First thought: Around 3pm today, upon our first venture outside, Jeremy noted, “It’s not that cold out.” And I thought he was kind of silly. But he was right. 18 degrees — a heatwave!

Second thought: Snow stained yellow by dog pee disgusts me. I know dogs have to urinate. I know it must color the snow yellow. Nonetheless, ew.

Is anyone else looking forward to seeing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”? It looks very odd, but potentially very good.

I’d call her from my room at my parents’ house: “Charity! How are you???”

“Hi Rebecca! Wait a minute… Shhhh, guys! I’m on the phone.” (Laughter, excited girly voices yelling in the background.) She’d either quiet them down, or move away from the noise, and then we’d catch up.

I was in Nebraska for my freshman year at the university and Charity was in Georgia, at Covenant College — the school I always thought I’d attend. Turns out, the Lord had different plans! It was those phone conversations with my good friend, and countless newsy letters, that persuaded me to head down to Covenant for my sophomore year. She had something I was definitely missing at that time… a sense of community, and strong female friendships.

Friends are profoundly important.

I would love for someone to write a book (or even an article!) on How to Make Friends in the Post-College Years. In high school you don’t even realize how many hours are spent in community with others of similar interests. Yes, many of us couldn’t stand the classmates we were stuck with for weeks on end. But overall, high school is a good time for meeting people of similar interests. College can be both very lonely and very stimulating at the same time. Though UNL was not a nurturing environment for me, it forced me to make decisions that proved helpful in creating fantastic friendships. (In a somewhat related vein, I met my future husband during my solitary freshman year — so I count that as a year well spent!) Then, at Covenant College, I quickly met and bonded with the girls on my hall; two were bridesmaids in my wedding the following summer. And even at Missouri Baptist College, where I spent my last three years of undergraduate work, I met great women who I continue to count as friends today. Those were the easy days…

Now things are a bit tougher. Other than coworkers, it’s not simple to meet and become friends with people at all. Friendships develop over time… It’s a rare occasion to meet someone and bond with them instantly. (However, if you are Lou Karre, it just might work! I loved Lou from the get-go.) All this to say that I am profoundly grateful for the friendships, new and old, that I enjoy today. I love my friends. I live for my friends. They build me up, tear me down when necessary, support and encourage me. They bring amazing amounts of light into my days and I consider myself blessed by them. Praise the Lord for friends. (Cue cheesy Michael W. Smith song, And friends are friends forever…)

We have beautiful old stained-glass windows at Zion Church. As my flash is in disrepair, I snapped this picture from the inside of the building on a lovely summer day. I am dreaming of warm summer days…

The days seems to be moving by quickly this week, and I haven’t had much time to find creative inspiration. But I do want to drop a few of my Oscar thoughts onto the blog…

I have seen two, only two, films nominated for Best Picture and one is The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I was quite thrilled that ROTK receieved 11 nominations — very cool! As one who adores the behind-the-scenes dvd extras on the Lord of the Rings series, I have great respect for all hands that were involved in this phenomenal trilogy — and you can bet your socks I’ll be cheering for the entire cast and crew come Oscar night. Peter Jackson deserves Best Director for his monumental undertaking and terrific direction. However… After I’ve seen the other films, I may not be so sure about the Best Director category.

The other movie I’ve seen is Seabiscuit. It’s beautifully shot, and actually spurred me to watch the end of a horse race on ABC last Saturday, but overall I wasn’t hugely impressed. Sorry.

Other Oscar thoughts… Yay for Johnny Depp’s nomination! I’m thrilled that the Oscars are recognizing comedies this year. And though I did like Pirates of the Caribbean, I don’t think this was Johnny’s most amazing performance ever (even though it was a lot of fun). Perhap the Oscars are just finally awarding his fine acting abilities. I am extremely excited that Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for Whale Rider — I’d love it if she won. Blah to Diane Keaton… Haven’t seen the movie, but really, is she that impressive in it? I could go on and on with my opinions, but they aren’t worth much as I haven’t seen most of the films yet.

So, my goal is to get to the movie theaters and catch the following flicks:
House of Sand and Fog
Lost in Translation
Mystic River
21 Grams
The Last Samurai
In America
Master and Commander
Considering that many movies have already cycled through Lincoln’s Douglas Theatres, I have my work cut out for me. Boo to living in the middle of this country and not having great access to movies.

Leaving my front door, I discovered a surprise under all the snow by the porch…

…the last, concrete step.

Truly, this is the largest snowfall I’ve had to scoop yet in my days of homeownership. The bottom step wasn’t even noticeable under the 12-18″ covering my yard. I alternated between laughter and cursing on the front pathways of my lot, and between each enormous shovelful I discovered the reason why most adults don’t go for playful romps in the snow… They scoop it!

Scooping is actually kind of fun. I have the perfect yard size for enjoyable scooping — any larger and I would definitely have bad attitude issues. It’s the wind that makes things a little unpleasant and the blowing ice that tells me, “No, you really don’t want to lay down and create a snow angel. You’ve done enough. Now go inside and enjoy a hot drink.” Ah, the prairie winds. Winter just wouldn’t be winter without frigid, blowing snow.

You know how older people tend to talk about the weather a lot? Well, I guess I’m getting old…

Today was beautiful out — the sun was shining and the temp soared to 60 fantastic degrees. Granted, it was from within the confines of my office that I watched the afternoon sail by, but still! 60 degrees in January! tsk, tsk… Such a cruel trick.

The little girl and her dog across the street sit frozen in time and temperature. I feel kind of sorry for them… always stuck in the elements, as cruel or as beautiful as they can be. She sits in a sad place now; a bare bones park with knotty tree limbs and dead grass. Plus the Parks and Rec guys just installed an ugly-looking blue water fountain (why not green, boys?), so she now she has that to contend with as well. But worry not, Dorothy or whatever your name is, because we aren’t that far from spring. The days are already getting longer, the sun is setting later, and one more winter month is almost complete.

At Dorothy’s feet is the yellow brick road. Only, it’s not yellow and it’s really a little winding path. But it is the result of a wonderful neighborhood association project — and shows how Jeremy and I intend to put down roots in the South Salt Creek area. See there? That’s our brick. Pretty cool, huh?

(I am so NOT a web person! Let me just say that a simple blog entry turns quite ugly when a word-lover such as myself needs to figure out 3/4 of 450. Yes, this may be simple arithmetic for some of you. But for me, the biggest moron ever to take Discrete Math in high school, it burned many a brain cell. Not to mention my troubles with HTML’s vspaces and hspaces and border widths…)

Reading: Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, Douglas Brinkley. This book just grabbed my eye at the library (I’m still on this war kick) and has subsequently given me interest in the Democratic bid for the presidency.

Laughing: While watching The Station Agent with Charity and Karen last night. Fantastic film. There were so many quotable moments that I wanted to remember — and can’t. I loved the relationships, especially the play of introvert vs. extrovert. Go see this movie.

Cringing: At auditions of American Idol wannabes… And at the judges responses to their terrible performances. Don’t let the cringing fool you. I love to watch.

Ignoring: The need to kick sweets out of my diet. I was doing sooo good about skipping desserts prior to my birthday at the start of December. Then it all went downhill… Three birthday cakes, Christmas cookies and snacks, and now I’m back in the wonderful world of sucrose. Need. To. Quit. Now.

Watching: “Friends” and “ER” quite faithfully. Reality shows are still my favorite, but unless I get Tivo power (that would be fantastic!) I won’t be watching them on a regular basis. It just gets pretty pathetic when you have to tell someone, “No. I can’t hang out on Tuesday because of (fill in the blank).” People are more important than television (repeat three times to self when craving American Idol, Survivor, other).

Feeling: Ready for spring! Ever since I got a Burpee seed catalog in the mail a few weeks ago I’ve been been itching to plant my garden. I also received a very very cool vase from my brother Adam and his girlfriend Kristin for Christmas which I am dying to fill with fresh flowers. Oh for warm weather and warm breezes, rocking on my front porch (when I get a new rocker that is), barbecuing dinner and taking evening walks…

Eating: Indian food from a jar. Open Harvest sells Pataki food products (I think that’s the correct name) that taste pretty good. Indian dishes made from fresh ingredients can’t be rivalled, but the stuff I ate last night was pretty yummy… and a heck of a lot cheaper than going to The Oven.

Drinking: Sleepytime tea. With a description like this (ripped from celestialseasonings.com), who wouldn’t? “Sleepytime Herb Tea, a comforting blend of chamomile and spearmint, creates a lullaby of tender flavor to soothe your senses. This 100% natural, gentle cup of hot tea lets you curl up under a quilt of flavor and quiet the tensions of your world. The part of your day shared with Sleepytime is like coming home to find a friend waiting for you by the fire. There’s no calm like the sigh from the spirit when you take this moment for rest and reflection … there’s no time like Sleepytime.”

Attempting: To find balance in my days. I’m learning that there are activities I have to do, activities I want to do, and activities I like to do but don’t have time for. Balancing all these “wants” and “shoulds” can be challenging. I suppose it’s all part of the Grand Experience we call Life.

Today is cold… Nebraska cold. We’re finally getting around to that degree of chilliness that has you racing from house to car, from car to work, so on. The kind of bitter winds that freeze the hairs in your nose and make your eyes tear violently. But up until this point we have enjoyed amazingly mild weather along with two beautiful snowfalls. So really I’ve got nothing to complain about (I say, as I pull on thick socks and forgo cute hats and coats for the not-so-charming, truly warm ones).

The cold factor outdoors makes indoors the perfect place to curl up and never leave (which is why many of my winter nights are delightly spent at home!). I love burning candles for coziness and boiling hot water to fill mugs with tea or cocoa. I love the warmth of our electric heater and the companionship of my husband and a good book. I love our fluffy down comforter and the clean smell of sheets from the dryer. Basically, I’m a 5’9” hobbit.

Photo explanation… Before Christmas I was asked to take digital pictures of my neighbor-friends. It was really fun to take shots of them throwing snowballs, peeking around trees, on a park bench, etc. The final shots of the afternoon were taken from their upper back porch. Deep in the snow, a remnant of warm evenings from summer past, was this wine bottle. I unearthed it, looked for a nice shot, then in the dying light took a picture of these laughing snow angels.

My dear, patient husband showed me how to upload photos to my blog tonight. And in doing so, he showed great understanding for my learning style, which requires the hands-on, direct application approach. If I’m not sitting in the driver’s seat (the office chair) and actually completing a process myself, I just might not learn it. So a big THANK YOU goes out to Jeremy Tredway tonight who had to pause his Blockbuster rental, not one, but two times to straighten me out.

This Random Slideshow was built in response to renewed correspondence with an old friend today. She asked to see pictures and this is the outcome… for now… One last word about my digital photos. I learned that my flash was broken at this moment, thus indoor pictures are now few and far between for good reason. Donations to the New Camera Fund are always welcome.