i'm gonna make this place your home

there's a strange juxtaposition within me. i will sit for hours behind a textbook or computer screen, deeply immersed in academic jargon and long words. and i really, really like seminars, especially if they deal with grammar and are held in the basement of a big, old hotel. i like novels and discussions and heavy things that make you think.

but goodness, sometimes i just love me a reality show. specifically american idol. and while this is quite embarrassing, but hey this is my blog and space for my own humiliation, i should tell you robert and i have discovered "good luck charlie" on the disney channel. and it is hilarious. and we may or may not have watched five episodes in a row this weekend.

well, last night, phillip phillips (i know, but look past the name) gave the best performance i've ever heard on american idol. he sang a song called "home" and i just have to share it. because yes, the show is cheesy and overproduced and maybe even a little rigged, but you find art in the most unexpected places sometimes. and this song, with its marching band segment and nods to mumford and sons, fleet foxes, paul simon and even a little wilco, was the most artistic thing to grace that stage in a long while.

so enjoy, and google "good luck charlie." you know you want to:)

a royal feast

the people i love most in this world knocked on my door at 5:30 this morning. i welcomed them into a warm home, smelling like a breakfast diner with sausage, eggs, fresh fruit, bacon, hash browns, and english muffins with homemade strawberry jam.

and we gathered on the couch, warm mugs of coffee in hand, the sun not quite risen outside our open window. and we watched the royal wedding. watched kate in all her splendor, a vision in lace and curls. the choir boys in their ruffles, and the women in their fancy hats. it was all a big spectacle, that's for sure. but it was also beautiful, fun history in the making. made more beautiful by the people sitting to the right and left of me who got up early to make a memory.

 yes, it's a bit much. yes, the pomp and circumstance is stuffy. but it's also a bit magical, isn't it?

i've heard opinions from people who think the wedding is ridiculous, and couldn't care less about it, especially with the wars. and the horrible natural disasters. and a million other more important things.

but that's exactly why we do need things like this. to keep us believing. in the power of love, yes. but also in the beauty of life. it's the same reason saturday night live returned to television so soon after 9/11. because people needed to laugh. and now more than ever, people in america need to be reminded that there is happiness. there is splendor. there is hope.

so i gave in like any other sap and watched the whole thing. i'll remember her gorgeous veil and tiara, and his cherry red uniform. i'll remember the way harry looked back at kate, walking down the aisle, then turned and whispered in will's ear. i imagine he said she looks beautiful. i'll remember when kate got into the horse-drawn carriage, and looked at will and mouthed i'm so happy.

but most of all, i'll remember holding mama's hand when kate walked down the aisle. looking over at the excitement on her face. i'll remember robert in the kitchen, flipping over scrambled eggs in the pre-dawn haze. and i'll remember thinking, as they all drove away, that i wouldn't trade this life in the country, in our little two-bedroom cottage, for anything in this world.