A Yearly Fort?

I want to start a tradition. Around the holidays, every year, I will build a fort with whomever wishes to help me. A Holi-fort, if you will. When I was a kid, my sister and I and our friends loved making forts during sleep overs with unzipped, Disney character sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and chairs from the kitchen table. This year, when I was home for Thanksgiving I was thinking back on those times and remembered it's magic. When I found out that my roommate Julia wanted in on wanting to build a fort with me...it was ON! When I got back to our little apartment for the last three weeks of school before winter break, the first thing we did....BAMMM! FORT! (Actually, that's a lie...the first thing we did was go to the 99cent store to buy holiday decorations. 10 decorations, $10. Yes please!)

Can I do it? Can I make this a tradition? I think yes. I also think it's something everyone can enjoy and helps bring people together.

So therefore, game on.

Photographic evidence of the 1st annual Fort:

Artist Statement and First Juried Show at LMU- Bellarmine Forum

I am in love with the art of photographing another human. I see it as a chance not only to get to know someone better, but also to learn something new about that person. It is something that could only be learned from spending time composing them inside the camera's viewfinder. I know for a fact that I have learned something new about every person I have taken a portrait of. It is a certain look in their eyes or a certain posture they posses in front of the camera that usually gives me a huge hint to what is going on inside their heads. People always act differently when they are in front of a camera and there is a certain vulnerability that comes with being the subject of a photograph. However, this is what makes a photograph interesting. To take a good portrait or just a photograph of any kind of a person is to see into their personality, but most importantly to see into their soul. We are all connected as humans, so there is no better way to share that connection than to photograph, to be photographed and to share those photographs with the world. It is important to see the similarities and discover the differences of people around the world. This is what I love most about portraiture.

(photograph from the Bellarmine Forum Juried Student Art Show-Theme: Vulnerability-Loyola Marymount University, Thomas P. Kelly, Jr.- Student Art Gallery-October 26-31, 2009)

Drifting

Even in the cold basement in the summer

I cover myself with mountains of comforters

so there is no light

I close my eyes

and drift...

Amazing music videos:

Sigur Ros- Hoppipolla

You know you love this one. Don't lie.

Ace of Base: The Sign

Not a music video, but a song worth giving a listen to:

Snow Patrol: An Olive Grove Facing The Sea

Simply awesome... I hope I have this kind of spunk when I'm 82.

Ben Kweller : Penny On The Train Track

Once again, not a music video, but a couple amazing songs by my favorite. The Shins.

Know Your Onion!

Split Needles

Cyndi Lauper- Love her.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Edith Piaf has the coolest voice. She makes me so proud of the small part of French blood that I have in me. And she is so adorable when she speaks English.

The Little Sparrow sings: Milord

Sufjan Stevens is incredible and so cute ;) That is all there is to say about that. I might even put up two music videos:

For The Windows in Paradise, For The Fatherless in Ypsilanti

Not the real music video for this song, but the song is lovely:

Dress Looks Nice On You

Thanks to a friend I found out about Alice in Chains and this song in particular. Speaking of voices, his was sad but beautiful.

Nutshell

Rilo Kiley- Jenny Lewis is another one of my favorites.

Silver Lining

I love these songs/music videos because they have so much soul, unlike a lot of songs you hear these days.

That is all for now,

Meg

Airports and Realizations

I can not sleep, as usual, so I found myself on my blog for once in almost 2 months. I thought I would share something I've been thinking about for awhile.

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Zoe up at her school in Tacoma, WA. It was a really nice time and I'm glad I could see her. Not to mention the almost perfect weather in Seattle/Tacoma while I was there. On my way back to Los Angeles (rather Long Beach... because that is where I flew into), I realized something while getting off the plane. As I walked past the portable gate that they have at Long Beach Airport, past the inside gates, and past the mirrored exit, I walked out to see so many people greet their loved ones. Hugs were shared. Kisses were shared. Even simple handshakes were shared. This type of thing is a very typical scene at any airport exit or entrance. I bet I have seen this type of scene a multitude of times in my life already, not to mention having experienced it for myself a multitude of times. But as I walked past all those people and thought about that familiar scene while waiting curbside for my friend to pick me up, I was really thinking about it. Airport goodbyes and hellos are a perfect metaphor for what should be the most important aspects of our lives. The people in it, that is.

 I think it is obvious to say that the people in our lives are most important to us, however, I think we get caught up in our minds and in our daily routines so much and we loss sight of what is truly important. It is even easier nowadays to loss sight of the importance of the people in our lives because we are so worried about the future of our country (with the election being 8 days away...and if you are my family, the fear of having another Republican in office for another 4 years), or if the economy is going to get worse, or if we didn't do as well as we think we should have on that psychology exam (or the grade we think we deserved because of all that damn studying....*cough*), or if we are having a bad hair day, or if we just embarrassed ourselves by tripping all the time, or if the LA drivers/traffic makes you crazy (I MEAN REALLY! What is with all the honking people?!!! huhh? Answer me that. You really aren't better than everyone else! People need to calm the heck down. This isn't New York... or Chicago even.), I think you get the idea. What should really be the most important things to us are the people who we are talking to from across a table, or the people are walking with around school or around town, or the people we have phone conversations with because we can't seem them a lot due to distance. It all goes back to that scene at the airport. The hug of someone that you haven't seen in awhile. The smile of your parents faces after not seeing them for almost 3 months. The feeling in your heart when you talk to a dear friend on the phone. That should be what we think about. That is what is MOST important in life. As human beings we are all connected. We share more feelings than you might think. 

I have been trying harder this year to call all my friends more often, because I know it is important to stay connected with the people we can't see all the time. Last year was tough for me and looking back on it now, I wish I would have called my friends more often. I probably would have felt a lot better everyday if I talked to more of the people in my life more often.

Since I am doing it more now though, I really suggest it! Stay connected! Call up an old friend or a new friend...I promise it will make you feel good :) 

A Good Day

OKAY...SO...here we go..

Things that have happened over the summer since the last time I wrote:

Got into LMU as a transfer (I am here now and loving it!)

Got back from Maine and spent some time with my parents

Packed all my college stuff

Went back to Orange County  for a month to see all my lovely friends and to spend some quality time with them

Turned 20. (or did I?)

Anyways...now more about today:

I spent some time with my big sis today. We started off the day by going to Pearl Art Supply store. I had to get a few last things for my various art classes. Kim also bought her own art box for her stage management usage. She later decorated it with Disney stickers! She gave me some to put on my art/note book. What a nice big sister thing to do! We are 6. 

THEN, we went to LACMA and explored modern and contemporary art. We

 walked through giant steel maze-like sculptures. Walked into a room with a 

giant sized kitchen table. You could actually walk under the chair with out ducking. It was amazing. I felt like I had shrunk to Thumbelina size. I wish I got a photo of that. The security guard in that room kind of gave off a bad vibe though... so I was not going to mess with it. We gazed at sculptures by Brancusi and Giacometti as well as works by Picasso, Paul Klee, Cindy Sherman, and Rene Magritte (namely: La Trahison des Images [Ceci N'est Pas une Pipe])... among many others.  I believe I am going to be writing a paper about Magritte's famous work soon. I might choose another (less famous) work by Soutine though. I haven't decided yet. What a good day at the art museum. 

After that we went to the Farmer's Market near The Grove and we enjoyed some amazing French food and an iced coffee. That place is so cool! Lots of little shops (that is where Kim bought the Disney Sticker Book (AMAZING.) After that, we walked around the Grove and mostly just window shopped/admire. We tried shoes on at Nordstrom, but didn't buy any of course. Good times.

Walking back to the car we saw JC from N Sync sitting outside of a restaurant. I thought it looked like him...but I didn't actually believe it was him until Kim said, "Woah! Did you see that JC guy from NSync"...he just didn't look the same to me. It might of been the lack of the frosted blonde tips in his hair. haha. That was my celebrity sighting of the year I guess....too bad Kim and I were die hard BSB fans. Ha. Oh well. That was a pretty hilarious coincidence.

We got back to Kim's apartment and we decided to watch the amazing Disney movie Mulan of course. That movie is SO GOOD. Every time. Not going to lie.

Yuuuup. Great day. Hope everyone is having one as well!

I'll leave you with this because I love The Beatles:

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me"

Meg.

 

Maine is Magnificent!

Here I am in Maine. It has been a full week now and it's absolutely beautiful here! We used to come here every summer when I was little, but stopped after awhile due to many reasons. I came to Maine a couple of summers ago for a photo workshop around the same time, and that was awesome. I am so glad to be back here. My family and I are visiting all the places we used to go to when we came here 15+ years ago. It is so interesting to see places again that I only vaguely remember. Most of my days, however, are spent on the beach. It is glorious. Even though the water is frickin' freezing. I think I am going to go all the way in today, instead of only getting wet from my stomach down. That should be a great time.

The first morning here I woke up early and we all made blueberry buckwheat pancakes and sipped on coffee. It was delicious! The next thing you know while we are cooking away we hear a strange noise coming from the ceiling. *scratch scratch scratch...fumble fumble....BANG!!* We found out that there is a whole squirrel clan living in the part of the cottage in between the first and second floor. They have since quieted down, but it was fun hearing them roll around nuts or whatever up there. What a bunch of cuties! At least they haven't figured out how to get into the actual cottage. 

My Great Uncle and my Great Step-Aunt came the third day we were here. They are from TN and I don't get to see them that often, so it has been great spending time visiting with them. Once my Great Uncle heard that I was interested in learning German, he decided he would teach me German phrases one by one. I have only remembered a few so far, but its only been a few days. The man knows three languages! English, French and German. It's insane. My Great Uncle is from the French (Huguenot) side of my family (my Nana's brother). I hope one day I can say the same thing about myself (knowing more than one language fluently that is). I believe I only know one and a quarter languages right now since my Spanish is very rusty. My Step-Grandma Bev from New York came the day after and I haven't seen her in more than a year. So it has been very nice seeing and visiting with her as well. 

Well, I think that is it for now. I might write in more later. Who knows.

Meg.