give me some [over priced] peanuts & cracker jacks!

friday proved to be a great day for baseball. jake, my parents, and i traveled the very long 4.5 hour detour to kansas city. my dad is a die-hard cubs fan and they rarely travel this far west for him to see them. [i prefer the yankees myself, probably because they're team is so darn good-looking.] before the game we enjoyed some okie joe's, the best barbecue, and some shopping on the plaza. when you travel outside of nebraska, it becomes that much more apparent how much you're missing out on in this isolated state. i managed to walk away with some new mac products [paint pot and fluidline, which i've been dying to get] as well as some things from a j.crew sale for an incredible deal. i love sales! i only got pictures from the ball park, i need to remember to pull my camera out more often!

panoramic shot
in front of the field!
(humidity does not do good things to my hair, so much for styling it.)
cubbies warming up...or just standing there
the game's about to start...
fukudome getting ready to bat
the final score... go cubs.
&& it was friday fireworks! what a good way to end a good game...for cubs fans.
even though the game was good, both teams made pretty ridiculous mistakes that you wouldn't expect to see in the major leagues; like completely failing to catch a ball only inches away from you. the last few innings were the most exciting, especially as the royals came so close to making a comeback. 

as much as i enjoyed the game, there was pretty interesting things happening in the row(s) in front of us. a couple from iowa who indulged in way too much of the concession stand offerings [nachos, hot dog, numerous beers, ice cream, and more]. please keep in mind that each of these items costs at least six dollars and were mostly consumed by the wife. a row full of mid twenties males who were way into their royals home team, one of which had extremely long, curly brown hair with way too much mousse in it. then there was another middle-aged couple a row down who were getting pretty intoxicated and as a result, way too affectionate for a ball game; i was afraid i was going to see something that i really didn't want to. it was an amazing night and we made the same long 4.5 hour journey home as we did getting there. 

after a night of karaoke

it's good to remember the songs we sang and the ones we did particularly well!



music:
[my favorite song from her first album, a bob dylan cover]
i sang this one. just click on the link and it's yours.

ugly kid joe - everything about you
nissa's song. 


the platters - only you (WITH LYRICS!)
manuel's song


alicia keys - if i ain't got you
tim's song.
tim singing soprano was interesting, but in a good way.

the last time i had done karaoke was in korea nearly 6 years ago. it was definitely time to do it again and i think i'm gonna be heading back! singing karaoke in a bar was way different than singing in korea though. in korea you get your own private room with all of your friends so you don't have to sing in front of all these people you don't know but either way, it's a fun way to let your hair down and have fun. if you've never done karaoke, you must give it a try. i was skeptical at first, as i normally am, thinking that everyone was going to judge me and my amazing terrible voice. maybe they did, but i didn't know so it doesn't matter! really, give it a try. 

hannah


don't visit nebraska for the beach

this is not what the beach looked like... at all.

in my last post i briefly mentioned my excitement to head out to the beach. well my excitement ended as soon as we pulled up, where it was then replaced with deep disappointment. the place had sand and water, but there were only three people there, us! i didn't even consider pulling out the camera to take a few shots because it would have been depressing to even look at; the afore said water was sketchy with green algae stuff floating around in it, worse than a typical lake. we stayed for maybe an hour watching fish jump out of the water pretty consistently, getting covered in sand which we couldn't wash off in the lake, and remaining stationary because the sand was too hot to even walk on. now i wish i would have taken pictures just so you all wouldn't think i was over exaggerating! i assure you i am not. after leaving the beach, meredith mentioned mahoney park and we took the idea and ran with it.

mahoney was only a 10 minute drive from where we already were and after building it up for tim, who has never been there, we were all excited once again. it's always great when a trip isn't wasted on something lousy. the day did a complete 180 at that point and we had a great time. if you've never been to mahoney state park, they have a relatively amazing swim park with a wave pool, a few good slides, and a whole kiddie pool. we were primarily in the wave pool. i say relatively because it's the best place near the proximity of lincoln and if you live in a bigger city, or state, then i'm sure there are parks that surpass mahoney. we left the park happy and bronze. a great day in all.

meredith left on sunday to go to killington music festival for SIX weeks. i'm going to miss her! i'm looking forward to our trip to montana in august!

after the farmer's market
tim also leaves in two weeks! 

whats on the plate for this week?

  • jazz in june tomorrow with friends
  • grill out at jake's sister's on wednesday
  • babysitting cute little ali on thursday night
  • CUBS GAME in kc on friday
what are you all up to this week? anything exciting?

i wish i could redecorate.

i'm getting tired of my bedroom looking exactly the same, at least it has for the last 3 years. it's just so puny... the room size, the bed, the closet, everything....that it's hard to really change anything in it dramatically; rearranging isn't even a possibility. that's how small we're talking. but someday i'll have a new room that will definitely be bigger and i can guarantee that it will look amazing! i'll deck it out with some of these fun things from anthropologie, if i'm making enough money. [can anyone explain to me the pricey-ness of anthropologie?] i'd make-over my whole place, including my wardrobe, in the style of anthropologie if i could. i love how carefree and non-fussy everything is there. especially the home stuff. it all looks so warm and inviting. and isn't that what you want in the space where you spend most of your time? the things i wish i could redecorate with:

this quilt (and shams too, of course)

accompanied by these sheets

on this bed

 these curtains on the windows

and this dresser sitting on the opposing wall.

can't you just picture it all? i can. of course there would be more than just the obvious bed, dresser, comforter/quilt, sheets, and curtains. these are the bigger picture things though!

last time i was in anthropologie, i was eyeing their adorable aprons. they remind me of some of the aprons my grandma had when i was little. i'm pretty sure next time i enter the store i'll be coming out with one of them... like this one. doesn't it look like something you could just wear out in public? so fun.

                                 

in the mean time, however, i'll remain content. i am incredibly blessed to have a roof over my head and a nice warm (or cool) place to stay year round. having the ability to be more creative with my living space or having more living space to be creative with is something that i'm really looking forward to.

wall art

when jake and i went down to alabama, we came across this piece of art hanging on the wall of a store. he really liked it, took a picture of it, and decided he was going to make it. once jake has an idea he has a hard time parting from it. so sure enough, a month later we made the wall art. here are a few pictures of the grueling process. jake was the photographer, i was too busy trying to keep up with his power sawing!


getting supplies

sanding the blocks

we spray painted the blocks


i had more sanding to do

the final product.

it's supposed to hang on the wall, i guess we're still trying to figure out how exactly that's going to happen. it's also supposed to be rotated so that the blue blocks are horizontal but i think you get the gist of it. the only thing we had to go off of was a picture jake took with his cell phone of the original art in the store. the picture taken wasn't even all that great, which made it that much more tricky. i think the blue blocks were supposed to be a little wider than they are and the boards were also a little thicker. i think we did pretty good though! i love projects like this, even if you are exhausted afterwards. i'm looking forward to the rest of this week. going to the only beach in nebraska, linoma beach, with friends meredith and tim! can't wait to get some sun. 

the end of a long but amazing week

the end of prairie hill has come and i'm already excited for next year! this year has definitely been the craziest, at least for me. there were so many kids and too many things going on. the week started off in the 100's and ended rainy and in the 60's, forcing the annual outdoor recital indoors squeezing 40 some kids and their parents and grandparents AND siblings into the community house. (the community house really isn't that big!) amazingly everyone was able to fit and the recital ended successfully. :)



i'm not gonna hide it, i have a soft spot for the little four years olds with their sixteenth size violins. they're so darn cute. you shouldn't be fooled by their cuteness though because as it turns out, they're quite rambunctious. charlie and ali especially managed to get in a lot of trouble, clogging the toiled with bunches of paper towels, soap containers, and the most exciting of all, broccoli. stalks of broccoli thrown into the toilet. don't let the cute little faces fool you!


these two are trouble makers; the toilet culprits. yet they are so sweet. 

not only was prairie hill on the table this week, but my regular scheduled students! a week packed full of teaching violin. it was pretty busy but really great! jake and i did a little project that i'll have to post pictures of later. hope you had a great week as well!


it's that time of year again for...



prairie hill suzuki camp!


prairie hill suzuki camp has to be one of my favorite summer activites. for one week i get to help teach kids outside of my own studio how to play my favorite instrument, the violin. maybe the thought of having 40 kids all playing the violin is less than a thrilling idea to some, but to me it's pretty awesome. i wish it lasted longer than a week! the thing that makes prairie hill, in general, so amazing is that it's a montessori school in a farm setting. this gives the kids that attend an opportunity to garden, ride ponies, run wild with chickens (or just retrieve some eggs), cook up some meals, have fun projects, and so many more things. i would have loved this when i was a kid, unfortunately i wasn't in nebraska then.

the suzuki camp portion of prairie hill is where i get to help out. my former teacher is the director of the camp and never fails to ask if i would like to help, and of course i say yes! i think this is where my love of teaching violin came in to place. it is such a rewarding experience to be able to see all the hard work accomplished in the recital at the end of the week. i'll be sure to post pictures from this year's camp once it's over but these are some favorites from last year. yay prairie hill!




home+garden [image heavy]

during the school year, i can be found at one of three places. westbrook music building, somewhere with jake, or at my friend meredith and april's house. april is back in south dakota for the summer so i thought i'd post some pictures for her to see the exciting changes going on at her "new" place.

as you approach the house you're welcomed in by this wonderful door, painted "magical oasis"!
it's not quite completed yet, but you get the idea. 



new artwork inside

meredith and the garden behind the house!
apparently the neighbor is taking up more garden than she should.
there's going to be a brawl.

little plants are sprouting up!
i didn't get any pictures of the newly started compost pile, but there is a compost pile!

while i was there we took time to make a quick light dinner and enjoy some crafting time. we did our own variation of these party garlands from purlbee. it was definitely tricky without the sewing machine...time consuming and exhausting. 




i think they turned out pretty well! we ended up putting more space between the shapes because to put less space would have meant more work and more time...yeah, we're a little lazy. cut us some slack though...it was past 11 pm when we finished!

[the face of exhaustion]


also...
i love this article! it's exactly what any short girl needs to know. and who knew that lady gaga was only 5'1"? even though i'm not a huge fan, i have to give her some credit for being wildly popular yet tiny like me, we're the same size!