i'm back

after a long day of flights, i am finally back on campus!

i will have plenty more to say and a plethora of photos for y'all as soon as i get the chance.

later, for now

i'm headed to new orleans with the bonner kids this afternoon and i'll be there for an entire week. i won't be bringing my laptop so i'm not sure if i will be able to post for the next 7 days.

in the case that that occurs, have a good week everyone!

<3

bus thoughts

I'm sitting on the 84 line. it feels strangely like home. even though the seats always stick to my legs and there's usually some sort of funny smell wafting from the guy in the seat next to me, the fact that it drives right past to mac gives it that home-y feeling.

i'm headed back after a fairly successful shopping trip by myself. the rest of the ensemble left for milwaukee earlier this afternoon. this whole week, i haven't been too hung up on the fact that i can't go with the rest of them because i'm super jazzed to go to NOLA on saturday. in fact, until the two amazing performances we did today, i was looking forward to having two days of rest on campus. in the end, i was pretty bummed to not be going on tour with everyone especially because my adrenaline was still going after the electrifying shows we did today. since no one is really left at mac, i decided to give myself some retail therapy -- which helped quite a bit.

bonner people should start arriving tomorrow and that should make me feel a little better. when i don't have company to keep me occupied, i get a little melancholy.

dancing books

just wanted to share this absolutely magical video. i can't even begin to imagine how long this took the filmmakers to create.

the best day

i had a magnificent day today.

at 8:30, i headed over to the ballroom to do soundcheck with the rest of the ensemble before the concert. i realized that one of the members, joe, was wearing a hat that looked very similar to a hat that i was owning. the funny part is, my hat came with a "beard" that strongly resembled joe's actual beard!

the show for the kids went pretty well. energy was a little low, but after two full days of rehearsal, it wasn't a big surprise.

afterwards, we headed over to the nearby church to put on a little informal performance for the pre-school children there. the kids were absolutely adorable. we really enjoyed looking at some of the artwork they had created. i am dying to know what the lesson plans are like because these projects involved the dalai lama, the beatles, and fast food restaurants! this particular work really made me laugh.

after the concert, sowah finally gave us some free-time. the weather here in minnesota has been extremely strange lately. namely, the temperature has been near 40 degrees with absolutely no snow. naturally, whenever it's above freezing we minnesotans take any opportunity to be outside. if you had driven by mac today around 2, you would have seen us out on the lawn, laying on a blanket, basking in the sun. 

some friends who live nearby, but haven't moved back into the dorms yet, stopped by to say hello and hang out for a bit. it was so nice to see them after three weeks <3

afterwards i headed over to the ame spaghetti dinner where agnes and i saw this beautiful house still decked out in christmas decorations.

the dinner was delicious. a lot of the ame members are pretty health-conscious and into homemade / organic foods. i also had a great discussion about the aeneid and all of its characters with another former latin scholar. i personally did not enjoy the four years of latin i took during high school, but i guess it was all worth it to have something in common with a cute guy!

on the way back, i saw this sign hanging on a fence and decided to take it back to my dorm with me. i think i'm going to paint the letters cool colors while i watch lord of the rings tonight...

i've got another early morning tomorrow, filled with more concerts and hopefully another great day!

oh, and how could i forget?! i bought tickets today to see what is probably one of my most favorite bands, the black keys, in concert!! a few friends and i will be making a road trip to milwaukee, wisconsin to see them on may 16th. i am so excited. i honestly think i might pee my pants when i see dan auerbach play sweet, sweet music on his guitar.

back to mac

well here i am, back in the dorm. it's really strange to be on the floor, when practically no one else is. i was actually quite homesick last night, more so than when i first moved in. luckily, i found it soothing to unpack all of my stuff and organize all of my food (16 cans of chef boyardee, yogurt, pickles, turkey, vanilla pudding, granola, fruit snacks, dinosaur egg oatmeal, and saltines!).

today i had 8 total hours of african music ensemble. it didn't feel quite as long as i expected it would, but tiring nonetheless. it was good to reunite with a lot of people -- especially cute guys with the beards. hopefully i'll get a chance to take photos of some of the instruments to post on here!

afterwards, some of the girls came back to my dorm to watch a few episodes of LOST.

that's about all that happened today. this will be a pretty un-aesthetically pleasing post, i'm afraid.

tomorrow will bring more rehearsal and possibly a shopping trip to Whole Foods for some more greek yogurt - which i cannot get enough of right now.

i can still smell the pomegranate -- SO GOOD

i'm ready to go

i really am.

my sense of timing is beautiful, if not a little abrupt. i've spent the past three weeks loving my break: sleeping-in, eating out, seeing old friends, hugging my parents, watching lord of the rings from my bed -- but last night, my last night in town, i felt so ready to go back to school. i'm sitting here, in my room, staring at the things i need to pack, so happy that i'm finally packing, mentally reminding myself to grab my toothbrush and contact lens case from the bathroom -- and yet, my stomach isn't ready.

in three weeks i've accomplished both everything and nothing. i still feel like there are some things i should have done or said, or people i should have spent more time with. my mind is raring to go back to routine, to being busy, and a scribbled-up moleskine but i can't ignore apprehension. maybe i do want one more week.

but maybe that would be one more week i would have wasted.

but seriously, i'm ready to go back to campus.

i really am.

i picked this up at saver's a couple of weeks ago for about $4. i'm hoping to take it as a carry-on with me to new orlean's when i go in a week. i thought it would look a little more interesting than the puma duffel i usually bring on planes with me.

birdhouse

my friend ihab and i have spent the last 4 days building this birdhouse out of a bag of wood pieces and lots and lots of gorilla glue.

we might have added mini birdhouses and little birds onto it as well.

we delivered it to our former latin teacher in high school who really enjoys bird watching. it was fun to go back and see how little everything has changed. it was like i never really left high school. i visited my former calc teacher, a guy i really liked and respected, and had a good time talking to him about what i've been up to lately.

today was also my last day of work at abercrombie & fitch. i can't believe that an entire year had gone by of folding, usr-ing, and listening to that awful dance music. still, i was sad to say good-bye. farewells are never easy, especially if you know that there won't be many chances to see that other person again. 

i feel like after high school, saying good-bye becomes more of a common thing.

hat

my mum bought me a hat for $5 at Wet Seal the other day. i've been finding any occasion to wear it outside of the house. yesterday, i wore it with sweatpants and a macalester sweatshirt.

i do what i want.

3 songs that define my life right now

i've found a really deep personal connection to these songs and they're all i can listen to.

other than that new selena gomez song, which i am not ashamed to admit that i adore.

gray or blue [jaymay]

helplessness blues [fleet foxes]

shake it out [florence + the machine]

new year's resolutions

1. carry myself with better posture
2. cut down my use of the phrase "i don't know" - i will have an answer for everything, or a way to find the answer
3. wear more hats (i look good in them)
4. continue this blog

i think it's a pretty do-able list. let's see how it goes.

war horse

yesterday i went to see the movie WAR HORSE with ihab and melissa after multiple friends had claimed it was the 'best movie they had ever seen.' although i personally would not label it so (i'm more of a jurassic park / lotr sort of person), i can still confirm that it is a very fine film - especially for the horse genre. however in the end, it was about the sadness and loss of war. the story itself was quite beautiful.

here's a horse-inspired photo post:

       

                  

new year's eve

was a total shit-show. i was drunk by 8:30 and helping other people puke by midnight.

still a good night. at least from what these photos tell me.