From the mouths of babes

I am nothing special. And yet, I am. If everyone is different, then we're all the same. What now...?

Babies are incredible, no? Maybe we all think so because we all were one once and no one can remember it...so we study and play with and hold close these tiny us's in hopes of memory jogging by osmosis. Maybe we don't remember because while life was experiencing us and vice versa at that age, there was no pretense. Each party was completely new and foreign to the other, so there was no choice but to experience wholly and openly. A baby has never seen himself so he does not recognize himself or his own kind in you. He doesn't even know that he has a "kind," and so he treats everything with the same care and the same curiosity. It isn't until he begins to have personalized experiences with each element of life/earth/environment, that he begins to "learn;" assign labels, categorize occurrences, etc. Picture a child holding something new. Something she's never seen or felt before. She feels it all the way around, shakes it, tastes it, listens...it's brilliant, and incredible that instinct goes there. The assumptions we form that early on stay with us for the rest of our lives and our the source of our passions, our actions/reactions and myriad issues. And then we grow into big babies. ;)

Tonight I am in my quiet hotel room in Toronto. I just spent a very active few days in New York, one of my favorite cities in the world. I won't wax poetic about it right now, because I've already done that enough about NYC on this blog, and you all know how I feel about the subject. Suffice it to say that yoga was practiced, miles were walked, (and jogged) music was played and heard (and interpreted through awkward dance moves), food was eaten, and life was lived. I just need a bubble bath and a good book now. I'm missing home, but loving mobility. I just wish I could take everyone with me....no no, we musn't be selfish...

Sometimes I feel so torn between the two worlds in which I exist, touring life and my life at home; and then I remember not to categorize it as such. It is all my life, and all is good. This tour is simply another chance for me to learn and observe, to shake and taste, to listen and live as much as possible.

PS: I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately, and one I particularly like is this one. It belongs to the founder and boss man of hitRECord.org, which is many things, but mostly an incredible interactive community of artists and creative people. A place to meet, collaborate, hypothesize, remix, and everything in between. Basically, I just like what they're about. The photo at the top is one I stole from it, because it inspired this entry. And because that is the most adorable picture EVER - can't you almost hear her little giggle? I'm melting. So Joe if you ever become privy to my photo-thieving, I'm sorry, hope you'll forgive me!

Goodnight moon; though I'll miss you, I am excited for the sun to come up tomorrow.

Summer Playlist

I missed Coachella this year, because the same weekend in April that all of my friends were trekking out to the desert, braving the heat, dust, and crowds of hipsters, I was flying East to begin the first leg of a world tour. I went the year before, and decided then that in addition to my yearly trip out to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, (to actually watch movies, not just participate in the social scene) it would be a staple in my annual extra-curricular schedule. We had SO much fun. I can't wait for next April and the one after that, where I hope to go as a performer. Just putting that into the universe! :)

Basically, in case you haven't figured this out by now, I love music. I am in love with music and everything that it makes you think, feel, do, close your eyes and imagine... There are a number of outlets from which I satiate my hunger for the new and current; of course the music websites, Pandora, itunes, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc. BUT, My favorite avenue is my awesome and oh-so-culturally-aware friends. (Eric Rippin, I'm talking about you!) So in an effort to share the wealth, I've put together a playlist of tunes I'm listening to over and over again right now. Some new, some old, all good. Hope you enjoy it, maybe there are a few things on here you haven't heard yet, and if so, I am excited to introduce you...ENJOY! :)

Feast your ears on this: (in no particular order...)

1. Fancy Footwork - Chromeo

2. Heartbreaker (feat. John Legend) - MSTRKRFT

3. Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

4. Englishman in New York - Sting

5. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

6. Nothing to Worry About - Peter, Bjorn and John

7. Pull My Heart Away - Jack Peñate

8. You Haven't Told me Anything - Keane

9. Crossfire - Brandon Flowers

10. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

11. My Girls - Animal Collective

12. You Know What - N.E.R.D.

13. Anti Matter - N.E.R.D.

14. Iamundernodisguise - School Of Seven Bells

15. Only If You Run - Julian Plenti

16. Walkabout (with Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound

17. Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

18. Run Johnny - Yelawolf

19. Tenderoni (MSTRKRFT Remix) - Chromeo

20. Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

Love

Thoughts on this topic have been running around in my brain recently, and I have been wanting to write this entry for a while. Growing up is a funny/interesting/painful/wonderful inevitability. My favorite part about it is figuring out why I act and react the way I do to certain things, which in turn allows me to more fully understand why others act and react the way they do towards certain things.

The thoughts and knee-jerk reactions I have previously had regarding "Love" have recently been exposed and placed in the center ring for no one else but me, myself, and I to watch passively and note the horrific disfunction.

Mind blowing discovery #1: Love is not something to fear, or to fear the loss of. This seems like common sense, obviously. However, it is human nature to want what we cannot have. To hold onto that which is scarce. Love is not a supply-demand kind of business. Love should be always abundant. Not smothering, but active, aware.

Love is not tumultuous - it is peaceful, and that serenity comes from confidence in oneself and in the relationship. I can't tell you how many times I have made excuses and convinced myself that I was the one who was wrong for feeling upset, disappointed, or left high and dry. Its almost as if people love and thrive off of the drama, the pull and the abuse of a "relationship." At least they have something to vent about to their friends (or on a blog, haha).

Here's a bible verse that you have probably heard read at nearly every wedding you've ever attended; rightfully so, because it rings true, now, for me, more than ever.

"Love is patient, Love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

and endures all things."

Corinthians 13:4-7

Organized Chaos

Does anyone else find it peculiar that we all are assigned a name and a number? Quite a few numbers at that. Starting the second we arrive on this planet, the government catalogues our existence with a number. "United States Citizen Number 795-xxx-xxxx." When taking into account the miracle (or complex scientific coincidence, however you may choose to look at it) that is life, it seems rather neanderthal to attempt to file it as just another occurrence. Then we get a bit older, and we get a drivers license, earn a degree, accumulate medical records, bank statements, credit histories, etc - all of which are carefully documented. So much paperwork is involved in being a functioning human, its exhausting to think about, and makes vagrancy almost sound appealing... And yet, we have all accepted this as "the way things are," because of what? Fear? That people would run wild in the streets if a piece of cardboard with a number on it didn't hold them to a certain standard of conduct? What would happen if people were just people, and not a stack of paperwork, telling them who they were? I think there would be more creativity, for one. Chaos: maybe. Things would certainly be a lot more interesting.