birthday weekend!

i was home on my actual birthday for the first time in (i think) 9 years. that just sounds crazy to me. but with college and living in the carolinas, it seems to be the way life goes. i got to spend some great time with my family and at the pigtown fling (a contra weekend in cincinnati).

magpie cakery made me a beautiful cake.

(that was the only candle we could find)

i am quite possibly in this mess of people, but i have yet to find myself.

however, the amazing thing about this mess of people is that it is not a mess at all and the caller was one of the best i have ever danced to and all 400 or so people moved as a group to the amazing sounds of the great bear trio. (actually it was a quartet this weekend because they brought a drummer)



this was one of the coolest dances that i have ever danced.

not only did you go up and down the hall, you also went across.

i have found myself in this one, right around 50 secs i show up in the top left corner, i have on a brown dress, my partner a grey t-shirt. actually after re-watching it, i have found everyone that i knew before the weekend. (which was only about 7 people)

sometimes i think people think i'm a little crazy when i talk about contra. but it is just something that  once you get hooked, you just can't get enough. especially when the caller, band, and dancers are all phenomenal!

so here's to you year 28. so far you have started off splendidly.

the first green of spring!

when asked my favorite color, i will often reply simply with green. but if i am being as specific as possible i will say it is the first green of spring. the bright and fresh color after a winter of drab and gray.

this morning as i sat journaling at my kitchen table, i looked up to notice the sunrise through the mostly leafless trees. then i noticed that one small tree in the back yard had started to turn on its brilliant green leaves. it took me a little longer than thought to fight through the thorns and undergrowth to get close enough to take a good picture, so i slightly missed the best colors of the sunrise, but i captured the beautiful green of the new leaves.

i believe this is a sweetgum, but i could be wrong.

i love spring and the new life that comes with it. there is a David Crowder song that fits a morning like this so well. it is called 'Stars' the second verse says 'and you should feel the sun in the spring, coming out after a rain, suddenly all is green, sunshine on everything'. i love those words on a morning like today.

this one's for you mom...

if not words, i at least have pictures. i was at ft. caswell on the coast of NC for 3 days this week. my phone fell out of the car before leaving camp, which i did not notice until about 30 minutes down the road. having no phone left me a little miffed. i would have no words with friends to entertain myself and i would not be able to send gloating pictures of the ocean and light house and boats to my mom.  and i would not be able to answer any trivial questions that arrise at the drop of a hat. instead i would be left wondering what time is high tide exactly and who sang that one song with those words that we just heard?

but alas, it ended up being kind of nice not having my phone. no super revelations while without it. just nice to really be where i was. no outside connection. mexico could have gone to war with canada and i would not have known.

i think that i might try leaving my phone behind more often.

and when i returned to my phone (which was found in the parking lot minutes after i realized it was not with me) there were texts and voicemails awating me. which was a delight as i thought there would be nothing but spam emails.

although i did not have my phone, i had my handy point and shoot fuji camera. so for you mom, i believe this is the picture that i would have liked to send most:

sunset, lighthouse, and a boat parked safely at the dock. all things i know you love.

there are a few more pictures to post, but not the time to do it today. until next time. 

so maybe I'm going to be a blogger

with my upcoming travel plans, I thought I would toy with the idea of starting a blog. so this is me, doing that. I don't know that I have much useful musing to share with the world wide web, but for now we will see what comes of this.

one of the reasons march is my favorite month: