I love Psych

This is what I currently look forward to going home to.

*sigh* ...I wish he were real.

Photoriffic

Free time is SUCH a blessing. Especially in a world where people work too much. So I've been thinking a lot about how to spend my upcoming free-time. I think it was a pretty good idea to spend a few days in Nashville over this Thanksgiving break. But now I have 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week in march, and about 8 weeks in the summer that I can do whatever with!!

One of the bazillion options I was looking at this summer was Oxford. I've always wanted to go to England, and even more so recently with Harry Potter and Mumford and Sons being on my brain. I've also always been interested in Ireland and Scotland! Did you know its less than $200 to fly round trip from London to Dublin?? So I was looking up Oxford University and pumped that they have plenty of "continuing education" courses in the summer for people just like me! People that like to learn, but don't want a degree, and maybe want to poke around London for a bit.

However, after sifting through all their available courses, the only one that really peaked my interest was one about Jane Austen's heroines. Which would be cool, but not sure how valuable that knowledge would be for me. I ALSO found an incredibly awesome Creative Writing class called "Effective Writing 3:Life Writing"!!! This one would have been amazeballs except for the fact that its the first 2 weeks in may (when im teaching) AND its already full.

So then I got to thinking...
I AM still interested in London...
I've also been wanting to take a photography class...
I've also always wanted to see Hawaii...
I also understand that media and film are kind of a big deal in Los Angeles...

hmmm perhaps I could use spring break or summer-time to take a photography class in one of these fun places? It would be something to do while I'm there, a way to meet people, and a great excuse for looking like a tourist with a camera growing out of my eyeball.

Or maybe I do just wanna find something here? People keep shoving camera books in my face, but I'm a pretty kinetic learner. I would rather pay someone to show me what the buttons mean, how lighting works, what photoshop is...than spend a lot of trial and error time figuring it out myself.
Well this certainly excites me! The sooner the better!

Odd to me

Maybe its just me...because things usually are...but i find it EXTREMELY WEIRD when people date their friend's ex's! Does anyone else think this completely goes against the friend code? I would never, ever, in a million years date a guy that Shasta had already dated...or ANY of my girlfriends ex's for that matter. It's just so strange to me. And how is that not weird for the ex?? How are you supposed to show up at parties and things and act completely cool when YOU used to be with the person your friend is now standing there snogging(h.potter reference) with?

A friend of my ex was calling me pretty often for a little bit, but I didn't take the bate, out of respect for my ex. And now I see that, in the past few months, my ex has dated not one, but TWO of his friends ex-girlfriends? Totally bizarre to me.

The bigger question here is, why do I care? ...and that's a very good question! I guess I shouldn't, I suppose I've given up every right to care. It's probably just loneliness around the holidays getting to me...or the feeling that I'm completely replaceable, and realizing more and more that he had no feelings for me specifically, I was just another female on his list...or in my eyes, the total injustice that he's been through girl after girl in the last 5 months since we broke up and I haven't been so much as taken on one date!!

UGH! TMI...I know...internet inappropriateness...

Sorry, but you were sadly mistaken if you think I would only post adventure pics on here and put up an eternal facade of positivity...I am, human after all.
Dear God, please get me out of this town.

Nashville

I like seeing new cities whenever possible. I love it actually. And, I find it best to visit friends as a means of travel, see how they live and their town through their eyes. So I went to see my friend Dave. He was always such a positive force in my life during college, and we had a great time catching up.

As soon as I got there we went straight to karaoke where I finally got to try out my idea of Hall & Oates. I got to meet all of his friends from church the next day at a huge thanksgiving meal, and after, we walked off our food around Radner Lake. Got to see Jack White's neighborhood as well!



The next day we drove to Lynchberg and ate at Miss Mary Bobos. Which is a fantastic homestyle restaurant inside this old boarding house that supposedly Jack Daniel used to eat his lunch at daily. I was so full!



We visited the Jack Daniel's distillery...





Went to a place called The Mercy Lounge which ended up having an awesome 90's grunge night. Super fun. Woke up the next morning and ate at the Pancake Pantry and walked around town before I got on the plane.



I had a really great time on this trip. It's good to be around such sweet and generous people. It's good to have conversations with someone so relateable as Dave. It's good to be in such a pretty landscape. It's good to see places unfamiliar.

And, as much of a blast as I had in my short trip there...I'm afraid I can cross Nashville off my list of places to move. I feel like if I ever get out of Dallas, I need to try some place different, than here. I guess that's why L.A. is still in the #1 spot for me. Austin is still high on my list as well...but if I'm going for different...I might as well go all the way.

Talent Show

One of the items on my bucketlist is to perform music infront of a live audience. Up until now the only people who have heard me play my guitar are my music teachers, my roomates in college, and an ex-boyfriend. It just a fear I want to conquer to see if I can do it. I could go to an open mic night...OR I could perform in our school's TALENT SHOW at the end of the year. I'm very much toying with the idea.

The problem is finding a song. What is a dumbed down version of a recognizible song I could play, in front of 500 students? Now these are urban pre-teens so with that knowledge right there we can eliminate anything country, anything inappropriate for children, and anything slow and depressing.

I've been listening to the radio a lot lately, trying to find a current pop song I could play acoustically for fun, and from a girl (me) perspective. The problem is that all the pop songs out right now are smut.

So far, the best I've come up with is Michael Jackson's "Beat It". They love Michael Jackson...wonder if I could pull it off?

I NOW OPEN THE FLOOR FOR SUGGESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tickets

It all started after a long day at work when I came home and Shasta said, "Do you want a surprise that you'll love?"
Well of course, who doesn't. She then explained to me that some liquor reps had given her manager several concert tickets, two of which were Mumford & Sons that he'd never heard of. She then explained that she was unable to attend because of her nephew's birthday party...so being the selfless person that she is, she gave them to me. I quickly called Darby, who introduced me to this band, and then proceeded to count down the days until I got to go!

I would assume that the level of excitement I hold for a couple of great, FREE concert tickets...is equivalent to the excitement a Ranger fan would feel for World Series tickets.



Darby and I were joking around with the man outside of House of Blues about checking our I.D's. Only a few minutes later, as we were standing in line to go in, that same man did the sweetest favor ever. He came up to us and said, "You girls come with me."

Scared we had done something wrong, we left the line and went with him. And, he sent us to the VIP lounge, with VIP bracelets! It was wonderful. We otherwise would have been standing like sardines next to the stage for an hour before the opening band went on. But, instead, because of this man's kindness, we got to sit on beautiful couches and drink cocktails and eat good food. Sweet!




I hate typing posts after the fact because I often forget my emotional richter scale. However, let me just say that Mumford & Sons are WONDERFUL, in every way. Lyrics, music, stage presence, humility. LOVED THEM.

7:08am on a Tuesday

Some days I feel like this.