Someone (I can only assume Coke) deleted the adorable John Krasinski Coke Rewards video I posted yesterday. People! If you have Internet users who are embedding your commercial on their blogs, it's in your best interest to leave it be. Free media impressions!
Because I'm sad, here's another video... a Tuesday afternoon smile, if you will. Bonus in this one: you get Ellen and Rainn Wilson. Oh, and a DANCE-OFF.
A Monday morning smile for you...is he not just THE cutest?!
Do you ever feel like you need a million lifetimes to do everything you want to do?
“You have no idea what you will do with these bits and pieces. All you know is that you want to capture what you see with words, you want to preserve moments and then turn them upside down to see what truth lies beneath.”
Last night, I was lying in bed and couldn't sleep. My mind was racing and going ten different directions. I'm not really one to worry about things, but at 1am, everything seems bigger and more overwhelming and more upsetting and scarier. In a matter of minutes I went from regular old tossing and turning to anxiety and tears. I could not have been further from sleep as I mentally played through leases and moving and roommates and my job and money and relationships and friendships and faith and beyond.
And then God spoke to me. I prayed aloud,
And then I fell asleep."Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness."
I dare you to get through this New York Times: Modern Love article without shedding a tear. I, for one, shed about 12 and lost a contact.
In a Charmed Life, a Road Less Traveled
"'I don’t know if I can do this for the rest of my life,' she said.
All I could say was, 'We’ll do it together.'”
That, my friends, is love.
(Thanks to Honey B for the article!)
I know I have been inundating you with songs, lyrics and music videos lately, but man! so much good music just keeps making its way to my ears and eyeballs. I blame Web 2.0 and the democratization of content. ;)
What is up with "Push to Exit" buttons?
One of my favorite things about blogging is Google Analytics. (Pause to note that that's possibly the nerdiest sentence I have ever typed.) I like knowing that I have readers in Malaysia and Nicaragua and 41 US states, that 33% of my readers use Firefox, and that my Six Word Stories post has been viewed more than anything I've written.
But my favorite thing about Google Analytics is taking a look at how folks from all over the Internet get to Lulled by the Train. Thanks to my Project Runway blogging days, one can Google horrible prom dresses, blayne holler at your boy, hedda lettuce's birth name or republic of cocktailland and get directed here. And there are plenty of people who found me thanks to searching for Donny Deutsche being an idiot and Taylor Swift's Fearless liner notes. There are even the two people who Googled lulled by the "train com" (unnecessary quotes much?).
But my favorite Google searches that got readers here are...
And last but certainly not least...
So take note, Internet World! If you're looking for a one-stop shop for all your Republic of Cocktail Land, Stupid Jingle, Venus Schnitzel, Manwich needs, you've come to the right place.
I was thinking today about why Good Friday is called Good Friday.
Good Friday was sad - no, more than sad - it was devastatingly tragic. There were earthquakes. It was dark. A mother lost her son, a brother lost his kin, the disciples lost their friend. It's the day that Jesus was violently murdered on the cross. The day that our beloved Savior was nailed to a tree. The day that Christ cried out in anguish, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
I can say with absolute certainty that Good Friday seemed like the most hopeless day that will ever exist in all of eternity. The Messiah, the one who came to save and restore His people, died and was buried in a borrowed grave. The One who created heaven and earth, the Son of God, was mocked, beaten and killed by ignorant and hateful people. Everything that the disciples... everything that all of creation for all of time... had been believing in and hoping for was questioned and ripped apart.
So why do we call this horrible, sad, gruesome Friday "Good?"
Because we know the end of the story.
I have no doubt that the disciples would not have called this day "good" as it was happening. But they should have known better, right? Jesus had told them the end of the story, too. He told them he would rise after three days. He told them he was the Messiah that they had been waiting for. He promised that he offered eternal life. But in the middle of their story, as the plot thickened and the dramatic climax broke, the goodness of the end of the story got muddled by the sadness of the circumstances.
In our lives, we too are constantly making our way through days and events that we would call anything but good. Sad? Yes. Heartbreaking? Yes. Disappointing? Yes.
Hopeless? Yes.
But - hope resides in the fact that we know that this is not the end of the story; it's just the beginning. We recognize today as Good Friday not because of the events that transpired on it, but because of THE event that came three days later. We find goodness and hope in the day that Christ died because we know that there is no greater goodness, no greater hope, than that which is found in Easter.
As we struggle through life, making our way through the trials and tribulations that inevitably come our way, may we find our hope in Christ alone. He is writing our story. He is the great I Am. He knows the end.
And it is good.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2
"Dream of New York," H.R. Giger, 1958I joined a new gym this week. (Any NYSC members out there? If so, let's go spinning together!) You have most likely never met someone who hates working out more than I do. To combat this hatred, I have found two key motivating forces: clothes and music. If you think those sound ridiculous, well, you're probably right, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Last year for Christmas, I knocked out a) clothes. (Note: This was in my "I want to run the New York Marathon!" phase.) (Note, part b: As of today, I can't run five minutes without wanting to kill myself.) Nevertheless, with my new gym membership, I already had a closet full of adorable color-coordinated exercise clothes, including hot pink sports bras, a 3-piece gray and baby blue ensemble and snazzy red and white Asics shoes.
But regarding b) music. As I was jamming on the eliptical machine yesterday, I realized that my "Workout" playlist could use some improvement. Some of my favorites include -
What are your favorite songs to workout to that I should add to my playlist?
L-O-V-E this.
