Shake a Hand, Make a Friend

Hey friends, check out my newest post on the Trinity Magazine site. It's about our expectations and realizations of discovering on-campus community. If I've learned anything thus far about making friends here, it's this: Don't be too shy to entice people with food!


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New Friend Invasion!

Wheeeeeew-weeee! Guys, last week was a great week. As previously mentioned in a former post, Aaron and I love having people over to our cozy (a.k.a. tiny) apartment and giving them food. We had a record number of friends over during the course of the week, the grand total being 12!! My small group Bible study meets at my place on Mondays, which greatly contributes to this high number... but even with that, the number is rarely greater than seven.

A picture of my small group--taken by fellow small-grouplet (that's what we're called, right?) Christy Nieh--and no, I wasn't trying to be obnoxious and cover my face! Haha--though I suppose that's what happens when you decide to kneel behind a present...

Thursday and Friday evenings were grand. My dear friend Megan (the one who climbs apple trees) traveled down from Wisconsin for some quality chillaxin' and our next door neighbors dropped by to watch The Office. Usually Aaron and I only get to talk to them in passing--but now we can confirm that they're so cool and a lot of fun, for anyone who wanted to know. And on Friday husband and I had a dinner date with another couple on campus, Molly and Daniel. We had such a great time getting to know and laugh with new friends, and getting to share Aaron's favorite dinner with them. I must have ended up going to bed by 10:30 that night--it's been a while since we've had so many group activities in a week. How did I manage it as an undergrad? 

A taste of last week (again, thank you Christy!)...

We're hoping that this is the beginning of some solid on-campus community-building. Now if only we can finally and seriously decide on a church...!


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P.S. I totally forgot to tell you all--I'm now blogging for the Trinity Magazine website! So exciting!! I'll be updating at least every week, so be sure to check it out!

Semi-formed Thoughts & The Office

Aaron and I kinda (and by "kinda" I mean "really, really") like to watch TV in our apartment. We tend to gravitate toward comedies, and we almost never miss the Thursday night comedy block on NBC which includes, among a few other very funny programs, The Office. This week in particular this show has been a vehicle for me to go beyond being merely entertained and instead think about words said and themes expressed. This past Tuesday I was able to use an episode from a past season that I had on DVD to facilitate discussion about English vocabulary and expressions with my friend Younbi, who now comes by once a week so that we can eat tasty food together and learn about each other's cultures. Tonight's episode struck a chord with me as an involved church-goer, a former short-term missions participant, and as a Christian. 

I really hope that some of you who read this--"you" probably mainly being my family and friends (thanks for reading, by the way!!)--also watched tonight's episode of The Office because I'm really curious about your response to some of the different scenarios involved. It was about Jim and Pam's baby's christening, which all of their co-workers ended up attending (of course). As a result, the episode showcased the characters in a church setting and post-christening luncheon. If you missed it, check it out on Hulu. Anyway, some points of interest:

• Everyone's attitudes: Michael being uplifted/obsessed with the congregation's kindness and appearance of having fun, Ryan's abrasive attitude toward religion, Toby's hesitancy to "catch up" with God, Dwight seeing the congregation as potential clients, Stanley's complaints of being hungry, etc.
• After the actual christening takes place, Michael is greeted by some members of the congregation and immediately begins to act on the warmth he received from these people. He notices a group of young adults at the luncheon who will soon be going a service trip together to build a school in Mexico and expresses to his co-workers that he wants to hang out with them outside of work in the same way those young adults were hanging out with each other. Darryl told Michael that they were currently together outside of work, but Michael desired to have the "fun" he saw in the other group within his work group.
• Michael Scott is impulsive--and, being caught up in the moment, he chooses to get onto the service trip bus and go to Mexico as a result of seeing the group of young adults enjoying each other's company, being praised by the congregation, and their goal to do good in a different country. Andy decides to tag along in order to impress Erin. 
• When Michael and Andy start to freak out about their decision, Michael wonders why the Mexicans aren't just building their own school--and realizes that he doesn't know the first thing about constructing any kind of building. Michael's realization resonates with some critics of short-term missions trips.
• What do you make of the reaction of the young adult group when Michael and Andy are adamant about getting off the bus? Also, how about the one member of the group who leaves with them--and asks Michael and Andy to not tell his parents about his decision? 

Other interesting bits of action and conversation took place (such as the portrayal of church-goers being a mixed-bag, so to speak--some being genuinely kind, others trumping the christening celebration with their disappointment that all of the cider was gone...) but I've become a sad adult who gets sleepy sooner than I used to. I think I'm going to watch the episode again tomorrow, form some more cohesive thoughts on the subject matter in the episode, and either edit this post or write a follow-up post on my reaction. In the meantime, please let me know your thoughts! Or just let me know if you think I'm reading too much into it. :D

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Our house is full of apples

Apples, apples, and more apples abound in the Dean family abode here on Trinity's campus. We took a day trip to the fine, historic (self-proclaimed) town of Cedarburg, Wisconsin (also a "Wonder of Wisconsin" in 2008) to meet up with our crazy fun friend Megan (pictured in the tree!) and steal the fruit that some trees so laboriously grew over the season. Ha!

Though I always make fun of Aaron's rural-ness and make up silly things that he supposedly used to do when he grew up in western Pennsylvania (e.g. pick-up truck drag racing, play the banjo for his hogs), it was his first time to ever go to an orchard and pick apples. He had a great time, especially when he got to carry around our 20-pound bag of "sweet-pickin's" (his words).

At the end of the day, I celebrated my love for the internet sensation (and perhaps maybe even my best friend) Keyboard Cat by devoting five hours of my evening to carve my newly-bought "punkin" (again, Aaron's word).

So, what to do with all the apples? So far I've thought of: make three pies (all for me to eat), dip in cheese fondue and caramel (as of yesterday, done and done), add to oatmeal, um... wash and eat as normal, make applesauce, target practice a la William Tell (borrowing the intense compound bow that Aaron uses for hunting*, naturally), prepare as a dinner side, and bake into tasty cakes/muffins. Any other suggestions welcome.


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*a non-truth

It's like a day at the beach

Because it was a day at the beach!

It's no secret to those who read my blog that I like warm days in the middle of October. I believe I really drove that point home in my last post. We acted on these feelings this past Saturday by going on a journey to Zion, IL where Illinois Beach State Park is located. There we ate very tasty sandwiches, read books, and attempted to toss a frisbee like capable people.

Oh yeah, we also got our hairs cut! Hoorah! It was Aaron's first time at an official hair-cutting facility of any kind since he was a small child. He overcame his pre-cut anxieties and ended up being pleased with the results. Second hoorah! 

The lady who took care of my hair seemed really nervous for me the whole time--I gave her an exact description of how short to cut my hair and how to layer it. When I initially told her how much hair to chop, I'm pretty sure she gasped, and after every couple inches she would ask, "You sure you want it cut more?" After a few times of her asking this I finally just gave in, without really getting what I hoped for, for her own sake. Le sigh.


And, hey! I'm hosting my small group at our apartment next week! Excellent.


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Maddd shout-out's

Greetings! I want to take this time to give a big shout-out to my good friend warm-weather-in-the-middle-of-October. You make getting out of bed at 7:30 more bearable by shining the sun's scorching rays of promise in my eyes--the promise of bringing a warmth of 75 degrees Fahrenheit to my mid-autumn afternoon. I can roll down the car windows on my 2 minute work commute, and I can take the risk of wearing my 3/4-length-sleeved sweater to my job instead of a long-sleeved one.

Days like you affect everything in a positive way. The colors of the fall trees are more vibrant. You make the children's laughter seem oh so cheerful and not at all annoying as they play together outdoors, and you make the notes of the mystery mid-afternoon trumpet player (my downstairs neighbor?) practically dance in your gentle breeze. And, oh, such glorious Fridays you bring! A grasshopper landed on my shirt as I walked to the mailbox during my workday, and a little girl gave me a bracelet. Now that wouldn't happen on a dreary, fifty-degree day!


Warm October weather, I salute you! Don't be a stranger.


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Sick Day

This afternoon I'm feeling like all sorts of gross. I woke up around 7am feeling nauseated, acting involuntarily on that nausea, and remaining wide awake despite feeling sick. This of course resulted in my watching of numerous 30 Rock episodes and the French film Amelie while in bed. And Aaron, being the oh so wonderful husband that he is, went out this morning to purchase a two liter bottle of delicious Schweppes.

So since I am not feeling too inspired at the moment, I'm going to ask Aaron a series of questions so that you have an idea of his seminary experience so far:

Favorite class? Greek

Theological concept he hopes to explore further in depth? “I don't know... um... covenants, if I have to pick one, but... I don't know.”

Music he enjoys listening to when studying? Mumford and Sons, the new instrumental Nine Inch Nails album

Favorite dinner I've prepared?? Honey Mustard Chicken, Chicken Mac and Cheese, Red Curry w/ Pineapples

Class he's looking forward to taking at Trinity? something w/ Dr. Carson

If money and class-taking were no objects, where he would want to go on his summer break? Scotland (when asked why, he responded, “I think I like castles...I mean, I want to like castles...”)

Upcoming movie release he is excited about? True Grit or Tron Legacy

Favorite theology book in his collection? Scripture Alone by R.C. Sproul

Favorite commercial? "The Geico commercials with the little piggy and the woodchucks" (though it used to be the Old Spice commercials)

Favorite part about living on campus? “the convenience for now, but later it will be the community”

Place he wants to visit in the Chicagoland area? Field Museum in Chicago

Who do you want to win all of the football games today? “the Steelers, the Bears, and my fantasy players”

I do hope you enjoyed learning about my dear spouse, Aaron--The student. The husband. The man. The legend.

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Well I'm takin' my time

I'm just a-bloggin' along...


Whew, it's been a little while. To sum up my week of blog-neglecting, life on campus and in Chicagoland has been utterly scrumtrulescent. Aaron and I visited Chi-town (since I guess that's what they call it?) to see brother-in-law Ben, we can now watch broadcast television in the comfort of our living room, and we had a particularly excellent breakfast-dinner this past Sunday. Out of everything though, I'm very pumped about two recent developments...

Through the Trinity Wives Fellowship I signed up to be an English conversation partner for any international wives/students who want to practice speaking the language. I did this through InterVarsity back in 2007 in China and had an awesome experience with it, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. We had an instructional seminar type of thing last Wednesday evening where I learned a few strategies on how to be a good language partner and where I met other people who were interested in the program. And I just now at this very second received the e-mail with my language partner's name and contact info! Yay!!! I can't wait to meet her!

So, Aaron and I think we may have found our new home church! For the last two weeks we have attended Northwest Bible Chapel in Chicago--it's a Plymouth Brethren assembly, which is the church tradition in which I grew up back in ol' Jersey. I'm not 100% positive that we'll be staying there for the long haul... but, especially since there's a strong chance that we will, it's so relieving and wonderful to belong to a church again. We gots to pray, pray, pray about it.


And to top everything off, my fantasy football team, the Dancin' Gary's, is currently #1 in its division! Huzzah!


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Warning: Here be bundt cake!

A few days ago Aaron thought it would be fun to invite one of his new seminary friends over for dinner, so last night we got to hang out with Jeremy and Elizabeth in our apartment!

(Artist rendering of September 17th's dinner. From left to right: Aaron, Jeremy, Elizabeth. Also--um--none of these people look like this, and our table isn't that tall. And we actually did provide food.)

It was an extra-awesome night in general because not only did we get to know some really great people, but it was also the debut of my bundt cake pan (thank you thank you Diana and Ben!!). Oh bundt, how I've missed you...

Dinner guests and bundt cake... I think this is the beginning of a beautiful trend!


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Tuesday's Big Question

What would my theme song be?


It's one of those big questions everyone finds themselves asking at some point in their life.


Someone asked me this about a year ago, and I didn't have any good answer for him then. I've since put the thought to rest but, as you can see, it has recently awakened and has been stirring within my soul. So, seeing that I've been struggling with this philosophical conundrum since yesterday-ish, I decided I'd venture a couple guesses and ask my husband for his opinion. For the record, this is definitely not* an excuse to post random songs for my own amusement. Definitely not.**



"United States of Whatever" by Liam Lynch... because [I think] I am pretty laid back... and as my nearest and dearest know, I too enjoy throwing dice in the alley. If by "throwing dice in the alley" you mean "eating lots of cookies". 



"I'm the Urban Spaceman" by The Bonzo Dog Band... since there's a chance I might be a figment (Fig Newton?) of your imagination! Oooh, twist!



And finally, this song from an old Juicy Fruit commercial. The lyrics don't so much capture the person I am as much as the overall essence of the song does--generally upbeat, cheesy, and created in the late '80s. 


Now it's your turn to play at home, friends and family--what would your theme song be?


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*"definitely not"="almost definitely"
**see above.

Friends and Fantasy Football

Alliteration!


Hey therrr! I trust you had a nice Labor Day holiday last weekend--oh that symbolic end to the wonderful summer season. Until next June, summer solstice! Aaron and I spent our Labor Dabor weekend in Muncie, IN eating tasty foods, playing geeky fun games, and hanging out in general with brother Ben Dean and his girlfriend Ashley. It was awesome. We really dropped the ball in terms of picture-taking despite having our camera with us, so, here's a picture of some food Aaron and I made on Wednesday.

And just this past Friday after I got out of work, we ventured down to the windy city. Nooo, not Amarillo. Chicago! We saw a bean...

Then we went inside the bean...

And then we journeyed around with RACHEL for the rest of the night!!!!

My dear friendly friend (and matron of honor at my wedding!) traveled from Pittsburgh for the CCDA conference, so we whisked her away from the Sheraton and did touristy things like... eat gelato. Look at strange photographs in the shop where we purchased said gelato. Take in a crazy view and learn about Chicago at the John Hancock Observatory. Discussed what Rachel should do on her "life quest"! Oh, I miss her already!!

Finally, guys, I'm playing Fantasy Football this year on a league with ten teams. Aaron complains that I don't play computer games with him, and I was curious, soooo---here's my team!

Dancin' Gary's! I still couldn't tell you what most of this means, but I think I'm winning so far. Nice. 


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Jab Jab Punch!

With all of this summer's craziness, it's been easy to set personal maintenance aside. Sure, I continue to brush my teeth and eat and all of that, but I haven't devoted much time to exercise in, well, a while. Although, I jump-roped for a bit soon after we moved to campus and I was completely winded after, oh, 3 minutes? Saddest three minutes of mine life!


Since I have Thursdays off from work most weeks and because Aaron is gone all day and because it was raining and thus couldn't walk across campus for the mail, I decided that I had no excuse to not exercise in the apartment. The result:

My butt should consider itself kicked!!! Kickboxing work-out video courtesy of our Netflix Instant Queue=Quite good.

Anyhoo, I should mention that I joined a small group Bible study through the Trinity Wives Fellowship here. Our first meeting was this past Monday, and I'm really looking forward to the next time we hang out, which sadly won't be for a week and a half because of the holiday. Three words: Dessert.Every.Monday. Oh, and the fellowship is awesome too. :D 


UNTIL NEXT TIME (which I promise will be sooner than this time)


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Tasty breakfasts that are bad for you on your first day of school and always

Yesterday was the first day of Aaron's classes at Trinity--and we both woke up to an infiltrating scent of bacon. BACON.

Unfortunately it wasn't coming from my kitchen, but if our hunches are correct, our apartment-neighbor below us had a very pleasant morning.

We haven't had bacon since our honeymoon in June, which, well, is probably for the best. Though we more than made up for it by eating one of these yesterday morning:

Homemade, non-aesthetically pleasing buttermilk cinnamon rolls! Take THAT, neighbor-bacon!

Oh, and here's a lovely picture of Aaron being happy for his second day of school. And terrified of his first day of Greek class. ;D

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There's singing in the mail room, crowds of people crossing the street too slowly...

The campus is alive with the sound of students!


What a weekend! Aaron attended his orientation events, and I tagged along for a few of them, especially the ones that promised food...! Though I had already been at peace for the most part about uprooting ourselves from the familiar and our move to an unknown place, the speakers from yesterday (who included representatives from campus life to Dr. Williford, president of the university) further put my feelings about being here at ease. The constant, perhaps even overwhelming, theme--more than policy, achievement, or even academics--was community. Community, community, community.

I'm all about awesome, edifying community. My friends are what I remember about Grove City College, not how well I performed in certain classes. Similarly, no job would've made my experience in Pittsburgh very enjoyable. The people who surrounded me, on the other hand--they made my two years there incredible. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I totally got behind what was being said. And that was basically this: surrounding yourself with people you care about at Trinity will not only make your time here better; it will help you to survive it. 

Ah, but community-forming is a process for me. I remember writing in my journal when I first started at GCC about how I longed for people on campus to become familiar, you know, at least who I could say hi to on a regular basis at least. And perhaps after that, if I was lucky, I could find some people to regularly go to the cafeteria with, or talk to late at night just for fun at the student union. I'm shy, but eventually it happened--and later in my college years, surrounded by some of the best friends I've ever had in my life, I forgot what it felt like to be that unsure of future community attainment.


Here I am again! Some of those timid, uncertain feelings have returned. Large orientation events aren't really my scene, you know? But this time I am much more confident in the way God works to bring people together. I'm not expecting to be a part of any crew/posse/what have you tomorrow, the next day, the next week... But I am looking forward to being surrounded by great people, and being able to surround them. And it's nice to be living on a campus that understands just how important that really is.


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Time to buy a ton of bananas...

...because this YouTube video has inspired me to raise a few prickly friends of my own. Just don't tell Trinity's Housing Department. ;) Enjoy!

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Catching up with procrastination

You guys, I have a lot of half-finished and not-even-started projects I need to work on. Five immediately come to mind, but I'm sure I'll discover more in the very near future. I've been distracted by having Aaron around pretty much all the time (I've been way too spoiled this summer) except when either he or I have work, so naturally I blame my lack of project completion on him. I present to you an abridged example scenario:


Me: *thinking* I should really start compiling everything that I want to put into our honeymoon scrapbook.
Aaron: Hey there awesome-est wife in the world, want to watch your new most favorite show of all time Burn Notice with me? 
Me: Resist. Reeeeessssiiiisssssttttt. Sure, why not?!?
Aaron: Sweet! Did I mention how awesome you are?


You get the idea. But TODAY, Aaron is at work until tonight and I am determined to finish a project I've so very much been meaning to work on. Our wedding guestbook/photo album! 
We got a photo/scrapbook-type album and had each guest sign next to one photo slot:

Then we asked our guests to get their picture taken (courtesy of our great friends Megan and Josh Sateia who did such an amazing job!!!) in front of our groovy floral backdrop:

And now it's up to me to print these pictures out and place them next to their respective name in the book, which is what I'm currently working on. Such an attractive bunch!

Ah, it's so nice to revisit wedding photos and do productive things with them. In other news, I'm super-excited about this!! 

Happy Sunday!


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R.I.P. Name Tag

(2010-2010)

"The discount was nice, but the workload too heavy"

My time there was very short, without question. But I did learn a few things:

1. I love consistency much more than I love other things, like folding clothes or showing people where the jeans are.
2. You know that Don Pardo, the voice of the Saturday Night Live opening credits among many other things, is technically retired, living in Arizona, and 92 years old? Nevertheless, he flies to New York City every week during the SNL season to introduce the show. All this to say, maybe if Target and I could work out a deal, I would be willing to go in every night and announce over the intercom that Target will be closing in 15/10/5 minutes. I'll be waiting for that call.
3. This ("this" not necessarily meaning Target, but probably large retail chains in general) just wasn't my cup of tea. This is.

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Reflecting Time!

Lately I've been thinking about how awesome it has been to live on a college campus again. I wanted to look back on the last month or so we've been here and point out some things I've enjoyed about Trinity so far:

• I love how many young families are all around us. I love seeing dads and moms not much older than myself chasing after their toddler when he's going too fast in his toy car and seeing small tricycles alongside the adult-sized bikes at the bike racks.

• The staff I've met and have had conversations with have been so welcoming and friendly. I've probably talked to more Trinity staff members in my one month here than Grove City staff in 4 years.
• We're near everything. Stores, Six Flags, nature preserves, public transit, Chicago, my dear friend Megan Janecko..!!

• I really appreciate the administration's intentional attitude in allowing residents to be good stewards of the campus. We had that Campus Beautification Day as well as an upcoming residence life picnic-table/sandbox building event of sorts!
• Before we moved out here, I had no idea how big of a deal Trinity Evangelical Divinity School was. When Aaron and I were getting our books on the shelves, he pointed out to me each theology book he owned that was written by a Trinity faculty member. There were many. 

• So far it's been easier than it should be to get to know people, especially during summer vacation. Weeks ago at a Trinity Wives get-together, I got to know a group of girls who all obviously knew each other well, yet they took the time to include me in their conversations. That was such a blessing to me. And Aaron was immediately welcomed by a group of guys, some of whom he was able to play frisbee with later that week.
• Ninja-commando squirrel!!!! I'd show you a picture, but we've never been able to take one. He is a ninja, after all.

Don't you love that God puts us right where we need to be? 

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I am Hostess, Explorer of Chicagoland!

I love being a hostess. I do, I do. I'm excited for the school year to start so that more people will be on campus after this summer vacation business so that I can plan a fondue party, movie night, or something of the sort in our tiny apartment. Yesterday and this morning we hosted our first* post-moving-and-getting-everything-in-order-time guests: Aaron's parents! 


We had to make the table look awesome:

(Sweet-looking glasses are from Mexico, courtesy of Aaron's sister Bethany who is a missionary there. Thanks, Beth!!!)

Then make an equally awesome-looking dessert.

Of course we forgot to take a picture of the actual Sunday dinner, but at least I got this picture of a dog beach!

The four of us explored the nearby parks that are right along Lake Michigan. Aaron and I have been at work and in the apartment so much that I never even realized how close we were. 

Dad Dean, Aaron, and Mom Dean! No friend, Aaron isn't a part of the Ministry of Silly Walks. He's skipping stones! You're crazy. 

Look, there's some feet! One guess as to which pair belong to yours truly! Not that I'll give you a prize or anything.

The final portion of our escapade brought us to Lincolnshire where we played what they call "putt-putt" at Par-King Skill Golf--the [self-proclaimed] World's Most Unusual Miniature Golf [Course]. I'm usually skeptical of these bold declarations, but, well, would it be too much to say that I left a better person? 'haps. So I'll just say that it kinda blew my mind. Check it.

I ended up in 2nd place, bruising Aaron's 4th place pride. :) Such a great day!

I just got a call from a dear college friend of mine who might be visiting for dinner!! Yippee! How appropriate--it's as if she's in the room, reading over what I type. She's not, though. Time to prepare some baked mac and cheese! 


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*First guest award goes to Aaron's brother Ben, who valiantly braved (redundant? Most likely.) a visit to our place two days after we moved in and helped us assemble furniture, though that wasn't his original intention, I'm sure! (THANK YOU AGAIN!!!)

Workin' for the Weekend...!

Not that I have the weekend off or anything. But thanks anyway, Loverboy. 


Whheeeewww-weeeee! I am tired. In fact, I'm so tired that I think I've officially gone beyond tired and into delirium. And I don't even have children yet, so wait till that gets added to the mix in about, oh, seven years*. Anyhoo--


Yesterday I promised a new post, and tonight I am delivering. First of all, as I mentioned in yester-post, last Friday Aaron and I participated in a Campus Beautification Day. Here's the photographic evidence:

Some plants I helped put in the ground...

...and some shrubs Aaron planted.

It was a great way to spend the morning. We met a lot of awesome Trinity staff and hung out with them for lunch afterward. Apparently something to that similar effect is going down this Friday, but more on that later.


Wait, what's that? You want to see a picture of me and my Target garb? While looking like a grade-A dork? Okay, if you insist...!

Yeah New Team Member!

Friends, to put it dramatically, I'm intoxicated with exhaustion. Enjoy your last 10 minutes of July 28, 2010, Central Timers. You all farther west, well, enjoy your more than 10 minutes of it. 

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*or never! But don't tell Aaron. ;)