{p,f,h,r}--Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

I've never done this before, because I normally don't take enough pictures every week to do this weekly. But I sure did when I was on vacation, so here we go!

{pretty}

There's a lot of pretty here, guys. Edel+ Charleston= pretty overload. So let me walk you thought it.

Carolina Jam Cake with lovely, simple flowers at Hominy Grill. The cake has caramel icing. Say no more, people.

This lovely St. Therese necklace made by the Fantastic (And Cincinnati-based!) On This Day Designs.

Goodies from the conference: St. Thomas card (also from On This Day), a St. Catherine of Siena medal, and a lovely print from Hatch Prints.  Dominican power was strong!

The cutest houses--and wonderful restaurants!

Seriously, a hat shop! A REAL HAT SHOP! With such a pretty sign.

{funny}

Super funny ladies, they are: Kelly Mantoan and Mary Lenaburg. 

{happy}

That about sums up happy, right?

{real}

L-R: The tomatoes at the Charleston Farmers' Market; buttermilk fried chicken at Poogan's Porch (DIVINITY), and Passion fruit iced tea, so I don't melt in Charleston humidity.

Punching Satan in the Face: Edel '15

Describing last weekend requires a lot of superlatives. Awesome. Epic. Fantastic. Amazing. You know, all those words that teenage girls like to use in squealing tones of voice. But in this case, they'd be well-deserved. It really was all those things.

My family and I arrived in Charleston on Thursday, and the conference kicked off on Friday evening. On Friday morning, I received an email from Jen Fulwiler asking me if I'd be a guest on her radio show that night. Now, I'd sort of hoped I'd be a guest, but I didn't think I actually would be, because those sort of things don't happen to me. I don't win the lottery or even the church raffle. I'm not lucky that way. But today, I was.

I did a little happy dance and replied that I'd love to. I do love to talk, after all. And I wasn't nervous, because I'd be talking about--well, OK--me, not nuclear policy or sanctuary cities. If I don't know about my life, who does?

I was worried that I wouldn't talk to anyone else all weekend--that people would think I was a weird blog fan girl and think "danger, Will Robinson!" But the women were all welcoming, funny, and friendly. As the weekend progressed, I realized that a lot of us often felt the same way--that people wouldn't like us, or would think we're "weird". But Edel is a great example of CS Lewis' definition of friendship: "You too? I thought I was the only one!" There was a lot of that at Edel.

But back to the radio show. Mary Lenaburg (pictured above with the fantastically funny Kelly Mantoan, one of our speakers) was first, and she talked about her sweet Courtney. There was a need for tissues after she was done talking. Fortunately, I didn't have to follow that. ;-) I was on in the six o'clock hour (we were on from 5-7) and to be honest, I have no idea how long I was interviewed, and I have a vague idea of what I said--adrenaline just totally took over.

I do know I said it's OK to get mad at God, because he can take it--this was tweeted a lot, apparently. (It's so weird to have things you said be tweeted. This happens to other people. Not me.) But I had a blast talking to these amazing ladies.

And when I say amazing, I mean they were all, really, amazing. Every one of us is fighting the good fight at home, moving toward holiness one load of dishes at a time. It was so refreshing to be with like-minded women!

In self-care, one of the things that gets talked about is "filling your well". Edel did that for me. Not only did I get to meet women whom I've admired for a long time (Mary, Kelly, Jen, Hallie, and Ginny, for starters), but I got to meet new friends. And we really felt like friends who'd known each other a long time. It was easy to open up to these women.

Hugs and laughs were shared in equal measure. Let's not even talk about the spectacle of lots of Catholic women dancing and doing karaoke after imbibing cocktails.

But the biggest thing I took away was that none of us are alone in what we're doing. And we might be scattered all over the world, but we are united in what matters. And that might include shrimp and grits and karaoke, as well as more serious things.

In the gospels, Peter doesn't want to leave the site of the Transfiguration. He wants to stay up there always with Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. But he can't; Jesus leads them back down the mountain. Things like Edel are the moments of the transfiguration. As much as we might want to stay on the mountain, we have to bring what we've seen there back into our daily lives, and transfigure them, based on what we know now.

And the title of this post? That's from Kelly Mantoan's talk: "Every time you bless yourself, it's like punching Satan in the face."

A lot of us left Charleston ready to do just that.

Edel 2015--What a Great Time!

Obviously, I'll be writing more about this, here and in the "regular" blog (it's in the  bar up top--click the "blog" tab to go to it, and then scroll down and follow, so you don't miss the goodies there!). But for tonight, since I just got back, I give you this awesome:

Seriously, people, it was like the bucket list item I didn't know I had.

More to come!

Daybook No. 98

Outside my window:: Sunny but also cloudy, if that makes sense. I guess the weatherman would call this "partly sunny"? Or "partly cloudy"? (I never did understand the distinction.)

In the CD player:: 1776 soundtrack.

Wearing:: My PJs. I know. So unexciting. But all my pretty clothes are packed away for vacation!

Reading:: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching; The Whole World Over; Mansfield Park; Lisette's List. I also have a bunch of books packed for vacation, including Middlemarch, The Forsythe Saga, The Girl On A Train; A Memory of Violets; Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, and a few more.

Yes, I bring lots of books when I go on vacation. It's often like this:

Links you may have missed:: Jane Re-Read: Pride and Prejudice; Sketchbook Skool; The Declaration 

Crafting:: I"ve got some knitting packed for Edel, because there are going to be excellent knitters there, and I need someone to teach me to purl consistently! I've also got my scarf and washcloth still on the needles.

From the kitchen:: Not much, since we're leaving soon! I'm looking forward to excellent Charleston food!

Keeping House:: Cleaning before I leave--making sure all the trash is out, and things are generally tidy, so when I come home it won't be a disaster. And of course, packing.

Fitness: Today is a yoga day, and tomorrow is a gym day. I am packing gym clothes for vacation (the hotel has a gym), but I think the normal run of things might be enough! We'll see, though. Better to be prepared, right?

Prayer:: Really trying to keep to my "horarium", as I'm calling it. That means prayer in the morning (lauds) with some devotional reading; midday prayer (noon) if I don't make it to Mass; Divine Mercy chaplet and Office of Readings at 3:00 (and rosary, if I have time); Vespers between 5 and 5:30 (with rosary after, if I didn't get to it already), and compline between 7:45 and 8:45, depending on what's going on. This is, actually, a copy of a few monastic schedules. It's not every hour of the office, but it's a majority of them (It's four, and there's seven hours of the office). As a Lay Dominican, lauds, vespers and rosary are required every day. But I really like the office of readings, and compline is special to Dominicans. And of course, Daily Mass when I can.

There will be an adoration chapel set up at Edel on Saturday, which makes me crazy happy.

This week:: Um, vacation? :) Edel is Friday and Saturday. So excited for that. 10 Year Anniversary is on Saturday as well! Rejoice! :)

Some cuteness: Princess Charlotte and her family at her baptism yesterday. The baptism was held at St. Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham.

Seven Quick Takes No. 78

I.

mmmm. Summer Friday. Those are beautiful words in the English language, no? :)

II.

Since it's summer, more people read. You can, of course, join the Jane Re-Read (Sense and Sensibility is what we're talking right now). I'm still reading Prodigal Summer and Northanger Abbey. I just finished I Believe In Love, about St. Therese of Liseux and how she can lead us to a deeper spiritual life, and I really liked that one. There's a lot to ponder and I'll definitely be reading it again. (Who am I kidding. I read everything again....unless it's Moby Dick or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Shudder!)

I keep debating if I should read Girl on a Train. Yes? No? Thoughts?

III.

My 10 year transplant testing appointment is on Monday. To put this in perspective: UNOS (the United Network for Organ Sharing, which "does" transplants in the U.S.) doesn't even have 10 year survival rates on their chart. The last one they have is 5 years out, and for women, that rate is 46.1%. I read somewhere that 10 year survival is around 30%, but I forget where. So, for ONCE, the odds have been playing nicely with me. I rejoice in this. The actual 10 year date is in July, but we do the testing in June, usually.

IV.

I've discovered that a lot of women don't know basic maintenance things. This sort of scares me, ladies. You should know to put gas in the car (and what kind of gas), how to jump a car battery, how to use tools, how to unclog a toilet. Even if you're married, your husband isn't aways around to fix things! I'm amazed at how many women I know who can't do any of these things and I want to be like, girls. Come on now!

V.

My brother's girlfriend sent me this photo of him at Disneyland, and I just love it:

As Br. H said, "How many Evil Empires can you fit in one picture?"

VI.

I've started swimming again--yay! But man, the muscles feel it when you swim hard for the first time in a season. They rebel the next day. But it's so good to be in swim season again, I do not mind at all.

VII.

Almost time for Edel 2015 in Charleston! I'm so excited!! I've never been to South Carolina and I can't wait to meet all the amazing women who will be there!