Pralines with Mel

Mel: Oooo, can I please help?

L: OK. Stir this, but be careful to keep your hair out of the bowl.

Ms. B: Do you need a bandana, Mel?

Mel: What color is it?

Ms. B: Red.

Mel: No, it needed to be rainbow.

See You Soon

The day of our high school graduation, our little group of choir geeks met at Shane's house to take pictures in our caps and gowns. I remember telling Steph that I was really surprised she came. She was always the last one of us to "get all sentimental."

"This is it," I told them all. "After today, we're all going to go to different schools and we'll lose touch. We'll forget all about this."

I'll never forget the look Steph gave me, a look that I got pretty often from her. It was as if I had just said the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"It's not like we'll be apart forever," she said. "You can visit me, and when I'm home I'll visit you."

Steph, I said goodbye today, but only because I know it's not goodbye forever. And I will try to stop weeping and start rejoicing with you, because that's what you would want.

Thinking of You

It's hard letting Steph go, but I'm encouraged to know that she is with God, no longer suffering, surrounded by peace and love.We don't always know what God is doing, but we know that He is good.

In her own words, from a blog entry she wrote not much longer after she found out about her diagnosis:

"Obviously I do get depressed from time to time, but for the most part I know this is all happening for a reason, and I just keep telling myself that. I know that God is not going to give me anything that I can’t handle with His help, but sometimes I wish he didn’t have as much trust in me. Ya know? Sometimes I wish He saw my faith even simpler than it is, and was like, okay, here’s the deal, I’m not going to give you more than you can handle today, so today’s challenge is that you are going to stub your toe. But I guess it is reassuring that He sees me as capable as handling such a life changing event. I don’t know what gave Him that idea, but I guess He can see more in me than I can see in myself, and that motivates me, to know that no matter what, I will get through this the way that He has planned, and that I will be able to rejoice at the end of it." - Stephanie

Praying for Steph

Please pray for my friend Stephanie, her husband Warner, and her family. Please pray that she will have the strength to make it through her illness and that her family will find comfort and strength, as well. For details about her condition, please visit her and Warner's blog.

I love you, friend. I'm praying for you with many, many others.

Our First House Party

We've been meaning for a long time to have friends over to the house -- we had actually planned two parties that never happened, because we've been so busy with work, school, and other obligations.

Last night, we finally did it!

We invited a group of 20-somethings we've met through church, through friends we met at church, through college, through a series of random events....it was truly a hodgepodge of great people who've ended up in New Orleans and in our lives one way or another.

After dinner, we played a game with gag gifts. Some of my favorites....



A very large flag with a beer advertisement that just kept going and going. Plus $2.



A beef ravioli M.R.E.



A ball of rubberbands, which I later stole from Kurt!

A Dunder Mifflin "decorate your office" kit.

An "Ithaca is Cold" mug.

Great times! We will definitely do this again!

Social Marketing 101

Lesson Learned (12/10/09): Always consider avoiding potential copyright infringement before adopting new material.

Got it.

Dreams Come True

Last night, we went with a group of friends to the New Orleans Museum of Art to see "Dreams Come True," a Walt Disney Studios exhibition. Open for viewing until March 2010, this is the first time the exhibit has been shown in North America (which is actually really surprising).

I highly, highly recommend it! It was, well....magical! There was even a pianist, who played all the favorite Disney classics in the lobby.

We saw original sketches and artwork from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid. It was so interesting -- you could really see how the characters and plot for each film developed over time. The exhibit also included several Grimm fairytale books that the art directors looked at for inspiration.

There was also a special section devoted to the upcoming film Princess and the Frog, which takes place right here in our beloved city and debuts this weekend! There were photographs from the illustrators and their trips to New Orleans, as well as original sketches of the characters and scenes in the film.



So far, from what I've seen at least, it looks like they did a fantastic job depicting New Orleans. We closed the museum down -- none of us could get enough! And at the very end of the show, there's a little teaser for another Disney original princess film in the works....Rapunzel in 2010!

Go see it if you can -- it makes for a really nice outing and will make you want to cuddle up at home and watch Disney movies! Even guys will like it!

I mentioned to my friends that we should all go see Princess and the Frog at midnight tonight. I don't think they realized that I was completely serious! :)

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible," - Walt Disney