we're going to kansas city, going to kansas city, kansas city here we come...

Braeden and I went to, you guessed it, Kansas City this weekend to visit my friends Ashley and Rob. I met them at the summer camp I worked at two years ago: Ashley was my co-counselor and her husband Rob was in charge of pottery. I hadn't seen them in almost a year and it was great to see them again. Braeden was excited to meet them for the first time (and vice versa) and I believe that everyone was pleased with everyone else and we were all just one big happy family.

Both Ashley and Rob are attending the Kansas City Art Institute—Ashley for fibers (as in textiles, not the food) and Rob for ceramics. Ashley's recently started participating in what's called Yarn Bombing: here's one of the statues that she's sweater-ed (apparently he had a scarf, too but it's been stolen). She told us that statues are different than people in that they don't really have arms (they sort of just come out of the torso at the elbows) so she had to do some finagling when she attached the knit pieces to the actual statue. I think she did a great job!

I would follow this sweater-clad man to the ends of the earth.

She also told us about this group called Knitta, Please! (best. name. ever.). You should check it out. Especially the one in China where someone covered a piece of the Great Wall of China.

She also wove this scarf—that's right, WOVE, not knit—that is at least 10 feet long. I may or may not covet it slightly.

Since I'd last visited they'd gotten another miniature Schnauzer (before they just had Calvin, the lighter-haired dog) and they both loved the Braeden face. As Braeden says, "Braeden is not a dog person, but dogs are always Braeden people. Also, babies."

He looks sort of terrifying in this picture, but not as terrifying as the other picture that I took.

Here we are with Ashley and Rob! I loff them. Also their great new home. (Check out that sweet-a chandelier in the background!)

I love Ashley's face!

Rob showed us his studio on campus while we were there and was super generous, not only letting us glaze some of the pots he's thrown on the wheel (he's gonna mail them to us once they're fired: I can't wait!) but also giving us a whole box of cups. A whole box! What a man.

This one has his face on it.

This one has Ashley's face on it.

Several of them have this great indentation in it that is perfect for your thumb as you hold it: it's one of the things that Braeden and I fell in love with.

And that was pretty much our weekend. Oh! And we went to church with them on Sunday (The Boiler Room). We literally sang for the whole first hour and it was kinda fun: they had a full rock band in front and projected the lyrics to the songs up on the wall. There were definitely times during the singing that I felt the Spirit and I think that's a beautiful thing.

meet me in st louis

This past weekend Braeden, Jacob, and I drove down to St. Louis, MO to visit our friend Charissa. We were basically only there for one day, since Friday night and Sunday morning were travel days, but we did so much stuff that it felt like we were there for at least 5. The drive was a little less than 5 hours, and Braeden was a champ and drove all the way there and back (also we took his car and it was a stick shift and neither Jacob nor I know how to drive stick... Well, I learned once like 2 years ago when I visited Jen and had to drive her car back to Utah with her, but I haven't driven since). We stayed with Charissa at her parent's house and they were super great. Her mom even made us pancakes before we left on our adventures Saturday morning. Win.

Saturday morning, while Charissa was at work, we went to The Arch. Why? Because you have to go to The Arch when you're in St. Louis. Peer pressure. Also, it was pretty cool. And giant. Both.

The view from The Arch. It was waaaaaay taller that it looked: 630 feet tall, to be exact. Also 630 feet wide. Coincidence? I think not.

Me at the top. No big deal.

Jacob measuring his shoulders to see if he could hide the sign under his shirt. We decided that if he had one of those suits from the 80s with the crazy shoulder pads he could've totally pulled it off. So close!

After that we went to City Museum, which is like a giant artsy playground for adults and kids alike. (Don't be fooled: it is much cooler than the website and my own pictures make it out to be. Trust me.) I am in love with it. Braeden and I decided that we are definitely going back with more friends, even if it takes us like a year to co-ordinate our schedules. It will happen. These pictures do not even remotely begin to capture its awesomeness, but they might give you a slight peek...

Dramatic sponge throwing at the camera!

This was possibly my favorite (can I really say that? It was all my favorite!) feature of City Museum. It was on the roof and tall and touret-esque and lovely. I think I liked it so much because I could picture it in my backyard being awesome. I want one. So. Bad.

They had these wire-type tunnel tubes all over the place, in the ceiling and outside connecting things together. I crawled through one. Actually, through several. It killed my knees but was totally worth it. Totally. (Though next time I will be nerdy and wear knee pads. It's already been decided.)

Braeden in the giant ball pit! It has been one of my dreams for years now to have my own ball pit in my house and these plastic inflatable balls are WAY better than those hard plastic ones from the McDonald's play pit. It will happen. It will!

Jacob may or may not have (but definitely did) throw that ball at my face. I suppose I deserved it though since I threw it at him first...

Braeden co-piloted us off the edge of the building. It was slightly terrifying. Also, pretend.

After City Museum we picked up Charissa from work and went to dinner at an all-you-can-eat sushi place. The food was great, but the service was terrible. Worth it? Maybe. Next time we decided we'd sit closer to the sushi chefs so we wouldn't be forgotten. Also that we would save up our money and go for the third-tier option so we could order things like Dragon and Rainbow roll, not just California-roll-type sushi. Though that was delicious too.

We finished off the night at a haunted house. Now, I am not a big fan of haunted houses. Fact: I had never actually been to a professional haunted house before Saturday night. But you know what? It was actually kinda fun. The place we went was super big and we were probably inside for like 40 minutes. Also the line was super long, but it was ok because they had people walking around all dressed in costume and scaring people so it was entertaining. There was this group of girls in front of us who were really dramatic and over-the-top with their reactions so it was pretty funny to watch all the actors mess with them. But also sometimes annoying. I wasn't scared by the haunted house, and only slightly grossed out sometimes, but I was definitely startled several times, mostly by people making loud noises when they jumped out at us. Just like good boys do, Jacob went first and Braeden went last, with Charissa and I in between them. That's how you can tell that they are manly men. Or something. It was a good time.

All in all the weekend was super fun! I am really glad that Jacob invited us and that we were able to go. I highly recommend St. Louis in general, and our particular activities specifically. If you come out to visit me, we will road trip there and do these things. And that's a promise.

flash back

My littlest brother, Garrett, has been bugging me to post pictures on facebook from our family trip to England and Ireland this summer "so kids'll know how cool I am," but my internet has been sketchy slash there's so much pressure to come up with good captions on the faces book that I chickened out and I've been emailing them to him in increments of 4 so he can post them himself.

However, all this photo viewing has made me a tad nostalgic for those 10 days in the UK. I figured the least I could do is post a few photos here since I know I did a terrible job of picture posting while we were actually on the trip. So, here are some random highlights, aka mostly things that make me laugh:

On the plane ride over Garrett and I watched the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. There was this one part where the nerdy redheaded kid gets so excited that he's having a sleepover with Greg Heffley, the main character, that he is bouncing around his room. In the midst of his bouncing, he jumps over to this large, taxidermied rodent by his dresser, cups its chin in his hands, and says, "Greg Heffley's in my room, Rebecca!" There are so many strange things about that one moment and Garrett and I loved them all. It was a phrase that was oft repeated throughout the trip, although, I must admit, we couldn't remember Greg's last name so we called him Greg Hurley instead. Oh well. This photo was taken in Stratford-Upon-Avon (where Shakespeare is from). These lovely taxidermied specimens live on the second floor of what looked to be an antique shop, and yes, it does look as if they are about to spring to freedom.

Garrett took this picture as a joke when we were at Anne Hathaway's house (no, not the famous actress, the wife of Shakespeare). I was standing in the doorway of a willow hut, where people used to go when they were heartbroken (or something) and I asked Garrett to take a picture. Instead he took a series of strange mostly ground pictures. Nerd. However, I think this one turned out kinda cool, even better because it wasn't supposed to be cool. You know?

My mom getting on to Platform 9 3/4. She was by far the best at posing out of everyone. Just look at that face!

All of us kids trying to look scared on the Ghost Night Bus in Dublin. I love that Garrett the Carrot is there, of course, and also that person Garrett looks like he's about to cry. Carter and Brinden just look terrifying all on their own. Also, fun fact: when we boarded the bus my parents sat down first, and all of us intentionally sat behind, not in front of them: we all knew that sitting in front of the dad would just be asking for pretend spiders to crawl up our backs or for our shoulders to be grabbed in an alarming manner in an effort to make us scream. No thank you.

We were at a castle or something eating lunch in Shannon and playing the game where you say an emotion and the person has to quick make the face that illustrates that emotion and you take a picture. This was the face my dad made when I said, "Pretend like you're on vacation with your family but really be secretly working the whole time!" Clearly he didn't think it was as funny as I did, but he was just asking for it by being on his phone either conference calling or emailing most of the time. Oh the dad. How I love him. Plus, check out that fancy shirt. Amazing!

A jumping picture where Brinden jumps right in the middle and ruins everything. Classic. But also hilarious. Plus, it was clearly a pretty epic jump. Look at how high he is!

Wow. That was a lot more than I was planning on posting. Also they don't really tell you much about our trip, but that's ok. If you wanna learn more about that you can check out Garrett's facebook album which will be growing by the day, I'm sure. Cuz without it, how will kids know how cool he is?

home again, home again, jiggity jig

Last day on vacation! My brain is in denial right now, not ready to accept the craziness that is waiting for me at home (read: packing my life away, driving 2 days to Iowa, figuring out how to even register for classes). This trip has actually been phenomenal. Our family has gotten along amazingly well the whole trip, a rather difficult feat considering the fact that we've spent basically 10 almost interrupted days in each others' company. Think about it: when's the last time you did that with your family?

I have SO much that I want to talk about but there is just so much. (I just discovered today that the internet at this new hotel is free: what? Good trick.) Here are some abbreviated highlights from the last few days:

• Constitution Room at the Shelbourne Hotel
• Hurling (not the vomitous kind)
• Castle exploration
• Irish Tin Whistle purchase (my family hates it...)
• The Cliffs of Moher

Pictures and details to follow...?

dublin

Dublin! As in, Ireland! We've only been here for three days, but it was a lot different than I'd expected. The city itself is pretty small and after our first day I sort of felt like we knew it all. We're staying in a fancy hotel this time since it's a Marriott so the dad can use his hotel points for it. Normally fancy hotel = no internet, but this one has a lounge that we can use that has it. Hooray! It's nice to be connected again, though I've been impressed with how easy it's been to be without cell phone or internet for most of this trip. I think it's good to have to cut yourself off every once and a while to remember how to live in the moment and not always be worrying about what's going on other places.

In the city there is a main shopping area with wide sidewalks and street performers everywhere——that was my favorite part. There were several musicians that were actually really good: all of them had cds for sale for €10 which is pretty expensive, I thought. Among my favorites were a family-type band made up of 2 sisters, 1 brother, and 2 other guys whose relation to the first three was ambiguous. They played guitars, upright bass, harmonica, breath-powered keyboard (kind of amazing), and (my favorite) washboard and jug. I have been kicking myself all week that I didn't even write down their band name. I tried to convince my mom that buying their cd would be a great thing for the family, but she didn't go for it. Sadly I'd already spent all my money on other things, so I had to do without. Another guy played an upright piano with the strings and hammers exposed and he was incredible. His name is Luke Slott and I highly recommend checking out his website. His music reminds me strongly of the soundtrack from the movie $9.99 which I haven't seen but did in fact buy the soundtrack for. My last favorite was this band called The Riptide Movement. Sort of lame name, but their music was pretty great. It reminded me strongly of my punk rock days, not because of their style but because of their energy. One of the things that drew me to punk rock was how you could feel the music in your whole body, not just your ears, and so it almost consumed you while you listened to it. This band had that feel to it. The drummer played on a box with a bass drum pedal attached to it that he also beat out a rhythm on with his hands. The fact that he could keep a steady beat while playing that way was pretty impressive.

Another favorite thing was seeing The Book of Kells at Trinity College (Ireland's oldest college and the second oldest in all of Europe). We'd seen a movie about it (The Secret of Kells) as a family months ago in semi-preparation for this trip, and it was fun that we had because then we already knew some stuff about it. The book itself is incredible. The detail work on the illuminations is so fine that even when it's blown up a hundred times its actual size it's still impressively intricate. I don't know how the old school monks did stuff like that, but they did an amazing job. Super intimidating as an aspiring book artist, I must say.

Brinden and I also went to the Irish Postal Museum. Postal museums have sort of become my thing after Missy and I started the tradition on our Spain study abroad two years ago. No one else in the family wanted to go, but Brin came with me like a champ. It was pretty basic stuff, but we learned some cool things, like that the post office was taken over by Irish Independence rebels on Easter Monday in 1916. Also when they started to deliver mail via train they used this sweet thing simply called The Apparatus, which was basically a giant net. What would happen was smaller towns along the tracks where the train didn't actually stop would pack up all their mail to be sent out in an intense leather belted sack and would hang it on a post by the tracks. The train would go by and they would use this net on the side of the train to scoop up the bag and fling it in the mail sorting car to be sorted. The same thing would work to drop off mail, but in reverse: the net would be by the side of the tracks while the mail would be bagged up and hung off the side of the train. They had some actual footage of it in action and it was almost frighteningly powerful. The museum renewed and strengthened my love for the postal service and actual, handwritten and delivered mail. Not that it was waning by any means, but it was nice to know that there are others out there who share my love for mail of the stamped variety. Additionally! We learned that the someone who has the hobby of stamp collecting is called a philatelist. Awesome.

This afternoon we head off to Shannon! Who knows what the future will bring? (Hopefully not any accidents, though as we've rented a car and the parents will be driving on the wrong side of the road {read: left side, as Ireland is part of Britain and they all do that switcheroo driving here} who knows what could happen?)

one time, i was in london...

Day 3 in London. Highlights so far:

• Kensington Palace—underconstruction, so we saw this cool interactive modern art museum exhibit thing called the 7 Sleeping Princesses. Loved it.
• Lunch at the Hard Rock!—original restaurant, no big deal.
• London Towers
• Trafalgar Square—climbing lions and crab-walking picture taking
• Double-decker bus tour on probably the only sunny day we'll see while we're here
• Getting locked out of my hotel room at night in my pjs—thanks, Brin.
• Learning how to cross streets again: who knew the left/right flip flop would be so confusing?
• Portabello Road shopping—wooden type galore!!!
• Nap in Hyde Park
• Still on the hunt for an egg cup. 
• The Underground? Easy peasy. After the New York Subway, though, anything is a breeze. Fact.

Not to worry, pictures and expanded stories to follow, but with limited internet access all I could manage today was this little teaser. Stay tuned for more details!

Additionally, on the trip I'm trying out the Six Items or Less experiment while we're on our trip. One pair of pants, one white shirt, one black, one scarf dress, two cardigans. So far, so good!

sunday at hyde park

Today we went to the first hour of church at the Hyde Park Ward. Since our plane got in at 7 am this morning and I slept about a total of 2 hours on the plane, it made the day a long one. Luckily after church mom and I went to Hyde Park (the park, not the church) and took a nap on the grass. It. Was. Amazing. We only slept for like an hour but it was just what we needed. It reminded me of siesta time in Spain when a group of us would find a park, cuddle up en-mass and sleep for an hour or two before going back out into the city. Siestas were one of my favorite things in Spain and, even two years later, I still miss them.

Today was also the first official day of my 6 Items or Less experiment. I first read about this experiment in The New York Times and was especially impressed with how one of the founders, Heidi Hackemer, was able to make so many different looking outfits with only 6 pieces of clothing and wondered if I could do the same. I find that I normally wear pretty much the same thing all the time anyway, the same t-shirts and same jeans/shorts, so even when my closet is still full it seems like I have nothing to wear. I figured this would be a good way to stop fighting my inner impulse to wear the same thing all the time and see if I could really cut down on my wardrobe in a real way. Since I am moving the day after we get back from out trip, it would be nice to get rid of some of my clothes instead of dragging them half way across the country with me where they will still remain unworn.

I decided that this vacation would be an ideal trial period, seeing as we have to pack small bags anyway. Besides, it's better on trips to plan simple outfits and it's easier not to worry about what you're wearing too much since you're doing so much other stuff. After some deliberation I chose to bring 1 pair of jeans, 6 white v-neck shirts (which count as one item since they're all the same), 2 black shirts (ditto the white shirts rule), 1 scarf dress, and 2 cardigans, one turquoise, one gray. I also brought an assortment of scarves and jewelery to switch things up a bit. Here's my first day outfit:

Remember, it was church day, so the dress or skirt was essential. The cool thing about the dress though is that it can also be a skirt or a shirt, so it's a good, versatile piece of clothing to have. It was a little chilly, so I was glad to have the cardigan, and I wore a dress slip underneath too so that added some warmth as well. As an added bonus, the dress was actually comfortable to wear pretty much all day, despite the fact that I normally change out of my church clothes asap. All in all, day 1 was a successful one! At least, in terms of The Experiment.

stuff i've been working on lately...

blog posts (iowa, boston, boston)
books (wedding journal, pocket journals)
paper crafts (paper city, paper wallet)
pen-pal letters (ashley, matt webb)

go crazy.

i have been...

Last weekend I was in Iowa.

This weekend I am in Boston.

At some point—hopefully soon—I will post about my adventures, probably in secret post-dated blogs. 

(But don't worry, I will let you in on the secret.)

in the mail

beautiful british columbia

Last night we stayed at this über nice cabin up in Whistler. It was one of those places that looked like how things should be made, you know? Like everything was designed down to the last detail in a way that made it look easy and obvious, similar to watching Shaun White snowboard. It's funny how when something is done well it looks so easy, but when something is done poorly it's not always obvious how to make it better.

This morning the dad and I, then later the brother, "had a hot tub," as my Uncle Jon says. It was pretty great. We woke up at our leisure, had a bowl or two of cereal (the breakfast of champions), then soaked in the hot tub for like an hour. It completed me. I have decided that I am hot tub folk.

There weren't any events up in Whistler that we wanted to see that day, so around noon or so we packed up the car and took a leisurely drive back to Vancouver. We stopped at a couple of the scenic overlooks which was kind of fun. How often do you see signs for stuff like that and never stop? British Columbia is really so beautiful. It reminded me of my visit to Portland—hooray for the Pacific northwest—and my desire to move to this area of the world was rekindled. Perhaps after bookbinding school I'll move out to Portland and get those chickens after all.

The Amazon

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in the Amazon. And by that I mean basically just 2 days because we got in late on Friday—the weather was too hot so the plane was delayed flying us from Quito to Coca...what?—then left early Monday morning. Good times were had by all.

We stayed at the Yachana Lodge, an ecotourism lodge that is run by the local people and supported by the Yachana Foundation which also sponsors a local high school where kids from all over Ecuador are educated on agriculture, environmental preservation, and how to become good members of and leaders in their communities. I am a huge fan.

At the lodge they gave us these sweet rain boots because it's pretty muddy and wet in the rainforest. I had been looking forward to getting to wear a pair of these boots literally almost the entire time I was in Ecuador. In the rural areas all the people wear them, even the little kids, and I just fell in love with them. Weird, I know, but very true.

Ironically none of the boots they brought out for me fit me. They were either too tight or too loose, so instead of the sweet black Ecuadorian boots I ended up with these ridiculous cherry boots that look like they were bought at Target. Really, friends? My friend Nigel got to wear these sweet white boots you see below on the left that made her both look and walk like a cowgirl.

We went on a bunch of hikes and stuff and one day we journeyed over to the local healer's house. He was this sweet old guy who would clean your air, or aura, who would send the bad energy surrounding you back out into the universe. To get healed you had to sit up straight in the chair in the middle of the entry area, put your heels together, palms on your knees facing upward, and close your eyes. He would blow smoke on you from his hand rolled tobacco cigarettes, then use this bundle of leaves that smelled like lemons. After he'd gone around you and gathered up all the bad energy he would walk to the door of the house and, using the leaves, fling the bad energy back out into the universe. Then he would come back and make this cool little whistling noise between his teeth and continue to clean your aura until he determined that it was good. It was pretty cool.

After the healing we all went out and learned how to use a blow gun. Our guide, Juan, set up a target of a cocao nut on top of a piece of wood standing on end for us to shoot at. Despite the fact the the blow gun itself was about 6 feet long I still manage to shoot my first dart into the mud. The second one, however, hit the middle of the log, and the third one wizzed right by the nut itself. I gave myself the "Most Improved" award.

The next day, on our longest hike through the jungle, Juan showed us how the indigenous people can weave baskets out of palm leaves and roots to carry home fruit or small animals they have killed to bring home to eat. He wove this baby in probably about 5-10 minutes and it was freaking sweet! The best part is that you can reuse it until the palm fronds start to dry out and become brittle, and then you can just throw it away and it is 100% biodegradable. I love the jungle!

On this same hike we walked for some time through a shallow river. This is when I discovered that both of my lovely cherry boots had holes in the sides. A winner on all counts. There was nothing I could do about it so I was a man about it and sucked it up.

That day for lunch we had a little cooking lesson and we learned how to cook grubs! Three of the girls ate them raw, which means that you have to bite off their heads first so they don't bite you in your own mouth, then chew up their squishy, still wiggling bodies before you swallow. Yeah, I didn't do that. BUT I did eat them once we'd roasted them over the fire and they were delicious! I had seconds. They tasted like little tiny pieces of chicken, with crunchy, delicious skin. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend trying one. A cooked one, that is...

travel sounds

I've been thinking about traveling. I recently counted and I have visited over 12 countries on 4 continents. I found this article that talks about how important sound is in travel, so here are some sounds that I remember from places I have been, including where I am presently:

Cuenca, Ecuador: sirens, the barking of stray dogs, airplanes in flight, revving engines, car alarms, cars honking, and whistles, kissing noises, and "hey baby" from men on the street

Costa Rica: lapping waves, white-faced monkey calls, tree frog sounds, and a conch shell calling me to dinner

Singapore: cars, silence, and the clinking of plates/silverware at restaurants, the sound of tea being poured over a man's shoulder through a large tea pot with a very long spout

Alcalá de Henares, Spain: loud talking of Pilar and la vecina in the kitchen, the dump truck using a crane to pick up the dumpsters full of trash and dumping them out late at night, passing pedestrian conversation, buses, the neighbor talking on the phone audible through our shared wall, the buzzer of the apartment to let people in, the turning of the key in the door around and around and around to open all the locks, crackling of cooking oil on the stove, theme song from "Corazón Corazón" and of "Karlos Arguiñano en tu cocina," a cooking show we watched at every meal