Wine Glasses, Summer, Zombies, and Laughter

1) My twenty-first birthday is rapidly approaching-it's only 64 days away. Thusly, I have started looking for wine glasses online. I really want to have some stunningly beautiful wine glasses. I like these, these, and these.
2) Summer...yes, I finished my finals and am free for the summer. Now I need a job.
3) Zombies...A few days ago, I was on Facebook and I needed to send a message to my good friend, Ben. I was also looking at his favorite quotations because being a philosophy major and good Catholic boy, he has many good ones from JPII. And then I found this: "'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.'
-Product description on amazon.com of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." My initial response was to tell him that I didn't approve of "this Pride and Prejudice and Zombies garbage." But then I thought of Donal and his many rants about his attempts to read the book. I talked to Jenny Pink about it. And I came to this conclusion: "With regards to your quotation about "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," check this out. If you dig around on the blog, you'll find Donal's notes from when he read "Pride and Prejudice" (without zombies) and did not enjoy it.
It's okay; I don't think guys should a) read that book or b) enjoy it." And then I directed him to The People's Republic of D. Cous to read Donal's perspective on P&P&Z. I also recommended that if he had time (which I assume that he doesn't as he has two finals tomorrow) he could dig around the site to find Donal's reflections from his readings of P&P.
And in the process, I came to the previously mentioned conclusion, of which I later informed Ben. Pride and Prejudice is a girl book; men/boys do not need to read it. One of the primary attractions of that book is Colin Firth. If it weren't for this man, women, while we'd still love the proud and prejudiced Mr. D, we wouldn't adore him nearly as much.
In all honesty, Mr. Darcy isn't even my favorite Austen-Man; Mr. Knightley and Colonel Brandon both outrank him.
When informed of all of this, Ben laughed and said that he THINKS he understands now. He still doesn't know about my seven page masterpiece about how Charlotte Lucas represents the status-quo relationship between women and the marriage market in the late 1700s and early 1800s. But that's okay. He doesn't need to know about that or completely understand me; it's not like he's going to marry me or anything.
4) Laughter...I've laughed a lot lately. It's good.

Okay, but who is Edmundo?

Check out this question from my Spanish study guide:
"7.Al contrario de otras culturas los Incas no creían que Edmundo había sido creado y destruido por grandes catástrofes."
Or in English: To the contrary of other cultures, the Incas didn't believe that Edmundo was created and destroyed by grand catastrophes.
What she meant was:
"7. Al contrario de otras culturas los Incas no creían que el mundo había sido creado y destruido por grandes catástrofes."
Or in English: To the contrary of other cultures, the Incas didn't believe that the world was created and destroyed by grand catastrophes.

Check your spelling, kids. You never know when you're going to make some poor college student who has her last final of the semester in half an hour sit there and go "But who is Edmundo?"

There is need of only one thing

(Lk. 10: 42)

I'm a college student and it's the last week of classes. Finals are next week and I have four of them in:

• Linguistics-oh dear Lord, prayers are needed for this class for many reasons.
• Precolombian Hispanoamerican Culture: I'm not worried; it's just another test.
• Shakespeare: I'm not too worried; we're writing an in-class essay but we can bring our notes with us.
  
• French 101: I'm not terribly worried but I had a role play today that had me worried...

And thus the role play will begin my blog post. My group went today; we volunteered. I was under the impression that my group was prepared for it. But we weren't. I felt ready personally and I felt that I did a good job; I knew my lines and I tried to cover for other people when they forgot their lines. I tried. We did NOT appear professional but I tried.
After we were done, my two of my group members admitted that they didn't care that we'd screwed up. I DID care. I was frustrated and annoyed and a little angry.
So I went to our student center to kill my two and a half hours of free-time between classes. I was going to write my paper that compares the trial of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII's marriage with Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. I'm enjoying the paper but after my French class, I was stressed and didn't really want to deal with it.
I was walking through Kirkhoff on my way to the bathroom before going to find a comfortable chair in which I could curl up and work. And out of the blue, I see UCO-GR's mission leader, Steve, walking towards me. We talked for a couple minutes and I told him about my French role play and he said,"But you did the best you could. You tried and did everything you could do."
Oh yeah...I forgot about that. It's not all on me.
My English linguistics class is struggling to keep our heads above water. Our professor's expectations are completely absurd for a 200-level class. And I'm spearheading the effort to get our grades adjusted/curved. But there are people helping me.
And it's not all on me. I'm not here to save the world. I'm here to live for Christ and do my best. I have to do my best and do everything I can do. But it's not all on me. People have to make their own choices.

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

(Luke 10:40-42)

I need to remember this more often. I worry about many things but I'm not alone.

Oh, and I bought a chapel veil today. So I was called upon to explain chapel veils to both Catholics and non-Catholics today-via Facebook.

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man...for this reason a woman should have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels. Woman is not independent of man or man of woman in the Lord. For just as a woman came from man, so man is born of woman; but all things are from God.

-I Corinthians 11: 5-7, 10-12

I'm done defending myself for the time being. I need to go print off the paper about The Winter's Tale and then I have UCO. I really need to remember to let Him increase and let me decrease.

There are Dreams that CAN be

I don't usually cry when I'm watching anything but watch this.
I had tears in my eyes.

Holy Thursday Thoughts

It's almost Good Friday. In fact, it basically is. But first, I want to say a few things.
It's been a rough week and well, a rough Lent. I drove home Nicole and Jaci to Nicole's parents' house today and then went home to get ready for Holy Thursday Mass at Christ the King. Over the past few days, I've been hearing the Lord tell me that I needed to go to CTK tonight. Okay, I can handle that.
As I drove to the church, I prayed for the evening and asked the Lord to provide me with someone with whom I could sit-a friend. I hate sitting alone at Mass.
So I arrived at the church just before Mass began (around 7:25 or so) and immediately found Frank and Amy Whiting. I hadn't seen them since summer, so it really was a double blessing-getting to see them again AND having someone to sit with during Mass.
Mass was absolutely wonderful. During Mass, I realized that I wanted to be prayed over before going home, so I planned on finding Jaci, Nicole, and Annie and asking them to pray with me. However, I couldn't find Nicole and Jaci and Annie had to go home with family. And then I found Mary Zahm, Jenny Fleming, and Lindsey Kappler. So I decided to ask them to pray with me and then we also prayed with Mary. Very powerful, this was a great decision. In short, I'm glad I went to CTK tonight.

Further blessings of the Lord were manifested throughout the evening however. After Mass, I ran into a good brother in the Lord, Mark. Mark and I used to be pretty close back in high school but don't see each other very much anymore and aren't very close anymore. Now back when I was younger, I used to frequently ask the Lord to give me unexpected hugs-surprises. These hugs just had to come from an unexpected source. And then I ran into Mark along with another mutual friend. Mark didn't hug her and she went off to talk to someone else and then I got the classic Mark "Heeey!" followed by a hug and a quick "how's it going?" We didn't have much time to chat as we were both looking for people and the narthex was crowded. But it doesn't matter; I got an unexpected hug and a reminder that God is there even where we're not looking for Him.

Blessed be God.

Things that touch my heart

As you probably know, there was an earthquake in Italy very early Monday morning.
This afternoon, I found on Yahoo! News a link to pictures of the region which included photos that had been taken at the Holy Thursday Mass in Aquila, Italy.
This priest is cleaning a Mass book which was found in the rubble after the earthquake. There's something about the posture of service in this picture that really speaks to me.









This was taken at the Holy Thursday Mass which the Bishop celebrated in a tent in Aquila.

















This is the Bishop "Giuseppe Molinari, (3rd L), arch-bishop of Aquila, starts a procession after celebrating a mass in a tent camp where earthquake victims reside in Aquila April 9, 2009."

I just think that this is cool.








Source of Photos

The Way of Perfection

Disclaimer: I am not perfect nor do I claim to be as such. But I like peanut butter and penguins; I believe this to be a positive step in a good direction. 

After returning from Spain, I decided I wanted to read the works of St. Teresa of Jesus, one of the great Spanish mystics and one of only three female Doctors of the Catholic Church. So I decided to start my quest with The Way of Perfection because I heard it was easier than some of her other works.

Well, only a few days before Easter, I have finished it, so here's what I think:

It's interesting. St. Teresa has an extremely low opinion of herself, which can be frustrating at times. Towards the end of the book she says something along the lines of "St. Paul could do all things through Christ who strengthened him but then there are sinners like me..." I'm not sure what sins she committed and I don't care. But it's obnoxious at times.
The book was also written specifically for the nuns of her convent and she frequently addresses herself to her "sisters" or "dear sisters." You might not appreciate that. 
Beyond those two complaints, it's really good. I'd recommend it to most girls I know. I think guys would get something from it. 

The book gives advice to the members of her order-the Order of Carmelites Discalced. It's good advice for anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a nun or whether or not they wear shoes. At times, she and I disagree, but that's okay. She primarily discusses prayer with an emphasis on contemplative prayer and a further emphasis on the meaning behind The Lord's Prayer. 

It is well-written and enjoyable. I read it during Lent and found it very helpful. 

I give it 4.5 out of 5.

But I don't know how St. Teresa felt about penguins and peanut butter was invented long after her death.

The Final Product

A while ago, I mentioned that I was making baby blankets for two friends. Now you get to see pictures right here on my blog.
The yellow blanket on your left belongs to Gemma Spencer, daughter of my friends Mark and Susanna Spencer. Gemma was born on March 15 but her parents received the blanket in mid-February.
The green blanket on your right will be given to Christina Poynter tomorrow for her unborn baby who is due in about four weeks.
I take orders; we can discuss prices if you're interested in one of my blankets.

The Name Change

I've changed the name of the blog. It used to be "La vida es un ratico" which is Spanish for "Life is a brief moment." However, that name suited my life better when I lived in Spain.
Yes, life is still a brief moment but the saying felt like a cliche to me. I wanted to move away from that and find a new theme.
And I really love tea and books. So when I was thinking about it, I landed on a quotation from C.S. Lewis-one of my favorite authors. Lewis once said ""You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." And this is also true of me. So I picked this quotation as the new name for my blog.
I'll still blog occasionally about pro-life rantings or random life moments or my travels or book reviews or crocheting projects that excite me.