Dear Boston: See these people?

You might recognize them. They flew in over your borders early Monday morning; I thought I should let you know that they’re going to be with you for a while.

That one on the right is my brother. He graduated from Gutenberg several years ago, and so did his wife; that’s her on the left. He always wanted to go to grad school, but he had a few things to do in the meantime. Now, though, he’s going for a PhD in Philosophy and an MA in Classics—which should set him up perfectly to come back and teach at Gutenberg. Which is great. The only catch is, he had to go to… well, to you to do it. And you are just a little farther away from Oregon than any five-year program which my brother is attending should be.

So take a good long look at them, because I have a very important job for you. I need you to take care of these two. I want you to make sure that they are fed, clothed, educated, encouraged—make them at home, but not too at home; comfortable, but not too comfortable. (After all, we do want them to make their way back over here at some point.) Make sure that Brian does well in school and that Melanie finds a job she likes—and make sure that they both can feel the motherly, fatherly, and sisterly love emanating from this little house on the other side of the country.

Oh, and, Boston? You just received a couple of first class folks. I hope you know that.

Sincerely,

Erin

You will buy me these.

I think I may have just died and gone to heaven.

(P.S. Just kidding. Not about wanting them… but about the whole “buy these for me!” thing. Just so you know.)

Before tomorrow, I must: 1) finish writing a paper about Beowulf, 2) translate a lengthy passage of Greek, 3) decipher a rather complicated proposition from Euclid, and 4) read 77 pages of Arthurian romance.

In other words: perfect time for a blog post!

Haha. Do not worry. I am not COMPLETELY insane—therefore this will be only a very short post. I just thought I should give you something lovely to look at on your Sunday evening. And these shoes fit the bill quite nicely:

Mmmmmmmm, delicious. Yep, that’s what I thought, too, when I found them perched on a spinning rack at a local thrift store over spring break.

And what’s more…

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have teeny-tiny feet. It is very rare that I actually find any shoes in my size. So when I leaned in for a closer look and saw “5 1/2″ printed on the footbed of these scrumptious little numbers, my heart went pitter-pat.

And then I found out they were only ten dollars, and, well… that is when I melted into a puddle of shopping success.

… And they lived happily ever after, except for the permanent damage that Erin is probably doing to her legs and back by wearing high heels around all the time.

The end.

Why, you may ask?

Is it because I got a few new articles of clothing with my Christmas money?

Is it because I shot a wedding all by my self (successfully, I might add!)?

Is it because there lies ahead of me a crisp, brand new, fresh year?

Is it because all my friendlings are returning for school?

Well, the answer is… yes, yes, yes, and yes.

But this is why I’m REALLY excited:

That’s right… my very own pocket-size Weekly Moleskine 2007 Calendar.

I’ve had it since the beginning of November. But now I can start using it.

*SWOON *

Yesterday (Friday) was my mom’s birthday. I was not sure exactly how to begin this post, because whereas I began the post about my birthday with the words “Yesterday was my 18th birthday,” I believe that Mom would like me to be less forthcoming with her digits, so I will just say that “Yesterday was my mom’s birthday upon which time she reached an undisclosed, definite age.”

Let me take a moment to tell you what a remarkable woman my mother is. She and I have had our fair share of scuffles, especially in the last few years, mostly because we are so darned alike. And, as a result, I rarely give her the respect that it is both my duty to give her and that she deserves. But the fact is, my mother is one of the most admirable people I have ever met.

Her life, like every person’s who is willing to admit it, is not neat. She makes mistakes. She makes choices she knows she doesn’t want to make when she makes them. But Mom has always modelled humility, honesty, and graciousness of character for my brother and I in her everyday interactions with other people. She is always thinking of other people before herself—a fact that, to my great shame, I often do not recognize as she provides for me. She also has real wisdom born of experience, and has shared it with me to my great benefit on many occasions. (Not to mention the fact that she is insanely organized and has done a fantastic job of making sure our household runs smoothly for decades.)

I do not think my mother is a perfect person. And sometimes, all that my blind eyes can see are her faults, perhaps because I know so many of them are also my own and I am afraid to own them. But when God opens my eyes, I see that she is a true woman of Character and Virtue, who has been faithfully doing her best to serve God and her family through the years.

I talk a lot about what a big deal this period of transition to adulthood, of starting college, of moving on and growing up has been for me. But it has been just as big a deal to Mom. She has watched me grow and struggle and learn. She has watched me prove what a selfish sinner I am time and again. She has watched me succeed and fail and encouraged me to look at what things are really important in life. Heck, she even faithfully reads my blog (and all your comments, FYI ).

And I know that she is proud of me, but I can also see that as she watches me prepare to leave the nest, her heart aches with that bittersweet mother-ache that I suppose I can’t yet fully understand.

I don’t know if I can possibly make that ache better, but I hope that letting her know how much I appreciate her will help. Thank you, Mom, for being a role model, a teacher, a comfort, and a friend. Thank you for sharing wisdom and caring and endless patience. Thank you for supporting my crazy ideas and interests, and for always being there for me. Please forgive me for the disrespect I have showed you and the pain I have caused you. I really do not think I could have had a mother better-suited to me. God knew what He was doing. I love you. Happy birthday.

One year ago today, I brought this beauty home:

Between then and now, it has…

… had its first snow…

… had its hood stolen (!) and then replaced…

… had its stereo’s faceplate stolen and not replaced (sigh)…

… and taken me on multiple road trips, carried me to and from work and school, and contributed a great deal to my growing feeling of independence.

For our anniversary, I gave it an old, half-broken tape deck/radio combo that Elijah took out of his car when he got a new CD player. It appreciates not driving in silence all the time anymore.

Thank you, car, for being the (fairly) reliable companion that you have been. Please don’t get stolen again.

(P.S. I still haven’t washed it. As in, not once since I got it a year ago. The Oregon rain kept it clean in the winter, I swear!)

I just discovered that I have a population of tiny spiders living in my room.

I found three on my window, and two on webs inside my lampshade.

TINY.

FREAKING.

SPIDERS.

Somebody will pay for this.

(Just in case you don’t remember, read this.)

So, you’re probably thinking: Wow! Erin hasn’t written anything in almost a week. She must be building up to some extra special, kick-awesome, blow-your-socks-off amazing post!

Okay, so maybe nobody was thinking that. But if you were thinking that, you were wrong. Sorry, but the real reasons I haven’t written in almost a week are far more pedestrian details like: 1) School, 2) Procrastination, and 3) Life. Such are the hazards of being a blogger by hobby, I guess. I have to squeeze blogging into the nooks and crannies of my life. I’m not a professional. Yet. As a side note, this is the last time I’m going to apologize for not writing for x number of days. I’m sure you know that if I had my druthers I would be publishing multiple posts every day, but the fact is that life is life and no matter how hard I try I will never be able to completely eliminate pesky things like face-to-face interaction with real human beings. (That was a joke, Mom.)

But anyway, on to the actual reason for this post. Ever since I have been writing here at Lylium.org, ideas for things to write about have begun to pop, unbidden, into my head every day. I’ll be sitting in math class, and suddenly I’ll realize, “Hey! I should write about my old deceased pets! Or spinach! Or malaria!” And, as these ideas come streaming out of my head like spray cheese from a can, it’s the least I can do to capture them on paper and hope that I will someday get around to writing about them.

A lot of these post ideas, I’ve noticed, center on sharing stories about things that mean a lot to me. I know that sounds sappy (and maybe it is), but I would really like to share a snapshot of my life with you folks. Whether you’re my best friend or whether you’re a stranger who just found my website for the first time, I would like to offer you a glimpse into the ideas, objects, and people that surround me and are important to me. So, towards that end, I am introducing a new feature on Lylium.org: “Things that I love.” (with an implied “… and that you should too.”) This semi-regular attraction will showcase and tell the story of something important in my life; be it a person, an article of clothing, or a principle. I know this is not a new idea (I’m stealing it from Sound of Music, at the very least, but I’m sure other bloggers have done it too), but I’m hoping this new feature will provide the impetus for some really interesting future posts. Having said all that, here is an inaugaural mini-post to give you an idea of what I am talking about:

Things that I love: Green polka-dot flip flops

The pictured flip flops are, admittedly, a slightly ironic choice for the first “thing that I love.” The fact is, they are pretty uncomfortable. They are slightly too big for my midget-sized feet, the plastic toe thingy chafes on my foot, and they are rapidly becoming flat as a pancake after two or three times of wearing them. To top it all off, the polka-dot design is already wearing off the shoe.

But the reason I bought them, and the reason I love them in spite of their faults, is quite simple: their aesthetic appeal is fantastic. (Also they were really cheap. ) These shoes, believe it or not, serve as a perfect representation of three or four of my personal favorite design elements:

1. Green. This is huge. My “favorite color” was never green, growing up. I always answered pink or blue or purple or yellow or something innocuous and girly like that if anyone asked me. But one day I woke up and realized that not only had I painted my room a shade of green, but I had green pillows on my bed, my wardrobe included a healthy amount of green, and literally every website I currently had published on the web featured green in some way shape or form. (Don’t believe me? Take a look: 1 2 3 4 5 6) I have since wholeheartedly embraced the color (especially on the yellow side of the spectrum, in tones of lime, sage, and celedon.) and its myriad possibilities. Maybe I really am Irish.
2. Tone-on-tone, monochromatic color scheme. I love the subtle impact of an almost monochromatic color scheme. Whereas many different, contrasting colors used together can busy a screen and create excitement (and can be used very effectively), tone-on-tone design is more comforting and relaxing; at least to my eye, it appears more orderly and controlled. One of my favorite examples of a tone-on-tone site design is the website for Mint, a stats program developed by Shaun Inman. (Surprise, surprise, the site is green. ) On his site, the refreshing green surround not only creates a warm, inviting effect, it pops the orange “pay here!” button, making it an extremely effective call to action. (I realize that I may not be up on all the correct color lingo; so to be clear, by tone-on-tone I mean patterns or layers of color that are based on one hue (like green, blue, or red), and then include other lighter and darker shades of the same color, also possibly including black or white.)
3. Delicate, crisp patterns in general. Coming back to the shoes, I especially love a tone-on-tone color scheme when it is implemented in a crisp pattern like the one gracing my green flip-flops.
4. Polka-Dots in particular. There is not much to say about this. Polka-dots are just one of my favorite things.

So when all of these lovely things confronted me in one, adorable, flip-flop package, I caved. Now, I’m not sure I would have bought them if I knew how quickly the design was going to wear off of them… but at least I got pictures. Oh, and I got a blog entry out of them too. Definitely not a wasted purchase.

Let me introduce you to my friend Natalie. She is one month and one day older than me, and we have known each other our entire lives. As children we played American Girls Dolls and “olden-days” together. She has always been incredibly sweet, fun, and stubborn. (Not to mention a bit loony: I vividly remember one day when we were sitting in her car waiting for her mom, who had just got out for some reason. We were parked on a steep hill, and Nata kept eyeing the emergency break saying, “Erin, what would you do if I just released that break right now? I don’t think I can stop myself from doing it!” … all the while sounding very distressed at herself for even thinking such thoughts.)

One of Nata’s many endearing qualities is the way she anthropomorphizes things. I think that every inanimate object she has come into contact with her entire life has some kind of name. Her cell phone is Stella, her car is Chloe, and her iPod is Lola, to name but a few.

Two nights ago, Natalie spent the night at my house. As the hour grew later, we became increasingly reduced to giggle fits on the couch about everything and nothing. (I’m sad to report that many chocolate-covered peppermint sticks sacrificed their lives for these festivities.) In a moment of particular exuberance, Natalie propelled her cell phone, which she had just been holding, across the room, where it landed in a rocking chair. But at the instant the phone left her hand, a look of terror at the horrible act she had just committed spread over Natalie’s face, and as the phone sailed through the air she suddenly screamed, “STELLA, DON’T JUMP!!”

That same night, Nata asked me how I think of things to write in my blog. I told her that I just try to find the interesting stories in everyday life. I didn’t mention that it also helps to have crazy friends.