Feeling Great + Beach House!

Yesterday was the first day that I woke up and realized that I was beginning to forget the stress of grad school. I think it had something to do with the fact that I knew I'd be spending time with my awesome friend from class, Netha, last night. We went to the Beach House show at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa! I knew that we would discuss issues related to the stress of school and I would think to myself, "Self, you don't have to worry about that anymore." Ahhhhh, yes! It was a great litmus test for me to realize that I am letting it go. It took a while. And, of course, now I have a different kind of stress, i.e. learning how to start a nonprofit and getting this building renovated, but I've decided to look at that project in a different way than I experienced school.

I HAVE FINALLY FOUND MY CONFIDENCE. I don't immediately interpret everyone's questions about the project as judgement and I have embraced the pace of working with the city as time to get the board formed, the paperwork filled out and a chance to research programming so that we can provide the very best for our community. Plus, no one else is doing this besides me and James.  We know what we need to do and how we need to proceed, even if it's just figuring out the next step, one move at a time. I'm really proud of how far we've come and I am no longer scared of the future.

I think it took going through grad school and that thesis process to find this confidence. It was rough, but I'm so glad that I had that opportunity. It's not that I think a Masters in Art History qualifies me to run a business. I'll be taking lots of classes at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. Now I just believe in myself and my ability to keep pushing until I figure out how to reach my goals. I won't give up!

I held the camera really, really high to get this shot! Glad it worked! Ha!

It was great to spend time with Netha last night, and I'm beyond grateful for the chance to see one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE BANDS here in Oklahoma.  Cain's was packed, but I stood next to really nice people who let me scoot over every now and then so I could catch a glimpse of Victoria and Alex. (They also had a drummer with them who was excellent!) I'm so in love with their music. The category is labeled, "Dream Pop," and their angsty beauty always has my heart soaring when I listen. I think the electronic aspect of their tunes, in combination with my favorite instruments: slide guitar, organ, high fretwork on the bass, percussion and the gorgeous harmonies those two produce all just add up to result in an amalgamation of everything I loved about music from my high school and early college years and everything I love now.

IMAGINE STANDING IN A BALLROOM WITH THE MUSIC PLAYING LIVE OVER THOSE AWESOME SPEAKERS!!!!! Because I'm so short, I usually can't see performers in a venue like that, so most of the time I just close my eyes, sway to the music and get a little lost in it all. I imagine that I'm the only one there and that the group is playing just for me. It's actually just as much fun as being able to see the stage and I feel like I'm getting the full musical experience that way too. Here's a video of a song that I love off of their new album. Hope anyone reading this loves it too.