7 Quick Takes: Friday's Favorites

Today I'm sharing 7 Quick Takes Favorites and linking up with Kelly at This Ain't The Lyceum.

1. Cara Strickland  guest posted on The Junia Project this wonderful post about what she learned whilst dating. I read this and cried tears of both sadness and joy to have someone articulate some of my experiences.

2. This post about getting to know a person instead of a potential future spouse made me rethink the way I think about meeting Mr. TDH.

3. Sarah Bessey wrote this post called "Damaged Goods" - yes yes yes.

4. Jayson Bradley nailed it in this post about "Christian cleavage." Thank you, thank you, thank you.

5. "To the Christian Men and Women Debating Yoga Pants" in Christianity Today - thank God someone wrote this. For the love, people.

6. Since we're finishing up the month dedicated to love and relationship-status-awareness, "Things It's OK to Feel When You're Single" and "I'm Single. Stop Pitying Me on Valentine's Day"  were especially appreciated. My Valentine's Day was fantastic, thanks, and while someday it will be a romantic day, this year it was a crepes-with-my-sister-and-friend day, and I had a great time. For real, no pity.

7. Finally, to end with some laughs, Mallory Ortberg's post on "If Stanley Tucci Were Your Boyfriend" is beautiful and perfect and true.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

31 Days of...?

There are several many bloggers starting 31 Days of {Something} today, and I'm excited to have plenty of reading to do this month. Last year I participated in Victoria's 31 Days of Writing {which you can view on my Creative Writing page above}, and that was really fun {and exhausting, but mostly fun}.

This year, though, I don't think I'm going to participate in a formal 31 Days-style. 2014 has been the year of link-ups, and while it's been wonderful to join with bloggers in various conversations, I've been feeling like I've lost my voice a bit on this blog. It's almost like I've forgotten how to blog without a prompt, and so I want to practice that a bit more. It's scary admitting that, but then again, so is the rest of this blogging thing...

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I could make the commitment to post just something for 31 days, but I think that a) misses the point for me, and b) would drive my OCD self a tad crazy. My blogging goal for 2014 was to post twice a week, and I've definitely been on track for that, but now I want to hone in and make at least one post a week something that is from me, without a prompt or link-up or anything.

What will you write about, Bek?
You are wise to ask, my friend! There are a few topics that I'd like to either start or continue writing about.

I've shared a little bit about essential oils and I'd like to a) start using them more and b) write about them a bit more, too. A TON of bloggers use oils to prevent their children from getting sick, and while that is wonderfully awesome and will be useful in the future, it's not super relevant to my single life right now. So I'd like to hopefully learn and then share how I use oils.

Also, remember that I'm working on the funds for doula certification? Well, thanks to an abundance of babysitting and tutoring jobs, it looks like I will be starting the certification process in about two weeks!! Woohoo! I am so so so excited to begin this journey in earnest, and I will do my best to keep y'all posted as I go.

I've been mulling over the concept of feminism and various related topics, and I have a handful of drafts written, and I think I may actually hit publish on a few of them this month. If you have comments, questions, concerns, ideas, or anything else about "women's issues," please let me know - I'd love to start some conversations and hear your perspectives.

Finally, since Autumn is upon us, it is time to break out the crochet hook and make snuggly items! Hopefully I will be sharing some projects and patterns, etc., so stay tuned for that.

Thanks for listening, friends. Happy October!

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!

Thinking About...

...how it's been a while since I wrote a non-link-up post. And then I was sick for 4 days and am still not feeling 100%, so we'll ease back into normality with a post of half-sentences of what I'm thinking about these days.

...Yvonne and my upcoming blog swap about friendship.

...what a joy it is to read a big, heavy book about one of my favorite people... almost 200 pages in to Team of Rivals!

...feminism and its many facets. Been reading a bunch of Her.meneutics articles, not all about feminism per se, but about women's issues {like this one about some Downton Abbey shtuff and this one about Lena Dunhum}. I'm really looking forward to the day Jesus Feminist comes in at the library.

...how amazingly awesome and scary it is to be an adult.

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...Lent. Technically I'm behind on my note-writing commitment, but I think that my perfectionism needs to die and so I'm not going to worry about it. 

...napping. Being sick is no fun, but napping certainly helps. Thursday, I didn't go to work; at 7:30 in the morning, I called my mom to tell her I was sick, and then I went back to sleep...until 11! It was glorious.

...autism. I'm listening to Temple Grandin's book The Autistic Brain in my car, and I must confess that I find it all fascinating. If you want to be inspired, watch the movie "Temple Grandin" or read one of her biographies {a couple of them are on my to-read list}.

...introverts and extroverts. Samara's boss loaned her Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and she administered the quiz at the beginning of the book. Of 20 true-or-false questions {"true" indicates introverted tendencies, "false" indicates extroverted tendencies}, I answered "true" approximately five times. I say approximately because there were a couple questions that were half-ish, so I combined them for one point. This book is on my to-read list also.

That's all my sick brain can think about on this overcast Monday. Peace out, yo.