31

oh what a delight of a week it's been.

flew to california last weekend for a few days of catching up with friends and warm sunshine. got to wedding-dress shop with my cousin ashleigh and meet a new little friend in cody, son of my friends john & nancy. then of course there was film classes and rough cut screenings and lots of coffee breaks with my darling mandy. and also: my own personal frozen yogurt review tour! i've been addicted ever since emily and i first tasted red mango this summer. my tastebuds got to compare the taste to pinkberry (the prime competitor according to my online research. i think red mango is creamier and a little tarter while pinkberry is a bit sweeter. they are both delicious) and also a local favorite of the biola crowd, berry cool where i discovered that mochi and blackerries are divine when mixed with original tart). mmm, what fun!

amiliah and i flew virgin america, which i would most highly recommend if they only flew boeing jets. blast. the state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment system is the best ever. you can create your own music playlist from hundreds of artists or watch live TV. on the flight back i was able to watch nearly the entire presidential debate! very cool.


















on friday night stephanie and i went to see the touring broadway musical, spring awakening. i didn't know what to expect and generally don't care for broadway musicals terribly much. but i'd heard the buzz on this one...it won the tony for best musical at last year's tony awards, and seemed to be centered on youth, plus the music was scored by duncan sheik (whom i've loved since his debut album came out in the mid-nineties.) if you've read anything about this show, it's true that it deals with weighty topics and teenage angst in spades and is quite racy and shocking in parts. it's also real and energetic and tragic and full of life and yearning. that said, i loved it. the more i think about it, the more i love it. so much that i want to see it again. i can't get the songs out of my head (stephanie bought me the soundtrack for my birthday so i can sing along). it is provocative and charged and we couldn't stop talking and analyzing the whole bus ride home. so, broadway has a new fan. on this one at least.





















saturday night i went out to dinner with the family at our new little haunt and came home to my favorite french silk pie with freshly whipped cream.

and then, sunday: my birthday and the mad hatter tea party! i don't know where i got the idea; it just came to me while i was sitting by the fire reading while my parents were away. i wanted color, vibrancy, a celebration of youth, innocence, eccentricity, uniqueness, wit, and creativity. i miss summer and camp so it seemed a good reason for all of us to be together again in a whirl of festivity. a very merry un-unbirthday!

...and now the afterparty blues. or more like grey. it was fabulous and all i wanted; my head aches; i love fall but it's cold outside.

the end of summer as i know it

Home from camp yesterday, for the last time in '08. Home is relative as I am packing up all of my earthly belongings today and moving them nine blocks south and three blocks west. This process is always so frustrating for me. Why do I have such a large bed? Why is the frame made of iron? Why is my television so heavy? Why do I need such a large dresser? (Okay, that one was my father's and has chevron-engraved handles and I love it. But it is a beast.) How on earth do I have so many clothes and so much junk and so much accumulated mail?! Not to mention books and magazines. Aye, me. Mostly I think I don't like it because I need to ask for help. There's the rub!

So anyway. Had another fantastic, utterly exhausting week. My back hurts and I'm sleep deprived. Now I start looking forward to the fall. A quieter life perhaps? We'll see.

And now for something completely different. If you want to laugh so hard you cry (like I did), click on THIS. Haha!! (Some content may be inappropriate for young children.)

bring back those...

...lazy hazy crazy days of summer!

It's pretty grey today. Blah. Blah. Blog.













Heh.

Okay, so last night was the perfect way to spend a summer's eve. Sarah and I went with my parents and a few of their friends out to the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville to enjoy (the legendary amazing wonderful gracious talented) James Taylor...and his Band of Legends!

Snacks, sunshine, ice cream, wine, music dear to my heart, an energetic (and entertaining) crowd..."two good friends on my left and my right"...perfection. Three hours flew by like fifteen minutes, the whole crowd was dancing on the grass by the end, and Rod gave it an A++.

So. There's that glory, and then today's lethargy. I am driving myself CRAZY with my inefficiency, lack of motivation, and slothfulness. I have been home for a whole WEEK and feel like I haven't taken a single bold step down the golden path of my future life. What happened to my great ideals, optimism, determination, and zest? Poof. Don't get me wrong, I've been quite content. That's the problem. I need a swift kick in the pants. Get going you fool! You're wasting precious time! All I know is life is just fine but could be extraordinary if I would just get it into gear and not settle for the same old, same old. I am totally frustrating myself! Okay, vent over. But seriously. Carpe diem and all that. Soon enough I'll be food for worms, let's make something happen!

I think what I am missing quite honestly is a sound structure in my life. Too many hours of waiting and wondering and I just topple into despair.

dream weaver

...couldn't wait for Bridget to be back from her blog vacation so i could read up on the Collins summer so far. She'd posted this suggestion for the imagination:

"If you could travel with any famous person in any location which person and which location would you choose?"

I let mine just write out whatever first popped up. And she made this spectacular series of collages:

George Clooney - Lake Cuomo, Italy

JD Salinger - New York City

Wes Anderson - Antarctica

Meryl Streep - Tanzania & Kenya

Kurt Cobain - Lakeside Bible Camp

...how good it is to dream. That is one thing I am working on...not stifling my imagination. I think I have been living a little too much in reality. It's good for the mind to let loose a little now and then. And I've had a renewed respect and admiration for imaginative people as of late.

This week:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: essential seattle with the out-of-towners. Delaying the inevitable post-camp crash. Waking up Wednesday to a grey & cloudy sky and the sad reality that i would see no TCLers that day. Lunch with Vena was a gift from above and then I spent the entire evening telling my parents every detail of the previous weeks. *sigh*

Thursday: sushi birthday lunch w/ Kellie, Sarah, and Mary and then dinner at the Roundhills'. Nice and cozy.

Friday: The Dark Knight and Cheesecake Factory with the TCLers. Got a migraine halfway through the movie and still have not fully recovered. Yuck.

Saturday: surprise birthday party for Kellie/TCL '93 reunion. Incredible, strange, surreal, marvelous. 15 years?! Not possible.

Sunday (today): sunny skies, LBC staff at church, wedding celebration, TCL '08 1-week reunion (ha!) I LOVE these kids. blanket time, river dipping, barbecue, ultimate frisbee, worship, prayer for our absent friends.

So. It's been a transition week. I am back in my real world but a different creature. I keep forgetting i have wings; i'm crawling around on the ground and forgetting to use them.

back from rehab

home.

("home". i actually feel like i've just left home.)

couldn't have asked for a more perfect 21 days.

(i didn't even dare to ask. i simply stand in awe of the blessings poured out on me.)

1993. 1996. 2008.

legendary years in the lakeside life of erin hanson.

as close to perfection as time on earth can get.

a glimpse of heaven.

God's love made tangible in unbelieveable fellowship.

sigh.

golden days.

speechless and exhausted.

(here is just a smattering of moments:)

\