I Can't Forget The Time Or Place... (or: an unrelated post)

I’m a baseball fan. This is true. I love the game. I can watch any teams play and enjoy it. There is no better way to spend an afternoon than just relaxing and watching a baseball game.

I grew up in the south and, therefore, I grew up watching the Braves. I remember when Chipper was a rookie. I remember when Andruw Jones hit those home runs in the 96 World Series at 19 years old. (see Harper? You’re not that special.) I remember watching the Braves win the World Series in 1995. (And lose every other year…)

My first Major League Baseball game was in the summer of 1996. My family was taking our usual trip to Iowa (yes, "Is the Heaven?" "No. It's Iowa" Iowa) and we stopped in St. Louis for a night. And it just so happened that the Braves were in town playing the Cardinals. And so my first face-to-face MLB experience was the Cardinals versus the Braves in old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Braves lost.

Fast forward ten years and you’ll meet 22 year old Callie Ann and her best friend JB planning an impromptu road trip for Labor Day weekend. We tossed around ideas of different cities but for whatever reason, we chose St. Louis. We said it was because it was a decent distance from Nashville and, of course, because the Cards were in town. Perhaps it was fate...

I hadn’t been to St. Louis in years (we eventually started flying to Iowa, praise God), but she welcomed us with open arms and an open Arch. (see what I did there?)

We stayed in the Huck Finn Hostel in a beautiful, historic neighborhood tucked just south of downtown called Soulard. We had a fantastic dinner at the hostel with people who were, literally, from all over the world. We walked into downtown for a blues festival on the riverfront. We found the most magical Catholic church and went to Mass, where the entire congregation knew we were newcomers and treated us like something close to celebrities. We bought standing-room-only tickets to the Sunday afternoon Cards/Pirates game.

We found a cozy little spot within a yellow “standing room” box, which was just spacious enough to sit in and still see over the heads of those sitting in front of us. We sat in left field, in the shade the entire game. Adam Wainwright pitched and Albert Pujols hit 3 home runs to left field. His fourth at-bat was a pop up to the left field warning track. Needless to say, it was an exciting game. 

one of our best decisions

If you follow baseball, you may remember that the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 and Adam Wainwright saved an incredible series-winning game 5. That was also the inaugural season of new Busch Stadium. Just sayin...

Suddenly, my ever-faithful Braves heart was beating Cardinal red…

We’ve been back to St. Louis several times. Always staying at Huck Finn (yes, I do have “Huck Finn” saved in my cell phone) and always going to mass at Sts. Peter and Paul and lunch at Llywellyn’s. And, of course, catching a Cards game.

What does any of this have to do with me going to London this summer?

Absolutely nothing.

It’s hard loving two teams. Especially when I hardly have an opportunity to watch the Cardinals since I live in the south. And now that I live in Alabama, I live even farther from St. Louis.  

And I really do love both teams. As much as it hurt to watch the Braves give up the wild card last season, I couldn’t help but love watching the Cards chase it down. I still get a little emotional when I think about game 6, rally squirrel, and, naturally, David Freese.

So about a week ago, I said to myself “Callie Ann, you must go to Atlanta. You have to go see your two favorite teams play.”

And so, like Ray Kinsella in his cornfield, I listened to the voice.

I met up with my friend Beth and went to Turner Field. We went to Monday’s afternoon game. Seats behind home. Perfect weather. Hot dogs and ice cold Coca Cola. All in all, perfect afternoon. Cards won.

Note my attire. I am wearing a Braves shirt, but I show no favoritism. I also wore a Cards hat, which, somehow, did not make it into this picture. Its like a parent and his/her kids. I love them both differently but equally. (But I don’t have kids, so what do I know?)


Here's a shot I really like that Beth was gracious enough to let me take. 

I spent the night with my dear friend, Tiffany, and went to Tuesday’s game on my own.

And since I went on my own, I was able to get a really great seat right on the third base line. I thought this would be perfect, since I’d have a great view of both Chipper Jones and David Freese. Little did I know, neither would actually play that night. (Well, actually I did know Chipper had been put on the DL but I bought the ticket before they announced he’d be on it for another 15 days... whatever ankle injury.)

I did at least get this shot of Chipper out to catch the first pitch.

And there was a bright side to David Freese’s wrist issue… He was crowd friendly! I kept my eye on him during all of batting practice, because, well I’ll be honest. Not only is he a great ball player, he’s also 29, single, and real handsome. I mean… World Series MVP doesn’t hurt, either. So when he walked over to a small crowd to sign a few autographs, I made my way in with a new friend I’d made at the game. With our powers combined, Freese made his way over to us.

P.S. I’m watching David Freese bat in the top of the 9^th right now. The Braves are winning 10-7. I’m nervous.

He struck out. Ball was inside, but whatever. Craig Kimbrel is pitching, so its pretty much over for the Cardinals. I mean, seriously, have you seen Craig Kimbrel pitch? 2011 World Series MVP versus 2011 Rookie of the Year. #cray

Anyway, here’s this. 

#thatswhatsup

Needless to say, I have a new desktop background.

Oh, and to tie all this in to London, I took this picture. From one Olympic stadium to another in a matter of a few weeks. #soexcited!

Oh, I Believe In Yesterday...

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel with a group from my university to a village called Brandon, England. We worked with a small church there, providing a holiday bible school for the kids in the evenings and working around the community during the day.

It was a great trip and I really loved being a part of the community in Brandon. While we were there, we got the chance to go to London just for a day.  Our group included seven students and we all had different things in London we really wanted to see. So we split up and hit the city!

We saw Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. I made it to Abbey Road, Platform 9 ¾, and Kensington Garden to see the Peter Pan statue. We all met back up at the Tower of London in the evening and, after dinner, we set out on a Jack the Ripper walking tour.

It was a crazy, long, exhausting day, but it was absolutely wonderful!

So that’s it. My London-in-a-day experience. What I learned about London on that day was that it is enormous. I still can’t believe how much our group was able to do and see that day. But even though we saw so much, it was definitely not enough. And let's be honest: we mostly just saw stuff. We didn't tour the Tower or ride the Eye, but we did, at least, look at them. We were running around all day like crazy, hardly taking time to breathe.

All that to say, six years later, I can’t wait to spend four full weeks in London!

Although, I will miss my favorite travel partner and best friend, JB. Here she is being awesome during our London-In-A-Day.

Here's our "Hey look, everyone! We're Americans!" picture.

And here's just one more... 

#HadTo

All These Places Have Their Moments... (or: a photo editing exercise)

So since we’ll be doing lots of editing and such as part of the classes, we were instructed to go ahead and download specific software and do a few projects to practice before we leave on the big adventure.

Here are my first efforts (at least the first in several years) at photo editing. Our practice assignment was basically to take a picture with a digital camera, upload it to the computer and just play!

These photos were taken at ColdWater Books in Tuscumbia, Alabama. I grew up in Tuscumbia and recently spent a few weeks there hanging out with my family. I spent several nights at the ball park watching my nephews play baseball, went to my niece’s 3rd grade honors program, and spent many hours drinking coffee and writing at ColdWater Books.

Although ColdWater opened the year I graduated from high school and, therefore, the bookstore/coffee shop and I only existed in this town together for a short time, it has become one of my favorite places to visit in Tuscumbia when I’m there. It doesn’t hurt that the coffee is fantastic. 

Here's my first shot. I was instructed to simply "take a photo." 


Then, the instructions said to crop the photo to make something in the photo the focus. 


And so, I did.

Next, I was to use any two of the editing tools to play around with the picture and see what happens. 


First, I decided to use the saturation tool to make the photo black and white. Here ya go:

For the second effect, I used the saturation tool to brighten the colors and then I used the posterize tool for a different look. And here's that one:

So that's all I was supposed to do for this assignment... But once I started playing with photo editing, I didn't really want to stop. I had taken another picture at the coffee shop that day, which I really liked, and I decided to see if I could enhance it a little. Here's the original:

And here's my enhanced version:

Tada!! I lowered the brightness and heightened the contrast. And now I love this picture even more. In fact, it is currently my desktop background. 


I really enjoyed playing with the editing tools and I'm certainly looking forward to learning all that I can about taking and editing great digital photos. 

You Say Goodbye And I Say Hello... (or: an introduction)

In a little over a month, I will board a plane that will take me to Detroit. “Detroit?” you say. “How exiting!”

I know, right?

But fortunately, I will get on another plane that will take me to Amsterdam. From there I’ll board a plane bound for Edinburgh, Scotland.

And thus, my adventure abroad will begin.

My mother is accompanying me on the first twelve days of the trip. We will spend four days in Scotland, exploring the highlands, Edinburgh and Glasgow, visiting a castle that was once the homestead of our ancestors, and, of course, searching for J.K. Rowling.

Then we’ll spend a few days in the Manchester/Liverpool area.

Let us take a moment to acknowledge the fact that the Beatles are, by far, my favorite band. Ever. Period. To attempt to put my love for the Beatles into words would just be silly. Let’s just sum it up with this: I saw Paul McCartney in concert two years ago and it’s safe to say it was the greatest night of my life. Ever. Period.

Needless to say, I will be spending a day exploring the home of the Fab Four, and, quite possibly, be crying the entire time.

From Manchester, my mom and I will head south to Bath and explore Wales and other areas of southern Great Britain, including Stonehenge and possibly Stratford-upon-Avon.

We’ll end up in London, doing all the touristy things we can fit into three days. We’ll take a double-decker bus tour, explore the Tower of London, watch the changing of the Guard.

And did I mention we’ll be going to the Leavesden Studios?? That’s right. I’ll get to walk through the sets of the Harry Potter movies, wander down Diagon Alley, and hang out in the Gryffindor common room.

Jealous?

I would be. Maybe I’ll get you a souvenir. Perhaps a new broom? A Golden Snitch? A copy of Hogwarts, A History?

You’re welcome.

On July 3, my mom will board a plane back to the States. But my adventure will just be beginning.

I always wanted to study abroad, but never got a chance in undergrad. Timing wasn’t on my side. So while studying at The University of Alabama, in the School of Library and Information Studies, I decided to make it happen.

Last summer, before I’d actually started grad school, I decided I wanted to go to London this summer. I didn’t quite know how to make this happen, but I knew I wanted to do something in London that had to do with children’s literature. So when I got an email about a study abroad opportunity, which revolved around children’s literature and applying it to new multimedia programs, and did a lot of research and thinking and whatnot, I decided this was too good to pass up.

So for the month of July, I’ll be studying abroad with Florida State University. My group will be traveling throughout London and surrounding areas, exploring libraries, museums and various locations where classic children’s stories are based, which will include, among other things, flying kites at Primrose Hill like Mary Poppins!

We’ll be learning to use all sorts of multimedia tools, utilizing compact digital cameras, editing pictures and videos, creating podcasts and digital stories, and, well, blogging.

Here on my blog, not only will I write about my experiences, but I will also be posting assignments and multimedia I’ve created for class.

So maybe you’re reading this because you love libraries and librarians (I see you, Ryan Gosling) or maybe you’re reading this because you love London.

Maybe you’re reading this because you know that if my mother and I are going to a foreign country together, then there will surely be some interesting tales to tell.

Whatever your reason is, I hope you enjoy following this adventure.

I have to write about it either way…