Zoe's Herbs & Teas

I had a wonderful experience today at a tea shop in the West End of Pittsburgh called Zoe's Herbs & Teas. I am volunteering at the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA), which is right down the street. Zoe's has a comfortable, inviting atmosphere. Dried herbs (in picture above), herb plants, tea accessories, and kitchen antiques are for sale decorate the shop. There are also some books to read and a few games to play. And of course, there is tea -- many types of tea! I got peach iced tea. I also got cheddar-tomato-bacon quiche, a salad, and split a basil brownie with Charity (the woman I'm volunteering with). The herbs in the baked goods seemed a bit odd to me at first, but they are actually quite refreshing. It wasn't a strong basil flavor, and if I wasn't told it was basil, I wouldn't have placed it. It was still nice and chocolatey. There were also herbs in the quiche and on the salad. Zoe herself waited on me and was happy to make some changes to the salad because I have a few dietary restrictions (and I just don't like beets). After I asked her to leave a few items off of the salad, she offered to add zucchini and squash, which I love. It was a delicious meal. And the price was amazing! I got a piece of quiche, a salad, two glasses of iced tea (one for me and one for Charity), a large brownie, and a pretty, little tea cup and saucer to give to a friend - for $12.75. Can't be beat!

Murder at Longbourn

I found the novel Murder at Longbourn by Tracy Kiely at my local library a few weeks ago and thought it would be a refreshing break from all of the reading I'd been doing for school. I'm a Jane Austen fan, though not as much as a purist as some. I don't like to read books that continue Austen's novels. I read one once, but decided that I prefer Austen's original endings. I also haven't read either of the Austen adaptations by Quirk Classics -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I think Quirk Classics has an interesting concept and makes great use of public domain, but I'm not particularly drawn to zombie or monster books. I do like books like this that are based on Austen's themes and characters, and Murder at Longbourn is just that. It is also a murder mystery, and I love mystery novels.

In an attempt to forget her failing search for her own Mr. Darcy, twenty-something Elizabeth Parker accepts an invitation for a How to Host a Murder New Year's Eve party at her eccentric aunt's Cape Cod B&B, with the Austen-inspired name of Longbourn. She ends up playing detective when a party guest is murdered and her aunt is framed for the killing. I enjoyed this book and was happy to learn that is is the first in a series. Elizabeth Parker returns as sleuth in Murder on the Bride's Side, which will be released in a month.

A few other books based on Austen's themes and character that I enjoyed:

* The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

* Austenland by Shannon Hale

* Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Leap

I just found this Quotable Card, and it explains my summer thus far. I haven't blogged in a while, and my last few posts dealt with balance, time, and fear. Leaving the familiarity of one of my two jobs and starting grad school was scary for me. Trying to balance my schedule was challenging. There were a lot of new things to adjust to - grad school was new, going to school entirely online was new, and this was my first time working at a public library during the summer reading program, so that was new. New things can be intimidating to me. If I haven't done it before, I don't know if I can do well at it, and the perfectionist in me always wants to do well. This fear of not performing well can lead me to get stuck in a rut and shy away from new experiences. I am so glad that I said a prayer (well, many) and took a leap of faith. A safety net definitely appeared, and not only did I just get through everything, I enjoyed all of it. I hope that I continue to pick faith over fear and try new things in the future. I am not spontaneous by nature. I am a scheduled person, and I like that about myself. But, taking a leap is good, and trusting that God will get me through makes it even better.

Present Moment

Latin poet Horace wrote "carpe diem." Jonathan Larson, in the musical Rent, wrote "no day but today!" And then there is that quote from Alice Morse Earle that makes it in all of the greeting cards: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present." 

It may not be as catchy as those quotes, but I like the quote from Buddha. Easier said than done, I'm afraid. For the past week or two I have consumed by my school work. I did school work, went to work, ate, and slept. That was about it. I felt terrible, but I also felt like I had to keep working. I was terribly afraid of getting behind. I was so consumed with what might go wrong in the future that I had completely lost sight of the present moment. I wasn't living wisely or earnestly. I was just working because I didn't want to have that hanging over my head the next day. But when the next day came, there was more work to be done.

Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized. -- Leo Buscaglia

I just found that quote and I feel it summarizes my last week or two. And the irony is, I was never behind in my work. I am actually almost never behind in my work, but I am always afraid I will be (which goes back to my post on fear).

Over the weekend, my husband reminded me of something he read in a book by Doug Fields: Doug breaks his day into three parts - morning, afternoon, and evening - and will not work for more than two parts of a day. I like that. I have work to do, and I want to do it. I like my job at the library and am enjoying school. But I don't want to become consumed by them and always be a day away from realizing my life. I want to live wisely and earnestly and appreciate the many blessings I have been given. And so, I borrow words from the great Jane Austen and ask:

Teach us...that we may feel the importance of every day, and every hour, as it passes.

Balance

I've been wanting to post for a while. I've had several ideas floating around in my head, but I just haven't gotten to them yet. I am still learning to balance my new schedule of full-time grad school and part-time work. Neither schedule is very predictable, which makes it difficult to make a permanent daily schedule as I hoped to do. I want to do well at both things, but I also want to have time to exercise, cook healthy food, read for pleasure, play with my dogs, write on my blog, and spend time with my husband, friends, and family, oh, and sleep. It is difficult to learn how to prioritize, but I'm working on it. Balance will come.

Fear

I have a confession to make. I have written on this blog about the glory of nature and how I believe that every creature is sacred. Well, I lied.

House centipedes, or gazillion-leg bugs as I call them, are of the devil. I despise them. They bring out the worst in me. I think of myself as a peaceable person. I don't often shout. I am almost never violent. But all of this changes if there is a centipede in my house. I yell, threaten, and curse the creature's offspring. I get out the bug killer and spray half of the can on the leggy thing. And then I cower in another room until my husband can remove the body.

Why do I cower? Because the real reason that I despise centipedes is because they scare me. Bugs and creepy-crawlies in general don't bother me much. If there is a spider in the house, I take it outside. I've held snakes and had pet lizards. But I'm afraid of centipedes. And that fear leads me to do things I wouldn't usually do and say things I wouldn't usually say. I am not proud of this part of myself.

This goes beyond bugs, of course. Don't we all have areas of our lives where we give in to fear? Taylor Haley spoke at my church a few weeks ago and said that fear and faith cannot exist at the same time. That idea has been resonating with me. I've been trying to seek out these areas of my life and choose faith over fear. I've also been trying to live the famous quote by Eleanor Roosevelt and do one thing every day that scares me. These things that I'm doing are small things, but they are meaningful leaps of faith, a good beginning. It feels amazing to trust God and start to let go of my fears.

I'm making progress, but it is going to take a lot of growing before I am ready to befriend a centipede.

Belief-O-Matic

I just took the Belief-O-Matic sorter on BeliefNet. I hadn't taken it in several years, and I thought it would be fun to take it again. I love personality/belief sorters (I don't call them tests because they don't have right or wrong answers.) -  from something like Belief-O-Matic, which has a funny name but is actually serious, to the silly ones on Facebook like What Part of a Fairy Tale Are You? (I'm the magic wand.) I took time to really think about my answers for the Belief-O-Matic and not just click the answer that I have heard the most. I really had to dig deeply for some of the questions. I agreed with my outcome. It had changed slightly since I last taken it, which I feel reflects some of the shifts in my beliefs.

I'm not against sharing my results (and I've already talked about my faith some on this blog), but I don't want to seem to be promoting one branch of my religion over another. When it comes to faith and religion, I think conversations are often more divisive than anything else. They turn angry, even hateful, as one religion (or branch within a religion) accuses another of blasphemy. Ironically, such behavior goes against the tenants of many, if not all, of the world's major religions. I do shy away from talking about my faith sometimes for fear of a hostile conversation. Discussing disagreements in beliefs is good. Keeping an open mind and hearing what someone else believes while exploring your own views can lead to growth.

I wanted to share this sorter because it helped me to explore my faith a little bit, and I thought someone else in cyberland might enjoy it too. BeliefNet has information about many belief systems, and you can explore this information without taking the sorter. Read, explore, discuss, but please, don't let differences in beliefs lead to hostility.