Shhhh....

I can't tell how many times I've written about snow. I can count at least three (including this one) on this blog. But for years and years, I've written about in diaries and journals. But it seems no matter how much I write about it, I can never really express the true magic and wonder that fills the air whenever it snows.

It snowed again today. I went into the library to go check out some Christmas books, and when I stepped outside, it was falling. And after a quick trip to Walmart for some much needed Christmas wrapping supplies (including both duct tape and packing tape), I came home and announced I would be going for a walk.

So indeed, I went. I grabbed my iPod, threw on my warm boots and bomber hat and stepped outside into the glittering white snowglobe. And really, oh the beauty. There's something inexplicably thrilling yet calming as you walk through the white winter wonderland.

I passed by homes and businesses all lit up, people bustling inside with love and laughter. I walked through the streets covered in a soft white blanket, not yet pounded by feet and tires. I wandered around town, looking up at the streetlights and wreaths attached to them, seeing the snow fly down towards the ground. I passed by churches, candles lit from the inside.

And while there's a thrill of excitement, I often times find myself wanting to say "shhhh..." I'm really not even sure why. Perhaps it's a suggestion for others, to stop hustling and bustling with the deadline of Christmas morning looming and simply enjoy the blessings of the season. Perhaps it's God telling me to "Be quiet and listen." But whatever the reason, it's quite calming.

I think the thing that most resounds through the holiday season is the presence and importance of family. Whether it's yours or a stranger's, it's not only important but inspiring when you just sit, watch, and listen. Be still and take a moment to soak in what's around you. Families hustling around the kitchen, making a Christmas meal. Co-workers laughing together at a business. A father toting home his daughter in a sled through the snow. It's amazing what you can discover and encounter just by watching. So as a reminder to you all, just... "shhh..." Stop and listen, watch, just to experience the joys, sights and sounds of the holiday season.

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The best tree

I've always been a traditionalist at heart. I like to sit in the same chair at the dinner table. I like to eat my cereal out of the same bowls I have since I was a young girl. I even had a hard enough time when my mother decided to buy new furniture for our upstairs living room. I had an even harder time getting used to the new dish set she bought some five years ago. I like things the same. Through the years, changes have had to be made. Some of them small, like the dishes. Some of them big, like moving, and moving again, and yet again. And because of moving, things changed. And knowing there was nothing I could do, I just had to let it be.

But there was one thing that hasn't changed through the years: our family decorating the Christmas tree together. We put on Christmas music, and start decorating away.

Earlier this holiday season, my roommates and I set up our own tree. I had brought the old plastic one from home that we never use anymore (as we've elected to get the real-deal for the past many years.) It took us a while to get the whole thing completely decorated, between schedules and time-constraints. We set up the tree one afternoon. Then we strung popcorn and cranberries several days later. And the next week, Mia finally put some of her ornaments up. And just a few days ago, I finally bought Christmas bulbs and candy canes, that night hanging them on the tree. I even painted a few of them with glitter, spelling out our names on them. But as I hung the shiny Christmas ornaments, I felt a sense of...complacency. Just, blah. I didn't feel the excitement, the thrill, and the joy that comes with the memories formed with each ornament. Oh, it's a pretty tree. And in our its own way, it represents a new beginning. New traditions. New beginnings. But sometimes new is hard.

I was supposed to go home one weekend to help set up the family Christmas tree. I was nearly packed and ready to go! But luck and true Minnesota weather had it that it would snow. And not just snow, but really snow and snow and snow. It snowed so much that malls closed on the second busiest day of the year. As a matter of a fact, everything closed. It snowed so much it was the fifth largest blizzard in the metro area on record.

In the meantime, I had called my parents, letting them know I could not make it home, and now this meant I most likely wasn't going home until two days before Christmas. I told my dad, "You guys need to get in the holiday spirit. Go ahead and decorate without me, and I'll just have to deal with it." I was trying to be ok with it, but really, I wasn't.

This past weekend, I had from Saturday night to Monday afternoon off. So I called up dad and I said, "I'm coming home!" The way this time of year goes, it had whisked away without a chance for them to decorate the tree. So I came home and was ready to bring the holiday cheer with me. And finally, the Minnesota weather gave me a break. I headed home Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon, we were setting up the tree.

First came the lights. Dad loathes Christmas lights. I think he just gets tangled and can't make them stay the way he wants. But for years, it's always been my mother and I putting up the Christmas lights, and in recent years, the sister has helped. And as every year happens, there weren't enough to go around. So of course I was sent out to go pick up some more Christmas lights. (It really is a big tree.) We finished stringing the lights, and then came my favorite time.

We plugged in the Christmas music and dug out the ornaments. We are an ornament family. Through the years, we've collected so many, that I think each year our tree has to grow nearly exponentially for them all to fit. As Johnny Mathis and Bing Crosby crooned their Christmas tunes, we sifted through our favorite ornaments, each representing some memory. I had my "shoe" ornaments - (one is an actual miniature white lace heel, the other says, "If the shoe fits, buy it in every color.") I have my ugly homemade ornament I made in the first grade, or the glitter star with a picture in it from second grade. There's the ornament given to me from my Sunday school teacher and "other mom" Mary Anders. The clear glass ornament is stuffed with a picture of me in my favorite yellow frilly dress from the 3rd grade. And then there's the ornament given to me from my preschool teacher, a "July" precious moments angel, and even a Barbie Collectors Christmas ornament. Oh, and a Vikings ornament, which is technically dad's, but I might claim for myself here soon.
As I go through each of the ornaments, whether they're mine or my sisters, or sift through my parents' ornaments from when they first got married, I am reminded of memories that are attached to them.



Part of it isn't even the ornaments, it's just being with my family, shuffling back and forth from the ornament boxes (yes, there are more than one) to the tree as we sing along to whatever song is playing. (My sister now even sings along to the Hallelujah Chorus.)

My mother, after it was finished, made a comment that said, "It's the memories and the love that make it so beautiful." And how true that rings. It doesn't have a pretty theme, and it might filled with too many ornaments, both beautiful and ugly alike, but it's the love and the memories that fill the tree that make it special.

After the ornaments came the tinsel, and after the tinsel came the gold bows. And the star, of course, which came actually before the ornaments - we've learned that the bigger the tree, the harder it is to put it on after the ornaments.

I'm not really sure what to make of this, if there's a lesson to be learned or a thought to be processed. But I know that our tree, this year named McKinley (because of it's massive size and a family member in Washington), is one of the most beloved. Oh, what it is to come from such a loving family.

But whatever happens for Christmases future, I know that these memories will never be taken from me. And although it frightens me to let my family go and begin my own, whenever that may be, I'll be excited to start new memories on a new tree.

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Quandary...what defines appreciation?

As some of you know, and many of you don't, my roommates and I have been on a large Gilmore Girls kick. And when I say "Gilmore Girls kick," I really mean "We've gone through the entire series in about a month and a half." Yes, ridiculous. Pathetic, even. But when you're about as boring as the three of us are, it tends to go that way.

And so it would just make sense that watching the series, it would rub off on me and create questions in my mind, as does a good television show does.

One of the questions recently popped into my brain while just having it on in the background as I cooked supper. As fellow Gilmore Girls fans would know, Rory is arguably one of the smartest and most precocious characters ever written. Part of that brilliance is the knowledge of unusual and quite large words.
In addition to her unusual knowledge of words in the English language (and French and Latin as we later find out), is the series' use of references. Anything from the Barefoot Contessa, to journalism names like Bob Woodward and Christian Amanpour, to obscure band and television/film references. Some of them I know. Most of them I don't. But it peaks my curiousity, and often times I find myself googling certain references just to understand the meaning. But the brilliance of the writing in the show is that you don't have to know all the references to understand what they're saying.

But like I said, watching this show has peaked several questions I still have yet to answer, although I have a sense some of them will never be answered. For today, I will just leave you with the question most prevelant in my mind at the moment.

Does it take an artist to truly appreciate the art? or really, simply put, "Does it really take one to know one?" as the saying goes.
I shall further detail my quandary with bits of examples.
As aforementioned, Rory is the journalist and English "freak." Her knowledge of words and books is astounding. So it just makes sense that as the series goes on, episode after episode there are references to famous journalists, both past and present, to journalism terms, and of course the use of exemplary words. As a fellow journalist, my classes have taught me such words and references in the journalism world, and so I feel as if I connect and can appreciate the words and the references.
Now, to the average person, the knowledge and use of such words and references might go unnoticed. Or even if they are acknowledged, they are at most interpreted in a horizontal manner, not being able to understand its full depth.

The same goes for me as a dancer. I watch other routines, ranging anywhere from a contemporary piece by Travis Wall or Mia Michaels to a classical ballet piece choreographed centuries ago when Tchaikovsky still gave the breath and life of music to ballet. When I watch other routines, I think I am able to appreciate it more and understand it on a deeper level than others, since I know the difficulty of work and the time and effort strained into it. As an artist, a choreographer, I watch other pieces with what I think of as a greater appreciation, taking into account all the things good choreographers do. While the average viewer might just say "I think that was amazing," I could probably take that statement and divulge why.

Not to say I am a head above the rest. In the matters of science or mathematics, if someone were to create a hypothesis or theorum, then create the data and evidence to back it up, I wouldn't understand in the least. All I would do is look at the numbers and cringe. (As my journalism professor would say, "When we see numbers, our eyes have a tendency to gloss over.") I would stand there dumbfounded. Probably amazed at what I was looking at, but still completely clueless as to its actual extend and importance.

Now, this doesn't go without its own controversy.
After I posted this question on twitter, a friend of mine replied:
"No. Otherwise there would be very few would would appreciate greatness."
So is that true, as well? If we only appreciate what we know and understand, there really wouldn't be much appreciation in this world, would there?


So what do you think?
Is appreciation only for the knowledgable? Does it really take one to know one?
Or can appreciation for art, or science/mathematics, for that matter, be held by those with less or no knowledge at all?

OR, can we all appreciate work, but we appreciate it at different levels?

So seriously, what do you think?
Quandary.

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White fluffy stuff fluttering from the sky.

Once upon a time, I wrote a similar blog about snow. But tonight's a new night.

Tonight was the first snow of the season. Mia and I were winding down for the evening, fiddling with our ipods, as do all twenty-something year olds.. All the sudden, she says "facebook says it's snowing!" and we turn around out the window to see the snow starting.

I said, "Let's go outside!" and she was right with me. We immediately turned off the TV, threw on shoes, and rushed out the door.

As we stepped outside, the snow was lightly falling. But it didn't matter. We ran outside and started to squeal (or rather, *I* started to squeal) "IT'S SNOWING!" with a dumb grin on my face, like the world had handed me a lifetime of chocolate. I stood there in the parking lot with Mia, just staring at the sky with white puffs flying into my face. I smiled like I wouldn't be able to smile again ever in my life.

It was that childlike excitement that falls upon me every year. Every year I step outside, screaming, hugging, jumping, yelling, "IT'S SNOWING!" or simply just the word "Snow!"

After playing around for several minutes, then realizing just how cold it was, Mia and I decided to bundle up and take a walk around the neighborhood.

After coats were found and scarves were wrapped and boots thrown on, we ran outside to begin what turned out to be over an hour and a half of walking around the area. It was beautiful. There really is no other way to describe it. What God gives us every year is simply undeniably beautiful.

We wandered around, listening to the sounds of the wind whistling...although more to the sounds of our squeals of excitement and our laughter. We nearly froze our extremities off, but an hour and half didn't seem nearly enough time.

Snow. The word is so beautiful in itself. The white begins in flakes, and before you know it (and before we knew it tonight), the ground was covered in white, and as we gazed down the street, it was a peaceful calm as the snow fell down.

Now we're back, cozied up on the couch with warm fuzzy blankets, sweats, and hot cocoa.

Nothing could seem more perfect.

It's here. Snow. Christmas.....it's here. :-)

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The rise of the classics.

Recently, there's been an uprising of film, and the analogue age. It's like I'm almost re-experiencing photography all over again. And I'm not the only one!
Analogue cameras have now been recreated and produced, giving artists and photographers a newfound appreciation for the old age.
Companies like LOMOGRAPHY are producing analogue cameras to produce different effects, like a fisheye camera, or the "helga" camera...each of them creating more creative and artistic shots than a classic point and shoot camera.



And more so, new technology is taking photography to another level. One of the iPhone's most popular app's is a photography application called "Hipstamatic", which takes a picture through the camera in the iPhone, but allows you to choose and swap out "digital" lens', films, and lighting gels. The outcomes of which are both trendy and classic photos. And if you're like me, it's always more enjoyable to say I took this photo with the "John S" or "Helga" lens, and use infrared film...all in a digital way!



So all this to say, the film age is back...in a new light. Whether you pick up your old toy camera, poloroid, or through the Hipstamatic iphone app, you're going to be seeing more and more and more every-day photos in a new creative artistic light.

Check out some of the hipstamatic and lomography photographs:


http://www.flickr.com/groups/hipstamatic/pool/

http://www.lomography.com/photos

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Once as I sat upon the shore

There's a peaceful serenity that calms my soul when I sit by a lake.



Today is a calm day, although just several days ago the wind whipped the waves higher than some of the docks, shaking them with a force that almost rivaled a hurricane. Today, however, The waves lap ever-so-gently along the sand and I feel the warmth of the sun, which has now peered out from a string of clouds. It glows a warm yellow in the evening hour, shimmering off the lake's smooth surface.




I squish my feet in the sand, and it molds beneath my feet and squishes in between my toes, giving me its version of a foot massage. A row of smooth rocks line the shore, having been pounded by the waves of time.



Shrieks and squeals of laughter resound from the playground behind me while another little girl plucks stones from the shoreline, attempting to skip them. Too young to have the knack for skipping stones down, I burst out chuckles here and there as I watch her try.

The gentle yet ever-present breeze wafts a clean early-summer scent. The smell of burning charcoal on the grill makes my stomach growl for a good meal. Not that I am starved, by any means, but I couldn't deny that a good grilled hamburger would quench my appetite.

The beach-side, now all but deserted by the Sunday afternoon crowd, is filled with small valleys by the feet that had pounded across its' molding shore. The power and energy that thrived upon these waters has now calmed into a solitude with only a few scattered pontoon and a pair of ducks, now gliding farther into the distance.

A dark and massive cloud has now passed over the lake, but has yet to eclipse the sun from its warm rays reaching down to earth. I can tell that after the sun grows weary & falls into the night, the dark and gloomy cloud will let loose its rage.



Over the past several minutes I have been joined by families who are just as eager for summer to start as I am. The young girl has now been joined by the rest of her family, now all scouring the shoreline for the perfect flat stone. It seems as if she got her lack of stone-skipping talent from the rest of them. Several other families filter in and out, all catching a small glimpse of the breathtaking view - although none of them stay long enough for me to believe they truly breathed in the scene.

I am ready for a summer next to the ocean; Yet I am apprehensive about leaving. I will surely miss my loving family and the church that has welcomed us. I will miss the companionship they offer and our often trips to the lake.

But these words I have come to cherish: "Be still and know that I am God." Here at the lake, all my fears and apprehensions about leaving are washed away and calmed, just like the calm of the lake itself. It's here that I am still and God shows himself almighty and faithful.

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The dramatic girl in the end lounge - this is for you

This will probably be a slightly snarky post - so if you don't want to read it, then don't.

Sometimes girls just don't know how to cut the drama.
Tonight, I decided to go out for a walk. Before this, my friend had come in from outside to drop by my room. This was around 12:30. As she entered, she mentioned there was a guy and a girl on the 3rd floor stairwell - something that's a "grey area" in boundaries for opposite sexes to meet. Didn't think much of it.
Later that night, I needed to clear my head - so I went out for a walk. About 1 am. they were still there. 2 am. I get back from my walk. They were still there. He had a Bible and was talking about something spiritual. Like I said, didn't think much of it.

Sleep! :-) Wake up at 2:45 am. I hear a girl talking loudly in the end lounge. I just wanted to see if she and this guy were there. So I did. I grabbed some garbage from my room and stepped outside to throw it away in the end lounge trash bin. It was that same girl - without the guy.

But I couldn't stop listening to her convo. (Yes, I realize this was eavesdropping... but I'll use the "samwise" copout - 'I wasn't droppin' no eaves, sir, promise....nothing important...I mean, something about a dark lord and the end of the world)

I discovered she and her boyfriend named Andy were arguing over the fact that she hadn't talked to him in 3 days. (I figure something bad had happened.) I later found out that their relationship is long distance.

3 am. She decides to call her boyfriend. Can I just say that when you're upset, or when your boyfriend's upset...3 am isn't the best time to be having this conversation. Everyone (INCLUDING THE WHOLE WORLD) knows that things seem worse in the middle of the night. So at 3 am, don't call your boyfriend upset. Wait another 12 hours to have this conversation, and the light of day might bring different results. (Although, technically, the Bible says not to wait til the sun goes down on your anger. But I'm thinking that's a little bit metaphorical.)

Some of my favorite lines by her through the evening were, "I'm apologizing to you! Didn't you hear that? I just apologized to you. You're supposed to forgive me! The Bible says it!"
Ok, well, you're right. The Bible says we are to forgive - and you did just apologize to him. But you really think the best way to get him to forgive you is by calling him at 3 am to say your sorry, then tell him he HAS to forgive you? Really? I'm thinking not. My next thought is that at 3 am, telling him to forgive you is just going to get on his nerves more than anything. When you do something wrong, and you ask for forgiveness, they need to forgive you. But don't expect it to happen in a heartbeat. Sometimes it takes a little while to say "I forgive you."

She also said, "No, andy, listen to me, just listen to me...listen to me!............. I talk to YOU.....more than I talk to GOD!" Ok. Let's talk about this. Also a good point. We should talk to God daily. Not saying we shouldn't. But that is by far the worst cop-out line ever. Ya think about it, and most relationships we talk to each other verbally more than we talk to God. But we talk to God in more than one way. So, really, he wins in this one, too.

She also said later, which he later confirmed it, "What do you want me to do - forget and ignore all my friends here?" (I'm assuming most of these 'friends' are guy friends.) "You're not acting like my boyfriend right now! Cuz if you were, you'd understand that it's different! They're my friends." Now, I'm no relationship expert. But usually when you have a boyfriend (even harder when it's long distance), you need to be EXTRA cautious about who your male friends are and when and how you hang out with them, and how you act around them.
Let's dissect this further. You just spent the past 2 1/2 hours from the hours of 12-2:30 talking to a BOY in depth SPIRITUALLY about YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND. I'm thinking that wasn't the smartest of moves. Yes, you may have understand that "you sinned" by "not taking the time to be intentional about talking to your boyfriend." But I'm thinking that spending a good portion of your very late night alone with a boy in a stairwell - who wasn't your boyfriend.

"I talk to you more than once a day! I talk to you by texting. I text you all day long!" My thought: Does texting really count as talking to? Not really, for me, because you are not using your vocal chords. Nor can you sense intonation. And lets be honest. Any relationship based on texting throughout the day isn't much of a relationship.

In the end, let me just say the following:

UNLESS you WANT half of our hall to wake up and listen in on this conversation...and UNLESS you WANT your boyfriend to break up with you...
I'd start by NOT having 3 hour in depth Spiritual conversations alone with a boy in the middle of the night, and then NOT calling your boyfriend at 3 am in an end lounge, crying and yelling. Just saying.

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Animoto - my new best friend

I've recently discovered my love for a wonderful website called animoto.com
The genius' behind this website thought that America needed an easy and quick way to make videos of their photos set to music. What they created was, in fact, just that. This website is so easy to use my grandmother could maneuver her way through. And as quick as quick can be, a video with your photographs of a vacation, friends photo shoot, senior portraits, or day-to-day candids are thrust together in a great conglomeration.
There are a few down-sides, however. Along with the quickness and easiness of it all, your photos are set to the tempo of the music. So if you pick a fast song, expect them to go faster than your eye can keep up. You can change the tempo of the photo-turning, but it's either 2x or 1/2x, which sometimes seems awkward. This also means you can't change one photos' length of time, either.
The other downside is that if you want the free version, you only get 30 seconds to play with. The good news: a year's subscription to "all access" is only $30, which includes unlimited video time.
Videos can also upload actual video clips, also, but are limited to 5 seconds for the free version and 10 for the all access. (The all-access does not include copyrights, especially to their songs. If you own a company, there is another alternative for you.)
For the average person who just wants a new way to portray their photos of their every-day-lives, this is a brilliant website.
Here's my latest example:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Go to animoto.com to begin your newest video scrapbook.

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From worse to worst - Oscars 2010 fashion gone wrong.

The 82nd annual Academy Awards filled the screens tonight. And while millions of viewers tuned in to see if Kathryn Bigelow would beat out ex-husband James Cameron for Best Director, or if Sandra Bullock could finally break through her RomCom facade and win Best Actress, the other portion of the world tuned in to see only one thing: The Fashion!

The Oscars are known as the time where the biggest designers and actors' sense of fashion either flourishes or fails. And like other favorite shows we watch (*cough* American Idol), most of our enjoyment of the evening comes from making fun of the flubs...and by flubs, I mean the biggest fashion mishaps in the year. Hence, the worst dressed lists were born.

So, my dear friends, without further ado, I give you my top ten worst dressed of the Oscars 2010.


10) Jennifer Lopez, wearing a silk organza Armani Prive.

Trying to play with textures and structure, J-lo thought these extra curves would enhance her own. The top suites her well, but all of those structural curves near her hip enhanced all the wrong places.

9)Miley Cyrus, wearing Jenny Packman.

Dear Miley - a corset-looking top does not bode your breasts well. Although I will give you grace since I liked the chiffon skirt.

8)Zoe Saldana, wearing a Givenchy Haute Couture gown by Riccardo Tisci.

The top on this dress was actually quite stunning. But once you get past the waist, it looks as if a Viking cheerleader attacked it with purple pompoms. Textures are a big trend this year, but don't expect to see this one anytime soon (although maybe by the time 'Avatar' comes true.)

7)Mariska Hargitay in Vera Wang

Although her slender bodice fits beautifully in this piece, I'm afraid Wang forgot to finish sewing the bottom of it. It looks like she took the bottom of a bedskirt, wrapped it around the bottom of the dress and just forgot to sew it across.

6)Carey Mulligan, nominated for actress in a leading role for "An Education," wore Prada.

This black sweetheart dress doesn't seem sweet after taking a second glance at the long train on such a short dress. It seems as if she couldn't make up her mind if she just wanted it short or long. One or the other, dear.

5) Matt Damon looked more handsome and chiseled than usual, but his wife Luciana's dress didn't demand as much attention.

As a matter of a fact, it seems as if the attention she gave this dress was about 5 minutes...the amount of time it takes to make a towel look that good, which is what it seems to look like. The only difference I see is that I don't see any terry-cloth nor wet hair.

4)Charlize Theron - wearing ??? (nobody wants to admit it.)

This dress could have been simple and stunning between the two shades of purple and the form-fitting foundation. What nobody seems to understand are the two circles of lavender that seem to be attacking her breasts. It demanded attention in a place that's neither lady-like nor flattering. Her hair pulled back gave us a view of her gorgeous face, but nobody could pay attention any farther up than her neck.

3) Diane Kruger is a subtle beauty, but this dress makes it even more subtle. Trying to play with the textures, this dress chops up her slender figure. As a whole, the piece isn't cohesive from top to bottom; the ruffles in that middle section are what makes this dress fly right over the edge.


2)Mariah Carey. Now, I'm usually not the biggest fan of Carey's fashion to begin with, but this one just didn't do her justice at all.

Dear Mariah,
Try a little more on the bottom and a little more on the top, next time, and you might hit it right. Learn how to cover yourself up and you might actually land yourself on the "best dressed" lists for once.

....and the WORST dressed of the 2010 Oscars goes to:
1) Nicole Richie.

Taking the opposite approach as Carey, Richie thought that dressing from head to toe (almost literally) would make her hit the best dressed lists of 2010. Looking more like a better designed piece of sheet metal or chain mail, this dress would have been better served being in the best costume category for "Joan of Arc."

So there you have my top 10 worst dressed - Do you agree/disagree? Who did you like the most? Were there any in my worst dressed that you liked? Anybody you thought I missed?

.....stay tuned for the BEST of Oscars 2010!

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