Pumpkin Season

It's the first week of September, but we're not quite autumnal yet.

So today, to eagerly welcome the approaching fall, I ordered a pumpkin spice latte.  Iced.

I've gotta admit -- the iced version isn't quite as fall-ish as the hot one.  Sigh.  Come quickly, cooler weather.

"Oh how we love pumpkin season.  You did know this gourd-ish squash has its own season, right?  Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin.... We anxiously anticipate it every year."  Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, October 2010

14,000 Things to be Happy About

Years and years ago, my beloved college friend J gave me a thick little pudgy book titled 14,000 Things to be Happy About.  I don't read it cover to cover; it's not that kind of book.  It's the kind of book you grab, flip to some random page, and read.  I used to keep a highlighter near it, and when an item in the list caught my eye, I'd highlight it.  I also dog-ear the pages that are my favorite.  Today's blog is in honor of this little white book that has kept me company for ten years now.  These are the things I am happy about, in this moment and on this Saturday:

Soft spring rain.
The feel of the warm, skinny vanilla latte cup in my hand.
Starbucks colors (warm oranges and browns and yellows)
Writing "to do" lists on brown, recycled paper napkins.
Cinnamon-chip scones.
Mellow music by Sting and Joan Collins.
Good hair days.
The passage in I Corinthians that promises that "when the perfect comes, the imperfect will disappear" (my Rosina-translation)
My favorite pen.
A silent cell phone.  Lol.


"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.  ~A.A. Milne

Unzip Your Pants!

I'm sitting outside of Starbucks, sipping some deeeelicious coffee and grading some faaaabulous papers (love my students!) and I'm thinking about making wise decisions. 

I would like to be wise.  I love owls.  I love glasses.  I love men who wear sweater vests.  A love of wisdom seems implied.  Haha

In all seriousness, though, a wise Word once said that faith without works -- or for the purposes of my thoughts today -- "knowledge" without action ... is dead. 

So today I celebrate the extremely small step of  realizing what needs to be done ... and then doing it. Since my mom and dad practically drove that expression into the proverbial ground of my childhood, I know they'd be proud to know I'm living it today.  Well, technically, yesterday and today.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Oh, and the title?  Well, it's a sister-thing, but suffice it to say -- if your pants are too tight and they're giving you a tummy ache, you gotta unzip.  There's just No Other Option.  In life, sometimes you've gotta suck it up, let go of whatever's holding you too tightly, and do the right thing.  The cool thing is, whether in a real-life-pants-situation or a metaphysical decision-making situation, "unzipping" offers nearly-instant relief.

(for sisters A and G)