realize that after days of storms and horrible weather, the sun is shining and it is gorgeous outside

go to a park by a lake, armed with food, blankets, and frisbees

have friends show up to share the food, blankets, and frisbees

let 4 hours go by without worrying about anything except making sure that everyone has had enough watermelon

leave the park as the sun is setting, bathing the House of Worship in golden light

thank you.

Things to be happy about, a list:
-summer and all that it implies
-friendship & family
-dustless surfaces
-orange-blueberry muffins
-breakfast on a slow Sunday morning
-fireworks on the beach
-books
-having an occupation
-finding my writing inspiration again
-local stores that I can walk to

Happy 30 years, and hoping for 30 even more wonderful years. I love you!

I managed to give myself a minor shock a few weeks ago when plugging in my hairdryer.  My friend’s dad came over on Sunday to show how to change the electrical outlets, which was really nice of him.  Electricity + Sholeh = Not Good.

I feel like I haven’t really been home enough to do everything I want to do.  The last month has been super busy, and it doesn’t look like things are going to slow down anytime soon.  I sometimes wish I could just shut everything off for a week and hide out like a hermit in my cozy home.  At least I have internet now!

Part of the reason that I still haven’t posted photos is that I feel like it isn’t done yet.  I want to get the scraps out of my living room, install doors, and put the finishing touches on.  I promise it will be soon!  Thanks to my parents, it is furnished, which is a huge relief.

Have you ever had home improvement projects go terribly wrong, or have something hilarious happen? Tell me about it in the comments, I love hearing about other people’s experiences.

fancy hats

visitors

homemade pizza

the way the morning sunlight looks on the Baha’i House of Worship

the look of glee when you play a prank on me

brunch on a Saturday morning with nothing else to do all day

having a dishwasher

brownies

my home. finally, my home.

(I Like: #1,#2,#3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8)

It is also a really great time to buy, especially with the homebuyer’s tax credit and the low housing prices. So I bought a one bedroom condo a few miles away from the Baha’i House of Worship and Lake Michigan.

It feels good to be an independent adult.  I am so happy that I have the freedom and ability to do something like this at such a young age.

I’m currently painting, and have already run into some minor problems, but in the grand scheme of things it isn’t too bad.  Part of the process, right? When I have some more work done I’ll put up photos.  Right now it looks a little disastrous, and is a maze of ladders, paint cans, and random tools.  We managed to get the ceilings done, however, thanks to my amazing friends who came to help this weekend. (Y’all are the best.)

If anyone wants to come by in the evenings this week to help paint the walls, I’m happy to have assistance!  I’ll buy you dinner. Seriously.  There are even homemade cupcakes available.  (I’m totally ok with bribing people!)

It will be wonderful to finally have a place of my own, move in, and be home. And no, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“Verily, I pray God to make thy home a center for the radiation of light and the glowing of His love in the hearts of His people. Know that in every home when God is praised and prayed to, and His Kingdom proclaimed, that home is a garden of God and a paradise of His happiness.”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v1, p. 68)

January & February were mostly cold and mostly uneventful. I celebrated New Year’s Eve Persian style.  I was working a part-time retail job, looking for work. I went sledding for the first time in years.

In March I celebrated Naw Ruz (the Baha’i New Year), traveled to New York City to stay with my cousin and attend an amazing wedding. Fell in love with NYC all over again.

April got more exciting, since I was asked to work at the Baha’i House of Worship as the assistant to the choir director, in order to organize the choir festival (with over 2,000 attendees).  I volunteered at the Baha’i National Convention, which is when the national governing body of the Baha’is in the United States is elected.  I’ve always loved attending Convention.

I spent a lot of time in May with my family, and of course most of my time was spent coordinating the choir festival. I was also sleeping on my friends’ couch, two lovely ladies who saved me from a horrendous commute from my parents’ house.

June was the celebration of a childhood friend’s wedding in Chicago and the start of a new job.  I moved down the street from the Baha’i House of Worship to the Baha’i National Center to my current job, and found an apartment near my office.

Then there was was the 3rd of July BNC staff picnic on the shores of Lake Michigan, going to the beach, and the start of something wonderful.  The middle of summer is always blissful for me!

I mostly remember August in a blur of travel, packing and unpacking.  I went to Nashville, LA, and Seattle for work trips and then to Greenlake Baha’i Conference in Wisconsin. I started off the month with another wedding, and missed a different wedding while I was out of town (count that, we’re up to 4 weddings!).  I also moved to my second apartment for the year.

I celebrated my birthday with a week-long spree in September, starting with a surprise trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens, then to the Friends of the Persian Culture Conference with many friends and family, and finally with a party at a friend’s house that included delicious food and fire-spinning.

We went apple-picking in October, went to a college friend’s wedding, I dressed as Mary Poppins for Halloween, and attended an amazing seminar on Baha’i administration in Chicago.

I moved to my third apartment in November, got the sickest I’ve been in a long time, and had a lovely Thanksgiving.

December was cold. I started trying to figure out where I am going to live.  A trip to Pittsburgh over Christmas break started the holiday season (it was really nice to get out of town!), and a wonderful New Year’s Party finished off the year.  It has been 3 years since I left to serve in Haifa in December 2006. I can’t believe it has been that long.

It was a good year. I’m grateful and lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful family, friends, and coworkers. I am looking forward to 2010…who knows what is next!

I took ten photos with my camera on my tripod from a hillside overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. With the help of Photoshop, the photos were stitched together.  (view large)

For Halloween I had a lot of fun dressing up as a classic character, who I identify greatly with…

I felt rather supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Pumpkin, carved by my sister and me.

Poor Milo. I put wings on him for Halloween, and he hated it.

I love autumn. Or these parts of it, anyway.  I’m starting to settle into a routine, both in my personal and work life, and gearing up for winter (yikes).

(photo by Ny Brown)

After a few hours of shooting, it started to rain, so we drove up to Foster Beach to get some shots in and near Lake Michigan.  I was the first one in the water.

That’s right, I went into the lake.  With a wedding dress on. In September.

I had a great time, the other models and the photographers were really fun to work with.  I also learned a lot about photography, since the photographers were giving each other advice and directing the models.

This morning I slept through my alarm, but managed to wake up in time to get ready and out the door.  I even packed my breakfast & lunch in a large brown bag.

I grabbed the brown bag and the bag of trash by my back door and headed down to my car.  With the bags in my right hand and my keys in my left, I swung the garbage into the dumpster.

I had a fairly decent grip on my lunch in the brown bag, but the handle ripped and the bag toppled into the dumpster with the trash.  Unfortunately, the dumpster had been emptied yesterday, so everything went into the very bottom. Into dumpster juice and assorted nastiness.

Gross.  Luckily, it was all still in the brown bag, mostly protected.

I wasn’t going to abandon my lunch, however.  Anyone who has spent time with me knows my relationship with food.  I couldn’t reach the bottom of the dumpster.  I looked around, and saw a desktop printer that someone had put by the dumpster, dragged it over, and stood on it.  Still couldn’t reach.

I grabbed the picnic blanket out of the trunk of my car, draped it over the side of the dumpster, and stuck half my body into the dumpster to retrieve my bag.

(artist’s rendition of the morning’s events.)

After that debacle, I got to work, nearly fell on my face when I tripped going up the stairs, and realized that while I had my lunch, I’d forgotten my breakfast on the kitchen counter.

Can we just start today over please?

Lots of friends have come through town recently, and of course there is the usual revolving door of people moving into Chicago and leaving, visiting and stopping through, with the attached greetings and farewells.

Lauren did some fire spinning for my birthday on the roof of our friends’ apartment building.  It was amazing.

The opportunities for using my camera have been endless.  Especially since I’ve made a habit of carrying my camera with me everywhere.  More photos on flickr…

I have been unable to write very much…no time or inspiration.  I felt the slow stirrings of the writing bug today, though, so maybe it is coming back.