I feel really bad that this has taken me such a long time to post! But I’ve been so busy getting ready for school and trying to fit in being a regular teenagers (hanging out with friends, eating everything, going to parties, etc.) But I’m glad to say that I have a bunch of songs that have been stuck in my head for a while.

I actually listened to this song earlier this week when my friend forced me to listen to it. He always knows a good song that I will love any time of the day, it was only fate that I was at his house when I listened to it.

Freedom Fry is made up of two people-Parisian Marie Seyrat and New Yorker Bruce Driscoll. They have an album called, Earthquake that came out earlier this year and was a hit. 

Summer In The City is a song about having fun and that summer only comes around once a year so you might as well do whatever the hell you want to do. Screw what everybody says. You deserve to have fun and have  a great, bright summer instead of a dull, grey one. It reminds of how much fun it is not ‘living up to any expectations’. 

My favourite part is:

I won’t live up to any expectations 
What you see is what you get 
And worse yet I can’t give an explanation 
For why it’s gray on your side 
But from me the sun can’t hide

You can get a FREE and LEGAL download Here.

Lyrics are Here.

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

Taxi fumes and ripe wheelie-bins.
A dog turd selfishly left festering
on communal grass. Radox
bubbles and running taps.
Someone else’s music, gnashing
retro punk from their open window.
Another neighbour watches
the new series of X-Factor:
she needs replacement hearing aid batteries.

Honeysuckle is in heavy mourning
tonight at the end of my road.
It tangles with fresh garlic frying
to join a spice relay along the line
of infinite Indian takeaways
stretching towards town.
Taxi fumes and overfilled bins.
Blokes leaning outside the pubs
in beery clumps. Fag butts
and fast food wrappers.
Careful where you step.

Towards town, the city centre,
where Saturday night white shirts
leer proud on new showered shoulders:
aftershave, fabric softener and sweat.
The Lynx not quite in effect.
Hair gel glistening across another
bad joke and a lot of arm punching.

Determined girls with hairspray wilting,
their pretty already slipping to melt.
They sway sticky and glitter-eyed
on high-heeled blister soles
and each other’s giggle-moist elbows.
2-4-1 cocktails anaesthetise sore feet
and other pains. Sugar pink spillage,
strawberry mouth-watering suck.
Scent tempts un-British mosquitoes.
Not who they’d want to bite.

Taxi fumes, bus exhausts.
Fag butts and litter on the floor.
Rising stench of a pile of sick.
Mind where you step.

The honeysuckle will still be there
when I get home.

Written for the “end of summer” prompt at dVerse tonight….  http://dversepoets.com/2012/08/18/in-summer-y-dog-dayszucchinipoetics/

So, I’ve decided to begin a daily blog. I have no idea how long this will last. My theory is that if I manage to get in to the habit of writing a few paragraphs a day, it’ll feel natural, and there will be all manner of benefits. Quite what those benefits will be, I’m not really sure. But there should definitely be some. Maybe I’ll lose a few pounds, become really outgoing and confident, and become massively famous and popular. Yeah, that sounds pretty plausible.

I’ve had a diary before, around the age of ten – I kept it going for about 2 months before I got bored. However, I treasure that diary – whenever I have a look back at it I am reminded of how damn funny and clever and witty and brilliant I am was. I suppose I hope that a similar thing will happen here.

So – I hear you wonder – who are you, you glorious man? Well, I’ll tell you.

I am a man. A glorious man. And this glorious man has just got in to university, which I suppose was a kind of trigger for this whole thing.

Last year, you see, wasn’t a brilliant year for me, from an academic perspective. I got some D grades (Where the “D” stands for “Bad”), and when I applied to universities, understandably, none of them wanted me. Well, one wanted me. But I didn’t really want it. I’m snobby like that.

So this year, as you would expect, I picked up my game a little. A very little. But luckily, a very little is just about good enough. I went from my grades last year of ADDD to my grades this year – which I received two days ago – of A*BB.

And guess what? Suddenly, all of those universities (Well, I phoned two of them up) wanted me back – and, like the gentleman I am, I accepted on of their offers.

And so, in around a month’s time, I should be on my way to a relatively decent university, to study maths. Hardcore.

I can see it now – endless waves of awkward conversation after awkward conversation with strangers who I do not know, like, or care about. This blog then, maybe, has been created to give myself someone to talk to now that I’m going to have to leave my dog behind. I’ll try posting here daily – as my name implies – but if not, I apologise.

An example of a day on which I may not post is tomorrow – for tomorrow, I go to London for the day, with a friend of mine who has a YouTube channel. We’re going to an event called “Summer in the City”, which is basically a gathering of YouTubers (To give them their correct biological title). I, you may like to know, am not a YouTuber. I watch some stuff, but it is mainly nerdy stuff, and I am in no way a part of the cool little community vibe that they have going on.

“But then, why are you going to this event?” I hear you cry. A very good question – and one to which I don’t really know the answer. It’s just an excuse to leave the house, I suppose. I’m just going to follow this friend around all day, and cringe as he introduces me to all of his hip cyber-friends as “My friend – no, he doesn’t really do YouTube. No, or watch any vlogs. No, he doesn’t really want to be here, or know any of the minor celebrities who might show up. Yeah, apologies in advance”. I can’t wait.

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

André Ziehe by Jannis Tsipoulanis in “Summer in the City” | L’Officiel Hommes, 2009

• http://tsipoulanis.com
• L’Officiel Hommes website: www.jaloufashion.com

This is not something reserved for a few or the proud, it is your right simply by being alive. It’s the feeling and acknowledgement that you are indeed ~ Divine. There are various methods and theories on how to tap into this “feeling”, but quite honestly, it is just a practice of “being” it.

Music, dance and community gatherings have long been a gateway into tapping in to this experience. Bring those things together in nature and you have a winning combination for letting the earth, moon, sun and stars shine out of your veins.

Enter BassCoast.

A 3 day music festival set in an exquisite valley surrounded by the mountains and rivers of beautiful British Columbia. A gathering place of like-minded individuals set on bringing together what and how they love to an equal playing field for elevation of the self and each other.

Something happens in the city after a while – even if you are connected to the environment, to nature, it becomes a theory instead of a practice. We are no longer actually infused by it, we live off the memory of it.

I know I love the water, how it rushes over my skin, how the salty unfathomable depths of the ocean hold me up without effort. But when you have not dipped your toes in it for some time the feelings are only memories, tiny vibrations in which you recall the immense power of being alive, which you can only draw from actually doing it.

On the Sunday of the festival the river and I took some time to be alive together. Quite frankly, we made love. That river ran through me, over me, in me and all around me. Not stopping for a second in its rushing rapids to question if I was part of it, those currents told me I was home. Allowing me to have an infusion of the ancient wisdom it carries, uninhibited by thought, drawing only on instinct.

The dusty riverbanks were full of people – naked, half naked, dressed up, dancing, singing, bonding and sharing. The music from the main stage was blending seamlessly with the environment while the sun-soaked laughter and conversations echoed throughout the valley. It provided the perfect soundtrack to lose and find yourself all at once.

I thanked that river for a good time, gave it my number and told her I would be back sooner that she thought.

Tribal mindset, community, an open heart and lots of skin – as nature intended. It reminds us to share. Your food, your beauty, your intelligence. To value what you have, what each other has, and what the earth is providing you so that you may experience these gifts.

The blazing sun brought on an onslaught of beautiful flesh to admire and worship, decorated as little or as much as one desires. Men and women alike celebrating who they are and encouraging the next to do the same. I see now why they also call this festival BabeCoast. The seamless sensuality that nature offers, the pure sexual bounty that exists within the earth is so much more evident when you immerse yourself – when you let it in, and in turn, let it out.

I am fortunate to exist within a community in the city that worships and encourages unbridled sexual energy as a non-issue. The Burlesque world brings many elements to the table but one of them is being comfortable and being able to express your sexuality. We are sexual creatures, we are allowed to be, we are destined to be.

I don’t mean you have to be having sexual relations with everything that moves. I mean being aware of the energy that comes from being sexual. The personal power connected with your Divine right as a sexual being. When one is in the city, we are blatantly bombard with what that means. There is exploitation, expectation and false representations of what it means and feels like to be sexual. Nature, never imposes that upon you. You are part of it, therefore it accepts you, and whispers in your ear to become more of yourself. Naked or not, you are sill divine in natures eyes.

I come to you with a recommendation: When in doubt, go back to nature. Even if you can’t get out of the city – visit the water, the grass, the trees, take your shoes off (unless you don’t think you will get caught, take it all off), and let yourself have an infusion. You deserve it.

Thank you to Liz and Andrea of The Bass Coast Project for creating the space for people to come together, and for inviting us to perform. A huge thank you to the hundreds of people who help put the festival on, and to the thousands of like-minded people who attend and got down with the Sass.
~ http://www.basscoast.ca/ ~

Glenn McLelland took this amazing aerial footage of the festival, including the grounds, river and art installations.

All photos used besides the first one of me and the mountains are used with permission and shot by Luke Szczepanski (http://lukemeup.ca/).
To view the rest of his incredible shots from the weekend check out – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukemeup/sets/72157630961590094/

And you should. I liked it so much, I might actually go back in the winter. It’s only six hours from New York, a pleasant drive straight north that takes you through the Adirondacks and then through lush farmland right up until you hit the city. It’s about as foreign an experience as you can get in six hours, and let’s face it, most of us know next to nothing about Canada.

So if you go, please keep in mind the following vital observations listed in no particular order:

1. I feel better about my day if I start it with a few “bonjours,”and you will too.

I could feel my brain expanding as I reached back into the depths for my college French to impress the Quebecois. Since I was trying desperately to fit in (as I always am) I started talking to my kids in French too. Of course as soon they opened their loud mouths, the jig was up. I tried to play it off with a few well-placed eye rolls—”O mon Dieu, my niece and nephew are so American!”—but no one was buying it. Still, for a moment I felt the bilingual thrill that is every Montrealer’s birthright. Along with some French, I’m going to have to teach Berdey and Bea to blend in. I mean, you get a better sandwich if you know how to pronounce the cheese.

2. Montreal is full of B-types.

Being rich or hyper-busy or stylish (there was a conspicuous lack of scarves and high heels for a faux-Parisian place) didn’t seem like high priorities there. There was no getting in early or burning the midnight oil In the huge office buildings around our hotel. No one was doing a lot of rushing at rush hour, or incessantly checking their smart phones to look busy. Very un-showoffy. Very not New York. Maybe Montrealers just save work for the winter. Summer is pretty great there.

3. Montrealers make mountains out of mole hills.

The unique feature of the city is its namesake “mountain.” Mt. Royal is more of a hill, but let’s not split hairs. A mountain in the middle of a city is dreamy, and New Yorkers would kill for that. We drove up to the top, took in the scenery and met some really spunky squirrels on our picnic.

Montreal has an awesome summer vibe in general. A lot of the time I didn’t even feel like we were in a city. Aside from hill climbing, we strolled along the riverfront and botanical gardens, dipped our feet in water fountains, sailed remote-control boats, and spent an idyllic day at the manmade beach in Jean Drapeau park. If you get the chance, go to this beach. The water is filtered and never deeper than 6 feet, and as you swim you have the old Olympic Stadium as your backdrop. Even the parking lot, which doubles as a competitive race track, is worth seeing.

A view from the “mountain.”

At the beach.

Along the riverfront.

4. Montreal is nauseating.

True, smelling so much poutine and seeing so many people in dread locks is stomach-churning, but that wasn’t quite it. Actually, I don’t know the root cause of Bea’s pukefest. All I know is that inside of 20 minutes in the city, Bea was letting loose.

Our first dinner in Montreal ended with me stripping her on a busy street and wadding up vomit-filled napkins under the table. On our last night there, during a very civilized meal at a quiet Italian place, Bea once again decided to unload. Luckily, I saw the look in her eye and grabbed a plate for her to hurl over. When she was done, I pushed the curdly plate to the edge of the table and chatted with our charming hosts as if nothing happened. I find it’s best to act casual in these situations. We spent most of our dinners there casually begging Bea not to puke at the table.

Tourist trap and start of Bea’s pukefest.

5. Spiders are taking over the city.

As Berdey was the first to report, spider webs can be found on most surfaces in Montreal. He was obsessed with searching them out, and wherever we were, he called out affected spots. After a couple of days, it really started to bother me too. Does no one in that city care about the sticky mess covering their stairs and lampposts? How difficult is it to buy a broom and bat it around a few times? Come on, you B-types, spiders are scary!

6. The squeegee man lives.

If you’ve missed that spirited fella who used to wash your windshield near the Midtown Tunnel, you’re in luck. He’s moved to Montreal, along with a lot of his bug-eyed buddies. Just stop at any intersection in town and await your reunion. But just remember, you have to say “non!” now. He won’t understand “no” and the red lights can be pretty long…

7. Cars are for sissies.

I was astounded by the number of bikes rolling through Montreal. Yes, summer is great, but, hallo? Remember that winter coming next week? Montreal has got to be a miserable place to ride a bike for a huge chunk of the year. Hills plus ice equals me sitting on the couch. But not for Montrealers. Good weather aside, it’s clear that biking is a part of the scene there. Hearty people can be so annoying.

I hear not many Montrealers have cars because the transit system is excellent (and squeegee-man-free), but I felt lucky to have a car while we were there. Many much-needed naps happened in there, while Mark and I got to tour every neighborhood we wanted in just a few days.

8. Montreal is not Canada.

Compared to an American, a Montrealer is a Canadian. Compared to other Canadians? Not really. A Montrealer is Quebecois first and finally, and for every one maple leaf you see on a flagpole, there are five fleur de lis flying high. It’s nice to maintain a sense of difference and your language and your cheeses (seriously, the sandwiches rocked in Montreal), in a vast country that often misunderstands you. Right, New Jersey?

Although I had hoped to expand my Canadian-awareness by visiting Montreal, I don’t think it happened. Toronto, here I come!

I know I mentioned earlier that I was going to a baseball game, but Day Four is the actual day that I went. A man gave me a ticket for free, so I got to lounge on the lawn and watch the Louisville Bats take on the Toledo Mudhens for $Free.99. Not bad. Well, now I know where people go for an excuse to get drunk outdoors. I’m pretty sure more people were drinking beer, rather than watching the game. However, there was a fair amount of people doing both. Three cute little girls asked me to take their picture as they posed behind one of those wood cutout photo-ops where you stick your face through the hole and there’s a ridiculous picture on the front. I was happy to at least know I was approachable! Also, I ended up sitting near a family with a few little kids and a baby. He wasn’t too happy to be restrained from running amok, but was playful and active. The best baby-watching experience I had though was this little girl and her dad. The lawn was a bit of a hill and the dad would roll the baby down just a little bit and catch her and throw her in the air. She was lovin’ it. So cute. I have definitely noticed dads to be more playful. But something I learned in my last class was how important it is to exercise your Vestibular System, which is inside your ears and contributes to balance and posture. Exercising it keeps you young and healthy! This can be done by spinning, rolling, hanging upside down, etc. It also falls under the “use it or lose it” category, in that when you stop exercising it, it will begin to deteriorate. Not good. Overall, a pretty relaxing and enjoyable day.

On the fifth day, Friday, I went to lunch at a Vegetarian/Vegan place called Hillbilly Tea. Oh my gosh, it was such a relief to eat vegan food. I have not been eating as well as I normally do here and it has been wearing on me. I had some absolutely delicious housemade iced tea and a plate of veggies- yum! I didn’t intend to order food but…how could I resist? Then, I planned on walking to the Speed Art Museum, approx. 3 miles. Found it to be far too ambitious and ended up getting on the bus about 2 miles in. I was hoping there would be more kiddos at the museum but I was actually pretty alone in there. It was really lovely though. I discovered an awesome sculptor, Kiki Smith, who has been experimenting with prints lately, but had a couple sculptures as well. Also, an amazing exhibit by Deborah Butterfield. She did this awesome sculpture of two horses and the process was just fascinating. She first made them entirely of wood and then the entire thing is taken apart and each piece is made into a mold so it can be turned into bronze. I’ll try to post the video about it if you’re interested-super cool. Anyways, my goal for this day was to experience Fourth Street Live! which is the main entertainment attraction on the weekends, but open all week. I thought it was more of a tourist thing, but it turned out to be something a lot of locals go to as well. It is 21+ after 9pm. Basically, its a whole section of 4th street that they close off and there are lots of bars, clubs, and shops to go to. It was pretty fun, but definitely somewhere to go with friends.

On Day Six, I really wanted to get adjusted to Louisville time and catch up on my reading. I also made plans to Skype with my roommate from home, so I spent most of my day reading, researching, and catching up with life in Olympia within my hotel room.

On Day Seven, today, I finally woke up early (I don’t usually like to wake up by alarm, but I definitely need to start doing that this week) and I was ready for a full, busy day. I decided to head to Cherokee Park, one of the four main parks in the city. I also wanted to visit a coffee shop on my list, Mrs. Potter’s. I bussed downtown, hit up the coffee shop for a coffee and brunch, and then walked over to the visitor’s center for a bus schedule. While inside, I got invited on a walking tour of downtown. It turned out to be beautiful, extremely informative, and full of amazing architecture. I was completely consumed by the beauty of all the buildings downtown and all the history the guide had to offer. This ended up taking a couple hours, so my plan to visit the park fell through. However, I did learn of lots of places for me to visit and I also got a very good feel for the city of Louisville. I’m very thankful that I was in the visitor’s center when I was!

As for my future field study plans, I definitely want to focus more intently on my subject. I feel like I have enough of a foundation in Louisville now, so I can really dive into what I’m actually here for. The first week has given me an insight on what I want to find out when it comes to child rearing in this part of the country. I want to take note on race, social class, number of parental figures, number of siblings, and the location, be it in a neighborhood, park, or busy street corner. I have read what I could from the online copy of Infant Care and Motherhood in an Urban Community, but I am going to buy it when I get to my new hotel. I also need to check out another book or two, just to get a more rounded perspective. Something interesting I found in the book was that even though the study was aimed at learning how mothers treat their children in the first year of life, they realized that there are a ton of other factors that come into play. These factors include the mother’s “own childhood experiences, the kind of family life she has herself known, her relationships with her own parents and siblings and the experience she has already had in caring for young children” (pg 30). Also, “how long she has been married, how far her marriage is a success, how well she is adjusted to the roles of wife and mother, how many other children she has, how much work she has to do, how much money there is available and so on” (pg 30). This really opened my eyes (as well as the comment that Theodore left me) to how little I really know about the life of a child and his/her mother. I can hardly pass judgment just from sheer observation, which leads me to the conclusion that I either need to observe and take note very open-mindedly or engage in conversation with mothers. It has been a huge struggle for me to talk to anyone I have observed, let alone anyone at all. But with this insight, I know now the importance of finding out more information.
Overall, I am loving Louisville more and more as the days go on. I am still going at it alone, having not really made any friends, but I feel much better about it and can’t wait for what the next couple weeks have in store for me. Until the future, my friends!

For over a year now, ever since the 1st of August 2011, I have kept up a video diary that I have posted to YouTube. Which means I now have visual and audio reminders of quite literally everything that I’ve done since August 2011.

I still can’t quite believe that myself.

I started my daily vlogs with the intention of capturing memories of arguably one of the most exciting yet stressful years of my life so far, and for an entire year I have done this. Everyday I would film myself, telling my future self about what had been going on, what I’d been doing, and how I’d been feeling. And now I have a database of videos I can look back on at any point of my life, and just remember.

I’ve always had some kind of complex about remembering things, about getting older and forgetting about all of the little, yet essential, things – and most importantly how they made me feel. This past year I have captured the stages and processes of applying to University, completing my computing coursework and my A-level exams. And this database stretches much further onto a more personal level of achievements it has followed the release and work on all of the videos for the Main Channel, they have watched me progress and grow more confident (A confidence that I assume I would never of truly reached if it wasn’t for YouTube and talking to a camera every day) and it has watched my life change as I grow older from changes to the house and my room, to my personality traits. It’s captured the bad boring day, the fall outs and the moments of really high stress! But it has also captured (to at least some extent) all of the good moments with friends and lovely, of cinema, laser quest, adventures and amazing holidays. You have even seen small insights into the people who are closest and most influential to me. And should I fall distant from anyone for whatever reason *touch wood* I am able to look back at all of the best times. And never forget.

All of these are very important things to remember, they shape you as a person, and I have the ability to look back at any moment, and remember everything about the day. But that isn’t the only thing that has come out of daily vlogging. I am now miles more confident than I used to be. I used to be the shy socially awkward one, until I – okay well I guess I’m still a little bit socially awkward but that just comes as a given since I’m a child of the internet now – started daily vlogging. I now feel relatively comfortable talking to almost anyone and about virtually anything. And that you can’t buy, that you can’t exchange for anything, and I feel that without starting the daily vlogs I wouldn’t have gotten to that stage by now!

There is then of course all of the things that daily vlogging has taught me, some more important than others. But I’ve learnt a lot about video making and optimal video editors and codex’s and cameras. And while that clearly isn’t very important at all, I’ve also learnt to be able to keep a pretty tight routine, and I’ve become very good at multitasking.

Each daily vlog takes, on average, about 3-5 hours to make. That’s from importing the footage, to editing, to rendering and to uploading and writing descriptions and replying to comments and stuff! Which is a massive amount of time, considering that I have to do it every day, and then also on that same day, film another daily vlog and do college work for my A-levels or actually go to work work. This has made my life very hectic over the past year and bit, but it has also filled it somewhat. There has been very few times when I haven’t been doing something, or I’ve sat around and wasted a day doing absolutely nothing!

Speaking of which, because of these videos, I have actively done more. Without these videos, I could happily sit around at home all day and play Minecraft or Portal – but because I’m filming my day, I need to make the videos interesting! So I have to force myself up and out to do something fun, to make the videos interesting. And let me tell you now, there is a limited number of days in a row that I can personally watch of me saying “I didn’t do much today” before I force myself to do something exciting!

Let’s not forget all of the friends I have made by doing these videos, I keep up regular conversations with some very cool people over the internet that I otherwise wouldn’t of met – and this is one of the main things I am thankful for. I hope to meet some of them face to face at Summer in the City and a trip to Thorpe Park later in the summer! Both of which will obviously be daily vlogged so that I can’t forget them!

What I am trying to say, is that I think deciding to do these videos really has changed my life. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I will sell the idea to anyone who can bare to sit and listen to me

And so with that I would like to thank you all for staying with me for the year, and I hope to be able to continue this for many years to come.

Seriously, thank you!

Catch you later – Jamie

Day Two:

After getting a few hours of sleep, I decided to just take the bus downtown to raise my spirits and get some much needed food. I ended up finding a sandwich shop that also has a location in my hometown, Potbelly’s! I was thrilled. Although I managed to shed some serious tears while there, I tried not to let it get the best of me. I walked down the street a bit and stumbled upon a place that was playing the Olympics. You can’t go wrong with the Olympics. The guy waiting on me was super friendly and struck up conversation a few times. It was a huge relief to be able to talk to someone. Also, my roommate from home called me and I got to talk to him for a little while which was also very mood-lifting. The night ended on a pretty happy note and I felt much more confident in being able to make it through this trip.

Day Three:
I woke up feeling pretty awesome.  I was ready to explore! And I did. I decided to hit up one of the restaurants that was at the top of my list for some delicious breakfast. I rode the same bus downtown and went to the visitors center for a bus schedule and a map of the city. I decided to walk to the restaurant because it didn’t appear to be that far away from where I was. Wrong. I spent an hour or two trying to find this place, having not eaten anything yet and the temperature outside reaching at least 90. Another not very wise choice on my part. However, it was well worth the trek once I got there! This place was awesome and right up my alley. It has the cheesiest decorations out front, brightly colored flowers, a fake horse, and a giant tea pot with a couple cups and saucers. I entered the building and found myself in a little gift shop full of stuff you would find at Archee McPhee- nose pencil sharpeners, unicorn masks, and an “Ugly Lamp” competition. The restaurant passed the shop was decorated with giant fake palm trees, Chinese laterns, sets of female legs protruding from the walls, and lots more bright colors. The food was pretty great, although a bit overpriced. And for how childish the place appeared, there was only one kid there, a maybe 12 year old boy with his family. There was, however, a group of about 10 old ladies dressed in red and purple called the Red Hot and Purple Divas. They proceeded to play “Happy Birthday” on their red and purple kazoos. Possibly the highlight of my day. After re-fueling, I decided I could handle the walk back downtown and headed towards the Waterfront Park. There were hardly any people there at all. I figured most Kentuckians were staying inside because of the insane heat. I took a nap under a tree before continuing on. I walked around what is soon to be known as the Louisville Loop and stumbled upon the fountain structure. I determined that people are like animals in that they congregate at water…there were lots of people “swimming” in the fountain, although there were signs posted warning people not to get in the water. Lots of kids and even adults gathered here and not just on their way home to cool off. You could tell families literally came to this fountain just to swim. Some even brought picnics, while others just brought nothing more than themselves and a towel. There were a couple little babes, one in a stroller parked right next to her mom and the other chillin’ on the bench with her mom. Both babies have older siblings splashing around in the water, although they are kept right by their mothers’ sides away from the water. The mother of the baby in the stroller was messing around on her phone for a little while. Neither mother is accompanied by a male counterpart. A couple walked into the park area, a man and a woman and a baby girl, maybe about 1yr. old. The man was carrying the baby while the mother walked alongside them with a diaper bag. They all sat down under a tree for a few minutes and the baby was let down, but never more than 5 feet from either parent. When they left, the man was again the one to carry the little girl. Lastly, when I was waiting at the bus stop, there was another mom with two little kids, one standing at her feet, and another in her arms. It appeared that the two little ones only had their mother in common. The baby was wearing nothing but a diaper and the mom was on her phone the whole time. When I got on the bus, there were two younger kids with their mom, maybe ages 7 and 9. The boy and girl sat next to each other with their mom right behind them. The boy was telling his sister a story about a boy taking his apple sauce at school that day. The mother piped in and inquired about the story. She demanded he turn around while he was talking to her. He was quick to follow her order and proceeded to call her “ma’am” as well. She told him not to hang out with that particular boy anymore and that he was going to get spanked when they got home to “teach him this lesson”. I was really taken aback. The boy was so obedient and innocent. He had done nothing wrong, it was another boy who was bullying him. This drew me to the conclusion that although all of these children seem so well-behaved, I think it’s out of fear. I think physical punishment is common out here. While it works in that it definitely stops kids from doing certain things, using fear and physical pain is not okay. And it is a dangerous cycle. I wonder why it is so typical out here, as opposed to the West Coast. Maybe people are just less open about it where I’m from. But I mean, that lady was not trying to hide it. From anyone. And the kid was so cute. Ugh, just breaks my heart.
Anyway, that is what I’ve got for now. I’m going to a baseball game tonight. Hopefully I will run into all kinds of kids there! Until the future.

I’ve shared my tips for creating a summertime oasis of your own over at Wayfair -

and everyone can use an escape during the hottest month of summer!

Visit me here – and be sure to say hello!

xx

Artist: The Lovin’ Spoonful

Album: Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful

Song: Summer in the City

Genre: Classic Rock, Oldies, Pop Rock

BUT, here I am in Louisville, KY. What I’m doing here exactly, I do not know. I have felt very anxious and disconnected so far but after sleeping all day, I found that lack of sleep played a huge role in that. I left Seattle at 6:45pm, August 6th. Arrived in Louisville at about 11:00am, August 7th. One hour of sleep. I spent a few hours in downtown Minneapolis. Hopefully the worst decision I will make on this trip. I asked the taxi driver to take me “downtown, somewhere open at 1am to eat” because the only place open in the airport was Subway…gross. It ended up being a $45 cab ride for a very mediocre piece of pizza. And the expense of the taxi deterred me from taking one back to the airport so I waited until 4am for the light rail to begin running. I ended up finding out I was in the very wrong part of town, so I made sure to stay in well-lit areas, around people for as long as possible. I made it back to the airport and onto my flight, where I slept the whole 1.5 hours to Louisville. After getting checked in to my one room apartment-style hotel room, I couldn’t do anything but sleep. But now I’m going to take the bus into town and explore a bit, hopefully meet a few people and get rid of this lonely feeling.
A few notes in relation to my field study:
I noticed a young couple who had a stroller for their 8-9mo. old baby girl. While waiting for the flight, they laid their baby on the floor over a blanket, which is much better for the baby’s back and will impact her future development.

There was also a family of five on the airplane, a couple and their three children, I would guess ages 9, 7, and 5mo. The two young kids sat in a two-seat row together and the couple sat across the aisle. I was eager to see how they would handle the baby when it would inevitably begin to cry. Surprisingly, they held it down. While the mother prepared to breastfeed her baby, the father cuddled it. And he was right there to hold the baby when the mother had to adjust. He also took over burping the baby. It seemed like they knew exactly what their baby needed and handled everything really well. Their two other kids were extremely well behaved as well, helping their parents with the baby without complaint. That’s my kinda family!

I am excited to continue mother/baby watching. And get to know the city I’m in. It will be a challenge going at it alone but I am excited to figure out how to keep myself safe, happy, and healthy. Until the future!

-Alexa…
(Am I supposed to sign it?)

5) “Estate in città”, Marracash. Agosto in Barona, vita dura.

4) “Summer in the city”, Regina Spektor. Scollature, solitudine e nostalgia.

3) “Luna di città d’agosto”, Jovanotti. Romanticismo, tranquillità e luna piena, i lati positivi delle ferie metropolitane.

2) “Summer in the city”, Freedom Fry. Sole e leggerezza… Posso stendere il telo da spiaggia e fare le parole crociate anche al parco.

1) “Summer in the city”, The Lovin’ Spoonful. Una hit del 1966, l’unico vero inno dell’estate in città. Irresistibile.

I Lovin’ Spoonful, che dopo questa canzone sono praticamente spariti, erano bellissimi.
Questa è un’esibizione dell’epoca, dedicata a tutti quelli che passano le vacanze nella “hot town”.

Man kan ærgre sig over ikke at være på ferie, når det nu er så efterårs-agtigt i vejret, men for at se tingene på den lyse side, er det faktisk en enkelt god ting ved sommer i byen. På alle barer er der altid virkelig meget gang i den i sommerferien, selv på en ganske almindelig onsdag, som vi erfarede i sidste uge. Der er nemlig en masse turister, og der er virkelig gode muligheder for at score hot latino-guf Desuden er det altså den perfekte mulighed for et one-night-stand, for der er ikke noget med, at man behøver at være bange for, at støde ind i vedkommende igen, når han nu ikke er fra Danmark! Medmindre man selvfølgelig gerne vil se ham, men så skal man måske også bare undgå udlændingene

Så kan I så komme ud for at score nogle turister!

N & G

Sometimes we’re a little sad that we are spending the summer at home now that the weather reminds us more of fall than actual summer. However, there is one good thing about summer in the city! Tourists and lots of them! That isn’t normally something you would think of as good, but when it comes to a night out, it is good to have some tourists. First of all the city is alive even on a wednesday, but second of all it is the perfect setting for some latino-lovin’! The worst thing about a one-night-stand is the fear of meeting the person again, but you don’t have to worry about with a foreigner

N & G

Shoulderless blouses? Color block accessories? Done and done.

Photo via Elle.com.

xo,

NYC Girl in Pearls