Three heel clicks then I’m home

Well, what I really meant was three hours… But if prefer the heel clicks to hours any day. It has been some time since we have posted but school gets really busy around finals, if you are in college you understand. You have those last minute tests, papers and projects followed by two weeks of final exams, packing, and trying to say goodbye to who you spent your time with through the year. It’s a really sad time, especially saying by to those graduation seniors who you have gotten so close with…

Luckily some will still be here^^^ thank goodness for that.

But other friends have gone to far away places and I am not sure when I will get to see them again. Even though I will miss all of them I could not wait to come home, as I finally got to yesterday.

I packed my car as much as I could. No idea how I fit in my bike, tv, tons of bags of clothes, mattress topper, pillows, hangers, art work, etc. it was definitely riding low on my three hour trek back to Houston.

I was so happy to be greeted by my mom and puppy on the patio! And got to wake up to this this morning

Here are just a few photos from my sophomore year I had stored on my phone :

One of my best friends

A senior I will miss making me laugh while pissing me off at the same time

The most relatable person I have ever met

People I have known from the beginning

Someone who changed my life

The best of the best

My first and best friend at Trinity

Road trips

White chocolate…

The person I can always go to, my sister

Friday bike rides

And of course, my residents.

I am so happy to be home in Houston and see what the summer has in store.

The day I moved home, nadeen moved into her co-op arrakis and I hope she has pictures for us soon!

—–Jacqueline

The Story of the Mysterious Lakehouse

My days have been filled with friends, sunshine, and laughter.

Yes, I am exhausted, but there is no complaining here. I’d rather be busy with this youth stuff that we kids do rather than just sitting at home and letting the pretty days fly by.

Recently, a big group of my high school friends and I were able to reunite at my friend alex’s lakehouse in new braunfels. It’s interesting how all of us have individually changed and gone our own ways in life, but when we’re together, it’s just like the old days again. The stories are even funnier than they were before, the inside jokes really get us, and our true personalities still shine through.

We all owe our friend Alex millions of hugs for letting us stay at his lake house. He is goofy, generous, and a ball of energy that we all find so endearing.

At this far far away heaven, we do all sorts of “lakehouse-y” things in the sun

and as the night approaches, everything starts to change….

we start to cuddle with each other? (alex and alex hugging, can you say “alex-i”?)

we tend to play some odd game where you throw balls into cups and drink this brownish-yellow liquidy stuff..

and then we go off and take selfies with my dog, or at least mitchell does.

we occasionally get a little bit sassy…

but then we just get gnarly braaaahhhhh

things can get a little out of hand sometimes….

but all in all, we have an amazing time and always look forward to the next visit.

As summer approaches, I get more and more eager to relive these silly days.

What are you wishing for this summer?

xoxo,

-Nadeen

The Best of Netflix Streaming

This is something new I’m trying out. I wasn’t expecting to blog about it but I haven’t been able to get these movies off my mind. My workload has recently decreased, giving myself more time for my hobbies like this blog, arabic, painting, cuddling with my dog, and …watching movies?

I’ve recently noticed that the TV doesn’t entertain me the way it used to. It’s a good thing, but can be quite disappointing in my moments of boredom. I am no longer able to turn on the TV and let the day pass away…this has led me to put more thought into what I actually do watch.

If you have Netflix, you may know about the decline of good choices available. However, I am here to tell you that THERE IS STILL HOPE. Just when I thought I had seen every free and enjoyable movie accessible to me, I found these two that just blew my mind (thank you roku player).

First off, Seth Rogan and Michelle Williams together in a romance..need i say more?

This is not your typical rom-com. Take This Waltz throws love on the table in the most blunt and beautiful way. You may need to be a little patient to get through the beginning, but it’ll all be worth it when you’re able to see Seth Rogan’s sensitive side come out (it’s spectacular). Please watch and let me know the message you were able to gain from the movie, the ending led me to ambiguous interpretations.

Just when I thought I had found my movie of the month, I stumbled upon another a few mornings later. You know those movies that leave you in a weird mood for the rest of the day? They just make you feel a bit uneasy, confused, and thirsty? That is the effect that Daydream Nation had on me.

We all know the odd attraction every man has to the beautiful Kat Dennings. I don’t say odd because of her looks, I say this because of her unusual yet addicting character in every role she plays. This movie reminded me of a romantic, degrassi type of Donnie Darko film. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Go watch and clench your teeth as the suspense heightens [PS-the soundtrack is addicting as well].

I blog and watch movies as this thunderstorm passes through. I hope you enjoy these two as much as I did. We all have “that friend” who’s netflix account we’ve been signed onto for months. Go watch and take advantage of this while you can. I know your brain could use that hour and a half of relaxation. And please let me know what you think! My feelings won’t be hurt if you hate them, I am known to enjoy the strange flicks.

xoxo,

Nadeen

Heartache to Happiness

It’s not until now that I am starting to realize how odd this universe is.
Of course I never thought it was dull, but the white and black colors are starting to transform into vibrant yellows and greens.
What do you think it is that creates this spin?

Is it finding a best friend on a school bench?

Or waking up to a sweet kitten cuddled up under your bike?

Certain things keep us functioning – such as laughter

And we must never forget how beautiful this place can be

We’re never going to get to live these college days again. The feelings we are going through are stronger than ever and although they may cause heartache, we should embrace them as much as we can.

xoxo, 

Nadeen

Peace and Quiet at a music festival

It seems like lately some not so great things have happened in my life. Of course it is not the end of the world but these “things” make life harder to deal with, and certainly have me spending a lot more time thinking in the shower. When people say life is precious, an oh so common cliche, well that is because it is true. It is precious, and as humans we come to that realization, we think about it for 20 minutes, maybe even 24 hours, then we get occupied by more fascinating things in our lives and we move on. I can say this thought has been in my head for almost 3 weeks now and has me questioning myself. I am questioning even small things like am I happy with what I am studying? Because I find that incredibly important, Am I happy where I am as a friend? Am I happy with my relationships to the people around me? It is all so heavy and dense, and can really wear one down.

So I kind of want to try something new to see if I can truly lift my spirits back up and feel truly content and ready with where I am at 19 years old.

Being in college is not easy, especially at a small university, and I am not talking about the school work. Every single human is judgemental, and it is just hard sometimes to be the best friend that you envision yourself in. As I have seen relationships change a lot throughout my time, I have really learned that relying on friends is great, but you have to learn how to be your own friend as well. I began going places by myself a lot more frequently, volunteering alone, going out alone, and I have really enjoyed just my own peace and company.

I was asked to cover the Maverick Music Festival this past Saturday in downtown San Antonio. I was going to have to go alone, and navigate the crowds and people all by myself. To be honest I was a bit hesitant at first, but I thought it could be fun, and I would love to take some photos since it had been a while. I ended up spending a few hours meandering downtown, and some at the festival pretending like I was all VIP with my media credentials. I did not really talk to much of anyone while I was there, and I was totally okay with that because I had a great time by myself. So I encourage you, no matter what kind of anxieties you have, because truthfully we all have them, to venture out and really let your mind have some quiet time while doing things you love.

Here are some photos from the festival I want to share:

Henry + The Invisibles (ATX, SATX, NY)

He was incredible live, I couldn’t help but snap my fingers and move my feet. I have a hard enough time dancing around people I know (sometimes) so I really caught myself by surprise when I was able to do this by myself.

Girl in A Coma (SATX)

The Toadies (San Marcos?)

——JAcqueline

 

SXSW 2013

Hello loves, Nadeen AND Jacqueline here! We have been together for the past week and it has been the greatest. Today is a sad day, because all of our fun is about to be over and Jacque is about to go back to San Antonio. Instead of crying about this, we will blog about it and remember all the great times we had! This was our first south by south west ever!

Tip #1 for all you newbies: Making a set hour by hour schedule WILL NOT WORK. Play it day by day and it will all work well. HOWEVER: remember you CANNOT do everything. It is impossible to make it to every show, so you should figure out the ones you are dying to go to, and allow yourself travel time plus line time. Luckily we made it to all the artists we were dying to see, however we missed a few that we planned on seeing.

DAY 1: Waterloo Records and Spiderhouse.: All week, Waterloo Records on 6th and Lamar had free shows. I was confused when I first found out about this, because I didn’t understand how they’d be able to accommodate all the crazy hooligans in the streets. However, it worked out perfect. We grabbed lunch across the street at whole foods, sat on the patio and listened to the angelic voices of Tegan and Sara. A salad later, we decided to join the crowd for Macklemore.

We had to kinda linger behind the fence for a while like stoop kids on the street, we finally decided to stack on shoulders and move our way backwards. We got around to the back gate and surprisingly it was still open! But we still didn’t end up that close.. Macklemore has so much energy on stage that even far away we could see him bouncing around having so much fun.

I had fun too!

Tip #2: Always keep in contact with friends who are traveling around the city, they may guide you to a MUCH cooler show than the one you are heading to.

Day 2: WOODIE AWARDS. Our group relied on the bus to travel around Austin (sometimes helpful, sometimes not) because its pretty cheap and you won’t have to walk 10 miles. But we still had to walk a lot downtown. On the bus I got a text from a friend about the MTV Woodie awards, the most important words that I got in that text were “FREE, ALT-J, TEGAN AND SARA, FREE BOOZE” So while on the bus we rerouted and headed down to that. The line did not look very promising but it moved so quickly and before we knew it we were noming on free hibiscus popsickles listening to Atlas Genius.

This is what the MTV Woodie Awards included: Free entry, free beer, free mixed drinks, free doritos, free condoms, free sunglasses, free water + soda, free BBQ (we are vegetarian but they still had good options for us!), and free goodies.

Music included: The Lonely Biscuits ( I met them! we have friends in common because they are college students!) Jake Bugg, HAIM, Atlas Genius, Alt-J, Tegan and Sara, Macklemore, 21 Pilots, Zedd, and rappers named Travis Scott, Trinidad James, and T.I. showed up too!

^High School Hometown Friends!^

^The Lonely Biscuits (From Belmont University) ^ They won best college band of the year by MTV

Day 3: At this point, we were exhausted. As much as we wanted to just lounge around the apartment with the doggies, we fueled ourselves with coffee and eggs, and headed back onto downtown. I’ve recently been obsessed with wild child. This Austin based indie folk band was by far the best live show I’ve seen in a while. Their combination of instruments flowed so well and they all seemed to be a big happy family. I’ve been trying to catch a show the whole week and finally was able to get to this one at Shiner’s Saloon. (Jacque: I was REALLY scared we were going to miss it then we would have to all cry in the street)

This was the first day that we were actually able to meet some of our idols. After the show, we found the keyboardist of wild child, exchanged some words, where he redirected us to our next location. One minute after this exchange, we happen to notice wild child’s van. As the obnoxious fan that I am, I yell out how much I love them while Jacque silently smiles (I get really really nervous around people I want to meet). We react to these situations very differently. AND THEN, after I am recovering from this, we see alt-J in the street.

ARE WE NOT THE LUCKIEST GIRLS IN THE WORLD?

These foreigners told me how ecstatic they were to be in Austin and were nice enough to accept a photo with us. I was all smiles after being serenaded by their beautiful accents.

The only set plans we had for Austin was to see our friends shows on Friday night. I (Jacque) have some great friends from Houston I have gotten to know over the years, and Nadeen has slowly gotten to know them, along with our other friends and after staying with them in New Orleans we feel like one big happy family.

The show was at this awesome guy named Will’s house (THANKS WILL) and the setup was : My Fathers Rifle (NOLA), ArchAnimals (NOLA), Growl (ATX), and Donovan Wolfington (NOLA). We happened to know pretty much every person playing so it was the best way to end a sunny evening. As the beer started to sink in to peoples stomachs and the sun was setting absolutely every body was groovin.

These bands bring so much energy that you absolutely cannot stand still during their shows.

After the shows ended we walked to East Side King’s where we got some delicious squid ink ramen noodles! I stumbled into this place after a show at hole in the wall and was amazed at the unique conjunctions they make with my childhood ramen. Jacqueline and I felt extremely adventurous trying out this meal.

Tomorrow marks the day we teleport back into reality, homework calls our names, as well as a full nights rest. SXSW has felt like the longest and best dream we have had in a while. Even though sxsw is over, the good music still continues in this great city all the time, so life is always good. Be on the lookout for our NOLA post.

arrivederci,

NADEEN AND JACQUELINE

5 phases to completion

This post is not entirely eventful. Just wanted to mention that I finally finished my 2D metal necklace!

It’s really hard for me to actually finish a piece of art, I don’t know if it because I am an indecisive person or what. It took me 5 stages to actually like this piece:

There it is!

It is made out of all copper, the colored pieces were done with a flux heat patina and I riveted everything together with copper wire. the chain out is made of small jump rings.

More projects to come soon!

Off to New Orleans to meet up with Nadeen! And others of course..

—Jacqueline

Machine project workshop

I mentioned in my last post that I attended an art workshop last week. It was something else ( my dad uses that phrase a lot, so I like it). I have only been to a few art workshops in my lifetime but not one based on performance art. The whole workshop theme was kind of secretive so no one had any idea what to expect.

When I got there I saw yoga mats all laid out across the floor, I was pretty excited because I do love yoga but this was not what I was expecting. We were told to lay on the mat and relax ( I can’t do that, due to my back and hip problems it is SO uncomfortable to lay on my back) so this was a struggle for me. While we laid there, a woman had some loops of noises playing in the background and a few instrumental sounds while she led a meditation.

She repeAted ” you are here” many times throughout and after attending a seperate meditation class last week, that seems to be a common theme of meditation. To relate your body and the self to where you are now, how you feel now, and knowing that everything else besides the self is temporary.

Afterwards, we used earbies to record what we remembered from the spoken meditation, and we played the recordings back while sitting in a small huddled circle. This was really too close for comfort.

Focusing on the theme of sounds and nature, we proceeded outside to try to capture all that we heard and felt.

Here is the artist of this earbie performance art:

And here’s me, a little disconnected..

There’s my boots! ^^^^

Okay the last exercise we did was SO cool. So we split up into groups and recorded a scenario into the earbies. Another group would sit with their eyes closed on the floor while the group played the scenario for them. While my group sat on the ground, another group had a slow progression of the jungle into the night. So that means there were monkeys and jaguars and danger. All noises made by mouth or organic things and I was honestly squirming, I felt like a jaguar was right next to my ear about to bite!

Overall, it really opened my eyes to the idea of performance art. So often I have been at the contemporary arts museum in Houston and seen videos of performance art and not understood it or appreciated it, but this workshop really changed my view.

I don’t have a lot else going on this week, but Friday we set out for New Orleans!! And we cannot wait!

—Jacqueline

EVENTS REAL QUIK

Hi I know nadeen just posted but I want to put a few events coming up in SATX especially since a few are tomorrow!

Thursday 2/28
- a clockwork orange FILM at the McKnay museum on Austin hwy at 6:30 pm FREE

- the machine project lecture by mark Allen who is an artist from LA and he has a lecture at 6:30 at Trinty University in Northrop hall room 040. Following is a performance art piece and gallery opening in dicke/smith next door
—- I went to a workshop the machine project hosted today and will post all about it soon! It’s quite MACHsyterious

- KICKBALL at brackenridge softball fields at 7 pm! It is free and is an open house type thing for a league so if you are interested in joining the league grab some beer and come play!

Friday 3/1

- FIRST FRIDAYS all over southtown. Open art galleries, artists houses, craft booths, street buskin, etc. free as always but not if you wanna buy something… Usually around 5-10 pm

- donation yoga: AC power yoga on broadway 4 pm $5 donation

- deer vibes & girl in a coma show! Great local bands playing for free at j&o’s but sorry it is 21+ only.

Saturday 3/2

- print fair at the McKnay museum from 10-5 go get some cool prints for sale!

- farmers market at the pearl brewery! 9-1

- another deer vibes show! This time with sick/sea and island & tigers and it is all ages woohoo! It’s al the 1011

Sunday

- print fair again from 12-5

- donation yoga: southtown yoga lifts on s. st Mary’s in southtown 6pm and $5 donation.

That’s all for now! Stay groovy

-Jacqueline

Foxygen, UMO

I feel like it has been a while, but I guess it hasn’t been too long. Haven’t done too much exciting stuff anyway.. HOWEVER, I did go to Austin on this last Wednesday to see nadeen!

My class schedule was pretty light and the station I host for (KRTU.org) gave me free tickets to see Wampire, foxygen, and unknown mortal orchestra at the Mohawk!

So I took nadeen with me on a post valentines day date and we spent the night listening to GREAT music!

Nadeen has a friend named Kevin, she wrote about his band in a previous post! (Mother merey and the black dirt) but he just got a baby pig! So we went to play with it!

Meet apa, apa likes to snort and chew on things like hair

When I woke up in the morning nadeen had left for class already but I managed to take full advantage of the apartment and got to make myself breakfast!

Sadly I had to head back to Satx so soon but I enjoyed my quick visit! I get to see her again in two weeks for spring break when we head to New Orleans!

Check out the indie station blog, I wrote a post about the show
Www.indie.krtu.org

—-Jacqueline