Waiting, music and early spring

Ok, so I know we promised to give you the cure for the winter shivers this week… but it seems so silly to post a frozen-weather topic when we’re enjoying extraordinarily warm weather currently. We have no need for cold-curing miracles, so we’re postponing that post for a more relevant time.

For today, a word on waiting through the difficult times of silence in life, courtesy of John Ruskin. I’m loving the way he compares life to a song.

—-Chelsea

There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. 

During those rests, we foolishly think we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were ever there. 

God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the rests. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will only look up, God Himself will count the time for us. With our eyes on Him, our next note will be full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget that the rest is part of the beauty of the song.

Do-it-yourself fish tank

Our first bit of inspiration in 2011 is a neat do-it-yourself project. We love it when people get creative. It sparks our own imaginations. My little brother made this amazing fish tank out of an antique television set he found at the Auburn Street Fair. The on/off button even works the light for the tank. Pretty awesome, bro.


--Chelsea

Chocolate explosions are the best kind. (Happy New Year!)

2011 began with chaos, chocolate and cleaning. It was intended to be a relaxing, low-key evening but somehow went terribly awry at the last minute.

We began by cooking a leisurely Italian meal complete with pesto pasta, Roman chicken, cheesy-walnut-pesto bread, and sparkling pomegranate juice. Delicious.

We then watched a movie—the best movie of 2010, Inception—to close out the year. By 11:34 we had finished the movie and began a lively discussion of its themes, the ending and what we loved about it (everything).

We had planned to toast the New Year with ridiculously-thick chocolate milk shakes, but now the time was running short. By the time I (Chelsea, always thinking of chocolate) remembered our plan, it was 11:53. Seven minutes till 2011. “We can do this!” I assured the others. Brandie and I got out the blender, ice cream, chocolate syrup, etc. We blended away busily while my sister kept count in the living room.

“3 minutes to go!” she would yell, causing more bustle in the kitchen. The blender stopped working, and I was basically whipping the ice cream by hand, still inside the blender, with a spoon.  I spooned some out for my sister’s glass, and she ran to the living room with a whipped-cream-topped frothy treat.

“35 seconds till midnight!” she cried.

I picked up the blender to pour the rest into two glasses when the blender’s bottom completely fell out, causing a minor explosion of chocolate milkshake. There was chocolate everywhere, up and down the kitchen cabinets, on the floor, on my forehead. Brandie and I were laughing hysterically and trying frantically to save some of the precious elixir as it flowed onto the floor.

Our hands full of melting ice cream, we tracked chocolate footprints into the living room as Felicia counted down “3-2-1- Happy New Year!” and we toasted with those darn milkshakes.

We are tempted to think, Dear Lord, this year began with an explosion and a sticky mess to clean! This is a terrible indication of how this year is shaping up.

But then, explosions are kind of exciting. Certainly laughable when they’re chocolatey.  And we are not opposed to our lives being flooded with sweetness. Here’s to a happy 2011 and chocolate for all!

This is us. We’ve been friends for 15 years now, so we tend to finish each other’s sentences. Perhaps we can finish some of yours as well. 

A Whimsical Welcome

Welcome to our blog, Words and Whimsy. We hope to create a small treasure trove of the things that inspire us, make us laugh, and stop us in our tracks to make us ponder. We’re just two twenty-something girls living out our lives as friends and roommates, pursuing what we love. Our lives are normal and sometimes boring, but we love to travel, we’re working on taking more risks, and we find beauty in the little things.  We are decidedly pessimistic and prone to melancholy; but even through trying circumstances, we laugh every day. We are hoping that you can too.


--Chelsea and Brandie