5 Things I Despise continued...

My list is back, and here is the second thing I am annoyed by at the moment...

2. Coach Shoes. These things are apparently all the rage at the moment...why I have no idea. They are hideous in my opinion. If you stare at them long enough on someone's foot it seriously looks like they were confused in the morning and accidentally wrapped their purse around their foot. Why would you want to wear shoes that look like a purse? Don't they realize that if they are wearing Coach shoes and a Coach bag they look like a Barbie doll? Only Barbie wears things that match that much...it should stay that way.

Again, why so popular? Other than the prices of these shoes, which are out of control (the first pair are $120, the second $150) it is an ugly shoe! What color brown is that!? and what is going on with the toe and the random tread on the bottom? I don't even know what to say about that second pair of shoes...there really isn't anything to say but gross. It's print gone all-wrong. I could just imagine some woman who has to wake up at the wee hours of the morning accidentally picking up her shoe thinking it's her bag and placing her keys in it, and then putting her purse on her foot and walking out the door...poor thing...how embarrassing! That's the reason why purse print should NEVER match shoes or anything else about your outfit. Purses accessorize the outfit, not match the outfit so much that people are confused as to why you have three purses on your person.

This next pair of $86.99 shoes are just so ridiculously hideous that I won't even try to comment on the Light Bright color effect they give off or the fact that even an '80s child would find them disgusting--which is saying a lot considering the '80s had some pretty gross outfits.

Basically I have nothing nice to say about these shoes...and as much as I tried to be nice to Vera in my last post, I can't think of anything positive to say about these Coach shoes...it's just a bad idea all over. So sorry Coach, but stick to purses and never invent another shoe.

March Madness

The NCAAs have been quite obnoxious this year...all the teams I have cheered for are now out of the tourament. ALL of them...as of last night. One horrific night two of my teams lost in upsets. Now I have no one to cheer for and it's depressing. I love basketball and hate it at the same time. So here is a re-cap of my March Madness:


Florida State: My Seminoles...I watched them throughout the season here in Tally and was able to get to know some players...connected with my team. But we didn't even make it to the NCAA, even with the win over Duke--stupid Wake Forrest. But we were invited to the NIT. We won against Butler 67-63, but lost in the second round to South Carolina 69 - 68 in overtime. So our season overall was 20-10.

Syracuse: Watched them blow away their conference by slight wins over their opponents. I got attached, what can I say? It was amazing to watch them make incredible shots and win games that were down to the wire! So I was excited to watch them during the NCAAs...well that happened only once. They lost in the first round to Texas A&M 66-58. Sadness! The Orange Men ended their season overall 23-12.

Duke: I'm a huge fan on account of two factors. One, my brother goes there, and two, I know the players and could recognize them on tv. They are an amazing bball team and I was excited to watch them make it to the Final Four atleast! Since my two other teams had lost already, Duke was my holdout...until last night. I had to go to class, so I wasn't able to watch the first part of the game, but I sat there the last 5 minutes in stunned silence...horrifed and so sad to watch them get beat by LSU. They had worked so hard, JJ was such a cool guy...I was so disappointed for them. To lose in the Sweet 16 in the last 3 minutes of the game...heartbreaking. The Blue Devils ended their season overall 32-4.

Gonzaga: The school my cousin Blake Stepp played bball for...lost last night. The one team I had left...lost. After watching Duke lose I watched part of their game and thought, they're so far ahead, it's going to be a sure thing. Boy was I wrong....they call it madness for a reason. This morning, I look and find out my last team is gone...done...out of the tourney. AHHHH! What is going on? They lost in the Sweet 16 to UCLA 73-71. Ending the Bulldogs overall season with 29-4.

Now I am at a loss...do I keep watching? Do I pick another team? My friend told me to go for Boston College, only because they are part of the ACC conference...so they are my last hope. They play tonight night...we'll see how they do...Let's Go Eagles!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Apostle to the Irish
The Real Saint Patrick

March 17, 2006

If you ask people who Saint Patrick was, you're likely to hear that he was an Irishman who chased the snakes out of Ireland.

It may surprise you to learn that the real Saint Patrick was not actually Irish—yet his robust faith changed the Emerald Isle forever.

Patrick was born in Roman Britain to a middle-class family in about A.D. 390. When Patrick was a teenager, marauding Irish raiders attacked his home. Patrick was captured, taken to Ireland, and sold to an Irish king, who put him to work as a shepherd.

In his excellent book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill describes the life Patrick lived. Cahill writes, "The work of such slave-shepherds was bitterly isolated, months at a time spent alone in the hills."

Patrick had been raised in a Christian home, but he didn't really believe in God. But now—hungry, lonely, frightened, and bitterly cold—Patrick began seeking out a relationship with his heavenly Father. As he wrote in his Confessions, "I would pray constantly during the daylight hours" and "the love of God . . . surrounded me more and more."

Six years after his capture, God spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying, "Your hungers are rewarded. You are going home. Look—your ship is ready."

What a startling command! If he obeyed, Patrick would become a fugitive slave, constantly in danger of capture and punishment. But he did obey—and God protected him. The young slave walked nearly two hundred miles to the Irish coast. There he boarded a waiting ship and traveled back to Britain and his family.

But, as you might expect, Patrick was a different person now, and the restless young man could not settle back into his old life. Eventually, Patrick recognized that God was calling him to enter a monastery. In time, he was ordained as a priest, then as a bishop.

Finally—thirty years after God had led Patrick away from Ireland—He called him back to the Emerald Isle as a missionary.

The Irish of the fifth century were a pagan, violent, and barbaric people. Human sacrifice was commonplace. Patrick understood the danger and wrote: "I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved—whatever may come my way."

Cahill notes that Patrick's love for the Irish "shines through his writings . . . He [worried] constantly for his people, not just for their spiritual but for their physical welfare."

Through Patrick, God converted thousands. Cahill writes, "Only this former slave had the right instincts to impart to the Irish a New Story, one that made sense of all their old stories and brought them a peace they had never known before." Because of Patrick, a warrior people "lay down the swords of battle, flung away the knives of sacrifice, and cast away the chains of slavery."

As it is with many Christian holidays, Saint Patrick's Day has lost much of its original meaning. Instead of settling for parades, cardboard leprechauns, and "the wearing of the green," we ought to recover our Christian heritage, celebrate the great evangelist, and teach our kids about this Christian hero.

Saint Patrick didn't chase the snakes out of Ireland, as many believe. Instead, the Lord used him to bring into Ireland a sturdy faith in the one true God—and to forever transform the Irish people.

5 Things I adore

To balance out the 5 items I despise, I thought I would also make a list of 5 things I adore. The first one is...

1. Apples and Peanut butter! What a delightful treat. I only recently discovered this combination and now am obsessed with it! One morning I had two whole apples with peanut butter! How have I missed out on such a find!

How did I discover this wonderful goodness, you might ask? Well a good friend made lunch for me one Sunday afternoon and offered peanut butter to go along with my apple slices...peanut butter?! I said, and she was amazed I had never heard of it. Lo and behold, it was amazing and now I spread the news to everyone...but I am learning that I am the last person in the country to find out about this combo. Everyone else seems to have had it and was introduced to it in childhood. Hmm...curious...apples and peanut butter definitely didn't make it into my childhood home overseas!

But I'm not bitter, it's fun discovering these things--it's the simple things that make life enjoyable! This is why, I give apples and peanut butter the stamp of approval in my book and place them on my list of things I adore! :) So go out there and grab yourself a juicy apple and that lovable jar of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth--apples do not demand one over the other) and enjoy this simple delicacy!