Happy Reformation Day!

It's Reformation Sunday! And how did my friends and I celebrate? We went to the lake and grilled this deliciousness:


Steak, baby portebella mushrooms smothered with butter and garlic, and asparagus coated with a savory layer of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. In the words of Nick Andopolis of Freaks and Geeks, "It's like you cooked it in heaven and brought it back down for us to eat."

The weather was perfect. People threw the frisbee and chilled in hammocks. We also carved pumpkins in honor of that other holiday that also falls on October 31.

To top off this magnificent Sunday, I'm now sipping coffee while a friend and I plan a trip to Nashville this weekend. Such a wonderful Lord's Day.
SDG

Who Needs an Office?

(I'm taking a break from converting questions from tests into easy to remember statements to record later this the week in order to blog. Don't tell my boss.)

I don't care what work you are doing, this view, plus coffee and Folk Rock (mainly The Avett Bros, Jose Gonzalez, and Band of Horses) makes it so much more enjoyable. If I could find a way to work mostly from home the rest of my life, I would be a happy girl.



SDG

Life Goals

I'm in the middle of a complete life over-haul. After much prayer and some unfortunate series of events, school is where I'm headed as of now. Sometimes I feel lost as to what God wants for my life and as to what my own ambitions are. I even tried to compile a list of goals a few weeks ago, but nothing really came to mind. Today I was free of nanny duties so I've spent the afternoon working on graduate school admissions things, when all of a sudden an ambition came to mind! Before I let it slip away, I thought it best to record it somewhere and as I did, a few others popped up:

Life Goal #3) Obtain a graduate degree
Life Goal #4) Write a Christian novel
Life Goal #5) Write a song

Numbers one and two I'm praying about and don't feel like disclosing. I'm working on three right now, and hopefully after it's accomplished I can begin number four. Number five, well, I've got endless clips of piano and guitar musings I've composed and several lyrics, but I can never get any of them to fit together in a way I like. It's a work in progress... much like my life.
SDG

New Artist: Stephen Gordon

Two weekends ago, Ashley McMillen and I were in Starkville for the weekend. We needed to kill some time after dinner on Friday night, so being the hipsters that we are, we stopped by a local coffee shop since I heard there was going to be some live music. Normally such performances are decent. You go in, sip your coffee and carry on a conversations while neat music plays in the background. This night, though, was so superior.

We got in just after the first performance, so we only heard a song or two by Drew Gatlin, but it was still very good. The highlight of the night, though, was Nashville Americana/Folk artist Stephen Gordon.

As soon as I heard the first few strums on the acoustic guitar, I was smitten. His voice was so clear and you could hear the emotion behind each song. It was as if the guitar and Stephen were inviting you to go on a musical journey through a grove of autumn trees as afternoon sunlight streams through the leaves and a light breeze plays with the shadows. Not being a well-known artist in our area, he knew exactly how to keep the audience's attention with stories about the songs, and even requesting an audience sing-a-long for "Bones," which after buying his albums, I Have Seen Your Shining Spirit and VA, remains my favorite song.

To give you a little insight into his sound, it's like someone took Chris Martin's voice (more toward Parachutes than the other albums) with a little Micheal Buble, mixed in some acoustic guitar plucking from Iron & Wine, and added just a touch of Blue Grass (think Avett Brothers and a little Fleet Foxes). Also, some of the tracks remind me slightly of The Fray, especially "Hearts Break Easier."

Check him out on MySpace. You won't regret it.

My Kind of Morning

This week I started doing some part-time work in the mornings before I go to my nanny gig in the afternoons. I'm doing some work for the company my dad works for. In a nutshell, I sit in an empty office and read aloud tests and some paragraphs from a book while it's being recorded.

Because I'm now doing this work, I have to get up before ten. This morning, it was worth it. It was the perfect fall morning, and I only regret that I didn't wake up to it from a tent. The air was cool. A thick fog had settled in, and it seemed to only enhance the gold, burnt orange, and red leaves that had already begun to turn. I really wished I had given myself more time to get ready this morning so I could have snapped some pictures with my fancy camera. All I had the opportunity to do was hastily take a few shots driving to work.

These pictures don't do justice to the lovely, lovely weather, but I at least wanted to try to capture God's glorious work this morning.
SDG