Fridays at First Day: Valentine's Day Vow

Valentine’s Day Vow

Ah, Valentine’s Day. A day devoted to expensive dinners and cheap carnations, boxes full of chocolate and words empty of true intention. And love. Ah, love. The most meaningful decision I have ever made is to love others. So today’s holiday? I could obviously take it or leave it. But I am serious about love.

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Fridays at First Day: What I Can Give and God is Not in a Box

Over the holidays, I continued to write for The First Day, a new online and print spiritual magazine exploring arts, culture, faith and practice.  Committing to submit a piece for them every Friday has challenged me as a thinker and a writer.  I feel that I have already grown in both areas thanks to this opportunity.  I hope you have received something from them as well.  

Here are my two latest articles for The First Day:

What I Can Give

We all give a lot: our time, our talent, our emotions, our money. How was Christmas—this season, this year— changed by what and how I gave? How was I changed? Could I have given more? And, at times, should I have given less?  Read more...

God Is Not in a Box

I let whatever I was just thinking, feeling, doing, fall to the page with a few more tears. It’s messy and maybe silly, but I am a bit angry and certainly sad so I just keep writing. And then I stop. I feel better, but I know that this time, I am not finished.  Read more...

So Much to Read, So Little Time

In little irksome ways, 2014 is already teaching me that I try to do too much.  For instance, merely over the month of December, I accumulated more than 10 books on my bedside table.  I am very interested in reading all of them cover to cover.  I love to read.  I love to learn.  I love to escape to fictitious lands and experience through fictitious eyes.  And here, today, on January 1, I have read at least one page in each of these books, but little more.  To make matters worse, most of these books are in someway instructional. Why do I feel compelled to be so productive?  Maybe I need a book on how to get better sleep so that I will have more energy to...oh, never mind.

Title: Man Repeller
Author: Leandra Medine
Though I am unclear on his thoughts on the title, this book was a gift from my husband.  It is a collection of autobiographical essays written by a fairly funny and successful "bloggess."  I could write a book like this.  I am not a Jewish girl from the Upper East side with a large following and a fancy degree from the New School, but everyone's awkwardness is equally as hilarious and I am easily as witty as she.  Good thing I am just enjoying reading this book and not judging it or myself in the process.

Title: A Prayer Journal
Author: Flannery O'Conner
I love Flannery O'Conner's transparency in this journal which was recently published.  Of, course O'Conner was writing for no one, but herself.  Still, her honesty with God humbles me.

Title: Help, Thanks, Wow
Author: Anne Lamott
Lamott, on the other hand, intentionally wrote a book on prayer.  Though not a spiritual leader, exactly, I truly believe her experience and way with words has the ability to teach us all.

Title: Bird by Bird
Author: Anne Lamott
Also in the "I heart Anne stack" is this essential book for all writers, aspiring or otherwise.  This one, I will definitely finish.

Title: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
Author: Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
A great parenting book.  So simple, yet effective.  I love to talk and when it comes to my kids I often say too much.  I want nothing more than to understand my little ones and have them confide in me as they grow into not so little ones.

Title: Hyperbole and a Half
Author: Allie Brosh
Ok, so this is my attempt to be hip and cool.  Thankfully my friend Laura gave this book to me for Christmas so I can feign "with-it-ness."  This is also my true comic relief in the pile.  From what I have read so far, I am just like this woman.  And she is a mess.  Awesome.

Rounding out the list is "Praying with the Psalms" and "The Message" (a contemporary translation of the Christian Bible) both books written and/or translated by Eugene Peterson.  One day, yes, one day, I will read through the entire Bible in a year.  

Also on my bedside is a book of Christmas Sudoku puzzles which is festive in cover design alone.  I have no idea when I last tried to finish one of those.  And a yoga DVD which is doing absolutely nothing for anyone in my bedroom where there is no TV or floor space for such nonsense.  Perhaps I should tidy up a bit.

And last, but certainly not least, is "Living a Jewish Life" which I picked up at my church's library.  A new character I am developing is Jewish.  That is all.  Stay tuned.

So, clearly, I have plenty to keep me busy by my bedside this year (I didn't even go into what is on my desk).

Hey, wait, none of these titles are fiction.  Sacrilege!  Well, I am off to the library to necessarily add to my pile...

They will never be stacked this neatly again.

What should I check out fiction-wise this year?  Have you read any of the above titles with your very own two eyes?  

This Year in Review: My Blog's First Birthday

December 11 marks the one year anniversary of this blog, Kristin Has Two Eyes.  And in case, after a year, you have yet to notice that the blog's title is a pun, please do so now.  I literally have two eyes on my face through which I observe the wonderful stuff this world offers me to write, and I also have two i's in my name.  As in, "How do you spell your name?"

"Oh, well, thanks so much for asking.  Kristin has two i's"

Over this past year, I have published 60 posts and drafted many others.  I believe my writing has matured over this time and I truly appreciate you all reading, commenting and being my audience.  I would not have grown without you.

The blog has been visited over 11,000 times and has received over 800 comments (OK, some of those where mine.)  I am looking forward to another 12 months of essay and anecdote, flash fiction and a bit of fun. If we are all lucky, The Video Game Voyeur will return in some fashion.  She obviously has two eyes as well.  Regardless, I hope you come along for the ride and invite others to jump on along the way.

Here is a sampling of some of the blog's "best" this year.  

Funniest: She Refused
Remember when I basically sat naked in the dermatologist's office?  Yeah.  That one.

Best Fiction: Sibling Rivalry
This post won me my first and only Speakeasy award this year.  

Most Recognized: Fortuitous Forty
This blog won me my first and only Jury Prize at Yeah Write.  And it landed me on the top 60 posts of all time over there as well.  It was also featured on Project Underblog, a blog dedicated to highlighting smaller sites like mine.

Most Viewed: I May Be An Idiot, But So Is The Lady At The Post Office
Somehow, this post has been hit over 1300 times.  WAY more than most of my other posts.  Maybe lots of people get online to complain about the post office?    

My Favorite: Uninvited
I don't know if this is my all-time favorite post, but it is right now.  It tells the story of getting to know a complete stranger, interacting with someone face-to-face in this busy, tech-crazed, rush of a world.  

And last, but not least, a great, big shout out to my fabulous friend M. Kendall Ludwig for my brand new blog design.  She always makes me look good.  If you need a "blog-lift" like I did, find her at CurlyRed.

Do you have any favorite posts from this year?  What would you like to see on the blog in the next?

They Gave Me an Assignment

I liked school.  I was good at school.  I worked well within the constrains of syllabi and assessments.  And so, when I was asked by the editor at The First Day, a new online and print magazine devoted to arts, culture, faith and practice, to submit a piece on attending a recent conference, I was tickled pink.  I had an assignment. 

I am already hopeful I will write for this site again or maybe even regularly (fingers crossed.  I love assignments!).  It would be an honor to join the "cast of characters" already populating this website's list of writers.  I feel passionate about issues of faith and appreciate having a safe place to discuss them, one that crosses backgrounds, cultures, and denominations.

If you haven't already done so, please read my post, published today.  Please also peruse The First Day site in its entirety.  No matter what your belief system I am confident you will find something there that speaks to you.

As always, I am grateful for your readership and feedback.  The First Day feels the same.