Like a lot of people, I've been thinking and praying for the East Coast and the troubles they're facing. 

But some have expressed, and I agree, that it's rather remarkable when life gets so completely entirely interrupted.  When we're stranded.  Inside.  In physical proximity to only a few people.

I've felt that way with our more extreme snow/ice storms in the Northwest the past few years.  Obviously the Eastern Seaboard is facing that right now.  And though not facing a hurricane (thank God!), Seattle has been deluged with enough rain to make someone want to stay in.

Moments like those are special.

And I think they can lead to incredible creativity.

I know of a few pieces of art started under such circumstances.  This is an example of just one of them.

I've returned lately to one of my favorite bands, Future of Forestry (and Eric's previous Something Like Silas).  This "trailer" inspires me in a lot of ways.  I love the unconventional studio.  I love seeing the personal moments behind what's coming through my speakers. (I could go on a whole tangent about how music has become so impersonal during the last hundred-fifty years of its evolutio... but I'll save that for a different post :) 

I sublimely admire the notion of being stuck, with only the tools to create and time to spend.

To those "stranded" or just drawn toward home by our October weather, what will you create?

It's officially a Monday :P In other news, I want to know who decided to plan employee picture day in October :/

Love this family!

You know you're in Portlandia when...

Me: um, excuse me, do you know where the closest starbucks is?
Hipster: No, but you should try real coffee

Today is my grandparents 59th Anniversary!

[Taken last year at their joint birthday parties]

I am so amazed by them.

Both grew up during the depression. They met on a blind date. He was a soldier; she was a nurse. They lived in Yesler Terrace with my young uncle and dad while she helped put him through UW to become a weatherman. 

[The entire Surface family at my cousin's wedding this summer--Madelyn and Jack in utero]

Four kids, eleven grandkids, and four great-grand children later--they still amaze me.

[With Bapa this summer]

Today we found out that we're going to be saying goodbye to "Bapa" very soon.

Too soon.

I knew this day was coming and am so grateful that this year has afforded me extra time with them down in Portland. 

But that doesn't make it any easier. 

I know many people--many of you--who have gone through the same thing very recently. And its taught me to take advantage of every "I love you" and every moment spent together. 

But part of me still can't believe it.

I had always assumed that he'd be at my wedding. That my kids would sit on his knee and hear about life "back in 1938..."

Still, there is much to be grateful for. And through my tears I am overwhelmed with gratefulness to both my grandparents and to the Lord.

I've been reflecting on this hymn quite a bit lately, and in light of today, I'll end with a portion of it:

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Merry Christmas!

"Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime..."

- Samwise, describing Galadriel to Faramir

The Two Towers

Been thinking of this place lately.

Someday, I will see it in its fall colours.

Can I just say... I love being referred to "the English major" at work. 

The other day, the head of the Tax department called me just to ask where an apostrophe went.  haha!  Kind of feels like I have a magic power... so much for English being a "useless degree" =P

On my mind on the way into work:

Happy Friday!

My poor mother... she saw a book on my shelf and made the mistake of asking, "So what is Heart of Darkness about?"

And she just got an earful about Colonialism, the carving up of Africa, the Belgian Congo, framed narratives, dream genre, parallels with the Aeneid, Conrad's tri-lingual capacities, the viscous cycle of Colonialism, critiques on race, etc... all packed into a 70 page novella.

Aaaaaghh! =)

Finally!!



[via]



sweater weather :)

This is the best.

On my way to meet Jack Baker :')

The Fifth of October



[Quote: Norm Willis  |  Design: Kelsey Greeson]



A Saturday Night in Paris

In the midst of all the running around and little things that need to be taken care of, I'm so grateful for those few moments that sometimes occur at work when Bob and I stumble onto talking about arts and culture--because that's when I discover more and more of our similarities.

I didn't think today would afford one of those moments, and I'm not sure how it happened.  But in the middle of talking about one issue or another we suddenly found ourselves praising Mumford, commenting on the quiet brilliance of Gotye (no matter how overplayed), and agreeing that (while thoroughly enjoyable) Lewis is a bit too literal for us.  We prefer the layered ambiguity of TS Eliot or Bob Dylan.  He's got me beat having read Lord of the Rings 8 times (I'm working on it =) and he had front row tickets to a U2 concert in Hawaii a few years back.  "Adele absolutely deserved every accolade she received"--I agreed.  Both holding our breath for CBS's debut of Elementary tonight.  And he promised he was getting back to Sherlock this weekend--only "Hounds" and the "Fall" left.  "You've seen them a few times each probably..."  A few, Bob.  A few.

It was 8 minutes at the most... but the conversation made my day!

Journeys through Middle Earth {Pt. 1}

So excited to begin what I hope will be a revelatory series--both to write and to read.  Here's my intro, originally written 9.11.12.

*   *   *

So this morning I finished a biography on Tolkien (hopefully just my first), and I am amazed.

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but there seemed so much to say... so I think this may turn into a series of sorts.

But let me back up and explain a little...

Earlier this summer, I decided re-reading The Hobbit in light of the [HIGHLY ANTICIPATED!!!] trilogy that starts this Christmas (only 93 days =).  I had read it as a child, gosh, probably around age 9 or 10?  So I remembered very little - pretty much 13 dwarves, Bilbo Baggins, Gollum, riddles, ring, dragon.  It proved a very rich re-reading experience because I felt surprised by everything after he found the ring.  There is SO much more I want to say about the hobbit... but like I said, another post =)

My friends and I have decided that I have obsessive disorder--not obsessive "compulsive" disorder--just obsessive.  As my sister reminded me this weekend, I'm an "all on/all off" kind of gal... and if I'm "all off" its usually due to decided detestation or total ignorance.  And so after finishing The Hobbit (actually reading the last chapters aloud to my brother on our last road-trip... *sniff), I said, "Well, that was lovely.  But no need to throw myself (again) into Tolkien fever."  I read the trilogy at about 11 (before seeing the films) and had attempted re-reading since then, only to fade out in Book III of the Two Towers. I was pretty set, I have other things to read (and to do) and 1,500 pages of Middle-Earth just might distract from that, so The Hobbit was enough.  Ha. Ha.

So, imagine my surprise when The Fellowship of the Ring showed up in my bag the next day on my bus ride!  Now, I'm nearly done with Fellowship (more posts to come), warming up to the idea of attempting The Silmarillion, reading (multiple?) biographies on Tolkien, dreaming of how wonderful it would be to know Elvish, borrowing my brother-in-law's atlas of Middle-Earth, listening to the soundtracks non-stop, and really wishing he has a single, great-grandson around somewhere.  And crying.  Lots of Tolkien = lots of crying.  Between his personal life, the heroicism of hobbits, and my own "journey"--there has been several tears shed on the bus.

Ok... I've decided this will have to be the introductory post.  Thoughts have been bubbling inside me too long and I hope to share many of them here.  But for now, I just needed to explain the plight and the joy of being a nerd.

Well, my innagural "Technology Sabbath" was successful.  It felt good.  And I didn't miss any earth-shattering news.  It's just kind of eye-opening how much we use cell phones, the web, etc... and to think that none of those things were common when I was born. Hm.


But we're back to Monday (after a whirlwind weekend for me) and I thought I'd share a few Bob-isms I've been saving up for a while.  Some of these are funny but all of them make me grateful he's my boss.

"A lot of problems are products of success."

In the middle of a conversation about the company -
Bob:  Samara, have you seen Finding Nemo?
Me:  Yes...??
Bob:  I'm Dori.

"Ethics trumps money. Always."


Bob:  We need to come up with a password for you and I to use.
Me:  Ok.
Bob:  It could be anything, really. It could be your friend! [Referring to Mr. C =]
Me:  Ummm... Haha - no.

Today, 75 years ago, a slim children's book was unleashed on the world... and it changed everything!

[That may sound dramatic (from me? shocking!), but it really is true. More to come on that later]

Happy anniverssary to The Hobbit!

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." How marvelous!

I recently re-read The Hobbit [and am now in the midst of the Trilogy] and was blown away all over again. Stay tuned or be warned: I will shortly begin posting a series I've started on revelations from re-reading Tolkien =)

Technology Sabbath - a girl who unplugs on Sundays

This would be hard... but I feel ready for it.
I remember reading Little House on the Praire and thinking how boring it must have been to sit around and do nothing on Sundays. Now, with a full-time job + a full-time social life, nothing sounds more relaxing. And while turning off the phone and computer wouldn't bring my entire life to a halt, it would give me silence and space to gather my thoughts, journal, read, and really listen. This ideas been growing on me all day and it may just happen. Stay tuned ;)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

[You can tell life is full when it's thursday and you're finally writing about the weekend =P ]

I was absolutely spoiled this weekend!

I got to attend 2 concerts and be with some of my favorite people =)

Friday night, I took my younger brother, Jerry, on a date.......... to see our favorite band:

Future of Forestry

This was my fourth FOF concert (first and second experience)--and each one has been so worth it.

Obviously I'm a huge fan of their art... but more than just a fan.

They are a group of extremely talented people who have a lot of fun creating together. And that is worth the price of admission.

This year was especially moving... beyond what I can articulate.

But one of the fun parts was that my brother and I were front and center. Eric (the lead singer) kept looking over at us. In between songs, he made a comment about how unusual it was to have people singing along who knew every word.

After the concert I stood in a group, waiting to talk to Eric. But I noticed that Jerry was behind me talking to another member of the band so I turned around to chat with them.

As I did, Eric leapt out of this crowd of people, looked at us and said "Don't leave! Wait just a minute and I'll be done." I laughed, assuring him we weren't going anywhere.

So we chatted with a cool band member who had also just graduated college and then waited a bit longer for Eric. We got to spend several minutes with him, sharing some of the personal significance to his songs, thanking him for his music. But it felt mutually encouraging. He was so grateful to us... just an amazing connection, really.

The next night was also a stellar music experience: my church recorded their first live album.

Our worship leader (also named Eric) has such an incredible as a singer/songwriter. Combine that with some very talented musicians, Katie + Rose (amazing!), an energized crowd, invite the presence of God and you can expect an incredible evening!

So there's a snapshot of my fabulous, musical weekend. Hope yours was equally inspiring!

5

I have waited... and now

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