Watch out for Elephants with "15c" written on it's behind!

Not a day goes by that Dave & I don’t live with the consequences of car accidents.  When my husband, Dave was a teeny-bop he was in a deadly car accident.  One of the kids in the crash never went back to functioning and passed away a few years ago.  Dave was left with severe back & neck pain, trouble sleeping, inability to concentrate & a myriad of other issues that make our life more complicated.

At 18, my little, navy blue 1986 Ford Escort was totaled when an old woman blew a stop sign.  At 24, my darling “Ruby,” (an adorable 1996 red Ford Probe) was clobbered by a drunk driver who ran a red light.  He was just a kid.  A junior at Western Michigan University, who left the scene on foot.  The combination of those two accidents has left me with some pretty intense neck pain every now and then,  not to mention some extreme paranoia when it comes to driving.

The other day, I watched this crazy video, which shows the effects of drunken, distracted, sleepy, sloppy, careless, impatient or angry driving.  Oh my, it’s just so sad.  I WISH I had seen this during driving training!

Yes, it’s a bit sensationalist, but it’s worth at least one viewing.

IF YOU DRIVE, WATCH THIS VIDEO! (If you tried the link & can’t figure it out, head on over to my facebook accountt.  I just posted it to my wall).

It was a GOOD reminder for me who -I admit- fusses with my ipod while driving, texts while driving, falls asleep while driving, tries to download new podcasts & 99% of time is on the phone while driving. My car may as well have a big sign that says, “GRACE BISKIE IS AS A DISTRACTED DRIVER AS THERE EVER WILL BE!” What about you?  Are you guilty???

But, I’m changing my ways.  The aforementioned video*, woke me up to the reality of how awful car accidents can be, especially when they can be prevented.  I made a solid commitment to my husband, kids (and all of you) that I will no longer do these dangerous behaviors while driving.  *Sigh*  I feel awful that I have taken this lightly.

How have car accidents affected your life?

*FYI, the video has a number of very disturbing images.  I wouldn’t allow the youngins to see it unless your ready to explain about death, doom & dark realities.  Good for your aspiring drivers though!*

For the sake of the precious commodity of human beings, let’s all be a bit more careful from now on…

xoxo,

Warm crab anyone?

Back in the day (pre-marriage, pre-babies, pre-bachelor’s degree –in other words when I still had a “normal” amount of free time), I worked for Red Lobster.  No, this wasn’t my worst job, but I thought it was.  You see, as a waitress I cried.  A lot.  My face would flush red with heat whenever anyone -mostly attitudinal women- would give me a giant attitude problem for something that was far beyond my control like not having enough clean silverware.

I made great money for a broke college student who only wanted to work Friday through Sunday 4pm – 1am.  After about 3.5 years of living what seemed like a job with far too much stress I left Red Lobster and moved on to…

Builder’s Square.  By the far, the worst job I have ever had.  In fact, I still get anxiety thinking about that stupid job.  Let me break it down for you…

• Bad pay.  I got a tad less than minimum wage which was only $6.25 at the time.
• B -O-R-I-N-G.  On so many levels.  Be a cashier ringing up wood, paint, nails, toilets, lamps and home improvement equipment all day in a cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood alongside people who were racially, genetically, philosophically, spiritually different than me totally sucked.  Completely.
• Being that I left Red Lobster for the stress, it was like leaving the fastest car in the world for something slower and transitioning to a tricycle.  The transition was much too abrupt.  I remember once going into the bathroom & screaming at the top of my lungs out of boredom induced frustration.  When someone came in to help, I lied and said I stubbed my toe.

After that 1st measly paycheck, I ran back to Red Lobster on my hands and knees begging them for mercy.

And so as it turns out, like most everything else in the world, I just needed a little perspective.  When I went back to the giant red crab, I realized how much I laughed while I was at work.  I realized how much I enjoyed extroverting all of the restaurant with the 5-10 new people I met every hour.  I realized how much I enjoyed working in an Urban neighborhood that had mostly minority patrons.  And when I realized that I could make in one weekend the same thing in two weeks at Builder’s Square?  Well, that just about sealed the deal.

Today was one of those days that reminded me how much I love and appreciate my job with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  I was on campus meeting freshman today and introducing them to the Collegiate, Black & Christian student chapter.  I love having conversations with freshman.  I love asking them where their from, why they chose WMU, what their spiritual backgrounds are, what are their biggest goals for the year, etc.

Freshmen especially, are always so wiling to talk.  Their new, mostly alone, fairly intimidated and hoping to be accepted.  And then I walk up smiling at them, extroverting all over them and THE WEIRDEST PART ABOUT ALL OF IT is that I get paid to.  It’s almost scandalous because I enjoy it so much!

My favorite moment of the day was when two international students -one from South Korea & the other China- gave me *BIG* hugs after I introduced myself, showed them where some key buildings where and told them where they could get a free lunch every Thursday afternoon while practicing their English with other folks.  They were so genuinely grateful, smiling and hugging and bowing and all.  It was like I had given them each a $100 bill or something.

Me (in the RED dress, of course --on left) with my super awesome students a few years ago.

Anyway, far far far from my worst job, working for InterVarsity is the best job I’ve ever had. I love it.  The one-to-one student interaction, the staff, the conferences, the travel, the deep Bible study, the training, the flexibility, the family-friendly atmosphere.  It’s really quite great. Yes, I know you’ve likely gone mad with all my complaining about the fund development aspects of my time on IV staff, yet it’s the challenges that I NEED.  That I long for even…

Because once I get bored, I take to screaming in bathrooms and lying about stubbed toes.

Thank God, there are NO Builder Square’s in my city to remind me of those awful days of being a cashier.

So, what’s your worst or BEST job ever???

I am thrilled and beyond excitement that one of my bestest buds is bringing a beautiful baby girl into her family via adoption.  The new edition is within weeks of my little 10-month-old Rhys-y Bear so we are eager -of course- to arrange their marriage.  I think Gabby Biskie has a ring to it, eh?

I ordered them a beautiful personalized wall canvas from Dakota\’s Personalized Gifts.  They are great company that started off personalizing anniversary gifts as a hobby and grew quickly.  They are now able to personalize anything in the household that you want or need personalized!  Everything is made by hand ~Check them out!  (I loooooove their baby stuff, but they specialize in anniversary gifts —so go get your boo something nice)!

OOOOOh, fyi: you can receive $10 off when you spend $50 with this code: 10OFF50.  Or $15 off when you spend $75 with this code: 15OFF75 & free ground shipping in the US when you spend $35 by using this code: GRD-OCT31!

Yay for babies! Yay for cute personalized gifts!

p.s. Don’t forget: 9/2/10 is your LAST DAY to win a 16×20 rolled canvas print from a digital photo of your choice from Small Business printing, Uprinting.com! All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post answering these questions 1) How do you handle stress or 2) What’s the best tips you have used?

p.s.s.Don’t forget: I’m giving away 10 FREE 5 x 7 flat stationary cards courtesy of Shutterfly.com.  Just be the next person (the 3rd person) to comment on this post & you win!  Guaranteed!

The best I can do with my currently limited time –Master’s classes start today– is to direct you to the best Emmy fashion blog I’ve seen in the last 24 hours…

If you want the whole picture, head on over to www.handbagsandhandguns.com She has dedicated the last 15 or so posts to a very thorough, yet simple & completely pleasing explanation of all things fashion for the Emmy’s this year.

All I gotta say is that I absolutely adored Heidi Klums little black number! And those shoes! Holy Shoes they were cute! Not of all my facebook peeps agreed, but ahhhhh well. Fashion is fickle, eh?
Yours for the unashamed love of creativity and imagination as displayed through fashion,

I have like 27,000 pictures on my hard drive.  Ay ay ay.  In 2009, I decided I would go back to do a photo book for each year beginning in 2007.  Over the course of a month I spent hours on a book which after a few mistakes I accidentally deleted.  I was a mess with anger.  Completely deflated.

Now, I’m sitting under the blanket of guilt I feel over having done a complete scrapbook for Ransom & barely a memory book for Rhys.  In addition to that, I want a beautiful photo book that displays the beautiful 10 yr. wedding anniversary trip Dave & I took last May. I absolutely adore the photo book I made of our summer in Vancouver.

Here’s the truth: I love scissors, tape & glue as much as the next scrapbooker, but I am seriously short on time to be doin’ all that. I’m all about the digital now and I have too many awesome pics to let waste away in the ruins of iphoto.

See, what cool things you can do on Shutterfly? This photo is from http://jilljackscraps.blogspot.com/ where you can get free Shutterfly templates.

I’m also hosting a Shutterfly giveaway for 3 lucky (randomly-chosen) readers of mine who have a shutterfly story to tell. Have you ever used it?  What did you think?  Have you heard of Shutterfly?  Were you satisfied with your results?  Tell me anything & everything your little heart desires about [you + Shutterfly] & you will get put in the running for…

10 FREE 5 x 7 flat stationary cards! ~ Double ShaWing! *(I am also receiving this gift for my honest review of shutterfly). Go ahead & leave your comment & your in like flinn, baby!

If your new to the shutterfly gig, here’s some of the very reasonably priced things they do:

Holiday Cards

, Photo Christmas Cards

, Thank You Cards

, Party Invitations

, Birth Announcements

, Save the Date Cards

, Birthday Invitations

If I can, I will share the results of the photo book I throw together in the next 2 days, I will! You do the same! Let’s take advantage of Shutterfly’s generosity!

“Dear me,

You have to be patient and self-controlled.  I know you didn’t learn those skills growing up.  I know that no one taught you the important skill of delayed gratification.  I know you often feel like a trifling loser.  You want the truth?

You can’t keep excusing yourself because of those things.  It’s time to grow up.  You have to teach yourself!

You are so full of dreams and possiblilities, which I think is wonderful.  I see you you aspire to do great things because you want to make an impact for the sake of others.  It’s honorable.  It really is.

But you have to ask yourself what you are willing to sacrifice to make those dreams come true? Follow that with this question: is it worth it?

I want to see you succeed in your dreams only if the outcomes are what God wants for your life, for your family.  Only if those things are good for you.  Only if those things won’t wind up destroying the only things in life that carry any real value.

To be clear: I do not desire for you to have wealth, greater credibility or success on any level if it will be a hindrance to your faith, marriage or children.  I say these things because I love you.

First, you must know what you are willing to sacrifice to make your dreams come true and if that sacrifice is worth it.  Second, and most importantly you must know…”

AND THEN I FELL ASLEEP!

Can you believe that?  I may have been giving myself the best advice on the planet and I fell asleep with a giant ink splot in the middle of my heartfelt revelation!!!!!

I wrote this letter to myself on December 9, 2009.  A friend encouraged me to try it after I had completely berated myself over a mistake.  I tend to be the beat-myself-up-and-feel-really-horrible kind of gal, so it’s really helpful for me to make concerted efforts to be nice to myself.

After all, if a trusted friend -or heck, even an enemy- beat themselves up the way I do after mistakes I would be so much nicer to them than I am to myself.

My advice to you to today:

Write yourself a letter.  Admit your mistakes and shortcomings, decide what’s important to you and make plans to act on it, say all sorts of nice things to yourself about things you struggle with be it your thighs, your grades, your parenting, your cooking or your poor money management —you name it!  It’s time for a little grace to flow into the guilt you likely carry around with you each day.

Not to get all scientific on y’all, but studies show that positive affirmation is 50% more successful at producing results than negative feedback.  I.E. “You can do this!  You can run 20 minutes today!” as opposed to “Get off the couch you fat hoe & run those 20 minutes like a man, not like the weak, lazy girl that you are!”

So, go write yourself a great letter.  Everyone needs to hear that they have a great butt at least once in their life.

The most important part of this whole excersize:

DON’T FALL ASLEEP!

…and sneeze, and open the olive jar, and pick up a 19 pound baby…

…you probably did this…

Geez, it took me sooooo long to master this flip!

Okay, fine, so that’s not me.

The truth is, I spent a lot of time rebuckling the wakeboard shoes AND sitting in water waiting for my rope to straighten out AND coaxing the water out of my nose AND willing the fear to go away…

I tried.  And tried, but inevitably failed to get up on the stupid, defective wakeboard.

Sure, I spent much more time doing this…

…getting water up my nose & such…

…but eventually…

I got up!

(Never on the blasted wakeboard. Ugh)!

On the water ski’s I even got “fancy!”  Although this little “stunt” to steer over the wave led to my feeling I just had a colonoscopy performed.  Wow.  It’s painful.

….I did get a bit scared at times…

…so I switched to much safer fare…

…problem was…

…once I fell off the tube, I couldn’t get back on…

I was like a freaking beached whale.

Although, my trying to get back on the tube produced the greatest laughs of our adulthood.

After my um, “girls” came out and skidded across the water at 30 mph on a particularly nasty fall I retreated to the safety of the boat.

On that particular occasion I happen to be wearing a life jacket without a top buckle, so that the “girls” came out to play more than once.

Eventually, one of my coworkers came up with a phrase for me:

“When Grace falls down, Grace falls out.”

Um, hilarious?!

We were able to coax Ransom onto the boat as well where he diligently asked every time I fell, “Where did Mama go?  Is Mama okay?”

The next day we went the peaceful route…

…ahhh, there’s nothing like the peacefulness of a good old Kayak ride…

…now, despite Ransom’s look of disgust, he enjoyed himself!

We had such a great time last week at the InterVarsity Area Team Retreat.

I got to spend a few hours one day just lounging on the dock reading –alone–which was flipping fantastic.

Nothing in this world makes me happier during the summer than water sports even if it means it hurts to type for a few days!

Have you done anything fun this summer?  Are you packing in any last minute trips while it’s still warm?  I’m hoping to get out to South Haven one last time before the sun bids it final adeux.

Ciao,

Even in the midst of our recent drama, I was giddy to see Eat, Pray, Love because I particularly enjoyed 90% of the book.  (Can’t find my book review link —sorry!)

The movie was okay.  Just okay.  It dragged quite a bit.  It had sloppy transitions.  It was way too long.  2.5 hours is a bit much, I think, for a romantic comedy that wasn’t very funny.  Not at least compared to how funny Elizabeth Gilbert’s written story was.

This biggest problem with both the book and the movie –much more so with the movie—is that you just. don’t. care.

You don’t care about all of Liz’s seemingly self-made drama.

You don’t feel bad for her when she leaves her husband for reasons you don’t understand.

You can’t quite understand why she feels so trapped & why she needs to do this crazy year of travel to Italy, India & Indonesia.

You feel like she’s running away from her issues and it’s difficult to want to know how it ends.

It feels like a riciculous journey and your unsure how she is transformed in the end.  At least in the book you get some resolve.  The film left me thinking, “that is the crappy end?  What?”

Well, that’s at least how I felt.

The book gives you a bit more insight.  You care more.  A little bit more, that is.  I thought the book was extremely well-written, the adaptation to screenplay –not so much.  So, I was even less sympathetic & the efforts to make me love and respect Liz, unfortunately failed.

I do love Julia Roberts, but in this role she felt like -wait for it- Julia Roberts.  It seemed like she was the same person she’s been in the last 5 romantic comedies.

Now, some of you may have more grace on her story & really enjoy the film, so don’t let me sway you.

Don’t bring your manly men though.  I’m thinking men would just barf through this film.  I know for sure my sometimes cynical hubby would have been rolling his eyes through & through.

Grade: C+, yawn.

Recommend: As a rental.  I would highly recommend the book.  The book is fun and engaging and perfectly escapist.

Peace,

Cool:

I googled myself the other day.  The “Grace Biskie” self, that is.  I have a whole other google identity under “Gracee Biskie,” my previous alias.  (If your wondering, I’ve also been Gracie, Grace’ & Grayce in previous lifetimes).

Anyway, I found that a post I wrote for Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil’s blog was re-posted on the Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics blog, which is a part of Soujourners magazine!  It was posted April 30, 2010, but I still reserve the right to be excited!

Not Cool:

When I googled myself I also found out that some dude named James Mizzell is running an animal collectible website under the URL http://www.gracebiskie.com, called “Grace’s Animal Collectibles.”  How lame is that?   I previously owned www.gracEEbiskie.com but switched to the now more user friendly, gabbingwithgrace.com.

Shouldn’t there be some kind of law that says you can’t just use someone’s name to make an animal collectible website?  I contacted him about it to say ahem, I am the REAL & ONLY (and frankly the rightful owner) of any such gracebiskie.com, but he ignored me.   Can I sue him or something?  I don’t like this at all.  Can I evict him from using my likeness?

There is ONE Grace Biskie in the entire world! Trust me, I've looked into it. The "Biskie's" are a rare breed. Accept no substitutions, the real Grace Biskie would rather poke her eyes out then sell animal collectibles online & has a big fro.

I just don’t like the idea of someone googling me and thinking I’m running an animal collectible business on the side.  Eck.

You win some, you lose some, eh?  All’s fair in love & google I guess,

p.s. Don’t forget YOU can still win one of the McDonald\’s prize packs or win a 16×20 rolled canvas print from Uprinting.com.  With only two comments on each, you have a GREAT chance!

No, I didn't wind up getting that Ira Glass tattoo on my inner arm!

A few nights ago I made a particularly ballsy bold move.

I pitched a story I wrote to the popular National broadcast, This American Life.

In short, I wanted to take a risk that they would give me a “yes,” & read my story.

Not to worry, I’ve prepared myself for rejection…

• I’ve considered the thousands of submissions they get each week.
• I know I’m no Anne Lammot but a beginning & aspiring writer.
• I know their rejection is not of me or my value but of this particular story.  Heck, maybe I’ll send another story again later.

I’ve thought it through, just so you know!

I was reading Writer’s Digest the other day & was again faced with the reality that rejection is a part of being a published author, which I would like to be someday.

So, I thought I should get started!   Although, if you remember two years ago I wrote a pitch to be considered for a trip to Africa with New York Times Human Rights Advocate, Nicolas Kristoff.

And I Lost.

Many years ago I entered the Body-for-Life body building competition…

And I Lost.  Not even a stinking honorable mention.

Last year, Dave & I -finally- came in 2nd place in a toilet paper commercial competition.  We won a lot of toilet paper.  We lost the cool trip.

Lose, schmoose.  It happens!  You still gotta get yo booty up & try again!

So, what did I pitch to This American Life?  (Which by the way, is the BEST podcast on the entire planet).

I wrote a 15 pg. article about a 4 day/3 night retreat of silence I took last Fall to go away and be with God.

I was hoping to send the article out to various magazines for magazine publication.  I was thinking maybe  Christianity Today or Relevant Mag or some other well, relevant magazine.

I thought maybe if someone heard me on This American Life they’d be more likely to publish my story in their mag.  Nice strategy, right?

If both those plans fail, I’ll publish it on my blog.  Ho hum.

I’ll give updates to this story if needed,

p.s. Don’t forget YOU can still win one of the McDonald\’s prize packs or win a 16×20 rolled canvas print from Uprinting.com.  With only two comments on each, you have a GREAT chance!