What a fun weekend!!

I started off this weekend by attending a informal concert downtown at Bryan Johnson's studio loft. Bryan is a college friend that is now, in my humble opinion, the best photographer in the southeast and possibly the world! He had Katie Herzig, formerly of Newcomer's Home, play for about 50 people. It was one of those gatherings where I most definately did not feel cool enough to attend! The atmosphere was amazing. It was fun to hang out with people that I don't get to see everyday. I was able to chat with Katie after the concert. I had originally met Katie while I was working at Frontier Ranch, so it was fun to catch up with her and see what is new and exciting in her life. NCH broke up a few years back and she has since started her solo career and doing quite well. The past 18 months she has been on tour with The Fray and this coming Thursday her song, "Fools Gold" will be featured on Grey's Anatomy. Make sure you tune in to hear it!

After hanging out downtown, I then came back to the 'burbs and finally was able to see Into the Wild. Into the Wild is prolly my most favorite book of all time. I was VERY nervous to see the movie. Technically, it came out about 6 weeks ago, but with Birmingham being a little behind on the artsy scene, it just arrived here. Seriously, for the past 6 weeks, my Friday morning consisted of me jumping out of bed at the very first sound of my alarm going off (completely uncharacteristic of me), racing downstairs, furiously flipping to the City Scene section of the Birmingham News, and consistently being disappointed by not seeing Into the Wild listed. I would then go to fandango.com and see what the closest city would be for me to see it. Dallas, it was always, Dallas. And yes, then I would look at plane tickets and contemplate whether or not I should call a friend in Dallas and tell him I was coming. This went on for 6 weeks. But not this weekend!!! I went to the 10:20pm showing of the movie. I had avoided all reviews of this movie and went by myself. Amazing...never have I seen a movie that stayed so true to the book. It has instantly become my favorite movie. I have always seen a little part of myself in the main character. A friend of mine once wrote, "The romantic mind paints a picture that is far removed from reality." This is quote has always been a favorite of mine. It describes me so well. Who I want to be, where I want to live, how I want to live my life, but society isn't conducive to such a carefree, whimsical lifestyle. I can't stand the expectations and societal norms that are forced on all of us, that won't matter 100 years from now. This was the same moral dilemma that is faced in this movie. If you haven't read the book, I highly encourage you to pick it up and if you haven't seen the movie, go see it. It is well worth it.

Saturday, I drove over to Anniston to see a friend of mine, Lauren, from Vail that was visiting home in Atlanta. Lauren and I met less than a year ago, which is hard to believe. I feel like I have known her for years. She was hired to work at the Cascade as a Conference manager. She has become one of my best friends and I just love her! Every Friday when I lived in Vail, we would have "Dance Party Friday" (not to be confused with "Hip Hop Friday" that our friends at Vail Fire Station would have). Basically this consisted of us going into Karen's (our boss) office and dancing around for about five minutes. Lauren and I still have this tradition, only it's over the phone. So much fun! Here is a picture from Saturday...