DC

Today, we hit DC. There aren’t any great stories about the things we saw or the things we did today. We did almost all of the main spots on the mall and past the mall… The only thing we didn’t get to see that we wanted to was the tomb of the unknown soldier. Anyway, I’ll just let you look at some fun pictures I took. These are only a few of the 250 that I took – how crazy is that? Needless to say, the girl I am on this trip with probably wasn’t too happy because I was ALWAYS taking pictures. But here’s just a couple of the things we saw:



We started and ended with the capitol… This was at the beginning of our walk.



This was a scary sculpture we found as we were walking through the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.



Here is a piece of art made out of tiles that I thought was kinda cool.



TONS of geese in the reflecting pool…



This is one of my favorite memorials – the Korean War Memorial. I thought this was kind of a fun angle, even though the statues faces are a little creepy.



This is the White House and the back of a tent where a woman has camped out in protest of the war. I believe that she had a son who died in the war, and I thought her signs were kind of interesting…

10

All the fun had thus far in Boston came to a screeching halt this morning. Now, mind you, we’re back on track as we just checked into our Hyatt Hotel in DC (can you believe we’re in a Hyatt? SO FUN!) We just ordered a pizza, are watching Friends, and enjoying the fancy atmosphere… However, this morning, we were singing a sadder tune.

Around 9:30 this morning, I was going to pull the car around so that we could pack our stuff, check out and hit the road kind of early. However, come to find, my keys were nowhere to be found. I searched through everything but to no avail. I found nothing. I thought maybe I had locked them in the trunk. The night before, I had retrieved a few items out of the car, and with my arms full, I thought maybe I forgot to take them with me. Because I couldn’t find my keys, I had no other choice than to call a locksmith to see if indeed they were in the trunk. The locksmith showed up, unlocked my car, and I crawled into the trunk to unlatch it, only to find my trunk absent of my keys. I had no idea what in the world to do… And so, we decided to have a key made. Oh what an ordeal that was! We had to find out what the number combination was for cutting the key. I called Saturn Customer Service, I talked to a guy in the parts department, and five keys later, the locksmith finally had to call a dealership to get the right key combo. No one would give us the right number, The locksmith told me that it was intentional so that Saturn (or GM) would be the ones to get money. Anyway, this whole process took about 4 hours, and oodles of money… Let’s just say that when 2:30 hit, and we were in our car leaving Boston, I breathed a sigh of relief… Our only hope was that we would have no problem getting to DC.

And it was so… No problems. We made it to DC without getting lost! So great! Typically, I am really good at navigating and reading maps, but New England is a tad difficult to figure out – especially Boston. Once we got outside of MA, we were good to go. We drove through The Bronx (which was really the only city we were able to identify). We drove over what I’d like to believe (until we learn otherwise) was the Brooklyn Bridge (such an awesome bridge to drive over). Drove through Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland… And I’m happy to say we hit our tenth state of the trip today, not including Wisconsin obviously. 10. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massechusettes, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.
All but Illinois and Indiana were a new experience for me…

So, no pictures today. I tried to snap a picture of the locksmith van as I was completely bored sitting in a crazy hot parking garage, but it didn’t really turn out. And we didn’t get any good driving shots. Ya’ll will have to wait until tomorrow, but I promise to have some good ones. We’re headed to all the “hot spots” of DC tomorrow. Our hotel is just down the street from the Mall, so we’re good to go.

Hope all is well with you all.
Rock on my friends.

sites

(forewarning – LONG POST!)

Destinations: Salem and Harvard. We started out the morning by grabbing breakfast at this awesome little café down the street from our hotel – the Paris Creperie. It is this small café with Paris photographs, faux Eiffel towers with Christmas lights all over the place. Each individual table has a funky little lamp on it too… Great atmosphere. Great food. After we grabbed our morning crepes and one of the best cups of soy chai I think I’ve ever had, we made our second attempt at driving in Boston. We were a tad frightened because our drive in was not entirely pleasant, however, we were greatly surprised at how much we had already come to understand how the city worked, and found it not that difficult to maneuver around.

The first place we headed was Salem. It wasn’t entirely what we had imagined, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We did the Salem Witch Museum – if any of you are planning a trip to Salem, the Salem Witch Museum is not really worth the $6.50 for the presentation – it was pretty weak. However, at least we hit one of the “attractions”. We walked around down Essex street past the Peabody Essex Museum, and just kind of checked out the town at our own pace. We came across a few buildings of importance. The first being the first church which was built in 1692. The second is Town Hall, which is pictured below:



Also, and this goes out to Chris my northern neighbor – saw this sign, and I HAD to take a picture… PAMPLEMOUSSE!



After Salem, we decided we wanted to see Harvard. We made our way back to Cambridge, and were quite unsuccessful in finding parking. Due to the nature of the city, driving around finding parking was not a fun task. We saw that the red line subway was in the center of the city, and knew that there was a stop for the red line really close to our hotel. So, we headed back to the hotel to park the car, hopped the red line, and headed down to Harvard.

Harvard was so beautiful… We totally just soaked in the atmosphere, and even attempted to look like we were students. We found one of their many libraries (pictured below) and attempted to get in, but found that you need to have a student ID to get in. Blasted!



We headed to a Harvard gift shop, picked up some souvies (mine included a hat/T-shirt combo), and walked around Cambridge. We went to a Curious George themed children’s bookstore which only confirmed my dream and desire to open a children’s bookstore (I’ll save that story for another post). We were soon met by a downpour of rain. Finding ourselves to feel like drown rats, we sought shelter from the rain in an au bon pain shop, where we ate fruit and waited out the rain. After that we hit “The Coop”, another Harvard associated bookstore/gift shop. After hanging around town for a while, we finally decided to head back. Before we got back on the subway, I took this shot of Cambridge at night… Not sure what it’s of, exactly, but thought it looked cool. Someone then asked us directions to the Coop, and we were actually able to give them! We felt like Bostonians!



Finally, we headed back to our side of town, and headed out to dinner. We had decided earlier in the day that we needed to eat East Coast Sea Food. Despite the fact that I’m not a huge seafood fan, I thought, what the heck, I’ll give it a go. We had seen the Oyster House last night, and thought it’d be a great place to go. Little did we know that it is the oldest restaurant in America, and has some of the greatest food. The atmosphere rocked, and our food was unbelievable. I had pan seared haddock that was so yummy – and for me to say that about fish is a HUGE thing. All in all, great day! Loved it… Tomorrow, we head to DC… Good times had by all.

self-tour

We walked around Boston today, just checking out the town. After a stop at the Starbucks across the street from our hotel, we headed out to check things out, not having a CLUE as to where anything was. We quickly found ourselves in front of the State building, where tour trolleys pick up people for tours of the city. Sarah and I, while trying to avoid looking like tourists, figured what better way to see the city since we didn't know our way around. However, when the driver of the trolley told us that it was $28, we were like, "Um, we'll think about it." We figured we could probably figure out a decent self-tour. He did however leave us with a parting gift, which became our treasured item of the day - a map of all the sites that we would have see on the tour. We were set for the day...



The first thing we came across is this first picture - Boston Common. All these little kids were playing in the fountain, and I found myself with a deep desire to just sit and watch their uninhibited playful spirits. We watched all the people enjoying their Sunday afternoon, and then continued on our way.



The next thing we came across - the Public Gardens. It was so beautiful. There were trees, flowers, statues and fountains everywhere. I took a bunch of pictures while at the gardens, but this one was my favorite. Now, if you were to ask me what the monument was actually for, I'm not sure that I would be able to tell you... But I just really loved this statue for some reason.

We went saw the original Cheers, some amazing churches, went to a pretty cool local bookstore/cafe, and ate at Stephanie's on Newberry, this semi-fancy restaurant where we had Sunday brunch on the patio. A great relaxing afternoon. Unaware of just how early things shut down in Boston on Sundays (most everything is closed by 7pm), we headed towards Quincy Market for dinner and evening activities. We got there just as things were starting to close down, but were lucky enough to have SOME entertainment - the Yo-Yo Man. This young guy was out in the square, doing yo-yo tricks. He attracted quite a crowd. While my initial thought was, "This is kind of cheesy" the guy was pretty humorous, and it was actually a pretty entertaining show. And all the little kids adored him! It was so cute! Here's a picture of him doing one of his tricks:



Because most things were shut down, Sarah and I decided to eat some dinner in our hotel, and make it a night to just relax in the hotel wathing movies. All in all - a very relaxing day. Lots of things to see, lots of pictures taken, great food, great sites (the architecture here is gorgeous)...

Tomorrow should prove to be pretty fun... I'll post more tomorrow about the MA happenings. Ok, I'm going to take off. I feel like I should have some sort of "sign off" signature, like "Seacrest Out". Any suggestions?

MA

Here we are. Boston.

Yesterday, my friend Sarah and I packed my car, and headed out east. We left around 4am on Saturday morning, and after a few confusing directions by Yahoo maps, over $30 in unexpected tolls, and a crazy goosechase to try to find our hotel, we finally settled into our hotel by 1am Sunday morning, I can finally say WE'RE HERE! LOOOOOOOOOONG drive, but we made it.

We have the next couple of days to wander around MA... Check out Harvard, Quincy Market, Salem... Not sure what we'll do when, but hopefully it'll be a fun couple days of relaxing. Then, onto DC for a couple days.

I'll check in every so often and maybe even post a picture or two.
Hope all is well with everyone else out there.

Rock on my friends.

freakish

why am I so intrigued, enthralled, energized, mystified, captured, whatever word you so choose to use, by something that is so utterly freakish and destructive?

I decided to seize the opportunity to write right now, in a moment of inspiration, of pure energy...

If you don't already know this about me, I'm obsessed with thunderstorms. Ever since I was a little kid when I had my very own weather station in a tree (of all places!), I've had this astounding fascination with storms. I'm not entirely sure why... While for most, sunshine brings happiness and joy, thunderstorms energize me. Seriously, I'm like a small child on Christmas morning when they come. Unfortunately we haven't had any really good storms this summer. And I'm totally bummin'.

I would, however, like to take this moment to make a disclaimer/apology. I realize that storms are immensely destructive, and have caused lots of families major heartache. That is the one thing that sickens me about my love for storms - that they are such destructive things. However, in some respects, I love it because it's only a small ounce of the amount of power that God has, and that to me is an absolutely fabulous thing to behold.

About 10 minutes ago, I wandered outside amidst a very eery setting. The sky was this mad shade of orange. I took a picture of it... of course, it doesn't really do it justice, but you can see a small sliver of blue through the crazy orange clouds. Within 10 minutes, the sky shifted to a midnight blue with purplish hues, about the fastest I have ever seen the sky change colors. Granted, I have seen storms roll in pretty fast, but that's just going from light to dark, cloudless to cloudy... these were completely different colors. WILD! Right now, it's very very still... I can only hear the hum of the power lines, and the slight chirping of crickets. Every so often, a quiet rumbling in the distance, and I can hear the weather station on the television downstairs... but these sounds are muted against the deafening silence that's outside right now. Usually, silence is so overlooked. But in a situation where you'd expect noise to abound, to have silence, it's unavoidably noticable.

My mom was watching the weather... I live in a city about 45 minutes outside of Madison, one of Wisconsin's largest cities. They were saying that a man at the local mall was picking up falling debris... It was mail, actual letters, that were addressed with Madison addresses. Baseball cards, bills, letters... all of these things, the storm had picked up and carried with it. I guess 12 houses were ruined about a half an hour from here. They were showing 6 different tornadoes on the radar.

And yet, all we have is silence.

I suppose I should be grateful. I mean, I could have been one of those people who's house was destroyed. I'm not wishing for that by any means. The wind has started to pick up a little, but still, now that it is dark, you would never know that there was a storm coming. It's silent, and still. I hope to see a great light show and the mighty roar of the sky, but that may just not happen. For now, I'll just continue to sit by my window, and let the pre-storm atmosphere linger in my room...

I'll try to post a picture later on this evening, and let you know if the storm ever unleashed it's wrath.

missed

I'm sitting here listening to Sigur Ros, and thinking about how much I miss playing the piano. Not having a piano to play is not the main reason why I am saddened that I no longer have a "church home", but I realized about a month ago, not only will I no longer have a church to call home, but I will not have a piano at my disposal any time I so choose to play. Before, when I was feeling a bit sad, pensive, or just musically inclined, I'd head on over to my church and play my little heart out. God bless them for giving me church keys. No one around, with only one overhead light on, it became a hideout of sorts... I could play as loudly or softly as I desired... I could play the same song as many times as I wanted... I could even let my voice squeak a few notes out, with no one around to hear it... I loved it. Playing songs by ear, playing songs I created, or just sitting in front of the black and white keys... Nothing used to calm my nerves, eat away at my frustration, and jumpstart my creative energy like playing the piano... and I miss it.

and I simply must say, I'm incredibly addicted to
"Saeglópur" by Sigur Ros. all of their songs are
so beautiful, but this is my new favorite.
a bit more upbeat than stuff off their ( ) album.
but beautiful.

I gotta find a piano somewhere...

plug

Ok... so this may be a shameless plug for people whose creativity and talents I admire, and whom I have appreciated knowing over the years, but if you're looking for any new worship tunes, you should check out both of these albums, as they are amazing.

"Changed" - Music at Mars Hill
This album features the writing styles of Aaron Neiquist and Troy Hatfield, both great singer/songwriters.
You can download songs from this album at:
www.musicatmars.com

"You Are Here" - Cindy Beier
Cindy is a good friend of mine, and this is her debut album. She sings a few originals, a song written by Troy Hatfield, and even a couple beautifully arranged old hymns. You can pick up her album here:
www.cindybeier.com

These two albums have been pretty consistently playing on my iPod, and I highly suggest checking them out.
Thanks.

cornucopia

it's hip.
it's in.
it's the new lingo.

Cornucopia.

I was at a Blockbuster store the other night renting a movie with my friend. The young gentleman behind the counter had a pleasant demeanor, but was borderline over-the-top. With a cheesy smile, he assured us we had picked a winner of a movie, and would be thoroughly satisfied. Not only were we taking home a great theatrical treat, but along with our movie, we would be receiving a cornucopia of coupons. Yes, this is actually what he said. Cornucopia of coupons. I even questioned him to make sure I heard him right, and he assured me he had used the term correctly. I could have cared less about whether he had actually used it correctly. It was the fact that he had used it at all.

So like I said. It's hip. It's in. It's the new lingo.
Use it as often as you can.
I tried to get the word "slick" to catch on,
and I tried to get "towncat" to be the new hip phrase.
Both failed miserably.
But I have faith.
Cornucopia will prevail.
It's gonna be hot.

Just remember, you heard it here first.

project

Quick post once again about the music playlist project...

I've gotten a pretty good list started, but could still use more suggestions. In case you missed the original post, here's the plan: I am making a "Blog" playlist. I'm taking a suggestion from anyone who wants to contribute one, and creating a playlist with those songs. Here again are the rules:

1.) Keep the vulgarity to a minimum if possible.
2.) It has to be accessible through iTunes.
I don't download "free" MP3s, and I don't have the money to buy a full album for one song.
3.) You must attach your name to the post with the song
4.) Please choose just ONE song!

Thanks to those of you who already contributed (and especially to those who were disciplined enough to only pick one song). The list is pretty unique, and should be pretty interesting.

But the list needs more song! So suggest away, my friends!

velvet elvis

I recently just read a book entitled "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. Now, Rob Bell has this tendency to shake up, and reshape my thinking... and I love it.

Faith: Brick wall, or trampoline? If you pull one brick out of the wall, will the rest of it tumble? Or a spring that when pulled, has some stretching room? A wall that is dependent upon each brick, or a spring that is merely supportive?

Heaven: A place we will eventually arrive at? Or a place we were designed to bring to earth. "On earth as it is in heaven..." If we have the cabability to bring heaven to earth, we must also then have the ability to bring hell to earth... Hell on earth... Sound familiar? What if we tried making it more like heaven?

Evangelism: We always talk about how we need to take Jesus to another country. China. India. Iraq. South Africa. England. France. Russia. Why? Is he missing in those countries? Or is more about journeying together, and recognizing his already existent presence everywhere?

These are some of the ideas that are present in Velvet Elvis. Keep in mind, I'm just skimming the surface. One of the greatest things about this book are all the questions. Yes, questions. And unanswered ones at that. Rob Bell talks about how so often, we're afraid to ask questions. We're afraid to let God in on what our hearts really want to know, what we really want to ask. In this book, he challenges us to ask those questions - no matter what.

I've written a review for Relevant magazine that can be found at this address: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/article.php?sid=7000 Or you can click on the title of this post. It has some quotes from the book, and where you can get more info on it. I highly recommend checking it out...

Not everything in the book sits well with me. It's not supposed to. They're someone elses questions, not mine. But I have found myself with a lot of the same questions on my tongue... Glad to know I'm not alone.

And on a side note... No I do not work for Rob Bell, I'm not related to Rob Bell, I don't even know Rob Bell, nor do I worship him. I appreciate his gift of communication the way someone might appreciate a painter, a musician, a writer, a movie maker... when someone communicates something that resonates deep within my being, I'm appreciative.

And I like to share.

new idea

As I was publishing my last post, an idea occured to me. Now, I don't know that I can afford this idea... Granted, I really don't have THAT many people who visit this blog, but who knows - if people get really into it, I could be in trouble. But I want to try it anyway.

I'm going to make a Blog Mix I think. So here's the plan... Post one of your favorite songs or just a song you'd like to share with me because you think I might like it, or you just really really love it. Here's a couple rules though:

1.) Keep the vulgarity to a minimum if possible.
2.) It has to be accessible through iTunes.
I don't download "free" MP3s, and I don't have the money to buy a full album for one song.
3.) You must attach your name to the post with the song
4.) Please choose just ONE song!

Then, after a while I will collect all the songs and compile a new list. It'll be cool, I think - really random! But it'll be a collection of a bunch of different tastes and styles across the board. Like, I might get some metal or hard core music from a Canadian Bomber-lovin' boy, some killer beats from an Illinois graphic designer, a hip hop suggestion from a Cub-lovin' Eminem fan, something mellow and meaningful from a Family Feud contestant, or something I hadn't even thought of from a Texan translator! We'll see...

Be creative! Think of a cool song to add to the Blog Mix.
Let the fun begin.

uscs mix

So, work is getting a bit tough to trudge through... Don't get me wrong, I am entirely grateful for the fact that I have a well paying job, that they are willing to work around my school schedule, and I'm not even working 40 hours a week this summer. I'm even MORE grateful that in a mere 3 weeks, I have vacation and once that is over with, I will be back to a school schedule. Rock on for that.

However, I still have three weeks to make it through at work, and I thought to myself that maybe a new playlist would help. I've made it through all of my current playlists way too many times. Therefore, it was high time I put together a new playlist with some newly acquired music.

And I share that list with you:

Bad Reputation - Senses Fail (Joan Jett version n/a on iTunes - sadness)
Everything is Alright - Motion City Soundtrack
Cross My Heart - The Rocket Summer
Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
Crazy Mary - FM Static
Sidewalks - Story of the Year
Permanent - Acceptance
Square One - Coldplay
Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
Progress - Mute Math
The City Lights - The Umbrellas
Constellations - Jack Johnson
If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet - Reindeer Section
Bad Day - Daniel Powter
Wires - Athlete
Day By Day - Five For Fighting (dug this CD out of the "old tunes" pile)
Today Was A Good Day - Jason Hartwell
When The Stars Go Blue - Tyler Hilton & Bethany Joy Lenz
Son's Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope & Santana
Blackbird - Eros

So far, I dig this mix... We'll see how it goes though. Hoping it'll get me through the next three week. Then, three weeks, I'm headed to Boston (God-willing) for a roadtrip. I'm headed out there with my good friend Sarah and hopefully we'll create a good mix. It's always more fun to create a playlist with someone else - especially when memories are attached. So that should rock... Then, I'll have to create some new school mixes. There's a lot of good albums coming out soon, so hopefully I'll have new tunes. Word on the street is, Death Cab for Cutie has a new album August 30th, David Crowder towards the end of September, Sneaker Pimps are sometime soon, Postal Service is rumored to have something coming out in the near future... And has anyone heard about the new Jimmy Eat World? I heard something a while back, but no idea if that's any time soon...

Alright, that's all for now. More good tunes to come.