when a weekend is a weekend

my cousin carroll came to visit me this weekend. she's thinking about going to KU after taking a year off after high school traveling around europe with a performing arts group that does community service works, too. the group is called Up with People. our uncle david did it in the 70's and apparently still knows people on the board. what a cool experience. i don't think i could have ever done that—take a year off. maybe for the same reason i dont like to take naps..

anyway, i think i converted her. KU has become a random tradition for my family it seems. my sister came to lawrence because her best friend in college got a full ride track scholarship. following was me, then my little brother. now my cousin. and probably and hopefully her little sisters after. legacy!

i tried to giver her an authentic lawrence/KU experience, whatever that is. we went to rudy's for pizza and then home for some dawson's creek on my new projector/surround sound set-up! (new jayhawk and a new dawson's creek fan, what can i say? i do good work). friday she took the campus tour while i was at work. it was final fridays so we watched another episode of dc and then we went gallery hopping on mass until we had built up an appetite and ate at the new gourmet taco place called esquina. soo good! we got the el jefe. a veggie burrito that has eaten a chipotle burrito. or two. more galleries. more dawsons creek. then at night i took her to the jackpot to see ad astra arkestra.

yesterday was the ku game. my brother's girlfriend got us a couple tickets so we could get into the game and we used my two ID cards from school and successfully snuck in. mist-rain aside, it was fun explaining the cheers and traditions and rules of football. i haven't been to a game in years. it all came back like riding a bike. i excitedly pointed out scott on the field playing with the drumline to carroll and my friend we went with. then he dropped his stick. it was my fault i think.

last night we chilled on my porch with sweatpants, long socks and cereal welcoming the cooler fall weather and hanging out with my roommate and our upstairs neighbor. today we had a family lunch with my brother, carroll, my brother's girlfriend and me. zen zero. yum.

she's on a plane now back to denver. i hope she loved lawrence like i did when i first visited. man that was such a long time ago..

best christmas present idea ever

i thought of the best christmas present for my brother yesterday and it's already in the works. my brother just got into brewing his own beer. he made one batch that turned out pretty good from one of those starter kits. i was proud. he's asking my parents for a 30 gallon pot for christmas to make the process a little easier for his next round—and more to follow it seems. beer brewing is such a cool hobby. i decided to make him some beer labels with a logo of his own so he can feel legit. i even looked into custom crown caps, coasters and i already want a tshirt :)

what i need you readers for is a good name! funny or german or local yokel. help! prease!

here's some process work. too much fun..

judgement day

i've been helping judge a photography contest for the past week now for River to Well, an annual event held to raise money to fund wells in south africa. last year the event raised over $5,000. i blushed when katie's sister asked me to help judge, but i'm really glad she did because i've had a blast analyzing photographs. good and bad. and spending hours color-coding and foldering. example: so far so good, but i'm having a terrible time narrowing down to the top 4 for each sub-category of student, amateur and professional. tomorrow the judges are getting together to show each other what we've chosen and fight for our favorites.

i wanted to talk more about what i've thought about the judging process, but i'll hold off until the competition is over. vague is good. esp when you might already be breaking rules for showing your color coded folder system..

lastly, because i am i judge i couldn't enter my favorite photograph from my trip. i wouldn't have won, but i love how it turned out. so much color! mm take me back plz

taken with my pentax film camera