Saying Goodbye to (Some) TV

I wish I could say that I got rid of most of my tv channels in an effort to spend less time on the couch and more time outside or doing something productive, but no. It was all about the benjamins, baby. I lowered my package to the cheapest one, which was - oddly enough - some family package.
So no more MTV (good riddance! I don't miss it at all!), no more TBS (well, this channel would have been nice to have.), and I get basically every Disney/Nickelodeon/Noggin channel that exists. Which is fine. Because seriously, there are so many really crappy shows on television, and I'm happy to pare them down.
But you know what? There's one channel I do miss. One really fun, witty and "guilty pleasure" channel that I do think about wistfully every once in a while.
BBCAmerica.
That was good stuff.
Robin Hood hooked me, and Skins was the most incredible and (literally) unbelievably fun soap opera I've ever watched.
Plus, those BBCAmerica documentaries!! I miss them so much! "I'm in love with the Eiffel Tower" ?! "I own or make dolls that look like real babies and everyone thinks I'm crazy but me?" ?!?!
Oh, I miss those documentaries...

The Maintenance of Life

Oh, maintenance is so annoying, isn't it?
One of the bulbs in my headlights is out (and ... that's the least of what's wrong with my car, but that is what's getting fixed today). I bought a new bulb, and, optimist that I am, I really thought that I could figure out how to change the bulb on my own. And if all else failed, I'd ask my dad. Well, an hour later and minus a (probably necessary) screw, my dad and I threw our collective grimy hands in the air and gave up.
So today, I'm lugging my car over to the dealer and I hope they'll take pity on me. I'm prepared to pay, though, so that I don't have to deal with it.
I'm the same with haircuts - I hate scheduling haircuts. I dread the phone call to make the appointment. I don't like making small talk with the person cutting my hair. I prefer letting my hair grow and grow and get all unhealthy, rather than just getting it cut.
Maintenance stresses me out.
I'm hoping that this issue doesn't fall over into my spiritual life, although I suspect it does. What kinds of maintenance do we need to do on our souls? Our hearts? What is our general upkeep, or our tune-ups? Sure, reading the Bible and praying are the easy things: like filling up a car with gas or brushing my hair. But what are those things that I need to focus on every few months to improve my relationship with my Father? Hmmmm... I'll have to get back to you on that.

Getting into the practice of practice

My writing teacher has us writing at least 1 hour per week, and really we should be writing 1 hour per day. So, while I'm not necessarily writing more, I'm thinking of writing all the time. So today, while I was thinking of writing, I had an epiphany, which let me in on my own little subconscious secret of why I don't write.
Being the neurotic girl I am, I keep several copies of my stuff in several places. Unfortunately, since I'm also super lazy, there tends to only be one updated copy somewhere. So, I'll have copies of my work on my home computer, on my flashdrive and on my work computer, but I'll only have the most up-to-date copy as an .odt file on my flashdrive. Don't ask me why this happens, but that is always the case. So when I want to work on my story at home, I'm inevitably out of luck because I only have Word at home.
I will sit down, pull out my flashdrive, start up my computer, open the folder and then BANG! Realization hits me: I can't work on my updated file. I either have to open a new word document and type away, transferring the copy later (this is bad, because I'm writing "blind" so I will get details wrong), or I can open an un-updated copy and try to work off of this (this is also bad, because then I have an un-updated file, with new stuff, that has a newer date attached to it... this will undoubtedly screw me up at some point in the future).
So, I was sitting here at work, pleased because I have 2 copies of the most up-to-date story on my flash drive. One is an .odt file and one is a .doc file, but they are the SAME, which is an achievement all on its own. And I thought, "I should really just go ahead and write."And this is where the epiphany struck like lightning: My next thought was, "I'm not going to write because I don't want to have to save the files again."
Oh, lazy, lazy Christy. This is why you're not writing? Get to it.

Characters in Everyday Life

Okay, so while we didn't specifically talk about the Peanuts crew in my writing class this week, we did discuss characters (and these are some of my favorite characters). Characters in stories need to be believable, so the best way to develop characters is by keeping your eyes and ears open all day long. Taking snippets of everyday life and incorporating them into stories builds a base that people can relate to, and will make readers keep turning pages. This works for ALL characters. Even villains work best when there's some issue that helps the reader understand why they are the evil way they are. Sympathy (or empathy, or some kind of 'pathy) does wonders for character development.
So let's look at our Peanuts gang and see if we can find their flaws, their desires and all that good stuff that makes a character into a realistic person we can care about:
Charlie Brown: poor Charlie Brown! He is a normal kid, with a little sister and a dog. He wins spelling bees, but crumbles under pressure. He has a crush on the little red-headed girl. He is not so great at sports; in fact, kites and footballs seem to be going after him. Good grief! So what does he desire? Probably a normal dog, a normal sister, normal friends. A well-placed kick at that football. A nice day with a kite. A chat with the little red-headed girl.
Snoopy: well, he's a complex dog! He likes writing and imagining stories with him as the hero. He likes doing his own thing. He likes dancing. But... Snoopy has some family issues that come to light. He has some visits from long-lost brothers, but they never feel quite at home in Snoopy's little doghouse. This is a dog that yearns for adventure, but also for the stability of a family.
Linus: oh, little Linus is one of my favorites. So innocent and pure! So dependent on his blanket! Linus loves spending time with friends and he loves his security blanket. He is either unaware or just ambivalent to the affections of Sally. His desires are to write that perfect letter to Santa, tell the world the true meaning of Christmas and to see the Great Pumpkin!
Lucy: well, I guess if anyone's a villain in this list, it's Lucy. She's always the one pulling the football from Charlie Brown and overcharges (in my opinion) for her advice. But she's always around, so there's something about that group that keeps her there. Oh... I know. It's Schroeder, the man of Lucy's dreams and lover of classic music composers.
So, there we go. Even in the simplest of stories, the characters are multi-dimensional and interesting. Each one has his or her own desire or obstacle to overcome.
Think about characters in your favorite stories: What drives them? What changes in them throughout the story? Why do you care about them, or hate them, or pity them?

Falling into Winter

The cool weather is finally approaching. Here in South Carolina, unlike where I grew up in New Jersey, the winters tend to be mild. There's frost and maybe even some snow, but there won't be any blizzards and we'll measure the snowfall in inches (maybe even centimeters), not feet.

The mornings, though, are bitter, and the icy wind bites at me and my sister on our morning jogs. So, here are a few of my favorite things about cooler weather. These are things that I'm really looking forward to.

• The way that a warm bed feels like the most wonderful place in the world.

• Hot cocoa with mini marshmallows

• Slippers! Especially colorful ones. I may need to go shopping.

• Boots - especially really cute ones. I definitely need to go shopping.

• Wrapping up in a warm blanket, turning down the lights and watching a movie.

• Wrapping up in a warm blanket, keeping on the lights and reading a great book.

• Soup and Stew.

• Lighting candles. I feel like candles are a very "Christmas-time" tradition, so I rarely light candles in the summer. Only for birthdays, and those are totally a different kind of candle.

• When my nephew yells "Hey! I see my breath!"

• The awesome carolers who come by at Christmastime to my sister's neighborhood. We just discovered them for the first time last year. How we've been missing out!

• Crock-pot cooking

• Mittens, hats and homemade scarves.

• Cold weather is always a good excuse to buy more cardigans. And you can always use more cardigans.

Sisters Make the Best Friends

I've been a younger sister for all of my life, and the thing about being a younger sister is: you think your older sister knows EVERYTHING. So now that we're finally adults and kind of on the same playing level, I'm learning that she does, in fact, have her moments of weakness.
Here's advice she's given me over the years that is absolutely, positively amazing advice and I hold myself to it:
• No horizontal stripes. Ever. Never. No way. No matter how cute it is.
• Pointy heels always look better
• It's better to be a few minutes late to an event than show up on time, looking crappy
• If I'm feeling left out of something, I need to fix it; I can't wait around to be included. I need to be outgoing.

Now here are some things that I've noticed lately about my wonderful sister that prove to me that while she's a wealth of knowledge, she doesn't know, well, everything:
• She is constantly trying to give me her dog. I like her dog, sure, but when someone's so desperate to get rid of something, it makes you wonder...
• She cannot for the life of her remember the names of TV shows. The Biggest Loser is known as America's Fattest Person. How I Met Your Mother is instead Who Wants To Be Your Mother? (to be honest, I did the same thing with the show What About Brian? - it was a stupid title - so I called it Brian's Song)
• Black pants, brown shoes. That's all I'm going to say.

So, my sister is totally awesome, and gives amazing advice. But ... she's human, too. :)

This is your Brain on Desperate

In a fit of desperation after realizing I will be one of the only people at a party without a date, I had crazy thoughts of bribing/begging people to pose as my boyfriend. You should probably know that of course there's a guy involved in this desperation (I can't believe I'm admitting this). Jennie was so entertained by my fake letters of beggary, that she wanted me to post them online. On the World Wide Web. For everyone to see. Why, oh why, am I doing this?

Dear I Anthem,
I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend. Since you will have to look extra hot to fool someone into dating me, I'm going to need you to walk around with your guitar and sometimes burst into song. But not a weird way, you know? In a rockstar/cool way.
Thanks,
Christy

Dear XXXXXX XXXXXX (most popular guy from my high school):
PLEASE fly to G'ville and act as my boyfriend, then fly home and let's not ever speak about it. Because I'm pretty sure you're kind of a jerk and will try to sleep with me. And.. you look great, but ....you're still kind of a jerk. Anyway, you'll do it, right?
Christy

Dear Simon Baker:
I'm in love with you and your show. But mostly you. Will you come to a party and pretend to be my boyfriend? You can (and must) use your God-given natural accent.
Your friend,
Christy

In the end, though, I've decided to just act like my fabulous self. Notice I said "act like" because actually being my fabulous self is probably out of the question. So I wrote down Jennie's advice, and here it is:
Slo-mo entrance. Brush hair over shoulder. Flash smile. Laugh, but not too hard. Smile, but no crazy eyes.
That should do it! I guess I'll update the blog with whatever transpires.

Que? Quoi? Was? Cosa? Co?

Here's a strange revelation: I love, love, love it when people write or say things in English, and it's painfully obvious that English is not their first language. It tickles me. And not in a "I'm laughing at this person" sort of way, but more in a "You don't even know how adorable you sound" kind of way.
For example, I sponsor two children in other parts of the world, and I frequently get letters from them, updating me on their home life, schoolwork and just general info. Here's what the letters usually sound like (the sponsor company is Compassion International, a Christian organization, if the flowery religious prose doesn't clue you in):
"Greetings, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to you, my wonderful sponsor, Christy. I pray your family and life are well doing and that God finds you happy and glory today."
I love it.
Another example: I have some friends that I met during my travels abroad. One is from Finland, and since it's been a few years since she spent time in an English-speaking country, her English is not what it was several years ago when we were roomies in Oz. An email from her sounds like this:
"I took a movie of the kangaroo about it hopping. The other movie was about the kangaroo licking. It was good movie, and happy that I am having the Christmas at this time."
I know that others feel the same way I do. I once received an email from a man that ended with "Smiles at you!" and Jennie loved the phrase so much that she uses "Smiles at you!" as her signature on her texts. If I could name this love of ESLs, I would call it the Ricky Ricardo Syndrome.
And I am infected.

Waiting waiting waiting waiting

True story: Waiting sucks. It sucks so much that I can't even be more eloquent than that. I know I have some good friends that are playing the "waiting" game right now with jobs and life events and such, and we can all agree: It sucks.
I thought about writing something deep about, like, the little blessings that pass us by while we're waiting ... or how there's a light at the end of the tunnel and when we reach it, we'll see how fulfilling the waiting period was for us. But no.
Waiting sucks.
The end.

Music and Mountains

This Labor Day weekend, Jennie and I had an awesome time rocking out and traveling. She'll probably write something about it as well, but I'm going to give an overview of the fun we had.
First, we worked the Sent by Ravens show at the Channel. Sent by Ravens is one of my favorite bands for two reasons:
•Their music rocks, and
•They are really nice, humble and friendly guys who go out of their way to have a nice conversation with us.
The highlights of the concert were that the lead singer of Sent by Ravens grabbed Jennie's head and sang into HER FACE during the concert (I have a crazy picture of this because in my excitement I was unable to zoom out, so the picture is nuts), and I got myself an unexpected hug from him. It was really fun.
The next day, we headed up to Brevard, NC where Jennie's close family friends have a house. The views of mountains and nature were absolutely breathtaking. Every angle, every peek, every stretch of sky was like a painting. We spent some restful days at the house and hiking in the mountains before returning home on Labor Day. Great weekend!

Where in the World is Jennie???

Those of you who follow us religiously - you know who you are (Anja ... Mom...), will have realized a noticeable lack of Jennie in recent days. That's because Jennie is on an adventure! Now, I'm not positive on the exact itinerary, but I can give you a good idea of what she's been doing. (It would really help me if as I described each destination you pictured a map and mentally put flags in the locations. Thanks.)
On Saturday, Jennie left from Charlotte Airport with friends (the nerve! having friends other than me.) and flew to Vermont, where they visited (among other things) the Magic Hat Brewery. Magic Hat Beer, if you don't know, is not only yummy yummy in my tummy, but it also gives really deep and thoughtful advice on the inside of the bottle cap. It's like a fortune cookie. Except beer.
From there, the group rented a car and entered the magic land of Canadia (or...Canada). They're spending most of the time in Montreal in the province of Quebec, or... Province de Qebec. Yep, that's what 5 years of French will get you, kids. Stay in school.
I can't wait to hear about Jennie's adventures! She's sure to have great stories, so Jennie - when you get back, we're waiting to hear all about it!

A Rainy 5K

My sister and I ran our first 5K together last night. It was a different kind of 5K than I'm used to, and I honestly had a tougher time than I thought I would. Here's what happened.
I think the original sign-up email had the wrong time, because until the day of the race (when I picked up my packet and spoke to my sis about it), I was under the impression that it started at 6. It didn't. It started at 5:30. When we were lining up to start, I realized I was not alone in this mistaken belief. Others jumped on the back of the line, saying with wide eyes and trembling voices, "I thought we were starting at 6!" Nope.
My sister, a born athlete, took off at the beginning of the race and I didn't glimpse her again until I was about to cross the finish line. I had hoped we would stay together, but I would have held her back, so we separated. A light rain started to fall, which almost sounds refreshing, right? Wrong. It was prickly and aimed at my eyes! How does rain aim itself? Anyway, the rain didn't last long, and the humidity built up once again.
Did I mention the race was 5:30 in the evening? Yep, it was.
The course ended a bit of a distance from the start line, and we were to take trolleys back to the baseball stadium. I have to admit, a trolley ride is always fun, so I didn't mind that one bit.
As I was about to cross the finish line, my sister came back to cheer me on. She encouraged me to sprint to the end, and she held 2 cups of water in her hands. "Do you want me to throw it on your face?" she yelled. "YES!" I screamed back. And WHAM! water in the face, up the nose, in the eyes. Ha - I asked for it!
My sister is the best.

Tweet this, Tweet that

I joined Twitter not too long ago, and I'm really enjoying a lot of things about it. I follow some of my favorite bands (hear about upcoming shows), writers (learn what life is like when you're a full-time author ... it rocks!) and folks in the publishing industry (hear helpful hints and find out what everyone's saying about certain books/authors). I also follow friends and get to keep up on things that they think are important.
I like it so much, that I feel like the only problem with it is me. I never know what to tweet about, and when I do think of something, I second-guess my decision. I think, "No one cares what I'm doing this weekend, or what I think about so-and-so." But I guess that's what Twitter is all about. People DO care, which is why everyone's on it.
I read a blog (and follow on Twitter) the CEO of a publishing company who has very strong feelings about social media in the workplace and in our lives. He is quite adamant that Twitter is here to stay, and executives MUST learn how to utilize it for their companies. He has even blogged several times about how we can use Twitter effectively. And STILL, I just feel like I'm not doing it correctly.
Any ideas, friends? I don't want to end up writing things like "I'm eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," so what are some ways to come up with insightful and interesting tweets? What are your tactics?

You say "Po-Tah-To"....

I was just discussing my love of accents with Jennie, and she suggested I write a blog. What a great idea, Jennie! Or, as my father would say, "What a great, idear!"
I know that I have some sort of an accent, now that I live in the south. Even in NJ, southern Jersey people would talk about my New York accent (it's .... not. But they're south Jersey, so what do they know?). Greenville is kind of a melting pot sort of mish-mash of accents, which is kind of nice.
But, I really really love foreign accents. So much so that I would move to a foreign country in a heartbeat if my family would relocate with me. In no particular order, here are some of my "idears" on foreign accents.
Russian = randomly attractive.
German = scary. Stop yelling at me!
French = yes. Thank you. Merci. Oui. Hot.
Australian = surfer dude hot.
Irish = you might beat me up, or meet me for tea. It's a toss up.
English = there are a million different English accents so this one's hard to tell. But I really enjoy listening to anyone with an English accent. Random trivia: every Sue I work with is British. Every British woman I work with is named Sue.
Scottish = True story: I lived with a guy from Edinborough for like 2 months, and I barely understood a word he said the entire time. But we had a mutual love of M&Ms that needs no language.
Finnish = again with the yelling. Heini, who was my roommate in Oz told me that if I heard her speaking in her language to someone (which, I did), I would always think she was arguing with them (which, I did), because they don't have the inflection or fluctuation in their tones like we have. Very interesting.
That's all I can think of right now. I also enjoy the Canadian accent (Toronto), but I think they might think I'm making fun of them because I tend to repeat words they pronounce differently. "Sorry" Degrassi. That is all.

My iDisdain for iCarly

Clearly I should not be watching this show, since I am probably close to 20 years older than the suggested demographic, but I get like 3 channels on my TV, so here we go.
If you have never seen the show before, it's about a tweenaged girl named Carly, who lives with her 20-something brother (who is also her legal guardian). She and her 2 friends have a web-show, and we are led to believe that she is "famous" or something.
Here are my problems with this show:
iCarly's older brother, Spencer, is completely irresponsible in the few episodes I've seen of this show. Carly has little to no supervision and she and her friends - who have pretty awful home lives of their own (it is basically suggested that her friend Samantha lives with an alcoholic mother who is happy to leave her daughter with her friend and said friend's 20-something brother all day and all night) - are left to their own devices to get into trouble that in real life would leave them abducted or in jail.
Here's a summation from wikipedia: "Spencer went to law school for three days, and his marginal law knowledge has occasionally proven useful to Carly and her friends, such as in the episode iPromote Techfoots, when Carly and the gang use Spencer as their lawyer to get out of a contract with Daka Shoes." Um, no. Just no. Three days of law school = almost learning your class schedule; NOT knowing anything about the law. There are actually about 40 things wrong with the plot of that episode.
One of the features of the iCarly show is that viewers email in requests to see iCarly and her friend Samantha (Sam) do crazy things online. Some of the requests that I've seen: a male viewer requested close-ups of Carly and Sam sticking their tongues out as far as they could go. Another viewer requested that Carly and Sam dress up in cheerleader uniforms and wrestle each other with foam-covered bats. Does anyone else find this incredibly inappropriate? Do I just have a dirty mind here? I ... don't think so. Perhaps if the children had proper supervision they would not be made pawns in the perverse world of online predators.
My next issue is with Miranda Cosgrove, herself. The girl cannot speak any line at a normal decibal level. She yells everything.
And finally ... I have had it (HAD! IT!) with all of the Disney stars trying to be singers. It's one thing if the kid already has talent (ahem, Zac Efron) or the plan was to be a singer all along (ahem, Miley/Hannah). But why - why?! - do all Disney stars have to be singers, too? I'm looking at you, too, Mitchell Musso. Some people should just act. And some people shouldn't even do that. Miranda Cosgrove is a pretty girl, but she is not a singer. She cannot even keep rhythm to her own song.
Watch the music video here.

Feeling Good is Overrated

well, I'm just kidding about that title of course, but sometimes the work that goes into feeling good can make me wonder if it's all worth it (answer: yes). I'm having these musings because I'm now into the fourth week of my half-marathon training, and I've gotta tell you: I feel amazing. I am energized throughout the day. I've started waking up earlier. I'm even getting on the right sleep schedule. I just feel so alive! But here's what must happen for me to feel this way:
I wake up at 5:50 or 6:00 (or - gasp! - 5:30 on my early work weeks), throw on some clothes, drive over to my sister's neighborhood where she bullies me into running anywhere from 2 to 3 miles. (It will soon be 4. Yikes.) Then I drive my tired butt home and get ready for the day. I do this four times during the week, which means there is 1 day where I get to "sleep in" until 7. Then on Saturdays - those glorious Saturdays for which I used to plan to get up mid morning, make a huge breakfast for myself and sip coffee while I read a book (yeah, never happened, but I had PLANS) - I instead get up at 6:30 AGAIN, and go for a run that grows 1 mile each week. This Saturday, my sis and I are running 5 miles. On Sundays, I really get to sleep in - until 9 or so.
So it's tiresome to me to do all of this, but the benefits are there. I think in another few weeks I'll feel even more amazing (I better! I'll be running, like, 4-10 miles per day!), so it will be even more clear that I'm doing something good for myself. So I'm just complaining a little bit, because it's too good to go back to my lazy past. And my second half marathon is going to go better than my first. And 2 half marathons is a great accomplishment. Looking forward to it!
So - hey, anyone want in? We meet at the crack of dawn at my sister's house! Join us.

Happy Day, Earth!

It's Earth Day today! In honor of the day, I am motivated to make an environmentally-friendly change in my life. I already recycle and use a happy canvas bag for my lunch everyday, and I use the squiggly happy lights for my light bulbs ... so I'm looking for something else.
•I can supposedly help stop junk mail (which takes up probably 50% of the stuff I recycle, by the way) by writing to some place in New York, so I'll definitely be doing that.
•I have a crazy amount of plastic bags at home, and there are places to recycle them at work, so I'll bring them in.
•I wonder if I can covertly start a compost pile at my condo.... Probably not. But that would be fun! And I bet others would be interested. Or I'd just be the crazy lady who brings it up at all of the meetings.
Any other ideas for Earth Day fun?

The Murtaugh List

I’ve been inspired by the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother to create my own Murtaugh List of things I am too old for. Now, I know that a lot of people like to think that we’re only as old as we feel, and that’s true to a certain extent, but these are the things I’m just not feelin’ anymore.
I am too old for:
• staying up mad late without sleeping in.
• wearing a high-cut skirt with a low-cut shirt. There’s a thin line here. Because most people are either too old or too young for this. Prostitutes, though; they’re fine with this ensemble at any age.
• drinking more than 3 beers within a 24-hour period.
• playing a computer game for more than a half hour at a time.
• eating a lot of candy/chocolate instead of a meal. i.e. M&Ms for dinner. Too old.
• letting myself get “bullied” into anything. Not only am I too old to do something I don’t want to do, but life’s too short.
• acting stupid in front of strangers. I think I do this a decent amount by accident, though ☺
I guess that’s about it. Suggestions?

Candy! Honey! How Many Times Have I Told You?!

Okay, so Jennie and I have a favorite family. They are the Clacks. Jennie and I do our best to try to be part of the family, whether they want us or not. They are loads of fun. There are 9 kids in the family, and I can correctly identify all of them at this point. They have super fun parties at their house (like the Oscars party where I won the “Yes, you are a hippie” award. Thank you, thank you). And, one of the things that enhances their coolness factor: half of them have awesome red hair (ranging from bright red to strawberry blonde).
Jennie L O V E S their hair and often walks up to whatever Clack is closest to her, puts her head really close to theirs, and says to me, “Christy, how do I get this color?”
So, last night, we were hanging out with (almost all of the) Clack ladies, and Jennie did this to Cindy’s wonderful dark red hair. And Cindy said to her, “You can drag me into a salon, and show them my hair, but they’re just going to say to you ‘CANDY! HONEY! How many times have I told you?! You can’t get that color from a bottle!!” Apparently, this has been done to Cindy before, and the woman (Candy), got that response from her hairdresser/husband.
Well, Jennie and I were in hysterics at that story. Do not be surprised when we bust out with “Candy! Honey! …” when we’re trying to emphasize a point.

Happiness is Hippies

If you ever saw me on the street and wondered to yourself, “Who is that hippie walking down the street?” you would …be wondering that about someone other than me.
I do not look like a hippie, and yet I call myself a hippie all the time. Why? I’m so glad you asked.
I enjoy the whole peace & love way of life of hippies. And, when I remember to fix my attitude, I try my hardest to be a peaceful and loving person. I am shocked (SHOCKED!) by gratuitous violence and gore. I want to faint at the merest suggestion of pain. I want to think about bluebirds and happy songs all day long. And mostly, I want to enjoy a nice, cold beer at Smiley’s. That’s all I want. And it’s all I want for others, too!
If I could make my own clothes, I would. But for now, I settle for discovering awesome gems for 99¢ lb. at the Goodwill. And yet, I still don’t look hippie. Although, if there’s a skirt with butterflies on it, I own it. That’s kind of hippie.
I actually feel like hippie-ness goes hand in hand with my faith as a Christian (well, at least, the aspects of hippie-ness that I’m choosing). In fact, in 2 Peter, we are told to complement our basic faith with: good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience (yikes! That one is hard for me), reverent wonder, warm friendliness and generous love.
Isn’t it sad to think that someone who embodied all of these qualities might be more closely identified as a hippie than a Christian in today’s society?