Favorite Christmas Records
1. Sufjan Stevens : Songs For Christmas
2. Mindy Smith: My Holiday
3. Rosie Thomas: A Very Rosie Christmas
4. Nsync: Home For Christmas
5. Yo-yo-Ma: Songs of Joy and Peace
6. Frank Sinatra: The Christmas Collection
7. Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
8: The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs
You cant find these on itunes but check out myspace for...
9. Nashville friends doing christmas songs ( http://www.myspace.com/bigbeardchristmas)
10.The choir at your door (aaron roche and winston jazz routine) these myspaces haven't been updates since myspace only let you have 3 songs... so thats why they are all on 3 different sites.... this might be my favorite christmas record ever so don't let the number of myspaces turn you away.
part 1 http://www.myspace.com/thechoiratyourdoor
part 2 http://www.myspace.com/aaronynathan
part 3 http://www.myspace.com/aaronn39natdogpt3
Saturday, December 6, 2008
20 mins to do this.
There have been at least 20 times in the past month that I've meant to get on here. Right when I sit down to right a million things come into my head that I need to be doing. I keep going back and forth in my head, trying to decide if I should close this window and start working on my to-do list.
Its finals season here in Nashville. This next week will decide if I make it to May graduation. Mainly two classes decide that future, accounting two and business finance. If you get the chance and want to pray that coffee kicks in and that I find good study places on and off campus, I wouldn't hate it.
Anyone want to trade?
I'm also heading home next monday so that will be fun to hang out with the fam for a couple of days before coming back to Nashville. I work at an apple retail store in Nashville, I started working in september and have really liked it, the only downside is that I have to work during christmas. However, I did get some time off after finals for a couple days and I'll get to go home and see my family and friends for a little bit. So if you are in Nashville after the 21st let me know cause I would love to hang out with ya.
okay later friends.
Its finals season here in Nashville. This next week will decide if I make it to May graduation. Mainly two classes decide that future, accounting two and business finance. If you get the chance and want to pray that coffee kicks in and that I find good study places on and off campus, I wouldn't hate it.
Anyone want to trade?
I'm also heading home next monday so that will be fun to hang out with the fam for a couple of days before coming back to Nashville. I work at an apple retail store in Nashville, I started working in september and have really liked it, the only downside is that I have to work during christmas. However, I did get some time off after finals for a couple days and I'll get to go home and see my family and friends for a little bit. So if you are in Nashville after the 21st let me know cause I would love to hang out with ya.
okay later friends.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Everyone in my family comes together and hangs out for two days. It usually starts with my dad cooking breakfast for everyone. He has the worlds best eggs benedict. He started cooking today around 10 and didn't quit till around noon. They are so good. Then Mom takes over and begins cooking everything you dream about in a thanksgiving meal. The Aunts and Uncles come over and it seems like everyone rotates doing jobs while watching the football games and playing with the younger cousins.
Coming home for me is always an odd ritual. After 4 years of college I've thankfully become a different person and every time I go home its like a constant battle to not return to the role I played growing up in my family. By that I mean I remember the dynamic between my siblings and myself. The way all of us can get along, how their personalities drive me nuts and at the same time make me laugh. Its so easy for me to change into someone that took me 4 years to break away from. I know a lot of my friends struggle with that. I think in a way its a part of some hope we have to return to what we knew as children. When we still believed in a place that was home. Its not that I don't love my family, I just think in some ways we have all grown up in different directions from each other and every time we get together its like we are learning how to be who are now around each other. Maybe the transition gets easier as we get older, at least I hope so.
I was reading earlier and I thought I would leave you with this Freddy B quotes
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace"
Coming home for me is always an odd ritual. After 4 years of college I've thankfully become a different person and every time I go home its like a constant battle to not return to the role I played growing up in my family. By that I mean I remember the dynamic between my siblings and myself. The way all of us can get along, how their personalities drive me nuts and at the same time make me laugh. Its so easy for me to change into someone that took me 4 years to break away from. I know a lot of my friends struggle with that. I think in a way its a part of some hope we have to return to what we knew as children. When we still believed in a place that was home. Its not that I don't love my family, I just think in some ways we have all grown up in different directions from each other and every time we get together its like we are learning how to be who are now around each other. Maybe the transition gets easier as we get older, at least I hope so.
I was reading earlier and I thought I would leave you with this Freddy B quotes
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace"
Friday, October 31, 2008
I am waiting for hot water.
I woke up. stumbled to the shower. Walked in felt water on the floor. thats right lukewarm water.... which means....
someone already took a shower..... which means I have to wait for 30 minutes while the hot water tank heats its bad self right on up.
yes. In the meantime I thought I would glance around facebook and blogs, turns out not a lot of people are on it before 9am.
surprising? not really.
Anyway, not much has been going on here. I am in my last year of college and I honestly wish it was may, I hate going to class. Moreover I have homework. I love writing papers and i love discussion and actually learning things but I hate the pressure of 2 tests and a final to decide my grade which may or may not determine if I graduate... oh wait it does. awesome. Did I mention I'm awful at multiple choice. I mean a baby has a better chance or choosing the right ones. Anyway, so school is not one of my favorite things at the moment ....
Also for halloween I am going to be a cloud... or a sheep in wolves clothing if my friend amanda doesn't use it... one of the two.
pictures to come... well maybe.
Hot water is ready. I'm out.
someone already took a shower..... which means I have to wait for 30 minutes while the hot water tank heats its bad self right on up.
yes. In the meantime I thought I would glance around facebook and blogs, turns out not a lot of people are on it before 9am.
surprising? not really.
Anyway, not much has been going on here. I am in my last year of college and I honestly wish it was may, I hate going to class. Moreover I have homework. I love writing papers and i love discussion and actually learning things but I hate the pressure of 2 tests and a final to decide my grade which may or may not determine if I graduate... oh wait it does. awesome. Did I mention I'm awful at multiple choice. I mean a baby has a better chance or choosing the right ones. Anyway, so school is not one of my favorite things at the moment ....
Also for halloween I am going to be a cloud... or a sheep in wolves clothing if my friend amanda doesn't use it... one of the two.
pictures to come... well maybe.
Hot water is ready. I'm out.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale
weird title. I know.
not so weird if its the title of a book. especially if its the title of my man freddy b's work. (fredrick buechner, check him out.)
this book is divided into 3 chapters as almost all of buechners books are. he talks about the gospel in three different ways
a fairy tale
a tragedy
and a comedy...
shocked aren't you.
I'm on the tragedy part, and i love it. there is something in me that loves finding out that I have something tragic in my making. you might not agree but let me explain. with tragedy comes hope. maybe its small, maybe we don't say it out loud or even think about it very long because to hope in the midst of tragedy is well...dangerous. Its also powerful and something in the deepest part of who I am loves these huge redemptive words, these exciting yet incredibly scary words. Its the same deep feeling I love when people talk about my version of holy things such as adventure, traveling, conversations that remind you how human we all are, and your general breathing in and out of life, the good and bad.
So I regress, back to the book. Buechner has some pretty great thoughts on the gospel and how somewhere in our understanding of it, the tone of tragedy must be listened to.
Disclaimer: these quotes tie together but are better in their entirety in the book.
That being said, i proceed...
The preaching of the gospel is a telling of the truth or the putting of a sort of frame of words around the silence that is truth because truth in the sense of fullness, of the way things are, can at best be only pointed to by the language of poetry- of metaphor, image, symbol- as it is used in the prophets of the Old Testament and elsewhere. Before the gospel is a word, it is silence, a kind of presenting of life itself so that we may see it not for what at times we call it - meaningless or meaningful, absurd, beautiful- but for what is truly is in all its complexity, simplicity, mystery.
To think of nakedness is to think of how we hide it from each other and ourselves, I speak of clothes not just as hypocrisy and disguise, though sometimes its that for all of us, God knows, but of clothes as essential to survival because we cannot endure too much nakedness any more than we can endure too much silence, which strips us naked.When Jesus says " Take up your cross and follow me," I think that he is saying before it means some special mission or sacrifice of responsibility, it simple means take up the burden of your own life because for the time being anyway, maybe that is burden enough. Take it up in the sense of ...touch it and taste it and listen to it, look at yourself and your own life and smell the smell of your morality and nakedness.
When they brought Jesus to the place where his dead friend (Lazarus) lay, Jesus wept. It is very easy to sentimentalize the scene and very tempting because to sentimentalize the scene is to look only at the emotion in it and at the emotion it stirs in us rather than at the reality of it, which we are always tempted not to look at because reality, truth, silence are all what we are not much good at and avoid when we can. To sentimentalize something is to savor rather than to suffer the sadness of it, is to sigh over the prettiness of it rather than to tremble at the beauty of it, which may make fearsome demands of us or pose fearsome threats. Here as he stands beside the body of his dead friend he has no form of comeliness about him that we should desire him, as one from whom men hid their faces we turn fro him. To see a man weep is no comely sight, especially this man whom we want to be stronger and braver than a man, and the impulse is to turn from him as we turn from anyone who weeps because the sight of real tears, painful and disfiguring, forces us to look to their source where we do not choose to look because where his tears come from, our tears come from too.
Jesus has shared with us the darkness of what it is to be without God as well as showing forth the glory of what it is to be with God. He speaks about it, and perhaps that is much of why, although we have not followed him very well these past two thousand years or so , we have never quite been able to stop listening to him. To speak out of the darkness and to weep as Jesus wept, maybe only then can the reality of the other word become real to us, the word which to the darkness upon the face of the deep is "God said let there be light, and there was light." which to all those who labor and are heave laden is "i will give you rest" To preach the word of human tragedy, of a world where men can at best see God only dimly and from afar, because it is truth and because it is a word which must be spoken as prelude if the other word is to become sacramental and real, too, which is the word that God has overcome the dark world....
not so weird if its the title of a book. especially if its the title of my man freddy b's work. (fredrick buechner, check him out.)
this book is divided into 3 chapters as almost all of buechners books are. he talks about the gospel in three different ways
a fairy tale
a tragedy
and a comedy...
shocked aren't you.
I'm on the tragedy part, and i love it. there is something in me that loves finding out that I have something tragic in my making. you might not agree but let me explain. with tragedy comes hope. maybe its small, maybe we don't say it out loud or even think about it very long because to hope in the midst of tragedy is well...dangerous. Its also powerful and something in the deepest part of who I am loves these huge redemptive words, these exciting yet incredibly scary words. Its the same deep feeling I love when people talk about my version of holy things such as adventure, traveling, conversations that remind you how human we all are, and your general breathing in and out of life, the good and bad.
So I regress, back to the book. Buechner has some pretty great thoughts on the gospel and how somewhere in our understanding of it, the tone of tragedy must be listened to.
Disclaimer: these quotes tie together but are better in their entirety in the book.
That being said, i proceed...
The preaching of the gospel is a telling of the truth or the putting of a sort of frame of words around the silence that is truth because truth in the sense of fullness, of the way things are, can at best be only pointed to by the language of poetry- of metaphor, image, symbol- as it is used in the prophets of the Old Testament and elsewhere. Before the gospel is a word, it is silence, a kind of presenting of life itself so that we may see it not for what at times we call it - meaningless or meaningful, absurd, beautiful- but for what is truly is in all its complexity, simplicity, mystery.
To think of nakedness is to think of how we hide it from each other and ourselves, I speak of clothes not just as hypocrisy and disguise, though sometimes its that for all of us, God knows, but of clothes as essential to survival because we cannot endure too much nakedness any more than we can endure too much silence, which strips us naked.When Jesus says " Take up your cross and follow me," I think that he is saying before it means some special mission or sacrifice of responsibility, it simple means take up the burden of your own life because for the time being anyway, maybe that is burden enough. Take it up in the sense of ...touch it and taste it and listen to it, look at yourself and your own life and smell the smell of your morality and nakedness.
When they brought Jesus to the place where his dead friend (Lazarus) lay, Jesus wept. It is very easy to sentimentalize the scene and very tempting because to sentimentalize the scene is to look only at the emotion in it and at the emotion it stirs in us rather than at the reality of it, which we are always tempted not to look at because reality, truth, silence are all what we are not much good at and avoid when we can. To sentimentalize something is to savor rather than to suffer the sadness of it, is to sigh over the prettiness of it rather than to tremble at the beauty of it, which may make fearsome demands of us or pose fearsome threats. Here as he stands beside the body of his dead friend he has no form of comeliness about him that we should desire him, as one from whom men hid their faces we turn fro him. To see a man weep is no comely sight, especially this man whom we want to be stronger and braver than a man, and the impulse is to turn from him as we turn from anyone who weeps because the sight of real tears, painful and disfiguring, forces us to look to their source where we do not choose to look because where his tears come from, our tears come from too.
Jesus has shared with us the darkness of what it is to be without God as well as showing forth the glory of what it is to be with God. He speaks about it, and perhaps that is much of why, although we have not followed him very well these past two thousand years or so , we have never quite been able to stop listening to him. To speak out of the darkness and to weep as Jesus wept, maybe only then can the reality of the other word become real to us, the word which to the darkness upon the face of the deep is "God said let there be light, and there was light." which to all those who labor and are heave laden is "i will give you rest" To preach the word of human tragedy, of a world where men can at best see God only dimly and from afar, because it is truth and because it is a word which must be spoken as prelude if the other word is to become sacramental and real, too, which is the word that God has overcome the dark world....
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Basement postage.
I think there are moments when you realize that you are growing up.
maybe I'll experience them the rest of my life. I dont really know.
I do, however, know that life is composed of these moments that show us the fabric of our making.
When I was a senior in high school, my best friend had a boyfriend who was one of those guys that you thought might be really kind and nice but as it turned out he was an ass. He was a year older than us and changed when he went to college, he broke her heart and the breakup happened around may. I remember I picked her up and we drove around our small town in oklahoma. We listened to Barnes first version of graces amazing hands(on repeat) the whole night and when I hear that song today I still think of that night. We went to this park and sat under a Gazebo and talked about it for a couple hours and then we started laughing till our sides ached. A couple friends of ours came by and we sat there in the dark together. Eventually everything got pretty quiet and we all sat with our own thoughts and kind of let the silence settle between us.
My first year in college was like a thunderstorm, loud and quiet, peaceful and unnerving all at once. My second semester more than anything. I lived in a girl dorm and became good friends with a lot of the girls on the first floor. Everyone was kind of going through hard things and there was this one time when one of my friends and I went on a walk together just to get a breather. There is a street in nashville that runs past belmont. Its lined with houses with these huge trees, its a perfect walking street. I remember we both didn't know each other that well and we kind of exploded with these stories that were going on in our life and on our way back we stopped inside a church that should have been locked, but wasn't. We went inside and sat in the pews. We must of stayed there for a couple hours playing on the piano and talking about Jesus and how we really didn't understand him half the time. I remember not feeling alone for the first time in a really long time and it was this warm feeling that reminded me what it means to be a human.
The other day I was visiting my friend. She has a small child, a little boy. He was running in and out of the house; to the kitchen then to the porch and back again like his actions were on repeat. we were talking casually in the kitchen and he fell coming into the house. It was really sad actually. She didn't quite see his face because her back was to the door. His little eyes looked at me and quickly filled with these huge alligator tears and as soon as she heard him fall....she quickly without finishing her sentence walked over, sat on the ground... at his level and scooped him into her arms. She rocked back and forth began talking to him in a voice that only he could hear. He just laid there for a few moments and let her hold him. Then he opened his eyes and smiled at her and went on playing. She picked up her sentence where she left it and we kept talking. That night, I was driving home and that image kept replaying in my head. It was as if some hope inside me believes that God is like that.
Moments just happen to us. They shape us in the weirdest ways. They can come while you are standing in line to get coffee or while your brushing your teeth at night. It can be in a word or a hug, and something inside you shifts. Its like a constant shaping. All of a sudden our eyes are open to the humanity inside of us and we can feel these movements going on, its really weird, painful, and beautiful... all at the same time.
I hope they keep coming.
maybe I'll experience them the rest of my life. I dont really know.
I do, however, know that life is composed of these moments that show us the fabric of our making.
When I was a senior in high school, my best friend had a boyfriend who was one of those guys that you thought might be really kind and nice but as it turned out he was an ass. He was a year older than us and changed when he went to college, he broke her heart and the breakup happened around may. I remember I picked her up and we drove around our small town in oklahoma. We listened to Barnes first version of graces amazing hands(on repeat) the whole night and when I hear that song today I still think of that night. We went to this park and sat under a Gazebo and talked about it for a couple hours and then we started laughing till our sides ached. A couple friends of ours came by and we sat there in the dark together. Eventually everything got pretty quiet and we all sat with our own thoughts and kind of let the silence settle between us.
My first year in college was like a thunderstorm, loud and quiet, peaceful and unnerving all at once. My second semester more than anything. I lived in a girl dorm and became good friends with a lot of the girls on the first floor. Everyone was kind of going through hard things and there was this one time when one of my friends and I went on a walk together just to get a breather. There is a street in nashville that runs past belmont. Its lined with houses with these huge trees, its a perfect walking street. I remember we both didn't know each other that well and we kind of exploded with these stories that were going on in our life and on our way back we stopped inside a church that should have been locked, but wasn't. We went inside and sat in the pews. We must of stayed there for a couple hours playing on the piano and talking about Jesus and how we really didn't understand him half the time. I remember not feeling alone for the first time in a really long time and it was this warm feeling that reminded me what it means to be a human.
The other day I was visiting my friend. She has a small child, a little boy. He was running in and out of the house; to the kitchen then to the porch and back again like his actions were on repeat. we were talking casually in the kitchen and he fell coming into the house. It was really sad actually. She didn't quite see his face because her back was to the door. His little eyes looked at me and quickly filled with these huge alligator tears and as soon as she heard him fall....she quickly without finishing her sentence walked over, sat on the ground... at his level and scooped him into her arms. She rocked back and forth began talking to him in a voice that only he could hear. He just laid there for a few moments and let her hold him. Then he opened his eyes and smiled at her and went on playing. She picked up her sentence where she left it and we kept talking. That night, I was driving home and that image kept replaying in my head. It was as if some hope inside me believes that God is like that.
Moments just happen to us. They shape us in the weirdest ways. They can come while you are standing in line to get coffee or while your brushing your teeth at night. It can be in a word or a hug, and something inside you shifts. Its like a constant shaping. All of a sudden our eyes are open to the humanity inside of us and we can feel these movements going on, its really weird, painful, and beautiful... all at the same time.
I hope they keep coming.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Chimney
I have a friend, her name is Holly. My brothers wifes name is Holly but she is not whom I’m talking about. My friend is living in Ecuador for a year and keeps a blog that many of us, her friends, often read. They are short inlength but wonderful in depth and description. She describes her experiences and memories with beauty and honesty. I pretty much devour every word she writes. I don't think she would say out loud that she has a way with words but she is one of the few people I know that can tell a story that wraps around you like a blanket. Her eyes light up when she talks and she tells stories like she is on a merry go round spinning pass those who will listen. She tells the first layer of a story and when she passes by again tells the next and the next until you can hear the tones of peoples voices and see the lines in their faces. She has comedic timing that is very much her own and sounds cool when she curses. A dying breed if you ask me.
I met Holly a little over two years ago. She lived in a house with some other Vanderbilt girls she went to school with. They graduated in may and slowly left Nashville over the summer. I was a year behind them and as August approached I was unsure how to start the year knowing that they wouldn't be as frequent visitors in my life. They used to live right down the street in a house together. (Now we all know that in Nashville there can’t be more than 5 girls living in a house together or its considered a brothel, in other words its illegal.)
8 people lived in their house. It was amazing.
It was always full of laughter and conversation, I remember my first visit like it was 5 minutes ago. I walked in and could hear thunderstorms of footsteps going on upstairs, people were getting ready to go to the Justin Timberlake concert and at the same time gathering in someone’s room to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Further in the house I heard someone listening to Ludacris and rewinding the same verse over and over again, as if they were trying to memorize it. I was in love.
A friend of mine asked me the other day how I met all of these girls and at first I felt like I had always known them in some way because when I am with them it feels like that, but then I realize its been close to 2 years since I have really been getting to know them.
I also, have a friend named Kristen who has opened her life to us but on Friday she opens her home for all of us college folk to come by and to enjoy in some cookies and quality conversation. That’s where I met my chimney friends.I call them chimney friends as do others because that is what they named their house, which consequently did not/ does not have a chimney.
Fridays were my favorite day of the week. They were scheduled to start at 5pm but all of us would find our way to Kristens around 5:30. We were always greeted with the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies and cold organic milk. After we all devoured the cookies we would gather on the blue couch in the living room and begin what others might call bible study but what I can only describe as tasting community. I could sit next to any of these women in the room and see truth in them when they spoke. I could also see heartache, suffering, passions, dreams, excitement, joy, hope etc. The only reason I could see that was because they allowed me to, they were the most transparent people I've met and I think might have the privilege to know. (If any of them are reading this, they are probably shaking their heads thinking they weren't... but to me, they were.) They are all out saving the world at the moment. One in Ecuador, Two in Nashville, One in San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Lewis, Fayetteville and lastly somewhere in South Asia. And I mean that they are saving the world. You would only have to meet them once to know I wasn't lying.
The tone of this blog is a bit more serious... but for me, part of saying goodbye to people is remembering what they mean to you. These friends helped me to believe and to hope in the fact that community is real and its around us whether we notice it or not, its one of the most important things in our life that lets us know we are loved and not alone. Saying goodbye to people you tasted community with is knowing that its not the end, its really just a pause until the next moment you see their face. I hope wherever my friends are that they remember mine and know that for all who knew and loved them here in Nashville, we remember them often and praise God for them constantly.
I met Holly a little over two years ago. She lived in a house with some other Vanderbilt girls she went to school with. They graduated in may and slowly left Nashville over the summer. I was a year behind them and as August approached I was unsure how to start the year knowing that they wouldn't be as frequent visitors in my life. They used to live right down the street in a house together. (Now we all know that in Nashville there can’t be more than 5 girls living in a house together or its considered a brothel, in other words its illegal.)
8 people lived in their house. It was amazing.
It was always full of laughter and conversation, I remember my first visit like it was 5 minutes ago. I walked in and could hear thunderstorms of footsteps going on upstairs, people were getting ready to go to the Justin Timberlake concert and at the same time gathering in someone’s room to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Further in the house I heard someone listening to Ludacris and rewinding the same verse over and over again, as if they were trying to memorize it. I was in love.
A friend of mine asked me the other day how I met all of these girls and at first I felt like I had always known them in some way because when I am with them it feels like that, but then I realize its been close to 2 years since I have really been getting to know them.
I also, have a friend named Kristen who has opened her life to us but on Friday she opens her home for all of us college folk to come by and to enjoy in some cookies and quality conversation. That’s where I met my chimney friends.I call them chimney friends as do others because that is what they named their house, which consequently did not/ does not have a chimney.
Fridays were my favorite day of the week. They were scheduled to start at 5pm but all of us would find our way to Kristens around 5:30. We were always greeted with the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies and cold organic milk. After we all devoured the cookies we would gather on the blue couch in the living room and begin what others might call bible study but what I can only describe as tasting community. I could sit next to any of these women in the room and see truth in them when they spoke. I could also see heartache, suffering, passions, dreams, excitement, joy, hope etc. The only reason I could see that was because they allowed me to, they were the most transparent people I've met and I think might have the privilege to know. (If any of them are reading this, they are probably shaking their heads thinking they weren't... but to me, they were.) They are all out saving the world at the moment. One in Ecuador, Two in Nashville, One in San Antonio, San Francisco, St. Lewis, Fayetteville and lastly somewhere in South Asia. And I mean that they are saving the world. You would only have to meet them once to know I wasn't lying.
The tone of this blog is a bit more serious... but for me, part of saying goodbye to people is remembering what they mean to you. These friends helped me to believe and to hope in the fact that community is real and its around us whether we notice it or not, its one of the most important things in our life that lets us know we are loved and not alone. Saying goodbye to people you tasted community with is knowing that its not the end, its really just a pause until the next moment you see their face. I hope wherever my friends are that they remember mine and know that for all who knew and loved them here in Nashville, we remember them often and praise God for them constantly.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Top 5
So I never got around to posting pictures. I know... I know.
However, I was talking with one of my friends today and I started listing things that I had read in the past year so I decided to make a top 5 list. But not just one good people. A top 5 list of Movies, Books, and Records. Here is the rule... anything you choose has to be something that you listened/read/watched in the last year.
Here I go...
Movies
1. Juno
2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (saw it for the first time in October or something.. I was obsessed)
3. Wall-e
4. Groundhog Day
5.The Bourne Ultimatum
Books
Fredrick Beuchner - Telling the Truth; The Gospel as Comedy, Trajedy and Fairy Tale.
Rob Bell- Sex God
C.S. Lewis- A Grief Observed
Anne Lammott- Traveling Mercies
Hannah Hurnard- Hinds Feet on High Places
Records
Coldplay- Viva La Vida
The Weepies- Hideaway
Katie Herzig- Apple Tree
William Fitzsimmons- Goodnight
Jon Foreman- Fall, Summer, Spring, and Winter Ep's
Matthew Perryman Jones- Swallow the Sea
Mindy Smith- My holiday
Aaron Roche-Travel *
Feist- The Reminder
Boniver- For Emma, Forever Ago
Jars of Clay - Closer Ep
*not on itunes, check myspace/aaronroche
I know I listed more on the Records than I was sappost to... but I just couldn't stop... I actually had around 20 down but decided to show some restraint. Also, these are no in order of preference... I would definately not put any of these records on the bottom of any list.
However, I was talking with one of my friends today and I started listing things that I had read in the past year so I decided to make a top 5 list. But not just one good people. A top 5 list of Movies, Books, and Records. Here is the rule... anything you choose has to be something that you listened/read/watched in the last year.
Here I go...
Movies
1. Juno
2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (saw it for the first time in October or something.. I was obsessed)
3. Wall-e
4. Groundhog Day
5.The Bourne Ultimatum
Books
Fredrick Beuchner - Telling the Truth; The Gospel as Comedy, Trajedy and Fairy Tale.
Rob Bell- Sex God
C.S. Lewis- A Grief Observed
Anne Lammott- Traveling Mercies
Hannah Hurnard- Hinds Feet on High Places
Records
Coldplay- Viva La Vida
The Weepies- Hideaway
Katie Herzig- Apple Tree
William Fitzsimmons- Goodnight
Jon Foreman- Fall, Summer, Spring, and Winter Ep's
Matthew Perryman Jones- Swallow the Sea
Mindy Smith- My holiday
Aaron Roche-Travel *
Feist- The Reminder
Boniver- For Emma, Forever Ago
Jars of Clay - Closer Ep
*not on itunes, check myspace/aaronroche
I know I listed more on the Records than I was sappost to... but I just couldn't stop... I actually had around 20 down but decided to show some restraint. Also, these are no in order of preference... I would definately not put any of these records on the bottom of any list.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Senior or Freshman
I am back in nashvegas. Its good to be home.
I don't know how faithful I will be to this as the year progresses, however I think a recap from the summer is appropriate. Of course there will be favorite pictures included. That will have to come later because I am using the Library computer as of right now because the internet at my house isn't working.
I really enjoyed my time in London because it was completely new and the first time I was really exploring a city and having an adventure. I mean coming to college is different. Your parents take you, Belmont parents you the first year and its so small that its impossible to not meet people. However, going abroad is different. New culture,food, transportation, customs, everything. Even though they spoke my language they didn't understand me half the time.
After London, I went to Italy with my parents. We had a fun time and visited places that I had always seen in books, the sistine chapel was one of my favorite moments as well as lake como. I didn't really go to southern italy but more so the central part and northern area. Despite all the adjusting i learned a lot and had time to think about this next year as well as my whole college experience. I feel very blessed for everything that has come my way, the good and bad and I can't wait for the next year to start. It all seems very overwhelming but what year hasn't since I've been here, I think its all going to be okay.
pictures to come.
love.
I don't know how faithful I will be to this as the year progresses, however I think a recap from the summer is appropriate. Of course there will be favorite pictures included. That will have to come later because I am using the Library computer as of right now because the internet at my house isn't working.
I really enjoyed my time in London because it was completely new and the first time I was really exploring a city and having an adventure. I mean coming to college is different. Your parents take you, Belmont parents you the first year and its so small that its impossible to not meet people. However, going abroad is different. New culture,food, transportation, customs, everything. Even though they spoke my language they didn't understand me half the time.
After London, I went to Italy with my parents. We had a fun time and visited places that I had always seen in books, the sistine chapel was one of my favorite moments as well as lake como. I didn't really go to southern italy but more so the central part and northern area. Despite all the adjusting i learned a lot and had time to think about this next year as well as my whole college experience. I feel very blessed for everything that has come my way, the good and bad and I can't wait for the next year to start. It all seems very overwhelming but what year hasn't since I've been here, I think its all going to be okay.
pictures to come.
love.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Last Day and a Thumbs down to Paris
Its my last day in london and sadly I have more errands to run than time to see the last bit of things that I wanted. Its alright though... there will be a next time.
I ended up hating Paris. I had a bad experience with a taxi driver that I don't really want to go into, which ended with me braking one of my dads cameras. SO it ended up being kind of a downer. The first night there was really great though, we went on riverboat tour of the city and then we got some wine and went to the eiffel tower and watched it glow in its blueness. It was quite neat.
I haven't done tons of things since, because I've had a lot of homework and stuff to catch up on. However, I did have time to go back to Camden town and shop through the markets one more time. I bought this amazing Schruti box. I realize no one might know what it is, but its really cool. Its like a drawn out bag pipe/ organ sound. Its really great. Anyway, its my favorite thing I've gotten because they don't make a lot of them in America... I don't know if we even have them ... but anyway... its great.
Also, an instrument I would kill to get my hands on... its called the hang drum. Here is a video clip, of imogen heap playing one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPHo40_6lg
anyway, thats all I have for the moment... I cannot wait to be back in America.
I ended up hating Paris. I had a bad experience with a taxi driver that I don't really want to go into, which ended with me braking one of my dads cameras. SO it ended up being kind of a downer. The first night there was really great though, we went on riverboat tour of the city and then we got some wine and went to the eiffel tower and watched it glow in its blueness. It was quite neat.
I haven't done tons of things since, because I've had a lot of homework and stuff to catch up on. However, I did have time to go back to Camden town and shop through the markets one more time. I bought this amazing Schruti box. I realize no one might know what it is, but its really cool. Its like a drawn out bag pipe/ organ sound. Its really great. Anyway, its my favorite thing I've gotten because they don't make a lot of them in America... I don't know if we even have them ... but anyway... its great.
Also, an instrument I would kill to get my hands on... its called the hang drum. Here is a video clip, of imogen heap playing one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPHo40_6lg
anyway, thats all I have for the moment... I cannot wait to be back in America.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Recap
The past few days have been a blur. Its so weird that time in London is almost over.
Lets see, a recap is in order. I went to the national portrait gallery and the national gallery the other day. They were great. I really loved a lot of things in each place and even bought a couple prints. I also plan on going back before my time is up. I went to Brighton Beach with some friends last Saturday and it was lovely. Their beaches are composed of tiny rocks but the breeze and atmosphere of the little beach town was perfect. This last week on Tuesday I went to Camden Market which has been my favorite market thus far. Portabello road was cool but so expensive when I went with Brittany, and I didn't really enjoy it. Anyway, I bought clothes and jewelry, scarves and books to take back as well as a few purchases for some family members!
And....today I went to Cambridge. I enjoyed every part of it but I'm really mad because I didn't bring my camera with me. Our class walked through these huge fields to see the original inspiration for the narnian lampost was. It was beautiful. There were tall cypress tress all around and a waist high to over your head high wheat looking type grass... to the right, and on the left there was this little babbling pond that had lillypads and little purple flowers. I walked through it and just fell in love with it. Our whole class walked to a place called the Orchard and they had all sorts of teas and cakes and crumpets and such, I got a coke... duh.... my favorite drink of choice (thanks mom) and on the way back I decided to put on some songs by Thomas Newman, he did the new Walle movie as well as the Cinderella Man and Finding Nemo movies. So as I'm walking and looking around, my friend Austin is walking next to me and he starts singing Bob Dylan and if I haven't specified this before, there is one simple thing you need to know about Austin, he always wears a feather in his hair. I love it, I wish everyone wore a feather in their hair. So he's gotten really into this walk and has stopped and added flowers to his hair and even found a cool stick that he's carrying... he just got really into it. So we are walking and i'm ya know listening to this music and he starts singing this obnoxious Bob Dylan song and we both just started laughing hysterically and speaking in a British Accent, making fun of the Brits and talking about how we miss america. It was one of those moments that you are really glad you shared with someone else, even if they don't remember it the same way you do.
I might be heading to bed because I am very tired and am getting up early tomorrow to go visit paris. I didn't think I was going to go on this trip, but decided I wanted to go and get out of London because I've seen almost everything and still have a week left to go back and re visit things and.... i mean its paris.... I would love to see the louvre while I'm over here. I think it will be a lot of fun, I'll have to tell all of you readers about it... or just you mom.....
love.
Lets see, a recap is in order. I went to the national portrait gallery and the national gallery the other day. They were great. I really loved a lot of things in each place and even bought a couple prints. I also plan on going back before my time is up. I went to Brighton Beach with some friends last Saturday and it was lovely. Their beaches are composed of tiny rocks but the breeze and atmosphere of the little beach town was perfect. This last week on Tuesday I went to Camden Market which has been my favorite market thus far. Portabello road was cool but so expensive when I went with Brittany, and I didn't really enjoy it. Anyway, I bought clothes and jewelry, scarves and books to take back as well as a few purchases for some family members!
And....today I went to Cambridge. I enjoyed every part of it but I'm really mad because I didn't bring my camera with me. Our class walked through these huge fields to see the original inspiration for the narnian lampost was. It was beautiful. There were tall cypress tress all around and a waist high to over your head high wheat looking type grass... to the right, and on the left there was this little babbling pond that had lillypads and little purple flowers. I walked through it and just fell in love with it. Our whole class walked to a place called the Orchard and they had all sorts of teas and cakes and crumpets and such, I got a coke... duh.... my favorite drink of choice (thanks mom) and on the way back I decided to put on some songs by Thomas Newman, he did the new Walle movie as well as the Cinderella Man and Finding Nemo movies. So as I'm walking and looking around, my friend Austin is walking next to me and he starts singing Bob Dylan and if I haven't specified this before, there is one simple thing you need to know about Austin, he always wears a feather in his hair. I love it, I wish everyone wore a feather in their hair. So he's gotten really into this walk and has stopped and added flowers to his hair and even found a cool stick that he's carrying... he just got really into it. So we are walking and i'm ya know listening to this music and he starts singing this obnoxious Bob Dylan song and we both just started laughing hysterically and speaking in a British Accent, making fun of the Brits and talking about how we miss america. It was one of those moments that you are really glad you shared with someone else, even if they don't remember it the same way you do.
I might be heading to bed because I am very tired and am getting up early tomorrow to go visit paris. I didn't think I was going to go on this trip, but decided I wanted to go and get out of London because I've seen almost everything and still have a week left to go back and re visit things and.... i mean its paris.... I would love to see the louvre while I'm over here. I think it will be a lot of fun, I'll have to tell all of you readers about it... or just you mom.....
love.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I've been everywhere man...
St. Pauls
Salisbury Cathedral
Brighton Beach
Stonehenge
Tower of London
I love these things....
Salisbury Cathedral
Brighton Beach
Stonehenge
Tower of London
I love these things....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Jack
Yesterday I hopped on a train and went to oxford town.(please sing the bob dylan song as desired.)
The train was about an hour long and upon arriving, I wasn't so sure I was going to love this new place. Anyway, the group I was with started exploring the town a little and we went around to a couple of really cool churches and even went up into this beautiful building that Christopher Wren built.sidenote: I have become a little obsessed with this architect since I've been here. Mainly because he was an astronomer and all of his buildings somewhat tailor to the love of having a place to see the stars above the city. Smart man. So we explore oxford a little and then we were told that we needed to meet back at this bookstore at 12:30 to have a tour about the Inklings around Oxford. When we arrive I see this awesome old British chap wearing sweatshirt grey keds. not kidding they were the coolest shoes. He also is wearing what you picture older fellows wearing slacks, a white collared shirt with a tie. Anyway, he starts giving the tour and i love it because hes telling these stories about Lewis and Tolkein that I would have never known, and you hear the stories he's telling and seeing the places where they happened. It was all quite wonderful. Here are some of my favorite.
Back of the Church
Front Part of the back. Also, the place where Lewis gave his famous sermon "The weight of glory"
Front altar
outside of the church
Built by Christopher Wren, used by Oxford Graduates.
Tolkeins Room in College, some random student is living there now.
If you saw shadowlands, this is the bar where Lewis meets Joy Gresham for the first time.
Eagle and Child, favorite bar of the Inklings
Rabit Room Inside Eagle and Child
House where Tolkein edited the Hobbit and Lord of the rings
After the tour our group went out to a place called the Kilns. Which is where C.S. Lewis(Jack), his brother Warnie, and Joy Gresham(Jack's wife of 4 years) lived. It was really funny because at the time when Lewis lived there, there were not a lot of other houses but some have been built sense and as we're walking up many of the houses have been named Narnia or Caspian, at least... something to that degree. Anyway, we all went inside the house and walked into this amazing study filled with books and old chairs and pipes and all sorts of wonderful things you expect a c.s. Lewis room to be filled with. So we are sitting there and this man is telling us about Lewis and the stories are wonderful and he asks if there are any questions and I raise my hand and say "what in this room was actually theirs?" the man replies with well, just the flooring in this room. I was a little sad to tell you the truth. The man explained that when the Lewis brothers died another family bought the house and at the time when the brothers died many things were auctioned off or donated to salvation army, however, they did have many original photos of the house and the places that things were and the decorations that were used in the house when the brothers lived there. Furthermore, they did have some original furniture stored up in the attack of the house and warnie's original typewriter. Once we started going room to room in the house, I began to really love it. I mean I was sitting in the same space where lewis created and imagined his stories. The same space where he lived everyday and eventually died. I know it is just space but it was great to imagine for a bit what it might have been like.
The Kilns Then.
The Kilns today.
Jack and Joy Lewis
Warnie's typewriter
Jack and Warnie
The room was recreated to look like Lewis's room.
The famous Shrowd picture that Lewis always kept on his wall.
Room where he wrote most of Narnia.
The only real furniture that belonged to the Lewis or his brother
Austin sitting in the chair
Pathway to pond behind the house
Pond where Lewis would go skinny dipping.
Room where Lewis died
After the tour we went and saw his grave sight and eventually made it back to town where some of my friends and I ate dinner at the eagle and child. we sat in the same room where the inklings met every tuesday morning and thursday night to discuss among other things, their books.
grave site
Graveyard where Jack and Warnie are buried
The train was about an hour long and upon arriving, I wasn't so sure I was going to love this new place. Anyway, the group I was with started exploring the town a little and we went around to a couple of really cool churches and even went up into this beautiful building that Christopher Wren built.sidenote: I have become a little obsessed with this architect since I've been here. Mainly because he was an astronomer and all of his buildings somewhat tailor to the love of having a place to see the stars above the city. Smart man. So we explore oxford a little and then we were told that we needed to meet back at this bookstore at 12:30 to have a tour about the Inklings around Oxford. When we arrive I see this awesome old British chap wearing sweatshirt grey keds. not kidding they were the coolest shoes. He also is wearing what you picture older fellows wearing slacks, a white collared shirt with a tie. Anyway, he starts giving the tour and i love it because hes telling these stories about Lewis and Tolkein that I would have never known, and you hear the stories he's telling and seeing the places where they happened. It was all quite wonderful. Here are some of my favorite.
Back of the Church
Front Part of the back. Also, the place where Lewis gave his famous sermon "The weight of glory"
Front altar
outside of the church
Built by Christopher Wren, used by Oxford Graduates.
Tolkeins Room in College, some random student is living there now.
If you saw shadowlands, this is the bar where Lewis meets Joy Gresham for the first time.
Eagle and Child, favorite bar of the Inklings
Rabit Room Inside Eagle and Child
House where Tolkein edited the Hobbit and Lord of the rings
After the tour our group went out to a place called the Kilns. Which is where C.S. Lewis(Jack), his brother Warnie, and Joy Gresham(Jack's wife of 4 years) lived. It was really funny because at the time when Lewis lived there, there were not a lot of other houses but some have been built sense and as we're walking up many of the houses have been named Narnia or Caspian, at least... something to that degree. Anyway, we all went inside the house and walked into this amazing study filled with books and old chairs and pipes and all sorts of wonderful things you expect a c.s. Lewis room to be filled with. So we are sitting there and this man is telling us about Lewis and the stories are wonderful and he asks if there are any questions and I raise my hand and say "what in this room was actually theirs?" the man replies with well, just the flooring in this room. I was a little sad to tell you the truth. The man explained that when the Lewis brothers died another family bought the house and at the time when the brothers died many things were auctioned off or donated to salvation army, however, they did have many original photos of the house and the places that things were and the decorations that were used in the house when the brothers lived there. Furthermore, they did have some original furniture stored up in the attack of the house and warnie's original typewriter. Once we started going room to room in the house, I began to really love it. I mean I was sitting in the same space where lewis created and imagined his stories. The same space where he lived everyday and eventually died. I know it is just space but it was great to imagine for a bit what it might have been like.
The Kilns Then.
The Kilns today.
Jack and Joy Lewis
Warnie's typewriter
Jack and Warnie
The room was recreated to look like Lewis's room.
The famous Shrowd picture that Lewis always kept on his wall.
Room where he wrote most of Narnia.
The only real furniture that belonged to the Lewis or his brother
Austin sitting in the chair
Pathway to pond behind the house
Pond where Lewis would go skinny dipping.
Room where Lewis died
After the tour we went and saw his grave sight and eventually made it back to town where some of my friends and I ate dinner at the eagle and child. we sat in the same room where the inklings met every tuesday morning and thursday night to discuss among other things, their books.
grave site
Graveyard where Jack and Warnie are buried
Monday, July 21, 2008
V & A Museum
So far this museum has been the most enjoyable to walk through. The Imperial War Museum is still my favorite but the V & A (Victoria and Albert) museum was so interesting. I had been once before but came back to see some of what I hadn't looked at yet. After I went to the museum I wondered around and found these really cool buildings that were near a park and then right next to them was this old tunnel that people used to sleep in during Air raids of world war two.
Here are some pictures
One of two identical carpets made in 1536 for the King/Emperor of Iran
Dress made during the 1700's. The description said that the girl actually had to walk sideways through doors because of her petticoat.
Plate from the Rennaisance
Lantern.
Crown for the Dutchess of Manchester.
Original Winnie the Pooh drawing
Peter Rabit drawing
Peter Rabit Textile
Banksy
Building One
Building Two
Tunnel
Here are some pictures
One of two identical carpets made in 1536 for the King/Emperor of Iran
Dress made during the 1700's. The description said that the girl actually had to walk sideways through doors because of her petticoat.
Plate from the Rennaisance
Lantern.
Crown for the Dutchess of Manchester.
Original Winnie the Pooh drawing
Peter Rabit drawing
Peter Rabit Textile
Banksy
Building One
Building Two
Tunnel
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