"for one minute, please stand right here in silence, and look up"

THINGS I LOVE:

1. lists. they make me happy. and sometimes i make them just to cross things off and feel accomplished.
2. the "i love you" song pat and i sing to each other each night before going to bed
3. the giant glass of white wine to my right
4. the new earrings i bought 4 days ago from my thrift store for $1.25 and received 6 compliments since then, because they are just that great.
5. maybe it's the wedding craze that's swirling around me, or the fact that so many of my friends will at some point be entirely new names in my address book, but i really am beginning to feel protective of "anna maria lewis," i think my parents did a good job when we met, and so i intend to keep it.
6. long standing friendships, the ones that hold the promise of forever.
7. quotes that move me and make me think. whether it be elizabeth gilbert; "there’s a crack in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in." or mechtilde of magdeburg; "from suffering i have learned this: that whoever is sore wounded by love will never be made whole unless she embrace the very same love that wounded her."

QUESTIONS I HAVE

1. my desire to get into yoga grows each day, and yet so does my desire for sleep. which kind of gets in the way of a 6am yoga class. what is a girl to do?
2. should buying snow boots really require a pro/con list?
3. what happened to ben harper?
4. when you finally feel full, full of life and love and gratitude for the luck you have been handed, what else is there?
5. why can't i be vegan?
6. is there a more perfect man?
7. is there really anything a strong margarita and a good night's sleep can't fix?

adam and eve

I went through a stage where I was convinced that being a female in a male's world is in a word: unfair. I read tons of books that examined why men have always been considered the "superior" gender, how our present day gender roles were created, and how women have generally been screwed in the land of the free, and home of the brave. Reading for months about this topic turned Anna Lewis into one extremely bitter feminist. But I snapped out of it, because I am blessed to have three incredibly strong relationships with my Dad and brothers. I have never been made to feel inferior or been encouraged less to do something because I am a girl. And now I can say that I happily live with a guy who is a daily reminder of everything that is wonderful about men. They are able to lift extremely heavy furniture, figure out how to build the sometimes complicated items from IKEA, and they provide an enormous amount of heat in the winter to snuggle up next to. But there are still a few things I am really really confused about:

1. Why do you have to spit? I have been walking down the sidewalk, driving a car, standing outside a bar, and heard that GOD AWFUL hawking noise and I know what's coming. It's a big ol' wad of your bile and I don't get it. I have seen maybe 2 women in my life spit, and their names were Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain after they won the World Cup. What is going on in the guts of males that the majority of them "have" to spit in public? It's disgusting, it's repulsive, and I've never heard anyone say "OMG! Did you see that guy who just hawked a giant loogie? He is so hot."

2. Adjust yourselves in the bathroom. You don't see me leaning over in public because my girls are not comfortable in my bra so do it behind closed doors.

3. The argument of "Who is better at sports? Men or women?" I have never heard a woman bring up this subject and yet countless guys feel the need to remind us, that women do not play football and the WNBA is kind of a joke. Hey guess what?! WE CREATE A HUMAN LIFE INSIDE OUR BODIES. An actual human lives inside of us for 9 months and then we have to rely on nothing more than our bodies to push it out. WE DON'T CARE IF YOU CAN DRIBBLE A BIG ORANGE BALL BETTER THAN WE CAN.