It is not Thursday, but I was so pathetic at posting last week that this is going up today anyway!

Do you ever sit and wonder who could be cast as your favorite characters? (Please feel free to give examples!)

What actors do you think have done particularly excellent jobs with some of your favorite characters?

Ooh, two separate questions, and both of them are delightful.

I’m not a big fan of dream casting. The ladies at Forever Young Adult do one for every book they review. While I like the concept, dream casting requires so much knowledge. I love to read YA, but I don’t like to watch nearly as many TV shows with teen stars, so I wouldn’t know who’s available for dream auditions, so to speak. These days, I’ve been reading mostly for my column. Religious nonfiction doesn’t have casts so much as author photos.

I’m usually pretty happy with actual casts for books-turned-movies. My imagined Professor Snape looked kind of like a troll, so it was easy to prefer Alan Rickman. It’s always easy to like Alan Rickman. Then again, I did not like Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at all. He was too harsh. Dumbledore was always a quiet kind of intense, not a shouting kind.

I’m interested to see if Jennifer Lawrence can do a good enough job with Mockingjay to make me like it better than the book. I thought she was fine in The Hunger Games, but if she can win an Oscar, maybe she can make PTSD-afflicted Katniss actually interesting. The first book wasn’t easy material to work with, but I was pleased with the way it turned out. (I actually just re-discovered notes I made for a film review here but never posted. Now I don’t even want to bother!) A good actor does not necessarily a good movie make, though.

Do you see God like this, or like, well, God?
Photo (c) The Exploratorium.

Let me explain. I never say I was raised Catholic. My mom’s side of the family is Catholic, which is the reason I am a Catholic (although not the reason I remain one). We didn’t go to church for most of my childhood. Because of that, most of what I know about Catholicism is what I learned on my own. I taught myself the basic “Bless Us, O Lord” table grace; all my Catholic friends in college knew it already. I started attending Mass weekly of my own volition. Even now, it can take a minute for me to remember the Commandments. I know them all, though, which is part of what intrigued me about Elizabeth Scalia’s first full-length book, Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life. We hear about people “making sex and money into idols” by placing them before God, but do we ever really think about what that means? I hadn’t at all until I started reading this book. I am so glad I did.

Read the rest at Austin Catholic New Media.

If you follow me on Instagram (@whatlindsayloves or through Statigram), you may have noticed that I promised details about yesterday’s outfit “on the blog soon.” Somehow I knew that I wouldn’t get around to posting immediately like I usually do. And I was right.

I remembered to take the photo, though, when I only had one shoe off. I’m making progress!

Dress and undershirt from Old Navy. Bolero jacket from Target.

You may notice the different background. It’s still a bathroom, but it’s one at my parents’ house instead of the one in my apartment. It has a fish theme.

This dress is one of my first repeats ever since I’ve been doing What I Wore Sunday. I wore the same dress back in Austin last month, so I decided to add my trusty white bolero jacket to switch up the look a little bit.

I initially chose this dress to go with my white sandals (the same ones I wore last week), since I think this is the end of this aqua pedicure. I also remembered to take some detail shots of the shoes.

Shoes from Target’s Easter sale, which is also a great time to buy summer wedding shoes.

I went to the parish I normally attend when I’m in Maryland. Their Gloria sounds a bit too much like a carnival ride for me, but as I commented on an Austin CNM post last week, I don’t go to church for music, or even good preaching; I go for Jesus. I found it comforting that the priest spoke a lot about Jesus’ power to raise the dead, particularly since we had just entrusted my grandfather to him with finality. His body might be in the tomb for now, but I trust Jesus to raise it on the last day.

That particular parish’s bulletin always has one page in Spanish, written by the priest who does Spanish-language and Hispanic ministry. It is always more direct and informative than almost anything I read in English besides the Catechism; maybe it’s a language thing. The Spanish notes on the readings focused more on Jesus’ raising the widow of Nain’s son for its social significance, since she was doomed without any means of support. I was put off by that conclusion at first, thinking that the ability to raise someone from the dead and thereby control death and life was the point. Then I remembered the Gospel from my grandfather’s funeral Mass: the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead longer than the widow’s son. His sisters seemed to be okay socially and financially without him. I suppose the story of Lazarus is the one that’s more about Christ’s power over life and death, then. It’s definitely more sensational—Jesus cried over Lazarus’s death!

Church bulletins should be so educational more often.

— 1 —

A Lindsay original. I considered it my moral obligation to have a delicious bacon cheeseburger from Checkers for dinner.

— 2 —

Most unfortunately, I was only able to get a burger from Checkers because I had to make an emergency trip home for my grandfather’s funeral. His name was (is?) Bronsmore. He had colon cancer, but it was worse than he let on for a long time. He died peacefully. We would appreciate your prayers and good wishes, especially as my grandmother transitions into this new phase of her life.

— 3 —

It’s been a while since I’ve joined in 7QT. I was in the first of my many weddings this year. It was a very long drive to northeast Indiana, but I got to see my fantastic friend Sarah in the Chicago suburbs on the way, and I slept in king-size beds many times, which is always delightful. I also have my first Catholic wedding as a bridesmaid under my belt.

The bride, the groom, and most of the rest of the wedding party were competitive ballroom dancers, which made dancing time especially interesting. The men were valiantly attempting to lead their partners around the floor while the rest of us were just dancing crazy. I didn’t watch much of it (I tend to tear up dance floors all the time, especially at weddings), but it was an unusual twist.

— 4 —

In preparation for the wedding, I had my nails done for the first time ever.

Those are my real nails, by the way. No acrylic for me! I got French tips, which was an adventure. I also got a pedicure, which felt marvelous. I even managed not to laugh too much when the scrubber-thing tickled my foot. In a different kind of misfortune entirely, I got a little tired of the Celtic Woman DVD that was on loop.

— 5 —

I also got my hair done. It’s hard to see from the photo, but it started as two ponytails (vertical), which were then curled, looped around, and pinned down.

Kat’s mom (mother of the bride) had the bobby pins. They’re a little sparkly and a little pearly, just like my jewelry.

At some point, the stylist must have cut out the ponytail elastics, because I remember feeling them go in, but there were none when I took my hair down. I slept carefully so that it lasted through church the next day, and I was delighted to find that the curls were still bouncy by nightfall.

I did not catch the bouquet; I was just a bridesmaid who kept hers from the ceremony. I also did not take them to church. Awkward!
Dress from Target, camisole from Old Navy, shoes from Payless.

— 6 —

Some of my church friends meet to play volleyball every week through the summer. I don’t play (any sports, ever), but I sit on a blanket to watch, and one time I brought a healthy snack (some grapes I thought might spoil before I finished them). This makes me the unofficial Team Mom. I think I am pleased.

— 7 —

When I was booking my last-minute flight home (God bless my parents for helping me out), I researched bereavement fares. I can attest that Delta really does require you to join their frequent flier program to even get a quote for bereavement fares. Needless to say, I did not fly Delta, and I was highly offended. Consider that the next time you fly.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Woo-hoo! Correct day and everything!

What makes you choose the books you read? Genre? Reviews? Certain authors? Covers? Recommendations?

Many of the books I read these days are the ones I’ve been meaning to get to for years. I am sometimes drawn in by a snazzy cover, but it takes a solid back-of-jacket blurb to get me to pick up something I hadn’t planned on reading.

I never read reviews. I tried following Forever Young Adult for a while (Austin shout-out!), and although the reviews were good, the pace was way too much to keep up with. I do take recommendations, though, especially from church friends and Goodreads friends (come be mine). I’m most likely to take a rec if it’s related to something I’ve already read. I’m not super adventurous with books. Or life.

Do you have any suggestions for what I should read?

It’s a “freebie” week over at TTT, so I get to choose any topic I want. Most of the reason I do so many memes is that I need a topic to write about, though, so I’m going to go with a topic I missed a few weeks ago.

Top Ten Topics That Will Make Me Pick Up a Book

1. Teenagers with problems: I struggled working with them, but I love reading about them. There’s nothing quite like a good high school drama to suck me in.
2. Catholicism: I read a lot of books about Catholicism, obviously. I can usually tell the snippy anti-Catholic sort from the legitimate ones. It ought to go without saying that I won’t go near Dan Brown with a ten-foot pole.
3. Magical kids at a boarding school: That’s how I got into Harry Potter in the first place. Before that, I had read the Chrestomanci Quartet* by Dianna Wynne Jones, starting with Witch Week, which has exactly that premise. As I recall, Chrestomanci got a bit more sinister more quickly, though.
4. Future world gone wrong: I’m a sucker for a good dystopia, especially when it also involves teenagers with problems (see #1) or Catholicism (see A Canticle for Leibowitz).
5. Alice McKinley: I’m glad I finished the Alice series as published so far, because I like finishing things, but I’m also glad that it’s almost over. It tried to be timeless but was dated, and then it modernized, dating itself in modern times. There’s no winning.
6. Fearless: See #5, except that instead of it being dated and my outgrowing the series, I just outgrew it.
7. The original book for a movie I enjoyed: The Princess Diaries (another series I haven’t finished!) is my prime example for a book adaptation that is very different from the movie even though both are delightful. In general, books are better than movies, but they’re such different storytelling mediums that it’s not completely fair to compare.

*Now that I’ve gone to Goodreads for the link to the series, I see that there are two more books! My to-read list grows!

What are your book triggers?

I almost forgot to take my photos this week! My shoes were already off, but they’re so much more comfortable than my other white shoes that I could bring myself to slip them back on. It also helped that I didn’t have to wear them for five hours like I always did at work.

Blouse from Old Navy. Grey shell from Funky Frum. Skirt from Old Navy. Shoes from Payless.

I also wore a very simple thin white headband that I don’t think I was wearing anymore in the photo. Oh, well. You may remember my sheer delight at purchasing shells from Funky Frum. I think the company is unfortunately going out of business, but I love those shells, although I think the white one I would usually wear with this outfit is a better color match.

Blouse detail.

Skirt detail. The outer shell is lace, but there is an opaque inner lining.

The blouse and skirt are from years and years ago. I like that the blouse is sheer, so it’s meant to be layered (I hope!), and it goes so well with the skirt, which was perfect for today’s wretched heat. My shoes are new ones I got for the wedding I was in last weekend. I forgot to get a close-up, but they will definitely be making a comeback with other outfits this summer.

I celebrated Corpus Christi by getting up for (read: getting moving enough to be mostly finished with breakfast by) the EWTN broadcast of Pope Francis’s worldwide holy hour. I didn’t see a ton of publicity about that, and I heard nothing from the diocese, so I thought the announcer’s insistence that the whole world was definitely participating was a little presumptuous. I was glad that I stumbled across the announcement, though, and that I checked the time difference with Rome and found it so convenient for my new schedule. I even sang along with “Tantum Ergo” and the Divine Praises (the latter in English, though; my Latin doesn’t go quite that far!), and I felt so happy to be united with such a special event. I’m usually not much for watching events televised from Rome. Maybe I should change that.

It was great to start off my day, particularly a Sunday, by spending time in prayer and worship, even from afar. “Participating” in the holy hour made Mass this evening seem like a capstone to my Sunday. I was less worried than usual that I would accidentally forget to go to Mass and have wasted my whole Sunday. I might be on to something there, come to think of it.

Wedding weekend was crazy times, so I never got down to blogging. It was fun times, though, and you know what I say when I’m “too busy to blog.”

May 23: Childhood vs. Adult

Have your reading habits changed since you were a child? (I mean, I’m assuming you have less time to read now, but …) Did you devour and absorb books when you were 10 and only just lightly read them now? Did you re-read frequently as a child but now only read new books? How about types of books? Do you find yourself still attracted to the kinds of books you read when you were a kid?

I read new books more frequently now, but I think that is more the result of my reviewing at Austin CNM than a shift from childhood reading to adult reading. I used to undertake a massive re-read every time a new Harry Potter book came out, but then they were all published, so that had to end out of necessity.

My pace and frequency have definitely shifted, though. My only downtime to read while I’m at work (when I have a job) is at lunchtime, so that limits how much I can read and how soon I can finish a book. Within books, I have always read slowly; that and missing symbolism are my most embarrassing “I swear I have an English degree!” moments.

I am delighted that I still like to read in the same genres. I don’t read as much realistic fiction anymore, but I still enjoy it, and I don’t think my love of fantasy will ever go away. I definitely didn’t read Catholic books when I was younger, but I loved my picture Bible (except the Revelation pages; too much fire).

May 30: Ideal

I want you to think about your ideal reading experience. Think about the location. (Your bed? Favorite chair? The beach? Indoors or outdoors?). Think about the sounds. (Is there music playing? Happy children playing in the background? Utter silence?) Is there a snack or beverage nearby? Are you alone or with friends/family (presumably being quiet enough for you to read in peace)? What kind of lighting is there? Are you dressed in something ultra-comfy? What’s your position? Curled up? Stretched out?

Now … describe it so that we can all feel exactly how perfect it is … and why.

I love sitting in an armchair while reading. I have never owned an armchair, but when I’ve lived with one, it has been my favorite reading spot. I have trouble with complete silence for everything but prayer, so I will sometimes play music without words. (The 99 Most Essential Wedding Classics is very good for this. Best $2 I ever spent on an Amazon MP3 sale.) I have a cup of English breakfast tea that stays at the perfect temperature, nice bright lighting, and I am sitting up against the back of the chair. Mmm. I wish I had that going on right now!

Hey, it’s the correct day and I remembered to take my photo! First time in a long time for that.

My dress is from Old Navy. It is layered with a Target undershirt, as usual. The white starbursts are positioned in just such a way that I was glad I double-checked all my layers from all angles before I left for church, if you catch my drift. I don’t think I’ve worn this dress since I started this meme, but it’s a summer favorite of mine. It was finally summer this weekend in Austin, Texas. Now I remember why I only cautiously wished that warm weather would arrive.

Once again, those are not the shoes I wore to Mass. They aren’t even the ones I wore home; I kept my driving flip-flops on during dinner at Rudy’s, so those came off as soon as I stepped in the door.

Of all possible convergences, I went to Mass at one of the churches near where I live only to have Mass celebrated by a priest from the church near where I used to work. I enjoyed his homily, during which he managed to mention Pentecost, the Tower of Babel, Klingon (the language), and the Internet. Good times. Happy birthday, Church!

— 1 —

I’m starting with a video again! Here is “A Week in the Life of a Priest.” He’s Australian, and I think the funeral scene is staged, but otherwise, this is pretty legit. I can confirm the “drive-by signing” moment with the parish secretary is a real experience. It was mine for three years!

— 2 —

A few months ago, one place on the Internet linked me to a blog from Benedictine College in Kansas. The post about how to get more out of Mass had a really positive effect on my Massgoing experience. I haven’t yet applied the tips for praying a holy hour (mainly because I like to pray the Liturgy of the Hours during mine), but I’m excited for the possibilities.

— 3 —

No progress on the job front yet. I will be busy for the next week or so, so I’ve intentionally avoided doing a big push since I am not available for interviews yet. I am also still on vacation time, which I am using to do things like catch up on blogs, clear out my DVR, and (mostly) get my sleeping patterns back in order.

— 4 —

My air conditioning is out. This is horrible because (a) no A/C is always horrible, and (b) summer has finally arrived in Austin. I knew, during the last two months of unseasonable cool temperatures, that I was anxious for summer but that I would hate it when the heat finally turned up. I was right. I was so very right.

On the bright side, since I am having a staycation, I was able to sit around with the fan blowing to recirculate the too-warm air I have forced in by keeping the blinds closed all the time. I hope the carpet cleaners don’t think I’m a weird recluse, because that’s not entirely true.

— 5 —

Assuming I don’t mess it up tonight, I will have had an alarmingly successful run of extended prayers.

First, my friend Katie led (for the second time) a novena to St. Dymphna for her grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease. I prayed for Katie’s grandmother and for a friend of mine from college who experiences anxiety. That ended Wednesday. The main triumph there was that I remembered to pray all nine days’ prayers on the correct days!

In the middle of that novena, I started the Pentecost novena (“the original novena,” as I like to say). I almost forgot, since it starts after the Ascension, and I, like most Catholics in the U.S. don’t live in a diocese that has Ascension Thursday. I considered signing up for the prayers through Pray More Novenas, but I didn’t like theirs as much as the ones EWTN posts (link to the text-only version). I don’t know if I realized it last year or the year before, but I re-realized this year that the italicized portions at the beginning of each day’s prayers translate the Pentecost sequence into one that can be sung to the tune of the Stabat Mater, which you know if you’ve ever been to a parish Stations of the Cross. How genius is that? I’m just hoping to hear the Pentecost Sequence at all tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Finally, I also realized around May 3 that I ought to be praying to find a new job. It is alarming how often I forget to pray about things, despite often giving people that very advice. I whipped out my TAN book of prayers to St. Joseph and started a 30-day one for myself. (I know, 30 days is not a novena, but it’s extended prayer.) Within days, I had three other job-seekers to pray for. One, my friend Brittany, just accepted a job offer! That St. Joseph works fast, and this bodes well for me.

— 6 —

I saw The Winter’s Tale put on by Austin Shakespeare. Longtime readers may remember my trip to see Twelfth Night last year and Love’s Labours Lost the year before. Summer shows at Zilker are literally the only thing I do outside on purpose all year, and I was rained out on Thursday, so I had to go on Saturday. Most of my companions couldn’t go, but it was a great opportunity to have a good chat with a friend, try P. Terry’s burgers (verdict: cheap, but not that great), and see a delightful show.

This year’s twist was a South American dance setting. The first half took place in a stark and emotionally bare Argentina, with a beautiful tango to spark the king’s jealousy. (Bonus: Queen Hermione is where the Harry Potter character gets her name!) The second half was set in Brazil, with two incredible samba performances to highlight the party scenes. I’ve never seen samba before, at least not when I knew what it was. It’s such a fun dance, and it doesn’t need a partner (the single girl’s dream)! I could have used a little more clothing on some of the dancers, though. I was especially amused by the “bear”: a giant costume worn by an actor on stilts. Good times.

— 7 —

Here’s another, shorter video to send you off. It’s no secret that I love clever advertising. This is pretty genius. It’s a shame that such a thing and such a tactic are needed, but it’s still brilliant.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!