Halloween Hair

Last week it was that time of year again, you know the time of year when kids dress up in cute costumes and adults dress up in inappropriate ones. I think they call is Halloween. I am admittedly not a huge fan of Halloween. It does have some nostalgic value but since I hate scary movies and am without small people to dress up in cute clothes I have to live it vicariously through friends and family who do have small people to dress up. Thanks to all of you who posted pictures of your terribly cute children.

Nonetheless despite my general apathy for the holiday I am not a total scrooge. When my roommate Kara requested to do my hair up in rag curlers, I was game. I think the idea intrigued me more for familial reasons than a desire to dress up. You see there are two kinds of hair in my family- stick straight and outrageously curly. Actually maybe three kinds because Mike doesn't have much hair at all but that's because he shaves it. However, two of my older siblings, Matt and Kirsten have very curly hair which at times I have envied, that is until I remember how long it takes my sister to straighten hers, then I am content with my own straight hair.

Thanks to Kara I was able to live, if just for a day, the life of a curly haired person. I noticed people weren't as nice to me, I was served smaller portions of food and lots of stuff got caught in my hair:) Overall I'm not sure it's worth it. The process to get it curly was painful enough for tender headed person like me. All the teasing was a little much for a head that is lucky if a brush even touches it once a day. On the bright side in the three hours it took to put in the rags I finished watching season two of Arrested Development. Below are pictures of the process, end result and family members who pull off the curly hair much better than I do.

And a special thanks to Kara for the experience and may I also add she has fabulous curly hair.

Brother Matt with baby Evan

Curly haired Kirsten with Rowan

The rag curls. It was a bit of a restless night with these in.

Final product

Kara and me.

Cemeteries

Today was stake conference, meaning church ended at noon, leaving the rest of a beautiful fall afternoon open for adventure. My adventure took the form of a jaunt through the Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor with my roommate Katherine. I love cemeteries. Generally, they are peaceful, well-kempt places. I never understood trying to frame cemeteries as spooky, eery places. I think this is disrespectful of the dead.

When I lived in Cheyenne there was a cemetery down the road where I liked to jog and take walks. I love to walk around and read head stones. Where else can you carve words like Love and Wild into stones and no one thinks twice. I also found someone named Chlorene and the grave of John Lennon's wife, although i wasn't aware Yoko Ono was deceased. The little lambs on top of children's graves break my heart but are a darling tribute. Below are some of my favorite shots.

Flee to the Cleve

Last weekend I went to taste of the gloriousness that is Cleveland. Friends, Stephanie and Kate were brave enough to accompany me. Saturday was filled with delicious food and amazing music. We started the day off at the Western Market where I ate the most amazing crepe ever and bought what I think will be the most amazing sausages ever. I can only guess since I haven't cooked them up yet. Then it was off to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We walked around the main exhibit for more then 3 hours before realizing we still had about 4 more stories to check out. I am afraid the exhibit for "The Boss" and Les Paul did not get due attention. We continued the rock and roll theme with a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Sunday was church history day at Kirtland. It was a bit chilly but really beautiful. The pictures demonstrate better than my feeble words. I should confess we watched the 30 Rock Cleveland clip no fewer than 3 times while in Cleveland:)

Yummy crepe being made!

Sausage I can't wait to eat.

Enviro Art?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Kirtland Ashery. I was amazed to learn that 65 sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received in Kirtland

A great picture of Stephanie that she probably doesn't want posted:)

The three of us in the 'School of the Prophets'

Really cool books

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Friday night I attended the concert of what was probably one of the most entertaining, talented groups I've ever seen. The Carolina Chocolate Drops (CCD) are an old time string band from Durham, NC. My friend Katie, also from NC, raved about them and I was not disappointed. There are clearly very talented, each of them playing various instruments. But, I think what really appealed to me is that they play instruments I can relate to; there was a lot of violin and banjo throughout the sets.

They inspired me so much that the next day I removed my violin from the case while there were other people in the house that would be exposed to my scratchy discord. I wanted to try the bow hold I saw the female violinist use. You can see in the video below that she doesn't hold it at the frog like a traditional classical violinist; perhaps that is unique to fiddling? I gave it a whirl and am still unsure about the advantages but I played a rather slow song so I will have to try it on some songs with greater tempo to gauge the advantages.

The point of the story is that the CCD have inspired me not only to practice my banjo (which I do pretty often) but also to try my hand at fiddling. The downside to this all... well, you'll have to ask my roommates about that. Maybe I'll buy them ear plugs:)

I love this video mainly because of the bones player!

Life on Hold

I have been slogging lately with exception of the awesome 80s party update. I felt like I have been holding my breath for the last month, not committing myself to anything. Last week though I was able to exhale again when I learned that I got the fellowship position that I had interviewed for in mid-August! I am excited for the opportunity and the move to 'Hotlanta' as my brother puts it. Now I can post some of the activities over the last month.

Dinner at the Flying Biscuit. Delish!

Fried Green Tomatoes in Atlanta. Yum Yum!

Donkey at the Saline Fair

Demolition derby at the Saline fair. I felt like I had a concussion and lower back pain just watching these cars crash into each other. This was to say the least a cultural experience.

Itzhak Perlman Concert. Sorry I didn't get a picture of Itzhak just the funky stage decor.

Little Joy, a band I love, opened for Regina Spektor

Regina! She's amazing

Detroit Tour

Snuck into a free screening of "Whip It." Sorry about the bleary picture of the film's director and producer Drew Barrymore

Update finished- Life no longer on hold!

Drunken Frivolity

Drunken frivolity is not a term that can actually describe me because I don't drink, but I have an inkling of what it might feel like after an intoxicated evening of partying--minus the hangover-- to wonder what I did the evening before. My roommate Kara is famous for throwing themed parties and this year the theme was the '80s, the 1980s to be exact, a party that would have had a much different theme had it been in the 1880s or any other centuries '80s. As I told one roommate who was weary of dressing up "This is the one time of year that we humor Kara." While I secretly love to dress up, publicly I reluctantly rummage through my clothes to find something suitable (or borrow something) and apply make-up that will inevitably make me look like a woman of the night.

Friday night I went through this whole process for Kara's '80s party, but this time had a duty beyond merely showing up in costume, I was also in charge of the play-list. As a result I have been rocking out to 80's music all week long trying to put together what I thought would be a decent play-list. The end result was a list that, if not everybody found representative of the '80s, at least inspired dancing. That is where my drunken frivolity claim comes in. I am not by nature a dancer. After practically being thrown out of tap class because I couldn't touch my toes I decided that I would be an intellectual instead; unfortunately that didn't really worked out either. Instead I find myself getting carried away, busting dance moves that incorporate little natural rhythm and are more likely to be found in an epileptic diagnostic book than at a dance party. The music overcomes me, and to put it as one friend said as she was leaving the party, and I lose all 'inhibition'. In the moment I have a really good time but the next day I find myself wondering exactly what I did and if I should regret it? Oh well:)

So here is the photographic evidence from the night.

Roommate picture

Jody and yours truly, I love the piano tie. Very '80s

Mini-skirt crew

Golf Lessons

I was talking with some friend about golfing, reminiscing about the summer of my fourteenth year (or was it fifteenth) when I took golf lessons. I was not consistently good but I could hit a few drives in a mostly straight line. This conversation inspired me to try my hand at the game again. I wasn't ready for an actual course yet so I asked some golf-minded friends to go to the driving range with me. It was slow-going at first but I finally got off some great drives.

I learned most of what I do know about golf from my brothers, so I had Martha take a video so they can critique my swing and give me instruction (or anyone else with an informed opinion).

Here we are in all our golfing glory