My Symphony

My family is approaching the one year anniversary of my uncle's death. He died in a tragic car accident, and left behind my wonderful aunt and two cousins. After his funeral my aunt sent her thank you notes on stationery with a poem that reminded her of Tinsley.



My Symphony

To live content with small means;

to seek elegance rather than luxury,

and reginement rather than fashion;

to be worthy, not respectable,

and wealthy, not rich;



To study hard, think quietly,

talk gently, act frankly;

to listen to stars and birds,

to babes and sages with open heart;

to bear all cheerfuly, do all bravely,

await occasions, hury never.



In a word, to let the spiritual,

unbidden and unconscious,

grow up through the common.



This is to be my symphony

-W.H. Channing

baby char

This is my sweet niece Charlotte Forbes Staub. She looks almost identical to how I looked as a baby, so I wonder if this is a preview of my phantom-children!

Merlefest

Pretty excited about this...

My boyfriend got us tickets to go to Merlefest this year! I'm really excited to spend a (hopefully sunny and beautiful) weekend in May enjoying great music, but am most excited to see the Avett Brothers perform for the first time.

To help you understand how momentous this is for me, here's a lil SAT prep for ya:

2009:Dr. Dog:: 2010: Avett Brothers

Last April, since Dr. Dog wasn't performing anywhere near me, I dragged my BF all the way to Birmingham to see them live. But it was well worth it!

So the Avetts at Merlefest will be my big musical venture this year. I still want to go to Lilith Fair this summer*, but am having a hard time convincing anyone to go with me. Any takers?

Will let you know how the Avetts are, but until then ENJOY

*I actually wanted to see the Indigo Girls at the Lilith Fair in 1997 but that summer was pretty demanding. I had a couple of swim meets and a lot of prank calls to make.

Ina vs. Giada

versus

I am a Barefoot fan. Like my girl, Leslie, I love her beautiful white kitchen, goregous home, and dank meals. Although I'm sure Leslie would also add denim blouses as one of her reasons she loves Ina. ;)

When I get the chance to watch Barefoot Contessa, I briefly slip into the intoxicating world of people with two stainless steal dishwashers and all the Kitchen Aid appliances money can buy. Ahhh...intoxicating.

On the other hand, I find Giada pretentious and annoying with the way she says "moooozarella." I know she was born in Italy, but come on! Fun fact: her husband Todd is a designer for Anthropologie.

So while I am an Ina girl at heart, I did make a delicious version of this Giada recipe. It was a good one, not to mention easy and not too unhealthy.

Learning to Fly

After junior year of high school I went on a retreat (for lack of a better word) with my classmates and close friends. Before and after the student leaders spoke, they had songs playing in the background. They selected these songs as somewhat of a personal anthem.

Throughout the years since, I have often thought of what songs would make up the Soundtrack of My Life. What songs would be on it, and why?

I have always considered Tom Petty's Learning to Fly my individual coming-of-age song. The chorus reminds me that no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I am constantly growing into myself.

What songs would you put on your life's soundtrack?

A looonnnggg hiatus

Hello!

After a, oh say a year, long hiatus I think I am ready to write again. Lucky you. The past twelve months have been busy, but with no lack of excitement.

I have been spending the past year in an assortment of ways: My sister and her hubs welcomed my first niece into the world in October, graduate school proved itself to be more difficult than I anticipated, visiting scattered friends/celebrating milestones with them, and an array of odd hobbies.

At a later date I will post more on each of the activities that have kept me bumpin in twenty-ten. Stay tuned...