Monday, July 25, 2011

Melody

I did some me-time shopping and walking around the city today.  It is something that I love to do, walk around the city and people watch and window shop and see what there is to see.

The song of my day was "Melody" by Kate Earl.

The song is about keeping a song forever in your head and never being alone because of the music you spend your day with.  Whether the song be a legit song or one that you make up, it keeps you company.  When my roommate is at work sometimes it becomes a long day of being alone, but, as this blog is about, I like to give my daily life it's own soundtrack.

Lately my melody has been songs off of Adele's "21" album.  I love the way you can feel the emotion of the song in the way that she sings.  What's the melody in your head?  Is it a song you've heard or a song that you've made up?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Indescribable

I just got home from the most amazing trip!  I took a long weekend trip to Denver, Colorado, where I visited with my little brother and got to see some of my extended family as well.


On Friday we walked around downtown Denver and Saturday was a packed day with hiking up a mountain at Chautauqua near Boulder.  I have never hiked before, and I still can't believe that I climbed up a mountain!  I climbed a mountain!  The whole time I was just in awe.  On Saturday night my brother and I were so exhausted that all we did was go see Horrible Bosses (which I highly recommend if you feel like laughing!).  Sunday morning we got up bright and early and drove out (and up) to Mt Evans.  What a beautiful location.  The mountain was absolutely gorgeous with snow covered peaks, pure lakes, mountain goats, and mountain views for as far as the eye could see.  We made a stop at the Red Rocks Amphitheater on the way back to Denver where we then had lunch with our extended family.  It was so nice to see them-it had been almost exactly a year since I had seen them.  After lunch my brother and I watched the end of the Women's World Cup game with some of his friends before heading over to the Coors Brewery in Golden, CO.  I like Coors, but I have to admit, Coors has nothing on the Anheuser-Busch tour.  Sunday night we hung out with a bunch of my brothers friends and just relaxed.  Monday morning, yesterday, we had a really nice breakfast at a cute little cafe in downtown Denver before we went over to my brothers favorite bookstore.  After browsing for a bit it was time for me to leave :-(.


I LOVED my time in Colorado - what an absolutely beautiful, majestic place.  The song of my weekend is Indescribable, by Chris Tomlin.  While looking at the mountains, and walking through them, I was in awe of God's creation.  God's hands made those mountains and he painted the sunsets that I witnessed.  He created the beautiful lakes and streams and views.  God is amazing!  While I saw this so clearly in Colorado, I know that His creation is beautiful no matter where I am - I just can't get complacent with what I'm seeing around me and remember that all of His creation is beautiful whether it's something that I see every day or once in a lifetime.


Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend -
Half-way up Mt. Evans

Chautauqua

The view driving into the mountains!

Monday, July 4, 2011

God Bless America!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Behind Thanksgiving, the 4th of July has always been my second favorite holiday.  I love the barbecues, walking to the fireworks and finding a spot on the golf course, the 'ooos and aaaahs' during the fireworks, American flags hanging from every house up and down the street, the sounds of laughter coming from friends and families getting together, and the almost always great weather.

I grew up on a col-d-sac and we have some very good friends here.  For as long as I can remember, we've had a tradition of getting together at either my house or one of the houses across the circle for dinner, dessert and games.  We then all walk over to the fireworks and sit together.  Afterwards we always end up back at my house whether we started there or not and have a personal firework show provided to us by one of our old neighbors who moved away but who will always be our neighbor at heart.  The people who I spend the 4th of July with are my family - even though not by blood, we are by our friendships, memories and traditions.

This weekend has been full of fun bbqs.  I worked Friday and Saturday and due to discharging almost all of my patients I got to leave my shift early on Friday - it was great!  I got home and made Greek pizza and guacamole (not very American, I know!) with my roommate and her friend.  After work on Saturday I went straight to my brother's apartment for a bbq and hung out with a bunch of kids from college and high school.  I am now at my parents (got here yesterday) and last night I had a really nice time at a party thrown by our 'old neighbors' son, who was a year younger than me in school but who in the past few months we've starting becoming better friends again.  It was an interesting party because while I recognized the majority of people there from high school being a year younger than me, since we're all out of college now it didn't even matter that I was older.  All in all I'm very glad that I went.

Today!  Today is the 4th of July so the song of the day is God Bless America.  Sometimes I think that this song should be the nation's national anthem.  I love this song.  Is it weird that one of my favorite versions of this song is by Celine Dion, a Canadian?

I am very excited for today.  This afternoon the party is starting across the circle and it should be a great time!  I have to work tomorrow so I'll be heading back to the city tonight shortly after the fireworks - thank goodness I don't have to work Wednesday which means that I'll be able to survive tomorrow since it's just one lone shift :-).

Have a lovely and safe 4th of July!  Take this day to remember our country's history (both good and bad parts) so that we can learn from our mistakes but remember to appreciate the things that make this country great.