keep good company

This afternoon I made Captain Rodney's Dip.

via

No big deal, right? But I had to stop and laugh as I broke out the Ritz crackers, because I was eating this dip at home in Kentucky with my family, as opposed to the only place I have ever had it before - in Oxford with all of my friends. A couple of minutes later I opened the freezer, saw a carton of blueberries, and popped a couple frozen ones in my mouth without thinking twice.

And then it really hit me. My friends have officially rubbed off on me, a lot. My newfound love for Captain Rodney's and for frozen blueberries are only two small examples.

A sentimental post about how much my "brothers and sisters" have influenced my life is coming any day now, but on a much more basic level, I can't help but laugh about the things I have grown to love simply because the people I surround myself with loved them first. In addition to Captain Rodney's dip and frozen blueberries, this list includes:

frozen grapes

Page CXVI (see my last post for more on this one)

Sporcle

Job 38

1 Corinthians 2

Mat Kearney

paint chips

Elizabethtown

The list could easily go on...and on...and on. It all serves as proof that we are absolutely, positively affected by the company we keep.

Good thing my company is some of the best around. :)

you should be listening to this

All semester a few of my friends have been raving about how awesome this group called Page CXVI is - basically, they record traditional Christian hymns and add a little bit of their own flair. It's good from the first time you listen, but somehow they really grow on you over time. [Example: My friend David pulled a song up on my laptop and played it for me one night, and I didn't exit out of that Safari window for about a month because I kept playing it over, and over, and over.]

I was just exploring their website looking to download their new CD (Hymns IV) and found an even more awesome surprise - the name Page CXVI is actually a C.S. Lewis Narnia reference, to page 116 in their copy of the Magician's Nephew, when Aslan first begins to sing Narnia into existence. If I wasn't obsessed enough before, I definitely am now.

Check Page CXVI out for yourself at their website, and download your favorites. Or all. I'm about to make myself some new CDs for the car ride home tomorrow.

three more days

Pieces of my heart are scattered around the country/world. The Oxford piece of my heart has been living and loving full force lately, but now that Thanksgiving break is only 3 days away, the Kentucky piece is calling.

I'm ready to be here

with them

Almost there. Only one night of Wesley, one Muffin Club, one Spanish test, one trip to the tire store, one football game, and maybe a few mini-adventures with friends to go before I'm on the road to the Bluegrass State. It is time.

estrellas

I should be documenting so much more of this semester; every single day has been picture perfect. But it's hard to capture the significance of so much of this fall in a few words on a blog or in a journal, and even if pictures are worth a thousand words they still wouldn't be enough. How can I explain Milkshake Mondays, camping, brunch-making, baseball in the backyard? How can I do justice to my brothers and my sisters, the best friends in the entire world?

How can I explain nights like tonight, where for two hours I laid on a blanket in the Brick House backyard with three of my best friends (and the neighbor's cat, our new friend) and stared at the stars? It is so powerful to be reminded of how small we are and how big our Creator is. Seriously, I can't imagine a better way to top off an already amazing weekend.

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile... [Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature]

_________

Look at the stars, see how they shine. [Coldplay, "Yellow"]