drew surprised me with a fun outing for Valentine’s Day. He hinted to the fact that he had somewhere fun to take me, but wouldn’t let on to where. I didn’t mind, cause I enjoy surprises.

We ended up going to the Museum of Fine Arts at Florida State, where there was a display of seven Tiffany stained glass windows. They had been made for a church in Cincinnati, but the church had been torn down to make way for a highway. So sad, and typical. Parishioners saved the windows and stored them in garages and basements. In Company with Angels, a nonprofit organization, was created to preserve and exhibit them.

Absolutely beautiful

So we wander into this museum, and I still have no idea what we’re doing there. I see some stained glass windows, and think how pretty they are. Then Drew tells me the story behind them, and tells me there is some music that was composed with these pieces in mind. He had downloaded the music onto our ipods, and so we were able to listen to them while looking at each piece.

Each piece was an angel from the book of Revelation, representing the seven churches of Asia. We got our earphones in our ears, and I decided I wanted to listen to each piece while standing in front of each one. So, we figured out where to start (Ephesus) and pushed play.

Angel #1

I have to admit… the first two angels were really hard. Each music track was about four to five minutes long. I don’t know that I’ve ever stood in front of any piece of art for that long. Typically, I’ll go through an art exhibit in five to ten minutes. Not that I don’t appreciate it. I just don’t always know how to slow down. I’m so used to zipping through life. As I stood in front of the angel of Ephesus, I found myself thinking about how pretty it was outside and how part of me just wanted to be out in the sunshine, and the other part of my brain was just marveling in the pretty colors of the glass. It was extremely hard to just relax and enjoy the art.

Angel #2

Angel #2 was from Smyrna. Here, we got hung up on trying to figure out the Scripture that was engraved on the bottom. I remarked to Drew that I wish I had brought my Bible. I like to read Scripture in context. So Drew whipped out his handy Palm Pre, where he was the Bible in several translations. He pulled up Revelation chapter 11, and it did not match with what was on the glass. We puzzled over it for a bit, then I realized that it was in Roman numerals, and it meant Revelations chapter TWO. Once we figured that out, it made much more sense.

Angel #3

We moved onto angel #3, Pergamum. During this angel, I was able to relax a bit more and focus on the art that was before me. I started looking at more of the details on the stained glass, and although I was still peeking ahead at the next one, this time it was to compare subtleties of the glass. I began to notice dissonance and chord resolution in the music. I began to wonder how you can get that much color into glass. I grew intrigued by what this angel was holding (a stone) and thought the glass work to achieve the stone was absolutely gorgeous. It was then that I picked up on the fact that each angel was holding a symbol of something in the Scripture.

This stone was so bright, it just drew you in. It was hard not to stare at it.

And so we kept moving. Onto angel #4, Thyatira.

Angel #4

Beautiful colors

I think this angel was my favorite. The robe that this angel was wearing just captured my attention. At the bottom, toward it’s feet, there was this swirl of colors that was simply amazing. I kept coming back to this part of the window. The rest of it was beautiful, but the colors simply transfixed me. It was simply beautiful.

And moving onto angel #5, Sardis.

Angel #5

Identical wings

I began to notice how each angel had identical wings. There was slight color variations, but the pattern of each set of wings seemed to be indentical.

And angel #6, Philadelphia.

Angel #6

I noticed how some of the angels seemed to have boy faces, and some had girl faces. I wondered what constituted the gender of the angels. Or maybe there was no gender. Maybe it was just my perception that made it seem that way.

Boy face?

Angel #7, Laodicea.

Angel #7

When we had finished viewing and listening, we took some time to journal and I jotted down some thoughts I had. Then I took some time to take some pictures of all of them.

Thanks Babe, for a fun surprise Valentine’s outing.

 

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More than just a door

Written by jamie on February 13th, 2010

This took more effort than you might think

This is my door. I know it doesn’t seem so exciting, but this thing took some work. This is the door to the master bedroom. The original door had a big hole in the top, like the previous tenants might have had a disagreement at some point and decided the door would be a better recipient of their anger. While painting the bedroom, we took the door off to have easier access to all the walls. Luckily, since Drew and I live alone, there was no big rush to put another door up.

Our wonderful friend and handyman, Brian, just happened to have a spare door lying around his house, and he offered it to us. I don’t know why someone just has a spare door, but we accepted his offer. It was a slightly different wood grain and color than the other doors, but we figured a good wash and a coat of paint would take care of that.

So, I set to the job of painting it. I figured I’d whip it out in no time, after all the painting I had done all over the house. I’m pretty much an expert now, after all.

Painting a door takes more effort than I expected. It takes a lot to get in all the panels, plus one coat wasn’t going to cut it. And by the time I finished with one side of the door, I had too much of a hand-cramp to continue, so the back side had to wait until the next day.

So, basically, the stupid door took me two whole weekends to finish. But it looks mighty nice, if I do say so myself.

My hard work

 

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