u2

i realize my last post was also about a concert, so in the future i'll try and be a little more creative, but until then...

last thursday u2 came to charlottesville and i got the chance to go. now i think u2 is great, but i was blown away by the show. not only was bono amazing in concert, but the stage alone was worth going to see! it's known as "the claw" and is designed to give a 360 degree view of the stage. it consists of an inner stage and outer circle connected by moving bridges. it takes between 120-180 trucks to transport everything (depending on what source you ask) and is 164 feet tall. during the concert bono called it his "space junk"
here are a few pictures-

the whole stadium

you can see bono here both on the outer circle stage and on the screen

and then all of a sudden the screen began to grow!

but dont' worry you can still see the picture

oh and the screen can move all the way down too (it was ridiculous)

besides all the sweet technology the music was amazing and bono had a really cool message. he talked a good deal about some social issues around the world and at one point led the whole stadium in a chorus of amazing grace.

here's some video for a little taste-
this first one notice the moving bridges

if you get a chance to see ingrid michealson live, take it, and invite me too.

saturday night i went to see ingrid michaelson, and it was amazing! not only did she sound fantastic live, she was also really funny and got the crowd involved in a lot of her songs. the show was originally supposed to be at this new venue in charlottesville called 'the southern' but it wasn't finished in time, and so got moved to a place called 'fry springs beach club'... which is basically a giant pool house. it was the sort of place where you would hold a middle school dance, and like ingrid said she 'felt like she was playing at a summer camp' but the place was packed and so it worked out really well. i also appreciated that the ukulele was her instrument of choice on many of the songs. here's a little video clip, but it's not very good and doesn't do the show justice at all. if i was videoing it meant that i couldn't dance and sing....so you can guess which one i chose. this song just always makes me think of WM senior year, so here it is- (well the beginning part at least)

i love straws

so recently i bought a pack of prob 100 straws at the hotspot for a dollar. since then i've been using them in every drink i have....and i love it. i've been drinking a lot more water, and i credit it all to the fact that i always use a straw. it's just more fun to drink. so if you're struggling to meet your water intake for the day....use a straw. here's my mug o' water and smoothie (both with a straw).

the country side of life

charlottesville is an excellent mix of the trendy artsy and the down-home country. an example of the latter- the bus driver that takes us out on our 'community outings' at work is a really nice country guy, with a rat tail. today he was telling us about some really good eatin- squirrel brain. he then proceeded to tell us how to cook it right and about how he gets it when he goes squirrel hunting. i didn't know folks went squirrel hunting, but all i could picture was when my brothers used to shoot squirrels off our back porch (before i hid the bb gun). i'd never heard of this supposed delicacy, but apparently it's not a good idea. although the conversation was kinda grosse, it was definitely entertaining! gotta love that down home country livin.

ewww

two posts in one

my uncle was in town for labor day and so my family went hiking at Whiteoak Falls in the Shenandoah National Park. it was an excellent time but the best part may have been that my mother, father, and uncle all wore the exact same color scheme by accident and they all looked like trees. can you see my dad in this picture? he blends pretty well.

on a completely different note this monstrosity lives outside our kitchen window. i have included both a close up picture and one farther away (for scale). although i'm deathly afraid of him, i've been coping. but if he even starts to walk towards the door, forget about it his time is up! (meaning i'll kindly plead with someone to kill it....probably my father) also i dropped a piece of mail in the front yard the other day and came face to face with his twin brother. i'm pretty sure i had a mini heart attack.



has anyone seen a spider like this before or know if it's poisonous?

saturday morning adventures

there's a local donut shop in charlottesville called 'spudnuts' that makes donuts with potato flour. they are known to be delicious but i hadn't been there since high school, but it's now within walking distance of my house! this morning two of my housemates and i walked to spudnuts, had donuts and coffee, and then headed downtown for the farmer's market. it was beautiful weather and i even bought some earrings at the market! i keep forgetting to take my camera places so i got this picture of spudnuts off the internet, but it's my new resolution to carry it with me!

my new house!

sorry it has taken so long to post, internet is still not workin at the house, a guy will hopefully come out tomorrow to fix it! so anyways, here's a snapshot of my house-

the outside from the front-

my side of my room (i share with my friend liz)-

the back half of our room, notice the futon, perfect for guests!

the living room-

the dining room area-

the kitchen-

our resident retriever bo, standing on the stairs in the basement. (he's my roommate liz's dog and he's awesome)

our backyard-

anyways, that will give you a taste at least! feel free to come visit and hang out in charlottesville at any time, it's a pretty great place!