Treasure Hunting

In the epic battle that took place last night at approximately 12:45 am, I defeated my opponents and prevailed in getting an etsy treasury (it's tough competition, let me tell you)! Some of you might be wondering what exactly is etsy, and why am I concerned about treasure? (Sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean or something.) If you don't know what etsy is, you're in for a treat. www.etsy.com is "your place to buy and sell things handmade" - it's basically like buying stuff on ebay and amazon except they are handmade crafts or vintage items.

It's a lot of fun to look through all the different items. Because it only costs 20 cents to post an item, that's a really low start-up cost, which encourages people to be creative and start selling their stuff! I fell in love with etsy as soon as I started using it last December, and I do, indeed, have my own etsy store, where I sell some of my photographs and crafts that I've made (I will soon be adding more photos, by the way). Some of my items show up at the bottom of this post.


One of the tools that etsy has is called the Treasury. Users can compile lists of all their favorite items that they've seen on etsy and then post those lists for other people to look through. The trick is that you can't add a list unless there are less than 333 lists at a time. However, as soon as the number drops to 332, everyone who is currently looking at the treasury page has the opportunity to create a treasury, so then the overall number skyrockets back up to like 600. You have to time it just right to score a treasury. And that's what I did last night at 12:45, and now my treasury is online for just another day and a half!

You should check it out! The more people look at it (and click on stuff) the higher the rating. Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=55167

Etsy Buy Handmade sadielou

Third Times the Charm

So I am just tired of seeing that bowl of top ramen from my last post...why do people eat that stuff? Sure it tastes good, but really...sooo bad for you. So, I'm updating so I can see some new pictures.

Last week I went to Boston, MA, with SPU's Gospel Choir. It was a blast! (The above picture is from Little Italy in the North End. Note the emphasis on the Boston accent.) The first day I was there I had time to sightsee. I've already been to Boston, so I didn't feel the need to cram in every single historic sight, especially since I've seen them once before. My friend Grace and I opted to just go have our own adventure. In the process, we started taking pictures of the number 3 wherever we could find it. The pictures below are some of the coolest 3's I found.

Celebrating Cultures

I'm sitting here, waiting for dinner (pictured above) to cool off so I can eat my top ramen, and what better time to blog...

You may be wondering why I would be eating top ramen when I've been blessed with a cafeteria that (at one time) was ranked 3rd in the nation for the university having the best cafeteria.
Answer: On Sunday nights dinner is only served for one hour (and though this may seem short, this is the first year they've even offered dinner on Sunday nights...so I'm not complaining), and during that hour I was visiting a local Indonesian Presbyterian church. So I missed dinner, but I had a great experience learning about another culture.

I was at the church because I am in a class called Multiethnic Ministries, and we have to do a big research project where we study a culture different from our own and analyze how we could effectively minister in that culture. I picked the Indonesian culture because my dear roommate spent the first nine years of her life in Indonesia, and she regularly attends the church where I visited today (gotta love having connections). After the service, I interviewed a couple church members about life in Indonesia and their cultural heritage. What a wonderful thing to study! It struck me (again) today how much there is to learn about other people. Culture is so integral to who we are. If we all took the time to learn a little about the heritage of the people we are around, it would be much easier to live in harmony because we would better understand WHY someone acts the way they do. Plus, there's some pretty cool traditions out there. You never know what you might find out! (For example, I think I am going to try and convince my parents to start celebrating the Chinese New Year so that they can give me little red envelopes full of money...hopefully enough to pay my college tuition. ;) Dad, I know you're reading this, I'm just kidding.)

In between doing homework this weekend, I got to experience a little taste (literally) of some other Asian cultures. Friday night I went out for Thai food and for pho (pronounced "fuh" - but be careful when you say it...it could sound like something else!). I just love ethnic food. (This surprises my parents...when I told my dad about my Friday night, he said, "Since when do you like Asian food?" and I replied, "Since when do I not?" Dad: "Since your entire childhood. You wouldn't even eat rice!" Sadly, that was true. Luckily, I've grown out of it. It helps to have a roommate from Asia/friends who love Asian food.)

Ok, I could ramble on and on about cultures and why they are incredible (I guess it's good that my degree is in the social sciences), but that top ramen is cooled off and ready to eat, and instead of blogging about cultures, I should be writing papers about them!

Good Old Pi Sigma Alpha

Happy Saturday! Or maybe not so happy, if you have as much homework as I do. It's ok, I will just procrastinate by blogging. :)

Today I was officially inducted into the Ivy Honorary Society, which is pretty cool, I guess. (My favorite part was the tulip they gave me, pictured above.)
The benefits of being an Ivy Honorary member include:
-academic recognition by your college or university
-alumni networking
-federal government employment entrance at the GS-7 ranking
and most importantly...
-I can save money at Geico! ("10% or less on car insurance..." can't you just hear the lil gecko? oh, how i adore ubiquitous commercials featuring strange animals)

You just gotta love these strange little societies. They are just so quirky. For example, when you join Ivy Honorary, you get "tapped." I was kinda dreading this part. After your application is reviewed, they decide if you will get into Ivy Honorary or not, and then current members come to the classrooms of new inductees and surprise them by announcing to the class who is accepted, and then they pin a piece of ivy on your shirt and tell you to wear it proudly all day. I didn't really want that kind of attention in front of all my classmates, but sure enough, it happened, and in my uscholar class nonetheless. However, at the induction ceremony today, I was given the Official Member Booklet, and I was soon thanking my lucky stars that my tapping experience was what it was. It could have been much worse....read on.

" 'Tapping,' a term which is taken from the literal act of gently tapping a new member on the head with a mortarboard, dates as far back as 1892. Then, new members were tapped in the middle of the night. Members were dressed entirely in black, complete with hoods covering all but their eyes, and surrounded the bed of a selected member. They awakened the new member by uttering a Latin invitation in unison, followed by initiation rites."

Quirky? Creepy? Case in point.

Lest you are disturbed by this history, let me uplift you by sharing the awesome and inspiring Official Song of the Mortar Board Society:

THY IDEALS
Thy ideals, Pi Sigma Alpha,
We are ever striving toward
As we seek to live thy motto
In the bonds of Mortar Board.
And to you whom we have chosen
In the years both far and near
Comes the privilege of Service
To our Alma Mater Dear

Wow. I must say, I am just feeling inspired to hit my procrastination on the head with a mortar and begin striving towards the heights of academic success by hanging out with my stats book.

Time to get back to real life.

My Musical Memory Scrapbook

It's so strange to think about the effect music can have on you. You know when you hear a song and all of a sudden you REMEMBER. You remember who introduced you to that song or where you first heard it. It brings you back to who you were then - who your friends were, what you liked and disliked, what was going on in your life at the time. It's like a window into your past.

I'm at work again, and I'm listening to my Pandora (side note: I love Pandora. So. Much. I'm also a fan of my little Pandora stations, which - if you feel so inclined - you can listen to at http://www.pandora.com/people/baggss). Anyway, I'm listening to the "QuickMix" of all my stations, and the song "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot comes on, and it takes me straight back to my sophomore year of high school. I remember Switchfoot being my favorite band. I think my neighbor introduced me to them, so this reminds me of him as well. I remember relating to the lyrics because they were very timely for me. In fact, any time I hear Switchfoot, my memories of my life sophomore year become crystal clear, and I feel like I'm 15 again.

Then I hear "Sitting, Wishing, Waiting" by Jack Johnson, and I am taken back to the summer before my junior year when I went wakeboarding with my friend June. We wanted to listen to Jack Johnson on repeat (it was great boating music), but her mom insisted that it was stoner music (let me insert here that I definitely disagree), so we listened to Chris Tomlin instead. Nevertheless, that was the first time I listened to Jack Johnson, and I've been hooked ever since.

At the time of the boating expedition, I hated Chris Tomlin (luckily, my opinions have shifted so that he now frequently appears on my pandora) because when I was younger (maybe age 12?) I went with my parents and my cousin to a Rebecca St. James concert at George Fox University. Chris Tomlin was the opener. I didn't know who he was, but I thought his music was ok, until he began playing "The Famous One" and insisted on audience participation. He played that song over and over and over again, telling us we had to sing, he couldn't hear us, we were going to do it again. I still can't listen to that song without grimacing.

Back to some happy memories as my pandora plays on and on: I hear Jack's Mannequin which makes me think of my dear friend Elizabeth. I remember the countless times during my junior and senior years of high school when we blasted "Dark Blue" in the car. I remember going to the Jack's Mannequin concert senior year...I even bought a t-shirt.

Next it's Iron&Wine - "Such Great Heights." Beautiful song. So great that it is forever commemorated as my favorite song in my high school yearbook.

Then it is Norah Jones with "Come Away With Me" and I remember when I did go away...and housesit for the past two summers. I remember sitting in the kitchen, making tea, listening to Norah Jones. Every time I hear her voice, I think of summer.

Colbie Caillat's melodic voice sings "Battle" next, and I can almost smell the inside of Teylar's car. Last year, every time I drove somewhere with her (or drove her car myself) we listened to Colbie.

Then come The Decemberists with "The Crane Wife" and I smile because I remember my spontatenous decision to go to their concert last year with my friend Kyle. Fantastic show. One of the band members even went out into the audience and did a backflip or something.

Then it's John Mayer with his acoustic live cover of "Free Fallin" which I love. And that brings me practically to the present because it reminds me of my trip to Boston just last week where I visited Berklee College of Music, and it was this very institution that John Mayer attended not too many years ago.

And now it's someone new...Paul Wright? I don't know him, but who knows...maybe in a couple years I will be writing about this day when I first heard this song. Gotta love memories.

Haiku Wednesday

It appears that I spoke too soon yesterday. The clouds came rolling in, the wind picked up, and now it is freezing outside. Spring, where have you gone?

The highlights of my day:

-2 people bought something from my etsy site! My site (sadielou.etsy.com) has been up for 4 months, but alas, the only purchase I made was to my friend Olivia...until today! Two paychecks also came in, so overall, I'm feeling pretty good. :)
- I went to buy a smoothie in the SUB, and they gave me a free t-shirt. Sure, it's size Xl, but hey, it's green and orange and pretty darn cute.

However, none of these rambling thoughts are as interesting as my new favorite haiku. Last week I went to Uwajimaya (which was described to me as "the Asian Costco") for the first time, and I loved it. While browsing through the bookstore, I came across a book of haikus. Now, I'm no poet, but it is National Poetry Month, so in honor of this, I cracked open the book. Most of the haikus were about the usual...starlit skies, world peace, the smell of spring...you know. Very calming. But not the following (which was by far my favorite):

A white lotus -
the monk decides
to cut it!

Well, there it is. :) Now go enjoy National Poetry Month, spring, and fresh flowers.

Soak Up The Sun

It's official. Exactly 50% of the Baggs clan are bloggers now. I've caved. I'm sitting here at work on a gorgeous sunny day, and I figured it is finally time that I begin to spread my musings/art/photographs and who-knows-what-else on this glorious invention called the World Wide Web.

Spring has definitely arrived in good ol' Seattle, Washington, and I couldn't be happier about it. The sun is out, birds are chirping, lawnmowers are buzzing. The trees have bloomed, and the air smells sweet. I can't tell you how happy I am that it is no longer winter time. (However, my motivation to do my homework is lacking...)

The picture above is from a trip to the top of Queen Anne to watch the sunrise one glorious Saturday morning last quarter. Isn't creation amazing?