culture – Page 4 – hannah ananas

Talaveras

Today, we went shopping for talaveras in Dolores Hidalgo, a town near Sam Miguel. If you are ever nearby, I highly recommend it. We found especially amazing work at Artesanías del Angel. We genuinely wanted to take the majority of it home with us, us was so gorgeous. Sure, we found great pieces at other workshops. But something about these pieces just hit home in a wonderful way. The longer we spent there, the more we wanted to get. We ended up spending far less money than I at all realized we were spending, and we got the following items:

Custom house address sign
House numbers (for on the fence)
Three custom University signs, talavera styled
Sun
3 Medium planters + water plates
Frog
Large planter
Cooking utensil rest
Multi-colored cuernas (longhorn skull)
Large sink basin
Metal sink basin mount

And Angel gave us the actual sink basin for free, because the one we really liked that was the big size we’d wanted was cracked. He at first wouldn’t let us have it, even, since it was cracked. But, once he realized it wasn’t for a backyard kitchen, but for a backyard basin just for washing hands or tools or whatever, he said we could have the sink and the mount for just the price of the mount itself. We gratefully and promptly accepted.

[This is where I would put some amazing photos of some of the wonderful pieces in the shop, if I hadn’t been so engrossed in everything around me, such that I have no photos I took! That’s how great it was!]

All in all, we spent a shockingly low amount of money, and we got some absolutely amazing pieces for our home and backyard. I am beyond excited for all of these pieces to bless our home. ¡Muchas gracias, Angel y los otros allí!

If you can ever go, please do! They have no website themselves, but you can find info for them from the city’s page or from Google Maps (with photos!).

Post-a-day 2023

The Chronicles of Narnia

I have to say: For some reason, I was utterly disinterested in reading The Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid. We read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in fourth grade, and I enjoyed it. But I never felt a desire to read the other books. I loved other series, but had no interest in that one.

However, now that I’m three quarters through the first book, I’m starting to reconsider. I’ve actually liked this book, and so find it interesting how these stories all tie together, though with different main characters for each book – perhaps that was what had disinterested me back then, a lack of a stable main character. In this case, Narnia is the stable main character, in a way, though it is always kind of the blanket holding everything happening, as opposed to the everything that is happening itself.

Does that make sense to you, too??

Post-a-day 2022

Happy Christmas

I had my man open tonight all his presents that I’d put under the tree. I don’t give Christmas presents, but I determined to have some fun for him this year, to let him be like a little kid and to shower him with gifts. Almost everything was either gained second-hand or from free gift cards, so the total cost was around $50, yet there were loads of presents for him to unwrap. He had said he liked opening packages, so I made sure he got to do just that tonight.

I also surprised him with my ticket to come visit with him in Mexico. (Granted, that one was several hundred dollars, but I’m also visiting my step-sister in Monterrey with the tickets, so it will be two trips for the usual price of the one, plus $40… not at all a bad deal, especially since I get to spend New Year’s with him, visit the town he loves, and see my step-sister and her family.)

He got me nervous by asking if I’d ‘approved this with anybody’. But, afterward, he said it was totally fine. His mom would be surprised, as he’d just told her two days ago that I wasn’t coming. But that everything would be okay. I’m still in a little bit of that space of unease, probably because it gave me the feeling of being in trouble, but I’m just going to let it be and see what happens. Hopefully, the concern will clear up on its own just by my allowing it to express itself.

I really hope he enjoyed everything I did for him tonight. And I’m really excited to set up the Play Station 3 that my mom gave us from her house (used to be my brother’s, but he didn’t need or really want it). We likely won’t get to play together until mid-January, after he’s back, but that’s okay. I’m excited about it, nonetheless.

Dear God, please, help us to rest well tonight. Keep us both safe in our travels. Help us to pursue and to fulfill your will by being our best selves. Thank you for everything. And please, heal my uncle – help him to join you fully. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Scary

Tomorrow, I will be doing something scary. However, I don’t feel scared about it right now. Perhaps that is because I am busy doing different things tonight still. Perhaps, though, it is because it’s something I have wanted to do and know will be valuable for me and my life going forward, so the fear is minimal when shown next to the value.

Post-a-day 2022

Surprise!

The test was nothing like anticipated, and was actually kind of ridiculously easy for me, as it played well to my strengths. I believe several people struggled, but I had minimal struggle – I aimed for perfecting the movements, while, it seemed, most others aimed simply to be able to do the movements. It was a surprise and a bit of a relief, as well as a touch disappointing. I was looking forward to the hard kick test of which I had heard for years. But it wasn’t meant to be. The head guy decided, for some reason, to do it all differently this time.

Perhaps they will decide that it wasn’t hard enough for us, and so will do their own version of it on us in February… only time shall tell!! But that’s how it all went today – simple and easy.

And I trust that it was perfect that way. Thank you, God.

…..

Separately, have you ever had something happen, and felt a need to speak up about it, though felt embarrassed or ashamed to have to bring it up in the first place? Yeah… I have one of those things that I now want and need to address, and am also scared to address. But I have reached out to the appropriate person, and will have that conversation with her tomorrow, and ask for her guidance on how to proceed with the situation as a whole. Hopefully, it was all intended as harmless. However, I still need to speak up about it and communicate that it wasn’t acceptable. (Yikes, I know. Prayers for successful communication appreciated.)

God, guide me clearly, please, and give me the ease and purpose and words needed for this situation to sort out beautifully and with you newly at its heart. In your name, I pray. Help me, please. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

First Impressions

‘I didn’t really like [———] at first.’

‘I didn’t either… She was very much a ‘CrossFit You got this!’ coach as her first impression… Maybe she’s just really shy.’

‘Maybe.’

‘I really like her now, though. She’s really cool.’

‘Yeah. I like her, too.’

The casual conversation during an absolutely terrible movie that I forgot wasn’t actually a Hallmark Christmas movie, but a NETFLIX(!!!) one… 1) That movie was shockingly terrible in all respects, despite the premise being cute. 2) I wonder how often a shy person in a setting that requires extroverted interactions gets a bad rap, when, really, everyone actually would love the person, given a different initial setting.

Post-a-day 2022

P.S. “The Noel Diary”… I’ve warned you. Enjoy! 😛

Not-so cool

Last night, we went to a Halloween party. There was much alcohol drinking and some cigarette smoking. Music was not very loud, but people were somewhat loud. The space wast crowded, except in narrower passageways on occasion.

I had a decent time. I’m glad we went, as it was an important event for my man’s family. We also both looked awesome, both in terms of outfits and in terms of fitness and overall adorable-ness.

However, I typically prefer staying home over going to such events. I felt so fancy, going to a party and on a Saturday night… like all the normal people, I passively thought.

Coincidentally, the story I did in Duolingo tonight was all about how these two girls stayed home every Friday evening and watched their favorite television show, instead of ever going out anymore. When their flatmate walks out in a party dress and says she’s going out dancing, they decide to go with her. The one who declared they were going with her finds at the club that it is too dark, the music is too loud, it is too crowded, and her feet start hurting rather quickly into the night.

As I read the story, I couldn’t help but notice that, aside from the feet part, I usually experience the same things whenever I have to go out to things. Though, as in her case, no one else ever seems to care.

What was funny with the story itself was that, as this girl is commenting on these things, and declares that she wants to go home already, she asks, ‘Am I the only one who isn’t cool anymore?’, for they had said earlier that the cool thing to do was to go out on Friday nights. Her friend replies, ‘Don’t worry – you weren’t ever cool in the first place.’

And, somehow, I found immense delight in that statement. Perhaps it reminded me of me and my best friend, and how we always are honest with things, and how we find it comical when our honesty, to an outsider, could sound terribly mean, but that it is very much not a big deal to us. Also, though, she and I never really were considered “cool”, anyway. We were fun and smart and goofy and weird and kind and sweet and reliable and all sorts of good stuff. People got along with us rather easily, and enjoyed our presence, of course. But we just weren’t exactly ever cool. She was even student body president in high school. She got closer than I did to cool, but she still wasn’t cool. So, we would have definitely had a conversation like the one in this Duolingo story tonight, my best friend and I. And that was a good feeling.

Anyway, I absolutely could relate to the story in all levels, and I loved that ending to the story, somehow, in a very personal way. It was awesome. Thank you, God. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

World Series

Dear God,

I simply pray that all people be kind, loving, selfless, and forgiving throughout this World Series, especially those who call themselves “rivals” to others. Help us all to remember that we are all children of God, blessings to the world in all that we each are and in all that we are together, as one people.

In your name, I pray.

Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Relics

Look, I know relics are truly this really cool thing and all, and they’re an absolute blessing to those of us living now who get to cross paths with them, but they still kind of creep me out. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t exactly like to touch people and their stuff in the first place, even when they’re alive and sanitary and everything. Leaving them dead and in pieces for a few hounded years, and then touched by thousands upon thousands of people doesn’t exactly make me more interested in touching them and their stuff…

Makes sense, at any rate…

Post-a-day 2022

Peace

“Thank you for praying with us today, and let peace be with you,” he closes out the rosary. And I wonder at this every time. Tonight, however, I think I have an answer.

You see, we always say either, “Peace be with you,” or “May peace be with you,” with both being intended as a blessing from one to another. However, Mark Wahlberg doesn’t say it that way. He says, “let”…

Let peace be with you…

Why let? Because we are the ones who determine if we have peace. In the harshest of circumstances, people find peace. In the most idyllic of circumstances, people lack it. Why? Because we determined, each and every one of us, for ourselves whether we are at peace, have peace, or not.

So, it’s up to me to allow peace to be with me… That exactly. We are surrounded by a world filled with peace, wanting to grant us peace. Yet, how often do we block it? How often do we push away from that offering of peace? How often do we decide to stay stuff where we are in our miseries?

Peace is knocking from every direction. Dare we to answer the door and to let peace come be with us??

I dare.

Post-a-day 2022