My Favorite Songs of '09

It's the end of the year, so everyone is putting them out: pitchfork, rolling stone, npr's bob bolien & robin hilton, or the npr's listeners poll (my personal fave).

I don't have mucho to add to the conversation. Just my limited perspective. A lack of exposure to many albums leaves me a limited group to pull from, but unless you get paid full time to listen to music, I don't see how you'd really be able to cast a wide net anyways.

So here are the 15 tracks that if you don't own, you should probably use that $15 itunes gift card you get for Christmas to get them. Or just ask me and I can make you a mix CD.

15. Lisztomania by Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)

14. Beijing by Patrick Watson (Wooden Arms)

13. Knotty Pine by Dirty Projectors & David Byrne (Dark Was the Night)

12. Anonanimal by Andrew Bird (Noble Beast)

11. Ambling Alp by Yeasayer (Ambling Alp - Single)

10. Slow & Steady by Sleeping at Last (Storyboards)

9. You Are the Blood by Sufjan Stevens (Dark Was the Night)

8. Black Eye by Derek Webb (Stockholm Syndrome)

7. 1901 by Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)

6. The Reeling by Passion Pit (Manners)

5. Fitz and Dizzyspells by Andrew Bird (Noble Beast)

4. Blue Lips by Regina Spektor (Far)

3. My Girls by Animal Collective (Merriweather Post Pavillion)

2. Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap (Conditions)

1. Blood Bank by Bon Iver (Blood Bank - EP)


Honorable Mention: Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear, Blood by The Middle East, Fader by The Temper Trap, Crystalised by The XX, Throw It Away by Fiction Family, City Song by Emmy the Great

Winteriest Wedding

Yesterday was an epic journey of a wedding shoot. I assisted my friend and apartmentmate Joe Webb, josephwphotography.com, at a West Point wedding. That's an almost 4 hour drive from Boston. Also, if you are in the north east right now, you know that it was FREEZING yesterday, high around 20 or so, AND it snowstormed. One word: snowstorm. Yes, we ended up driving back AFTER the wedding last night. it took us almost 7 hours. Blizzard. We drove through a blizzard.

Anyways, all that to say, this was a fabulous wedding. Two things they did = new favorites: gave donations to IJM (see link on right) as gifts to their guests and had countries/states to denote different tables with facts about each place on the table. Fun fun.

Caitlyn and Andrew were also incredibly friendly and relaxed. And it was my first military wedding. So many great firsts, and quite an adventure. Truly. I almost died.

Anyways, to the photogs, it's all you care about anyways right??

Enjoy :)


























































A big thank to Joe for inviting me along.

Well that ends my first year of weddings. It's crazy where things have taken me and I cannot wait to see all that 2010 will bring. Lots of weekends are already starting to fill up and I'm excited for all these opportunities God is giving. :)

Avatar

Read: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/?critic=creamcrop

Then, just go see it. That is all.

Wedding photos in t-minus hour(s).

What I've Been Up To...

The biggest event of my AmeriCorps job thus far has ended. It was months in the planning, and most of the responsibility for organizing the event fell upon myself, though it was the farthest thing from my event, as in perspective, I only had a very small party in all that was needed to make the event happen. But it was my first almost 60 hour week.

It was a holiday gift giving event yesterday, where we gave out around 500 toys to families in the Codman Square Community in Dorchester. To say the very least, it was stressful and chaotic, but I think in the end, there were some very happy children. At least I pray they experience joy through all of the efforts of tons of volunteers.

I did manage to take a few photos at the event, though I had to do lots of supervising, volunteer coordinating, etc. But I'd thought I'd share some with you anyways, just so you could get a small picture (ha) of what it looked like, and why I haven't been updating as much these past couple weeks.

Enjoy!

















Oh, and yay for the 200th post landmark! Wahoo!

December Playlist

Those of you that know me, or that read my blog extensively, know I LOVE music. But as much as I love music, I love sharing it with others. I find music often connects me with others like nothing else.

In that spirit, I thought I should start sharing monthly playlists with ya'll. So here's mine for December:

A 50th to Remember

Last night I shot my first "surprise" event. It was great. The anticipation of that surprise moment and that actual moment bring so many good human emotions. The party was the 50th for one of my coworkers', Shauntell's, mom. We did a little photo shoot ahead of time, after which I snuck away and awaited them at the restaurant. Quite fun.

Plus, the cutest kids pretty much ever were there.

Enjoy joy

Old Things New Again

Sometimes I discover the old. It's hard when everyone wants to buy into the new thing. I don't know if that's just American culture or not (maybe it's just exaggerated here), but the holidays always force me to take a step back. At least they should. For they are old, their meanings are old, their goodness is old.

But I digress. The old sometimes gets tied to our past, and I find it is most often then that I love the old. It's attachment to who I am (never just was) gives it more meaning, sensibly. Thus I wanted to share a few "old" photos of mine from a part of my past that feels often so far away as to be a dream and other times so close that I will never be home again till I'm there (again). But recently more the later, and I have a new appreciation for these memories and photos.

I haven't really shared much of these photos on my blog (except for these), since they predate it (which isn't saying much), so maybe you can enjoy them as something new.

All of these photos come from a world older than ours; at least, a world that knows its past better than ours (as in, they didn't decimate the people who had come before them as recently as we did). It is a beautiful world, that world across the blue.

Enjoy

























Hope your day and week gives you space to appreciate some of the old in your life. :)