During the semester, I really just don’t have time to write extensive blog posts about my thoughts on the pressing issue of the day. I would feel far too guilty writing about a movie I just saw when I could be writing a paper for my English class or studying Supreme Court cases for my Constitutional Law class.

However, my Seasonal Affective Disorder has been kicking into high gear lately and I am in need of some inspiration – particularly in the form of beautiful spring/summer clothing.

So, just in time for New York Fashion Week, I am going to be switching over my blogging efforts to my Tumblr account. You’ll find I’ve already posted quite a few things there for my own personal enjoyment, but I am now going to share it with anyone else who wants to see it.

My motto for this new blog is inspired by Kate Spade and their “Things We Love and “Live Colorfully” projects. I will post lots of “things I love” and some tidbits from my attempts to “live colorfully.” (Full disclaimer: I likely won’t start “living colorfully” until it warms up outside. I just want to hibernate!)

So while it might not be the deepest form of communication, I hope you’ll agree that some communication is better than none. I am not going to delete this blog because I do hope to come back every now and again with more substantial posts.

Front and Center

Hi, WordPress! I didn’t forget about you, I just didn’t have anything post-worthy. That changed last night when I finally got to see The Mountain Goats play a live show.

I had previously tried to see The Mountain Goats on two separate occasions, but failed. I wanted to see them in Iowa City, but instead spent two weeks recovering from my emergency appendectomy. I then bought tickets to see them in Washington DC while I was still living there, but sadly, I ended up moving back to Kansas just a week before the show.

Nothing was going to stop me from seeing them last night at The Bottleneck.

The show was so much better than I even expected. John Darnielle, the lead singer, had great stage presence and I thought some of the live versions sounded even better than the studio versions. They played every song I wanted to hear, which was lucky, considering the fact that they have 17 studio albums and even more EPs.

With John Darnielle

Before the show, a few friends and I went for sushi at Yokohama down the street. As we were walking out, John Darnielle walked in. None of us had the guts to bother him then, but during the show he mentioned he wrote the set list on a napkin at dinner. After he finished his set, he tossed that napkin into the crowd and it landed right at my feet before I quickly snatched it up.

After the show, I got John to sign the set list and pose for a few photos. Despite the fact that I’ve heard he is a germaphobe, he had no problem with being ambushed by a bunch of strangers.

With Peter Hughes

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I did kind of chase Peter Hughes, the bassist, down for this photo. He is very good-looking, so I was a little nervous, but I really wanted to talk to him. Maybe that’s why we both look a little awkward in this picture. After the shot, I embarrassed myself a little more when told him I thought he was a very snazzy dresser (because he was wearing a sweet pinstripe suit during the show) and that I was “impressed.”

Overall, this was definitely one of my top five (maybe number one) concert experiences. Great crowd, great set, and a very friendly band!

For those interested, here’s the set list and links to a few songs for those who have never heard The Mountain Goats before:

1 Samuel 15:23 (Life of the World to Come)

Old College Try (Tallahassee)

Cotton (We Shall All Be Healed)

Heretic Pride (Heretic Pride)

For Charles Bronson (New Album!)

Psalm 40:2 (Life of the World to Come)

Woke Up New (Get Lonely)

Waving at You (Nothing for Juice)

Hawaiian Feeling (Come, Come to the Sunset Tree)

Fall of the Star High School Running Back (All Hail West Texas)

Lion’s Teeth (Sunset Tree)

Going to Georgia (Zopilote Machine)

Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod (Sunset Tree)

Your Belgian Things (We Shall All Be Healed)

See America Right (Tallahasee)

This Year (Sunset Tree)

Encore:

Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace (Life of the World to Come)

No Children

Day Three

On third day in Ireland was spent exploring the tremulous political history of Northern Ireland.

We began the day with a tour of the protestant areas of Derry while walking along the Walls of the City. Unfortunately, our tour guide wasn’t necessarily the best, so that made it hard to connect to what he was telling us. He made several cracks about “women do this” or “women do that” and even once expressed his shock that “lady architects” had been used for a certain project. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed.

After we finished the Walled City tour, we took a lunch break and a small group of us went in search for for authentic fish and chips.

We found it!

Don’t let the looks on their faces confuse you. The food was absolutely delicious. We ate our Fish and Chips while staring at the sight of Bloody Sunday. It was so surreal to be sitting so close to such important Irish history.

After lunch, we began our tour of the Bogside (Catholic area of Dublin). Our guide was a former member of the IRA who spent seven years in prison. Needless to say, he was extremely moving. He led us through the murals of “Free Derry” and explained their history. Below are just a few:

Hearing Eugene (our guide) tell us the story about watching British soldiers shoot and kill an 11-year-old boy for throwing a rock at their car were extremely heart breaking. But, I know the other side of that history as well. The IRA bombings killed numerous people, as well. I don’t believe it is up to me to classify either side of violence as unjustified or justified, so I will just say it is tragic that any lives were loss over politics.

Our day was mostly free for us to do whatever we’d like after the tour. We stayed in the City Centre for several hours to shop and then went back to our hotel. I spent most of the evening talking with our guide Kathy about life in London (where she is from) and the various tours she has given. She was an absolutely fantastic person and we are so lucky she was guiding us through our time.

Day Four

The next day we left Derry and began our trip to Dublin. On the way, we stopped at the Ulster Folk Museum which focused on Irish immigration to America. The museum also featured a re-created version of colonial Boston. I’m not typically a big fan of museums, and we were at this one a little early in the morning, but it was interesting to see the take on immigration because we had read and heard so much about it before the trip.

After the museum, we continued driving and stopped at a scenic outlook known as “The Hill of Tara.”

Legend has it that 17th Century Kings had to touch the rock on the left and hear it roar three times before they could properly become kings.

Nowadays, the area is just used as a scenic outlook and picnic place for locals.

Once we arrived in Dublin, our tour guide dropped us in the City Centre (also well known for the Temple Bar District) and we got a chance to get our bearings. We popped into a local pub and had a drink while the Irish watched soccer.

After dinner in Dublin, our group went back out to the Temple Bar District and spent the evening at O’Neil’s pub. It was an extremely fun place filled with locals, not tourists, which was a welcome change from a lot of the other places we’d visited.

Day Five

On Sunday, we toured Kilmainham Jail which was the home to many political prisoners during times of uprising in Irish history. Numerous prisoners were executed there by public hanging and even firing squad. While the architecture was beautiful, it was also kind of haunting.

More famously, the jail has been used to in several movies including In the Name of the Father and The Italian Job. It was also the set of the U2 Video “The Celebration.”

After we visited the jail, we took a guided tour through the city of Dublin. One of the highlights for me was a stop in Phoenix Park. Because the weather was so ideal while we were there (it never rained once!), all of the locals were out in the park enjoying the day. People were grilling, playing soccer, laying out, and just generally being shirtless.

Our tour ended at the Trinity college library where the Book of Kels is housed.

Day Six

Our last official stop in Dublin was the Malahide Castle. The castle itself was beautiful, of course, but the real story happened outside.

After the tour, we were given some time to wander the grounds. One of the professors that went on the trip and I noticed that the gate to the garden was open, so we went in. It was absolutely beautiful, and giant, so before we had barely cracked the surface, we headed back to the gate so we could make the bus. Problem was, the gate was locked. We continued to look for other gates to make our escaped, but quickly realized we were trapped. It wasn’t until we climbed up to the Castle Cafe window and alerted the cafe staff that we were stuck, that we were able to get a guard to let us out. Apparently, no one is supposed to be back there and a work man just accidently left the gate open. Needless to say, we help the bus up for about 20 minutes. Sorry!

After we finally escaped from the garden, we were given our last bit of free time, which most people used to explore the Guinness Brewery. I have to say, it wasn’t as great as the St. Louis Budweiser Brewery. The Guinness Brewery is more like a museum, but it does have a fantastic view on the seventh floor.

For our last night in Dublin, a large group went to to see the Merry Ploughboys, an authentic Irish band. What fun! During intermission, they featured traditional Irish folk dancing. Several people from our group even got to dance on stage with the group.

With Two Members of the Band

And with that, we were back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep and off to the airport early the next morning. My experience was absolutely unbelievable and I can’t wait to start planning my next cross-atlantic travels!

All of my photos can be see here and here.

I returned last night from my week-long excursion in Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is hard for me to put my experience in any words, other than amazing. However, I’ll do my best to sum up more of the specifics in the next few blog pieces.

Day One

After flying from Kansas City to Chicago, and Chicago to London, and finally London to Belfast, we could safely say we made it. We were, of course, very nervous because of the recent volcano action. Thankfully, it was a nonissue.

After arriving in Belfast, we stopped for lunch (and our first beer) at a well-known pub called Crown Bar. I had a delicious Irish Stew and a Lager and Lime. Thanks to my dad, I knew how to order a beer that wasn’t a Guinness.

After lunch, we had a tour of the city. I must admit that most people (including myself) had a tough time staying awake because of the time difference and long flights. However, I was still able to see much of the city, including the well-known graffiti drawn on the peace wall. We were also able to add our own signatures to the wall because our tour guide was well-prepared with markers.

After dinner, I opted to hold off on exploring the night light and instead walked around the city and looked at the beautiful buildings.

Day Two

Our visit to Giant’s Causeway was easily my favorite part of the trip.  This magnificent natural phenomenon was created as the result of a volcano eruption, but it looks so pristine that it was hard to believe it wasn’t man made.

We spent the majority of the morning hiking down to the very tip of the seaside, where we were splashed by the Atlantic Ocean, and then to the very top of the cliff, where we were greeted by herds of sheep and cows. I have never seen anything as beautiful.

All of the photos I took at the Causeway can be seen here.

After stopping at the ruins of an old castle for a few photos, we made it to Derry in the late afternoon and toured the Tower Museum which focuses on the history of the “Walled City.”

I enjoyed some drinks in our hotel bar with some of our group (Stella Artois – Laura’s favorite!) and then went to a “club.” We found that the men of Derry tended to be more receptive to us than the girls, but that is probably no surprise!

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Because I am still slightly fighting the effects of jet lag, I won’t be able to cover the rest of my trip in this posting tonight. Cliffhanger! In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the photos from my trip!

Everyone needs to be watching Parks and Recreation on NBC (Thursdays at 7:30) -  I didn’t until recently, but that was a serious mistake! Amy Poehler is obviously a very funny lady, but Aziz Ansari is the real stand out character for me. Everything about the show is just golden.

Also, I don’t want to make this all about television shows (although I must admit that my DVR has been very busy during the last few months…), I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how great the second half of the first season of Glee has been. I usually watch the show with a group of friends, but we weren’t able to get together this week because of the crazy legislative session. Because of that, my mom and stepdad had to witness my full-on meltdown when “Finn” started singing Jesse’s Girl to “Rachel.” And then, the Mercedes-Santana The Boy is Mine duet? Absolutely fantastic.

Unfortunately for me, I will be missing the next weeks of Glee, but for a very exciting reason! I leave for Ireland tomorrow! Now that finals are out of the way and I am just days away from leaving, the excitement is really setting in. I’ll be gone for a total of eight days and staying in Belfast, Derry, and Dublin. I will have lots of pictures and stories to share when I get back!

Once I return, I have the following wishes for my summer vacation:

• Update this blog more often!
• Start working out again, and in particular, start swimming again.
• Read recreationally.
• Sleep in on Saturdays.

Here’s hoping that Eyjafjallajokull, the pesky Icelandic Volcano, doesn’t interfere with my plans and I can get across the Atlantic!

A teen, no more.

Today, I celebrated my twentieth birthday. For many reasons, it was an ideal birthday celebration for me. For one, I ate way too many desserts and tried my very hardest to not feel guilty about it. However, one of my wishes for my next year is to learn to enjoy working out.

(With that statement, I am giving my father full permission to hold me to it.)

Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday. I am so thankful for my friends and family!

I feel like I spent the last year doing a lot of growing up and I hope those around me agree. I set out on a true adventure, unlike anything I had ever done before, when I moved to DC. Looking back, I sometimes think I was crazy to do what I did — make the decision to move out of my house for the first time and across the country in one month, where I knew virtually know one — but it is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I have no idea what this year has in store for me, but I hope it is many more lessons.

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Related: My Dad has a post up on his blog celebrating the fact that he survived raising two teenage daughters. Any words that I could say about the great things all FOUR of my parents have done for me would sound so miniscule in comparison to what they actually deserve, but I just want to thanks for always making what was important to me, important to you.

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Also, please check out this amazing blog to see more photos like the one in this post. It always provides me a little inspiration on a cloudy day.

Saturday Night Live has parodied James Carville, famed liberal commentator, several times on their Weekend Update segment. They are easily some of the funniest things I’ve seen and it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen them, I laugh just as loud each time.

I can’t, for some reason, get the video embedding to work, so I can only give you links to the Hulu videos. As a consolation, I will share some of my favorite quotes – but you REALLY need to watch the videos to get the full voice and impression.

1. As a whole, this one is my favorite, so please spare three minutes and watch!

“These Republicans are just angry people. I mean, they sit up and bed, the first thing they said is, ‘No!’ While I sit up in bed and say ‘Hello, day. I know we just met, but you alright.’”

(On Rush Limbaugh) “Hey, you wanna listen to this drug addict? Don’t worry! He’s mean and fat!”

“You can’t call someone a terrorist, when there are actual terrorists out there. It’s like when someone calls an actor a genius. You know there are actual genius, right?”

(I really could quote this entire thing to you, because it is all hilarious. Just watch it!)

2. “You ain’t tall midget, you just clever.”

“There are no moderates in the Tea Party, they only seem moderate because they’re surrounded by the super crazies.”

“In the middle of a school assembly, no one says ‘Hey let’s hear from the creepy janitor who fought in Vietnam. I bet he’s got some good ideas for prom themes.’”

3. “The Ragin’ Cajun himself!”

“These Republicans are like a fat lady in a milkshake store. They’re grasping for straws!”

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” – Maya Angelou

WHO DAT?