SitCom - Situation Community

My roommate and I have been watching "How I Met Your Mother" on Netflix this week.  And before that we went through Dawson's Creek.  As I was watching HIMYM, I realized something that happens in a lot of TV shows that you don't always see in real life... ok many things are, but I saw one thing in particular that I wish I did see more often. 

Community.  

Have you noticed in HIMYM that they are always together. All 5 of them.  Whether its at the bar,  or someone's apartment, they are rarely apart.  

Then there was Seinfeld.  They were always together.  They even went to jail together.

And then there is Friends.  Between the unrealistic coffee shop and their 2 amazing New York apartments they were always together.

Now there were many things that were dysfunctional about all of those situations but what was great was that they "lived" together.  They did life together.  They battled life's ups and downs together.  They even stuck through the flaws that all relationships bring.  They weren't married to the group, but in many respects they were.  

I wish everyone had that.  Now not everyone is extroverted. I'm not.  But I love my "few" people.  I love spending time with them. Laughing with them.  Processing life with them. Praying with them. Crying with them.  

In many respects I wish we had an open door policy where they just showed up, ate dinner and stayed as long as they wanted.  Now... disclaimer. I am not saying i want that with all of my friends... but with the ones I call close family, I do!

I don't want to live a life of independence. I want to rely on these people! Even when its uncomfortable. Even when its ugly.  I want to trust them with the parts of me that aren't perfect... cause lets face it... that's a lot of me.

My roommate/best friend/sister-in-life and I try and make it a normal thing to meet up with friends in a once a month fashion.  We have one couple we now hang out with once a month.  The times we've had with them have been so full of fun.  And at times, we've shared some real life truths with them.  We have another family that we are beginning to do that with.  We've been doing Life with them for a while now but it hasn't been as consistent as either of us would like.  I love those times.  The ones where they call us up and say "can you take the kids?" or "Come over and hang." My roommate is even beginning to have Sunday Dates with their 6-year-old daughter.

That's what I want my life to be like.  Constantly soaking up the people in my life and loving them through all that life throws at us!  I've learned a lot through the community I have.  I've been pushed more then I ever had been!


Now I get that this isn't appealing to everyone.  What does community look like to you?  I'd love to hear what that is.

------------------------------------------- 

{Post Sponsored by This Lovely}

Getting Caught Up - Living in the Blogging Community

Me and my little blog have been hanging out here for about a year.  I quit my 9-5 a year ago this week to pursue other things, like my writing and photography.  Blogging was such a scary thing for me but I did it and I've truly loved it.  But to be honest, I never really ventured outside of my friends and family.... not really. I really didn't know how.  My knowledge was uber limited.  I started following real-life friends, Kristina (CityCorporatetoSuburbMama) and Courtney (BaxtronLife) and their blogs.  I watched how they'd network, write, etc and was in awe. They hadn't been around as long as I had but they already had so many faithful followers.  I started looking at some of the blogs they were following and began to dream of how I could move forward with my tiny little, eclectic blog.  I am not married and I don't have kids, so this, I felt, limited me in what I could do.  LIES! But I did notice Baby blogs are all the rage.  So where is my niche?  Then I began to realize, the great thing about the blogging world is that we can let our personalities shine.  Whether we are wives, moms, singles, christians, cooks, bakers, photographers, fashionistas or DIYers, we all have a voice that is our own.  We all bring something different to the table. On top of that, we all seem to support each other and our voices.  We celebrate victories, challenges, milestones, etc.  The blogging community is like nothing else!

I have learned so much from the blogging world.  Recipes used to come from 2 sites and now they come from 100s.  DIY projects I always dreamt about, i am seeing lived out in your blogs.  I've been inspired by your photography and your knowledge to learn and teach.

The one thing I have been repeatedly amazed by is how quickly people gain followers.  I notice most of the blogs I follow are less then a year but have anywhere from 100-4000 followers.  I often ask myself how they do it.  I am an introvert and apparently even in the blogging world, where introverts typically thrive :)  I am amazed at how they can network and still maintain their personal integrity.  I often get bogged down in self-imposed expectations that I forget what voice I have, what my true personality is and who I want to be.  These ladies seem to avoid that.  They do what they do seemingly flawlessly.  Its something to aspire to!

So, I am still trying to figure out what my voice is and where I want to go with it.  Daily, there are things I would love to chat about but putting that out there for the world to see is so scary.  Especially when some of those things are so close to people I am close to.  Sometimes, I mask my rants and ravings in the world of fiction writing to protect the innocent.

So all this to say, I am still learning.

I don't quit understand the whole sponsor thing.  How does it work? 

What's proper etiquette? 

Where do you find the time to get it all done?  I don't have a family and I can't seem to find the time... 

How do you mothers/wives do it?  

What is your motivation? 

What wakes you up in the morning? 

Why do you do what you do?  

Where did you learn the tricks of blogging, give-a-ways, meet-ups? 

How does one get involved in that?  

How do you get your name out there? 

What are your boundaries with that? 

I have lots of questions!  

I am curious! 

I want to learn! 

I would love nothing more then to sit down with you over a cup of coffee and talk about how you did it!  

I know that this blog, like so many others will go unseen. But in the hopes that you stop by and you want to share some blogging wisdom with me, I am ready and open to listen and take it all in.

If you want to get to know me and some of what I do visit these posts:

Educating Me

Challenge 1, Day 1: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Brussels Sprouts

Love To Create

I'll Just Be Honest

Created to Sell

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

God's Box - Still Trusting

Uneven

Upside Down

About Me

Breaking Bread

I work for and serve a church in NYC. There are several parishes that are a part of this church.  I work for the Westside parish and I am a part of the Washington Heights parish. Each parish has its own pastor and staff. They typically speak on the same thing each week or follow the same teaching series. The Washington Heights parish is new enough that the messages haven't been the same but this Sunday they were. We had the lead/founding pastor teach at WH.

This week I got to hear the same message but from two different people. Each one adding in their own personality. The message was on Jesus and food. More specifically the role of food in the relationships Jesus had while on earth. It was basically about how we should share more meals with people. Great stuff! It's something that the heights community has been doing for a while. More recently it's been much more intentional but it's been something we've been doing for a while. 

On Saturday night, when the WH church meets, my roommate and I had a last minute invite to dinner because of that talk. We had almost made it home when we got the invite. It was a great evening that caused lots of laughter and smiles.

Thanksgiving Love

I think Thanksgiving is becoming one of my most favorite Holidays.  The idea of being with people you love, cooking and eating amazing food, tied with the feel of fall and the beginning of the Christmas season, puts it on the top of my list.

This year, I have had/will have three thanksgivings.  The first with my church's missional community.  The second with my brother and his family and the third on Thanksgiving day with friends from my community.  

When we decided to stay in the city this year, we weren't sure if we'd have enough interest because of the short notice but in the span of 3 or 5 days we went from 2 people to 16 (possibly more then that).  We'll know more on the day.

From planning the menu to decorating the apartment, I am truly enjoying what this Holiday is turning out to be.  Knowing that we'll have a house full of people who I adore makes me want to skip through the streets :) (Wonderful image isn't it?)  I can't wait for the follow up post.