because I have nowhere else to post this, but I love it:

from Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed:

" 'Do you still love me?' I asked.
'Still,'  he confirmed.
'How?' 

Because this is the essential question, isn't it? I mean, once the initial madness of desire has passed and we are faced with each other as dimwitted mortal fools, how is it that any of us find the ability to love and forgive each other at all, much less enduringly?

Felipe didn't answer for a long time. Then he said, 'When I used to go do down to Brazil to buy gemstones, I would often buy something they call 'a parcel.' A parcel is this random collection of gems that the miner or the wholesaler or whoever is bullsh*tting you puts together... He's trying to unload his bad gemstones on you by packaging them together with a few really good ones.'

'So when I first started in this jewelry business,' Felipe went on, 'I used to get in trouble because I'd get too excited about the one or two perfect aquamarines in the parcel, and I wouldn't pay as much attention to the junk they threw in there. After I got burned enough times, I finally got wise and learned this: You have to ignore the perfect gemstones. Don't even look at them twice because they're blinding. Just put them away and have a careful look at the really bad stones. Look at them for a long time, and then ask yourself honestly, 'Can I work with these? Can I make something out of this?' Otherwise, you've just spent a whole lot of money on one or two gorgeous aquamarines buried inside a big heap of worthless crap.'

'It's the same with relationships, I think. People always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other's personalities. Who wouldn't? Anyone can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that's nto the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws? Can you look at your partner's flaws honestly and say, 'I can work around that. I can make something out of that.'? Because the good stuff is always going to be there, and it's always going to be pretty and sparkly, but the crap underneath can ruin you.'

'What I'm trying to say, darling, is that I've been watching you carefully for a long time already, and I believe I can accept the whole parcel.' "

pg 129-130

Hello Blog!

I have been hard at work lately, preparing the student organization I am in. We are having an academic conference in order to promote Columbia (as well as the org, The Art History Council) on a national level when the College Art Association comes to town. As of today, we are eight days away from the premiere of all of our hard work!

That's right! Our Conference is being held on February 10, 2010 from 12pm to 5pm. It will be held at 618 S. Michigan Ave in Chicago. We are hoping to attract the student body, faculty, friends and attendees to the College Art Association Conference. We are so excited for this! Hopefully everything pans out.

Yesterday we put in our orders for catalogs. Those will be sold at the Conference for between $15-20 apiece. The reason they are somewhat higher priced is because we are trying to raise funds to establish a scholarship for art history students on campus. We are hoping to meet with Columbia administrators about this situation this semester. I am very excited about all of this... I feel like the Art History Council is really going somewhere! We are helping other students achieve things that they would have had a harder time with prior to the AHC. That is a really great thing to think about.

* * *

In other news, I am trying to prepare for the GRE. I haven't purchased my books yet, though. Yesterday some GRE prep did come in the mail - more on that in my next post - and my school has Princeton Review's "Cracking the GRE" on reserve. All I have left to purchase is my GRE Math Workbook, for which I have a standing Math Tutoring appointment.

But in terms of being able to purchase that, I am on hold. My rent fund is drying up - it will be gone after I pay March rent. I am expecting money to come in though, people owe me money here and there, taxes will be coming soon, and I applied for a grant that I think I have a good chance of receiving this semester. So hopefully the finances will come together. I have been praying steadily about it, and I have faith that God will provide.

I will be posting knitting projects on here soon. Over Christmas break I knitted a hat and took pictures, posted it on ravelry even! (@caseychampion) - Except I hate how it looks after blocking. Soon it will become @unraveled .. and I will make it into a new hat. In the mean time, I have to finish Boyfran's hat and Baby Kaneris' scarf. Small-ish projects, but enough to appease my need for the needles.

That's all for now.. I'll come back later to show with pictures what I'm up to.

xo,
c