The New Year by Mark Strand

It is winter and the new year.
Nobody knows you.
Away from the stars, from the rain of light,
you life under the weather of stones.
There is no thread to lead you back.
Your friends doze in the dark
of pleasure and cannot remember.
Nobody knows you. You are the neighbor of nothing.
You do not see the rain falling and the man walking away,
the soiled wind blowing its ashes across the city.
You do not see the sun dragging the moon like an echo.
You do not see the bruised heart go up in flames,
the skulls of the innocent turn into smoke.
You do not see the scars of plenty, the eyes without light.
It is over. It is winter and the new year.
The meek are hauling their skins into heaven.
The hopeless are suffering the cold with those who have nothing to hide.
It is over and nobody knows you.
There is starlight drifting on the black water.
There are stones in the sea no one has seen.
There is a shore and people are waiting.
And nothing comes back.
Because it is over.
Because there is silence instead of a name.
Because it is winter and the new year.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

O Rejoice! Rejoice! Heaven sings tonight
O Rejoice! Rejoice! The Lord is come!



Note: This is NOT a real picture of the 2007 Happy Birthday Jesus Love, The Shaffers cake. It is nonetheless remarkably similar to HBJC cakes past, so let's use our contented imaginations.

Kind of Existential

As many of you know, I had kind of been dead set on moving to Minneapolis and working on the upcoming RNC Convention in September. I started reaching out to them last May hoping to figure something out for a move this fall. After a few calls with one of the lead staffers, I kind of pushed it out of my radar because they were not yet poised to hire the me's of the world. A little disappointing, admittedly.

Well-- they called last week about some job possibilities. If they had called three weeks earlier and I may have been freezing in Minnesota all winter :). Is it not so interesting to think about different instances in your life where timing was absolutely everything? I'm frankly relieved that these calls didn't come while I was campaigning for the new position in the office. It would have seriously complicated my discussions and decision making. It's never a bad thing to have opportunities on the table and options to chose from, but I think I may have taken that plunge to move and try something completely different. But I would have missed out on relationship-building and experience-gaining with the boss... continuing as a part of my work family and being a part of my colleagues lives as they get engaged and pregnant and other wonderful things!... staying with my DC fam for another year... my fabulously sun kissed peach room... being here for when the Administration heads up and moves out... exploring options for 2009 with the experiences from 2008 under my belt.

I think more interesting than anything is my contentedness and lack of regret that these calls didn't make it to me three weeks earlier.

A Christmas Carol in SF

Made it home for Christmas! Slept for 17 hours from Friday to Saturday... 4 on the plane, 8 overnight, woke up for 2 for eggs and Band of Brothers with Pu, and apparently needed another 5 for a nap. No such thing as a bad nap I say.

Mu treated Julie, Taylor, Jacob and I to dinner in the city at Houstons and then we were off to A Christmas Carol at the ACT.

Highlights:
-Julie and I vetoing mom's idea to go to the Macy's food court for dinner. The second I heard we were thinking about that, I knew it was not going to happen.

-Julie refusing to ask our waitress for bread because she thought she'd say no. Seriously Julie? Seriously.

-Taylor in his first button down Abercrombie shirt. Apparently the 5th graders in Danville are ALL ABOUT ABERCROMBIE. I actually remember when this phenomenon happened to the Stanley 6th graders in Lafayette. I still wish I had those cool forest green warm ups with the light blue stripe on the side. Those were so cool.

-The ghost of Jacob Marley at the show. That guy was pretty rad. When he first came out of Scrooge's bed he spit out all these gross wormie things out of his mouth. I had my binoculars poised and ready to capture this impressive moment of the stage. Binoculars. Ha!

-The gingerbread castle in the St. Francis. It weighed like 1200 pounds and took something like 120 man hours to make. Sweet. (woo hoo pun!)

-Union Square's decoration-- Sax looked gorgeous with a bunch of snowflakes all lit up, and the Macy's tree was neat too. There were carolers! Since when is "For He alone is worthy" part of Joy to the World? I like it, I do. I'm just wondering about the authenticity of it you see.

Snow in DC!

A little behind on these pictures, but we had our first snow of the season at the beginning of December... I was not expecting it at all and saw it out my window that morning and was like WOO HOO SNOW! I was in a joyous mood watching it from my office window for the rest of the day :)

Christmas Hero

C is for...

CHRISTMAS COOKIES!

Amongst the many Christmas parties last weekend, our neighbors Ty and Mignon hosted a Christmas Cookie decorating party. My inner child came out in the form of goopily frosted snowmen, ornaments, and candy canes heaped with sprinkles. Some prettier than others, but all equally delicious.

America's Game : Army Navy 2007

This year's game was in Baltimore so Liz, Brennan, and I got up at the crack of dawn to get there for ample tailgate time. We met up with Big Steve, his brother, and Steve "Big Guns" Allen's sponsor family. We were in charge of mimosas and Don and Linda were doing bloodies. We got all set up and ready to go and Don's like... oh CRAP I forgot the vodka and took off to find the nearest liquor store at 9am on a Saturday morning. He did manage to find one and get back with impressive turn around.

Big Steve, Chris, and Don starting us off...


Liz couldn't decide between mimosas or bloody marys...


Brennan REALLY wanted a "cool picture of him sipping his bloody mary with his fork stirrer."


The three of us trying to stay warm and ready for very loud cheering.


Went to visit the Mids and although we didn't find me a husband, we ended up with some cute pictures :)




The beginning of the game was AWESOME! They did a bunch of jumps and flyovers. Had Roger Staubach and Pete Dawkins there to accept awards. Good old Lee Greenwood was there at halftime for the appropriate "Proud to be an American" rallying call. Liz and I swayed and sang. Loudly. You're welcome.





As expected, Navy ended up winning 38-3. Navy has won for the last six years now, but who's counting? All jokes aside... who is counting, really? I found myself at the quintessential rivalry game feeling like we were all there for the same team, which to me is the core of why this game is special. Rivals today, comrades tomorrow. More than just a game, indeed.

Thanksgiving

Ahh Thanksgiving... what a GREAT holiday. Football, Food, and Family. What could be better?

The Shaffer Delegation celebrated Thanksgiving in cozy Alamo this year. A downsize from the likes of Aviara or Tahoe, but it was our first holiday in Mom and Dad's new house so that was a milestone!

I did a lot of walking the Res, got ALL my Christmas shopping done (okay, minus Dad!), and spent the majority of the time either watching college football (did you see the UK/Tenn or Stanford/ND games? I think I might have to watch more college games next year).

The highlight, though, was spending with this little guy... the youngest Shaffer- six month old Kyle. Here are two pictures of him eating his FIRST rice cereal. Note he is in a "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" bib. Awesome.




Jono helped Nathan through his FIRST BOWLING GAME EVER!!!!!!



And of course... the Annual Turkey Trot (or big wheel as the case may be). The quote of the weekend came from this walk after my dad stepped in dog poop on the bike trail and spent the next ten minutes trying out various techniques for getting it off such as shuffling through the gravel, a shimmy through the grass, etc. My sister just looks back at him and looks at me and says, "There's nothing worse than poop on the shoe." She's probably right.

Recent Favorites

My most recent read... Loved it :)


Here are some excerpts:

There was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that, just as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world.

When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.

When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a seconds encounter with God and with eternity.

Most recently watched (and enjoyed) movie on a comfortable couch on a rainy Sunday morning with Michael.



A few quotes that make me giggle:

Penny: You know there's something called a nicotine patch.
Kay: I don't need a nicotine patch, Penny. I smoke cigarettes.

Dr. Hilbert: Hell Harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you wanted.
Harold: What is wrong with you? I don't want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind when given the choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes!?
Dr. Hilbert: Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.

Busboys and Poets

If you haven't discovered Busboys and Poets (www.busboysandpoets.com) just up from U St. on 14th, let me assure you that you are WAY behind the times. I can't for the life of me remember who introduced me to the place, but I CAN remember many occasions when it was the perfect place for variety of dinner/brunch get-togethers ranging from Donny G's visit with a few Spring 04 SASers, my brother's visit, brunch with the 'mos, to a post-concert late-ish Sunday night dinner with Sweeting.

Quite simply, Busboys and Poets hit the mark when it opened in the "up and coming" U Street Corridor area in 2005. It's loungey, trendy, artsy, and smart. There's an in-house progressive bookstore to mill around in, poetry slams and open mic nights to frequent, wi-fi and shared tables for laptops, and a great menu to boot.

The menu's price point is dead on and ranges from healthy vegan and vegetarian options to the best (and only) meatloaf I've had in the last well... 23 years. Sweeting and I shared a low table with a lounge chair on one side (mine) and a part of the couch (his). We were weary from concert jumping and jostling so we ordered a semi-well refilled iced tea and diet coke and started with the hummus. The hummus was great- much like Sabra, Liz- and they gave PLENTY of dipping pita slices so as to fully utilize each hummus smear possible. We then split the BBQ chicken panini (and shamefully sprung for the fries instead of the salad) and a chicken/spinach/red onions/mushroom pizza. There's nothing crazy or frilly about the food... it's just good. Although I will say I've had the BBQ Chicken panini twice now and feel I could make a more adventurous selection next time.

In sum, I was glad we ended up at BB&Ps after all (Ben's Chili Bowl was closed). Service fine, food good, atmosphere great, and company fantastic. The relaxed lounge feel allowed for quite a conversation of hypotheticals indeed. Sweeting and I collectively give Busboys and Poets 4 Langstons out of 5 possible Langstons :)

DC*B

Sweeting and I went to the David Crowder Band concert at the 9:30 club last night. Line was literally around the corner and down the street to get in, but Sweeting and I very craftily "went straight and hooked right" when we got in and ended up like three "rows" back from the stage. Luckies! I looooove me some DCB shows- it was Sweetings first time seeing him and he got a good show. Glory of it All, Can you Feel it, Everything Glorious, O Praise Him, Here is Our King, Remedy, Never Ending, Foreverandever, You Never Let Go, There is No One Like You, You Are My Joy, etc. I STILL am itching to hear them play Joyful Noise/I Will not be Silent one of these days though :) Also a bummer- I FORGOT my towel and socks I bought to bring for their towel/socks drive for homeless shelters in the DC area. UGH! I had made a special Target run for that and everything! BLAST. Maybe I'll ask Jon Hassler if he has anyone in mind to give them to...



Best part of the show was definitely when David whipped out his Guitar Heros guitar and literally played Never Ending with it... how do they come up with these things?

My Saturday in a snapshot...

Metro Cooking and Entertaining Show!

Liz and I had a GREAT time at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show at the Convention Center on Sunday. First we toodled around and sampled about a thousand dips. Then for Liz's birthday, we went to the "Interactive Cooking Session" with Chef Jason Roberts. He's from Australia and is... very cute.



We learned how to make Peach Sangria, Cream of Cauliflower Soup served over a scallop, crabcakes with aioli, a chicken dish, and orange vanilla rice pudding for dessert. First the Chef demonstrated all of the dishes, then we went to different stations to make one of the dishes ourselves to be served to everyone.

Here's a fun one of "Jas" signing Liz's apron...



After the show we met up with Shane and Carissa at Brennan's house to watch the Indy/Pats game. Too bad the STUPID DirectTV wouldn't work for like 45 minutes and Brennan became best buds with the phone helper guy. We were seriously going to crack skulls. Ended the night the usual Sunday way cuddling with Patrick at Bobby's for DH and B&S while David wastes floor space napping. Bah.

Quote of the night while I was tapping my foot and begrudgingly waiting for B to be ready to leave for Bobby's: "When my arm is around you and I smell like Kenneth Cole instead of Brennan Marshall, you'll be happy."

Surprise! ... or a dialogue with Sweeting

Carrie: I'm going to the store.
Sweeting: Surprise me with a treat.

Carrie's internal dialogue on the way to the store: Don't forget about Sweeting's surprise. Don't forget about Sweeting's surprise.

Re-Enter Carrie

Carrie: Sweeting, look! I got you a surprise!
Note: Not an actual representation of the surprise, but similar in nature

Sweeting: That's not really a treat.
Carrie: Oh... oh... oh.

The next day via email

Carrie: Are you wearing your surprise?
Sweeting: I was but I got beat up by several people in my office who ripped it off of me and tried to feed it to me while calling me vulgar names.
Carrie: Well barf it up and wear it!
Sweeting: I did. But then they ripped it off again and started poking me in the face with it. They got dangerously close to my eye. I could have been blinded. My lip is currently bleeding.

All in all... a GREAT surprise treat from the store if I do say so myself.

Rasika

I told Sweeting he needs to write a review for Open Table but I'll do my part here also. After debate, we agree Rasika at D St. NW between 6th and 7th gets 3.5 of 5 Elephants. Don't ask me how we came up with the elephant thing but... that's our rating system so "DEAL WITH IT!"

I couldn't figure out which waiter was ours so I waited for like ten minutes just to get some naan with our avacado appetizer thing. And then even when we got the naan it was like... a bites worth. Sweeting went ahead and ate it without the naan but believe me it was SO much better with. I got chicken tikka for my entree, Sweeting got some lamb babablahblah dish. We split a chocolate samosa for dessert which I thought was more like baklava.


Actually the food was all delicious, I just felt like the service wasn't great. And they poured my glass of wine shallow, which took them down half an elephant for me. Go, though. It was good. Better than Bombay Club. What Sweeting and I really need is to find ourselves a good hole-in-the-wall place that serves unlimited naan and has good Chicken Tikka Masala.

Wait

I am really good at telling other people to wait and really bad at trying it myself. (I can see Liz's eyes rolling haha). Seriously though... I'm struggling! I'm in a holding pattern right now. There are a few things on the verge of playing out and the waiting really is the hardest part.

Years ago Jono sang a song based on a verse in Isaiah that has always stuck with me...Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

I think the verse is probably talking more about finding strength in waiting on the Lord more than about waiting in general- but if we're waiting for decisions/action aren't we almost inherently waiting on the Lord? If we trust that God is evident in everything from details to the master plan, then doesn't the promise that we'll find new strength apply to us when we're in a holding pattern as He carries out His plan for our lives?

The question then for me becomes... what does it look like or feel like to have new strength? I'm waiting on it, I guess.

Moment with the Savior

I'm in Sarah Owen's New Testament Survey small group which meets on Monday nights in the NCC basement next to Ebs. This week we've been going through John. So different than the other gospels! John wanted to get to the core of the who, what, where, why questions about Jesus' life and mission. I appreciate that about him... his curiosity and depth.

I focused on John Chapter 10 today where Jesus is talking about being the Good Shepherd. John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me."
I know God knows me. He made me! I'm learning this more as God reveals different little parts of my heart that I never even knew existed. He already knows the whole picture; I'm just discovering the pieces one at a time. What amazes me about verse 14 though is that I know God. It's easy to be confident that He knows me, but He is confident that I know Him!

John 10:27 "My sheep recognize my voice."
I think so often as Christians we struggle to hear God speak to us. The Upward Bound Retreat a few weekends ago was a perfect time to practice listening to God in our times of prayer and solitude. In the solitude exercise, we finally shut up long enough to listen to God. When we were downloading from that time of solitude, many of us shared the fear that when we thought we were hearing God, maybe we were actually just hearing ourselves! I'm sure this sometimes happens when we ask questions like "Will I be a millionare?" and a big bold YES pops into our heads haha. But really, can I be so bold to say that I DO know when it's actually God's voice speaking to me? I know His voice above mine... above satan's... above others. It sounds different, friends. It resounds. It brings immediate peace and casts away all doubts that "maybe it's not really God."

Let's today rest in the confidence that we know God and we can recognize His voice.

Martin Sexton in Baltimore!

Still on a happy high from Martin Sexton at Rams Head Live in Baltimore last night. I thought I was going to end up going alone AGAIN like when I saw him at House of Blues in New Orleans, but turns out Patrick is a MS fan too!!! So we got a car together-- David, Patrick, Me, and Patrick's mom Linda and aunt Flo. Went to the Rams Head Tavern for dinner then got to see Martin at the same venue. You guys. It was SO great. Martin's opening act cancelled on him so HE ended up doing his own opening act. I was SO excited because he played Glory Bound to finish it out. For me it's one of those songs that has been with me for awhile, and it was the song that introduced me to MS so it was exciting to finally see it played live. Bye Bye Blacksheep, Hallelujah, Happy, Failure, Angeline, and an unbelievable version of Gypsy Woman were in his setlist also.

Aunt Flo and Linda were an absolute JOY to hang out with these past few days. What a kick in the pants. From the awful taxi ride to the WW to naming Flo's fanny pack "Farrah" we were all laughs. I told them the only reason I was being nice to them was so they would show me a good time when i show up in Madison and demand fun out of them :)

Here's a pic of D and Patrick before going into the concert...

This is Halloween...

I moved two mountains on Friday night-- actually leaving my house despite ridiculous rain pouring down AND in costume no less. I hate Halloween. Crowded and cold, people. Crowded and cold.

Muffin and Sweeting's party went so fast! I literally felt like we had just gotten there when we were leaving, but between Shane not being able to keep his eyes open a moment longer and the boys sulking from their (once again) HUGE loss to the girls it was time to go. The highlight was Big Wiz Barbie getting this gross black glittery stuff on her back and us being in the bathroom trying to get it off- we broke the towel rack (sorry Muffin) and I laughed into the wall corner for about five minutes to the point of weezing.

I was legitimately speechless when Tom and Big P walked in my door... they love their costume wigs, that's for sure. Ew. Barbie looks cute though. As a sidenote, Barbie went literally nowhere without Ken for the whole night although Ken took some dunks in the punch and his hair got very gross and sticky, Barbie really er... stuck with him.


Ceasar and Egon... Except really Egon, where even WAS your GhostBuster gear all night? Pretty sure I didn't ever see it on. Way to not go all out and play the part. You did manage to expell Amy singlehandedly without it I guess.

Shane Zoolander sleeping on the couch. I seriously wish you could see how many people were in the room around him having a good time and being loud. By the way this was definitely not at the end of the night. Probably a good hour before we left.

Before the battle of the sexes began, obviously...

Muffin trying to beat the girls. Ha- I laugh.

Oh bah you guys are cute.

And THIS friends is my FAVORITE picture of the whole evening. It was taken about 10 seconds after Sean bopped Rachel on the head (on accident) and it was like a resounding "bop" when it happened. Notice how Sean is like kneeling in front of her asking for forgiveness haha. I just love the picture.


On Friday night it really hit me that it has been a YEAR since last Halloween at Ryan and Erika's old apartment. How weird is that? Callanan was here, Sean and Sha lived in Meridian (ha), there was no Tiff yet, Erika and Jamie hadn't moved in, had Joanne just met Brian??, I wasn't sure I even liked Muffin... it was just a big eye opener to realize we've all been together here for over a year of parties and holidays and family dinners and birthdays. Crazy. Speaking of, Callanan- we SERIOUSLY missed you. Come on Eileen was played a few times and moments of silence were had.

A great night... even if it WAS Halloween :)

Almost as cute as suburbia...

548 is ready for the Fall... Liz's mom Sue made us our door wreath and brought us the pretty flowers for the stoop. Inside has pumpkins literally everywhere. Perhaps an overkill on the pumpkins but the thing about them is they count for Halloween AND Thanksgiving so it's like a twofer. We're still holding onto summer with the sun chair though :)

Fafa Champ

After a few lackluster 2nd and 4th place finishes, my day has finally come after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears trolling through celebrity blogs to find my 1st place dream team. A special thanks to Britney's lawyers and speculation on her relationship with Mama Spears, Halle's pregnancy, Reese and Jake's moviemance, Orlando's criminal activity, Vanessa's digital camera, Kate's failing marriage, and David Beckham and Zac Efron's good looks. Couldn't have done it without you.

And of course, thank you to the other teams in the league. You guys tried really hard. And what a close race it was... well, if you consider 109 points between 1st place and 2nd place close, that is.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3D!

In an attempt to start rallying the troops for Project Runway Wednesdays, Eddie suggested we meet up for the California Tortilla/Chinatown Theatre movie deal tonight. We saw Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. I am SO SAD we didn't have a camera to take a picture of us in our 3D glasses... so funny. 3D glasses, however, have evolved from the red and blue lensed Captain Nemo (is that the name?? haha) style glasses to more of a Risky Business look. Who knew?

Baptism

First "Blog" Prayer Request Alert

I've always known in my heart that I would someday decide to get baptized, but felt it was something I would do "when the time was right." Translation: When my spiritual life was where it should be.

Pastor Mark has talked about different benchmarks in our journey-- places we could stop and build an altar or a monument. I consider the Upward Bound 2005 weekend in Ocean City, Maryland one of those stops for me. It's where I first gave my heart to the Lord as an adult with an individual faith independent of my family and background. That same weekend, Pastor Mark baptized about five NCCers in the surprisingly-warm-for-October ocean. I remember standing witness on the shore for each of their baptisms and it has since become a personal goal of mine to take that step (or plunge!) myself.

I very much feel that the time is right and it's my turn now, which stings my eyes with joyful tears and my heart overflows with thanks as I write this and reflect on how far the Lord has taken me in two years! I'm not sure where or when yet, but am definitely more inclined to do it outside :). We're not really in "outside baptism season" going into winter here, but I am expectant for spring or summer of 2008... Keep that on your prayer radars for me!

Oh SNAP

Happy Wednesday! Props to Patrick for this flow chart.

Pumpkin Guts and Tacky-T's

Just got back from the Georgia Embassy's pumpkin carving party. I love those girls and the boys that love them! They're fun. We ended up with a cute little pumpkin patch if I do say so myself. Everyone elses pumpkins were great... mine, however, needs a little imagination :)

QB trying to perfect the horns


Lauren! You look so clean!


So ummm here is mine. Imagination, people. IMAGINATION!


The patch!