I'm in love.

With Dave Matthews Band.

I've liked them for years now, but I just recently got on a "kick" with them. It all began whenever I would spend weekends in the painting studio this past semester working on my printmaking projects and my friend Tyler (who is the biggest DMB lover of them all) would bring all of their CDs to play in the background as we worked. I fell in love with the atmosphere I was put in to the sound of their music. I'm hooked now, I should say. I bought their Live at Central Park CD which is FABULOUS if I say so myself. I love the fact that they are considered rock but they will whip out the violins and saxophones to make it sound jazzy. There are long music breaks which I love. The older I get the more I am drawn to the music of something than the lyrics. However, the lyrics are just as important. Everyone hates sucky lyrics. And the lyrics of their songs are so artistic. My favorite songs right now are "Jimi Thing", "Ants Marching", "Rapunzel", and "Grave Digger". "Grave Digger" is very eerie, unlike anything I would listen to but it captures me. If you're up for listening to something good and different than what you normally listen to, pick up the Dave.

Oh my goodness... Have I told you lately that God is good? Because God is soooooo good. I've been discouraged the past 2 and a half weeks because of my support raising for Acadia. I wasn't raising as much as I needed and my predictions of what people would donate to me where higher than what they were really giving me. Not to be a snob and not appreciate what they gave me already, I'm very grateful. When I came home for the summer I had $1,100 raised. It costs $2580 to go to Acadia. As of now, I'm at $2,200. You know how GREAT this is?! I began to pray and that God would show me that all things are possible if I believed in him. And I really started to. I just had a feeling that all my needs would be provided for and they already are starting to be! Support raising has taught me so much about faith and how important it is to act on believing without knowing or seeing. It's like you are walking in the dark. It's a scary thing and you have no idea whats gonna happen or where you are going to end up in it. But it taught me how to fully rely on God even though I was blinded at what might come into the future. I now can go back to school and tell my friends that I saw God work in my life in a way I've never seen before. And it's really amazing..

I leave for Maine this upcoming Saturday at 6am. Continue to pray for safety and for goodness sakes GOOD WEATHER! It's supposed to rain in Bangor when I fly in. I'm praying against it!

Hair salons, karaoke nights and Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer has my heart. Seriously. I've fallen in love with his instrumentals. Not just his, but instrumentals in general. I've always enjoyed instrumentals but lately I've just been ADDICTED to them, it's all I want to listen to. I downloaded The Holiday soundtrack. Amazing. Simply amazing. Have you ever listened to a song and you can't really just get the whole effect of the music because you were concentrating on the words so much? In a lot of songs, the words and lyrics are what makes the song beautiful, but what about the music? I also downloaded the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. It's seriously FLAWLESS. I can't wait to listen to it while I am in the painting or drawing studio at school. To be able to just focus on the rhythms, patterns, sounds and movement of the music of a song is just riveting. I'm loving it. I can't believe I've gone this long without it.

I've had some interesting events happen since I've come home for the three weeks of summer I have. My sister is a huge karaoke singer. Wherever she hears the word "karaoke" she's there in a heartbeat. She took me to this place in Manchester called Coconut Bay where they have karaoke every Wednesday night. Of course, people there drink and sing obnoxiously whenever they're under the influence. I couldn't help but sit back there and laugh at so many of the people. I found them just amusing. Not to mention their singing was HILARIOUS. It was a moment where I wish Erica was there with me. She would have made my night. You just don't understand. My sister sang 5 karaoke songs. But she's actually a good singer. All I know is I kept having flashbacks from the move My Best Friend's Wedding where Cameron Diaz sings karaoke to her fiance (horrid singing might I add.) But in the movie it was precious, because it was something she was doing out of her comfort zone to show how much she loved her future husband. Sadly to say however....... that was not the case at Coconut Bay. None of it was precious.... just hilarious. I've got videos. Oh have I got videos, hahahahahaha.

This week I am going to work at my sister's hair shop, answering her phones and making appointments for her. It helps her out a lot when she is busy and I'm able to spend time with her. You really get the feeling of being in a small town whenever you go to her shop. I feel like I'm in a scene of Steel Magnolias everytime I'm in there. I see people I haven't seen since high school and it's refreshing. And then I do our daily coffee run where I walk down the square and say hi to almost everyone who passes me. You can't find community like that in very big cities. Or maybe you can, it's just not as personal. I know I always talk a lot of hype about living in somewhere like New York, but the truth is I am very proud to have been raised in the south, small town even. I'm happy about where I've grown up at and where I've learned my important life lessons. I wish that everyone felt that same way.