Rosie in her Christmas dress.

Rosie (little girl I babysit) and her mommy.

To Whom It Concerns, My Name Is Alison

I have had...a day today. I decided my feelings about the day might best be expressed in drama form. Enjoy.

Scene: A cold, windy, dark Chicago early evening with a young woman standing on a sidewalk waiting to cross a busy street with no crosswalk lights. It's damp, with ice.

Said woman is shivering, hoping the stoplights on either side of the area will turn the right combination of red/yellow soon. A city bus is coming, slows down, and stops.

Said woman waves a thank you, and begins to cross street. As she reaches the middle, the oncoming car also stops. She begins to cross the other side of the street when...

Bus Driver, leaning out of open bus window and says: Hey pretty Momma!

Woman turns around, realizes bus driver is 'hollering' at her, and waves another thank you while saying: Thanks - have a good day.

Woman, aka Pretty Momma, crosses the rest of street and fades into the darkness.

Later that evening....

Woman is sitting on bed, with laptop, pulling up her online class. She has a group project and wants to see what her part of the assignment is going to be.

Project laptop screen on backdrop to see the name Andrea listed several times in the thread titles on the discussion board for group of four people.

Woman: Hmmm....my group is Cynthia, Bert, Sarah and Kate. It looks like Kate's our facilitator this week and posted what she wants us to do. Wait....there's no Andrea in our group. Maybe the professor shifted the groups and added someone....

Woman, after pause: Wait a minte, I don't see my name, Alison

Alison, after another pause, with a look of shock on her face: I think she means me when she says 'Andrea.' Wow. It's not like she hasn't seen/used my name multiple times in the past. To even get to our discussion board, you have to go past a list of our names, and my name's at the top bc both my names start with the first two letters of the alphabet...geesh.

Close laptop, fade out.

Bfast for the Girl On-The-Go

I've never been a big fan of smoothies. I love fruit, I love yogurt, so I should love smoothies. But I don't. I think it's the texture - I don't want to drink chunks. This is also the reason why I don't love the oatmeal cookie latte at a coffee shop in Lincoln Square - who wants to drink oats in their coffee? Not this girl.

I have been quasi-restricted to liquids the past few days because of some tooth issues. BOO!!! But I have an appt to get it all taken care of this Wed afternoon. I have had to get creative with finding non-boring ways to get calories and nutrients in my system (namely protein) and try to stay full so that I don't get light-headed, etc. I created a smoothie that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

I dumped the fruit (not juice) of an entire can of peaches or pears, about a half a cup to cup of vanilla yogurt and some milk into a blender. Then I added about five/six spoonfuls of the juice from the can. The canned fruit completely mixes with the yogurt/milk and isn't chunky. YUM!!! I can drink it through a straw.

This morning I put about a half a cup of cinnamon apple sauce, 3/4 to a cup of vanilla yogurt and some milk into a water bottle, shook it up, threw in a straw and viola!!!! Another tasty smoothie. If you like apple pie and ice cream, I promise you'll love this smoothie.

First Dates Make Me Cynical

I've had some doozies of first dates. I won't go into many details, but if you must know...ask Amy, Erin or Maegen/Traci.

Last night I had a first date that restored my faith that there are, in fact, good ones out there. =)

He was very thoughtful, old-fashioned, and all about how "nobody communicates anymore, and he doesn't agree with that." (Did I just hear a collective sigh from all the single girls out there? ;) I didn't pay for a thing (not that it's about that) and he even wanted to put me in a pre-paid cab for my ride home from downtown because he didn't want me riding the L by myself that late at night. (I ended up on the L because I don't think it's necessary to spend the cab fare it would have taken, versus the $2 for the train.)

But it's the thought that counts, and my faith was restored that there are still good men looking for good women out there, and that it takes patience to find them.

Happy Thanksgiving

Americans Enjoying Thanksgiving Tradition Of Sitting Around At Airport

I am

I Am
by Lisa Orris and Marti Burger
Evangelical Covenant Church

(This was written for youth, but has such important stuff in it.)

I am more than my body.
I am more than my current relationships.
I am more than the latest hype.
I am more than my personal best.
I am more than my latest performance.
I am more than my parents think I am.
I am more than my GPA.
I am more than my last mistake.
I am more than airbrushed perfection.
I am more than my latest crush.
I am more than my ACT/SAT scores.
I am more than...

I am more because of
I AM
God said to Moses, "I-Am-Who-I-Am. Tell the People of Israel,'I-am sent me to you.'" Edodus 3:14

Evangelism Takes All Form

I'm currently sitting a Panera, doing some work on a class I'm guest lecturing tomorrow at North Park (yay! I love guest lecturing!) and I'm sitting next to a pastor visiting with a man in his 60s or 70s. He's evangelizing and coaching him on a relationship he's having with a woman. I love that evangelism takes all forms, has no set rules, and can happen anywhere. They're even talking about 'kids today' and how this guy in his 60s/70s prefers the candor of teens who are people of color rather than the passive aggressive 'lies' of 'the white kids.'

While I'm not intending to eavesdrop, I am enjoying listening to this pastor speak to this man.