Help Oklahoma

As many have heard, Oklahoma was hit with a devastating tornado that has left parts of the OKC area decimated—including the town of Moore which happens to close to where Stephen’s family lives.

I got Aimee’s text message saying that the sirens were going off and they were heading for the shelter. Little did any of us know what would take place in the short time following that message. Thankfully neither her nor any anyone else in our family was hurt but my heart goes out to the families that have lost everything, including their relatives and pets. I couldn’t stop crying when I watched the news last night and saw the crumbled school.

Stephen and I cancelled our trip to Big Bend and will instead be doing anything we can to help out. If you are in the area, Moore’s Red Cross station is looking for volunteers and donations. Their phone number is 405-228-9500.  Water, trash bags, clothes, any little bit helps. 

I thought the second half of our trip to Enchanted Rock deserved it's own post as we stopped in Fredricksburg on our way home. There was so much to see and do that it was pretty much agreed that we will definitely be returning again in the future. We went to the Das Peach Haus where I am pretty sure we found "foodie nirvana". I tasted some of the finest peach wine and got to try pumpkin pie butter. 

That is the face of someone who just tasted the joy of a perfect peach! I think we could have taken a truck load of the peaches home and it wouldn't have lasted more than a day in our house. 

Hiking in Enchanted Rock

Over the weekend we took an extraordinary trip to Enchanted Rock, a place that really lives up to it's magical name.  The view at the top was absolutely breathtaking and the trail up was easy for even a novice hiker. We had been wanting to come out here for awhile and I'm glad we finally did! Stephen showed us some of the spots he had climbed, including a formation that looked like a frog. 

There were creeks running across the formations that I guess fill up big time when it rains. I thought it was so fascinating how in these small grooves in the stone grew vibrant patches of wildlife. It is mind-boggling to see flowers and trees growing and thriving on a giant rock.

Rosie, the future rock climber? 

I am a little bleary eyed from the endless assignments and papers so writing for pleasure feels like it has had to be put on hiatus lately. Finals are wrapping up this next week so hopefully that means I will have bit more of creative energy (at least until my other classes start back up in June). I just keep reminding myself that even if it’s tough it is one step closer to having that degree. I can do this!

What little spare time that I do have has lately been consumed by wedding planning. It really is a lot of fun. But there’s also so many details to consider and every bit of it carries the weight of some emotional investment because it has to do with “The Big Day”.  In short, I’m trying not to obsess. Trying, but um, failing.

That really isn’t such a bad thing I suppose (Stephen may beg to differ if I say the words “guest list” one more time) unless you find me on some TLC show like Bridezilla. In which case, someone please feel free to delete my pinterest boards, take away my planner and stage an immediate intervention. 

2 cents: A&F, Fitch the Homeless & Social Stratification

So imagine most of us have heard by now the ridiculous comments made by Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jefferies about “not wanting fat people wearing the brand’s clothing”.  He goes on to say: “That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people.”

I’m sure he is just a hoot to hang out with. So long as you aren’t fat. Or non-white. Or poor. Yeah, definitely don’t be poor.

In response to A&F’s massive douchebaggery, Greg Karber replied with this video in his Fitch the Homeless campaign. In an attempt to rebrand A&F he filmed himself going to thrift stores to pick up their clothes and then went to Skid Row and gave them to homeless people. 

I might have been the only person on Facebook who didn’t think it was totally awesome. In fact, I think he is completely missing the point in his efforts.

Here’s my problem with it: Karber is promoting this stratification between the poor and the wealthy by using the homeless as props for his project. What’s worse, he’s telling other people to go do the same and film it. Never once in the video did he stop and talk with these individuals, in fact at one point he was throwing clothes at them. He has dehumanized them and to me, that is a far worse insult than anything the jerk Mike Jefferies has said.

This effort doesn’t resolve anything. It doesn’t get to the root of the problem. There has got to be a better way of getting your voice heard than prancing around Skid Row throwing clothes at the homeless to teach some corporation what’s up. My suggestion? Boycott them and all their clothing lines (A&F, Hollister Co., Gilly Hicks and A&F kids) and be sure to tell them why they won’t get your money. 

There is something so gratifying about gardening, even if you are just working with a tiny little collection of containers. I am pretty pleased on how well my beefsteak tomatoes are doing, it feels like it was only a couple days ago that I planted these tiny seeds and BAM! They turned into huge plants overnight. I read somewhere that there might actually be some truth to that, because of the heat during the day they do most of their growing at night. Before long we are going to have our own tomatoes to cook with!

 

I am also growing some strawberries (plucked my first one last week!) and I tried my hand at cucumbers as well as some herbs. The strawberries are going strong but I am going to need to try and redo the others since they are, well, nonexistent. 

Mother’s Day is bittersweet for me this year. While I enjoy the love of my family and celebrate the other special ladies in my life, there is a void that is still healing from my own mother’s passing. It is a sharp, inexplicable pang that greets me when I see her picture. That mysterious smile, golden eyes sparkling with a wild spirit—my mother was a spunky lady with an infectious charm but also a woman of immeasurable talent, creativity and enthusiasm for life.

The other day I was in the grocery store parking lot where I saw a young woman carrying her toddler and she was walking along side an older woman who judging by their similarities they had to be mother and daughter. I recognized the young woman’s annoyed look because it’s one I had donned more than once when dealing with my mother. I don’t know what it was that struck me about this situation: that this could have been me, Rosie and my mama at some point or that, sadly, it never will. I was instantly jealous of this stranger, jealous of not just her but anyone else who still had their mother.

The truth is, I would give anything to hear my mother’s voice one more time. Hell, to even have an argument with her over something stupid would be okay, we would just laugh about it later anyways.

 I still feel the best way to honor my mom and the life she led is to carry on with joy in my heart even if it is a struggle sometimes. I know she was proud of my sister and I, that she loved her grandbaby, Stephen and all of his family too. I find comfort in that.