The Last House by Richard Hawkins on display in Los Angeles along with other variations of the fabled haunted house. Via NYT's Moment Blog. Seriously love it.
I want to shout from the roof tops about my Memorial Day weekend trip to Portland with Kelly and Paige, but truth be told I'm still processing everything. It was seriously amazing and left me with a lot of inspiration and longing.
Plus, Kelly's camera took the best pictures so I figure I'll wait until she finds a moment in her crazybusy schedule to upload them onto facebook, then I'll steal them and have them accompany the post.
Meanwhile,
I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. Really good, thought provoking: Frida Khalo, the startling parallels you can draw between the McCarthyism of the 50s and the outrageous accusations being made today and the most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.
Reading The Poisonwood Bible changed my life - or really, how I came to perceive religion. Kingsolver is just always the perfect blend of fanciful story and a punch in the gut.
I'm just not crazy about alternative radio.
I've decided this type of music, though it's my favorite, is just not radio friendly. I turn on the radio, I want something campy and oversexed, easy to run to and instantly likeable.
They're probably even playing The National (High Violet is soooo my album of the moment) and I probably wrote it off as more of the same.
I think it's because I need this type of music to wash over me, I have to immerse myself in it and hear it over and over before I'm in love.
I think Walker put it so well when he said something along the lines of: there's some music that meets you where you're at in your current moment.
Where I'm at:
Conversation 16 & Lemonworld, The National
Pretty Wings, Maxwell
Little Lion Man, Mumford & Sons - saw them perfom in Portland and also smoke by the back door. Spiritual experience + winks in Paige's direction.
Every Ryan Bingham song ever.
When I was younger I'd stare out the car window and get lost in the scenery whizzing by and feel like the world was infinite, endless, epic like Jane Austen novels and Braveheart and Apollo 13.
The other night I ran and ran and ran and ran through so many neighborhoods and it felt so good. I was really proud of myself, I didn't keep score of the miles or time or how many songs I'd listened to on my iPod, I was just infinitely running and had no desire to stop. It was one of those Elle Woods, this is so much better than that moments where you really feel like a world conqueror capable of anything.
I really hadn't felt like that in a long time - the real world really can be a little defeating and you end up accepting things as they are, only seeing closed doors, the realities of needing money, etc.
But I decided whatever I eventually end up doing with my life, I want it to empower me.
I want it to challenge me. I want it to make me feel energized. I want it to make me feel proud.
And forget continually saying and thinking eventually. I want it sooner rather than later. Life is short. Seize the moment. Etc.
It's like you have these dual personalities when your in the transit stage of life: I'm only 23! and I'm already 23!
On the flip side, maybe there is a bit of a realization that the real world really just won't quite satisfy you. That instead, people find this within themselves, in vivid imaginations, religion, loved ones...
I remember listening to Jason Reitman on NPR, he was discussing how he really made Up In The Air (excellent movie) for his wife, who had come to the conclusion that nothing in this world was really going to satisfy her professionally and the challenge of coming to accept that as a part of her life.
So maybe for me, this is domestic street running.
Oh the blog world is blissfully filled with all things summer - especially summer goals.
My summer goals: popsicle walks, sunscreen skin and swimming pools, sunkissed, sun kisses, lots of running, complete and utter use of that sweet time after 5:30pm on weekdays, maybe finally writing about those epic summer Callahan/Butcher road trips, how to dress right for work in 90 degree+ heat, late night cheese and cracker picnics when the day has finally cooled off a bit, my bike, long hair, my sisters, grapefruit juice, reading, savoring every moment of my best friend's wedding, bruce springsteen...
I am so thankful that life is so good.
