101 Things About Me

1. I was inspired to make this list after seeing one on my former boss' blog.
2. I don't think she knows several of her subordinates and former subordinates know about it or read it, but I've realized she and I have a lot in common--more than she knows, I bet.
3. I love my job.
4. Before I had this job, I never thought I would enjoy work, and wanted to stay home and have babies.
5. I don't think there's anything wrong with staying home and having babies, and I expect to feel very torn and guilty when that time comes for me.
6. I want three or four kids.
7. I wanted twelve when I was a kid.
8. It was my high school sweetheart who brought me down to four. I still wanted six at that point, and he wanted two.
9. I want girls.
10. My husband wants boys. But he would totally love a girl if he had one (or four).
11. I've wanted to name my first girl Katharine for at least ten years now.
12. Surprisingly, it's not because of my fascination with Catherine the Great.
13. My childhood dog, on the other hand, was named after Catherine the Great.
14. The dog's name is Sophie--Catherine was born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Serbst.
15. I am a dork and a Russophile--a big, dorky Russophile.
16. I just reread a big coffee table book about the last tsar and his family.
17. I have exactly ten books on my nightstand right now.
18. Nine of them, I have started reading and gotten sidetracked by one of the others.
19. The tenth is an early edition copy of Gone With the Wind. It's there for decoration.
20. Gone With the Wind is another of my dorky obsessions, in both movie and book form.
21. When I was ten, I could name every actor in Gone With the Wind, all the way down to Yakima Canutt, who played one of Scarlett's attackers when she was driving through Shantytown alone.
22. I didn't like to read, from the time I grew out of Babysitter's Club and American Girl books until about five years ago, when I was about the graduate college and finally had time to read Guns, Germs, and Steel.
23. I read nonfiction almost exclusively--religion, sociology, history, biography.
24. The last novel I read was...
25. ...
26. ...okay, now I remember--Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides.
27. Ironically enough, I now edit books for a living--nonfiction, of course.
28. I love "Friends," and know practically every episode by heart.
29. Hubby reminds me of Chandler. We like to high-five like Monica and Chandler do.
30. I feel guilty about the way I treated the two guys I dated in college.
31. I feel guilty about the way I treat my husband half the time--maybe more.
32. I have a very self-centered side. It's partially from depression (that most self-centered of diseases) and partially just sin (the human curse of valuing self over God and others).
33. My favorite thing about my husband is his devil voice. It's adorable. He can make me laugh with that voice, no matter what.
34. I wish he would use that voice from the pulpit at some point. It would really freak people out.
35. Our kids are totally going to adore their daddy (until they hit puberty and his silly antics will be a source of massive embarrassment for them).
36. I'm afraid of being the "bad cop" parent.
37. I'm really looking forward to teaching my kids stuff, and watching them learn right in front of my eyes. I think it will be incredible.
38. I love God.
39. I use masculine pronouns for God--Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Disciples church couldn't beat it out of me!
40. I feel closest to God when staring at a starry sky or when riding in an airplane. I think that's because I identify most with the "big" images of God--glory, awe, vastness, the king of the universe.
41. I now have the Veggie Tales song "God is bigger than the Bogey-man" stuck in my head.
42. My cousin's kids were Bob and Larry for Halloween. They're super-cute, and after seeing them at Thanksgiving, Matt and I still quote the two-year old, saying "no?" as a question all the time.
43. I love to scrapbook--it's a great creative outlet, while preserving our memories at the same time.
44. I kept a journal diligently from age thirteen til age twenty. I had a dreadful fear of one day getting Alzheimer's and forgetting those all-important events and emotions of my teen years.
45. For that reason, the book The Notebook holds a special place for me, even though it's a cheesy, girly love story.
46. I often feel embarrassed by the girlier, less-intellectual sides of myself, like my fondnesses for scrapbooking, romance, royalty, weddings, and general silliness.
47. I am much quicker to broadcast my more grown-up indulgences, like wine, lingerie, cheeses not made by Kraft, and world travel.
48. I have been to fourteen foreign countries.
49. One of the greatest experiences of my life was walking all over Budapest all by myself. (My traveling companions were lazy, and never wanted to see the things I wanted to see, so I had to do it myself!)
50. I sleepwalked in Russia. I didn't sleep well the whole first half of that trip, until we were on an overnight sleeper train from Novgorod to Moscow. I think the motion of the train was lulling to me.
51. Can't believe I'm only halfway through this list.
52. Hubby's home now. I always love that as annoyed as I might get with him sometimes, I always light up when I hear him drive up, and run to greet him.
53. Hubby and I are learning better communication skills--it feels silly to be very intentional about asking "am I understanding you correctly?" and "is there more you need to say?" but it's probably worth it.
54. I call Hubby several embarassing nicknames. One of these is "Baby Bunny." He often gets hand-me-down nicknames from the cat.
55. I absolutely adore my cat, Charlotte, and I'm ashamed I haven't mentioned her until now. I've been thinking of you the whole time, Mow-Mow. (Especially when shooing you away from eating the gerbera daisies.)
56. Charlotte and I are soul mates. We fell madly in love the moment I lured her down from her cage at the Humane Society.
57. The best meal I've ever eaten was a market price steak I ordered at a French restaurant my high school sweetheart took me to...after we broke up. I always think of this incident when I hear the song "Hit 'Em Up Style."
58. Though the many mix tapes said sweetheart made for me were awesome, "Hit 'Em Up Style" is actually featured on a mix my college roommate made for me, entitled "You Wanna Mess With These Bitches?"
59. The CD cover featured a pic of her and I dressed for the Sigma Chi 70s party. I looked like my mom in 1970--complete with silver eye-shadow--and Tracy had teased her curly hair out into a 'fro. We had a lot more fun just getting ready and taking pictures that night than at the actual party.
60. I went to maybe three frat parties in college. I hated them.
61. That was mainly because I was (and still am) very introverted, and don't like large-group social situations.
62. It wasn't so much because I dislike frats, which I did. (Again, sorry, #30).
63. My husband was a frat guy.
64. I would not have liked him if I'd known him in college. He is still a frat boy now, but at least no one is going to lake him for marrying me.
65. I never considered rushing a sorority, but I did consider joining up with a few other girls when they talked about founding a chapter of a sorority at Furman.
66. This is the same reason people who typically would never come to church join up with new church plants--they're wary about closed and tradition-bound communities, but are attracted to the idea of being a part of a new faith community.
67. A friend of ours in L.A. does product placements for television shows. She got to go to the Grey's Anatomy set today. I am jealous because I am absolutely wild about Patrick Dempsey. I am generally not star-crazy, but him, I actually am reduced to incoherent babble and longing glances. Those eyes. That wavy hair. Oy vey.
68. I also adore Anthony Rapp (the original Mark in "Rent"). Even though he's gay, I'm pretty nuts about him too.
69. Matt and I are going to see Rent on Broadway next month, since it is going off Broadway in June. I fantasize that Anthony will be there, and we'll get to meet him and hang out with him.
70. I read in Anthony's book Without You that he is wary about religion because his Catholic upbringing was uninspiring for him and he perceives Christianity as a judgmental faith. So, I also fantasize that after getting his autograph and giving him a big kiss, he and Matt and I will go to a bar and talk about life and faith and he will see that Christ is about love, compassion, and acceptance, not judgment and petty rules.
71. I am terrified by those ADT security system commercials. I have always had a fear of home intruders, ever since I was a kid and thought burglers actually went around with extension ladders to climb into the bedroom windows of little girls.
72. I thought they did this even more during scary thunderstorms. My mom explained that they especially don't carry around metal extension ladders during lightening storms.
73. I have also always had a great fear of housefires. I credit this fear to a nightmare I had when I was 7 or 8, that our house was on fire.
74. I credit to this fear (not just of housefires, but of fire in general) my resistance to the smoking habit in high school. I did not light a match or lighter until I was 22, and have still never smoked a cigarette.
75. #74 implies I might have had the opportunity to take up smoking. I was naive and oblivious enough to never really be tempted by peer pressure in high school.
76. When I caught my much more "with it" best friend smoking during the summer between 8th and 9th grade, I at first thought I was just seeing her breath on the air when she exhaled. Then, realizing it was August, noticed that it was smoke spewing from her mouth and that there was a cigarette in her hand.
77. As a kid, I had my bangs permed, but not the rest of my hair, which was very straight. My dad called me "poodle top." Why did my mom think this was a good style choice for me?
78. By seventh grade (which definitely goes on record as the worst year of my life), I had the res tof my hair permed, finally, and amazingly enough, it looked even worse. Ugh, that was a bad year.
79. In eighth grade, I switched to a private school, and life got better. I still love this school, though Matt never misses an opportunity to remind me that he and his brother have done pretty well even with a public school education.
80. I love Louisville--my hometown.
81. I love the Kentucky Derby, and the fact that Louisville schools get out on Oaks Day, the day before Derby.
82. I love all things Kentucky, and am so proud of my dad for serving as Commissioner of State Parks for the last couple years.
83. C-A-T-S. Cats! Cats! Cats!
84. Did I mention we're UK Wildcats fans? I was raised on it.
85. I was also raised to be a fiscally consevative Republican.
86. I pleased my dad when, in 10th grade, I wrote an essay called "Personal Responsiblity and the Welfare System."
87. I became a Democrat while a religion major at Furman University.
88. Thank you, Albert Blackwell, for teaching me that "liberal" is not a dirty word, and that caring for those who don't "deserve" it is the most Christian thing we can do.
89. After meeting with our accountant a couple weeks ago, I am struggling to remind myself that I support higher taxes, if it means providing for the least of these.
90. If there's one scripture I take literally, it's "give to all who ask of you."
91. Another of the most meaningful moments of my life is when a homeless man took the money I offered him, looked straight in my eyes, and said, "I will remember you."
92. I will never fully understand Jesus and his message, but I will always try.
93. I discovered the meaning of life my senior year of college.
94. I sum it up in the name of a Chris Rice album: Run the Earth and Watch the Sky.
95. Yes, I'm being a bit facecious, but it was at the end of Dr. Blackwell's "Religious Approaches to Meaning" class, and I found that all my final essays came back to the same point--meaning is found in a right balance between heaven and earth.
96. I am sad that a friend of mine has declared himself an atheist.
97. Another friend always told me, "it would be as unnatural for me to believe in God as it would be for you to not believe in God." How do you argue with that?
98. This is getting way too serious for me.
99. I was born on the fourth of July. Therefore, I love fireworks, and have a dream to one day fly on the 3rd or 4th and see fireworks from above.
100. When I was in third grade, I was distressed over the decision to be either an author or an artist when I grew up.
101. I'm proud to say I'm a little of both. And a whole lot more.

Book of the Week: Led to Follow

I wanted to give a heads up about "my first book"--that is, the first book I edited. It was released a couple of weeks ago, and needless to say, I was pretty excited. I stared working on this book about a year ago when I first joined the unit I'm with now. It's a leadership book, but with a twist, and frankly, that twist is the main reason to buy the book.

Led to Follow: Leadership Lessons from an Improbable Pastor and a Reluctant CEO is a labor of love between two friends, leaders here in the Nashville community. Howard Olds is the beloved pastor of Brentwood UMC, a large and well-known congregation around here, and Cal Turner Jr. is a founder and retired CEO of Dollar General Corporation, the Fortune 500 discount chain, and a great benefactor of education, religion, and the arts. It was really wonderful getting to know these leaders as we worked on the book through a very collaborative process.

The book looks at leadership from the perspective of "followership." In other words, you can only be as good a leader as you are a follower, of your calling and purpose, other people's wisdom, your failures, and even the unknown. The authors address these things in six short, readable and engaging chapters, but then offer a bit more in personal essays at the end of each chapter, in which they speak from their own experiences about what it really means to lead by following things greater than one's self. These are honestly the most powerful parts of the book, as Cal talks about his personal mission to serve low-income families through the dollar store model--which, I didn't know previously, was quite a new and innovative model when Cal and his father started Dollar General--and Howard shares the most intimate thoughts and fears of his decade-long battle with cancer. He has battled it valiently even throughout the writing of this book, and though I know it breaks his heart to do so, is planning to retire this June.

I tried to post the cover here, but strangely, blogger is turning the red and gold cover shades of blue when I upload it. Don't know why. (It actually looks kind of cool, but I don't want anyone to get "that book with the blue cover" in their head and then be confused.) Anyway, it's available here from Amazon for only $10. 115 pages. Endorsed by Dave Ramsey, Will Willimon, Jim Moore, and other business, church, and academic leaders.

Our Slippers Got Balls

A couple Sundays ago, a little elderly lady in the congregation called me over to her just before the service started. I honestly don't know her name, but since I'm doubting she's a blogger, I can freely admit that. She handed me a brown paper lunch-size sack, with some knitted things sticking out of it.

"For you and the pastor," she said. "I hope his are big enough."

I assumed they were mittens or hats or something, but no... they were slippers. With big balls on the toes! I thanked her profusely, and found the gesture very sweet, but honestly did not figure we would ever wear them. To my surprise, they are amazingly comfy and warm, and I wear them all the time!



The funny thing about her comment is that Matt and I actually have pretty much the same size feet. They stretch, though, so I kindly took the smaller ones.

Fire and Ice

Matt and I spent our second Valentine's Day at one of the three non-chain restaurants in Clarksville--Benne's Steakhouse. We had to wait a while because they weren't taking reservations, but we enjoyed their upstairs piano bar while we waited. We shared the "Benne's Duet," two 16 oz. sirloin steaks. Wow, that's a lot of meat. We brought at least 18 oz. of meat home, so tonight, we're having black & blue steak salad for dinner. They were also giving out free champagne, which we enjoyed with a lava cake dessert--yum! It was a very nice and romantic date for us not-so-newlyweds.

Speaking of which, we won the Not-So-Newlywed game at church last week! There were questions like: "What TV character does your husband most remind you of?" (Chandler Bing, of course!) and "What chore does your wife want you to do that you hate or refuse to do?" (pick his clothes up off the floor). The game is an annual benefit for the youth group, and we had a lot of fun.

Montgomery County has had two snow days in the last month. The first one (pictured below) actually prevented me from going into work until 10:30 or so, when the roads thawed. I attempted to go in at my usual time, but the roads near our house do not get salted, apparently, so it was quite treacherous, and I could barely get up the hill to get out of our neighborhood. It's so funny to have such a shut-down for only half and inch of snow!

Interestingly, within a couple days of that snow, it was in the 70s for a few days in a row. That huge variation in temperatures, of course, is what caused the huge storms we've been having, including the Super Tuesday tornadoes.

I didn't actually see evidence of the other snow day, just this past week. Schools were called off, but the roads were fine, so I went on to work as usual. The flakes really did start to come down as I got closer to Nashville (and Matt said they did in Clarksville too), to the point I worried about getting home okay, but they didn't stick at all, and by midday it looked totally normal outside.

I'm sure we'll have another couple cold snaps, but I'm hoping spring will get here soon!

So, I set the stove on fire...

I put the kettle on to make some tea, but turned on the wrong burner. Unfortunately, there was a cutting board sitting on the burner that I accidentally turned on. There were flames, and I freaked out. Everything's fine, though, except that the cutting board looks like this:



Later today, Charlotte got excited about something outside the family room window, and there was a deer right outside the window! We hadn't seen our backyard menagerie very much recently, so that was a cool surprise. The doe saw me (and Charlotte) looking for her, but rather than running off, just stared back through the window at us. It was very cool.

Thoughts from a Random Saturday

1. Sugar Free creamer is yucky. Matt accidentally bought it instead of Fat Free creamer. We hate Splenda.

2. I am very hyper today. Matt said something about how my view of little boys seems to come straight out of Tom Sawyer... "Oh golly, here comes a steamboat." I responded to this statement by suddenly staring off into space and saying "steamboat... steamboat... yes!" His mention of the old time riverboat reminded me--almost like how one remembers an obscure element from a dream--of how I'd been meaning to google the various dinner cruises available along the Ohio River, researching possible locations for our 10-year high school reunion.

Matt found this Pavlovian-type response so bizzarre, he got up off the couch (meanwhile, I am giggling hysterically at my own wierdness) and starts hunting around the kitchen, perhaps looking for the nitrous oxide or Boone's Farm I'd presumably been recklessly downing. He finally got to the trash can, peered in, and said, "Ah, yes. Campbell's Tomato Soup...now with methamphetamine!" More psychotic laughter from me. We're a silly couple.

3. The Bible is transformative even apart from (or prior to) belief in God. I am reading The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs, and it is hilarious, intriguing, and spiritually weighty all at once. Following up his previous bestseller, The Know-It-All, in which Jacobs reads the whole Encyclopaedia Britannica in a year, he then decided to spend a year following the Bible's commandments as closely as possible. Not just the 613, but anything that could be considered an instruction. He found 749. (I'm definitely thinking we need to come up with a gimmick like that to make a bestseller.) I seriously laughed out loud when he described stealthily stoning adulterers and his wife's revenge for his refusal to touch her (or anything she touched) during her period.

Jacobs, who is of Jewish descent but raised in a non-religious family, seeks out the advice of rabbis, pastors, and various biblical literalists to guide him on this journey. He consults with a hip, young rabbi, a retired Lutheran pastor, an Amish innkeeper, an expert in deciphering unkosher mixed fabrics (complete with microscope for examining the fibers), and the resident astrophysicist at the Kentucky Creation Museum. One evangelical Christian told him his endeavor was foolish because you cannot understand the Bible apart from belief in the divinity of Christ. (I guarantee this same person has given a Bible or a scripture-laden tract to a non-believer at some point, however, so he/she definitely has not thought through that argument totally.)

In any case, it is fascinating and beautiful to see how Jacobs is being transformed over the course of his year, finding tranquility in practices like wearing all white, keeping a tight rein on his tongue (to avoid gossip, lying, and negative talk), and writing the Ten Commandments on his doorframes. He becomes a more ethically-minded person, giving to the poor and respecting the elderly. He prays regularly, even though he is not sure there is a God to pray to, but seems to find himself more and more open to that possibility. I'm about five months of the way through, and I'm eager to see how his spirituality develops further.

4. I'm going to be a millionaire. Not really, but this morning I came up with an idea for a household item that should be patented. Seriously, a good one. We're going to work on a prototype.

5. It's gut-check time. Or, rather, soul-check time. While I was reading a more lighthearted account of biblical living, Matt was reading What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, part of the Church and Postmodern Culture series. He read this passage aloud to me: "Were Jesus to return in the flesh, he would be executed again. Not by the world, but by the church. Or left by the chruch to die in the cold, or to be shot down in the nightmare violence of America's urban warfare, because Christians support right-wing extremists who are opposed to gun control, or excluded as an illegal immigrant."

Disagree with the politics implicit in that statement all you want, but combining that image of Jesus-in-disguise with Jacobs' efforts to cultivate biblical generosity of spirit left me quite convicted. I was reminded of my latent prejudices against certain types of people, and began to connect the warnings of Matthew 25 with not just the poor and imprisoned, but with people I tend to look down upon. What if Jesus were to return as one of these people that I write off? I need to work extra hard at seeing Christ in them. Lord, help me.

Christmas Pics, part two

Christmas morning, my parents, Matt, and I opened our gifts to one another. Matt got a sweater, a coat, pj pants, books, and a cool DVD Jeopardy game (that is apparently not compatible with our TV and DVD player, but we're hanging onto it until the HD switch thing, and maybe it will work on our new TV). Mom, as you can see, loved the workout outfit and hand weights I got her. And, Charlotte, being the spoiled kitty that she is, got lots and lots of toys, including this fishy on a pole.My parents left midday, and Matt and I headed down to Brentwood to spend the evening with his parents, brother, and sister-in-law. Here I am showing off the beautiful pendant Matt gave me: After the traditional potato soup dinner, we had the traditional Santa cutout cookies Andrew and Alexis make (Andrew is very protective of the cookies, so we were only each allowed one :0), and then opened gifts. It's kind of a running joke that Debbie just LOVES dishes. She has at least 12 sets of dishes in various designs and styles (she does use them all, though, so dining at the Kelleys is always a treat for the eyes as well as the tastebuds). Anyway, she got some serving pieces for a newly acquired set...
Then Alexis and Andrew opened the Christmas dishes we gave them...
And then I received a set of four botanical salad plates (in the hatbox--I hadn't opened them yet in this shot), so all the Kelley women got dishes, and I am now a true Kelley! I also got some great books, clothes, wine accessories, and other neat things.



So, we had a very nice Christmas, and hope you did too. Happy New Year!