Thursday, October 30, 2008

sometimes to understand how things are connected,

you have to color them in.

some crayola magic for ya.
it was more blue than i had expected
and not as much purple as i would have liked.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

a sneak preview

the wedding of October 25, 2008

the church

the flower girls

Alison and Greg

the portrait section:
the sister

the nick

the mom

the infamous "everyone has a date but me" picture

the reception


Uncle Gregg entitled the next 3 photos "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" before we took them




Monday, October 27, 2008

When I am liberated by silence,
when I am no longer involved
in the measurement of life, but in the living of it,
I can discover a form of prayer in which
there is effectively no distraction.
My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer.
The world of silence in which I am immersed
contributes to my prayer.

thomas merton

notes!

a note about Pixar:
I LOVED it. There was just stuff from and about movies everywhere. The environment is so inviting, yet is super exclusive! There's colors and sunlight and bright minds all around. I almost felt as if I were in a theme park!

a note about being single:
It seems as if the last week of my life has been overwhelmingly focused on the fact that I am not currently in a relationship. From my being the only dateless one at the wedding to my little trip up the Campanile, everyday just seems to be flooded with reminders that I don't have a "significant other." I'm not saying that this is either good or bad, just making an observation. I'm not going to pretend that I'm one of those people who loves being single, but I am content with my life right now.

a note about being sick:
Yep, I'm still sick. Not as bad as before, thank goodness. Enough to entirely slow down the pace of my life though. I do miss my kids at the preschool terribly and I pray that I can return to work soon. Fevers and clogged sinuses are simply no good.


a note about a previous post:
A few days ago, I had put up this inquirery: can we go back to the days when it wasn't about being in love, it was only about being friends?
I took it down suspecting that it might be misinterpreted as being about an individual instead of being about a general feeling of mine. After having spoken about it on two separate occasions, I suppose it warrants some explanation. I merely am missing the time in my life when friends could just be friends without anything more ever happening. Or when meeting new people, there wasn't any speculation as to whether it could turn into a relationship. Friendship, pure friendship. It's a rare and beautiful gift.

a note about steamed milk:
It's just so warm and nice to drink at bedtime!

a note about pictures:
they'll be posted soon...

Friday, October 24, 2008

can we go back to the days when it wasn't about being in love, it was only about being friends?

just wanted to say:

Hi, to those who I have not seen in awhile. I miss you!

And Thanks to those who I've seen recently. Your presence in my life is definitely appreciated!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What if

that flashing light had never quit working
and it was still safe to go out at night?

What if life was fair and we all did what was good for us?

What if I could actually change one thing about my past?

What if I could construct a tiny detail about my future?

What if artificial lighting had never been invented?

What if everyone in the world knew they were loved for an entire simultaneous minute?

What if God needs you more than you know?


I'll see you all tomorrow in one way or another.
-in prayer -in person -in writing -in thought -in dream

Circle Wisdom

I invite you to enter for a moment
into Sacred Time and Space,
into a way of seeing that is broad and spacious.
See this Day, from the time you arose this morning
until you sleep this evening, as one Ceremony,
divided into small and familiar rituals,
your Heart as the Altar.
You, part of the Cycles of Light and Darkness.

Now begin to see your Life,
from the moment of your Conception
until the time of your Death
as one long, continuous Ceremony,
filled with many rituals,
some familiar, some unknown and challenging.
Your Home and all Your Relations, the Altar.
You, part of many Seasons and Cycles.

Now see this Ceremony of your Life
as part of a much larger Ceremony that extends
Seven Generations into the Past and Seven into the Future,
made up of many Births and Deaths.
This beautiful spinning Earth the Altar.
You, part of the great Ebb and Flow.

Now, if You will, imagine this larger Ceremony
to be but one part of a Ceremony so grand,
so magnificent as to be hardly comprehensible,
a great, vast Ceremonial Circle, rich and vibrant
with millions upon millions of swirling
Circles of Dancing Light,
and You, one of those Dancing Circles,
a Dancer on the Altar that is the Universe,
where Time is Eternal.

May You Dance In Beauty.


-Sedonia Cahill

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Congratulations Jesuit Joe!

Joe became a Deacon today and the mass was beautiful! I've been so, so blessed to have Joe as a part of my life over the past couple of years. He's an amazing person and definitely one of the most intelligent human beings I've ever met. He's also super funny! I can't express how grateful I am to have him in my life as a teacher and friend. Haha, I wanted to cheer for him during the ordination, but apparently that's not allowed. So I had to restrain myself and stick to clapping. Hooray for the wonderful Joe!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

just for fun


our queen! she's beautiful!




i love the parents. they love each other. pure and simple.





amici!


she's so happy about that sugar. who wouldn't be???




Berkeley at Night

As I was finishing dinner with the one and only Eric Bellm last night, the sun was beginning its descent out of sight to the other side of the world. I got on my bike to pedal back home, but decided that a detour to Indian Rock would be better. Riding uphill has definitely gotten easier, but remains NOT EASY. I arrived at the Rock while there was still a faint magenta light in the sky. The San Francisco skyline was amazingly clear and absolutely beautiful.

Tonight, as Robert and I drove down University, I just could not get over how glorious all of the street lights seemed in their perfect row with the majestic moon hanging overhead.

Sunday brunch and car ride





Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I'm in such a great mood right now!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

hmmm...

J to J:
1. Mother's cookies are amazing!
ditto
2. I had so much fun yesterday.

me too
3. I never thanked you for dinner...so Thanks!

my pleasure

Friday, October 10, 2008

Influenced. No longer influential.

I realized that I've come to a more reflective state in my life.

It has caused me to be a bit sad though.

In conjunction with reflection comes a lack of friendliness.

I used to smile and wave at everyone I knew. I used to engage in polite conversation with strangers just for the heck of it.

Now I sit quietly, shyly even. No more first attempts for me.

I do this because people I was close to taught me that it is not my sole purpose in life to make sure others are happy...To make sure they are comfortable...To talk about things that I don't agree with just so that they are engaged. I learned that it is OK to walk around all day with my hood on and avoid personal interaction if that is what I need that day.

I miss being the girl who said hi to everyone though.
I see her in other people.
But it's not me anymore. Some days I wish it was. And some days I'm glad it's not.

I miss being the one who made a small difference each day.
Just because I was cheerful.

I wonder now if I've just become selfish.
At what point does critical examination of the self become self absorption?

I hope one day I can be truly selfLESS.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves...
Don't search for the answers,
which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Sunday, October 5, 2008

dreaming from Einstein's perspective.

After reading Einstein's Dreams, I've been wondering a lot about time and what reality actually is. What does reality even mean?? I would assume it's different for every person. How can I even really know if I'm awake right now? These kinds of thoughts get me to basically no where real quick, but are fun none the less. After having a two hour nap and one epic dream, I had some corn flakes. Haha, anticlimactic no?....And, I had an idea about what I would include in one of my own versions of time...(i.e. if the book were called Juliette's Dreams, here's what one of the sections would be about):

In this world, dreams take place in alternate realities. All of the characters are real and all the events that are contained within a dream are actually happening. Each dream world is its own universe.
What happens when I fall asleep is that I get transported to another world and either act as an observer or a lucky sub-in for the life of my other self. Essentially, I exist in multiple distinct universes. Some of them make sense and appear strikingly similar to the one I am writing this blog in. But others are entirely disjointed and nonsensical. Yet I separately, consciously exist in an infinite number of bodies in each one of these worlds. Each of my dreams is just a tiny glimpse into what life is like in that land.
How do I know that the one I am in, is the one I awoke in this morning?...
I have fallen asleep since then.

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense. Think me a loon if you will. It matters not. Here (although there are many), are some excerpts from Einstein's Dreams that I like:

There is a place where time stands still. Raindrops hang motionless in air. Pendulums of clocks float mid-swing. Dogs raise their muzzles in silent howls. Pedestrians are frozen on the dusty streets, their legs cocked as if held by strings. The aromas of dates, mangoes, coriander, cumin are suspended in space. As a traveler approaches this place from any direction, he moves more and more slowly. His heartbeats grow farther apart, his breathing slackens, his temperature drops, his thoughts diminish, until he reaches dead center and stops. For this is the center of time. From this place, time travels outward in concentric circles-at rest at the center, slowly picking up speed at greater diameters. Who would make pilgrimage to the center of time? Parents with children, and lovers.

I also like this one:

Imagine a world in which people live just one day. Either the rate of heartbeats and breathing is speeded up so that an entire lifetime is compressed to the space of one turn of the earth on its axis--or the rotation of the earth is slowed to such a low gear that one complete revolution occupies a whole human lifetime. Either interpretation is valid. In either case, a man or woman sees one sunrise, one sunset.

After much debate with myself, I think this one is my favorite:

In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time. The first is as rigid and metallic as a massive pendulum of iron that swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. The first is unyielding, predetermined. The second makes up its mind as it goes along.
Many are convinced that mechanical time does not exist...they listen to their heartbeats. They feel the rhythms of their moods and desires. Such people eat when they are hungry, go to their jobs at the millinery or the chemist's whenever they wake from their sleep, make love all hours of the day. Such people laugh at the thought of mechanical time.
Then there are those who think their bodies don't exist. They live by mechanical time...They know that the body is not a thing of wild magic, but a collection of chemicals, tissues, and nerve impulses. Thoughts are no more than electrical surges in the brain...In short, the body is a machine, subject to the same laws of electricity and mechanics as an electron or clock. As such, the body must be addressed in the language of physics.


Major props to you Alan Lightman, I love this book!

I'm getting a Michael Phelp's poster!!!!!!!!!!

This is FABULOUS/AMAZING news.
And I don't care what any of y'all think.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

No, they couldn't