picture this

2009...

it was to be a year of weddings, renewed friendships, goodbyes, and hellos...

cori got married and we danced.

i finished my course work and carried an orange balloon.

i turned 28 and made an awesome cake.

i went to the bahamas and studied for the lsat.

i went to collingwood and played on the swings with nancy and pat.

i said goodbye to cori and made her a cake.

mon got married and we danced.

i got my lsat score and nearly wept with joy.

i went all out for hallowe'en but no one else did!

while on a research trip, i commemorated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall.

i celebrated the holidays with more "family" than ever before - friends so close they're family, my little sister's in-laws, distant cousins in london, my little sister, her husband, and my parents. and i missed my older sister and her fiance.

there was a lot more in there... new ideas, new areas of research, major life decisions (like applying to law school), terrible disappointments (the detainee allegations and the recent proroguing of parliament rank high, but there were personal ones, too). but there was growth. and there were good tears.

not bad for a year's work. on to the next!

5

when you're sitting two feet away from someone who is stomping her feet, slapping her face and ears, trying to throw the heating vent at you, and screaming at the top of her lungs until she is in tears... five minutes feels like an eternity.


p.s.
michael: have you seen any new movies lately?
me: well... oh, i saw "17 again"!
michael: oh, so you've seen in twice already?

i love my job. there's so much laughter there. so much trust. and it brings me tremendous joy even - and maybe especially - when it's heartbreaking and terrifying.

6

the other day, while hanging out at cornerstone, i asked casey, "have i ever cooked a meal here that didn't involve asparagus?" he pondered this and answered in the negative. upon further reflection, i realized that i couldn't remember the last meal i'd prepared *anywhere* that didn't involve asparagus. and while i looooove that veggie in a multitude of ways - steamed, stirfried, enfolded in eggs, encircled by prosciutto, roasted, bbqed, etc - enough was more or less enough.

tonight's dinner featured no asparagus. and (for high values of six or loose definitions of "ingredient"*) it relied on only six delicious ingredients. yummers!

here are the more photogenic ones:










oh, salsa, spread by my (new!) pastry brush. so spicy. so penetrating.
oh, red onion, sliced into gentle arcs. so target-shaped. so aromatic.
oh, roma grape tomatoes, cloven in half. so juicy. so fleshy.

siiiiigh.

the finished product looked something - but only *something* - like this.

as you can see, in addition to the yummies mentioned above, there were:
- "grains" of orzo (rice-shaped pasta that manages to be moist and light and still pasta-esque!)
- two halves of a rib-eye steak (which is what the salsa was spread on!)
- many peas (many!)



for those who are interested in the done-ness of said steak, it was a little less pink than it appears in this photo. i like my meat a bit closer to well-done, to be honest, but these were juicy (and therefore delectable) nonetheless.






all gone!

('cept for the containers of orzo and veggies now in my fridge.)

* my fajita spice combo, some kosher salt, and olive oil cooperated with the starring ingredients to create top-notch yum. love also helped.

8

i heard my mom on the phone once, finding out her friend had leukemia... nu se poate (it can't be) was all i could make out. it can't be, it can't be... but it is, you know? it's hard to escape stories of people sick and dying, people in pain, in general - i know you guys are all touched by hurt, too, whether it's your own or that of other people. it's like all that stuff in the united states of leland: if you look deep enough into anyone's eyes, it's like there's this tremendous sadness, and they're just fighting to bury it under pta meetings and card games and status reports and facebook and shoes and books and movies and garbage.

i was thinking about how irrational love can be. i was thinking about how, when i sit beside nancy and no one's at home, i ask her, "are you happy?" and there is no earthly reason to hope that she will ever be happy, let alone be able to tell me that she's happy. how love is about hoping against all odds, without ignoring the sadness. i don't know what st. paul was on about, separating faith, hope, and love. i mean, you can argue with me if you really want, but i'm pretty sure those three aren't that distinct from one another.
 
my dad and i were talking about what it would be like to actually live each day as if it were your last. i joked that your friends and relatives would finally say, "listen, i get that you love me... you don't have to call every day and spend an hour on the phone with me, telling me how much you value me. i get it, i really, really do." sometimes i wonder if anything "practical" could get done if i took love seriously. maybe what scares me most about death is that there isn't enough time to really love people. maybe the beatles were right: eight days a week is not enough to show i care.

9

it snowed this morning. and then, when i got home from work, it was freezing in my apartment. well, perhaps not quite freezing: nine degrees. i was all bundled up, to no avail. plus my internet wasn't working.

so, i'm sleeping at charbonneau house tonight! so grateful for my adopted family.

y is for yes, indeed.

i think i understand a little. and i want to help.

x is for xylophilous

i like calling my apartment "my treehouse," for a couple of reasons: it's the third floor of a house, accessible by a skinny metal outdoor staircase, and when i stand on the top landing, i really am among the tree tops. likewise, when i look out my bedroom windows or crawl out onto the fire escape, i'm chillin' with trees. also, all of my furniture is wooden, i have those wickery baskets all over the place, and the floors are old and tired parquet. i feel cozy in my little nest :)

it's been seven months since i moved in and in another five i'll be probably be heading out. staying here through the summer isn't ideal - rent isn't free and i'd love to spend more time with cori and james before they leave for the uk. but i signed a rental contract, and l'arche will need me to cover vacations, so here i'll be at least some of the time.

while i'm trying very hard not to do too much planning until i have all my papers and my thesis proposal done, thoughts of summertime still dance in my head. research trips, breathing deeply in the ravine near my parents' house, a summer course, going to the park with nancy and pat, holidays in collingwood, shakespeare in high park, and this treehouse: wood aglow with sunshine, breezes blowing from the bedroom through the kitchen and out the front door, tanning on the back stoop with a book on my face, evenings of sipping smirnoff ice on the fire escape. i really want to make the most of having my own space - and this space, in particular - while i can.

you're welcome to join me :)

o is for otta-otta wa-wa

there really isn't enough internet ink to describe my "weekend" in ottawa. i was there for a mennonite central committee student seminar - pursuing security in an insecure world.

aside from the formal agenda, there was time to eat sushi with heather, look for a dress for corina's wedding (no luck!), gawk at ice sculptures, try my first beavertail, enjoy a good steak, and catch up with mel for the first time in nearly two years! the weekend was jam-packed and wonderful, apart from snow bullets, puddles, bitter wind, and the fact that the tv in our room stopped working after i watched american's best dance crew.

but back to the seminar... it covered food security, poverty in canada, principles of non-violence, and restorative justice. we ate butter chicken and shawarma and chatted about khadr, fair trade, and obamamania. i was offended by the candy sold at the war museum's gift shop and the elevator broke while we were in the peace tower on parliament hill. there was a lot in there to think about, but i'll just share three:

one: a long trek through the snow led us to the war museum, where we wandered independently, at our own pace. on the way to the four galleries, there's a display of photographs depicting battlefields from the first world war. they're downright brilliant - the colours, the clarity, the composition. and this deeply disturbed me. when i take photos of nancy, kevin, michael, and pat, they often don't turn out very well. it's hard to capture on (digital) film the beauty i see in my friends at l'arche, because that beauty isn't always aesthetic. by contrast, these battlefields - the sites of countless bloody, torturous deaths - were absolutely, even devastatingly, gorgeous. the irony was almost palpable.

two: finally, something occurred to me at the war museum as well as during the tour of parliament, after we'd spent a little time in the memorial chamber. my thought was, is there room for expansion? has the museum set aside space for a gallery devoted to future wars? where will the names of the 108 soldiers who have died in afghanistan go?

there's something deeply disturbing about the need to make room for reminders of future death and devestation. that question's been haunting me. maybe in a good way.

three: the last gallery in the museum is a catch-all, covering everything since world war ii. one creative display featured music videos of some songs addressing the cold war: genesis, u2, elton john, the scorpions, and so on. who knew that the final countdown was not so much about magic tricks as it was about mutually assured destruction? (wait... given gob's mad skillz, those two might not be so different.)



another of the songs on the list was nena's 99 luftballoons. the (english) lyrics are super - all the more so if you've read the backstory.

k is for kisses

cannot *believe* i've only been awake for thirteen hours... it's been a dense day.

i) a group session for our "carving out your discipline" position papers: two hours of peer review, with ginger cake! i still don't know how my work contributes to humanity, exactly.

ii) research on jeanne guyon: this led to general commentaries on the phenomenon of mysticism among women, which in turn led to simone de beauvoir's chapter on women mystics in "second sex." there was a great deal to process there, and i'll be reflecting about it here when i can. but, to start with: i'm not as healthy as i wish i were.

iii) cornerstone: walking home with charles, cleaning for an inspection, making a birthday card, teaching theresa how to use excel, decorating, drinking on the job, having a party, coming thisclose to trying guitar hero, almost making a med error (i blame the wine!), and helping bev get ready for bed.

iv) so tired. didn't bother going home... came straight from cornerstone to charbonneau, to sleep. trying to decide if i can stay awake long enough to laugh at jon.

vi) by the way, brian and beverly both kissed me today. plus, brian took my hand and sat me on the couch and passed me his jungle book colouring pad and some crayons. the glittery and metallic crayons are especially wonderful.

the crayons weren't really the point, though. it was the kisses that made my world all sparkly.

c is for clueless

there's been a bug going around and as a result i've had lots of bonus shifts at work. for instance, yesterday was my third straight overnight at charbonneau house. this one was planned at the very last minute and actually involved a bit of a morning shift the following day. the deal is that whoever's getting up with the core members for breakfast also takes the monitor for the night. basically, i can hear how nancy's doing and, at the touch of a button, can check on her. nancyvision!

i hadn't done this in a while, but when i lived at charbonneau it was my turn at least twice a week. so, obviously, i'm a pro.

as planned, i woke up for the 7am pee and went to wake nancy. she was reluctant, as usual, but followed me to the bathroom. when we were done there, i brought her back to her room, assuring her that someone would wake her up in the morning. she settled back on her (new!) bed and i returned to mine. before i tucked my groggy self in, i went to reset the alarm for my real wakeup, around 7:30. which was when i finally looked at the time.

it was 1:30am.

apparently, it wasn't my alarm that had woken me up! i'd just woken up on my own, assumed the alarm had gone off, and went along with the routine!

a hundred thoughts ran through my mind: "did i just dream that?! 'cause sometimes i daydream within dreams, and this could be one of those times... no, i'm pretty sure that really did just happen!!! what if she can't fall back asleep?! it's ok, we have some her sedative on standby! too bad we don't have a protocol for when assistants have sleep disturbances! should i still get her up again at 7 and then *again* at 9?! oh, also: are you stupid?!" though i was ducking and weaving, eventually sleep hit me.

fast forward to 7:30: i was packing up my stuff when i heard a thud downstairs. i hit the button on the monitor and *poof!* nancy wasn't there! jogging down the stairs, i wondered why her door alarm hadn't gone off. answer: houdini was sitting on the floor. just chillin'. i joined her in playing it cool, and pretended this was her normal 7am interlude from sleep. it all worked out fine, and she went back to sleep for nearly 2 hours. so forgiving!

in my life there have been plenty of nights when i woke up multiple times, worried that i might oversleep. before tests, trips, work. this was certainly the first time i assumed it was morning already.

what a way to (false) start the day!

edited to add:

first of all, given the dreams i forecast in my last post, i think my 1:30am adventure may have been rum-induced!

secondly, i wrote to my mom about all this, and this was her reply:
very funny! i hope you're not too worried about it. it can happen to anyone... remember how i once woke up in the middle of the night, tried to warm some milk in the microwave, and set the time starting with 416? or the night when i went for a glass of water, placed a cup under the light switch, and waited patiently?

b is for blended drink mix

the piña colada has long been my favourite blended drink. whether virgin or non- (technically a piñata colada), the sweet combination of tropical flavours is like an island getaway for my tastebuds. (this may come as a surprise to those who know that i typically avoid coconut, but i think that's mostly to do with texture, which isn't an issue here.)

every time i see my piña colada mix in the fridge, i ask myself that age-old question: "what would that taste like in muffin form?"

well, wonder no more! the answer is: freakin' awesome!!!

i'm pretty shameless about my secret to good muffins: using quaker muffin mix as the base. in this case, we begin with a plain bran muffin (10/3 cups of dry ingredients), and build (read: improvise!) from there! even when i'm making something more traditional, instead of following the package instructions and adding an egg, i often use a banana for binding - it's flavourful and gives us that exotic vegan factor... which also means no cholesterol.

incidentally, it also makes me feel like a spy because pat thinks she hates bananas. in reality, she loves my baking... as long as she doesn't know what went in. (it's like most people and anchovies! though i would *never* put those in muffins.) anyway, the point is that i have to hide what i'm doing whenever i bake at charbonneau house. feel free to debate the ethics of this.


the substitutions continued as i traded the water (4/3 cups) for an equal amount of pineapple juice. happily, many, many pineapple tidbits also jumped in there, along with a dash of that inspirational blended drink mix. (it doesn't take much to have a real impact! be careful!)

after filling up the lined muffin tins, i sprinkled sweetened medium coconut on top and baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. the coconut toasted beautfully.

after we had our evening prayer time and the muffins had cooled enough to hold their shape (and i had paced the floor sufficiently) they were ready to grace our table.

pat, kevin, mike, heide, and i dug in... and i think the verdict was unanimous:

loaded with flavour while light and moist, these muffins are keepers!

notes
- i've reconsidered the pineapple tidbits: using crushed pineapple in place of the water would have made more sense, structural-integrity-wise. the downside of crushed pineapple is that the consistency of the muffin would be more homogenous, and i like playing with textures. something to think about...
- for a more creative garnish, maybe half a maraschino cherry could be tucked into the top. something tells me that also sticking a little plastic sword in there might be too much!
- unless... two birds, one stone! what if i skewered pineapple tidbits and a cherry on a sword, and put it into the batter-filled muffin tin? would the muffin bake up to enfold the fruit? hmmm...


sweet dreams! i'll be spending mine dancing to reggae on a white sand beach... with an icy piña colada in hand, of course :)

spoilin'

preamble: there's been a lot of foodtalk on here lately. a lot of talk in general, come to that. please allow me to 'splain: i'm intentionally sharing little day-to-day tidbits here, in order to avoid having to go to ridiculous ends in an effort to feel less lonely. when you read, you help prevent insanity. thank you! i certainly appreciate it.

soooo: saturday night. dinner at charbonneau house. this calls for "mmmm!" after a costco/sobey's run, twopointfive hours over a hot stove/oven/cutting board, and the potato-a-peelin' help of both kevin and mike, i laid the following on the table:

a) garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes: a recipe of martha stewart's, apparently.

b) orange asparagus with sesame seeds: standard fare.

c) big puffy oven pancake: one summer, when mom taught summer school, corina and i made this for her all the time. we found the recipe in the betty crocker kids cookbook. it's basically a 9" yorkshire puddin'!

d) mediterranean and raw beet salad with feta cheese: pretty! but i wouldn't repeat this with from-frozen veggies.

e) pot roast the most tender and tasty pot roast i've ever eaten devoured: granted, i haven't had all that much pot roast in my years but i swear it was objectively impressive. also in the roasting pan were stewed tomatoes, carrots, onions, mushroom soup, and love. these added so many nuanced and delicious flavours, as well as forming a superb, if liquidy, gravy. a little cornstarch goes a long way :)

i may have also served ice cream an hour later. a little overboard? maybe. but i was so thrilled that nancy stayed for prayer (and chose a nice reading) that i felt ok about spoiling them a bit.

oh, my. i'm so ready to be a granny.

timeless to me...

josh, remember when we all used to stand in the parking lot on tuesday nights and talk for hours? (one of those times i convinced you that conversations about sex didn't have to be dirty! remember?) anyway, no one wanted to be the first to suggest finding a coffee shop because then we'd be committing to the conversation. and, in reality, none of us really had that kind of time to "waste," so we just froze and got snowed on.

it's the same with me and the things i really love, like hanging out at charbonneau house or really cooking a meal or seeing a movie in theatres or making cards. it's hard to plan for those when there's so very much to do. but it's easy to waste hours playing tetris. very messed up.

one of the most startling (and dysfunctional) characteristics of my first semester at grad school was the amount of time i spent on things i didn't care about, at the expense of things i really love. so i'm trying to budget my time better. and i'm trying to find helpful time-wasters. liiiike, "ok, if you're not going to work on readings, you have to edit corina's resume/clean the apartment/work out." by giving myself fruitful options for procrastination, it turns into a win-win. (to a point.)

today, i really cooked lunch. and in five minutes, i'm going to edit that position paper on women's ordination. and it feels so nice to be checking good things off my list :)

btw, i hate to tip my hand, but these two bacontainers look so amazing i had to spread the news: bowl or cup?

tastes like sweet, sweet procrastination...

a) sarah's back from holidays!
b) sydney over at the crepes of wrath featured a gorgeous photo of honey ginger chicken! and a recipe, too!
c) i have a tonne of reading to do, along with wrapping up a position paper on the ordination of women!

this calls for cooking!

i invited myself over to charbonneau house and fed the seven of us with the honey ginger chicken (with some amendments) as well as noodles, stirfry veggies, and apple pecan strudel. mmmm... amendments :)

while sydney convinced me not to be afraid of fish sauce, i still couldn't find any at no frills. maybe it's a frill? i subbed in watered-down soy sauce, and that made the sauce much darker than the inspirational photo. additionally, the charbonneau gang can't take a lot of heat, so i cut back on the ginger and chilies *substantially*, going down to only 1/4 of what the recipe called for. even so, the chicken was loaded with flavour! brimming, even!

after removing the thighs from the sauce, i added water to the pot, boiled it, and then threw in 3 packs of instant noodles. meanwhile, i stirfried europe's best zen veggies in some sesame oil and tossed in some toasted sesame seeds. this main course definitely bears repeating, preferably with (not so scary) fish sauce and the appropriate amount of heat.



the strudels were really straightforward, despite being my first adventure with phyllo pastry! i'd like to try baking something similar from almost-scratch some time, because in this case i used apple pie filling, pecan pieces, and bread crumbs. i sprinkled a little mozza inside and outside one of the strudels, because i love the way cheese interplays with fruit. the result was a delicious dessert that flirts with a range of textures and manages to satisfy the sweettooth without being overpowering.


(sorry for the fuzziness. fyi: mike's camera stinks.)

10x1000=2008

"could you be just a little more jewish?"

that's how danny phrased it when he asked matt to live in the moment (studio 60 on the sunset strip). maybe i'm getting back to my ashkenazi roots.

standing on my tippy-toes in georgian bay, i propped nancy up. her shoulders leaned against mine as her legs floated toward the horizon. only the occasional wave interrupted her laughter. the gurgling was just as sweet, though.


it was the most fun i'd ever had with her. actually, it ranks pretty high on my list of recent joyful moments. and that's at least partly because i didn't extrapolate.

back when i was at camp, i'd enjoy every little bit of being around kids: the creativity it demanded, the humour, the spontaneity, the license to act silly. but a part of me always leaned forward. it sighed and said, "i can't wait 'til i can do this with my own kids."

in the water with nancy, i knew there were parallels to parenting. but, to be honest, i was too busy loving that moment to think past it. being right there was just so very good.

tonight i'm remembering other instances of being present: the last year has brought suds fights with alice, chats with kevin, pat's cat imitation, my first time helping doris and rosie, touching foreheads with mr. goto, breaking bad news to sandi, building furniture with mike. countless hugs and laughs that all meld together now but at the time were each worlds in themselves.

it's not that l'arche is magical, you know. i'm finding it easier to just be in other areas of my life, too. to open my eyes and heart and just let life show me. to experience meaning instead of trying to manufacture it.

to let my legs float toward the horizon as i lean back, trusting that i won't sink.

"a single moment in time can be a universe in itself, full of powerful forces. most people aren't aware enough of the now to even notice."
(st:insurrection)

no play-by-play

but here are some highlights from my recent trip to italy and romania:
- spent three five-hour chunks walking around rome
- lived with a l'arche community in nearby ciampino: ate, danced, and played
- sampled good eats (see this album)
- finished reading "how proust can change your life"
- pondered religious art, tourism, beauty, and democracy
- thought a lot about expectations and disappointment, particularly with reference to caravaggio
- stood in the same room as a two works by caravaggio and didn't pass out
- reignited friendships with jann arden, miranda stone, and great big sea... all canadian artists!
- was so very grateful i'd taken french in school
- discussed mysticism on the spanish steps (and made a guy nearly swoon by vaguely knowing who urs von balthazar is... thanks, steve!)
- tried buffallo mozzarella which - it had never occurred to me before! - comes from buffallo milk
- benefitted from the kindness of strangers on countless occasions
- discovered just how lacy the italian coast is - it's a mess of curves!
- got sunburned
- got caked with sea salt, straight out of the sea
- pilgrimaged back to bucharest
- reunited with old friends
- danced with dad... and contemplated dance lessons
- laughed so, so, so much
- renewed my appreciation for a room with four walls and a door!
- started reading just war theory stuff
- travelled by plane, train, metro, busses of different lengths and heights, cars and vans, motor boat, skybridge, funicular, teleferique, airport shuttle, teeny elevator, and foot... sadly, no scooters this time
- can't wait to go back

see also this, this, this, and that.

travelling tips:
- have a plan
- be ready to abandon it
- consider wearing a wedding ring
- don't try too hard to understand popular tourism... it makes no sense.
- cobblestone is slippery when wet
- talk to strangers
- watch out for little dogs or you might kick them by mistake
- don't let cab drivers treat you like crap
- take the time to sit and listen
- sunrise/sunset are wonderful times of day. make a point of noticing.
- having a dog escort home at midnight is more amusing than confidence-inspiring, but it's still way better than nothing
- know enough of the language to be able to tell people you can't speak it
- spend more time experiencing than you do recording experiences

so further

it's my night on the monitor again, and every time i turned over to look, nancy's blanket had slipped a little more. i was just hoping it'd last 'til 6am this time.

at 2:30 it was almost off.

at 4:40, i heard her rolling around. i glanced at the screen and saw her stand up and begin to fix her blanket. once, twice, thrice, she held an edge in her hands, lifted it, and let the thin material fall on the bed. finally satisfied that it was smooth enough, she gingerly pulled back a corner, sat down, and tucked her legs under. she hesitated for a moment, then pulled the blanket up to cover most of herself. her breathing grew deep and regular, and she fell asleep.

sweetheart, you didn't save me any sleep... but that's hardly the point. you made my day before 5am. i love you so much.

so far

i've been up for seven hours. yikes. accomplished thusfar:
- brokered a peace agreement with nancy, who eventually went back to bed
- started a load of laundry
- re-viewed two episodes of "house"
- helped nancy with her first bathroom trip and put her back to bed
- started the coffee pot
- started another load of laundry
- said "gooooood morning!" to mike and pat and administered meds
- bathed, dressed, and put my hair in pigtails
- went outside to hang the washcloths on the line
- took care of a dead mouse i found in the backyard
- said "have a nice day!" to mike (i missed pat.)
- read most of the june 2008 issue of flare
- emptied the dishwasher
- said "gooood morning!" to nancy, administered meds, and helped her with breakfast
- said "gooood morning!" to kevin and adminstered meds
- helped nancy pick out clothes
- filled the dishwasher
- washed med cups, pots, and tupperware
- said "have a nice day!" to kevin and nancy
- boiled med cups
- cleaned counters and swept the floor
- tidied the living room
- came upstairs and stared for a bit
- tidied my room
- made this list

next:
- breakfast!!!

joy!

"it's not a party if it happens every night"
beg your pardon, postal service, but recent experience suggests the reverse.

things i'm celebrating:

a) getting a degree. because it's cool, but also because i finally really finished something. aces.
b) getting into grad school. because i can start making decisions and new mistakes.
c) spring. because it's warm(er). and rain, green, and flowers are good. and sun, too. sun is good.
d) going for walks with nancy, pat, kevin, and mike... going to tim hortons and listening to music and swinging and greeting strangers with them. 'cause wow.
e) staying in touch. it rocks my little world.
f) sushi and cake. four days in a row!!! (pretty sure the streak ends tomorrow)
g) getting through a mother's day without bad tears!!!! potentially the first time ever.
h) vegetables. i like them. i always have. which brings me to...
i) my parents, for better and for worse.
j) matcha. 'cause yum.
k) closure. because freedom is sweet.
l) is for the way you look at me... i mean... no that works, too. i'm celebrating unspoken things.
m) purple (toe)nail polish. do i even have to explain?
n) mangos and avocadoes. see above.
o) is for the only one i see... finding God in the midst of bewilderment and hurt and beauty.
p) touch. (angie! i miss you!!!)
q) poetry. in motion or standing still.
r) time set aside for people i care about.
s) the chance to go back to romania in two months. and to hit italy on the way.
t) rivers, oceans, lakes, and water in general.
u) nostalgia-inducing music. particularly oasis, rick astley, cranberries, and counting crows.
v) the human body, which is among the most beautiful things i've ever seen.
w) growth. my hair and my heart and my to-read list.
x) new things i'm going to see and hear and learn tomorrow.
y) because we like you.
z) sleep :-)