Eyes Open

Self image. Let's face it, we all struggle with it or have struggled with it at one point or another. I'm not just talking to you ladies out there, I'm speaking to the guys as well. I'm sure at some point or another we have all stumbled across the children's pageant shows on TLC which, although provide entertainment to some degree, also make you nauseated. Why on Earth do we push ourselves to exercise, diet, buy the latest fashions, be on top of the newest "Southern Living" house makeovers or stare at ourselves in the mirror for hours each week? At an increasingly early age, I might add. I'm not the one typically to bring up a tough subject, especially to blog about it, but I was impacted in a great way by a photojournalist, Zed Nelson, who created an angle entitled, "Love Me". Please do not go look at his pictures without expecting to be reminded of the way our society has completely ruined beauty. Obviously, people have not been reading the dictionary as much as Ben Stiller lately. (Come on, where are my Dodgeball fans?)

If you look up "beauty" in the dictionary, you get:

1. The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.

Let's focus on the last one for a second. Originality. As Nelson finds, it is a severe lack of originality that plagues this Earth. I was shocked to find out that the most Rhinoplasty surgeries (nose jobs) occur in Iran where women are forced to hide their faces behind veils in public, called "hijabs", on a daily basis as a result of Islam. This must point to an innate force inside of each and every one of us that wants to believe ourselves be more beautiful than we feel naturally. It saddens my heart that a limb lengthening surgery has become popular in Asian countries among the elite who want to appear taller to bring about a heightened sense of "status".

I mean think about it, some of the most iconic people in the world, professional athletes, are some of the tallest as well. As a result of this iconization, professional athletes feel more and more entitled to whatever they want be it women, money, exposure, guns, etc. Even the most advanced psychologists cannot help these athletes with their addictions because they feel entitled to what their actions provide for them. It isn't a lack of love, attention, etc. from a societal perspective that is forcing them into dangerous social behaviors. It is the abundance of all of these things that drives their erratic behavior.

It is also being discussed that in the Chinese job market, many women fresh out of school are choosing a surgery which can "round out" their eyes, making them more attractive to their potential employers. Again, promotion of a loss of originality.

If you do not want to look at Nelson's pictures (which can definitely be graphic at times--if you cannot watch Trauma:Life in the ER, don't take a look at these) at least read the introduction to his work. This is the part which stands out most to me:

"But who creates this culture? However much we may confidently point the finger at certain industries, we can't deny our own tacit, albeit culturally conditioned, involvement. Like it or not, we are judged, and judge, by appearance. Perhaps we are obsessed with the way our own bodies look because we know how instinctively judgemental we are of the bodies that we look at.

A recent scientific study reported that we make decisions about the attractiveness of people we meet in the space of 150 milliseconds. This superficial appraisal has profound implications. Those we consider most beautiful not only find sexual partners more readily but studies also show they get better jobs and more lenient treatment in court.

We have created a world in which there are enormous social, psychological and economic rewards and penalties attached to the way we look. Can any of us honestly say, 'I don't want to be attractive'? Don't we all want to be loved? But have we been brainwashed into believing that in order to be loved we need smaller noses, bigger breasts, tighter skin, longer legs, flatter stomachs and to appear ever youthful? Where does it end?"

--Zed Nelsen

Exactly. Where does it end? Will we all have sacrificed what we love (other than ourselves), care for and believe in for the end result of fitting into a mold of beauty which has been dictated to us over the centuries? As a Christian, I know the love of Jesus transcends all things, no matter shape, size or appearance. Next time, let's remember that those we see around us are loved by the Creator of the Universe as we begin to believe that truth about ourselves. If there is one thing I am beginning to take to heart lately, it is that we cannot genuinely love others until we allow ourselves to be loved first.

Thank you for indulging my passion on this topic :).

Almost Famous

As most of you know, Graham and I, along with Chris and Rachel as well as two of the Learfield interns and one of their fiances, trekked back down to St. Louis this past Friday for some more Panther basketball action. First of all, I would like to say thank you to all our friends and family for grabbing ahold of the Panthers along with us throughout the end of this season! It was so much fun having everyone up and down the East coast frantically texting us for score updates and learning the team's strengths and weaknesses along with us. Not a great weekend of basketball--UNI lost and Duke won. Nauseating. Although we were not able to pull off the win on Friday night versus Michigan St. I know the town of Cedar Falls is not hanging their head. This is one proud place to live right now! Every sign up and down University Ave. or Waterloo Rd. has a sign congratulating the Panthers on their amazing season and for the fun it brought everyone involved. At one point I saw a sign on the side of Pepper's Restaurant that read, "Superman wears Farokhmanesh pajamas". Amazing.

Before the game Graham and I discussed the greatness/unfortune that Ali made the Sports Illustrated cover (see above). As everyone knows there is a Sports Illustrated Cover "jinx" that has followed many athletes over the past few decades. In SI's own words, "In investigating virtually all of the SI's 2,456 covers, we found 913 "jinxes"--a demonstratable misfortune or decline in performance following a cover appearance roughly 37.2 percent of the time." In Ali's case, I guess you could say there was a decline in scoring performance on Friday night, but was he hit by the jinx as well? Who knows. I was discussing this with Graham last night and in my opinion, if I was Ali (and who wouldn't want to be?) and made the cover of Sports Illustrated during the NCAA tournament, jinx or no jinx it would be well worth it to take the chance. Let's think about it, sports announcer Dick Vitale couldn't even pronounce his name even after we knocked off Kansas. No one knew who Ali was or even cared to. But because of the win over Kansas and his face on this cover, Ali was able to take the sports fame ride of his life and it all happened overnight.

In other non-basketball related news, Graham and I have become almost famous! A local reporter, Kyle Munson, just happened to stumble across our blog and is now writing a story about Graham and I for the Des Moines Register about our move! Aside for the not so flattering, squinty picture featured on his blog (hopefully we will get a better one for the article on Sunday), it has been a ton of fun getting to re-live the past month and a half with him as we explained life back in NC versus IA. The article will be published on Sunday.

The Iowan Woman?

First of all, if you haven't heard of the pioneer woman or her blog, immediately stop reading this and explore her Website. She is amazingly creative, hilarious and makes yummy food. Don't go there if you are counting calories, but if you are seeking deliciousness, she's your gal! I love just reading her stories and recipes as she gives you each step along with a picture for all of her how-to recipes. Seriously, devote some time and fall in love with her as I have.

Anyway, as some of you Facebook stalkers already know, I was in need of a little arts and crafts time last Friday and thought Hobby Lobby would be a great place to start. With all of their Easter merchandise already 50% off (I know, what store would put their holiday items on sale before the holiday??) it was fun, and inexpensive, to be creative. Inspired my my dear friend MaryGene's Easter family traditions, I know an Easter Egg tree centerpiece was definitely one of my goals. After searching my apartment for items I already had, all I could come up with was some random fake moss that I had saved from that horrible Drama Scene Design class I took senior year thinking it would be a great opportunity for an easy "A" and my creativity to flourish! Well, I must say, my creativity was forced on a daily basis as I learned how to build a whole set on a small scale for multiple plays. Many all-nighters of gluing 4-poster mahogany beds together for Polly Pocket later, all I have left to say for it is a bag of moss I used on a set that had a magic tree. It's amazing the things we do to gain a Liberal Arts degree.

Welp, one trip to Hobby Lobby later, I gathered a bag of Easter themed peanut M&M's, 6 tiny chicks made of feathers, a metal watering can to house my tree, twine and little wreaths made for dollhouse door wreaths I would later change into nests for my chickees. As MaryGene has already provided you with the steps to make an adorable tree, I will show you my commitment to her ideas. Of course, it had to be snowing the one day I wanted to go gather sticks from our non-existent trees in Iowa. Graham just happened to think this was hilarious and snapped a couple of pictures from our deck. Can you see me??

Now I will show you how to make my little chick place card holders you can use for Easter! I thought these would be the perfect addition to my "tablescape" when the day rolls around and Graham's family is here! Yay! We are so close!

Step one: Unpack Chicks, M&M's, and wreaths. You'll also need to heat the hot glue gun. Mason jar not required.

Step 2: Hot glue Peanut M&M's together to cover the circumference of each "nest". It's amazing how much these things look like eggs :).

Step 3: Hot glue the Peanut M&M cluster to the top of the nest.

Step 4: Hot glue the chick towards the back of the nest to provide a spot for the place card when the day comes! That's all! You're done! (Doesn't hot glue just make your day because it dries so fast.) BEWARE: Cracking may occur in M&M's because of the heat--you must be gentle.

Here's the final product! Hope you think they are as adorable as I do :).

When you put the tree together, hang the eggs and add moss to branches and around top of watering can) here's what you get:

All craftiness aside, I just realized that I hadn't posted any pictures from Graham's birthday! For tradition's sake, I made him his favorite cheesecake his mom usually makes (mine wasn't nearly as good...I guess I don't have the mom touch yet) and some cupcakes! (Which, if I'm being honest, were a little overdone.) They were in soccer themed cupcake cups, don't worry. Here are a couple pictures for you to enjoy.

We are also heading back to St. Louis this weekend for a little UNI action! As I'm sure you heard, UNI picked off the OVERALL number one seed, Kansas this weekend! What amazing win for our program. No one knew who we were before this weekend, and at least a few more are paying attention! We have tickets for the next two games, so let's hope that we can win them both! Go Panthers! What a great story.

Hoppy Early Easter from Joanna and Graham!!

The Madness In March

While imagining March, some people think of the warmth pushing out the last remnants of winter, the planting of flowers, four leaf clovers, Irish beer on St. Patrick's Day, or even spring cleaning. Graham and I (along with every other Tar Heel fan in the nation I presume) think of NCAA basketball. As I type, I'm in the middle of a little spring cleaning myself (much needed) and enjoying the first round games of March Madness. Every year I look forward to cheering my Heels on to hopeful National victory--I think we all know I'm cheering them on in a slightly different tournament than usual this year. From NCAA to NIT champions? We'll see I guess...

Graham came home with a great suggestion that we have a bracket just between the two of us, which of course at the opportunity of competition I gladly accepted the challenge. Unfortunately, at the moment I am realizing my certain demise as Villanova (who I have in the final four) is currently losing to Robert Morris. Robert Morris? Who is that anyway?? My elite eight looks like this: Kansas vs. Goergetown, Syracuse vs. Kansas St., Kentucky vs. West Virginia and Duke vs. Villanova. As badly as I want Duke to lose early on, I am facinc the reality that there is a good chance they will go pretty far. BUT being a purebred Tar Heel, I mustn't let them advance past the elite eight (at least in my bracket). Then my final four: Kansas vs. Kansas St. and Kentucky vs. Villanova (fail.). I have Kentucky going on to win the whole tournament as I am not a Kansas fan. I'm not super in love with Kentucky either, but I made this pick with the hope that at least the Fendley fam would be proud of me (my only connection to Kentucky) :).

UPDATE: Villanova and Robert Morris are tied at 55. I'm still hoping.

Also, I expect all of you readers to be pulling for UNI tonight at 6:10 PM Central Time. That's 7:10 PM for all you NC'ans. They are so much fun to pull for! Believe me, watch and you will fall in love with the team just as Graham and I have found ourselves doing. Even though my bracket doesn't match up, I am hoping deep down in my heart that somehow, just somehow, we can beat UNLV tonight and then somehow beat the overall number one seed Kansas in the 2nd Round. Who knows, right?? They don't call it March Madness for nothin'!

Grahambo and I got to enjoy some time together yesterday in Des Moines where Graham had a couple of meetings for work. Since I don't have anything else to do I rode along, where we got to enjoy a hardy St. Patrick's day parade where I have never seen so many people crowded down one street cheering for Irish pubs, party buses and even Irish families as they advanced through. There were thousands of school aged children cheering for the green mardi gras beads that were being thrown out by each float. Even scarier than the all green-clad children were the green parents who had green painted faces, hair, beards, etc. Wow. I thought a 55 year old man was going to take out a 4 year old little girl for a set of beads. This was an intense atmosphere and of course, I was wearing my blue and white stripe oxford tshirt, blue JCrew blazer and somewhere underneath was my green beaded necklace. I guess I wasn't feeling very spirited this year, and this was definitely not the place to underrepresent the holiday. Graham and I both were getting dirty looks as we marched through the crowds of leprechauns in our everyday wear (Graham in a suit). All in all a great experience. We topped the day off with a trip to Chick-fil-a for a little chicken action that we have missed the past month (we have no Chick-fil-a in Cedar Falls...tragic.) They even had sweet tea! It was a great day.

P.S. Villanova and RM are in OT. Here's to hoping!!

We've Been Busy!

So, what happened to the Ashes you might ask? WELL, we've been adventuring/running/watching the fog roll in--ha! Anyone who keeps up with the Iowa weather will appreciate that last one. As the picture above suggests, last Wednesday I traveled down to Kansas City (Missouri, not Kansas--although I ate dinner in Kansas without even knowing...) to visit my dear friend Jenna. It is amazing to me still that I am somewhere that is driving distance to Missouri. Weird. Anyway, after a short 4 and a half hour drive down, I met Jenna for some precious moments fighting with my GPS in downtown KC but finally finding the coffee house we were looking for. If you don't know this about me you should...coffee houses are one of my favorite places in the world. Especially ones who give you actual ceramic mugs to drink out of while you're there and make pretty designs on top if you order one of them high-fangled drinks. It was absolutely amazing seeing Jenna and the work that the Lord is doing through her in Kansas City--Praise Jesus! I spent one night while we were there at IHOP (International House of Prayer where Jenna is interning) for an intense praise and worship session from 6:00 PM-Midnight. Let me tell you, when you get Christians who love the Lord together for that long amount of time at once, things become hilarious and super fun REAL fast. I was able to explore Country Club Plaza with Jenny one day--which is a BEAUTIFUL shopping center in Kansas City that made me feel like I was back in Malibu, CA for just a little while. The temperatures definitely helped because even after traveling that short distance south, we hit 50 degrees people! That may not seem very warm to you Southerners but I definitely was rocking short sleeves and enjoying some time in the sun.

On Friday morning, sad to leave Jenna and the fam of my wonderful friend Mary Cochran (whose sister Liz and Mommy were also living with Jen) I headed on to St. Louis where I got to see my wonderful hubby and the UNI Panthers play in Arch Madness (Love the pun on the famous St. Louis landmark)--the Valley Men's Basketball Tournament! I drove in at about halftime in the first game where we were down 1 point. I would like to say that I was their good luck charm, because as soon as I walked in we pulled way ahead and never looked back--going on to win the whole tourney! Go panthers! It really was refreshing to watch a team that wins for a change unlike our alma mater (It's ok Heels, just don't go to the NIT so we don't have to share in the agony anymore--there's always next year!). We had a great time with Chris and Rachel there and also got to meet several other people that work with Learfield from around the US. Unfortunate they all do not live in Cedar Falls. On Saturday night, we all went out to dinner and to a piano bar which, as most of you know, this is another favorite spot of Graham and mine. For those of you who went on Spring Break 2k9 with us and enjoyed the "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Yellow-Polka Dotted (Something that rhymes with teeny)" song that Graham was serenaded with on his 22nd birthday, these places are keepers...really.

The weather here this week has honestly been great! Other than the major fog that rolled in on tuesday and a little today, it has been around 40 degrees and wonderful!! Aparently we get these fogs here that really prevent you from seeing very far in front of you and don't "burn off" with the sun like in NC. The one on Tuesday lasted all morning until about 1:00 PM! Crazy. This "warm" weather has actually melted TONS of snowand when you look outside it doesn't seem so wintery anymore--yay for Spring!! I seriously cannot wait to buy some tulips and spruce this place up! I already have out the Easter bunny my mom got us. A great touch I think to usher in Spring.

Also, guess what?? Tomorrow is my wonderful Husband's 23rd birthday! Although it is hard imagining it has been a year since the last one, what a wonderful year it has been. And wow, how unpredictable! If you would have told me last year in Florida on Graham's birthday that this time next year you will be spending his birthday, married, in Iowa, I probably would have written you off as crazy. Isn't it amazing how God works things out in His perfect timing? LOVE IT! We are so excited to be venturing to LAS VEGAS for Graham's birthday this year! For any of you who know Graham, you know his man love is Garth Brooks. Well, he is playing his already sold out through August set of concerts out in Vegas, so, we must go! He is playing in front of an audience of about 750 people and it will just be him and his guitar. I cannot wait to be a part of one of his most authentic and down to earth shows he has ever done. I mean, it is amazing, the man flew straight in from one of his daughter's soccer games straight to the concert in Vegas. Definitely someone worth admiring for his love of his family.

Last story. On Wednesday night Graham and I were pondering what we could do besides watch another movie (which we do pretty much every night and CANNOT wait to bring in Spring and Summer so we can be outside!!) and the brilliant idea of bowling came up! I for one love bowling and, although I am not very good at it, can get a strike every once and a while by chance. Well Graham calls over to the bowling alley to see how late they are open and discovers that after 9PM the alley runs this deal where you pay $6 each for shoes and as many games as you can bowl plus 25 cent beer, sodas, and food. Um. You know we are there at least once a week now and will probably end up forming our own league. After finding out this amazing information, we also proceed to make a reservation to bowl (because this deal is so popular) and arrive about 9PM. We pay, get our balls and continue to bowl SIX games. I am having a hard time typing even now because my thumb muscles were so sore. I don't think any person was ever meant to bowl six games in a row--but hey, why not? The place was literally packed, not one lane open and was completed with a beautiful Iowa landscape tapestry on one side (complete with barn, silo, corn fields and of course a John Deere tractor). I thought for sure I could beat Graham one round, but to my demise, Graham is actually really good at bowling and even when I scored my all time high of 135 Graham still beat me by 20. That rascal. Well it is his birthday week, so I had to let him beat me, right?

Remember to keep pastor Steve Scoggins in your prayers (who married Graham and I and father of lifelong friend Rebekah) as he recovers from a heart attack this weekend. I believe he is moving out of ICU today, so praise God for his grace already in this situation and pray for a speedy recovery!!