1:
Phrase: B.C., A. D.
Reason: B.C. is "Before Christ" abrreviated, and A.D. stands for "Anno Domini" which is Latin for "year of the Lord"

2:
Phrase: Merry Christmas!
Reason: DUH

3:
Phrase: Gesundheit! or Bless you!

When my fiancé and I decided to find a minister for our wedding, we were in a bit of a pickle. See, I was raised as a “nondenominational Christian” (whatever that is!) and Ryan was raised Catholic. But since starting college over 9 years ago, we’ve started finding our own paths to religious understanding and neither of us have stepped foot in our childhood churches in quite some time.

As I stand in line, waiting for the sacrament of Penance to be administered to me, I examine my consience, trying to remember all my sins. As I think back on them, I marvel on how such a small thing, like simply avoiding looking at a magazine or biting back a selfish, hateful, word can cause such a massive internal struggle. Trying hard not fall... and then it happens.

On my bookshelf, right in front of me as I type, there is my treasured bible from my childhood, worn, bookmarked and doggy-eared, but getting dusty. Next to it is an English interpretation of the Koran (the Koran can’t actually be translated, so instead I have: The Meaning of the Glorious Koran). This is not a very worn text – I’ve opened it a few times but I have never digested it.

Her brown hair, normally rather mousy, reflected a rainbow of colors in the sunlight as she entered the holy place. She was not of the faith, but respected the idea. Her clothes were riotously vivid colors of orange and yellow and red, gold trim and sweeping folds, her jewelry fake gold, heavy and ornate. Only her bindi truly reflected her personality: small, sophisticated, delicate.