Vacuuming Stories

So, I'm a bit of a sucker for a good contest. Today, the Alice blog is giving us the opportunity to share our best "vacuum story." I hate vacuuming. No, really, I'd rather scrub the floor. Oddly enough though, my vaccuum is nearly as old as I am (I am 30+) and was owned by my Aunt Angie and given to me when I was in law school and needed one for my first apartment. Since then, it has travelled to five more apartments and three more states. I'll have to let my aunt know that it has been so well traveled and loved through the years. It has great suck-it-all up power!! But nonetheless, now that I live in such an urban city where space is certainly at a high premium, I'd love to own a Roomba and get rid of my loud, clunky vacuum.

P.S. Happy Birthday Kari! As always, great to chat with you & I am glad to hear that your boys took care of you today. For more fun, check out Alice - they're promising to revolutionize the way we shop :-) Even better, check out their blog, which is fun, fresh, and thought provoking!

Cathedrals & Lent

I attended mass at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in the Archdioce of Washington for the Palm Sunday Vigil tonight. It was a magnicient building, made with all sorts of marbles, shaped in a Latin Cross, and was the fourth Roman Catholic parish established in the District. The Byzantine touches to the decor were a bit over the top for my aesthetic taste but I did love the use of the Greek cross, which always bring me to my personal favorites, Celtic crosses.

Reading the passion today brought me back to that Palm Sunday spent in Spain, when we heard in spoken in Euskeran. That mass twelve years ago, with Saul and Benjamin, brought me a sense of peace as I realized that even though I could not understand a single spoken word, Roman Catholics around the world were celebrating the same reading of the passion. It was a moment of complete peace, a moment of communion with my fellow Roman Catholics.

Which contrasted to my sense during today's mass. Today's homily highlighted the need to focus this last week of Lent on the sacrifce of Christ and the Father, especially the lonely parts of sacrifice. To everything there is a season, and though we will celebrate the rising of Christ next week, first we must focus on what we must we give up and build within ourselves to truly be in communion with each other, Roman Catholic or no.

I'm leaving on a jet plane. . .

. . .or actually, I've already arrived from that jet plane ride. I'm in DC for the Annual NALP Conference, where I am serving as guest blogger for the week. Check out my first entry to learn more about NALP and why I am so proud to be a member.