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The MUST READ Post

Recently I posted a series of vignettes from one of my favorite movies, When Harry Met Sally. For those of you who didn't see this post here is the link.

For those of you who did read it, here is a refresher:

Movie=awesome.

Vignettes=Hilarious.

And like I mentioned before, Adam and I laughed at how many similarities there are between Harry and Sally's story and ours....Basically, it's impossible for a guy and a girl to be "friends." (Believe us, we tried for five years...)

So, we decided to make our own vignette. And TRUST ME. You need to watch it.

If you haven't seen the Harry&Sally vignettes, watch them here first.



And then, watch this...






More stories to come...

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Life as an Elf



When I was born, I was an Elf.




This probably explains several things:

1. How pointy my ears were as an infant.


freaky right?

2. Why I'm the runt in my family.
3. Why my favorite movie in the world is ELF.
4. And why every year. without fail. I CANNOT resist going back to my roots and elfing myself. I also usually elf everyone I know.

This is my guilty pleasure every year.

I can't help it.

It never gets old.

Enjoy.



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Snip-its

This weekend was far too wonderful not to blog about. But I don't have much time so I'll just give a few snip-its.

-Thursday evening Adam made me delicious ginger chicken and homemade applesauce for dinner. Then he took me to Whole Foods to get gelato (I went with Pumpkin Praline). It's only Thursday and the weekend's already off to a good start...

Un Gelato? Uno di Ogni Per Favore!!

-Friday afternoon, THIS top came for me from some place called Anthropologie? (I dunno...) I have been wanting it for so long and it finally went on sale for half off. So I ordered it. I have already worn it twice...




-Friday evening two of my dearest friends in the whole world, Laura and Jen, came to visit me from Charlottesville. We went to dinner, listened to live music, ate sweet potatoes, and snuggled in my bed and talked.

-Saturday morning we got up and went to the Raleigh farmer's market where we bought lots of yummys: Apples, Tomatoes, Peppers, Bread, Hot apple cider, Blackberry Jam, and Raspberries. Some were for our dinner party. Some were just for our delight.





-We spent the afternoon strolling around campus and through the Duke gardens. Then they crashed on the couch and watched Love Actually while I got started on the dinner.


-We had a lovely dinner party with good friends, family (brotherkind), and food.

-Sunday I got to take Jen, Laura, and Adam to church with me. It was glorious having so many of the people I love sitting around me at church. And Pastor JD preached an amazing sermon. Again.

-Then...
Sunday night...
Adam and I got to go and sit with the Cameron CRAZIES for the first regular season basketball game of the season!! My wonderful brother used his line-monitor powers and got us in. Watching Duke play while being sandwiched between my two favorite tall guys in the world...there aren't words. Oh, and have I mentioned yet how ridiculous we are this year? Go Duke.



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Harry and Sally



When Harry met Sally is easily one of my top-5 favorite movies of all time. It is a romantic comedy about a man (played by the hilarious Billy Crystal) and a woman (played by the adorable Meg Ryan) whose story illustrates why men and women can never be "just friends."
Adam and I watched it last night. And, besides getting a kick out of some of the similarities between our relationship and theirs..., we got SUCH a kick out of the love-story vignettes.


I have seen it about 100 times in my life, and these never get old. If you haven't seen it:


1. See it

2.They insert these little vignettes throughout the movie and they are easily the best part.

My favorite is the last one.
Watch them (It's less than 5 min). Laugh. Ok, now which one is your favorite?


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Happys and Sads (Plus Randoms), Part Tre




The next chapter of the Happys and Sads of life as a Duke Graduate student:
For previous chapters see Happys and Sads, and Happys and Sads, Part Due
Name: Elise Jordan
Year: 1
Program: MSc in Global Health
Weeks Completed: 11
Focus: Thanksgiving

SADS:
-Microsoft Word makes me feel stupid. I hate it when it has “no suggestions” for words that I’ve typed even when they are only ONE letter away from being correct, as if I’m so terrible at spelling. Which I am.
-I got an assignment back that I did all wrong apparently. Ugh.
-We have been freezing in our apt lately and I didn’t understand why because I set the thermostat to 72. Apparently you also have to turn the heat ON. Which Jeannie finally discovered.
-Every time I go into my favorite store, Anthropologie (for example two days ago) I feel like the most materialistic person in the world because I actually get feelings of bitterness when I have to leave empty handed. Isn’t that ridiculous?? I think that’s the only place on earth that I become extremely materialistic. It’s horrible. This time, it was these two things that I pouted all the way out about not being able to afford:


-My computer has an attitude problem and keeps deleting important papers when I’m almost done writing them. Fun huh?
-My Wahoos lost a close football game to Duke last weekend. :(

HAPPYS:
-Adam moved to NC on Monday! God blessed Adam and I with the faith and patience to pursue a long-distance relationship for almost a year. But PRAISE GOD HALLELUJAH AMEN that he is here now. Kihlil Gibran once said, “And it has been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” Thanks KG, but I think we get the picture already. No more hour of separation for us!
And He's Cooking dinner for me tonight.

-Two of my best friends, Laura (LT) and Jen are coming to spend this weekend with me!! Cannot wait.
Aren't they pretty?

-I've gotten several assignments/exams back that I did well on.
-I got my favorite toothpaste on sale this week. That never happens.
-I tried a new flavor Larabar that might be my new favorite: Gingersnap. De-lectable.
(If you've never tried Larabars, you should. They are amazing and totally grain free. Which is good for me. I eat them religiously.)
-I am officially going to be working with Bhutanese refugees in Nepal next summer for my thesis research.
-Mamma J and Daddy are going to be here again starting NEXT week.
-I finally found a dry-cleaners. I am very picky about my dry cleaning. Which is why it's taken me almost three months to take the leap of faith. I pick them up tomorrow so...hopefully it won't end up as a sad on my next blog.
-I joined a small group with the most amazing group of women from Summit Church. Such a blessing.
-JD's Sermon series on the Search for a King. Here's a link to the podcast if anyone's interested.
-The team looks some kind of unbelievable this year. Go Duke. Go Duke. Go Duke.

RANDOMS:
-Quotes from my classmates: “I’m a copy-cat. It’s my best feature.” “Word hates that word. Word needs to LEARN that word. That, and diarrhea.”
-I think I’m growing taller, finally. Maybe I'll be 5' 4'' soon.
-Why is it that I can perfectly fold a fitted sheet but I can’t fold a regular one for the life of me?? Or a map, which already has all the seams there for you.
-I get ridiculously star-struck every time I am walking behind/sitting near/see far away a Duke Basketball player. I know they are just normal people and they are all younger than me. But they play DUKE BASKETBALL. And they’re tall. So I can’t get past it.
-The other day my dad called me a plain vanilla outdoor adventuring, Anthropologie-coveting (told you), calculus-nerding, basketball loving (yep), Julia Child-emulating, Portico-devoted Wahoo...
-I made banana bread with rice flower this week (regular flour makes me ill). And it tasted amazing. Finally a flour-free baked good that doesn’t taste like a wanna-be-but-just-isn’t!

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Christian Atlases

I haven't had a lot to say lately.


And I really haven't had the time to say it.

But I read this (well to be more accurate I re-re-re-read this) the other day and it took me a moment to really have it sink in...again.

It comes from a book called the Relentless Tenderness of Jesus by Brennan Manning.
It starts out with one of my favorite chapters in the Bible; I John 4. This whole chapter is about God's love. He quoted verse 18 where it says "In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love."

Then he continues, "God's love is based on nothing (about us), and the fact that it is based on nothing makes us secure...People who realize this, can live freely and to the full. Remember Atlas, who carries the whole world? We have Christian Atlases who mistakingly carry the burden of trying to deserve God's love. Even the mere watching of this lifestyle is depressing. Id' like to say to Atlas: 'Put that globe down and dance on it. That's why God made it.' And to these weary Christian Atlases: 'Lay down your load and build your life on God's love.'"

Even the love of others is dependent to some extent on who I am. But God's love is so different. It's not dependent at all on who I am, rather only on who HE is.


Let this be an encouragement to you this week to put down your globe and dance on it. Don't try to earn His love--give up already and simply revel in it.

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Return of the Snail





I hope that snail mail and hand written letters make a come back. It is my favorite form of communication and as great as emailing, texting, skyping…or even blogging are, they will never compare. My grandparents communicated solely by snail mail when my grandfather would be over seas in the Navy for 8 or more months at a time. My grandmother still has these letters and tells stories about writing everyday, putting all the other Navy wives to shame, and waiting in anticipation for a response. Now she only gets letters from me, and they aren’t nearly as romantic. But she has taught me the importance of the art.

Well, this is a little different than distance-torn lovers living letter to letter, but two of my best friends in the world and I have a chain-letter-pact-thing (official title)… and it is consistently one of the highlights of my weeks. When we graduated UVa and left Charlottesville (Aka, not eating, sleeping, studying, eating, running, farmer-marketing, churching, talking, eating, snuggling, laughing, crying, eating, etc. together anymore) we were so sad, and this pact was what kept us sane during the transition process. (On second thought, we highly resemble distance-torn lovers). Corrine writes a single letter to LT and I, and she sends it to me. Then, I read her letter, write a new letter to LT and Corrine and mail it to LT. But I put Corrine’s letter in the envelope. LT opens her envelope to see not 1, but 2 letters! from her best friends, and she in turn writes one. She sends her letter and my letter back to Corrine and the chain continues.

I got my letters in the mail yesterday and I think my day got ten times better just by seeing both of their handwriting and hearing about their lives. There is something about someone’s handwriting that is so telling. You always know the people you loves’ handwriting. It's as familiar as your own.
We still talk on the phone (three way calling in true middle school girl style) when we can, and we text each other every so often, but this letter chain has been such a blessing in my life and an aid in my transition from experiencing day-to-day life with my best friends, to only seeing them on special occasions.

So, I’m telling you. If you want to keep in touch with someone, try snail mail for awhile. Tell me if it doesn’t bring you a new kind of communication-joy (official term)when you send a letter, and a week later you get one in return.

Oh, and Coco and LT. Ti Voglio Bene!!!
Love,
Me






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Meet Sweet November

Sweet November:

Birthstone--Topaz
Flower--Chrysanthemum
Bird--Turkey??

What I love about November:

1. Halloween is passed and all the creepy fall decorations are gone and all the pretty ones are left.
2. My mom, sister, and I always try to give up sugar from November 1st until Thanksgiving to offset the holiday season. I always fail. But it is always a good bonding experience for the Jordan women. Anyone want to join? No? I don’t blame you.
3. Regular Season begins for college basketball. Go Duke.
4. It’s James Naismith’s birthday month. He INVENTED Basketball. Aka, where would we be without November?? Well, at least for me, I would be nowhere because…
5. My birthday is in November!!
6. Lots of the people I love have birthdays in November.
7. The Berlin wall fell in November.
8. I let myself watch ELF for the first time of the year in November (Then I watch it about 20 times before the year ends…)
9. It’s finally starting to feel like fall.
10. Pumpkin pie, Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin salsa, pumpkins as decorations, pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing, pumpkin gelato. Mmmmm.
11. Christmas music starts the day after Thanksgiving. No earlier, no later.

And, of course...
12. THANKSGIVING!!!!

Now, I know it’s way to early to blog about Thanksgiving. Whatever. It’s my number one reason I love November, so I’m going to. Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. Here’s why (Other than it sometimes falls on my birthday which is fun!):

I think thanksgiving is one of the last unadulterated holidays. For me Christmas and Easter are the most significant holidays because they are the days we celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection. Right? Or not. It makes me so frustrated that both Christmas and Easter have turned from days with deep significance to Christians into days about fictional characters and commercialism. I know blah, blah, blah, this girl is just a bitter hater of Santa and the Easter bunny. Fine. BUT, I AM!!

(And yet, I still cry of laughter every time I watch Elf. This girl is also a hypocrite apparently.)

I think that’s why I love thanksgiving though. Thanksgiving has always been about gathering together, with loved ones and family, and remembering all the many things we have to be thankful for. And for the most part, I think that’s still what Thanksgiving is about (except maybe football and the Macy’s parade). It hasn’t been (overly) commercialized apart from the food for the feast, which is where the tradition started anyway. I love having a whole day to remember how very blessed we are. I love having yet another day to be thankful for Christ’s birth and Christ’s resurrection. I love reminding myself every year that I should live life with a thankful heart, and not remember my blessings only when my tummy is full of turkey and sweet potatoes and others’ are grumbling from hunger. It reminds me to be thankful when my cup is empty and thankful when I have plenty. It reminds me that EVERYDAY we should“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Psalm 100:4

I am so excited for this Thanksgiving. It is going to be an especially special one for our family. But, you’re right. Too early. I’ll wait till later to blog about it.

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