fare thee well, october.

i didn't blog much in october.

i traveled. a lot. over 4200 miles in 20 days. three separate road trips to destinations such as indianapolis, chicago, charlotte, myrtle beach, and atlanta. all for the love of music, and excuse to see good friends from all over the country.

summer 2010. are you listening?

release.

i've blogged about this before, but last fall i was not happy. i wouldn't go as far as saying that i was depressed, but i definitely wasn't where i wanted to be. i was frustrated, hurt, angry, confused - about a lot of things. i tend to have theme songs for various times in my life, and at that time, the song of choice was "watch over me" by hanson. i had the opportunity to hear them perform it live at that time, and it was quite the emotional moment for me. i didn't start crying like a baby or anything, but it was a moment of release... a time where i could scream the lyrics at the top of my lungs - a cry for help.


monday night, i heard it performed live again. only this time... this time it was a moment of celebration. a recognition that i made it through. i didn't give it, i overcame. and i couldn't be happier right now. this year has been incredible, and it amazes me how far things have come.

home on the open road

i love me some nashville, you all know that by now. i blog about it all the time.

but still, sometimes you need to get away. away from your routine, away from what you call home, away from life.

and so, a road trip is in order. tomorrow after work i'll be heading north for the weekend: chicago, via indianapolis. the forecast calls for cold weather. very cold weather. which i love.

the open road is calling my name.

it's where i feel alive.

the moments where you belong.

do you ever have one of those moments where you know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be? a brief feeling that everything is right in the world, every problem is far away, a time of escape.

i had one of those last night. my friends and i headed over to exit/in to see one of our favorite bands, stephen kellogg and the sixers.

i always have a hard time actually saying "one of my favorite bands", because there are a lot of great musicians out there that i love dearly. but stephen kellogg is by far one of the greatest lyricists of our time. i'm not exaggerating.

and he puts on one heck of a fun show.

and last night i just got completely caught up in the moment with friends, the energy of sk (how in the world the man can sustain running in place while singing is beyond me), and the release of lyrics that speak to my heart.

so for the very, very few of you who read this and are not familiar with the sk6ers, please go check them out.

most of you know by now that i love live music. therefore i find it fitting that i leave you with these lyrics from stephen:

somewhere east of that solo and a little bit west of the bridge
is the singular kind of moment you remember as long as you live

point of view

yesterday, my friend myka and i spent the afternoon photographing an old building in downtown nashville. this morning i was looking through my photographs, and her photographs.

take two different people, with two different cameras, and you get two different photographs of the same object. here's an example:

(for the purpose of this blog, it doesn't matter who took which one.)





these two pictures are the same set of spiral stairs. (they were lying on the ground outside of the building. odd.) and yet, the pictures are completely different and each portrays a different feeling.

i think this is a reflection on life, as well. you take two different people, with two different backgrounds, two different points of view, and you get two completely different results, even if you're looking at the same object, the same circumstance, or the same god.

in life and in photographs, this does not make one better than the other. just different.

peace.

hello october, you're my favorite. i was recently sitting outside on my porch swing, reading a book (st. augustine's confessions, if you must know) enjoying the gorgeous fall weather we're having here in nashville. i heard some girls talking over yonder, so i looked up and saw that it was my two dear friends, stacy and erin. i yelled at them and they came on up to my porch to take a break from jogging.

i hadn't seen them in awhile so we were chatting a bit, catching up, when stacy turned to me and said "you look peaceful."

that's not a word i think of very often when describing my emotions, but now that she brought it up, i would have to say i agree. i have felt very at peace over the past few days. weeks. dare i say months?

i don't think there is any particular reason for this, but i take joy in it, especially compared to last year. after all, around this time last year, i was ready to call it quits. on my job, on nashville, on everything. (well, not on life. it wasn't that bad.)

so, here's to you october. may you be another month full of peace. and not just peace, but excitement. i have a lot of cool things happening this month. stay tuned.