Foto Friday: National Mall

For the last few weeks I've been playing kickball (as I am wont to do in the Spring/Summer) and one of the coolest things about this league is its location: right between the Capital & the Washington Monument. Not only are they both incredible structures, but they are also so important to America's story and our national identity. Every now an then in floored by the fact I live just outside one of the most powerful cities in the world, and D.C. will always have a special place in my heart.

I think this first picture is my favorite, because the sunset reflecting off the Capital and the juxtaposition of this huge imposing, all-white, official building with the rainbow colors of adults kicking it and having carefree fun with rec-league sports is great!

The rest were taken in post-sunset lighting so they're not nearly as crisp as the first picture, but I love the look of these structures standing tall despite the ominous clouds behind them, hashtag'Murka! and all that =)

Musical Monday: Mourning a Glory

This weekend I received devastating news that a former teammate, friend, and wonderful person passed away in a tragic hot air balloon accident in Caroline County, Virginia.

You might have heard it on the news, I saw stories about it almost everywhere I turned online from local news sources to the MSN homepage, even BBC world news. It was such a shocking and tragic incident. To find out that a former teammate, who had JUST organized last month's alumni meet, who made me a poster just as lovely and with as much thought at the ones she made the 4 year seniors, even though I had only been on the team 3 months, was killed in such a horrific and sudden and unpredictable way was earth-shaking.

In the abstract I know that she's gone but in processing reality, I don't think it's fully hit yet. Work is tough today but what a reminder to cherish every moment and to tell the people that you admire why they are so special to you. There's more I want to write but for now this is all I can get through.

Natalie are are a dear and dearly missed. Your megawatt smile had a brilliance that shone through your eyes to welcome anyone and your passion for live and for loving others stands above most anyone else I know.

Here's a song that expresses some of what I'm feeling.  I didn't want to get too sad or morbid posting a bunch so this is the extent of Musical Monday:

Yellowcard: View from Heaven

Foto Friday: Adventures in Austin

So at the end of April the B-OB crew (my sisters, my brother-in-law, and I) travelled to Austin to play with our competitive kickball team.  The weekend was jam-packed with gorgeous weather, delicious food, fun tourism, and lots of Austin attitude!

Summary of the weekend!

We arrived mid-morning Friday & immediately got some Rudy's BBQ, which was great. They gave us "rookies" free samples of the meats & sides, and it was all delicious! Since we couldn't check-in yet, we walked around to the Capital and took some photos. You can totally see the inspiration the Texas architects drew from our national capital building! 

 

Yay Austin!

pretending to be the statues!

Church architecture is breathtaking in any city! But especially older churches

My "Melissa" style red snapper, which had a divine Lemon Beurre [sp] sauce

The Driskill was built by an oil tycoon in the 1800s and is gor-geous!

artsy angle

We stayed in East Austin, a predominately mexican-heritage part of the city.  This was my first experience with airbnb and it was great, we had a couple other teammates join us and the house was the perfect size for 6 people! For dinner we returned to downtownfor a delicious meal, a little walking then rested up for the tournament. We played at a complex up in Pflugerville, and unfortunately lost in the semi-finals to a team we definitely should have beaten (our 5th time playing & first loss to that particular team). 

Kicker sisters!

With a former UR Soccer Teammate & a cool dud e who play for an Austin/NY team

After the tournament, we had some night-time fun along 6th Street.  The next morning, we returned to 6th Street to the Iron Cactus for the World's Most Epic Buffet Brunch Ever. They served such a variety of food and had a lot of tex-mex flair to it and it included bottomless mimosas, so you know I'm in! 

All cleaned up & ready to party!

Kickball Ladies out on the 6th Street scene

I moose this guy already!

Willow St. House crew at brunch!

After eating, we decided to spend our remaining hours touring the city & trying to find some of Austin's more iconic street art.  20 minutes later and about halfway to walking there, we realized 90 degrees was too hot to handle a 2 mile plus walk there and back (post tournament & without sweating through our travel clothes) and so we returned to the rental car and got there in 5 minutes We found two of the murals successfully and had a fun photo-op time.

So-Co (South Congress) was my favorite part of the city and while we were fortunate to discover it, it was in our last few hours in the city, and so I definitely want to go back & do some more exploring!

trwuu luhv!

P.S. If this is Austin, I still loooove you!

Musical Monday: Oh Land's Cherry on Top

Oh Land: Cherry on Top

*skip at least the first minute to get to the actual music, or if you want the full story, you can watch the whole thing

So I've posted some of her music here before, and I'm pretty sure when speaking of her last video for Renaissance Girls, I called her "all the cool I want to be." Not much is different in this video.  The video and the song are based on a dream she had. You see, before she was a pop siren, Nana Oland was training to be a professional ballerina.  A back injury put her in the hospital for months where she was told she'd never dance again.  Her creative outlet became music, and since her self-titled debut album I have been a fan of her off-kilter, sweet but sometimes savory pop sounds.

Oh Land: White Nights

Her first video and one of my favorite all time music videos

As you can see from these videos, she has actually recovered enough that she can move and dance better than the average person.  However, she's shared how hard it was to let her dream of being a ballet dancer fade away, especially since at night her dreams would betray  how tightly her subconscious held onto her childhood dream.  That is, until one night she dreamt that she was back in ballet class yet again, but this time instead of a dancer, she was the substitute pianist. That dream inspired her song and video for "Cherry on Top" and the result is an auditory and visual delight!

Foto Friday

So these pictures are almost a month old but I had to share them. Thanks for bearing with me on my start/stop style of blogging these past few months, I'd like to blame time/stress or anything but myself but honestly I succumbed to my ennui that seems to have seeped into every aspect of my life. I need to find the energy to change a few things in my life and instead since I am more efficient the more I have to do, I'm hoping that creating & sticking to a blogging schedule will help me. 

We'll see.

Anyways, here are unedited pictures from the DC National Cherry Blossom Festival.  The biggest special effect of these pictures was timing them just right to get a picture of the blossoms & NOT the back of one of the heads of the 10,000 people constantly streaming by me. It was sooo crowded and as annoying as it was to be pushed about by an innumerable throng of bodies, I couldn't begrudge them their opportunity to see this special sight, especially considering that 98% of them travelled much further than I did on the slim chance there would actually be flowers on the trees. It's always a bit of a mind boggling thought that I take for granted how I grew up outside one of the most powerful cities in the world & I definitely want to take more advantage of what the city has to offer.