Ode to the iphone 4: a love poem, and nine reasons why i {heart} my phone

Dearest iphone 4,

you make me feel savvy when in reality it's you who are well-designed.
with my ever-changing needs it seems you have magically aligned.

you make me feel cool when i hold the apple emblem out for passersby to view.
so much better than my old phone, which i accidentally dropped in the loo.

because of you i don't feel as old when talking to my high school students,
even though now i make online shopping decisions which are not so prudent.

you introduced me to Pandora, which opened my ears to musical delights.
you exposed me to so many blogs my mind may explode from daily insights.

you actually helped usher me to my new beauty-revealing art.
i {heart} you, iphone.
Thank you from the down deep bottom of my beauty-hungry heart.

Meg


Before, I had an old flip phone that I had replaced three times with insurance because of one drop in a puddle and two drops in toilets.  So, you can see why it took me years to believe I had the responsibility level to handle a smart phone.  [This "dropping" tendency also encouraged me to fit my new iphone 4 with an otterbox case.  I am VERY happy with it.  It's worth the fifty bucks, all the way.  www.otterbox.com.]

The iphone has seriously changed my life.  And I'm not embarrassed to tell you that (nor am I embarrassed to write a love note, apparently).
1.  I am thankful for access to e-mail.  It was a fun moment to have a Michael's employee scan a 40% off one item coupon that I would have forgot at home before.  2.  And, I am a much more avid texter now (which helps me maintain relationships with some of my most busy friends).  3.  I love the instagram app.  I like being able to add filters to my pictures even though I'm not really a photographer (yet).

4. My life as a traveler has been changed.  I've found my way much easier now that I'm not waiting for an outdated GPS to catch up to my turn.  5.  The internet access is also life-changing for quirky reasons.  When I think of a strange question, like "I wonder how many zoos there are in America..." I can look it up.  If I lived in a time of encyclopedias and card catalogs (which is how it was when I was a kid), I would have never ever found out.  How many do you think there are?  Look it up.  Because you can.

6.  I know my husband is thankful that he bought me the iphone when he plays Words With Friends at all hours.  He was especially thankful when he played that 70 point word the other day and beat his sister.  I deducted his thankfulness by his repeated air punches and when he hissed, "Yes, yes yes, take THAT, take THAT!  That's forty three mother frickin' points!  (insert semi-scary competitive laugh here)."

7. Also, I love Pinterest more than I love TV.  I'll say it again.  Maybe you didn't understand me the first time.  Every time I push that little push pin icon and add an image to one of my thematic bulletin boards, it's like the joy I feel during the reveal on a design show.  It's that fun.  Let me know if you need me to invite you.  8.  And, I love the word tweet.  Don't you?  "Twitter" is fabulous word-painting, and when I find someone to follow who I would never otherwise have a connection to, I feel empowered.  Oh iphone, you're so great.  [giggle]

Looking back on my technology-fearing life, I've turned a corner.  I've especially been able to see the benefits of technology this summer.  This blog, for example, has helped me to break into a huge part of my untapped and waiting identity as a writer.  Who knows how much longer my thoughts would have marinated before putting pen to paper if blogs didn't sky-rocket in popularity and become accessible and affordable to maintain?  Years?  Decades?  Maybe never.

I still have hang-ups.  I'm still allergic to facebook.  I know I'll have to build up antibodies take small doses eventually.  But, I'm happy exploring other things of beauty on my iphone in the meantime.

I know God loves that I have an iphone.  I know this sounds completely wack.  But listen: I see beauty.  Don't you?  And, yes, I think just breathing it in and saying, "look!" is great.  But, it's also great to dig into who He has made me to be as a beauty seeker/maker/revealer.  My iphone camera is a tool to document, archive, and remember the beauty of His world.  He likes it.  I know it.  And the more I ask for it, the more overwhelmed I am by the moments with Him, taking it all in.  And (I know it sounds so different from the "anti-technology" me a year ago) the camera on my phone is heaven-sent.  The design of the phone itself is creation and art.

Now, my catalog of found inspiration is phenomenal, and I've only had the phone since April.  9.  Overall, the best thing about the phone is the camera.
I close with a moment of found inspiration that I would have forgotten without my iphone.  [Skeptics: I'm serious.  The iphone 4 has a really great camera for detail and object photography.  And it's with me at all times.  So, it's accessible and realistic.]

Isn't it gorg?  This is a very do-able window display styling at Anthropology I experienced a few weeks ago.  It is officially on file for an event I style, or an art display I add to a room design.  To make it: I will purchase an industrial-sized roll of waxed craft string, cut out paper discs (lots of them) in three or four contrasting colors of card stock, break out a large crafting needle, and conjure up a lot of patience before beginning.  I would say the key is to measure the space between the discs, and hang or lay out the pieces while I create to decide when to change colors.  This will create the wave effect the colors have.  It could even be a great nursery application over a crib (those are called mobiles, right? I have a lot to learn).  I'll probably make one of these within the next year for some un-known space.  But I never would have returned to this project of creativity and beauty if I didn't take a picture of them that day.  This is just one of hundreds of reasons to give in to SOME of the available gadgets of our world.  They can be used for good.

I love my iphone, and I'm thankful for the beauty-documenting lifestyle it affords me.  Thanks Apple.  Thanks technology.  Thanks trends, for getting into my brain even when I don't want you to.  Thanks husby, for buying me a gift that keeps on giving.

May you have eyes to see the beauty. --Meg Tess

13. Create an original turkey burger recipe

Ever get into a food slump?  At the end of the school year, we were.  I didn't have the urge to cook, and we were eating the same meals over and over again.  One of the meals that we definitely should not have been eating regularly?  Stouffer's meat lasagna.  I know, it's so easy.  And it tastes really good.  (But holy moly sodium level!)  With a husby with a little bit of a cholesterol issue (we want to watch it while we're young!) and a nice big kitchen, we should be making good meals.  Good = healthy, flavorful, fresh, and tasty. 

I did add a few things to our repertoire this Spring, one recipe from our lovely retired pastors who host people on their land in Wisconsin for rest and renewal.  Did I mention there are seriously angels in their custom timber frame house?  Go feel it for yourself!  Our stay there was delightful, and the meals they prepared for us started giving me the itch to try new things again.  I have made her sausage and lentil soup many times (good for leftovers the next day, as soup usually is), and I am looking forward to making her naughty sticky buns (butter + butterscotch pudding mix + croissants = what now?!). 

This summer, because of our new found love for all things ground turkey, I ventured to make a new turkey burger recipe.  We loved the ones from Whole Foods, so why not try ourselves?  I'm not a great baker (the chemistry eludes me-- I need the freedom of cooking).  But, I can hang with the innovative cooks in the fam.  For my recipe, I used chopped knob onions, an egg, fresh bread crumbs, fresh cilantro, 1/4 of a green jalapeno sans seeds, minced garlic, ground pepper, and my new friend, ground coriander seeds. 

Overall, it went well.  I added some Chihuahua cheese to the top and with my lovely grill master's help, we had a great meal.  I have to say, I'm really thrilled by the adventurous eating my husband has been partaking in these days.  We could be foodies one day!  [You may be thinking, foodie?  Slow down, girl.  It's turkey burgers.  But I was dealing with a "plain" eater, my friends.  This is incredible.  He put avocado and black beans on a TURKEY BURGER, people.  That had CILANTRO in it!  Applause please.] 

Next time, I will use a higher fat content in the ground turkey.  Fat begets flavor, as we know.  And, I will let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for a while before forming the patties.  This will eliminate the problem of the meat being a little too brittle.  But we tried it, and it was delicious!  Tonight, we had orange and ginger marinated tilapia with Cajun quinoia.  There is beauty in adventurous eating.

May you have eyes to see the beauty. --Meg Tess

Summer is suddenly slowing... (10. West Side Story)

  One week from tonight, my Saturday will not feel like today does.  I still have five weekdays of freedom in front of me.  I will have to use them to do a lot of work to go back to the classroom [I wonder who feels more anticipation, the students or the teachers?  Probably the freshmen, who I teach with pride].  And next Saturday I will feel the inevitable anxiety of returning the work.  But, I have some major beauty list things to knock off before then!  When all is said and done, and Labor Day closes this season, I'm okay with not finishing a list, are you?  I almost bought a new face cream called "Perfectionist" from Estee Lauder today and I didn't, merely in principle.  Even if it helped even my skin tone, I don't want to look at that bottle.  Unfinished list=real life=beautiful nonetheless.
  I'll be blogging in this penultimate week of summer to tell you about my encounters with true beauty these last few weeks.
  Here's a quick one:
  My mom, dad, sister and I went to West Side Story at the Cadillac Palace downtown (Chicago) last week.  I LOVE WEST SIDE STORY.  On the way to the show, we saw a cab with the advertisement on it.  I was quite pleased that I was able to snag a photo.  My mom, sister and I had spent a long day wedding dress hunting (we had not so good customer service all day... boo).  So, I think seeing the cab and drinking my McDonald's hazelnut iced coffee pumped me up for some major musical theater.  Let's DO THIS Jets, Sharks I thought.  I hoped the casting and dancing would be splendid.

  And they were, my friends.  I liked the set, I liked the costumes, I liked the casting, I liked the staging, I liked the choreography, I liked the costuming.  Yay!  And, I've always wanted to play the role of Maria.  Listening to this actress sing her part, I realized that ain't gonna happen unless I train again.  You've gotta have some range, girl!  I remembered how easy it is to hurt the audience's ears with that role.  Now, this actress was amaze.  She nailed it.  Her name is Ali Ewoldt and she delighted her listeners with a lilty way of switching up to her head voice that mimicked her way of speaking to create unity.  The actor who played Tony was the understudy, so I don't know his name.  But, his voice was tenor butter.  I loved the choice to transfer a lot of the lyrics to Spanish when the Jets are talking and singing.  This move, originally implemented by the Broadway cast, who brought this staging of the revival to the stage last year, brought authenticity to the hate felt between the two gangs, just like the Montagues and Capulets.  Here's a relatively good review.

  The choreography was reminiscent of the original film's moves, which I especially loved during the end of the school dance scene when it changes into the dreamy and alternate universe meeting of Tony and Maria.  Even though it's my favorite musical, and I also love Romeo and Juliet, I didn't realize the DIRECT parallels to everything Shakespeare wrote. Almost every main character transfers.  Maria=Juliet, Nurse=Anita, Tony=Romeo, Riff=Mercutio, Bernardo=Tybalt, etc.  The only big difference (besides the setting and style) is that Juliet(Maria) doesn't die in WSS.  Also, after teaching R&J the last few years, I even have to say that Shakespeare has met his match in terms of innuendo and double entendre, which the director heartily presented.  I have examples I could share, but this is a family show.   I'm very glad my summer included some good ol' musical theatre in honor of my mom's birthday.  Happy birthday, Mom!  There is beauty in the lovely holiday you can take in the dark magical place that is live theatre.  There is beauty in contemplating a lesson that love is powerful and real, and that hate draws attention to differences that are supposed to be powerful, yes, but not divisive and violent.  Support the arts, por favor...

May you have eyes to see the beauty. --Meg Tess

48. Hang huge Crate and Barrel print

I've lost steam.  With blogging regularly, I mean.  GOSH, this takes some major dedication. 

I have a lot of blogging to make up this week.  I CAN DO IT!  (Do you ever need to yell in capital letters to inspire yourself to do things?  I do.) 

[A better question: can they (that means me) have a lesson in all high school English classes to teach students to NOT write entire e-mails/texts/etc. in capital letters?  It's really diminishing their message.  Unless it's, "OH MY GOSH MY BOOK GOT PUBLISHED CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?"  Not, "HEY THERE WHAT ARE YOU UP TO TODAY DO YOU WANT TO GET SOME PIZZA LATER?"  No, I don't want to get pizza with you if you're going to yell at me like that.  Geez Louise.]

Back to my point.  Catch-up.  Today, and I expect this week, I will be pressing through to get some posts done.  I really don't know how established bloggers post twice a day while raising children and running businesses.  Props to you.  Honor coming your way.

All of this is to say that I'm going to document more things I crossed off of my Summer Bound for Beauty List. This one is simple.  We finally hung this huge beautiful contemporary print we bought at the Crate and Barrel outlet.  The frame and matting alone were worth twice as much as we paid.  aha!  I seem to channel my bargain-finding mom sometimes.  Deals just come to her.  I'm glad I'm continuing the blessing of NOT paying too much for things.  You can also see a beautiful and whimsical bird cage I snagged at a hole in the wall antique shop in Indianapolis.  The print is of dandelion puffs, but I think they feel like trees.  And, I like that there are three of them.  It reminds me of the trinity in a way that is contemplative and beautiful (and protective, over me while I sleep).  My antique dresser never seemed happier.

Things coming your way: craft closet ideas, Door County trip [I can't wait to show you what we find!], a "raw" post about how my hands and how they are beautiful, an amazing INDIE Wed event I attending to help my sister plan her wedding, and a visit from friends that included walking the river walk and a styling challenge in World Market!]

May you have eyes to see the beauty. --Meg Tess