I gave a speech earlier today at an organization and had to share something.  The speech was in the little cafeteria and tables filled up as people sat down and snacked on the food provided.  I didn’t sit at the tables that were already full but sat at a table near the front by myself figuring people would join me.  Let’s just say it felt like hours before anyone sat down next to me.  I got a lot of stares and inquisitive looks, but no one felt brave or curious enough to sit down next to me.  Finally, a brave soul named Deanna sat down and struck up a conversation.  She was great.  She restored my faith in adults being able to behave like adults and not like children.

Maybe I’m being too hard on these folks, but, I don’t think so.  I’m a normal, healthy, non-smelly person and if they had this much trouble sitting next to and talking to me, who else do they not feel comfortable talking to and including?  It got me to thinking about times when I have been at an event and haven’t talked to someone who was alone.  So, I challenge you: next time you are at a conference, meeting, church, event, etc. where you are in a group and you see someone alone, be brave and talk to them…chances are they won’t bite and they will appreciate your kindness.  Be like Deanna.

I feel it is my responsibility to inform others of good Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food when I come across it.  I have been fortunate enough to have two such discoveries as of late.

1. Santorini.  My parents were in town this past weekend and so they took my brother and I out for brunch on Sunday.  Since my brother lives out in the Western suburbs, we decided to look for something out there.  We tried to go to Outback in Eden Prairie, but unfortunately, it was closed.  So, we needed to find something else.  We crossed to the other side of Hwy 5 and discovered Santorini.  It would be hard to miss.  It is a ginormous blue and white Greek Restaurant.  We were delighted to discover that they have a Sunday brunch buffet. It was probably about $18 per person, so a little expensive (thanks Mom and Dad!), but it was worth it.  They had a large selection of American and Greek breakfast/lunch options.  They had an entire table full of salads, for example.  And, they had tasty lamb (and other meat) dishes and yummy sauces to enjoy. So, if you find yourself in the Western Suburbs some Sunday and need a place for brunch, I’d recommend it.  http://www.santorinimn.com/restaurant.html

2. Some new place in Dinktytown.  I wish I could remember the name.  I can tell you it is a few doors North of Espresso Royale on 14th Avenue.  It is a little Middle Eastern deli that serves good cheap falafel, shawarma, salads, etc.  A deluxe falafel sandwich was $3.99.  Ummm, amazing.  My friend Sarah and I visited there for lunch today and were given free dessert compliments of the chef (pays to be a girl sometimes!)  So, if you find yourself in Dinkytown and are looking for good cheap lunch, I’d check this place out.  Again, sorry I can’t remember the name…just look for falafel written somewhere on the awning.  Enjoy!

We have been blessed with some unseasonably nice weather the past few days.  I took the liberty to take a couple of walks today and here are some photos from around town.  It has been a great day to be in Minneapolis!

My heart is broken after reading these three articles in the paper today.  These are just three of the articles describing violence against women, two of whom were killed by their attackers.   Not ok.   

1. A young Iraqi woman in Arizona dies after her Father runs her over for being too Westernized.  What is referred to as an ”honor killing.”

http://www.startribune.com/nation/68710142.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr

2. A 15-year old girl is gang raped in California for almost 2 hours while as many as 20 people watched without calling police.  There is only one word for this: EVIL. 

http://www.startribune.com/nation/68868127.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiacyKUUr

3. A 67 year old woman in St. Paul is killed in her home and her husband is the suspect. 

 http://www.startribune.com/local/68843222.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUT

For the past few weeks, usually when I have given a speech at a business or organization, there has been a representative from another organization there which  is also in the midst of their fundraising campaign.  This other organization is similar to ours, but is smaller and represents agencies that work primarily with chronic health issues…lupus, breast cancer, diabetes, etc.  Most recently, the woman who spoke at one of the same meetings as I represented the Brain Injury Association.  Her story was really touching and very much hit home for me.  She is in her late 20s and told us how at the beginning of 2008, everything in her life was wonderful.  She was a newlywed, she had her dream job and life just felt great.  Well, unfortunately, things changed a bit.  While shovelling the driveway on February 4, 2008 she fell and hit the back of her head on the ice…hard.  She was unconscious for fifteen minutes and her brain began to swell.  She said that over the next few weeks/months she went down an “Alice in Wonderland” like hole as her brain ceased working as it always had.  To make matters worse, she had a second fall two months after her first which setting any progress and recovery back that much further.  Today, over a year and a half later, she has gained back a lot of her abilities: she was able to get her driver’s license back, she can work, she can carry on conversation.  But, she still has a lot of challenges: her memory doesn’t work all that well, her eyesight is less than before, she gets horrible migraines, etc.  But, overall, she seems content…she is making it through.

I share this because though I often think about/talk about my accident, I often forget just how fortunate I am.  My accident happened just five days after this other woman’s and to hear about her accident and the challenges she’s had to face, I don’t know if I could have handled them.  When I think of how incredibly well I am doing in comparison to how differently I could be doing, I almost get chills.  I am extremely blessed. 

I mention all of this for a couple of reasons.  1. My job is ending soon.  I knew all along that it was a temporary position, but I really do wish it could continue.  It has been the dream job in terms of enjoying what I’m doing, enjoying my co-workers and having an awesome schedule.  But, all good things must come to an end, so they say.  So, that mean’s I’m back to the job-search.  Grrrrr!  2. I just found out my health insurance is being cancelled at the end of this month.  Turns out I make too much money to be on the subsidized plan I’m on…which is now really funny since I’ll be unemployed in a few weeks.  Lovely…

Let’s just say that the two reasons I just mentioned above are causing me a bit of stress at the moment.  I really dread going through the job search/unemployment process…again.  I really want to find a job sooner than later.  And, the idea of having no health insurance, especially given my history, isn’t all the fun.  Let’s just say I’ve been giving God some ultimatums as of late.  “Lord, you’d better find me a job…quickly!”  Maybe not that brash, but, close to it. 

This morning in church, the Old Testament reading came from Job 2: 1-10.  I wish I knew how that guy did it…how he stayed so steadfast in the face of incessant adversity. 

   ¹Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. ²The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” ³The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” ⁴Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.⁵“However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” ⁶So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.” ⁷Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. ⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” ¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

This was just the beginning of his hardships.  Little did he know that essentially EVERYTHING in his life would be taken from him and yet, he still didn’t curse God.  He believed that we should be willing to accept both the good and the bad from God and trust that he knows best.  Wow.  Let’s just say that was the lesson I needed to hear today.  And, I’m sure I’ll need to hear it again tomorrow.  God has been so good to me and along with his blessings, sometimes I need to be willing to accept his silence.  Who knows, I may be offered a job in the next couple of weeks, but, I may not.  Regardless of what happens, may I continue to believe as Job did and be willing to accept whatever comes my way…remembering God’s faithfulness in the past and looking with hope that he will guide me to the future.  (I sure do hope I don’t get the boils, though).

So, Nashville was great!  It was a blast to see Jess and Abbs (Jess was an awesome hostess and tour guide!), it was fun to see some more of Nashville and it was fun to be in a place that was a bit warmer and dryer than Minnesota.  PLUS, we had a little star sighting, which was awesome.

So, shortly after Jess picked us up from the airport on Friday afternoon, we went to this hip little coffee shop called Fido.  She said that she had seen Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman there recently and that they are often seen at various places around town.  She said, “they love it here because people just leave them alone.”  Abbs and I commented that it would be awesome if we had the chance to see them while we were in town. 

Now, I should probably add here that I Love Keith Urban.  He’s pretty dreamy in my book (despite that whole being married with child thing).  If you were to ask me who I’d “most like to be serenaded by” (not quite sure why you’d ask me that), but if you did, I’d respond with Keith Urban. 

So, back to the story.  Friday night Jess took us to a restaurant called J. Alexanders (I guess there are a few of them around Nashville).  There was a bit of a wait so we hung out in the bar area and enjoyed an appetizer while we waited.  The bar area has windows on one side which face the parking lot and we were standing next to the windows looking out.  We were just standing there, enjoying AMAZING queso dip, when all of a sudden I looked up and realized Nicole and Keith were walking out of the entrance into the parking lot accompanied by another couple.  They were literally six feet away from us, only separated by the glass.  I think I just shouted to Jess and Abbs, “Oh my gosh! It’s Nicole and Keith!”  Then, I think I cupped my hand over my mouth the way you do when you’re shocked about something…and, I may have even pointed at them.  The best part of the story is that they could totally see through the glass.  Oops. I don’t think Nicole noticed because she was further away from the building but I’m pretty sure Keith saw me and looked at me and started to chuckle when he saw my reaction.  Yeah…I definitely failed at playing it cool.  But, at least I got the guy to laugh, so, that’s a good thing, right?! And, by the way, she is beautiful in person (even though she was dressed super casually) and he is quite the looker.   Jess won “the best tour guide ever” award for giving us the chance to see them our first night there!   

Here a couple more photos from our weekend.  Fun times!   

I wish I could speed up time sometimes.  I am heading to Nashville tomorrow to spend the weekend with some of my friends from grad school who I haven’t seen in quite some time…and I can’t wait!  Jess lives in Nashville and I last saw her in April of 2007 and Abby lives in Jacksonville and I haven’t seen her since we graduated, so almost 4 years ago!  Crazy!  I can’t wait to see those ladies, see some of the sights of Nashville (I’ve been there once, but didn’t get to see too much) and escape the grey snow/rain mix we are supposed to get this weekend up here.  Boo.  Now, I don’t think it will be balmy down there per se, but, I think it will be a bit warmer than here. Plus, they are supposed to have sunshine on Saturday and Sunday which will be a welcome change.  Now, Jess is from Nashville and so I know she has plenty of ideas up her sleeves, but if you have any ideas of “must see/do” things in Nashville, let me know!

I’ve recently finished the first three books in the Mitford series by Jan Karon.  This is a series of charming “gentle fiction” (as one of the reviewers called it) novels about a little Southern village called Mitford and the musings of the middle-aged town priest, Father Tim.  I’m about thirty years too young to be reading them, but, they are just super cozy easy reads and perfect for before bed. Well as fun as it has been, I’m taking a break from the charm and jumping into the book Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  It was recommended by three different people and so I felt I had to read it.  It is about a Somali woman, who eventually lived in the Netherlands and then the US, speaking out about the pain of living under the banner of cultural and religious fundamentalism.  Her life has been full of hardship that those of us who live in the West probably couldn’t even dream of.  It has been fascinating so far.  So, if anyone is looking for something to read right now, and you don’t mind it being a bit intense, I recommend picking it up…that way we can discuss it!

Fall is in full swing (and some would even argue winter is here since we had snow the other day)!  The cooler weather reminds me that the Holidays will be here before we know it.  For those of you who are on the ball and are starting to think about your Christmas cards, I wanted to put in a plug for my friend who runs a business designing photo cards.  My friends Renee and Jon have a little business called Photo Card Design.  Many of you probably remember my fun Christmas card photo with my roommate Lisa a few years ago…I STILL meet people who say “you’re the girl from that Christmas card…that was awesome!”    And, while our card was unique in that it involved a photo shoot and a lot of Photoshop, all of the cards that Renee puts together are fantastic and are more original than what Kodak or any of the other services can offer you (in my opinion, at least).  And, she can do more than just Holiday cards…if you are looking for a fun birth announcement, party invitation, Save the Date card or anything else, she’s your lady.  Here is a link to her site…pass it on!  http://www.photocarddesign.com.

 Oh, and she can work with you regardless of where you live…it is all done via email.  So, whether you live in Minneapolis or Montana, check her out!

Because I am the quintessential fair-weather fan and so I have to say whooh-hooh for our Minnesota Twins!  I sat in a bar for over 5.5 hours yesterday watching them battle with the Detroit Tigers for the final playoff spot and it was awesome! By the end of the game, I honestly felt like I had developed an ulcer!  I know that the Yankees are tough, but I think our guys can keep their momentum going.  Go Twins!!!