Category Archives: okieOLIO

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after the busyness of last week and a very full weekend, i was happy to take a self-imposed spring break from posting.

between gathering with my family last weekend to honor my mom‘s birthday, an impromptu visit to my titu mid-week, and a double date with great friends last night, i feel refreshed and energized by time with those i love.  

on sunday i completed my first half-marathon with  great success! i was worried that my sporadic training, 14-hour on-my-feet event the day before, and four hours of sleep would make the race miserable, but i felt remarkably good the entire time. i finished much faster than i ever thought i could — 2:04:32! i’m very pleased with the experience and glad to have that 2012 goal crossed off my list. (and eight months ahead of my initial timeline!)

thursday night we went to the midnight showing of the hunger games! i feel like i’ve been waiting for this movie forever, so i was worried that my expectations might be too high. but the film did not disappoint, and i am one satisfied fan. i felt like they chose well when it came to including or excluding details, and the adaptation was true to the original story. nothing about the visual experience opposed what i had created in my imagination – excellent movie!

the unseasonably warm weather has been great for walks around the neighborhood pond, and i’m trying to take advantage of the comfortable temps while they’re here. but it makes me very nervous about the inevitably extreme summer. i suspect gardening will be challenging, again, this year.

today i leave for colorado to visit my brother and his wife for a week. i’m anxious to get back on the board and maybe get in some time on my skiis, too, before the snow disappears with the too-early warmth.

seeing as i will be passing through denver today, i found this article on the denver airport from the chive very interesting. i’ve been to DEN many times, and have noticed but never examined the oddities found there. i had no idea how deep the weirdness goes!

we’re excited about the return (finally!) of mad men tomorrow, and the media has been all abuzz about it. i’ve seen a few features on how the production gets it right when aiming for historic authenticity on the set with props, clothing, and circumstantial details. but this article from the hot word examining the accuracy of the language on mad men was especially fascinating to this word-junkie.

jeff goins post on how to improve your writing in one counter-intuitive way was a factor in my decision to take a bloggy spring break. although i still had work deadlines to write for, i can feel the positive effects that rest provides. “What happens when you rest — truly rest — is nothing short of amazing and miraculous.”

only one more week in march — wow. the photo-a-day challenge has been fun, but i’m still undecided on continuing in april. i’ll just continue to savor march a while longer…2012 is going so fast.

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this week started with the amazing marked event, which was a fantastic success. every year it feels more cohesive, more interactive, and more meaningful.

for the three days following the event, the partner organization leaders are invited to stay for a retreat called postMARKed. the spero project organizes a series of sessions designed to equip the staff and volunteers of these amazing groups. i feel very fortunate to have been invited again this year, and know it was three days well spent this week.

most of the sessions are lead by counselors, pastors, and business leaders in okc, but we were also lucky enough to snag jen hatmaker for a day! hearing her teach in person, and getting to chat with her among the small group over lunch, made my read-along of 7 come alive with the author’s voice.

this week i have something extra exciting coming up. i am proud and terrified to announce that i will be running the strides of march half marathon next weekend! running a half was one of my goals for 2012, and i had initially given myself a long deadline, aiming for the route 66 in tulsa this november. but this race came to my attention because it is in okc, not very hilly, and the entire course is set around a lake. also, the registration fee is lower than any i’ve seen .

i know i’m conditioned physically, but i’m still intimidated mentally because i had set my mind on the end of the year. i’m not setting an aggressive time goal, i just hope i finish respectably, and in one piece. this is what happens when you have lots of enthusiastic friends who are fond of saying “just go for it!”

i’m still taking a photo a day, although for some reason not all of them are making it to my flickr photostream from the app. but i do enjoy capturing one moment per day (day 7 – “something i wore” above), and plan to stick with it through march. (we’ll see about april)

between postMARKed and geeking out over national grammar day, i didn’t spend too much time browsing the web this week. but i did enjoy this video of first-grader audri’s rube goldberg machine. the bright seven-year-old saw ok go’s this too shall pass video (one of my faves) and was inspired to make his own machine. what a smart and enthusiastic kid.

the excitement and controversy over Invisible Children‘s new film and campaign, Kony 2012, also captured my attention for much of the week. if you are confused by the flurry of both enthusiasm and criticism flying around the web and other media, the best place to start (after you’ve watched the video) is the official response to from Invisible Children. the most comprehensive list of the resources i’ve seen was compiled by rachel held evans — thank you, rachel, for gathering and organizing everything in one spot!

don’t forget to set your clocks forward an hour tonight — hooray for brighter nights!

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good thing lee and i got three dates in last week, because this week i was on the road monday through friday for work. it’s no fun to be away from my other half for that long, but it is very fun to hang with my dad and titu all week. i’m lucky that one of my biggest clients is in my hometown.

after watching others post a photo a day in january and february, i finally decided to play along with fat mum slim’s photo challenge. i hope it will help me be creative in documenting daily life. i’m using flickr’s app, which offers the same fun features as instagram. this works well for me because i already store all my photos on flickr, but i wish it had the same community as instagram.

tomorrow is the much-anticipated marked event—if you’re in the okc area, you don’t want to miss this. read this article and watch this video if you are still on the fence. hope to see you there!

the best thing i ate all week was a twist on this baked millet recipe from mark bittman’s cookbook. i have very little experience cooking with millet, but we tried it two different ways and both were easy and delicious!

this article on harvard business review got my attention: to-do lists don’t work. i’m a huge list-maker, and fill up my gtasks app with everything from work deadlines and phone calls to errands and crafty projects. i wonder if the strategy suggested in the article would help me stop extending the due date on certain tasks.

i was surprised by this list of the 8 easiest languages for english-speakers to learn. i would never have guessed that romanian would top the list. i actually worked with a romanian all week and listened to her speak her native tongue on phone conversations, and it seemed more unfamiliar than some of the romance languages or dutch and german.

next week i’ll begin to prep my garden for spring. the arrival of march is usually my signal to get started, and the warm weather this week certainly feels like spring. it’s still a little early for most things to go in the ground, so i’ll be taking advantage of the warm days to remove winter weeds, rake in the new compost, and starting seedlings in small pots (that can be taken inside when we inevitably get another freeze). i also want to make this cute idea for plant markers that i found on pinterest. hooray for a new garden season!

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lee and i were pleasantly surprised with the opportunity to attend not one, but two okc thunder games this week. we’re big fans, but sadly not season-ticket holders, so we’re grateful to occasionally use friends’ extra tickets.

these two spontaneous date nights followed a the leisurely lunch outing we were able to enjoy on monday because of the federal holiday gave lee a day off. so, all in all, he probably feels like he’s good-to-go for awhile on the whole “date your wife” thing.

tomorrow is one of my favorite okc happenings: the sing. some of the most talented okc musicians come together to lead anyone and everyone in a night of worship and prayer  for our city. each event (occurring every few months) benefits a different cause, and tomorrow’s sing will bring awareness to the issue of marginalized women locally and globally, and promote the marked okc event next week.

i finally started reading jen hatmaker’s 7. it felt like the appropriate book to start on ash wednesday. i had hoped to finish the book by easter sunday, but then i noticed that marla taviano is hosting a read along starting next week. participating in that group would mean taking a little longer with the book (probably a good thing), and i think this would be a good experiment to engage with others on. if you have read or plan to read this book, please let me know — i’d love to discuss!

finding these free iTunes U courses for writers and readers was a thrill for the perpetual student in me, and i’ve been trying to squeeze them in while running errands or doing chores. i’ve only listened to a few of stanford university’s literature of crisis, but it seems like the courses are high quality.

earlier this week i stumbled upon a wonderful short film and posted it on the OLIOsnippits page. click over there to read my brief description and view the fifteen-minute work. if you love books as much as i do, you will love this wordless animated treat.

next week we get a magical “extra day.” do you have any crazy plans for leap day? because you know, real life is for march. nothing that happens on leap day counts!