Jesus is a liberal!

How could I NOT share this? : ) Enjoy. Thank you, Colbert.

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Thanksgiving, the season of guests, and our anniversary

Hello again!

It's been a little while—we've been crazy busy the last month, it seems. What's new in Campbell-land:

• Corey and Allison visited us for a night on their way from Oregon to Michigan—so lovely to catch up with them! Humorously, I thought they were coming the week before Christmas, not Thanksgiving; but it was a good surprise. : )

• We had a great Thanksgiving, as alluded to earlier; we spent the day with my grandpa up in Rockford, eating good food, watching football, and chatting.

• We braved Black Friday at the last minute—"braved" being the operative word. We headed home a little early to avoid crazy drivers and were going to go to sleep at a decent time, and then we were looking through the ads, thinking of Christmas gifts we could buy the next day, when we realized that all these stores were only a few minutes away....I'll never go to Best Buy's opening again—though it was amazing deals. We got most of our Christmas shopping done that night, between there and Target and Kohl's.

• My mother visited the next weekend and spent a few days with my grandpa—got to spend time with her for a little while on Sunday.

• The following weekend, Chase was honored as a December grad in Wheaton's chapel, and Erin, Hannah, Marie, Sally and I had a little reunion for the whole weekend! Sally still lives here in Wheaton, Erin and Hannah are in Michigan, and Marie's at school in London....and we hadn't all been together since graduation. Such an amazing fun time of good friends, good food, a good BBC marathon....yep. : ) (Oh, and I tried my hand out at making a meal with multiple courses....which was a lot of fun! Stuffed provencal peppers, followed by bacon and spinach wrapped chicken stuffed with goat cheese, and finished off by dark chocolate truffle cakes.)

Standard breakfast spot Egglectic.

• Fast forward a couple days....it's now my and Chase's second anniversary! Well, technically it's tomorrow, but we celebrated Friday/Saturday with an excursion to the city. Thanks to Groupon, we were able to stay at the new Radisson Blu Aqua, which was a-ma-zing, and visit Shedd Aquarium for super-discounted prices. We also went out for dinner at 312 Chicago, did some walking around the city, (briefly) visited the Magnificent Mile (Black Friday Best Buy had nothing on that orgy of shopping—run away!) and Christkindlmarket (also too unfortunately busy to stick around), found our annual ornament (a little tradition started on our honeymoon) at the State Street Macy's, which was more crowded outside the window displays than in the actual store....it was a great, romantic, fun, relaxing weekend. : ) I'm so lucky to be married to this guy!!!

Our amazing hotel room.

One of the views from our room.

Turtle!

Jellyfish!

Chicago skyline, from the steps of Shedd.

Out at 312 Chicago.

Well, now you know why I haven't written in a few weeks! Today, Chase is at the Bears/Seahawks game with his friend Brent, and I'm having a "me" day at home, recovering. ; )

Hope you're all having a beautiful and blessed holiday season!

Shannon

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I love this video. : )

It also reminds me of Wheaton's annual tradition of singing the Hallelujah Chorus as a student body/faculty right before Christmas break. 2,500+ voices=awesome (even despite mine being mixed in it!).

Shannon

Sad, but true

Sometimes The Onion just nails it.

I'm sad.

Because this is so true.

High Integrity, Moral Decency Has Cost Idiot Man Millions *warning: some rough language included*

America doesn't exactly reward the nice, fair, equitable, kind people anymore. It sucks. And it's true.

On that note....happy Thanksgiving? ; ) Seriously, happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had wonderful times with your families—we sure did. More later. : )

Shannon

What's happening to us?

I'm sorry, but what happened to freedom of speech and the right to assemble?

I think this photo says it all.

Courtesy http://www.treehugger.com/culture/photo-will-start-real-revolution.html

Breaking up a peaceful Occupy sit-in at UC Davis yesterday, a police officer strolled nonchalantly up and down the line of (sitting, heads ducked down, silent) college kids and hit them full in the faces with a steady stream of pepper spray. (For the YouTube video, click here.)

Does no one else see this as disturbing? I don't care what you think about Occupy Wall Street and its thousands of spin-offs in cities across the U.S. Repeat: I don't care. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. These people are crazy. These people are right on. These people are confused. Whatever. It is NOT OKAY to treat them like this, for wanting to put some action to their beliefs and demonstrate peacefully. NOT. OKAY. AT. ALL. It might not be your cause, but you should care, just the same. (At least care more than UC Davis' chancellor.)

It's pepper spray, not guns....but eerily reminiscent.

Courtesy The Digital Journalist/LIFE magazine

And just take a look around the world to remember what happens when decent citizens are silenced, and when good people start to shut up for fear of reprisal.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. —Edmund Burke

Welcome to Casa de Campbell!

Welcome to Casa de Campbell. Allow me to give you a tour of the facilities....

We're doing triple-celebration-preparation in the next few weeks....the holidays, our wedding anniversary, and roughly ten-ish houseguests, spread over three weeks. Exciting and BUSY! Time to start the Christmas decorating and shopping....time to finish unpacking so we have enough room for everything and everyone....time to clean out the remainder of the storage unit (NOT looking forward to that)....and time to also relax and enjoy another anniversary and another holiday season and renewed time with friends and family. : )

My mom is coming the first weekend of December (during which I also have my work Christmas party); beloved college roommates/friends Hannah, Marie, and Erin the second weekend (the first time all of us will have been together at the same time since my wedding, which was the first time since college!); Chase's friend Brent the third weekend (right after our anniversary celebration); with our Wheaton friends Corey and Allison coming right after Brent takes off. Then it's Christmas a couple days later.

I know I'll probably be running crazy most the time, but I'm also so excited to see everyone and do everything. : ) And if I need any recovery time, I have the whole week off between Christmas and New Year's (woo!).

Thus commences the week of Thanksgiving....going to spend it with my grandpa, which will be wonderful, and hit up Black Friday sales for Christmas, and put up the tree. Here we go, holidays!

Shannon

This. Is. Amazing.

You need to stop what you're doing and watch this video.

It made my night last night.

25...

       It is now my first full day as a 25 year old, and as usual I feel no older than I did the day before.  However, I feel much more than a year older than I did at this point in time last year. Time is gradual, but it definitely takes its toll.  I think that my relative position to those I spend the majority of my time with, still being an undergrad at 25, is what helps me to recognize the substantial leaps in perception that I have made in the past few years. I am a thoroughly different person compared to a few years ago.  The core of my being hasn’t necessarily changed, although I feel that I have shifted a bit even in that, but these changes in my life have led me to ponder time and its relationship to me as well as its impact on how I live my life.  If I can gauge how time has interacted with me in my life, taking out all the extraneous variables, then maybe I can come to a more full understanding of how to live.

-Chase

Adventures in veggieland

So, Chase and I are giving partial vegetarianism a try (HIS idea, believe it or not!). We still eat eggs and fish, but we've given up red meat, poultry, etc. at home. (When we're eating out or at other people's homes, it's still okay.) We're trying it 1) to reduce our negative environmental impact, 2) health reasons, and 3) animal treatment (some places treat their animals well; others are a cruelty factory). After a rocky start, it's actually going really well. It's encouraged us to incorporate a lot more fruits, vegetables, and other healthy things into our diet. Instead of a rely-on-spaghetti backup, we're really expanding what we eat and getting a lot more good stuff into our diet. (FYI, pasta is pretty much the best thing ever, but eating it night after night really makes you feel pretty crappy - carb overload!)

Anyways, Saturday night we made provencal stuffed peppers and stir-fried veggies with couscous. De-lic-ious. The peppers were out of a vegetarian cookbook my boss lent me, and the veggie recipe is something I created the other night (see below).

Chop up some red pepper, onion, carrots, and zucchini.
Toss in a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.
Place in skillet with a little olive oil and start to cook.
Toss in a little bit of lemon juice, Tabasco, and a tablespoon or two of brown sugar (depending on how many veggies you have in there).
Once cooked to taste, mix in with some couscous and crumbled goat cheese.
Enjoy!

Cupcake recipe!

A few folks have asked me for my new pumpkin cupcake/chai frosting recipe, so I thought I'd post it for anyone who wants to give it a whirl! The cupcakes turned out very well….the frosting was a little too soupy, so I'd recommend reducing the liquid amounts a bit, but it still worked as I have it written currently; it's just more of a glaze than a thick frosting.

Cupcakes (makes 8):
Mix 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix 8 oz. pumpkin (i.e. half of a small pumpkin pie can), 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil.
Combine; bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Frosting:
Combine 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 stick of butter, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/16 cup of milk, and 1/4 cup chai solution* in a large bowl.
*Chai - steep chai tea in a minimal amount of very hot water until the water is lukewarm for maximum flair.
Mix (handheld or stand mixer works better than doing it by hand).
After cupcakes have cooled a little, but are still warm, glaze on (those little rubbery brushes work well).

Enjoy!

Places and times

Last week, I was walking through the Beamer Center at Wheaton. I was suddenly struck with a very odd feeling/thought: "I have so much history here." Not just a flighty thought - a very heavy phrase in my mind. It was such a strange feeling. I spent four years of my life within half a mile of that spot. I passed through it nearly every day. I've never been so grounded in one place - usually, your home, work, school, friends, etc. are all in different places. Not at a residential college. Plus, I changed so much in those four years - I grew up. I matured - emotionally, socially, even physically (I looked a lot older at 22 than 18! even if still unnaturally young). I have so much history here. It was so odd to think of how many different mes passed through that spot - and that I was none of them. I almost felt like a stranger to myself. You know how your mind can grasp for some old familiar mode when you find yourself revisiting an old haunt or situation, like you can temporarily revert to the character you were? I couldn't even do that. I was a total foreigner in my own head.

This was probably a horrible explanation of what I was feeling, but if anyone has any similar experiences to share, thoughts to give, etc. on a sense of place, the idea of home, memory, etc., I always love a good discussion! : )

Shannon

P.S. On our way to visit Chris, Emma, and Will over in Nebraska tomorrow! So excited! : )

Homecoming!

Seriously, this blog will be easier to update more frequently when we have Internet in our apartment! : )

Wheaton College's homecoming was this last weekend - my first as an alumna (the only way I keep alumni/alumna/alumnae/etc. straight is my alumna mug from graduation I use almost daily). It was a lovely weekend, for so many reasons.

We could start with Friday afternoon - work field trip! I, my boss, and my coworker went to downtown Naperville, which included stops at the Paper Source, Adagio Teas, the Apple store (where flowers and candles were stacked against the windows; RIP Steve Jobs), and Sur La Table (all immensely dangerous places to enter, I might add). It was a beautiful, sunny October afternoon, and a wonderful impromptu outing that got us away from the computers for a couple hours. I can't believe how great this place is. ; )

Friday night, Chase and I celebrated our fourth dating anniversary. I know some probably think that's overkill, but it's a nice excuse for a date. : ) We went to Praga, a European restaurant in quiet downtown Lombard. They had little wrought-iron tables outside (just like the ristorantes in Rome), and we had a leisurely dinner including crab cakes (quite possibly the best I've ever had), fromage, and goat cheese-stuffed chicken. Yum! Oh, and bread pudding as a follow-up - definitely the best I've ever had. Afterwards, we took a walk down the Prairie Path and visited our park - where our relationship started and the scene of so many late-night walks and talks in our first year. Such great memories. : )

Then Homecoming weekend!

Saturday morning - breakfast at the wonderful Egglectic with the even more wonderful Autumn and Erin.

Saturday afternoon - football game, where we crush Elmhurst (Erin and I left at half-time; we didn't think they'd make up 32 points in the second half).

Saturday evening - dinner with Sally and Erin at Panera, followed by Erin coming to our apartment (our first house-guest!) and staying the night.

Sunday morning - Rez.

Sunday afternoon - downtown Naperville with Erin; Einstein Bros. Bagels, Adagio Teas, Sur La Table (this store is fantastic).

It was such a wonderful weekend, reconnecting with friends. : ) It's nice to live so close to these ladies!

Last night, Chase and I finished out the weekend with a celebratory dinner, recognizing being fully moved-in to our apartment (defined as having it good enough to have a guest without embarrassment and with places to sit; we still have a couple boxes to go!). Pasta 'alla amatriciana and brie & chive biscuits, with some episodes of Big Bang Theory thrown in for entertainment. Woo! : )

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Shannon

P.S. I guess this post contains two Naperville finds-of-the-week - honor where honor is due. Sur La Table and Praga, you're up!

Cupcake win

So, I didn't get around to those cupcakes Sunday night....but I did last night! And I think we have some winners.

My two fall-inspired creations:

~ Carrot (Cup)cakes with Chai Vanilla Frosting

~ Pumpkin Cupcakes, also with Chai Vanilla Frosting

In true Shannon form, I forgot to take pictures, after telling myself all night to remember to do that. (In my defense, my concentration may have been imposed upon by a broken pipe spewing water behind the fridge.)

I did both of these entirely from scratch, and came up with the recipes myself (with inspiration from a variety of cookbooks and recipes). I'm really happy that they turned out well - that my guesstimations of how baking powder and flour and baking soda and all that interact turned out to be pretty spot-on (THIS time - no promises for the future!). The frosting was also thought up and created by me - yep, chai frosting. I wish all my Wheaton ladies were around to try this!

More cupcake adventures to come - my quest to become a master baker has officially commenced!

Shannon

Chai, work, chai, school, chai, unpack, chai...

Hey, everyone! I can't believe two weeks have flown by since the last post. Life has been pretty crazy. We're still making our way out of our final few boxes, but it finally feels like a home now - pictures on the walls and everything. And we're enjoying getting go know our area a little more....in fact, for our Naperville-find-of-the-week....

Blueberry Hill (technically in Aurora, but close enough!). We had breakfast there yesterday, and it was pretty superb. In honor of this most marvelous season of fall, they're serving various pumpkin products, including pumpkin french toast. De-licious. I still have a breakfast loyalty to Egglectic in Wheaton, tied into many wonderful college memories....but I do look forward to visiting this place as well, and it's only a few minutes away from us. It was about a half-hour wait at 11 AM on a Saturday morning, but well worth it.

It's been mostly all about work, classes, and unpacking for us lately, as well as all the little details of a new home (like registering vehicles, getting new drivers' licenses, and so on). But we've had fun, too - like our Blueberry Hill outing, a night of bowling and wonderfully greasy food (you have to do it every now and then), and visiting Rockford's IrishFest two weekends ago to hear my cousin Ted's band play (I also won a basket full of Irish tea products in their raffle - woo!). Last night I babysat for Dr. Black's daughter, Anna, who is just adorable and so much fun. I hadn't seen her since she was just over a year old. And at the age of three and a half, she's already having theological discussions at the dinner table - could never tell that she has Wheaton profs for parents! ; ) It was a lot of fun.

And, of course, there's been lots of chai drinking, in honor of the season; I have some great loose-leaf rooibos vanilla chai from the local Adagio Teas.

Work has been great - really a blessing. This last week was my first full week, though I did 20-25 hours a week the two weeks prior to that as well. I'm really enjoying it - the work, the people, the shorter commute! ; ) And Chase and I get to drive together, which is also lovely. : )

Well, I'm off to celebrate a free Sunday afternoon - going to bake cupcakes and watch Love Actually, which was kindly lent me by my coworker. Adieu!

Shannon

P.S. Here's a clip of Ted (at the mic) and DFS at IrishFest. Not Irish music, but my half-Gaelic, half-Garlic cousin is definitely Irish and also is a member of St. Bridget's Parish, so it works. : )

Quick update....

I'm full-time at Highgate Cross now. Just wanted to shout that out to everyone! God is so good. I can't quite comprehend the idea of getting paid to do something I love....it's pretty amazing. I really like the folks there, too - they're great. We had a nice little welcome lunch today at The Cellar Bistro in downtown Wheaton - yummy!

I know there were a lot of prayers going up for Chase and I in this transition, this big area being one of them. Prayers have been answered very affirmatively - and I thank you!!!

Have a fantastical weekend!

Shannon

Apartments, friends, hikes, jobs....a busy week!

The title says it. It's been a week or so since the last post, and here I am, trying to play catch-up for us! We moved into our apartment, Chase and I each got to visit with good college friends, we participated in the Hike for Hesed (not too late to donate, by the way!), and I had one....two....three interviews in the intervening time, with another one tomorrow. Oh, and I got a job, too. : )

First, the apartment. Our complex is great - lots of great amenities. The apartment itself also is really nice - fresh paint and carpet, etc. It was smaller than we thought it was going to be (a bit of a shock for our move-in day, as we reconfigured our planned furniture layout in our minds and downsized a bit), but it's really nice, and I think it'll be great to be a little simpler in our possessions (though someone please remind me of that when it's the night before our storage unit move-out and I'm pulling my hair out, please!).

I got to visit with the lovely Sally Friday night for some good girl talk, tea/coffee, and a game of chess, while Chase saw his old friend Dan from wrestling - good times were had by all. It's nice to live in a place where you already have dear ones nearby!

Saturday, we participated in the Hike for Hesed - a three-mile awareness and fundraising walk for Hesed House, my internship employer senior year at Wheaton, and a place near and dear to my heart.

 A three-mile walk from the shelter/resource center to the Aurora Transportation Center and back (a walk many of their guests make daily).

Hubby and I, on a beautiful Saturday morning.

 Hot dogs and hamburgers afterward - all completely underwritten by generous community members. Every penny of the $40,000 raised went right to direct services for the homeless.

 

They were running a big capital campaign for this center - an old rubber factory turned shopping mall of resources - when I was an intern. I love seeing it up and running! Employment assistance, addiction counseling, educational aid....you name it!

Needless to say, great event, great organization. : )

I've been blessed to have several interviews over the last couple weeks. Most exciting of all - remember that freelancing interview I mentioned? Well, I'm now helping out part-time at Highgate Cross + Cathey, a Wheaton-based, family-owned marketing firm. For one, you have to love the Tube references. (I miss London!) For another, everyone who works there is great, and I've enjoyed my first two days thoroughly. I think I'll both learn a lot working here and be able to do things that I already know and love - a phenomenal combination, in my opinion. : )

My interview tomorrow is for part-time blog-writing/editing, so who knows? I might just have my own little freelancing gig going - without even expecting it. Funny how life works, eh?

Chase and I just came back from a lecture at the college, by Dr. Paul Collier (sponsored, of course, by the Hastert Center). It was fantastic. I love my poli-sci degree, but economics has never been my strong suit, and he gave a fascinating talk on resource development in Africa that was strong, clear, and from an ethical standpoint (never hurts, right?). I also got to say hello to some beloved profs, and meet a few of Chase's (that I'd seen from a distance, but never known).

That all being said, it's late, and I get to go to work in the morning, so peace out! ; )

Shannon

"Dire measures" a smokescreen?

An excerpt from a recent e-newsletter from Sojourners:

What is the lie today? How's this? "Some people have to be sacrificed on the altar of economic health." Sounds reasonable, huh? In the midst of dire times, dire measures must be taken to get our economic health back on track. Yes, this does sound reasonable, but it's a lie. - Lisa Sharon Harper

Just some food for thought, as every new budget battle continues to leave the majority of its casualties in the human services sector and other expenses continually slide under the radar. Business as usual *and insert a sigh too deep to adequately express in print*....

Shannon

Just wanted to share....

We found the camera cord! Woo! I just wanted to share this picture from my last day of work at UGM:

The majority of the staff and volunteers from the Motors, plus folks from the main Mission and the stores and employee family members....a lot of people! There was an amazing going-away BBQ, and I wanted to get a group picture, as I didn't have many from my time here. Well, we took one group one, and then this one....arms held out with "we'll miss you!"

I felt loved. : )

Shannon

Old friends (yay), nasty traffic jams (boo), and yummy pitas (yay again)

Happy three-day-weekend to all!

Well, the potential job I mentioned last time didn't pan out, I discovered yesterday. Disappointing, yes - it was a sad afternoon - but I'll keep pushing on! I actually landed another interview the night before (to be held next week) for potential freelancing with a marketing firm, which is very exciting - we'll see what happens! The perfect job is out there somewhere (right?). : )

I visited the college on Thursday, as well as went into the city later on. It was a bit surreal, pretending to be a student and wandering campus (no one really does a double take at me yet, except maybe when I wore my outdated "first night football game shirt!" the visit before, betraying my age). I visited Career Services to get a little advice and some leads, and then visited friends in the OCO, the registrar's office, and the poli-sci office, which was great. It was so wonderful to catch up with people - Sue and Cathy in the OCO, Peggy, Lynda, and now Jan (from PSIR!) in the registrar's office, and Dr. Black and Dr. Hawkins in PSIR. Being here, it can alternate between feeling like so much time has passed, and yet none at all....I alternate between lapsing into complete, bittersweet nostalgia and shaping a new, different life at the same time. It's an odd line to walk, emotionally, but I think I'm figuring it out.

As for the Chicago venture....I think I'm an even bigger fan of public transportation now!

• The good: going to the Paul Mitchell School (hair design) and saving a lot of money on a new haircut and highlights.
• The bad: getting a $50 parking ticket while inside (negating my savings!).
• The ugly: getting stuck at an intersection a block away for 25 minutes (first in line, no less). Cars kept pulling out every which way when they shouldn't and getting stuck in the middle of the intersection....every time I had a green light, there was a car sitting crossways in front of me, inches away. And as soon as my light turned green, everyone behind me would start laying on their horns, leaning out their windows, shaking fists (and most likely middle fingers), and screaming....at me. Really? *Sigh* Apparently I need to drive a Hummer to get around, so I can just plow through everyone! ; )

Needless to say, by the time I got out of there, I was pretty stressed out....and my wonderful hubby took me to Naf Naf Grill to comfort me.

This place is great. I love Middle Eastern food for so many reasons, but one is its freshness - it doesn't seem nearly so processed. Naf Naf had fresh-baked pitas filled with moist chicken, fresh cool vegetables, hummus, tahini sauce....Everyone knows how much I love sauces and condiments, particularly my ketchup, but there's something particularly great about a good, made-from-scratch, not-uber-processed sauce mixed with such fresh ingredients. Five stars for Naf Naf Grill! There's my Naperville find for the day.

 

Yummy!

Shannon

 

Stewardship of Resources

I wrote a paper for Intermediate macroeconomics this last week on "God's purpose for economic activity" and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts from that paper.  I am addressing this to those in America’s economy who view consumption as a lifestyle and worldview, but who also realize that God is the sole redeemer of their lives.  One cannot serve both God and money, so I am pressing for transformation in the way that we live our lives.  I have and am personally struggling with these issues, so I don’t want any of you to think that I am saying this as if I have already figured everything out.  These are my thoughts and please treat them as such- a man trying to cope with the world around him and make sense of life.

God redeems us through the power of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.  So, how is it that economic activity can play a role in God’s purpose? 

God created humans with all of our needs for order, economically and otherwise.  So part of His redemption is through the processes that He created in us to use.

God at one and the same time upholds a given political or economic system, since some such system is required to support human life; condemns that system insofar as it is destructive to full human actualization; and presses for its transformation into a more human order.         (Wink 1992, 67)

  God is a holistic redeemer, He doesn’t just redeem our souls, but He also redeems our bodies and our minds.  So it is with these facts in mind that one can think on the purpose that God has set forth for economic activity.  I posit that God uses economic activity to shape how we view His Kingdom and the work that He has set for us to do.  It is our job to use economic activity to shape the world around us for the furtherance of the Kingdom, and to push for transformation and redemption individually, as a community, as a society, and globally.  We must be using the resources that God gave to us for His furtherance to help the broken, the suffering, the poor, the widows, and the orphans.  We should not gain capital for more capital and the sole purpose of more wealth and more comfortable lives, but we also should not shun money and the gaining of capital across the board, because it can help the broken if used correctly.

We must use the systems that are in place so as to help others and maintain ourselves, while at the same time be consistently and continually calling out for change in the ways that the system is incorrect.   Personal maintenance of funds and capital can cover savings, needs, and some comforts, but this category should not encompass one’s whole cash flow.  We don’t need another flat-screen to distract us from ourselves; we need to help build community and push for relationships amongst our circle of friends, family, peers, and loved ones.  This is not to say that we should throw away all of our material possessions, but it is to say that we should consume more wisely and view our budgets as a stewardship of resources given to us by a caring and loving God.

And so I say to you, try to transform one part of your consumption today to help the lives of others tomorrow, and I challenge you to sustain that transformation throughout your life.

Chase

True beauty

Hello! Happy Wednesday!

I've had reason to think about body image and cultural perceptions of beauty as of late. It's so easy to get caught up in the endless-pursuit-of-beauty cycle - "must lose weight, must tame hair, must own *insert popular brand* jeans, must, must, must...." As my strike back against this in myself, I've started compiling a list of what defines true beauty - what measures we can use that see the inherent dignity and worth of others and ourselves, rather than a jeans size or a certain makeup style. So, I've started a little challenge for myself - seeking to identify what's really beautiful in others, and making that my standard. (I'm not discounting God's standard, either, by any means - rather, I'm attempting to reinforce it in my own small way by trying to find it where it exists in the culture around me, making it easier to connect the world I live in with what I know in my head to be true.)

So, here's my challenge for myself, which I also now pass along to you (you never knew you'd have homework if you read this!): the next time you go out in public - to the mall, the grocery store, school, work, etc. - see how many of the things on this list you can identify in people around you:

• A great laugh
• A parent bonding with their child
• An act of kindness
• A genuine smile
• Kind words to a stranger
• An intelligent remark
• (Feel free to expand the list! And when you think of more, let me know!)

Then, after making note of the people exhibiting these, ask yourself: are they beautiful? Chances are, the answer is yes, and it has nothing to do with emulating star-studded awards shows or magazine spreads. Envy these traits - not figure or hairstyle or anything on the cover of Cosmo. They're easier to attain than the airbrushed (and unreal) perfection, and they make the world a better place. Every person has the opportunity to be drop-dead gorgeous, and weighing yourself by these means a lot more in the end than the scale does.

Shannon

A new town!

I started this blog to keep you, our friends and family, up-to-date on our lives as we head back to Chicago. I also really enjoyed blogging the last time I did it (three years ago, for my wanderings overseas), and will probably use this not only for updates, but to share cool local finds, recipes, books read and movies seen, musings on life....we'll see!

As ya'll know, after a year and a half of marriage and two years of living in the Northwest once again, Chase and I made the decision to head back to the Chicago area - back where the two of us attended college and where we first met. The decision was the best thing for both our little family and for each of us individually, and after much thought and deliberation, we gave notice at our respective jobs and dived into the logistics of getting here.

Well, we're here!

We relocated to Naperville, a mere twenty minutes from Wheaton College and a short Metra ride into the city. My last day of work was at the end of July - my coworkers at the Motors threw an awesome party for me (I felt so loved). The first two weeks of August were a flurry of sorting, packing, paperwork, logistics, and saying goodbyes. Chase climbed a mountain during that time (a real mountain....as I put it, anything with "Mount" in front of its name automatically qualifies as a real mountain for climbing purposes, and should be heeded as a warning!) and finished up work a few days before the date of departure. We had a lot of help from wonderful friends and family, and then we were off on our forty-hour trek back east.

We arrived just over a week ago. We've spent our time reacquainting ourselves with the area, visiting friends and family (such as seeing my lovely college roommate once again, and enjoying lunch with my grandfather and cousin), and settling into life. Naperville is a very pretty city with a vibrant downtown, and I've enjoyed it thus far as its own entity (not pinning my college nostalgia onto it, as was easy to do the first few days!).

Courtesy of city-data.com

Chase started classes on Wednesday - his final semester!!! - and I plunged into the job hunt. I'll refrain from posting any potential employer names, etc., but I will keep you updated as that progresses. The current story: Friday afternoon, I turned in an application online; within a few hours, I had an invitation for an interview this morning. I'm slated for a second interview for tomorrow morning. It's a great organization, and the position seems to play into both my skills and things I enjoy....we'll see what happens!

I'm signing off for the night - Chase isn't the only one taking classes, and I have homework to do (I picked up a night class on Adobe InDesign, updating my publishing/design skills), so auf wiedersehen for now!

Shannon

P.S. Normally, I'll try to add pictures to these posts - however, as Chase may or may not have packed my box of "very important cords and cables NOT to pack" in some mysterious location, all pictures are currently trapped on my camera! : )