Those Spanish majors . . .

Two of my good friends, who are majoring in Spanish, are getting to spend lots of time in Spain. Not only are they having a jolly linguistically-challenging holiday, they are blogging about it!
Hannah (whose blog you can find here) is on her way home now, and Caitlin (whose blog you can find here) is just now arriving in Spain.
I'm so excited for them.

Wednesday! A new painting and news in general.

I have a new painting on the art site :


Sarah, Head in the Clouds

Last night, Gabe and I met up with our brother Luke and his wife Chelsey to eat at Schlotzsky's. But Luke, Chelsey and I had an ulterior motive(or two): check out the stage construction for the U2 show at Vandy. And give Gabe his surprise birthday gift: a ticket to the concert! He was so surprised! And the stage is almost completely built! So excited.

The love-birds also gave me my camera back, so now I can post pictures of the Over the Rhine show from back in May:

If I could pick the 25 songs that they will sing on Saturday . . .

These are in no particular order (other than chronological):
. Sunday Bloody Sunday
. A Sort of a Homecoming
. Pride (In the Name of Love)
. Bad
. Where the Streets Have No Name
. Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for
. With or Without You
. Red Hill Mining Town
. Desire
. Heartland
. All I Want is You
. Ultraviolet
. Mysterious Ways
. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?
. Miss Sarajevo
. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
. Beautiful Day
. In a Little While
. Electrical Storm
. Vertigo
. City of Blinding Lights
. Original of the Species
. Window in the Skies
. Get on Your Boots
. Unknown Caller

Pre-Occupied . . .

The U2 concert is in 4 days. I can't even think of anything else right now.

'Married to the Sea' strikes again: Illustrator Unable to Contain Laughter in Office . . .

The Midsummer Night's Ball

The ball was so wonderful. SO wonderful. We danced for like 5 hours straight, and then there was lots of resting and conversation until the wee hours of the next day. I love dancing so much. And I love my communities, and this ball was a fine amalgamation of all of them. It was a night that causes one to sigh with contentment.
Josh and I figured out this dance from the 2009 Emma and taught it to everyone. It's a waltz, so we danced it to Norwegian Wood and The Blue Danube Waltz.



Mom made a huge breakfast for everyone who stayed the night. Yum.

5 days til the U2/Florence+the Machine concert! Holy cow.

Thursday thoughts.

I'm trying to make a very serious dance playlist for the Ball. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Here's the problem(s):
1. There's too much good music
2. I can dance to anything

How am I supposed to know what everyone else wants to dance English Country Dances to? (English Country Dance are the sort of dance one sees in Jane Austen movie adaptations) Sheesh, I hope I can figure out a list before 5 o'clock tomorrow that has less than 20 songs on it. . .

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My little baby nephew, Ricky, is turning 8 tomorrow. Mercy, time doesn't know how to slow down. Not a bit.
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I'm so excited that I've made all the fairycakes for the Ball from scratch! I AM A DOMESTIC GODDESS! The ones with the strawberries in them are the best. Oh. Yum.

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You change all the lead sleeping in my head to gold
As the day grows dim, I hear you sing a golden hymn
It's the song I've been trying to sing...

Purify the colors, purify my mind
Purify the colors, purify my mind
And spread the ashes of the colors over this heart of mine!


From Arcade Fire's Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

Do the Countdown! Yee-haw!

Yesterday before the Holy Night of Tuesday's at Schlotzsky's, I picked up Bon Iver's new album. Loving Towers the most so far. Then I helped move some of my brother's stuff out of the cabin.

YAY:

2 days until the Midsummer's Ball.
(Which I have been working on every night for two weeks after I get to my parent's house after work! It's going to be wonderful.)

3-8 days til Tree of Life Opens at the Belcourt.
(Depends on when my fellow movie-goers can see it.)

9 days until U2 and Florence & the Machine at the little tiny Vanderbilt Stadium. Amen.
(We are going to camp out on the sidewalk the night before! AH!)

39 days until I turn 25.
(25. A quarter of a century.)

42 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman.
(Finally, after all these attempts, I get tickets. On the sixth row. At the Ryman.)

MMMMMmmmmmm.

I love my dad and his twinkling eyes.

Me and my dad when he had Wolverine hair.


My dad and I at an awards dinner at Cumberland University a couple of years ago.

Didn't get to post this yesterday because we were partying too hard with dad! I went out and got lots of pizza, peanut M&M's, RC Cola, popcorn, and a movie and we all gathered at my parents' house and had fun. It was also the first time we had seen Luke and Chelsey since the wedding, which was nice. So thankful for my father.

Midnight in Paris

Gabe and I went to see Midnight in Paris last night, and, from the perspective of someone who dreams of living in a by-gone era, it was a fun film. Owen Wilson always makes me laugh, I loved hating Rachel McAdams, I loved loving Marion Cotillard, and I love PARIS. Also, after seeing this, I want to see an entire movie of Adrian Brody playing Dali. AMAZING.

GASP.

Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

#214

I taste a liquor never brewed --
From Tankards scooped in Pearl --
Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!

Inebriate of Air -- am I --
And Debauchee of Dew --
Reeling -- thro endless summer days --
From inns of Molten Blue --

When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove's door --
When Butterflies -- renounce their "drams" --
I shall but drink the more!

Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats --
And Saints -- to windows run --
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the -- Sun --

~Emily Dickinson

7 days until the Midsummer's Ball.
14 days until U2 and Florence & the Machine at the little tiny Vanderbilt Stadium. Amen.
44 days until I turn 25.
47 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman.

Today

I love being at work and hearing thunder rumbling along, dragging its heels, going against the will of the wind, because it loves Tennessee's hills and valleys and wants to stay hovering over them a bit longer.
It wants to reflect the gem like green of June trees.
It wants to trace the winding, wiggling path of the Cumberland River Snake.
It wants to cool the scorching heat of the Cicada Summer.
And I'm ok with that.

I'm feeling a bit of purpose welling up in me. Just in time for the big move into the city that runs on music.

Gives me chills

http://elsita.typepad.com/allaboutpapercutting/

So wonderful.

11 days until the Midsummer's Ball.
18 days until U2 and Florence & the Machine at the little tiny Vanderbilt Stadium. Amen.
48 days until I turn 25.
51 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman.

Thinking of taking up the banjo . . .

. . . but i know I'll never look as cool as these guys.

U2's With or Without You never gets old. Not ever.

I can't wait to hear it live. Again. And to camp out the day before outside of the stadium.

And while we're talking about Johnny Depp . . .

Happy 48th Birthday Johnny Depp! May you have 48 more years of, um, super-human attractiveness.

Of late.

I hate hot weather.

Anyways, my little baby brother, Luke, is quite married. It's funny that the youngest of the four of us is married first, at 21 (Rachel is 34, I'm 24, and Gabe is 22). The wedding was so lovely. We danced. SO MUCH! I have to say, that as a single (white) lady, dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies was a highlight of the evening. I remember at one point Chelsey and I were getting our groove on and when we realized how ridiculous we were being we just started laughing so hard we almost fell over. I am so excited to be able to call Chelsey my sister. They are honeymooning it up in St Augustine, FL. They have my camera, so I can't post pictures of the Over the Rhine show or the wedding until they get home.

The Over the Rhine show was great, by the way. So wonderful. But no songs from Drunkard's Prayer.

I had my first experience with a spray tan, and while it looked great for the first couple of days, it didn't end well. Thankfully the wedding was in those first couple of days. And thankfully, all traces of its existence are now gone. I am not meant to be tan, but I was going to be in the wedding with only super tan people and I was wearing a pretty revealing dress, so the tan had to happen, or else pictures would have looked hilarious.

There has been lots of night swimming going on at my parent's house lately, which is always delicious.

And lots of movies! This week we have seen Chocolat (my fave), The Switch, The Tourist, X:Men First Class, which was great, Secret Window, which was among the worst movies ever (even with the sublime Johnny Depp), Badlands at the Belcourt, which was also great (and we ran into Jack White there).

So much goodness.

Gabe and I are driving our friend Christopher up to his college in Indiana this weekend to help him move. We did this last summer too, except last time my car, Penelope, broke down up there. Hopefully that will not happen this time. But we will be getting Culver's on the way there and back again. Mmm.

Getting lots of good doses of community these days. Merci.

Failing at learning French, but still trying.

Getting ready to move to Nashville!

We've been having lots of fun with the Myers-Briggs Personality types around here. I'm still an INFP, Gabe is an INFJ, and Carly is an INTJ. She will become a dictator, and Gabe and I will cry a lot, but I will remain hopeful. Ha ha.


There are still exciting things to look forward to:

16 days until the Midsummer's Night Ball/Opening of The School (so much DANCING! and I have a midnight blue ball gown for the occasion)
(Tree of Life is also opening that day)

24 days til U2 and Florence & the Machine in Nashville with Mom and Dad and Luke and Chels and Josh

53 days until I turn 25

61 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman with Gabe

My brother is married.

Mercy.