Book, Bookshelves, Blue, Beauty, Beast

Well, been busy these last couple days. Saturday night Chrystal stayed for night and the next morning we went to Ikea, then out for lunch at the Cactus Club and then to the musical Beauty and the Beast. So, this is my third time at Ikea and the first two times were disastrous. I guess this time can be a redemptive time! They say third time's the charm! I bought two bookshelves (connected) that were 200 dollars off and some DVD holders/shelves too. I put up the bookshelves yesterday and it's so nice that all my books finally have a home! Beauty and the Beast was quite fantastic as well!!

Today I picked a friend up from the airport and then went to my mom's where we proceeded to make a dozen chicken cordon blue, 50 or so meatballs and muffins!! Whew! I'm tired now!! Then I came home and realized that the guy who plows our complex decided to plow the snow away from half of my driveway. Nice though except that he shoved so much snow against my garage door that it wouldn't open... and so I had to shovel it all away. Good times right there.

In Hawaii I started reading the book, "eat, pray, love". It's a woman's story about her yearlong travels in Italy, India and Indonesia. Being a person who loves traveling, her book intrigued me and she inspires me to write my own book! Anyway, it's quite spiritual and has a lot of good stuff in it. Thought I'd share a few quotes and thoughts here:

"To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of beauty, then, can be a serious business-not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding on to the real when everything else is flaking away into... rhetoric and plot."

"And I will leave with the hope that the expansion of one person-the magnification of one life- is indeed an act of worth in this world."

"On the other hand-when is it a good time of day, or life, to sit in detached stillness? When isn't there something buzzing about, trying to distract you and get a rise out of you?"

"There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, "dear saint-please, please, please... give me the grace to wint he lottery." This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son-please, please, please... buy a ticket"

"Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention."

"God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are."

"Your treasure-your perfection-is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

Anyway, reading about her experiences encouraged me in my spiritual life and prayer life in seeking God in the silent moments and throughout all moments and reaching my full potential through His strength. Any thoughts on the quotes?

Countdown:
12 days until Disneyland!
35 days until Colorado!
44 days until Bahamas!