Happy Inauguration Day

Teens gathered at 59th & Columbus Circle subway station a few months ago while I was in NYC

It's Been a While...

Sorry for not posting for several months.  It was a crazy fall.  I lived in NYC for a couple months.  Then I moved back to St. Louis.  I took a ton of photos, of course, but too many to go through and pick a few to put up here.  Sorry!  The holidays were good.  And 2009 has started off really well!  Here are a few recent pics since I've been back home.

Annual mother/daughter gingerbread house party!

A trip down to Texas to visit my college buddies.  I missed them!

More quality family time!

<3

Cute Children Alert!

One thing I'll definitely miss is spending time with my family and other cute children...

Adorable!!

Last Days in STL

 Well, summer has had many twists and turns in it, even up until the very last couple of weeks!  I will be spending my last few weeks at home, and then I'll be shipping off to NYC for an internship!  Unexpected, but exciting!  Here are some shots from my most recent trip, to Mexico with the fam.

5am flight to Cincinnati 

Plane Sunrise

Mexican coast flying into Cancun

Sunrise from our semi-private beach

absolute tranquillity

Mayan ruins in Tulum...

...on a great oceanfront property!  lol

Mexican grill, best food ever.

Summer

My camera is working again.  Yay!

My favorite park with my favorite kids under my favorite sculpture

"The Face of the Earth"

Jumping

Frozen

Orange contemplation

"Holding up the Arch with one finger"

A free concert downtown, fireworks included!

Metro Tracks

I know I only post photos, but...

I was looking through my planner, all the way back to January (I do this on occasion...).  I am always surprised to see just how busy I was.  This time, though, there were two things that I found that caught my attention, in some way.  The first thing was a quote, written in the top margin on the week between February 25th and March 2nd.  It says:

"I think that voice held him most with its fluctuating, feverish warmth because it couldn't be over-dreamed -- that voice was a deathless song."

I'm not really sure what this quote is from... I can't quite remember.  I think that maybe it is from my Jazz History class, and that it is referencing Frank Sinatra.  But I'm not sure were I got it... who said it.  Then again, I could be completely wrong.  But it's just a strange quote, and I wish I could remember why I wrote it down...

The second thing was realizing that today is exactly one month that I've been back in St. Louis.  It's very strange to flip back to the beginning of June and see how quickly things changed.  How I had things planned out for the summer, (for life,) and then after one week it all was different.  Going from one mindset to a completely different one.

(Okay, slight side note:  On my computer you can highlight a word and look it up in the dictionary, which I do on occasion.  Well, I looked up "different" because I was looking for a synonym, which actually I do a lot b/c my vocabulary sucks.  Anyway, it gave different (haha) possible sentences for the meaning of the word "different", and I swear, this was one of the sample sentences:  "suddenly everything in her life was different."  um, how crazy is that?!)

Anyway... I don't know how to describe it.  I don't know how to describe how it makes me feel.  It's just, weird.  Like, you are watching someone on a path, and it is planned out, but then suddenly they take a very strange and unexpected turn, and suddenly they are on a new path, with new rules and surroundings, etc.  Just like that.  For me it's weird to have a concrete representation of it... my planner.  To see one week, living on one path, to then see the next week and the event that was the catalyst for the change, and to see the weeks following.  All of these decisions were literally made in 2 days.  I guess what's also bothersome (bothersome?) is that I know that this "change" isn't really the final product.  Right now I'm in limbo, almost.  I am (finally) starting to feel more settled here at home, but I know within a month or two this might all change.  It probably will change.  The thing I guess that is bothersome is that I see three paths ahead of me.  One is the one I am on, and the other two are completely different, from both themselves and also the one I'm currently on.  It's a strange feeling, seeing the fork in the road... fully aware that it is there and that you will approach it rather quickly, but having NO idea which fork you will take (because at this point it's not fully my decision), nor what the results of that fork will be.

I kind of feel like I'm just floating in the air, like a feather blowing around in the wind.

New Life, New Post

It all started during a week of trombone festivities.

Late-night outing to my favorite place with new friends, from said trombone festivities.

My favorite sculpture, night version.  (It's about 30-40 ft. tall)

The benefits of being home:  family time.

I love cousins.

My cousins love animals.

Afternoon in the park.  Paddle boats!

Fountains (of Rome)

Birthday Bowling.

It's good to be home.  But what comes next?