I Never Promised You an Organic Garden

I recently finished my first two sewing projects: a knitting needle holder and a matching bag. This was my first endeavor into sewing, and it was quite an experience. While my projects are by no means perfect, I am very pleased with how they turned out. Sure, some of my seams are less than straight, as much thread may have gone into huge knots as went into the actual sewing, and I may have broken the needle on the sewing machine, but in the end I have two great items I actually made.

(more…)

I attended a writing workshop yesterday, hosted by Travis Poling. It was a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much I enjoy writing and being creative. Travis also did a great job facilitating. We did two exercises: The first was writing prose about a childhood experience with spirituality (it was at the Seminary after all), and the second was writing a poem about where we were from. I was actually pleased with my poem, so I thought I would share it here. Click through to see the poem. Enjoy!

(more…)

Just wanted to share this catchy little tune from Wierd Al. I think it pretty much says it all.

I recently ran across a fun article on cnet.com called “What your favorite Web site says about you.”  It describes 10 popular websites, including Facebook, Flicker, and ebay, and gives a profile of the typical user.  It is quite interesting.

Of the options, Facebook would have to be my personal favorite, but I’m not sure I fit the profile of the typical user.  According to the article, Facebook users are the drunkin college student type who ends up with unflattering photos of themselves posted for all to see.  I definitely don’t fit that profile.  Didn’t even fit that profile when I was a college student.  I do however spend plenty of time “stalking” my friends.  It has been a great tool for keeping up with friends who live halfway across the country with lives just a busy as mine.  It lets me feel connected to people who I can’t easily pop over and visit.

What does your favorite website say about you?

I visited the Richmond Arts Festival downtown this afternoon and discovered two new stores I am very excited about: Main Street Beads and Unwind Yarn Shop.   The best part: they are right across the street from my office, so I can pop over anytime.

I have been making jewelry for about a year and 1/2 now and am always looking for good places to buy new beads.  They are even going to try and find me titanium earing wire.  It is great to have a cute little bead shop right across the street from my office.  I also learned to knit when I was still living in Blacksburg and am anxious to relearn and maybe even knit myself a new pocketbook.  I signed up at both shops to be notified about upcoming classes.

The festival itself was nice. I was surprised how many people I ran into that I knew.  I even got to help Hopi pick yarn colors for her baby blanket!  It was a great feeling seeing so many familiar faces. I feel like I am finally becoming a part of the Richmond community outside of the seminary.

Yesterday was my first book club meeting. It went fabulously!  There were 7 women, and we had a great time chatting and discussing the book. There was also lots of wonderful food.  I even enjoyed some fresh avocado (I know I know I couldn’t believe it either).  Since the book club was my idea, I was the first to host and picked “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodie Picoult. It was a really good and thought provoking book.  It lead to some great conversations as well.

I am really excited to finally have a book club to be a part of.  It seems like it has been years since I have been able to read  a book and really discuss it with a group of people who have also read the same book.   I can’t wait to see what the next book will be…

I spent this past weekend at a metal detecting event with my family and friends. It was a lot of fun, but I realized how many people have no idea what I am talking about when I mention I am going to a metal detecting event.

Basically the best way to understand is to imagine the people you see at the beach with metal detectors searching for lost treasure only put 80 - 100 of them in a field looking for silver dimes that have been buried ahead of time. There are tons of these events that go on across the country usually lasting from one to ten days.

There are 2 main types of metal detecting that go on at these events, and I will give you a quick run down of each just to be thorough :

1) Competition - this is a paid hunt that “the best” metal detectors enter to compete against each other. Each round (the competition can be one round or multiple) has a set number of targets, usually pennies, buried and the participants have a set amount of time to find as many as they can. The person who has the most targets at the end of all the rounds is the winner and usually gets a cash prize along with bragging rights

2) Coin Shooting - this is also a paid hunt; however, everyone at the hunt enters. Silver dimes or other “high value coins” are buried and the participants go at it. In this event the goal is usually to find enough dimes to make back your entry fee (Silver dimes are worth much more than “clad” dimes). Exceptional metal detectors usually find more than what they paid to enter the hunt and there for make a profit.

All in all it is an interesting hobby I have been involved in since I was a child.

Other interesting facts about metal detecting:

• a metal detector does not sound like a Geiger counter
• when you swing your detector over metal it beeps, this is the sign to dig
• we do fill in our holes
• metal detectors can find objects buried up to a few feet underground
• there are multiple brand of metal detectors: whites, fisher, tesoro, and troy to name a few
• people travel 1,000s of miles to reach hunts