Day of Magic

Last night I was walking (well, actually biking) Mowgli. It was very late, and a very dark night. I pedaled over to Daniel Island Elementary. At a moment I stopped on the road just in front of the school to give Mowgli time to come to me before we began our return home. The wind was blowing and I heard something light blowing against the road toward me. I looked down to find a crisp twenty dollar bill sitting at my feet. This has never happened to me before so I was super excited. Everything about the experience was perfect. Honestly if the bill had been a couple feet away I probably would not have noticed it as it was very dark out.

The story gets better.

So the following morning, Meg and I headed downtown to do a bit of window shopping. I decide to take her to Queen Street Grocery to get a nutella/strawberry crepe. We approach the grocery and wait for a car to pull out of a spot that we intend to pull into. The car takes longer than expected to pull away, so I tell Meg to just turn right and pull in the No Parking spot as we will just be a couple minutes. She parks and I begin to exit the passenger side. Just as I am about to step onto the street, I look down. To my amazement, I spot not 1 but 2 crisp twenty dollar bills lying on the street! I look around before I grab them to make sure this isn't some kind of joke. I call Meg's name as I pick them up and show them to her. Her jaw drops.

So in a matter of less than 24 hours, I randomly find 3 twenty dollar bills!

Meg and I are excited/terrified.

On another note we discovered a really cool cafe/market downtown near the College of Charleston:
Caviar & Bananas
www.caviarandbananas.com

A playlist for tonight:
Koop "A Waltz for Koop"
Lorna "The Last Mosquito Flight of Summer"
Asobi Seksu "Me and Mary"
Miniature Tigers "Dino Damage"
Fila Brazilia "Bucket Bottom"
Lorna "Understanding Heavy Metal Parts I & II"
Asobi Seksu "Layers"

Be a tourist in your own town. (new finds)

The Notso Hostel
www.notsohostel.com




















The Charleston Beer Exchange
http://www.charlestonbeerexchange.com/

















EVO Pizza
http://evopizza.com/

Jens Lekman & The Great Gatsby

My latest obsession.

Lately, I've been really into the Swedish music scene. This is new, as I've spent the last few years obsessing over the scene in Canada (Broken Social Scene, Stars, Tokyo Police Club, K-Os, Feist). Well Over the past year going on two, I've really been into some Swedish bands, namely The Radio Dept, Air France, Boat Club, The Cardigans, etc. The latest to fuel my Swedish obsession, is Jens Lekman. His music is timeless, and his lyrics are incredibly witty. I've included Jens in my post about The Great Gatsby, because when I hear such tunes as "Maple Leaves", I can totally envision an orchestra playing this tune at one of Jay Gatsby's parties.


Try:
"A Postcard to Nina"
"Pocketful of Money"
"Maple Leaves"

This piece of literature is dearest to me. This book and I have quite the relationship. The first time I read it was on my first visit to Connecticut. Megan and I had met for the first time a few weeks previous to this visit in Cary, North Carolina where her father was living at the time. In the haze of the newly developing relationship, I committed a week of my Summer to visiting her in her home state. Well I'm always up for anything, so I flew into Hartford, CT one Summer's day.
The week was strange. I still tease Meg about the strangeness of the week that was. Fortunately, the nights were made bearable because of this beautiful work by F. S. Fitzgerald. I'd been meaning to read it for years, but hadn't gotten around to it due to the fact I don't make much time for books. So at night, the best time to over analyze a newly developing relationship, instead of worrying I jumped right into The Great Gatsby. The story itself is amazing, but it's the language and prose, that has brought me back to rereading this book for the third time. I love the way Daisy Buchanan speaks. Her ideas and choice of words are everything I imagine the twenties were like. I dream of the twenties, and this book promotes my dreaming. One can't read this novel, and not put himself right in the middle of one of Jay Gatsby's parties. The third chapter itself is worthy of reading over and over. I will always have the best relationship with this novel.


A playlist for this evening:

Doves "Snowden"
Snowden "Anti-Anti"
Yo La Tengo "Today is The Day"
Snowden "Black Eyes"

Thankful (Run & NYC Daytrip)

Amazing Run Today, & an Amazing Day in NYC
Man, I've got it good...

Today, I had the best run of the year. This was not to be expected as I have taken 5 days off with my travels to visit meg.

On a side note, we had an amazing daytrip to NYC. I usually come to the city with a todo list. We hit most of them, and the rest I'm sure we will get to when we return for the weekend of July 4th.


Some of the highlights we're visiting the newly reopened CBGB. John Varvatos purchased this birthplace of punk rock in the past year and he totally did this world famous venue the justice it deserves. It was so inspiring to stand between the walls where bands like The Ramones, Television, The Stooges, and The Talking Heads changed the face of rock and roll.


Discoveries in the city of hidden gems are always fun, and we found a few. Le Pain Quotidien is a french cafe that we stumbled into early afternoon. Meg and I shared the most perfect open faced turkey sandwich. We had the cutest French waitress (Joanna), and hopefully we will see her again as I'm sure we will be back when we return for the 4th. Meg and I have already decided that we will order drinks with leaves in them.

The Cast Iron Historic District of SoHo is a beautiful escape from Broadway. I was on a mission to find a new pair of jeans, and found them at the Diesel Denim Gallery on Greene St. The streets in this district are stone and are for the most part clean and quiet.

On our way to The Spotted Pig for dinner, we hopped into the Whitehorse Tavern to catch the Belmont Stakes. Our beloved Big Brown finished dead last in his quest to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 30 years. My third roquefort cheese burger was amazing as ever.

Meg "let" me snag a couple photos in Grand Central Station!


It's not that scary is it?


Back to running...
Even though it is only June, the temperatures have been pushing mid to upper 90s! Good thing I like the heat. I waited until close to sunset to take my run. I ran mostly trails and a few streets I have never visited. This keeps my runs interesting for the most part. I also discovered a new trail I've never run.
Earlier today, I visited the Daniel Island library and found the audiobook for "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakaur. Though I have no desire to climb Everest, his book "Into the Wild" was an absolutely amazing book, and from reviews I've read, "Into Thin Air" promises to be equally amazing, so I uploaded it to my iPod and will listen to it over my next runs.
The fact that I can run close to 5 miles nonstop in this heat is motivating as I know it is a result of my training. These little accomplishments give me hope and even help me envision accomplishing the 26.2 mile marathon.

Today has been a great day all the way around.


Radiohead "Climbing Up the Walls"
Azure Ray "For No One"
Cut Copy "We Fight For Diamonds/Unforgettable Season"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Lotta Love"
Wilco "Pot Kettle Black"
Headlights "School Boys"

Born to Run

This past Sunday (yesterday morning @ 7 am) marked the beginning of my formal training for the Chicago Marathon.

I ran with a group of about 15 men and women. We started at Colonial Lake and ran up Lockwood Drive past Joe Riley Stadium to the Citadel gate and back. The run was 5 miles long, and it went very smooth. I've been running about 4 times a week for about a month, so I have a decent base.


Running is a challenge for me. I've always excelled at sports. Growing up, I was very successful in football, basketball, and baseball, but running is different from these sports. With running, you really have to build up and strengthen your oxygen capacity and that has really been tough for me. My body is fit and my muscles are strong, but I've always struggled with lung capacity. I don't know if that is genetic, but it makes running a challenge, and I'm not used to picking up a sport and not excelling at it quickly. But I like challenges, and therefore have decided to run a marathon.

Everything about the Sunday run was inspiring. It is inspiring to wake up with the sun, and run through the city you love. We ran a beautiful path right along the harbor. The sun rose over the harbor filled with sailboats and docks.


I spoke with a girl who is training with me and she informed me that this would be her tenth marathon. The thought of that is wild to me. I don't really know what my future holds for me, in terms of running. At first I wanted to run a marathon to check it off my list, but maybe I will love distance running and run many marathons like her. Running is amazing because you can do it nearly anytime and anywhere. All you need is a pair of running shoes.

When I'm on a run, I tend to always get a thought or song in my mind that won't let go. During this run, the song was "So Alive" by Ryan Adams. I think this song flooded my thoughts because of its opening lines of ships moving through the harbor. I like this song, which is nice, because sometimes I will get a song stuck in my head that I absolutely despise.


Another thing that I've really enjoyed doing is listening to an audio book as I run. Sometimes music gets me too excited and I begin running too fast and/or breathing to hard, but audio books keep me calm as well as keeping my mind off of running.

This weekend, I will travel north to visit Meg. We will go into the city on Saturday, which I am super excited about. It's been far to long and I have a list of new places to visit, as well as older places (The Spotted Pig).
Friday night we will have dinner at Capricio and do a movie afterwards. We love sitting outside at Capricio when the weather is warm enough.

I also purchased my flight tickets to NYC for the weekend of July 4th!
Tribeca Grand!

The Harrowing Adventures Of...

Tokyo Police Club:
I've been following these guys with each ep they release. Each one is quality, packed with energetic experimental tunes. I got to see them perform last summer as they played support to the Cold War Kids. Well this past Tuesday, the guys from Ontario released their first full length, Elephant Shell. YES!! This one will probably stay in my changer through Spring and into the Summer months.





Try:
"Centennial"
"Sixties Remake"
"The Harrowing Adventures of..."

Spring (take 26)

This is without a doubt the most inspiring time of year for me.
I guess Spring has always been a time for inspiration; A time for reinvention, a time for change, a time of rebirth, and a time for great weather!

Today I spent a few hours by the pool (Pierce Park). Daniel island is an amazing place to live, and I would love to know that one day I will able to buy a home here. It doesn't get too much more picturesque; Beautiful Oaks with draping Spanish moss, clean streets, smiling children, docks over salt marsh', grassy parks. All of these tug at the depths in me.

As I was lying by the pool, I caught a live oak out the corner of my eye. Not a terribly large one, but one with at least one hundred years under her belt. It's an amazing thing to look at and think of what this old tree must have experienced over the century or two which it has been in existence. What is her birthday? Why did her long thick branches decide to curve in the directions they curve? How many fierce thunderstorms has she stood strong in? I must have spent the better part of half an hour pondering over this beautiful body of life.



"Transfiguation #1" m. ward
"Outta my Head" m. ward