On this Day in History...

On this day in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba where he had been exiled for less than a year. While on Elba, Napoleon was given sovereignty over the 12,ooo inhabitants, and he was able to retain his title of Emperor. In the few months he spent on Elba he created a small army and navy, upgraded some agricultural methods, and developed some iron mines. I guess he really believed that "idle hands are the devil's tools." That or he was just an egotistical work-aholic.

Turns out Napoleon was a fascinating person, and not as short as many people believe. If you want to find out more, click here.

Super Sappy Valentine's Day

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone. It's a day that has never really bothered me. Sure, I've bought into the whole "it's cool to hate Valentine's Day because I'm single" thing every once in awhile. But really, to me Valentine's Day is just a commercialized holiday that makes people compelled to give each other chalky little heart candies. I feel just as love-sick (or just as happy) on Valentine's Day as any other day of the year.

One thing I can appreciate though, is the history behind Valentine's. The day is named after St. Valentine who, legend has it, continue to perform marriages even after Roman Emperor Claudius II banned marriage in the third century AD, and was martyred for doing so. That's how the holiday got it's Christian name, but the celebration goes farther into pagan Roman history. It has it's roots in the festival called Lupercalia-- a celebration in which naked men would whip young ladies in hopes of increasing their fertility. Those crazy Romans! What didn't they do?

If you want to check out more fun facts and history about Valentine's Day, go here. Ok, love you! Mean it!

Happy Spainiversary!

Tomorrow, my sister and I are headed down to Oakhurst, CA to visit one of my very best friends, Tori, for a celebration we call "Compostella Day." January 28th, 2007 I completed a 500 mile pilgrimage with these two women in Spain: the Camino de Santiago. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I'm going to spend the next two days reminiscing about it. If I haven't ever told you about it (which is unlikely) please ask! I love sharing the stories. For now, Buen Camino a todos!

Resolve (or lack of)

So. New Years. Everybody makes resolutions, right? Come the end of December, I was actually feeling pretty negative about making New Year's resolutions. Alison? Being negative?! Yes, it can happen. So, there I was looking forward to a new year and thinking about how pointless it generally is for me to make resolutions. I just break them after 3 days anyway! And then I'll adopt a new resolution or two, and that'll last about 5 days and then I'll get lazy or busy or something and that'll be the end of that. Plus, why for New Year's? What about the rest of the year? I make resolutions every other week, so why should I make them especially for January 1st?

That's how I was feeling. But usually I'm able to see the bright side and as I thought about it more I was able to appreciate the beauty of New Year's resolutions-- the symbolism of a fresh start. So, I decided I might make a couple of my own! I resolved, first, to get to work on time. Ok, so the process is on-going. Resolution 1, part B is to not abuse the snooze button as much as I used to. Yeah, about that... My second resolution is to make myself a budget. Hopefully I'll be more successful than the government of California. We'll see. It's a New Year!

A Factoid, to start the year off right!

Many months of the year have Roman origins for their names, like August (after Augustus Caesar) and October (after Octavius). Did you know that January has Roman origins as well? January was named for the Roman god, Janus, who had two heads-- one that faced forward and the other which faced backward. It seems very fitting for the first month of the year, to reflect on the year that has past and to look forward to what the new year might bring.

But actually (?!), March was originally the first month of the year, because this was the time when planting began and it was time to go to war (March being named after Mars, the god of war). So why did it change? The Romans decided that instead of inaugerating their new consuls in the busy month of March, why not the boring, uneventful month of January? So there you have it, another way the Romans shook things up that still prevails in Western society today.

(Source: http://ngm.typepad.com/pop_omnivore/2009/01/how-january-wen.html)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here is my gift to all of you who read this blog. Happy Holidays!

Love Is Like...

Yesterday at church the sermon was called "Following a Star to Love," it being the Sunday we light the Love Advent candle. Love, I think, is one of the most important Christian messages and it speak volumes about who God is and how he relates to us. The scripture passage used for the sermon really spoke to me. It was 1 John 4:16b-19:

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us."

I added the italics, because those are two points that especially speak to me. First, I have felt in the past that I fear a great many things in this life. Fear causes me to be paralyzed and stagnant; I don't grow because I fear what might come with change. I fear people's disapproval and I fear being disliked or alone. But! There is no fear in love! I know that there are people in my life who love me, and I know that God first loved me, so in this knowledge I try to fear a little bit less.

My pastor also made a great point. He said, "Love is like oxygen." This immediately caused me to want to sing! I know he meant that without love we can't survive, but all I was hearing for a minute or two was, "Love is like oxygen/ You get too much you get too high/ Not enough and you're gonna die..." If you're not sure what I'm talking about, just watch this!