View from the deck

The sky has been doing some interesting things lately. Here are photos taken from our back deck.

Birthday happiness

David celebrated a birthday yesterday, but I won't tell you which one. I should say that I celebrated his birthday, and he just came along for the ride, grudgingly, since he doesn't like to acknowledge his birthday. He was busy all day with school, but we did manage to squeeze in a dinner with our good friends, Frances and Stephen. David has been friends with them since college, along with Frances' husband, John, who couldn't join us because he's appearing in an off-Broadway production of Crime and Punishment. David and John were neighbors when they were in high school in Dallas. They bonded by smoking unfiltered Camels in David's bedroom. Okay, that was a long time ago and David no longer smokes anything. Whew. (just so you know). Then John and David went to University of Texas together...along with Frances and Stephen. John and Frances got married when they were 19 or 20 or something like that.


I love David's friends (who are now my friends). In fact, when I met David's friends and saw how cool they were and how much they loved him, it made me love him even more. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep.

Stephen is an artist. We're going to an opening of his tonight at a gallery here in Chicago. He also has this incredible show opening in Dallas at the Conduit Gallery. If you're in Dallas (I think one of my readers lives there:)...be sure to see it.

Anyway, a good time was had by all. David survived another birthday. And yes, he did get a new JACKET. And it's perfect. Almost....

Adoption & weird cats

I don't often post two entries in one day, but I guess I just have a lot on my mind. Adoption update: I'm in a tizzy. Yes, a tizzy. I'm all confused about our agency. I thought I had made a decision: Wide Horizons for Children, a very reputable agency that has connections to an agency here in Evanston (which would make it easier to get our homestudy done). Wide Horizons is in the Northeast, so it would be nice to have a local connection with The Cradle here in the area. But lately I've been hearing a lot about Gladney. Gladney has less experience in Ethiopia, but it is still very reputable, and is faith-based...and the wait times are shorter. So even though we've started down the path with Wide Horizons, I'm having second thoughts. I have a call into both agencies to get more info...and I haven't heard back. So it's very frustrating because I just want to get on with things! We're not getting any younger!

To make it all worse, I start obsessing about making the "right" decision. AS if we'll get the WRONG child if I choose the WRONG agency. How weird is that? David thinks I have OCD...because I have obsessive thoughts about these things. I seriously lose sleep and get into this strange thought patterns. What's that about? Misplaced anxiety? Hmmmm.

Well, please just pray that we'll have clarity about what to do. I don't think either agency would be a bad choice. But I do think it's a very important part of the process. I get very excited about having a little girl.. a 3 or 4 year old...running around this place. I was eyeing the playground on my walk by the lake yesterday. How fun to have a little person to take to the playground. To walk to school. I see photos of these kids and long to provide love to a child who's just waiting in the orphanage for her family to come and take her home.


IN the meantime, we treat our cat like our child. Which is why we need a child, because our cat is becoming very, very spoiled. We worry about what she'll do when we have another being to take care of and she's not the center of attention. Here's photo of her favorite sleeping spot: on David's legs. She's obsessed with his legs. If he's not sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, she will cry until he sits down. Then she'll hop up on his legs and settle in. I don't get it, because his legs aren't that soft. I will try to lure her with a perfect spot on my lap....but she'll just turn up her nose and jump on David's legs.

Brian McLaren rocks....

Brian McLaren has a new book out. You can read about it on his website.

I also recently read an interview the Wittenburg Door did with him recently. Here's an excerpt:

"DOOR: How do you reconcile the need to affirm orthodoxy without becoming exclusionary snobs?

MCLAREN: I think we begin by deciding that we need a third alternative that rejects being careless about truth on the one hand, but that also rejects being exclusionary snobs on the other. I think a part of what's going on in these conversations requires us to look at the Bible in some fresh ways. We're not paying less attention to the Bible but we're realizing that we also need to pay attention to the ways we read or interpret the Bible. We need to go back and uncover our assumptions about how we think the Bible is supposed to function in the Christian community. For example, even though no Christian scholars that I know of support the dictation theory of inspiration—you know, that God dictated the Bible to the Biblical writers the way Muslims believe God dictated the Koran to Mohammed—I'd have to say that an awful lot of the preaching I hear sounds like it assumes the dictation theory. It's a lot more Koranic than incarnational, at least to my ears. And many of us assume that the Biblical writers must have written like reporters for The Wall Street Journal or Business Week. But maybe they were writing more like Annie Lamott writes one of her confessional books, or more like Mary Oliver writes a poem. So maybe we're learning to take the Bible literarily, not just literally, and to respect divine inspiration as an artistic reality more than a journalistic process."


I love what he says about taking the Bible "literarily" and not just literally. REading scripture in a journalistic, "just the facts, ma'am" kind of way sucks the life and beauty right out of it. It's the view of scripture I grew up with. It's not until I saw the scripture in a different way that I because excited about reading it. It's less concrete, and that makes it scary in some ways. But so much more like an adventure, and a mystery.

And here's more food for thought from David Fitch's blog. Be sure to read the rest of his entry here. I'm afraid of taking something out of context and changing his intent. But I like this portion where he talks about truth being "always on the move" and truth that is recognizable, but not controllable.":

"....I don't believe that emerging conversations never arrive at truth. If I said that I need to clarify. For I believe that the weakness in deconstructive theology (and my emergent thinker friends to the extent they use it) is that truth never "lands." I think there is a difference. Allow me to elaborate.

To say truth never arrives might be construed as asserting that deconstruction does not believe in truth (truth with a little "t" or a big "T"). I don't think this is accurate. For there is truth, truth "always on the move," truth that is recognized but not controllable. The deconstructive thinkers (which Tony Jones and Brian McLaren find helpful) DO SAY that the truth never FINALLY arrives. Yet I think there is something constructive in this part of deconstructionist philosophy. There is, in a manner of speaking, a way that truth is always provisional. There is, in a manner of speaking, a way that truth (with a small "t") is bound by context and language and is always in process of being embodied. There is, in a manner of speaking, a way in which there are always voices excluded which must be heard which change the nature of the way we communicate truth and highlight parts of it we weren't seeing before. Deconstructionist approaches to truth push for all of this. For deconstructive ways of thinking keep the truth open (in the clearing of Hiedegger's ontico-ontological difference). And so despite the detractors, there is truth here being "manifested" into and beyond the linguistic cultural structures we have been given."

So we got a new camera...

...and it was very traumatic. Because you know, I had to make the PERFECT decision, being the perfectionist that I am. The documentation of our lives depends on this one little square box...and it has to document our lives while making us look really hot while doing so. That's a lot of pressure for one little metal box.

During the first 2.5 years of our marriage, we've been getting by on David's old 35mm, disposable cameras, still shots taken with my video camera (which aren't very good quality), and the photos taken by friends and family member who may or may not remember to send us PDFs of their photos. I'm embarassed to say we only took about three photos of our honeymoon with a disposable camera. I know, we're pathetic.

Since I was tired of begging friends and families to send me their photos, and tired of having to take the disposables to Walgreens to get photos developed or put on a CD, we finally decided to bite the bullet and get a digital point-and-shoot. A small, fit-in-your pocket, moderately priced model. You know, the perfect camera for cheap. I'm always doing that....wanting everything for nothing.

It's probably not the best time to buy a new camera, anyway, seeing that I haven't had work for two weeks, we're trying to pay for school, and adoption, and save for taxes all at the same time. But I figured it would never be a good time, so we just had to do it.


So where to start? Consumer reports? We printed out the CR ratings and took it to Best Buy. The didn't have most of the models listed on the Consumer Reports ratings. So we fondled the shiny cameras for a while and left just as bewildered as when we arrived. Then we took to the internet, reading reviews and comparing models. Just as confusing. Then, to add more frustration, I decided to query friends while we were out for drinks the other night. All five of them had a different answer -- Canon...Fuji....Nikon....ARRGGHH!

Finally, on Sunday David suggested we just stop by a camera store -- a REAL camera store -- not Best Buy, and ask the experts there. So we went in and there was this guy behind the counter who looked somewhat intelligent. Not like the pimply-faced teenage employees who wander the aisles of Best Buy and offer to "help" even though they know absolutely nothing about the products.


The guy was very nice and smart. At least he came across like he knew what he was talking about. We were leaning toward a Canon, but the nice man informed us that Canons break down a lot. I guess the lenses get stuck or something. He was very much against us getting a Canon. Hmmm. So what do we buy, then? He showed us a Nikon Coolpix. It was very Cool. It was even red, and shiny, and very very skinny. It was like the anorexic camera. I kept thinking it would slide right out of my hands as I was taking a picture and I wouldn't even realize it. Then he showed us a FujiFilm camera. I didn't like the way it looked as much as the Nikon, but it felt a little heftier in my hands. I like a little meat on my camera, I decided, as I cupped the little box in my palms. After about 45 minutes, we had it narrowed down to the Nikon and the FujiFilm. Tough decision. Finally, the nice man took a photo of David with each camera. The FujiFilm photo seemed so much better -- clearer with great color. And the nice man also told us that Fuji's never break. They really sturdy and reliable. He was a really good salesman.


So we left the store, telling Jonathan (because by then we were on a first-name basis), that we'd think about it.

So I did for a few days....and today, after much thought, discussion, prayer (okay not really)...I went back to the store and bought it.

Here are a few photos of our "garden" taken with our new camera. Our garden is really just a few pots on our back deck. I wish I had taken photos when the flowers were in full-bloom this summer....they were gorgeous. Our garden's not much, but I like sitting out here in the morning with a cup of java. I also like the ivy growing on the wall of the neighboring building. It makes me feel like I'm sitting in Wrigley Field...but without the baseball (which is a plus for me).

I don't claim to be much of a photographer, but I'm happy with the quality of the photos so far. I'd like to take a photography class someday and learn how to take really great photos with all of the manual settings, etc. Then maybe we'll by a fancy schmancy camera with all of the manual controls. But for now, I think I'm pretty happy with this little point and shoot.

Jackets!

Ahhh, Fall is finally here. Yesterday I jumped the gun a little and wore a wool sweater vest to two client meetings I had down in the loop. It did get a little hot on my walk back to my car, but I didn't care. I was wearing a sweater vest! Today it is truly fall, with gray fall clouds and a nice stiff breeze. People are walking around in sweatshirts and sweaters. It may even be time to put away my flip-flops and start wearing jackets.

I decided recently that I need a new jacket. An "in-between" coat, as I like to call them. Something that will take me through the transition from summer to winter. A jean jacket is the perfect fall coat. The only problem is, I'm a bit tired of my jean jacket. I'm a jean-jacket junkie. Jean jackets are stylish, and add a nice casual touch even over the dressy pants I wear to client meetings. But I wear it everywhere. The elbow are almost worn through. I just need a change.

So I think I need a new jacket....but if you came into our house, you'd never know it. Our tree rack is swollen with jackets. Windbreakers, fleeces, jean jackets, rain jackets, down vests, army jackets. The tree looks like it could topple at any moment. And there are even more jackets in our hall closet...Wool coats, down coats, parkas. Most of them, just so you know, belong to my husband. He's always on the quest for the "perfect jacket". He has yet to find the holy grail of coats.

I tease him often. "How many jackets do you NEED?"

"But this one is too short" he'll whine, pulling one of his many jackets off the rack.

"And this one is too hot when I ride my bike....I need a jacket that breathes."

Yesterday he walked into my office and said "I saw a really great jacket at Uncle Dans. It's just like my Columbia windbreaker, only it has GORTEX!" I could sense the excitement in his voice. I could tell that maybe he finally found "the one perfect jacket."

"Well" I sighed. "Maybe for your birthday."

"Yes!" he said, raising a fist in the air. To be honest, his obsession with jackets makes gift buying a lot easier.

But I know what will happen. I'll buy it for him, and he'll be excited for a few weeks, until he finds something wrong with it. Maybe the pockets will be in the wrong place. Or the snaps won't close right. Or it will be too hot when he rides his bike.

And the quest for the perfect jacket will go on.

Another 80 degree day. Sigh.

Where the heck is autumn?! I have to say I'm sick of these 88 degree days. I might be kicking myself for saying this come February, but bring on the cold weather! I'm tired of sweating. I'm tired of the humidity. I'm tired of getting into a hot car. I'm sick of my tank tops and shorts.

We Midwesterners like our change of seasons. It's one of the advantages of living in the Midwest....feeling the cycle of weather, the rhythm of life. By the end of summer, we're ready for autmun. I'm ready to breath in that crisp cool autumn air. My sweaters are tired of hibernating.

I know what will happen....we'll go directly from 87 degree days to 30 degrees and snow. Sigh. I just want a few months of 60 degree days, turning leaves, and sweaters. Is that too much to ask?

Um...turns out it's not Poison Oak.

AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!

Okay, so I go to the doctor yesterday after a week of scratching my legs into a bloody pulp. I was hoping the red bumps would magically disappear, but after waking up yesterday with new bumps on my thighs and going crazy scratching the patches behind my knees, I decided it was time.

I made the call. I went in. The doctor looked at my legs. "You don't have poison oak, you have mites."

What???!!! ARRRRRGGHHHHHHHH!

"Mites? Creatures actually living on me, chomping on my skin?"

"Yep. They're oak mites."

"So they're crawling on me? Are they in our bed? On our cat?"

"Well, I don't know about your cat, but you might want to call the vet about that."

Turns out David and I are the victims of oak mites, (aka itch mites), that have been plaguing the Chicago area and munching on Cicada larva.....and humans. Like us. We're hosts to microscopic parasites. They fall from the Oak Trees, and are tiny enough to blow on the wind until they land on a hospitable human.


The kind Dr. Ettner, after I was finished screaming, wrote me a prescription for Scabies medication. More screaming ensued.

"Scabies?"

"Well, they're not Scabies, but I figure if this stuff kills Scabies it will kill Oak Mites."

So last night David and I covered ourselves in Scabies cream and went to bed. This morning we washed it off. Then I dumped my entire bed into the washing machine.

Now I'm hearing tiny screams of dying mites. Our pro-life stance on bugs has been thrown out the window.

Books, writing, yada yada yada....

About a year before my grandmother died, I went over to her apartment and interviewed her about her life. We talked for awhile as I recorded our conversation, but to be honest it was hard to get much information out of her. She wasn't a woman of many words. But I did ask her what she felt was her biggest accomplishment. She said, "well, I think it was having my three children." And then she rambled on for a while about my mother, aunt and uncle, and then her grandkids. She was very proud of us all. But as she was talking about us grandkids, she went down the list. "Well, there's Amy, an attorney. Then there's Julie and Kris, both nurses, and Scott, an attorney, and Phil, a chemical salesman, and then you.....now what do you do?"

I sighed. I'm a writer, grandma. "Oh," she said, "Yes, a writer."

Another time I told a cousin of mine I was writing marketing materials for an Insurance company. "Oh, so you're an underwriter?"

"No," I said impatiently. "A WRITER!"

Why is it so hard for people to understand what I do for a living? Maybe it's because I haven't published a book, so I'm not really a writer until I have something on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. Or maybe it's because they're not used to having a creative type in their midst. Teachers, doctors, nurses, attorneys, they can understand. But how, exactly does one make a living as a writer?

Hmmm. Well, to be honest I've been trying to figure that out for the past 20 years, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on my family. I used to write articles for magazines. That was a little more tangible for my friends and family. But for the past 9 years or so, I've been writing more obscure things...like brochures and websites and postcards.

I'm now basically a "copywriter"....and if you live in Chicago or New York or anywhere else where there are ad agencies, you probably know other copywriters out there and have a vague sense of the advertising industry.

What does a copywriter do? Well, it's more than just writing a few words for an ad. It's creating concepts, brainstorming ideas with art directors, learning about the product or company who's your client, and trying to figure out their "voice." Their "brand voice" is very important. How does a company want to present themselves to the world? What tone will best communicate what their product is all about? Smart? Warm? Cocky? Arrogant? Intelligent? Friendly? Accessible?

It's also about working closely with designers and art directors so the copy and images/design play off of one another. It's sortof like putting together a puzzle. The pieces have to all work together to form a complete picture of the company or product.

I like the problem solving aspect of these projects. I like working with other fun, creative people. I like figuring out the brand voice for each client, and helping them achieve their goals. It's creative and challenging.

Click here to see an example. It's a microsite I just finished for Navigon, a German GPS device. What is a microsite, you ask? Well, click on the link and find out! You may also see some online advertising for Navigon (these are called "banner" ads). I also wrote those. Except not the ones that are on the, um, crass side. Those were written by another agency. I have to admit it's not writing that's going to change the world, but I had a blast with this fun new agency I was working with on this project. I had forgotten how fun it was to be a part of a creative team.

I'm hoping to do more work for this agency (Elevate Studios), but until then, I'm contemplating a 3 month project with the Chicago Board of Trade. They're renovating their website since they recently merged with the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. We'll see if that pans out....

Since I finished the Navigon project, things have been a little slow. So I've spent some time finishing "The Lost: The search to find 6 out of 6 million". I started it on our Michigan trip and it took me a while to finish (it's over 500 pages long). Wow! is all I can say. That's my reiview. "Wow"! My only complaint is that he almost includes too many details. It gets a little bogged down in places. But what a story.

Now I'm on to "There is no me without you."

And I've been itching my legs -- turns out I have poison oak, too!