>snippets of washington dc.

i've concluded that washington dc is one of my favorite major cities. i used to visit all the time when i was younger. so much that i grew to hate the smithsonian and all its wondrous museums; mainly because i was a winey, tired, elementary school kid that would have much rather watched cartoons on a saturday morning than rushed down to a museum that i'd been in 3 times already that year. but i'm very grateful for my parents and not succumbing to the ideal lazy american kid. thanks for making me learn mom and dad. 

there's something about dc that i love. i think it's the uniqueness and mix of modern city with vintage town homes. parts of it even reminded me of my days wandering france. i'm sure not too many people say that. either way, my time spent was far too short and i'm looking forward to the next time i'm around the area to explore yet again. hopefully next time dc will be a little more sunny and a little less drizzly. till next time dc.

>fathers day in maryland.

last week i packed my bags, yet again, and hit the road. to virginia we went. i'll have to recap the trip later but sunday was spent with a trip to maryland at great falls. some good bbq and games of tag with my nephews, it was grand. it was nice being with my entire family. especially since my brother is getting ready to move to ecuador and it'll probably be at least a year until i get to squeeze and tickle my sweet nephews again. mostly, i'm just grateful for family. i've really missed my family and i'm so glad i got to spend some quality time with them and especially with my dad. he's the best.

>tears through the windmills.

this fathers day was extra special because i got to spend it not only with my wonderful dad, but also with many other wonderful father figures. the role of a father is something truly so special. being back to this place since the funeral felt weird, sad, and peaceful. i'm so blessed to know that one day we will all be reunited with our loved ones. that truly is a blessing. tell your dad that you love them. not just on fathers day, but every day. hug them more. yell at them less. love them always.

>so i'm a little excited.

why? because my blog post got posted on ONE's blog! it's nothing fancy or anything, i just wrote a little about my experience at bonnaroo. it's just really cool to me that i am on a world-wide site. yes, i realize that not many people will probably read it, but i'm still excited! haha

check out my blog post at one.org/blog or just click here to go directly to it :)

>mass de roo.

unfortunately i didn't take a lot of photos at bonnaroo. but here are a few via instagram.
the whole week was spent something like this

8:30am alarm goes off, hit snooze 3 times (alright lets be honest it was more like 8)
9:15am grab free breakfast at hotel and stuff as much food into your mouth as you could.
9:30am we're supposed to leave for the festival site.
9:47am we finally load in the vans.
10:30am begin venturing out with the ipads and talk to strangers for a few hours.
1:30pm run over and take a 30 minute power nap at the cozy state farm tents (shh don't tell).
2-5pm hit up a few shows, grab food, and talk to more people.
5-12am alternate between seeing shows and sitting at the one booth.
12-2am more shows and talking to funny drunk people.
2:30am lay in bed.
2:31am out.

REPEAT.

the people we met at roo was great. i honestly felt like i stepped into across the universe. my inner hippie came out and boy did i embrace it. when we weren't using the ipads to sign people up, a lot of the time we were handing out free temporary tattoos and wristbands. boy did people love those. we quickly realized on the first day that once 5pm hit, we would just hand out free stuff because people hit an intoxicated point. one man tried to get us to put the tattoo on his butt. yup. we all got mooned. gotta love the people at roo.

it was definitely tiring. some nights longer than others. but the it was so awesome to see how 14 people from across the states at different schools (hawaii, michigan, florida, washington) could come together and form our little one family. it was the best and i really miss them so much. i'm hopeful our paths will cross again one day.
xx
L

>one at bonnaroo.

last wednesday i arrived in tennessee exhausted but excited for the week ahead.
let me explain.
i have been involved with an organization called one. it's a grassroots advocacy group that is striving to eliminate extreme poverty and preventable diseases in subsaharan africa. one's slogan is that we're not asking for your money, we're asking for your voice. basically what makes one different than other organizations is that instead of asking for money to help their cause, they pressure political leaders to vote accordingly and use their governmental power to help their cause.

one focuses on a lot of different programs but while we were at bonnaroo we were focusing on the beginning of the end of aids. i'm sure that like most of the people we encountered you probably don't know that they have discovered how to stop the transmission of hiv/aids from mother to child. all it takes is for the mother to use the proper medicine they have developed that only costs 40cents/pill. so potentially, if all these women with aids can get the proper medication, than we could see an aids free generation by 2015. pretty cool huh? this is big stuff people.

in the 1980s when there was a huge focus on hiv/aids, people had the chance to create a quilt square in honor or in memory of someone who fought against aids. this quilt was huge. and now. in honor of that, we are making a digital quilt. so we walked around the bonnaroo music festival and talked to different people and asked if they were interested to make a free quilt square on the ipads. the original quilt along with the new digital quilt will be displayed at the world aids convention coming up.

i'm trying to keep this short, but it's difficult to explain it all. but if you are interested in making your own quilt square and be apart of the new digital quilt, click here. and if you want to learn more about one click here.

 

 

>come to papa.

there's not a whole lot that beats a relaxing tuesday evening

blowing bubbles with your nephew.

i forgot how much i love southern summer nights.

it's good to be home.

 

 

>tennessee.

i packed my bags and said goodbye to hawaii. just for a little while though. 

i'm currently in tennessee. i'm here with ONE. a grassroots organization that is striving to help extreme poverty in africa. we are working here at the bonnaroo music festival. basically i'm too excited and too tired to write more. i haven't slept in a day. thanks 6 hour time change. alexis doesn't come till tomorrow so until then i have to relax in this hotel by myself. what a rough life ;)

i'll blog more tomorrow about it all. basically it's going to be a wonderful and long week and i could not be more grateful for this opportunity. 

xx

L

>something pretty for your ears.

mass amounts of studying=mass amounts of music listening. enjoy my two new favorites on repeat.

>look how they shine for you.

when i was younger and i was asked what i wanted to be when i grew up, my response was always the same, an astronaut. i was set on it. then one day i watched apollo 13 and decided from that moment on that i never wanted to be an astronaut. kind of sad right. parents, never show your kids that sad movie. so although my dreams have changed, i still have a little part of my heart that clings to my nerdy side of love for space.  i could go on and on about how cool i think the galaxy is. i recently did a project about stars for my science class and it just reconfirmed how much i enjoy learning about it all. we talked in class today about how we come from stars. it reminded me of this lovely video that nich and kenz showed me. perfection at it's finest. i've been in a study mood lately so if you're wanting a peaceful soundtrack to listen to, i recommend this beauty from 8tracks. goes along with my peaceful mood of wonder. how infinite this universe is.

>amuurica.

today we celebrated the american dream of this lovely gem, giselle. she became a citizen last week so we threw her an america party in honor of her. basically it was an excuse to dress up in red, white, and blue and test out our pre-4th skills. summer is here and oh so lovely.
xx
L