Bits & Pieces

I've been contemplating life lately, and the different ways I can live it. I've summed it up as two opposing forces in my current life situation: Netflix vs. Culture. Granted, there is a place for both. But granted, Netflix finds its place with so much more ease, and wearing sweat pants. Culture requires planning and money and actively choosing to be active. And real pants. 

It's pretty crazy, though, how much happier I am on days and nights I get out and experience the world versus those days and nights I do it vicariously through a screen. I have been so tired of screens lately. Screen time all day at work. Screen time in my palm. Screen time when I relax at the end of the day. I'm amazed, sometimes, that my eyes still work. And maybe I should also be amazed that I blame my headaches on gluten? Because this screen pattern we're talking about has just got to be part of the blame here... So, living life intentionally. Even with an almost-always studying husband. It's worth the effort, and the pants.

I didn't come here to talk about that. I came here to gush about a play and a concert and how much they both made me smile this week. But the back story just kind of fell onto the page and so now you're up to speed anyways. My friend Kristin invited me to see Indy's own Kurt Vonnegut's "Who am I this Time" at the Indiana Repertory Theatre with her. I laughed so, so, so much. I want so badly for pieces of that play with the same seven actors I saw to be on YouTube so I can show those talented people to you all right here and now. There's some irony to be found in that sentiment, though, after my rant about screens... don't think about it.

Photo Cred to Kristin!

Here's the play's description, if you want a better idea of how dreamy it was: "With a friendly stage manager as your guide, some of Vonnegut's most endearing characters wander through three charming stories searching for love and identity. Taken from his first short story collection, Welcome to the Monkey House, Who am I this Time gives us the Indy author's unique take on Small Town America."

We just loved it. I'm grateful that I grew up just a couple blocks away from the Shakespeare Festival, and grateful for parents that always took me to the comedies on top of the other plays at the festival each year. There's something so genuinely fun in laughing at talented, real life comedic timing. I really wanted Michael to be able to see this, but we caught the play in its final week and we already had plans the night of its last showing... so instead, he had to listen to me do a poor job of repeatedly trying to reenact or describe all of the little things that made me laugh in this show. Sigh.

 

But he didn't have to miss out once the weekend came around - we bought tickets to see Josh Ritter again, in Bloomington this time. Oh he is so great. You can't help but love watching him sing, because you can tell he is just loving being there. I just sat and thought for a moment about which song to link to for you to listen to right now, but it was too hard. So many good ones. Just go get lost in his website on your own, and pick your fave. We hadn't been down to Bloomington yet (just 45 minutes south, home of Indiana University), so we went down a few hours before the concert and spent Saturday afternoon exploring.

We went on a date with our friend Chris, until his wife made it into town just in time for the concert (baby showers in Ohio kept her away). He showed us some bookstores and we walked around IU campus, and we found some Burmese food for dinner. Their menu came with a picture book of every item, woot woot. I love knowing what I'm getting into. We also bought our first children's book that night because I can literally still hear my little niece Lydia's voice when she came and stayed with us last summer: "Maddie, where are the books?" And I had to look her in her big sweet eyes and say, "Um... we don't... have any books." And she was sad, and so was I. 

So, we are now proud owners of a secondhand copy of Are You My Mother, from the beloved Dr. Seuss. Little by little we will remedy this bookless situation. Maybe until someday our house looks just like this: 

A girl can dream.

Oh, and we still have this cat. She still sleeps a lot.

Sometimes we find her in boxes, or in our dresser drawers.

That's really all I wanted to say about that.

The Midwest Experience: Columbus, Indiana

On Saturday we took a small road trip down to Columbus, IN. It's only about 45 minutes south of here, which is never an issue of distance for me - that's the equivalent of Cedar to St. George, which my friends and I frequently drove for a Cafe Rio salad or a line dancing fix.

Initially we planned on going for the one day showing of The Saratov Approach, a movie that I've heard a lot of good things about from friends and family back in Utah. But we had also heard multiple times that we needed to see the architecture in Columbus, so we added in a tour to our excursion. I'm so glad we did - it ended up being the best part of the day. For the full experience you should make your way there some day! But for the partial experience, read on...

To give you an idea of how impressive the design in this city of 44,000 is, you should know that they are ranked 6th in the nation for architectural design and innovation. The five cities ahead of them are New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C. And then, Columbus, IN. Crazy hidden gem, right? Our tour had 5 people on it that day: the two of us, our two friends Chris and Kristin, and a furniture designer from Denmark who came here just to research and tour. Our guide said she frequently has designers and architects coming from Europe and all over, because Columbus is on their bucket list.

Pictured above is the First Christian Church, which was built in 1942 and was the first contemporary building in Columbus - and one of the first churches in American to be built in contemporary style. There is so much asymmetry there, which was almost unheard of among church buildings at that time. The cross, the altar, even the clock on the tower outside are all off center and balanced with other elements. There is so much natural light in the chapel, and the hanging lamps you see on the right are in the style of Christian oil lamps.

This is a close up of a door in the First Christian Church. If you could see it closer, you'd notice that every single screw is turned with the line exactly vertical. Details like that were all over inside. The architect, Saarinen, was hesitant to build the church at first but was then intrigued by this request from the reverend's daughter:

"Our town is small and there are all sorts and conditions of men. While we should like the church to be beautiful, we do not want the first reaction to be, how much did the church cost. We want the poorest women in town to feel at home there and able to worship her God in those surroundings."

He was told that the church should show that the people in Columbus were focused on a rich inner life and a simple outer life. So, the minimalist modern design came to be, and put Columbus on a forward-thinking path. Cummins, Inc. is headquartered in Columbus, and a program began in which the Cummins company would pay architects' fees if the client would select an architect from a list provided by J. Irwin Miller (the CEO of Cummins behind the initiative). So, schools, businesses, the hospital, the post office - they are all art. Guys, even the jail is beautiful. There are also public art pieces throughout the city that bring a lot of character.
 

Our tour guide was adorable. She was living in Columbus, OH when she and her husband visited Columbus, IN for a weekend. They went on the architecture tour and loved the city so much that they moved there just three months later. And now she's volunteering as a tour guide on the tour she loved back in 2000. The tour is a two-hour bus ride with stops in the First Christian Church and the hospital. There were countless sites to learn about - just glance at the list of National Historic Landmarks in the city and you'll get an idea.

Lincoln Park in Columbus is a beautifully landscaped public space with an amphitheater, pond, observation tower, playgrounds, skate park, etc. It used to be nicknamed "Death Valley" because it was basically a swampy mess, but volunteers from the community cleaned it up and then it was landscaped into a beautiful hilly area. We are so ready to take our bikes down there! The snow was beautiful, but we're definitely looking forward to going back down on a day with more sun, and more green.

Our tour ended full circle at the visitor's center, where the "Yellow Neon Chandelier" hangs, designed by Dale Chihuly. It was a gift to the town, and hangs beautifully over the staircase at the center. So many gems throughout Columbus!

This arch was sandcast in 50 sections in Germany, then arrived in Columbus in one piece. It stands in the library plaza, and if you catch the right angle it perfectly frames the First Christian Church and clock tower.

After two hours of architectural wonder, we went to lunch at Zaharakos, an ice cream parlor and museum. One of the best parts was a restored Orchestrion from the 1870s that played us loud, incredible tunes while we ate and tried to hear each other. You can read about the restoration of it here, which is intensive and fascinating. Another music machine is pictured above - this one had banjos. We were just having a lot of fun in there.

They also have a collection of marble soda fountains. Aren't they so pretty? Now I am questioning the legitimacy of the year of my life I spent working at an ice cream parlor/soda fountain in Cedar City. It just didn't compare, guys. But we did have killer Providence Crunch ice cream which you don't even know about because it was a signature recipe that now no longer exists. So at least there's that.

We had so much fun exploring Columbus that day. After the tour and fountain, we went to an early showing of The Saratov Approach with a few other friends who drove down from Indy. I thought the movie was great, and it made me realize how out of the loop kids are. How do I not remember missionaries being kidnapped in Russia? I feel like I was old enough then to at least be aware of it. But I was just playing with my friends, eating Providence Crunch ice cream. That's probably exactly what I should have been doing, actually.

So that was our Columbus day! Definitely a highlight of our midwest adventuring. Come visit :)