All-Time Favorite Albums

Recently, while I was sitting on an airplane for 11+ hours, I started making a mental list of my all-time favorite albums. Because there's not much else to do on an 11-hour flight.

So I thought I'd finish my list and put it in writing. Here they are, in no particular order... Steph's Top Ten Favorite Albums of All-Time:

Jennifer Knapp - Kansas

Ok, so I said they're not in order, but this one probably really is my #1. After this they aren't in order. I love this album and there's no way I could ever count the number of times I have belted it out in my car beginning to end.

10,000 Maniacs - Unplugged

Going old school here... not sure what it is about this one that I love so much. I think it's just that it's Natalie Merchant + Unplugged. And who doesn't love These Are the Days?

Bebo Norman - Between the Dreaming and the Coming True

A long-time Bebo fan, this is easily my favorite of his work. I love the piano, and the strings, and especially the song I Will Lift My Eyes.

Third Day - Third Day

This reminds me of good times in high school. Maybe that's why I love it so much. It's classic Third Day. I can't listen to it without thinking of the time I met Mac Powell and said, "Hi. You're left handed. And you play the guitar. I'm left handed. And I want to play the guitar." Yikes. Not my finest moment.

Bon Jovi - Cross Road

Easy. This has all my favorite Bon Jovi songs.

Steven Curtis Chapman - Beauty Will Rise

I think this is the most recent release on my list. I love the honesty, pain and hope that are so eloquently expressed in these 12 songs. The title track is my favorite.

Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to go to a small Jars of Clay show where they sang this album, beginning to end. The crowd's enthusiasm leads me to believe that I'm not the only one who has this on her top ten list.

Alanis Morrissette - Jagged Little Pill

I've never been a huge fan of the phrase "coming of age," but I think it's a good descriptor for this album. It's another one I can sing beginning to end, and it reminds me of my 1996 purple Ford Probe, the JHS yearbook staff, and good times in general. You Oughta Know has to be one of the best angry girl songs ever. And if that's not enough, there's that hidden song about being a stalker...

Nouveaux - And This Is How I Feel

I'd love to see a Nouveaux "where are they now." I couldn't even find a Wikipedia page for them. Maybe Tomorrow has long been a favorite song of mine. But it's just not the same unless preceded by the 11-second track Nice.

Robbie Seay Band - Give Yourself Away

I listen to this a lot when I'm on an airplane. I'm not sure why. I guess it's just the perfect kind of mellow for traveling.

If there were honorable mentions, they would go to Mark Schultz's Broken and Beautiful, Nichole Nordeman's This Mystery, Blessid Union of Souls's Home, Five Iron Frenzy's Upbeats and Beatdowns and Kendall Payne's Grown.

So there you have it. What's your favorite?

Wise Words

I read this over on Bowen's Heart today and thought it was worth sharing:

"I don’t think there is any good answer for what to say to someone after they’ve experienced a tragic loss. I think the answer lies in what you’ve said, and how you loved, leading up to these moments, before tragedy comes.

None of us know when tragedy will come.

Love and speak now as you would wish to love and speak in the midst of loss. When that time comes, your past will speak through your presence, and being there will be enough."

~Matt Hammitt

The Japan Blog

It's hard to believe we leave for Japan in just two short weeks!

Here's the blog where you can follow along...

http://youregoingtojapantodowhat.wordpress.com/

Steph's Guide to Breakfast

Since traveling and breakfast are pretty much two of my most favorite things in the world, I usually try to have at least one fantastic breakfast per trip. I love finding new breakfast spots via word of mouth, random google searches, or Urban Spoon.

While a "Steph Meets Breakfast" Food Network show would be ideal, I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future, so I thought I'd post some of the gems I've found around North America... mostly for my benefit so I can remember the names of them.

Cincinnati, Ohio

• The Echo Restaurant - Just had a fantastic breakfast there today, thus the post.

Baltimore, Maryland

• Miss Shirley's - The photo is of my white chocolate raspberry pancakes from there. Yum.

Denver/Boulder, Colorado

• Sam's No. 3 - I first ate here in 2005, and had the pleasure of returning this summer. It's a diner with a Mexican twist.
• Walnut Cafe - Found this by googling "Best Breakfast in Boulder."

Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Paul's Place Omelettery - We checked this out while in Vancouver for the Olympics. How could you not love a restaurant that has "Omelettery" in the name?

Chicago, Illinois

• Yolk - One of my favorite hotel salespeople told me about this place, and I've been there several times now. Popeye's Favorite is my favorite!

Redmond, Washington

• Pomegranate Bistro - Holly has taken me here a couple of times when I was there visiting. Besides the yummy food, they also have some lovely coffee drinks.

... and I would be remiss if I did not share my fave hometown spots:

Indianapolis, Indiana

• Cafe Patachou - I heart the omelette you can't refuse. I really can't refuse it.
• Omega Pancake House - This one's pretty new to me. I've only been there once, but there was a lot of food. And a lot of laughter.
• Good Morning Mama's - ok, so I haven't actually been to this one yet, but it is on my list to try soon. If it's anything like it's sister restaurant, Mama Carolla's, I already know I will love it.

Louisville, Kentucky

• Toast on Market - A trendy little place downtown
• Lynn's Paradise Cafe - A Louisville institution. Good food and ugly lamps.
• Wild Eggs - they have this amazing everything muffin...

What's your favorite breakfast place?

Long Overdue

The design of my blog was probably a good indication of how many things have slipped through the cracks over the past couple years of craziness. But like all the other things, it eventually got done.

Hope you like it.

You've found out... I've got a crush on you

Earlier today, I posed this question to a good friend:

Do we still have crushes when we’re 30?

Her answer made me laugh. In a nutshell, she said that yes, we do, but that they are not just on boys [we think] we want to marry.

So I thought I’d share a few things on which I currently have a crush:

Fried cheese at the State Fair. I know… surprise, surprise… Steph likes something at the State Fair. I don’t know why I waited this long to try the fried cheese, but with a little encouragement from the Millers, I decided to go for it.

My church. There’s some cool stuff going on there, and it seems to get better with each passing week. Aaron can kick our butts and make us laugh all within one 40-minute sermon. Then the worship team sings a song you have to download immediately when you get home.

Sweet Potato Fries. Just recently I discovered that Ore Ida sells frozen sweet potato fries. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it turns out they are delicious. I stocked up when they were on sale at Target!

Not being in school. Finishing school is perhaps the most awesome thing that has happened in the past few years. A Sunday afternoon with no worries of a looming midnight deadline is the best. Rest without guilt is a beautiful thing.

Grilling. I’ve had a grill at my house for at least two years, but had never used it until this summer. The grill got used, just not by me. That’s right… other people came over and grilled FOR me. That’s not a bad gig, by any means. But I decided I should figure it out for myself this summer. And you know what? I’m pretty good at it. Sure, my Kickin’ Chicken made our noses run, but it was totally worth it. Yes, I had to call Mark Olsen to ask how to grill corn on the cob, but I’m not ashamed to ask for help!

The new FFH album. One night I heard a familiar voice singing an unfamiliar song on the radio. It took me a minute to place it, but when I realized it was Jeromy Deibler of FFH fame (well, fame might be a strong word), I was pretty excited. I thought FFH had dropped off the face of the earth. But they’re back!

My reusable cup for iced coffee. Awesome roomie (this would be linked to her blog if she would start one!) has been making iced coffee for us this summer. But alas, we did not have an appropriate means of transporting it to work. Enter Bed Bath and Beyond. I found some pretty amazing plastic reusable cups there. They don’t even sweat!

Huddles Frozen Yogurt. Or should I say, “Huddles Frozen Yogurt on nights when it is not overrun with high school kids.” Lots of flavors. Lots of toppings. Enough said.

Amazon’s $5 Album Sale. I actually looked at all 1,200+ albums that are on sale the other day. Yikes. I am proud to say I only purchased three. Heart, Snow Patrol, and the 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music. What can I say… I have diverse musical tastes.

Baby Clothes. I will admit that I had hoped for a baby girl Olsen, but I am definitely finding some cute boy clothes for Andrew. Auntie Steph has promised not to buy him the Madonna onesie from Target, though. I picked up a pretty amazing outfit for Ryker's little brother, too, whom I only know as Baby D. He should be here any day now.

So there you have it. What are you crushing on this summer?

Summer Reading List

One of the [many] things I neglected while I was in school was reading anything not related to school. Now I am starting to rediscover the fact that I do enjoy it. I am missing the summer reading program I used to participate in at the Jeffersonville Township Public Library. Perhaps I will make some sort of craft by which to keep track of what I've read with stickers... we'll see.

I'll be blogging about most/all of these as I finish over on OnebookOnemonth. Check it out... and join us!

Things I've already read this summer:

• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
• Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff
• The Pumpkin Patch: A Single Woman's International Adoption Journey by Margaret Schwartz

Books on my list, in alpha order by author, but not necessarily in reading order:

• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Forgotten God by Francis Chan
• Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
• Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann
• Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps
• Between Wyomings by Ken Mansfield
• This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley
• One Day by David Nicholls
• The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice

Yikes. Pretty ambitious. How long is summer, again?

Anything that needs to be on my list that isn't?

Stress Eating, Tears and Martinis (Or: Graduation, the big meeting and turning 30)

Sigh. Of. Relief.

Hello, friends. It's been a long time. This is my first free evening in I can't remember how long. It's been a rough, crazy, and fantastic spring. The three biggies are that I graduated, made it through another big meeting and turned the big three-oh. Yikes.

I don't really know how to begin to explain the crazy, but here are a few photos. Mostly, though, I'm going to put it behind me and think of the lovely things that are in store for me this summer. Like weekends. At home. With nothing to do.

Graduation! My friend Arleen and I have a lot in common, like our love of Bon Jovi and NKOTB. I shall henceforth be referred to as Master Stephanie. Because I worked hard for that!

David got married! Here are Jami and I with him at Huber's.

Somewhere along the way, I got to go to a fantastic Jars of Clay concert where they played their first album, beginning to end. And we were uncomfortably close to the band. But it was awesome.

I took a little birthday trip to Colorado. Things kept going wrong. U2 was canceled because Bono had back surgery. Then I planned a hot air balloon ride, which was also canceled because of the weather. It rained all weekend... I stayed a couple days extra to work and the weather was lovely. Above, Holly and I are at Red Rocks to see Princess Bride. I also had the opportunity to catch up with summer project friends from both 1999 and 2000.

This is Colorado birthday dinner #2. On my 20th birthday, Chad sang a Backstreet Boys song to me. For 30, he didn't really want to, but Holly and Jess helped. I Want it That Way is much better than Happy Birthday, anyway.

So... what's next?

Well isn't that the million dollar question. I'm hoping to take a little time to rest and do nothing this summer. Oh, and I am just now remembering that I DO like to read, so hopefully I can get through the big stack of books I've been collecting. I also have an idea for a fun new blog that a few of you know about. Hopefully that will come later this summer. Other than that, I'm going to stay in town for a bit, enjoy all the fun summer Indy things, reinstate Staycation Sundays, and do a little dreaming about the future.

Surprise Encouragement

Believe it or not, I tend to overcommit just a tad and then end up completely stressed out. Like now, for example. I am in the midst of the busiest time of year at work, trying to finish my last class of grad school despite the raging senioritis, not to mention all of the other day-to-day things that make up life. This week seemed especially silly. Dumb things* kept happening that made me want to be really mad.

But every time I even thought about being mad, someone did something ridiculously awesome for me that made it impossible continue being angry.

Here are a few examples:

Monday night I came home to find not only a martini waiting for me in the fridge, but also a custom crossword puzzle.

These were a fantastic surprise, dropped off at my office for me.

(Except there were more of them...)

I got this in the mail from an old (not literally!) friend. Hilarious.

There seemed to be some extra kindness from co-workers this week, plus lunch with one of my besties, and let's not forget the phone call on Sunday that had me laughing so hard I was unable to speak. Either I am radiating stress and people think I'm completely on edge, or I just know some awesome folks. I'll go with the latter.

Thanks, friends. I'll do my best to pay it forward.

*Sorry, kids, not going into specifics on 'dumb things' here...

Singing My Memory Verses

I've often wondered how many songs to which I know the words. It's easily hundreds. There's something about words set to music that just makes them simple to memorize. And I have quite the repertoire - from Bon Jovi to Taylor Swift to New Kids on the Block to Shane & Shane.

But when it comes to memorizing Scripture, I am not so good. I'd say I know about 98% less Bible verses than songs. There are a couple of reasons for this: it doesn't come as easily to me and I quite honestly don't try very hard.

So when I started a new class at church this year, I wasn't too thrilled to learn that there's a weekly memory verse. Until, that is, I discovered that the book came with a CD. Yes, that's right friends, each weekly verse has been crafted into a delightfully cheesy song. The CD has taken up permanent residence in my car, and each Tuesday morning, I giddily listen to the new song/verse. And I giggle. By about Thursday morning, I am singing along, totally into it. Then it gets stuck in my head. When Monday rolls around, it's time to say it aloud. I end up having a hard time just saying it and wanting to sing it. But either way, I have successfully mastered another verse.

So here's to you, Mr. (or Ms.) Bible-verse-song-creator!

A few of my favorite things.

I know, I know. I've been back from my trip for a week and have yet to blog. I'll go ahead and blame that on jet lag, school, and the fact that the Olympics are keeping me up way too late.

I love the Olympics. You probably know that by now. It's a hallmark event that brings people from all over the world together, not only to cheer on their country's team, but also to become an international community, if only for 17 days. People are generally kind and in great spirits. They cheer for countries they couldn't find on a map. They get caught up in the emotion of watching fantastic athletes who each have their own story.

I'll write more later, but for now, here are a few of my favorite memories from an amazing trip to Seattle and Vancouver:

This is at the Opening Ceremony. Being there was definitely one of the coolest experiences ever. It's hard to explain, though I do really like the word 'pageantry.'

Holly and me just after the cauldron was lit. Despite the minor malfunction, a glorious site, indeed.

Gold medalist Evan Lysacek! We attended the men's short program, where we saw 30 skaters.

Yes! That's me... and Matt Lauer! We got up at 3:30 am and went to Grouse Mountain for the Today Show. While I was a little angry when the alarm went off, later I was really glad that we went. We were on tv!

The outdoor cauldron... one of those "there it is, kids" kinds of things. But neat, nonetheless.

The last night of my trip, in Seattle, we went to see Bon Jovi. It was opening night for The Circle tour, and it was a great show! This was Bon Jovi show #5 for me... #6 is coming up this summer in Chicago!

Bible Shopping

I somehow misplaced my small Bible, so today Jess and I went to Books A Million (aka BAM!) to look for a new one. They have quite the selection, and among them we found these three gems:

Camo Bible. Wait. This seems like it could be a bad idea. It might blend in too much, causing you to lose it...

It might have been just a little bit difficult for me to NOT purchase this one. But rest assured, I did not. It has a bedazzled buckle!

Oh boy. Really? Should I purchase this now in order to "Prepare spiritually for the most important day of my life?" Are you supposed to purchase this after engagement and read the whole thing before the wedding day? That's a lot of pressure, in addition to finding a dress, cake, venue and flowers... No wonder so many people opt for long engagements!

Must. Save. Princess.

If you are ever kidnapped by strange creatures, I'm probably not the one who should travel through dungeons, water and deserts to rescue you. You would be trapped for a long, long time. Maybe even forever.

That's right. I got Super Mario Bros. for Christmas. And I knew this would happen. That's why I hadn't actually played it until yesterday. This is the stuff of which addictions are made. I've been yelling at turtles and Luigi and dragons and fire and Mario. A lot.

I was not good at this game when I was nine. I am not good at this game at 29, either. I've learned a lot of things over the past 20 years, but how to navigate underground worlds with my BFF is not one of those things.

But there are advantages to playing when you're an adult. You can do things like move your furniture to make your living room more conducive to video game-playing. Neat, eh? (My couch is generally not right in front of the television...)

Hopefully this newly-formed habit will not negatively affect my grades or my intention to graduate in a few months!

The In Between

Tis the season to create goals and resolutions for the year. But rather than outlining a bunch of specific goals that I probably won't accomplish, I'm going to say this:

In 2010, I want to live in the in between.

"In between what?" you ask. Well, I tend be the kind of person who is always looking forward to the next big thing. And there's no doubt that 2010 will have its share of fun and exciting things. I'll be going to the Olympics, graduating, turning thirty (with Bono in Denver), taking a little trip to Japan (!), and who knows what else...

As awesome as all those things will be, it's the little in between things that make up life. The conversations at Starbucks, the day-to-day interactions with co-workers, the dinners with friends, the lazy Sunday afternoons... these are the things I want to pay attention to and enjoy.

There are appropriate Steven Curtis Chapman lyrics for any occasion, right? From his "Miracle of the Moment:"

There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

There’s only one who knows
What’s really out there waiting
In all the moments yet to be
And all we need to know
Is He’s out there waiting
To Him the future’s history
And He has given us a treasure called right now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

How much is too much?

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I mostly post about random, silly things or fun stuff that I'm doing. But I recently had a great conversation with a friend who challenged me to be more transparent on my blog. (Don't you sometimes hate that friend who challenges you? Just a little bit?)

If you only read this, you probably think life is all fun and games. But, like everyone else, I have my issues. Plenty of them.

My question is this: How transparent should one be on her blog? Obviously it's a matter of personal preference and comfort, so maybe the better question is how transparent should I be on MY blog?

This seems like an appropriate time for a Pro/Con list:

PROs of Sharing

-Accountability

-Might be encouraging someone without knowing it

-Possibility of turning into the next Julie Powell (as in, Julie and Julia)?

CONs of Sharing

-Totally opening yourself up to criticism from people you don't even know

-One word: Stalkers

-General creepiness of putting your junk out there for everyone to see, including co-workers and future employers

What do you think?

For those of you who are sharers, what are your motives?