Be There and Make a Square

A friend from college is getting married this summer. He is Jewish, and he and his bride will get married under a chuppah. Evidently it's currently popular to involve friends and relatives in the creation of the chuppah as a visible way to represent their love and support as a couple begins their married life.

They sent out these squares and requested that we decorate them and send them back.  The bride's mother will then turn them into a quilt. I'm really curious to see the results when it's all assembled.  I had fun designing the square and then embroidering it during travel and down time in December.

I chose to embroider the square with a comet because that is our college mascot. J + J are the initials of the happy couple, and that's their wedding date.  SFC are my initials.  The color scheme is a bit of a nod to our school as well.

I learned a fair amount about Judaism from this friend, who I dated for quite a while. That was actually an important part of my path to the Orthodox Church. It led me to realize how much ritual speaks to me, and to acknowledge the importance of having guidance on how to lead a Godly life, even for such simple things as choosing what we eat. I'm really grateful for that experience, and wish many years to the engaged couple.

Spring Break

James was on Spring Break last week, so we took a little weekend trip to a popular spring break destination. The weather was beautiful.  We frolicked on the beach, enjoyed some fine dining, saw the sights, and did a little celebrity watching.

Oh, wait, actually we went to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Weather? It rained the whole weekend.  But at least it didn't snow!  Beach? We didn't even think to bring swimsuits to take advantage of the hotel pool. Fine dining? We had Chinese food, which is kind of a treat for us, anyway. We also went to Burger King. Did you know they have veggie burgers?  I hadn't been there in years, and I had forgotten. Burger King was one of the highlights of our trip, actually, since we got to spend a leisurely lunch talking with Emily and Ben while their kids played in the playground.  So Burger King gets five stars from me.

And sights? Yes, there were certainly sights to see.  We got to attend the Opening of the Doors for St. John Chrysostom's beautiful new building, as well as the first Divine Liturgy celebrated in their temple. Celebrities?  His Grace Bishop MARK was presiding. Through a confluence of events the year we were Chrismated, James and I saw His Grace in so many different cities, that he joked upon seeing us after the fourth or fifth place, "Here come my groupies."

OK, so not a beach vacation at a popular spring break destination, but a still a lovely little spring break. The Opening of the Doors was joyous. It was wonderful to attend during Lent, since I can't help but anticipate hearing the same dialog from Psalm 24 on Pascha and thus being reminded of Our Lord breaking the gates of Hades and His victory over death.

You can read about the Opening of the Doors and see more of the sights at Emily's blog.  And the first two pictures are from a trip that James and I took a couple of years ago to the San Francisco Bay area.

Roommate Reunion

For my junior and senior years of college, I shared a four bedroom apartment with three other girls. Almost ten years later, we are now scattered far and wide. We had last all gotten together three years ago in Dallas, where we went to school. One of the roomies still lives in the metroplex, another has lived in Germany since graduation, and the third is in the foreign service. She has spent the past three years in India, and is now back in the US for a stint in DC. With me here in the Midwest, you can see why we don't get together very frequently.


This past weekend they all converged here for a long weekend at my house in Indiana. We had a wonderful time, although it was the hottest it's been in this unusually cool summer. They arrived late Thursday evening and we stayed up talking until four in morning. We had a lot to catch up on, and we just couldn't stop! Naturally, we slept in on Friday, and then went out to lunch at a local market that I love. It has a focus on local foods, and features locally made gelato and sorbetto, a big draw for an ice cream lover like me. We then went to the Children's Museum, since as far as I'm concerned that's a can't miss for first-time visitors to Indianapolis. Plus, we got to see the King Tut exhibit. We had so much fun. It was a great time to visit the museum since most Indiana kids had gone back to school, so it wasn't very busy. We actually had the King Tut exhibit virtually to ourselves.

The next day, I snuck away for Dormition Liturgy while they slept in again. We wandered around in Zionsville in the afternoon, checking out the little shops, and topped it off with ice cream at Trader's Point Creamery. I didn't ask them if I could post their pictures here, so below is a barn at TPC. I love going there: for one, the ice cream is out of this world; the farmer's market on Friday is great, with lots of organic produce and foods; plus, it's fun to see the cows and chickens. I think they all really enjoyed it as well. Afterward, we went back to my house, played cards and relaxed, and made dinner.


Coking together was just like old times. One night we made veggie fajitas with homemade pico de gallo and guacamole, which was delicious and easy with all those hands to do the chopping. My sweetie grilled up the veggies for us--he was such a great host. He gave us plenty of space for girl time, but was really helpful and fun when he joined in. The next night we made pizza, which was also yummy, but wow, we were worn out at that point! All that catching up can be exhausting. We talked non-stop the whole weekend. Thankfully, we'll all get to see each other next summer when our German roommate gets married. I'm sure that will be even more of a whirlwind, but I'm glad to be able to look forward to seeing them all again so soon.