Songs for Sunday: Mikaela Kahn

I have recently learned that Denton has a thriving local music scene, and this last Friday night, I attended my first live show in Denton at a charming little venue called ArtSix. It was just a tiny little album release show on the backyard stage of this local house-turned-coffeeshop, but the atmosphere was quite lovely and perfect for a summer night. Mikaela Kahn, an undergraduate at the music school here at UNT, was one of two artists playing in the backyard, and her performance was wonderful. Her voice is absolutely gorgeous, and her songwriting is pretty solid. Her overall sound is very evocative of Sara Bareilles (a personal favorite). Check her out her brand-new EP:

Is she great? You can download her EP on her website for free! (Just click on the "Music" tab)

Happy Friday!

Honore Loft Chicago by Builder via More Design Please

It's the weekend! I'm not sure what this weekend will look like for me, but I am itching to get out and take some pictures. We'll see what unfolds. Hopefully, I'll have a little time to take a break from the research project.

In the mean time, I've rounded up some links of you-- enjoy!

How beautiful is this loft in Chicago?

These lovely illustrated letters are so much fun

Office supply art

I really want to try making this meal when I get back to Tucson

Rainbow bowls

Cookie Dough Ice Pops sound like a perfect summer treat

I'd love to make a diy dip-dye maxi skirt

Turkish bath towels

This pleated-skirt-to-dress transformation might be one of the loveliest diy clothing ideas I've ever seen

Adorable speech bubble pocket notebooks

A tribute to Nora Ephron

Have a wonderful weekend!

Short Film: Much Better Now

This beautiful little film is about the amazing adventures of a bookmark and the wonder of the world of books...


Much Better Now from Salon Alpin on Vimeo.
A bookmark is stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind. It experiences its environment by surfing the pages that turn in to ocean-waves, enjoying the ride of its life. As the book cover closes light reveals new challenges.
www.muchbetternow.net
production: Salon Alpin
direction / script / animation: Philipp Comarella, Simon Griesser
sound / music: Silvio Canazei
gaffer: Thomas Welz
animation: Christoph "Kris" Staber
"Bronzener Nagel" - Art Directors Club Germany 2012
"Rookie of the Year" - Creativ Club Austria
"Special Mention" Rome Idependent Film Festival 2012
"3rd Price" Athens Film And Video Festival 2012
Official Selection: ECU 2012 Paris, Mo & Friese Hamburg, Taafi 2012 Toronto, SAL Surf At Lisbon 2012

Texas Adventures

So far, in my program, I haven't been able to get out too much (so much writing), but I have had the chance to see a little bit of Texas. UNT has a nice green campus (in comparison to AZ in the summer), and I took a trip down to a honky-tonk club with a friend last weekend. They had an indoor bull-riding arena, live music, and a dance floor (lots of fun). So here's a few of my pictures from campus and from my adventure down in Fort Worth.

A part of my daily walk back from the coffeeshop

Flowers on one of my favorite trees

View from the benches in front of the library

Friday Night Bullriding

(She's secretly a pool shark)

All photos by Kara Haberstock, June 2012, all rights reserved

 

Inspired: Tripod Diaries

I absolutely love these photos by Ashley Herrin of the Tripod Diaries:

All photos by Ashley Herrin

Musings: Overwhelming Happiness

Play me first!

Every so often I have one of those moments of overwhelming happiness. I can feel it in my heart-- a sort of surrounding, bubbling, rising warmth, a noticeable lack of anxiety or heaviness, something like the feel of a soft knit wool sweater. The irresistible turn of lips upward.

It happens somewhat unexpectedly.

The drive home on a Texas highway after a wonderful evening of conversation, good food, and a great movie with a new friend.

The contentment of a quiet moment on the couch with an old friend.

That realization walking to school on a crisp clear morning that I was sincerely happy to be alive for the first time in a long time.

A Sunday afternoon spent hand in hand, curled up and drifting towards sleep, not a word being said.

The family reunited on a favorite simple outing.

The moments after a breath-taking question when I realized just how blessed I am in love and friendship.

An hour spent alone in a coffeeshop with a warm drink and a book, or perhaps just some paper and pen.

A familiar song in an unfamiliar place.

That moment in which it's undoubtable that you are once again home.

A rainy day spent indoors watching raindrops trickle their way down the window.

The glimpse of sunlight through the trees that dips the edge of everything in gold.

So Much Happiness

Naomi Shihab Nye

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records…..

Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.

from Words under the Words

Photo by Kara Haberstock, 2010, all rights reserved

Song for Sunday: Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons is a favorite recent find of mine. They're a relatively new band, with only one EP out, but what they have so far is fantastic. Their sound is somewhere between Coldplay and The Killers, along the lines of OneRepublic. However, when they play acoustically, there's a lovely folk element to their music. Here's their acoustic performance of "It's Time":


The Occidental Saloon Presents Provo/Las Vegas Artist Imagine Dragons performing "It's Time"
All audio and video recorded on location in Provo Utah at the Cheesman home
Directed by: Isaac Halasima and Matt Eastin
Produced by: Corey Fox and Dean Cheesman
Shot by: Matt Eastin, Isaac Halasima, Russ Mayo, and Spencer Rich
Audio by: Daren Smith and Dean Cheesman
Edited by: Isaac Halasima
Visit our iTunes page and our site:  theoccidentalsaloon.com


Like what you hear? They're offering a free track from their upcoming album Night Visions (out on September 4th) on their site.

Happy Friday!

Flower Sounds by Andrew Lyons

Happy Weekend to you! Unfortunately, working on a research project means that weekends don't really exist for me (I work all the time). But I do hope you all have fun weekend plans. I actually managed to round up some links for you this week, mostly to give myself some short breaks from the heavy reading.

I love these illustrations by Andrew Lyons (The colors are so great!)

Are you a chaos-muppet or an order-muppet?

Edible art: Rothko Cookies!

Also, I can't wait to try making these raw vegan Strawberry Oatmeal Bars-- they look so tasty!

How crazy is this door chain?

A lovely octopus

This is my new favorite food blog- Caitlin's pictures are magical and her recipes quite intriguing

These DIY pillows are simple and lovely

Finally, this is my new home-away-from-home in Denton. It's no Luce, but they do have pretty nice toddies (though they call them "uncut iced coffee"). And yes, they host belly-dancing classes in the evening. No, I haven't attended any of the classes (yet). 

Have a lovely weekend!

Short Film: ¿Te vas?

A striking film in its composition and cinematography, with a compelling story as well: ¿Te vas? by Cristina Molino


Produced by: Think Mol Producciones (www.thinkmol.com)
Directed by: Cristina Molino
Main Characters: Laura Díaz, Pablo Castañón and Luis Muñiz
Editing: Cristina Laguna
Cinematography: Cristina Molino
Art Director: Luis Ramírez
Production Sound Recordist: Susana Castro
Sound Editing and Re-Recording Mixing: Roberto HG (www.findingthesound.es)
Original Score: Dani Molino (www.danimolino.com/)
Hair Stylist, Make Up and Costumes: Vanesa M. Suárez
Steadicam Operator: Amando Crespo
Digital Effects & Color: Dani Kei V. Kaneda (www.danikei.com )
------------------------------------------------------------
AWARDS:
63rd Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) 2010
Special Mention of the Youth Jury
Festival Cineculpable (Vila-Real, Spain) 2010
Best Director Award
15 Festival de Cine de Zaragoza (Spain) 2010
Best Original Score Award
39 Festival de Cine de Cartagena- FICC (Murcia, Spain) 2010
Best Director Award
XX Muestra Internacional de Cine de Palencia (Palencia, Spain) 2011
Best Original Score Award
Go Short Film Festival (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) 2011
Best Short Film Award Online Competition
Maremetraggio International Short Film Festival (Trieste, Italy) 2011
Best Short Film Award Online Competition
Concurso Iberoamericano de Cortometrajes "La Mujer y El Cine" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) 2011
Special Mention of the Jury
Mediterranean Short Film Festival Of Tangier (Tangier, Morocco) 2011
Special Mention of the Jury
Ko&Digital Festival de Cine Solidario 2011
Best Cinematography Award
Festival Nacional de Cortometrajes "Andoenredando" (Spain) 2011
Best Short Film Award
Asti Film Festival (Asti,Italy) 2011
Best Director Award
Shaan-E-Awadh International Film Festival (India) 2012
Best Cinematography Award
Shortcutz Madrid Short Film Festival (Madrid, Spain) 2012
Best Short Film Award
More info here: http://www.tevasshortfilm.blogspot.com.es/
------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Cristina Molino: crismolino@thmol.com
www.cristinamolino.com/

Friends Are Awesome

"And so affection, besides being a love itself, can enter into the other loves and colour them all through and become the very medium in which day to day they operate. . . There is indeed a peculiar charm, both in friendship and in Eros, about those moments when Appreciative love lies, as it were, curled up asleep, and the mere ease and ordinariness of the relationship (free as solitude, and yet neither is alone) wraps us round. No need to talk... No need at all except perhaps to stir the fire." - C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, p. 35

Unartistic Art: Ninja Fox

I've taken to doodling again to give my poor brain a break from the heavy reading...

Ninja Fox Strikes Again

(He does not practice vegetarianism)

All pictures drawn by Kara Haberstock, June 2012, all rights reserved

Monday's Musings: "The Most Important Decision in Your Lives"

I saw this movie Saturday night with a friend in Dallas, and I absolutely loved it. It might possibly be my new all-time favorite movie. (Go see it!)

Anyways, this scene in particular struck me because it feels so true. Getting married is likely "the most important decision I'll make in my life." (At least up to this point.) And unlike these two kids, I'm not in a hurry. I'm not so certain. I've thought about this a lot, and I'm terrified. I need a bit more time by the trampoline to talk this over.

See, I'm quite a bit older than Sam and Susy. I know myself a little bit better. I know a bit more about the world and how it works and the challenges that will probably come. (Or at least I think I do.) I can't just jump into this with wild abandon and child-like certainty. Commitment is hard. I'm a pretty selfish person, and both of us are far from perfect. What if something happens? What if we hate it? What if we drive each other crazy? What if we fight all the time? What if we both get into grad school/med school but in different cities? What if I don't have the career I think I want and I resent him? What if one of us someday regrets this? What if we're broke? What if our health fails? What if he dies? What if I accidentally get pregnant before we want to have kids? What if our plans don't work out?

I'm very talented at seeing worst case scenarios.

The last two weeks have been an interesting time for me and all these thoughts. The first week terrified me because, honestly, I didn't miss him. I dove right into the research work here and loved it. I was meeting new people and talking about theory and conflict and reading all day. If this is what grad school is like, I was sold. I was having so much fun. And suddenly, I worried that maybe I was making the wrong decision. If I could move to a new city and adjust this quickly and enjoy it so much, maybe I should be focused more on grad school. Maybe I want that more. And at the same time, I hesitated to tell the others on my program that I was engaged. In my field, twenty is a very young age at which to get married. And somehow I felt that telling people I was heading in that direction seemed the same as telling everyone that I was rushing into things and that I wasn't serious about my work and my future. (Not that that's in any way true.)

I went home the weekend after the first week for a lovely wedding and cried a lot. I spilled all my fears and doubts with Nate and talked about the mounting pressure I was feeling and this nagging fear that I'm not ready for this. (At the worst point, I confessed that I somewhat envied my friends that could just move in together without the commitment.) I told him about the negative stereotypes in my head associate with young brides and my fear that marriage meant I was chucking all my other plans and goals and identities out the window. It was hard. But I realized how much we already are a team and how much I lean on him.

This second week has been quite a bit different. While I'm still loving what I'm up to, I've seen the holes in my current life. I don't have someone to tell me to put down the books and rest and eat food (Nate usually does that). I miss having him around, talking with him, being with him. (I think a big part of the not-missing-him during the first week was due to the fact I knew I would see him that weekend.) Marriage is still terrifying, but I've met a few people who disprove the notion in my head that being married means you can't have a career and that you have to be a stay-at-home mom or something along those lines. My engagement came up in conversation, and no one looked at me as a "dumb kid" or someone who's not serious about my work. Turns out that stigma was just something I'd made up in my own head. (I do that quite a bit.)

I still want to go to grad school, and I want to marry Nate. And he wants to go to med school, and I want him to go. And I'm not sure how that's going to work. But we'll figure that out.

I'm still afraid sometimes that I'm too young to get married. I hear people talking about how they didn't "know themselves" at my age, and I think, "What if that's me? Do I 'know myself'? What does that even mean?" But I know that Nate and I are a good team, and we've been putting quite a bit of thought into this. (So many marriage books and marriage blogs and marriage articles and long discussions and questions and talks with mentors and talks with friends and talks with people who probably had no interest in my commitment fears and just couldn't figure out how to gracefully extricate themselves from the conversation...)

Those "what if's" are still rattling around in my head. And they probably will be for quite a while because I don't know the future and what it will bring. But I do trust that God would not intentionally guide me into a trap or something that will cause unnecessary misery.

I think that at some point, you just have to go for it. Not that one should rush into things, but there comes a point after prayer and planning and thought and counsel that you just have to jump. Because knowing myself, I'll never be 100% ready for this. I'm usually never 100% certain on these sorts of things. Driving away from the house after my first visit home from college, on the plane on the way to Russia, after hitting submit for the application to this program, I've had moments of panic, thinking "What on earth am I doing?!" I'm pretty sure I will have at least a couple of those moments even after I get married. Moments when I wonder why I ever though this was a good idea, moments when I question my judgement and worry about the mess I've gotten myself into. (At least this is what I've heard from some of the more experienced married couples I know.) But those will just be moments, and I think we've prepared enough to not experience those sorts of issues all the time. And we'll keep preparing.

Before we got engaged, I had been talking with one of my mentors quite a bit about marriage and my fears and uncertainties. And she finally told me that she thought I was ready to go for it because I'm "the kind of person who could always read one more book and talk to one more person, who could still be at the 90% sure mark three years from now." (Decisiveness is not my strong suit.)

We still haven't set a date yet. With so much keeping me busy here, long-distance wedding planning is not something I want to attempt to add to my plate. And at the moment I need a little bit more time to work through some of these nagging fears. (I promise we're still talking about it though. Hopefully there will be one set soon.) But I think engagement is slowly becoming something a bit more joyful and a bit less scary. I wouldn't say I love being engaged quite yet-- it's a bit too anxiety-inducing for my taste. (Wedding planning=terrifying. I'm not the party-planning type.) But I'm slowly figuring it out.

And who knows, maybe I'll get to the point where I can stand in front of someone, casually chewing bubblegum, and say that, yes, I've thought about this and I'm ready to get married, and I'm kinda in a hurry.

Happy Father's Day!

     

My dad is amazing. He is a strong, godly man who has led my family and protected and provided for us, and for that we are all grateful. Plus he makes the best breakfasts. (And he's very hard to catch on camera with a smile, but I have succeeded!!)

Also: did you see the adorable Google animation today?

Moonrise Kingdom

Yesterday, I went and saw this movie, and it was fantastic. Incredibly heart-warming and sweet, striking in its attention to detail and color, and overall a beautiful and lovely film. Go see it!

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore -- and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.