This ain't your grandmother's Christmas Spectacular....

For one thing, we are at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College Pennsylvania and not New York City, as much as you may not believe me. This brings me to the next thing. Do you see the Radio City Music Hall in the background of this picture? Well, guess what: It's not really there.

Yes my friends, you read correctly. Tonight I was eye-witness to a feat unlike any other I have experienced in quite some time (as in, ever). I have just returned to my humble home, after being the recipient of an extra ticket to see the famous Rockettes kick their legs with fervor and grace. While their physical stints were quite extraordinary, the backgrounds projected behind them are probably what I will remember the most. There's really no capturing it, other than to say: It was pretty dang cool.

Let me tell you about my weekend.

Remember when I was gushing about special moments with special people? Well, I hate to tell you that those special moments did not end after Friday's recital. In fact, they just kept a-comin'. You will have to live without pictures for most (contrary to popular belief, I do not in fact carry a camera with me everywhere I go...), and rely merely on my narrative powers (which you might need to forgive a bit this time around, because it is well past my bed-time and yet--for some strange reason--I cannot seem to sleep. Make the most of all opportunities is what I say, so here we go...)

Saturday began like most other Saturdays. I woke up. I dealt with life--laundry, groceries, banking, baking-of-squash-for-making-of-squash-soup, etc. I luxuriated in taking my time, and by 11.10 was satisfied that life was indeed dealt with.

With perfect timing, Heather called and said "Come for lunch!" which was pretty nice seeing as I had forgotten to eat breakfast in all of my dealings. (Heather pretty consistently feeds me when I forget to eat. It is one of the many reasons why I cannot imagine life without her.) She fed me delicious bbq as I sat at her counter and while we dug through life. We were not entirely satisfied with the effects of the digging, and decided that what we really needed was some thrifting. Since Sarah was at a birthday party, and Ash was going about his own dealing with life, Heather, Kate and I headed out to the local thrift store. I did not know what to expect, as I had not yet taken advantage of the thrift possibilities in my local area, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some pretty neat, pretty old, white dishware to add to my collection.

(Sidebar: Awhile back I decided that when I finally grow up and have a real life, I would like to have a black and white kitchen with green accoutrements. That was just before the whole world went crazy and decided that black and white was "in", but I have decided that even though I detest following a crowd, this particular crowd is following me and hence--it is ok. That being said, I have unofficially begun gathering to my bosom random pieces of black/white/green dishware. The older the better. Hence, yay thrift store.)

Kate found some color-forms that she was pretty pleased with, so we returned home for some "alone-time with Lauren". This is a phenomenon that Kate guards with surprising force, and anyone who tries to interrupt this precious time is firmly reprimanded. (I am pretty scared of her.) We hid ourselves away in her bedroom and played color-forms to our hearts content.

After awhile I realized it was getting pretty late, so I took myself away to run some errands that included my first round of Christmas shopping (how have we gotten this close to Christmas?!?). Pretty soon I needed to be over at the Saturday evening service my church holds because I was playing piano with the band. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to sit at a piano and just jam with some fine musicians, so I won't even try. I will just say that there is a whole dimension to worship that I am privileged to experience as a pianist and that I am grateful for. By the time the service was over and I got home I realized that I needed to finish preparing my sunday school lesson for the next day, or else I was going to have a crowd of unruly hooligans on my hands. (I typically try to avoid this at all costs, and as this was my first time teaching this particular crowd, I wanted to be good and prepared...)

The next morning found me at church with butterflies taking up my stomach. I had to laugh to myself--I had been on stage in front of crowds of people three times in the last week without a blink of a butterfly, and yet it was this gaggle of children that turned me into a nervous wreck. By the time we got under way however, I was feeling better. My trusty assistant had arrived, and we were able to take part in the worship before all the children were dismissed to their classes. (It is amazing what a little bit of perspective can do for your soul, and it is amazing what worship does for my perspective...) Our class went well, we had fun, and the children learned that the memory verse "doesn't rhyme!!!" (They seemed to be very concerned about this. Hopefully they learned some other things as well....)

After all was said and done, I hopped in my car and made my way to Harrisburg. (Enter, pictures.) Last year about this time, my friend Liz was about to have a baby and wanted to gather together our group of friends before life got a little hay-wire. This year, our friend Amanda is in the same situation and so Liz gathered us all again.
We (Marina & Rick, Dave & Amanda, Liz & Jeff, and myself) laughed, ate, and talked the afternoon away. We were highly amused by the children running about,

and were entertained by their various attempts at entertaining us. Here we have Joost, attempting to balance a pillow on his head.

Attempt 1: Failure.

Attempt 2: Failure.

Attempt 3: SUCCESS!!!

This led to confident re-enactments in various other locations (as in right next to me...) Unfortunately a picture does not capture the feat of walking into the living room whilst balancing; otherwise folks, you would see it here first.

When we realized with sadness that it was time to be parting (and I am not trying to be cute here--I do mean real sadness) we ladies gathered so that Rick our photographer could re-enact the picture he took of us at last year's dinner. It is sad that our time together is limited to such brief encounters, but it is a gift that those encounters are always a refreshment of the soul.

After hugs and good-bye wishes, I drove back to my cozy home, my white dishware, and my work. (I swear to you that I fully intended to make this a work weekend. Sometimes life just has a better idea.) Things got under way with a bang bright and early the next morning but it is ok: I am happy to report that this time next week I will be in New Jersey with my dear family, getting ready for some holiday. (Bring on the holiday.)

That's all kids--thanks for letting me tell you ;-)

Yes, I actually play the piano

Meet my lovely and dear friend Emily: The girl has a voice that you would covet, if coveting singing voices was your thing.

She is quite beautiful in every way.
Last night I had the good fortune to accompany her on her graduate recital. We performed a bit of Schumann, a variety of Bizet, some arias for which I became a one-woman orchestra.

(Let me take this moment to thank the most phenomenal page-turner I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Thanks to her there were no page-turning disasters. The only disasters were entirely my own--two moments of completely exposed, completely wrong, no-way-to-hide-it badness. In true Lauren fashion, when I mess up, I mess it up for realz.)

Emily and I finished up our portion, and then the University Choir that we work with marched onto the stage. They (along with our favorite Dr. Leach) accompanied Emily on a medley of spirituals that was extraordinarily exquisite. As I listened from backstage I realized that if I were sitting in the audience I would probably be quite moved, and have to wipe away a tear or two (or three or four, since in true Lauren fashion, when I tear up I tear up--for realz.)

When all was said and done, Em and I took our final bow.
It was a special moment, as this was more than a professionial relationship in action. This was a musical journey of preparation and performance, made meaningful by the fact that first and foremost we are on a journey of friendship. I was proud of Emily's accomplishment, and grateful to be a part of her special night.

Life is not worth living if you don't have people to share special moments with, and this night will go down in my books as evidence that my life is indeed worth it!

(Special thanks to Kim for the pictures! It is difficult to take pictures of yourself on stage, as you might well imagine...)

A piano lesson with my good friend Kate

Here are a few highlights from yesterday:

How fun is my life?

George Bites the Dust....

Literally:

But, don't worry.

He wants you to know--

He is O-kay.

Love Imparts Life

Within the past few short months I have been privileged to get to know some mighty cool people in the context of a "Life Group". I would be the first to run from labels that might lend themselves toward cliche, but in this case, the shoe fits: Being a part of a group of people who are seeking to love and honor God with their lives and who understand the necessity to love and nourish each other truly does impart life. (I have to admit, I stole the phrase "Love Imparts Life" from another member of our group, but I can't seem to get around how true it is and hence, here you have it....)

This past weekend a portion of us took some time to get away--to laze around in a cabin in the woods, to get to know each other, to laugh, to play, to party, to eat, to pray, to seek God. This is how we did it:

First things first. Mike noticed the fireplace almost immediately upon our arrival on a rainy Saturday afternoon and headed outside for some firewood. He came back in and promptly dropped a log on my foot. (I was only trying to help him....)

After getting our things settled, we settled in for some games. In the Manner of the Adverb was round one, a delightful variation on charades where a person is taken out of the room. The others decide on an adverb. The person comes back, picks two actors, tells them what the scenario is, and has to guess the adverb based on how they are acting. Here are Roxanne and I, cluelessly getting ready for the prom. (R: "Is this how I should wear this dress?" L: "I don't know!", etc.) This activity was followed by Four on the Couch. Due to a game variation that turned out to be a mistake, I think we

ended up re-writing the name: Four Hours on the Couch.

We were ready to be done and have some dinner. Dinner was good. But it was only the beginning.

What happened next was a Halloween dance party unlike any other.

Frankenberry was there, winning in my mind the best costume. It was pretty hilarious to think that it was really just Barb inside of that large pink head (and had I been a child I think I would have been traumatized...)

The rest of us ladies were a variation of winged creatures, royalty, and popular-culture-icons.

The boys (the majority anyway) relied on facepaint and their dance moves to justify their presence at the party. They were pretty amusing, so we let them stay (despite the fact that they sweated their facepaint all over the place...)

We even wanted to be a little bit like them. (Yes, believe it or not, this is Amy and I, grooving out...)

(We really just relied on our beauty to justify our presence, and in the end, it was Matthew who wanted to be like us....)

We finished off the evening in pajamas and games, until one by one we were down for the count on a variety of beds, floorspace, futons, and couches, happily worn out from our day of luxurious fun.

The next morning arrived quickly (despite the extra hour we got to sleep...) and the boys got to business, making us a delectable breakfast...

We were a little worried when they came down to make the coffee in their sleeping bags and proceeded to rough-house right there in the kitchen....

...but since I got my coffee perfectly prepared by coffee-master Matthew, I will only say "I guess boys will be boys" and not spoil their fun. (It is good for the soul to have silly boys around anyway....)

Mike even took time away from his egg-making duties to make us another fire. I stayed well away from him this time--a log on the foot is far better than a hatchet on the foot, and I wasn't taking any chances.

The rest of our morning was spent in our own little corners (both outside and in) in prayer and study. We reconvened to discuss what we had learned, henceforward learning more about God and about each other. This is a piece of what I came away with: God's love endures forever, and in that love He chose us. He desires to lavish that love on us, and we can rest in the confidence that because of His love we can come to Him with any thing. It is also why we can love Him and each other without fear--His love is first, and our love is a response. He can be trusted in all things, even a thing as vulnerable as love. (A thing that I fail at pretty consistently...)


Such hearty discussion needs to be followed with hearty food and exercise, so we made some lunch and enjoyed each other's company as we ate. Then we packed up our things, some people (sadly) departed, and the remainder of us hit the road for a hike through the woods. It was a beautiful day. It was a lovely walk. It was good to be together, made bittersweet by the realization that it was soon to be over.

In the end, it was a weekend of remembering what living life is about: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang everything.

What in the...?

This morning I was walking to school, reflecting on the goodness of God, somewhat lost in my own little world. Gradually I became aware of an odd sound, like a rush of hot air, just above my left shoulder. "What in the...?" I thought. "Fire-breathing dragon?" I thought. I cautiously turned my head over and up to find, hovering just above and to the left of me, a... (wait for it...)...

HOT AIR BALLOON.

I took a picture with my phone, because it is not everyday that there is a hot air balloon hovering just above and to the left of you. Unfortunately, I do not really know how to use my phone, and so I accidentally erased it. It was a great picture though, all blue sky and hot air balloon. By the time I realized the fate of the picture it was a bit too late--I'd lost my angle--but I snapped this one through the trees:

It was a fun way to start a Monday.

(Stay tuned here, when I get a few more seconds I'll write a bit about my fun weekend get-away....First I have to get caught up on life....)