7 Quick Takes: Theme of "New"

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary for this week's edition of 7 Quick Takes.

The theme of today is "new," so here goes:

1. Yesterday I bought a new table. Well, new to me. Praise be unto the Lord for Craig's List, yo! I'd been hunting for a new dining table and chairs for the whole summer, it feels like, but nothing turned up. I even spent Father's Day dragging my dad up north to look at a table, just to be disappointed and come home empty handed. But yesterday proved fruitful, and this nice couple even delivered the table and 4 of the chairs to my house last night! Pictures coming soon :)

2. Where are you going to put this dining table, Bek? You are wise to wonder. Well, when Samara moves out next week {not thinking about it not thinking about it notthinkingaboutit!!!}, she will take her dining table, and I will assemble my new table in its place. They're actually really similar - I'll have to do "hers and hers" pictures before she leaves.

3. Know what else is new in my flat? A flatmate! My future flatmate moves in the same day Samara moves out {yes, I will be a complete and total wreck next Friday, don't even judge}, so that's pretty awesome. I will tell you this much about her: she loves Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Apparently I wasn't too creepy because she agreed to live with me.

4. You know what else has started living with me? ANTS. They didn't ask, they didn't sign a flatmate agreement, and they certainly aren't Doctor Who fans. So I've been killing them.

So far the killing methods have consisted of:

• diffusing peppermint oil
• setting out cotton balls that were soaked in sugar and borax 
• spraying a mixture of water, vinegar, peppermint oil and lemon oil
• stomping
• vacuuming

None of this was completely effective. So yesterday I brought home the big guns: ant poison. Samara and I placed probably a dozen pieces of foil with poison around the kitchen and slider door, and the ant population has drastically decreased. If you have any other suggestions, please share!

5. Remember a couple QTs ago when I mentioned reviewing Jen Hatmaker's book Interrupted? I am almost done with it and will be posting my response {and joining her link-up} sometime this weekend. The theme of her book could be summed up with the word "new," so that's how this Take fits into this week's theme.

6. My new favorite show is "The Mindy Project." {I have only watched 3 episodes total, but I'm already in love.} Holy cow, can Mindy Kaling and I be best friends? Please? Maybe just for a week?

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7. Saving the best "new" for last: tomorrow is the premiere of Doctor Who: Season Eight with our new Twelfth Doctor!!!! The trailer looks so intense... excited-nervous over here. Anyone else anxiously anticipating tomorrow with a "deep breath"?

Happy Friday!

Fandom + Yarn

Soooo you may have gathered from one or two {or three or four or five or six}  previous posts that I'm a fangirl. You may also know that I crochet, although I think I've only got one dedicated post to a project. Well, this post is going to combine these two loves, because I finished the Doctor Who scarf!

Here's the pattern I used:

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You may have seen the first half {the two left columns} already on Instagram...

I measured that half against myself and it is almost 3 times my "wingspan," which is supposed to also be my height, which is 5'4". I'll do the math: the scarf is over 15 feet long.

But wait! There's more!

Here are the two halves together {first half on top}:

And here are the two side by side:

The width looks uneven because of the different thickness of the yarns. If/when I make another, I will get all the same thickness and everyone will think I've drastically improved my ability to count stitches...

You may be wondering why I made one scarf into two scarves, and I will tell you: can you imagine one person wearing ALL THAT YARN at one time!?!? And by one person, I mean a person of my height, because obviously the Doctor already wore it.

I chose to make a friendship scarf, and Samara and I will both have a half. We will be together across the states, our necks {and probably the rest of us} will be warm, and our fandom will be represented - all around wins.

If you would like to wear your fandom, have suggestions for a future project, or just want to gush/fangirl, post a comment!

I Need Your Votes, So I'll Give You A Story

Hey friends, remember way back to yesterday when I applied to go to Rwanda with International Justice Mission and Noonday Collection? Well, since you can vote every day {read: I'm begging you to vote every day because you can}, I'm going to try and nag motivate and incentivise you with a post every day! I realize this may be a turn-off to some of you, so please just click the link and vote and don't even bother reading further :D

Today's post is inspired by the fantastic necklace my IRL friends Ashley and Kayla gave to Samara and me! We had them over for dinner last night, and it was quite a laughter- and fangirl-filled evening.

Here's the necklace:

Sonic screwdriver + a key to the TARDIS

And here's three of us wrapped up in the Doctor Who scarf I crocheted! Note: this is only HALF the pattern I'm following... gulp!

Ash, Kay, Bek

the pattern

Yes, the three of us are wrapped up in what is only the first two columns of the pattern. I'm 8 rows into the mustard color at the bottom of the third column, meaning I'll be done with this scarf about the same time that my first grandchild is born. 

Also Whovian-related, my dear friend Dahlia gave me a TARDIS shower curtain and I hung it up this week. People. A shower curtain that's a TARDIS. Shut the front door. 

Yes, my bathroom now looks like this image

As you may have seen on Facebook, I told my mom about this {incredible and awesome} gift, and she compared me and my TARDIS products to becoming a crazy cat lady. And all the Whovians scoff! 

"But Mom, it's only a blanket and slippers and a shower curtain and earrings and now a necklace and oh yeah a scarf!" 

My dad chimes in: "That's what cat ladies say to the first three cats...then it's six cats."

Oi vey.

Anyway, show a fangirl some love and send her to Rwanda! Please and thank you, friends!

7QT: Make 'Em Laugh

Linking up with the super talented but handwriting challenged Jen at Conversion Diary! {I'm not insulting her; I'm encouraging you to read her post!}

1. This week is unusual in that I'm starting my QT from scratch today. The past few weeks I've started a draft on Wednesday or Thursday, so by Friday I only have to come up with 4-5 Takes. This week is all from the same morning. And for that, I apologize. Here, laugh at this before you read any more.

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2. My baby sister turned 20 {TWENTY!!!??} earlier this month, and like any good nerdy sister would do, I bought her a good nerdy present: The Star Wars Cookbook with Cookie Cutters {it's on sale!} is now in the hands of a twenty-year-old. She came over Tuesday night and we baked Wookie Cookies {wow, did I actually just type that?!}. They are quite yummy, although I was sad because they did not require the use of the cookie cutters. Another day, another destiny.

3. In less than three weeks, my college roomie Catherine is coming to visit! We {ok, I - Catherine doesn't know about them yet} have grand plans, and you can bet your bonnet {if you have one} that there will be pictures and a blog post to document this momentous occasion. Please pray for good weather! Spring time in the Pacific Northwest can be so fickle, and I'd love love love to have some sunshine for Catherine!

4. Last week, I think I listened to the "Man of Steel" soundtrack two dozen times. This week, Bastille's "Bad Blood" album has been on repeat. Their acoustic versions {"Flaws" and "Pompeii" and "Oblivion"} are seriously incredible.

5. Saturday is my grandma's 90th birthday party. We have cousins coming in from all over, and my grandma's room-mate from college is going to be there. {No pressure, Catherine, but I expect that you will be at my 90th birthday party and vice-versa.} My mom has done the lion's share of the preparation, and my small contribution is making the slideshow of allllllll the pictures from the past 90 years. I found some gems of my father in his younger days; please enjoy, and for those who don't know my dad IRL, know that he still makes the same mischievous face:

6. Since becoming a regular part of Notions Club, I've branched out a bit more in my writing. A few poems have come to fruition, and my guest post for Victoria was originally read at a Notions meeting. That being said, I've been thinking about sharing these pieces on ye old blog here. And I'm thinking, what the hey. I'm gonna click "Publish" and let readers see everything, not just the fun link-ups and the "how's life?" posts. Some pieces may require an explanation, some are really deep, some are rather silly, and that's the way the {Wookie} cookie crumbles. :)

7. Because it wouldn't be Friday without some fangirl memes... Today's fangirl Take is brought to you by Ben and Martin:

Smaug's Daily Affirmations

Happy Friday and happy weekend!

7QT: Fangirl and Funny Friday

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes!

1. This article from Relevant magazine made me stand up and applaud. So good!

2. My roomie from college wrote this beautiful poem. Please join me in praying for her family as her mom transitions to eternity with Jesus.

3. This article about women in ministry is incredible. Suzanne Burden writes about her journey of understanding women in ministry. My favorite line is a quote from Ruth Haley Barton: "When we require women to pay over and over again for Eve's transgression with their silence and submission, we negate the full redemptive power of the gospel."

4. I know that winter in the Northwest is like a wet fall to the rest of the country; therefore, I should not complain about the weather. BUT! The bi-polar-ness of March has been horrendous and my previously-nonexistent allergies have been hosting dance parties in my head and sinuses. Ugh!

5. My dad is hosting a meeting in July for some other business owners, and he's delegated me to get the hotel and meeting space taken care of. This has been an adventure, and it's been fun to learn how Dad thinks and what he means by what he says and what he expects out of me. And when I say "fun" I'm using my high school rhetoric professor's definition of fun, which means the process was challenging but the result is a positive.

6. For consistency, I think this Take has to involve some sort of fangirl imagery. "But wait!" the normal people cry, "What is the fangirling of which you speak?" Ah, yes... I too used to be as you are. Let me lead you to the light. The next two images you are about to see describe the life of a fangirl. Please proceed cautiously.

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If you want some more fandom experiences, you can read Doctor Who love, Sherlock cosplay, fanfiction, and a letter to Moffat.

7. Ending 7QT with a Funny Friday story! As you probably know, my bff and I live in a condo, and to put it mildly, we have way too much fun together! I've lost countless hours of sleep to lying in the hallway or sitting on her floor talking, and ya know what? Those are hours of sleep I don't wish back {unless my alarm is going off}, because bonding with my bestie is sweet, sweet time.

That's not the funny part. That's the serious part and the explanation of the funny part. Just to be clear.

So our upstairs neighbor is a lady who is really quiet. Samara and I have both met her once...I think. She works a lot and is super quiet and those are great qualities to have in a neighbor, may I just add. But just about once a month, Samara and I will be chilling on a Saturday morning {ok, fine, afternoon} and we'l hear the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. Perplexed, we speculated and finally concluded that our neighbor must participate in a "Rent A Toddler" program and that's what we were hearing.

Last night was the annual home owners' meeting, and I ended up sitting next to this upstairs neighbor. She's quite nice and smart, and after the meeting as we were walking back up to our respective condos, I told her that if Samara and I were ever too loud, she should feel free to tell us to shut up immediately. And she laughed and said we'd never been a problem {PHEW!!!!}. Then she said, "I'm having some people over on Saturday, and there's going to be...a few kids..and a two year old."

I then felt compelled {by what awkward social forces, I don't know} to tell her about Samara and my line about her "renting a toddler" and {thankfully!} she started laughing and said, "We tell him not to run around, but he just runs laps around the living room!" And I started laughing {both out of amusement and gratitude} and told her we wondered what was going on because it did sound like a toddler running laps...and that's what it was!

So we had a good chuckle and then I fled inside and said to Samara: "You know how we joke about Rent A Toddler upstairs??? It's real!!!" and we laughed at both how prophetic our hearing was and what dorks we looked like to the neighbor. Such fun.

Ta-da! Head over to Conversion Diary for more 7QT, and happy weekend!

7 Quick Takes: Biscotti, Fandom, Lent

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diaries for today's Quick Takes... and actually these should be called Medium Takes, because it's Friday and let's not judge, mmkay?

1. My office had a few visitors this week, and mi madre sent me to yonder Sam's Club for some biscotti to have and look hostess-y and snack-y and stuff. And while I am a fan of things that crunch in the mouth, I'm a bigger fan of chocolate. Why is the whole biscotti not covered in chocolate?!? This is a question that will haunt me until I make my own version, which is will nevereverever happen, so I guess it's my lot to be haunted.

2. Sorry for bringing up chocolate if that's what you're giving up for Lent. I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry.

3. Speaking of Lent, this is my first time practicing a Lent fast! A friend shared this link to give a general overview {a lot of my friends are practicing for the first time this year!}, and I loved what Father Aaron says about giving something up and adding something. I don't know if you're supposed to share these or not, but I think sharing will be good accountability and will help me process a bit more deeply.

4. Giving up: I'm giving up reading books at night. After reading Father Aaron's explanation and after examining the goal of Lent {I like to have a goal, okay?}, I think the Lord asked me to spend the 30+ minutes between getting into bed and turning off my light to journal or read the Word or a devotional. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop listening to my audio books in the car {one of the goals of Lent is peace, right? Audio books bring me peace!}, nor does it mean I'm not reading any books, period. Because of library constraints, I'm starting the no-nighttime reading after tonight, and I'm planning on making significant headway in Team of Rivals during Lent. But my evenings are reserved for Jesus time.

Adding: In the spirit of encouragement, I'm trying to write two notes of encouragement a week. And I bought stamps this week, so I can actually mail them! Joyful, joyful. {P.S. If you tell me your mailing address, I'll send you something :) }

5. Backing up to Numeral Dos...I took a scroll through the links at Jen's and was saddened that no one had pictures involving Doctor Who or Sherlock. After three weeks meeting others in my fandoms, I was disappointed. So I'm remedying the link-up with the above picture, and just for kicks and giggles, here are a couple more fandom treats {and if you've given up fandoms for Lent, please see the first picture and scroll no further}.

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6. Last week at Notions {a writing group I attend, in case I haven't mentioned it before}, a few of us discovered that one of us {names shall not be used to protect the ignorant} has never seen "Fiddler on the Roof." I know, I know, it's awful. So since Notions isn't meeting this week, we are staging an intervention and going over to save our poor friend from his sad state in life. Meaning we're going to his house to watch it. 

7. And just for your weekend, here are a couple great reads from around the web...

• 6 Things Every Extrovert Secretly Has to Deal With
  
• What Women Want From the Church: Full Inclusion
  
• For some laughs, Jen Hatmaker's recent post about "Technology for Morons" is awesome. 

Happy Friday and happy weekend, y'all!

7 Quick Takes

Alright, people, no judging the depth and shallowness of the following takes. Rules are rules, and the rules say that I can whip out both moral issues and British television. Thank you, Conversion Diary, for facilitating posts without transitions and/or connectedness {if you don't believe me, check out her first take!}.

Without further ado...

Uno: My birthday was this week, and I think that either I have gone completely fan-girl crazy and there was no question as to what presents were appropriate OR my family has simply accepted that I am a slightly crazy fan-girl and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em buy fan-girl gifts. Either one works for me. My dear parents gave me a Disappearing Tardis mug, and my aunt mailed me some gorgeous Downton Abbey earrings. Also, two sisters have presents still in transit {the joy of January birthdays is that sometimes Amazon is still playing catch-up}, so there may be more fan-girl-themed gifts forthcoming. 

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Dos: Speaking of Downton Abbey, can we just talk about Season 4!? No? You haven't caught up yet? It's ok, we're only 3 episodes in so far. Hurry! Catch up and then tune in Sunday. Then we can talk about the Crawleys and the staff and the yucky people with creeper smiles and the lovely people who are making either wise or stupid decisions and oh my word can Baby George with his chunky legs please please please get a little more screen time? 

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Tres: Kye Kye -Amazing band. Have you heard of them? Listened to them? Go and do it now. Stream their new album or check out their music videos {Honest Affection and Dreams (2am)}. You're welcome.

Cuatro: March for Life 2014 happened! I know a few bloggers who did go {Laura, for example}, and a few more who did not go {Rachel, who wrote a beautiful piece about work and prayer}. This past Sunday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, then there was the March for Life on Wednesday, yesterday was my volunteer day, and then this coming Sunday is Presentation Sunday {also known as Conception Sunday, when couples trying to conceive are prayed for}. I'm so thrilled by the advances that the pro-life movement is making! Keep praying and working, friends! 

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Cinco: Speaking of the March for Life and dear Laura, check out this powerful video about the past 41 years. Incredible.

Seis: One more for the pro-life movement: "Gimme Shelter" opens in theaters today. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out here. I encourage you to go see it... my plans are being made as I type!

Seite: Aaaand back to music. Anyone heard of John Newman? Please jump onto his musical train asap. And then {if you're in my neck of the woods-slash-country} come to his concert with me and Samara on April 16th, because this girl is going to her first concert since 2010. And let's please move on to the last take and not focus on how ancient and decrepit I now feel. Carrying on.

This now concludes the presentation of 7 Quick Takes. Check out more takes at Conversion Diary!