First things first--for Heather on behalf of everyone who was like, what on earth is she talking about....the Feast of Qawl...the Feast of Perfection. "Feast" is the term used to refer to the once a Baha'i month gathering where the community gets together for devotions (spiritual feast, so to speak), talk about community business and just generally kick it together. Baha'i months are 19 days long, so these shindigs are every 19 days. Each has a different name, representing attributes of God.

 

So its less than a month till i go home for three weeks and i can feel it deep deep down in my bones. its like a dull ache. i need to breathe the Haifa air, need to rest my head on the Thresholds of the Shrines, need run my fingertips over the flower petals, hella need to hug my mama. This morning i woke up to find the Olympics dusted in snow--pale purple and blue with the sunrise. I took a deep breath of the cool (read freezing) air and all i could think was...in a month, i can wake up looking at the Mediterranean, can have my daddy's chili and my mama's brownies and can laugh with one of my best friends in person rather stretched over a phone line from way too far away.

 

In one month, half of my first year of law school will be over. Oyevey. dull ache...one more month and counting.

After a year and a half, i talked my sister into coming from her nice warm houseboat in the Florida Keys to suffer here in the COLD of Seattle. it was really really good timing to have her here, both for her bday and for thanksgiving.  she got to meet lots of my friends and see a little of my life here.  We went to Feast of Qawl today, had lunch with a bunch of folks, played some Tetris, chilled out a lot....and went to the climbing gym yesterday--so the few pics we have are from that and from hanging out on the sofa :) .

 

 

 

Hey y'all--the Joe Metro video from Blue Scholars dropped today, directed by the one and only Zia.

 

 

there's some great cameos (Saba-the bus driver, Laila and Nabz, and the notorious jeep--this one's a where's waldo style hunt, lemme know if you spot it.)

When i was little, the story goes that because i was so small for my age (i was REALLY little) i used to introduce myself as Martha Teresa (my last name), BIG GIRL, with my hands on my hips and the most grown up look a three (thirteen) year old can muster. 

 

I've been having a big girl week, actually a few of them, one of those weeks in which i just want to beat my head against some inanimate object (preferably soft b/c it already hurts from future interest adverse possession) and wonder to myself why oh why i thought being an adult was going to be fun.

 

for example, this week i learned about emissions testing--and what happens if you fail that, like you have to drive your car over a floating bridge to the eastside--insert ooohs and aaaaaahs--in the middle of the night (because its the only time you have) and abandon it under halogen lights at a Jeep dealership (so that the warranty will cover it), with keys dropped through a door, so that they can figure out what the problem with the sensors is (who knows when you get it back--so your weekend plans are in jeopardy) and  that meant your tabs/tags are going to expire before you got all this sorted out. Lucky you though, you get a trip on the bus to work in the morning--which means leaving the house when it is still dark and drizzling outside and the local coffee shop is closed for renovations. that's okay though. i've kinda missed the bus. i haven't gotten my fair share of crazy people lately. law school people, they are crazy but in a lets-pretend-im-not-and-trick-everyone-into-believing-me kinda way. bus people, they are honest about it. sort of soothing.

 

so, i was having a coniption (however you spell that) fit last night about all of this. all of a sudden in bathroom mirrors my cute new hair cut dissolved into a blonde camel--who's backpack had morphed into saddlebags and who was glaring at her car keys like the straw that was fixin to cause everything to come crashing down. Unfortunately for my dad, who's birthday it was, he got the brunt of my sniffling rant about needing my daddy. Fortunately for him, someone else got the angry rant from a few hours before and had calmed me down enough to where i was just pouting mostly--read gently put me in my place about how big of an earth shattering event this really is.

 

my parents birthdays are both this week and i go through bouts of really missing them. this is one those occasions, not because i can't handle dealing with the car and not because i think that my dad being here would make any of this any different--but the truth of the matter is that i missed out on a lot of 'how to' grown up things b/c i didn't live at home as a teenager. For example--how to change a tail-light i didn't learn till my daddy was here this summer. How to get stains out of things. how to fix a this or that. Actually, courtney has kinda banned me from the power tools in our house (sewing machine included).

 

so its a big girl week. baby steps--this week car repairs--next week maybe next i'll learn to sew and hem all the pants being held together by saftey-pins.

 

 

I don't think i've carved a pumpkin in over a decade---But Court and Chris were hella patient with how long my cat too. Here are the final products. the Ghost is Courtney's, the apple, Chris's and the cat mine.