wander[life]lust

Committed to Excellence

2011-03-16T19:11:00.005-05:00

Not really.

I just get a kick out of companies that use that as their catchphrase. Really? Shouldn't everyone be committed to excellence, or is it just that we are so used to poor service and poor quality that we need to be reminded that they really do have our best interests at heart?

Anyway.

I am hereby committing myself to blog once a day, this is approximately a 10,000% percent increase, so don't expect excellence, I'm warning you.

A photographer friend (online friend I suppose, I've never actually met him!) and his family just started a really cool project that I hope all (unknown number, but more likely 0) of you should check out!

thehappyfamilymovement.com

Keep it simple.

Lazy Sunday

2010-05-16T16:16:00.005-05:00

I've had this terrible obsession that has grown stronger over the past year or so. I'm telling you this because I need help. I'm addicted to DIY sites. Okay, so maybe I don't REALLY need your help. But it got your attention, right?

I spend far too much time looking at projects and plans that I will most likely never come close to attempting, but I enjoy learning the 'how' involved...and someday I'm sure I'll come up with plenty of good 'why's' for these things. My favorite site by far is Instructables. They have plans for just about everything under the sun. Check them out if you have some time to kill.

My latest fixation though is Adirondack chairs...you know the ones. The ones you want around YOUR backyard fire-pit, and on your wrap-around porch because they look so freaking comfortable. Anyway, I've found a number of sets of plans for these things, the best by far being here. It's just another thing I'd like to get done this summer.

what i have in my mind

what they'll end up like if Megan gets into it

Quote of the Day

2010-04-29T12:57:00.005-05:00

One of my favorites. From the movie "Dance With Me."

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'."

--Susan Sarandon as Beverly Clark

Also, just posted a little something on the photo bloggity about a friend of mine who's going on a very rad trip around the country. Check out the details here!

Happy Thursday!

4 years; 5 pictures

2010-04-26T09:02:00.005-05:00

On the phone. That's where my roommates could find me the Spring of junior year in college. I was either in class, at a meeting or home and on the phone, with you. They'd walk in, and I'd be curled up in that same chair (next to the outlet so I could stay plugged in) talking and laughing and positively beaming. They'd mouth, "Gabe?" I'd smile and nod and then they'd walk back to their rooms laughing to themselves as our conversation carried on for another hour. They weren't planned, these lengthy conversations, they just kind of happened, which is the most beautiful part about it. They happened because of our intense, mutual fascination with each other. With every word that came out of the other's mouth. I hung on to every single one of yours with so much hope. I said things like "we should do that sometime!" so nervously...I knew what it meant to me to say that, but I wasn't sure what it meant to you. But by the time we made it to this day, 4 years ago, I knew it was coming. When you finally said, "I think we should date," I just smiled, wondering why we hadn't come to that conclusion earlier. Because, well, come on. It was obvious, wasn't it? I guess this day isn't really supposed to matter anymore, now that we're married. Because now we have a real anniversary, not just a date-aversary. But you know what, today will always matter to me because how could I have said the big "YES" without saying that other "yes" first?

I love you for so many reasons. I love you because of this weekend, when we had all these wonderful things planned to celebrate being together and then everything went completely haywire, you knew it would put me in a funk. And you fought to put me right again so we could salvage what was left of the day. I love you for that. I also love you for jumping in with me and being my second shooter, without even thinking twice about it. For telling me that I have it in me to shoot The First Wedding this Saturday - for telling me I'm going to be amazing, for knowing how I let my mind spin out of control and get the best of me when I worry and for telling me to be calm and trust my abilities. I love you for that, too. I love that you let me put you in front of my camera so I could show you how much my camera loves you, too. And I love that you've never once in the past 4 years given me any reason to doubt you or your feelings for me, especially on those days where we don't particularly like each other, you always let me know I'm loved. By you.

Happy 4 years together today to you, the man I love. I echo your sentiment from this morning - even though you were half-asleep, it made perfect sense - here's to 40 more. And 40 more after that.

a doctor's note.

2010-04-23T10:09:00.003-05:00

Ok, so it's kind of been a while since I've blogged on here, I almost need a doctor's note to confirm that my absence was for a good reason. Heck, Gabe's number of blog entries is almost equal with mine now (and we all know how often HE blogs...). KIDDING! Relax. Anyway, I figure it's due time to update you on some of the stuff that's been going on lately, but unfortunately I don't have time for my usual ENORMOUS PARAGRAPH O' PROSE update style, so you're going to get it in list form. Don't worry, it still has bullet points, so it's quasi-legit.

I got my wisdom teeth out last Thursday and since then have realized a few things:

1. I actually like oatmeal.

2. I am hungry....a lot.

3. I eat way too fast when my mouth is in normal working order.

4. Ice cream never gets old, even when you eat it every day.

5. Vicodin is God's gift to painkillers. It. rocks. period.

Since last Thursday I've managed to develop the beginnings of a dry socket in one spot, so now I have this clove-flavored anesthesia stuffed down in there (sorry to be graphic) that is making my whole mouth taste like I just had Christmas ham. But it's working, and that's all that really matters because dry socket is an SOB.
I've been dreaming up some ideas for a new type of shoot on my photogblog, so go check it out! Basically I just want to hang out with everyone and take their picture. So let me...I'll buy you coffee :)
The boudoir shoot with my homeskillet KP is coming up in a couple of weeks and we are jumping out of our respective pants with excitement! PLUS we got such good response for the first one that there's going to be a second one in June! If this strikes your fancy, go here to see some more details.
This whole past week was a little out of the ordinary in that it dumped heaping helpings of life lessons on my plate over and over as I learned and lived some of these in action, so I just felt like sharing some. Sorry if it gets a little preachy, but I'm feeling really passionate about these and it's just some food for thought that's good to chew on once in a while: Relationships are hard, and when they are at their worst, the best thing you can do for the person you love is to be honest with them. Come clean with your hang-ups and move on | Take the time to try to see your significant other with fresh eyes, don't pass up any opportunities to let that person become new to you | Don't say things just because you think other people want to hear them: say what you mean. Along those lines, don't just say things, DO them | BE present with your loved ones when you spend time with them | BE a good friend, don't just say you are - when life becomes inconvenient, do the inconvenient thing. Being a friend requires more than just listening to each other | Every time you tell someone that you love them, regardless of who it is, you are making that person a promise, follow through on it | Don't just say you love someone...SHOW them | Don't let yourself become all talk and no action because sooner or later the people in your life will catch onto that and won't want to deal with your bullshit anymore.
Gabe and I will have been together for 4 years on Monday. This makes me really excited, so stay tuned for an incredibly gushy post about it and some pictures from some of the adventures we're going on this weekend.

Have a FANTASTIC weekend yourself! I hope you get the chance to do something you love while surrounded by the people who make you happiest in the world. I saw the quote below today and it totally punched me in the face, in a good way. Au revoir!

"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered."

-- Tom Stoppard

Binge/Purge...but mostly Purge.

2010-04-18T17:55:00.003-05:00

Megan and I just finished cleaning out our room. For those who don't know us very well, we are currently living with Megan's parents in good old Owatonna while we save money for our move. It's not the perfect arrangement, but it is a big blessing for us and her parents are incredibly kind to let us in. Anyway, we've got this one room with a bunch of our stuff crammed in it. Over the course of winter we have been progressively acquiring more stuff.

And then acquiring just a little more stuff on top of that.

After 6 long, cold months we decided to organize, donate a bunch of clothes and move as much of this stuff into storage as possible. I think if every one could see where their purchases would be sitting, and how much dust would be on them in 6 months we would all have a little less stuff.

That's my thought for today.

Currently Listening to: Pencil Full of Lead - Paolo Nutini

you go to my head.

2010-04-12T13:34:00.003-05:00

On the way to work this morning, I heard a little Billie Holiday coming out of my iPod (via my radio, no I was not driving with headphones on...) and I started to daydream. And it made me think of this:

One of the memories that stands out the most to me about my wedding day, almost two years ago, is the last dance. I ran up to the DJ's table where our friend, Steve, was spinning some tracks (and by "spinning," I mean working the iTunes) and asked if he could play Billie Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You." I felt a little uncertain about whether or not I had added it to our playlist, but I knew I couldn't leave the reception without dancing to that song. I breathed a sigh of relief as her soft, velvety voice came gently out of those speakers. Things started to move in slow motion and I remember Gabe taking my hand and pulling me to him. Then everything else just went a little blurry. I don't remember who else danced next to us on the small dance floor, I can only remember the two of us at the end of one of the longest and most emotional days of my life. I closed my eyes as we held each other and thoughts of how stressed I'd been just 24 hours earlier started to fade. I stopped thinking about how little I'd eaten over the past few days, working myself (and unfortunately my stomach) into a frenzy. I didn't need to worry about those last few seats that had to be added at the last minute because I had forgotten to update the reception hall one. last. time. My cold feet felt ages away from that moment, and I heard that tiny voice again, that same voice that spoke up while I sipped a chocolate malt across from him on our second date just a couple of years earlier. And all it said was, "yes, that's him." And this is all thanks to Billie Holiday and her dulcet tones that, no matter where I hear them, bring me back to that moment when I held my new husband's hand as we danced and knew that voice was right.

Gabe, as a husband (and just a person in general), you rock.

Meg

P.S. Head on over to my photoblog for some information about a couple of boudoir sessions my awesome friend Kris and I are putting together. Ladies, great gift idea for your significant other or yourself :)

blogblog

2010-03-29T19:47:00.003-05:00

Hey, So I thought I'd share some exciting news. Megan had a dream come true and she was finally able to get herself a pretty new MacbookPro! But the coolest part is the cover we're ordering for it. I must give a shout-out to one of our favorite bloggers, Jonathon Acuff over at Stuff Christians Like, for this idea. Anyway, it's called the BookBook. Here it is.

state of affairs.

2010-03-25T08:57:00.006-05:00

I'm just going to warn you right now, this is going to be a LONG post. At some point, if you read this, and you think, "Wow, she's really rambling...", you'd be right. Also, I have to warn you, there is going to be a little swearing. You could say this post is rated PG-13 or something like that. I apologize if it offends you, but I'm trying to be as honest and open about myself as possible. Potty mouth and all.

It all started a couple of weeks ago. Gabe and I were doing one of those coupley things and going for a run together. Now I run a little more frequently than he does, so I decided to extend my run for a while and went in a different direction as he ran back home.

I think I need to pause here shortly and get personal so things make more sense. I am a Christian and I'm really bad at showing it. My relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit...the whole kit 'n caboodle, sucks. I'm talking close to non-existent here. And it's no one's fault but my own, I got myself to this place where I don't attend church anymore and I barely pray, and now I'm desperately trying to pick up the pieces and fix all of it because I've been realizing for a long time now how much I need Him and have admittedly been too lazy to do anything about it. Ok, unpause.

Anyway, so I'm finishing up my run alone and I'm starting to dwell on the fact that we are supposedly moving to North Carolina in like, oh, 2 months and don't really have anything to show for progress. I'm thinking about how tired I am of having to answer the question, "So, how are things going for your move?" or "What's your move date?" with "I don't know." Ugh. I hate "I don't know." Not only because I hate saying it, but also because it's true. I honestly have no effing idea how in the hell we are supposed to be moving in June. We have no jobs, we don't have very much money and we don't even really have a place to live, although we found an apartment building down there that looks nice to us. Great. So as you can see, my shit, for lack of a better way to say it, is all over the place. I'm stressing big time, and not just on this particular run, on a daily basis these days. Anyway, as all this is going through my head, I think I kind of yelled at myself, to myself, and realized it was about time to stop being so damn stubborn and "Let go, let God" a little...to use a highly over-used and cloying phrase. So I started to pray. And then I got all sorts of religion up in me and REALLY started to pray. Begging, pleading, that God would just help me figure out what in His name we're supposed to do. Before that I actually did have a pretty intense moment where I was in tears (and yes, still running - still trying to breathe) and apologizing profusely and, well, you get the idea...I won't get into it. Anyway, so I prayed and ran and ran and prayed and went to bed still feeling a little psychotic, but slightly better.

Fast forward to the next day at work. There's really no way around it: an a-ha moment is an a-ha moment is an a-ha moment. They are strange and come out of the blue and sound completely ridiculous when you tell the story to someone of how you decided to quit your job to run a llama farm and start it with, "So I'm sitting there eating my PB&J and then it just CAME to me!" But essentially, that's what happened to me I guess. This little seed planted itself in my brain and this thought popped up and said, "What if we just stay here?" That thought snow-balled into a full-blown Plan B. We'd stay here, move back up to the cities, put Gabe in school at the UofM in the fall so he could get started right away, I wouldn't have to commute anymore, we could put some of our savings towards my business, I could be by my friends and Gabe would be closer to his, and as soon as he was done with school, THEN we'd move. Voila. Plan B. This idea got me so excited that I completely planned my pricing structure for my business during a meeting at work. My pricing structure and our move have nothing to do with each other, but I was feeling motivated, so that's what happened.

A few nights later I sat down with Gabe and told him my Plan B. And while I was explaining to him, cautiously, something else we could try, he started to smile. And by the end of my spiel, he is almost laughing. When I stopped talking, he told me he'd been thinking about that for almost a month. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to rush into any decisions or crush our desire to move, but almost to a T, his Plan B was the same. And before anything got out of hand and we started making decisions left and right, we agreed it was only an idea and we weren't really going to decide yet. Because that's how things are with us, we come up with an idea, latch onto it like it's a life raft and run with it without looking back. And we continue to run with it until the next big idea persuades us to change directions. But we decided to not decide and to just think about it, rationally, before committing to anything. And even then, I knew I had already started to jog...not run, per se, but warm up to making this the new full-blown Plan A.

I am obsessed with looking at apartments and housing for rent on craigslist. I do it for cities all over the world, most of which I will never live in. I like to see what it looks like to live there, how much it would cost me and how many square feet I could afford to call my own in an exotic new place. So naturally, I immediately started to search for a place in St. Paul, you know, "if" we decided to stay. And let me tell you, I found a lot of really nice places, some of which that were actually near our price range. With every entry I opened, I saw kitchens and bathrooms and spacious bedrooms with our pictures and our décor and our life all over the walls, the counters, the floors. I saw us eating at our tiny dining room table in the tiny eat-in kitchen and sitting at my desk in the office working on editing someone's wedding or taking business-related phone calls. I saw us biking down to Trotter's on Cleveland for breakfast and then basking in the afternoon sun in front of Izzy's eating the ice cream we failed to talk ourselves out of buying. I saw us at French Meadow and Treehouse Records and all those places we loved to go to when we lived close enough to hang out in Uptown for the day. Concerts, afternoons at the Walker, Punch, farmer's markets, Trader Joe's, BNW...I saw us doing all these things in the life I had made up for us in my head. And it only took 10 minutes of craigslist to get there. I was in deep, but I kept telling myself that I wasn't making a decision, we were still thinking about it. When Gabe and I talked about it, we kept throwing "ifs" around like we had them in spades. But I didn't really mean "if," and I knew that he didn't either.

So this brings us to yesterday. I found the most adorable 2-bedroom duplex that I desperately wanted to look at and Gabe had talked to the U and found out what he needed to do to get into the Mechanical Engineering program, and still we were saying "if." But as much as I didn't believe in our "ifs," I still felt slightly confused as to where we were headed. So, I emailed Gabe and he told me he thought we should stay, which didn't surprise me, but he also said that where we were didn't matter as much as that we were there together. Then he asked me in return and this is what came out:

"my preference is that God will just tell me what the eff we're supposed to do. my preference is to not live here anymore. my preference is to get you through school asap so we can move on to other things. my preference is to work on my photography business pronto. my preference is to be somewhere i feel like i belong, and i don't really feel like that here. my preference is to be with you, wherever that is. my preference is to NOT give up on my dreams for conventionality, comfort or convenience...which i feel like i am doing. my preference is to start living my life the way i see it in my head, and this is not how it looks. i don't know what my preference is...i don't know what to do."

By the time I got done typing that I was crying. At my desk. At work. Oy vey, I pick the most inconvenient and inappropriate places to dissolve into tears. And I do it a LOT. I managed to keep it together enough so that no one was the wiser, but as soon as Gabe said "stay," I knew that wasn't what I wanted. I felt like such a hypocrite for thinking it would be a good idea to stay. Who am I kidding, it would be a GREAT idea to stay, but I felt stupid for all my talk talk talk about living my dreams, and doing the wild, crazy, unconventional things sometimes, for being poor if that's what it takes...and then here I was, ready to go back on all of it because I was looking for an easy out. All this time...all this last YEAR, I was scared. I made plans to move and then when it came time to do it, delayed it and delayed it again. It wasn't money or time or anything else standing in my way, it was ME. This whole time, and I was looking for something else to blame. It took me most of the day and about 20 emails to realize this was the truth. I got on the phone with Gabe after I left work and told him I still didn't know what we should do, and he said exactly what we both needed to hear. He said, "Fuck it. Let's move." Instead of praying about what we should do, let's finally pick a date, make the decision and start praying for the transition to go as smoothly as it can, he said. And I agreed. And that was that. Yeah, it might be easier to stay and it might be smarter and it might make more sense and it might be a million different things, but so what?

So now, after more tears (naturally) and what feels like hundreds of "are you sure?"s on both our parts, our official move date, come rain or shine, is September 1st. In the meantime we are saving as much as we can and applying for jobs until our brains turn to mush and when September 1st rolls around we are North Carolina bound regardless of the circumstances and hoping for the best. And you know what? If we don't like it, so what. We'll go somewhere else; back here, out west, out of the country...wherever. At least we can say we tried and we stopped being afraid. Because, being totally honest with you and with myself, this place just doesn't feel like a good fit for me. I don't doubt that it's a million other people's favorite place in the world, but for me, it's just not right. I cry, a lot, just thinking about the people I have to say goodbye to. But I know I have to do this for me and for Gabe, just in case we are able to turn our lives upside-down. And now I'm sitting here wondering if maybe this isn't what God wanted me to find out all along, that maybe I wouldn't know how much I wanted to move until I stopped considering it for a while.

I know this decision probably doesn't sound a lot different than our original decision, but trust me, it feels different. I feel committed to this now in a way that I never did before, and I feel scared out of my ever-loving mind. But I'm happy to be scared and thrilled at the possibilities. About half-way through writing this, I asked myself why I was writing it and why anyone would care that much, but then decided that it didn't matter. I don't need a reason. This is my life and this is where I share it. If nothing else, when I'm an old, white-haired lady, hopefully this blog will still exist out there somewhere in the internets, or whatever they're calling it then, and I can remember the day that I felt glad because I made a life-changing decision.

If you made it all the way through this heinous blog entry, remind me when I see you to give you a big, Megan-sized hug. I considered saying bear hug, but I am a small person, so bear hugs just really aren't my style.

Back To The Future Buns

2010-03-17T15:31:00.002-05:00

You! Yes you. You look like you could use some bunnies to spice up your Wednesday. So watch this video and then go drink a green beer or something.

Sláinte!

the wants.

2010-03-16T09:24:00.005-05:00

Do you know what I mean when I say, "the wants"? You get them when you walk into that one store...you know the one. It's totally your weakness, and no matter how often you walk into it, it's like walking into your own personal shopping mecca. You get that 5-year-old-walking-into-FAO Schwartz feeling. It's ridiculous. Urban Outfitters is that store for me. My budget right now for shopping is consistently hovering right around Target price tags, but I like to go to U.O. to dream about the day when I'll be able to afford something from that store for full price, heck, maybe even TWO things. I also go to rejoice when I find HEAVILY discounted pieces that I add to my wardrobe one at a time. It's like shopping crack; the piles upon piles of inspirationally quoted t-shirts, the brightly patterned home décor, and the jewelry!, the shoes!, the bags! It's enough to drive a girl crazy.

Just look at it! Look! Ugh. Anyway, I'm going on about this because I just returned from WPPI in Vegas last Thursday and being there gave me the wants worse than I've ever had them in any store...ever. The tradeshow was a killer. I was surrounded by products that I was convinced I needed (one of each!) if I was ever going to be able to make a living. I don't even know what some of the products were or what they were for, but I was hooked...I was going to have to buy whatever it was and learn what it did, because anyone who's anyone has got to have one of (insert mystery product here). Right? Well, not quite. After the first few hours of walking around the booths and feeling a little like I was at the State Fair, I left the room, took a breath and told myself to think clearly. One day I might need one of those whozits, but today is not that day. I am moving at my own speed and I am doing just fine with my Nikon D200 and my 35mm/1.8 (that's a hard one to truly accept) because everybody starts somewhere. As tempting as it is to go out and buy the best camera and the best lens and the best everything, no one can afford that stuff right off the bat anyway. Give it time, I told myself. Just relax. I'd like to think that the people I am blessed enough to photograph will be happier feeling that I spent time investing in them, than knowing that I spent money investing in stuff. I hope I'm right. To read a little more about my Vegas adventures, check out my photo blog here.

And because every post is better with more pictures, here's a few recent instants! Happy Tuesdaying!

Meg.

Alex and Jason in Duluth from our trip a couple of weekends ago, a great time as usual!:

MPLS:

Trying to force myself to love winter. Photo by Gabe:

i love a man who can make me laugh.

2010-03-04T10:44:00.004-06:00

So Gabe and I like to email each other back and forth pretty much all day while we're at work. Unless we're particularly busy, we're usually catching up on each other's days and discussing plans for the week/weekend and sometimes just forwarding each other links to stuff we look at, you get the idea. So yesterday I'm emailing him and telling him that I feel crappy and I'd just like to come home and crawl into bed, etc. He emails me back with one line: "excellente!" All of a sudden I get an image in my head of a young Keanu Reeves from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" sporting some type of Juan Valdez mustache and giving me his thumbs up or fist pump or whatever it was that kids were doing those days. I tell Gabe about this crazytime picture that just popped into my head and what should I get in return? Well, see for yourself. There is a slight modification on the mustache idea, but otherwise it's spot on.

I love a man who can make me laugh. In the meantime, I'm ingesting any and all types of Vitamin C available in hopes that I'll be better by Sunday for my trip to VEGAS! Expect some sort of freak out post about this here or on my photography blog.

Happy Thursday!

Meg

A reason to run?

2010-03-03T12:47:00.000-06:00

I hate running. I'll be honest.

More specifically though, I hate running on treadmills. Which is one reason I'm so lazy and as a result pudgy this time of year. I get out skiing every now and then but there's not a lot of good skiing in southern Minnesota. I guess it's just that I can't find a reason to run. But, it may be found. This past weekend, my beautiful wife and I drove to Duluth to spend some time hanging out with my best friend Jason and his fantastic girlfriend Alex. I believe Megan has already posted a picture or something so I won't bother. Anyway, Jason proposed an idea to me. Since we are moving this summer, Lord willing, to the great state of North Carolina we figured it would be a good spring to hike the Superior Hiking Trail.

The whole thing.

This may not seem like much to anyone who oft through hikes. But for a guy who has a hard time running 5 miles, it's going to be difficult. Basically the SHT is a 244 mile trail of Minnesota's finest. It follows the southern edge of Minnesota's arrowhead, commonly known as the North Shore. This is my reason to run. I need to get in shape unless I want to be packing a dozen bottles of ibuprofen.

Take it easy,

Gabe.

quote(s) of the day.

2010-02-24T12:19:00.007-06:00

Two for the price of one today! I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so you get them both.

The first one comes from Jon Acuff's website Stuff Christians Like. In thing #141, he is talking about how Christians like the Song of Solomon (aka that book about the two people getting it on):

"I love it. If I had lots of money I’d do what Big Boi of Outkast is doing with the Atlanta Ballet right now. I’d create some interpretative dance show, with Bible verses woven together with T-Pain lyrics, 'She hit the flo, Next thing you know. Shawty got low low low low low low low low.' I don’t know what I’d call it. Probably, 'One more reason Jon Acuff will get struck by lighting' or maybe, 'The Jam of Solomon.'"

The second quote comes from the amazing new Don Miller book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I just started it yesterday and am already over half way through it, and considering that I only have about 45 minutes to read each day during lunch (ok, so I read some on the commute home with my mom, but that was only another 45 minutes), I'm pretty proud of myself. I am going to tell people to READ THIS BOOK until I am blue in the face. And for the non-religious types out there who might dismiss it as some dumb Christian book, don't. It's about so much more than that. Pick it up, please, I promise you it's worth it.

"Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you are going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain."

Happy Wednesday,

Meg

i prefer my tigers to be of the poetic variety.

2010-02-23T11:45:00.006-06:00

I'm not sure there's anything that a good dose of Calvin and Hobbes couldn't cure. All I know is when we have kids one day (God willing) and they are 6, just like little Calvin, I hope that they use words like "tedious." That would be pretty bomb.

This weekend Gabe and I will be going up to Duluth to hang out with his best friend, Jason, and Jason's awesome girlfriend, Alex. Remember those names, because you're going to be hearing a lot about them on here. They are two of our favorite people and when the 4 of us get together, it's always a blasty time. Gabe and I have discussed many times that if we ever move back to Minnesota or, if in some hypothetical situation, we didn't move away at all, we'd move to Duluth. What's not to love about it? Seriously. Here's a picture I took of the lift bridge when we went up there for our 1st anniversary last year...one of my favorites from the long weekend we spent there. And a picture of Jason and Alex, of course...two ridiculously good-looking people! I'm sure Gabe and I will both be blogging about our weekend up there and you can be sure my post will include lots of pics and maybe even a few videos? Stay tuned!

Meg.

Crazy Love

2010-02-22T12:57:00.000-06:00

I just started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and I have a feeling it's going to force a paradigm shift for me. I've always been one to see God and His Love in this earth and in his creations but I don't often allow myself the time to be in awe of it all. I think I'm often afraid to be though. I mean, being in awe of something forces you to do everything you can to get more of it, know it better, make it a bigger part of your life...well, at least it should right? I'm one of those people who when passionate about something, goes all out. That's all I read about and all I want to do. It determines how I spend my money, my time and my energy. I go crazy for it. As Megan will attest this happens far too frequently. My question for today is why do I have so much trouble making my passion for God like that?

P.S. How incredible is this image?

why I love John Denver (and other things I'm currently crazy about).

2010-02-22T09:03:00.006-06:00

So when I was 5, I went to my first concert. I like to account my fierce love of music to this early exposure. It was John Denver and I was definitely too young to remember any of it. There was always music playing in our house growing up, sometimes just the radio, but it was there nonetheless. I think I was only 2 the first time I sang the wrong lyrics to a song. My parents love to tell that story, I was in my car seat singing "No roast beef..." along with the song "Don't Rush Me" by Taylor Dayne. I remember, when I was older than 5, my dad listening to John Denver and I always made this face about it. I hated it. It was so honky tonk, so country, so..."Grandma's Feather Bed." I mean COME ON, I would think. How uncool can you get. But then, one day, I heard "Rocky Mountain High" somewhere...on the radio? I'm not sure. Maybe I searched it out to listen to it myself, but however it happened, something clicked. I finally got it. Yes! Why wouldn't you want to listen to John Denver? It's like that 5 year old inside me who rocked out at Busch Gardens all those years ago was calling out for me to really give him a chance and I did. I don't know how else to explain this, but hearing that song was almost like coming home. Maybe it's because it reminds me of my dad, or because it was a comforting moment to hear him at such a young age, but I soaked it in and I've been listening to him avidly ever since. He makes me want to move to the mountains and, I don't know, do things that people who live in the mountains do. Like hike. A lot.

Here are lots of other things I'm crazy about in words and pictures.

Movies. Always movies. A random sampling of favorites:

Postsecret. The honesty and candidness of people's secrets is sometimes startling, sometimes funny and always REAL.

Stuff Christians Like. Jon Acuff admits being inspired by the blog Stuff White People Like right off the bat. His sarcasm and wit when it comes to the crazy things we Christians do is hilariously relevant to both Christians and non-Christians. Ever been really irritated when someone dismisses you with an "I'll pray for you!"? For that and other Christian stuff like the ever-awkward "Side Hug" and why Christians need their own Lady Gaga, give his site a look. And while most of his posts are funny, he has a serious side too that can help put things into perspective for those of us who sometimes struggle with keeping the faith.

The Mamiya Blog and CARL//WAS//HERE. For some amazing medium format photo deliciousness, check out the former. The latter is the personal project of photographer Carl Zoch who, to avoid what he calls "death by hard drive," started a site solely for the purpose of displaying all those personal photos that fall to the wayside when you work as a wedding/portrait photographer for a living. I won't post any pictures from those sites here as to not infringe on copyrights and such, so you'll just have to go see for yourself. Utter eye candy.

Carey Mulligan's adorable haircut, although I'd never be able to pull it off in a million years, I want it.

Books! Of course. This is a no-brainer. I just finished Audrey Niffeneger's latest (author of The Time Traveler's Wife...one of my all-time favorites [don't ruin it by seeing the movie]) and it was strange and a little creepy and fantastic. I highly recommend it. Also, just got a collection of stories by Miranda July from one of my dear friends, who happens to have impeccable taste in books, I'll always take her advice. Can't wait to start reading that. And I'm currently on book 8 in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which is a little on the delightfully trashy side and so addicting. Plus, unlike a certain someone else, Sookie is one tough chick and can take care of herself in a world full of mythical creatures. The vampires are only the tip of the iceberg.

And, of course, the great state of North Carolina. Gabe and I are both ridiculously excited to not only be joining the city of Chapel Hill this summer, but also the state itself. It's, in the words of a friend when we told him where we were moving, "the shit." For us, there's so much to love...the Outer Banks, the warm weather, the mountains, Carolina Brewery, Sugarland (which is going to get me into a whole heap of trouble). And I see it as a good sign that it happens to be the hometown of this guy (even if he is "so vain"):

That's all for now. I leave you with one of my favorite quotes of all time. Happy Monday!

Megan

"The only way for a woman, as for a man, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own." --Betty Friedan

weekly lolcats

2010-02-17T22:11:00.003-06:00

Ok, don't get your panties in a twist. When I say weekly, I mean probably just this one time because I particularly like the second one. But don't be surprised if they pop up again. You've been warned! The first one is in memory of Milo, Gabe's parents' cat, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this evening. Milo, you will be missed.

Meg.

P.S. In case you're wondering, yes, I really am this lame.

Welcome!!

2010-02-17T21:57:00.001-06:00

Hi, hello. We are Megan and Gabriel Eckers, two people who don't know many things for certain except that we want to live this life to its fullest together. Now before you get all judgy-pants and dismiss us as one of those couples who can't start any sentence without the word "we," we'll be the first to tell you that's not the case. Here's where we share pieces of our life with you, whether it be in word, picture or some other form of media. Megan had the idea for this blog after we made the decision to move to North Carolina this summer. With such a big change on the way, we needed a way to share our thoughts and experiences with family, close friends and anyone else who cares to listen. So, here it is. And here you are, reader.

Meg/Gabe