i'll be [lounge] for christmas

to anyone i'm lucky enough to call a friend, whether digitally or in person, i want to thank you for reading this blog. i hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and looking forward to a happy new year!

love that [frozen] water

three things fuel my sightseeing adventures when i travel:

-architecture

-pop culture

-food and drink

a perfectly sane list if you ask me, however when you visit a city with an incredible amount in each categories, it can be a little overwhelming. 

the past week was spent visiting my girlfriend in her hometown of boston, a city i've always wanted to visit.  not only was it great to spend time with her, but it was also a little bit of a test on our relationship to see if she could handle traveling with me.  thankfully she, and her wonderful parents, were incredibly nice and accommodating when it came to my tourist list.  we visited random buildings in the freezing cold so i could walk around them in awe and take pictures.  we stopped by local tourist spots made famous by tv and movies, and they discovered my rule about eating and or drinking in a restaurant or bar in order for it to "count" that i visited it.

boston is an amazing town and with their help, i do believe, i got a good feel for all this amazing city has to offer. hope you enjoy the pics...all taken in about 48 hours.

[december] dynasty

santa might be the only celebrity out there who knows how to handle his status.

we live in a world that loves to criticize; a world that forces you to take sides. people want you to either be for something or against it, and then tell you opposing views no matter what side you're on. social media only adds fuel to this feuding fire.  unfortunately even the big guy up north can't escape the critics. whether it's related to religion, race, commercialism, or questioning the fact if he even exists, santa has his skeptics as well.

the major problem i feel is people are forgetting; santa can be whatever you want him to be!  that's one of the best qualities about him.  there are no solid facts involving santa.  he doesn't have a facebook account giving his bio, he post no long rants on twitter, he doesn't "check in" on path anywhere, he doesn't blog about his workshop, he's managed to keep himself away from the paparazzi and has no outlandish videos on youtube.  as far as i know, he's never held any sort of press conference to come out on any official views or opinions. basically he is completely unlike any celebrity or reality star we currently know and frankly, we're not sure how to handle it.

santa knows what he's doing; living way up north, away from everyone else, working at night, coming to town only once a year. every single one of his actions allows us to use our imagination to custom discover who he is.  people have forgotten the magic of this merry muse and the inspiration he gifts us all.

as a child i whole hardily believed in santa. the scenes my little imagination would create were priceless.  i'd spend weeks writing letters to him telling him how good i had been that year, and reflecting back on those events i chose to leave out. falling asleep, nights were spent wondering what his workshop looked like located in a snow filled wonderland. i'd try to figure out how he made it around the world in one night, the different roofs and chimney's he'd encounter, how he and his elves made all those wonderful gifts and how big his bag would have to be to carry them all.  the amazing thing about a child's brain is it isn't cluttered with reality yet, and anything seemed possible.  adulthood is weighted down enough with responsibilities, rules and facts; i sometimes miss the days when flying across the sky in a sleigh powered by eight tiny reindeer made perfect, logical sense.

in a world filled with endless information and digital facts at your fingertips, i feel we're not leaving much room for pure imagination.  creative people around the world and throughout the centuries have had this jolly elf to thank for the inspiration of countless stories, poems, tales, songs, plays, musicals, and movies.  all creating a warm and romantic vision for these cold months.  a vision, of the character we all long to be like this time of year. a vision that's transcended fads, fashions, politics, borders, and technology throughout the centuries.

santa is not like the celebrities we constantly hear about in the news. he's above all that, and we owe it to him to treat him as such.  instead of treating santa like some diva ranting on twitter, or some reality tv star stating a polarizing opinion, please treat santa better. let him be a merry muse. use your imagination and let him be whoever you see fit to bring a little more joy into the season.

to me, santa is a bit like a father figure, a completely selfless person providing insight and wisdom…but then again, i might be bias.

the [peanuts] of christmas past

is there any thing better than being a kid at christmas?


this is the first year in a long time i haven't had to worry about architectural exams.  not having to worry about point loads or plaster types has allowed me to enjoy more of the season this year than those of recent christmas past.

the season has been filled with christmas movies, holiday parties, gift exchanges, lights, food, drinks, family and friends; and i've been enjoying every minute of it.  besides visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, i've been in a very nostalgic mood. thinking back to the christmas of the mid 1980's when the season was filled with a type of magic you just couldn't put your mitten covered finger on; something unseen, but  heartwarming.

i think that's why the other day i sketched a little version of me as a peanuts character. something about it's joy, simplicity, nostalgia, and optimism perfectly reflects my feeling this season.

so whether you're running around doing any last minute shopping, or taking a few days off work, i hope everyone out there is able to take some time, put on a vince guaraldi album, and figure out "what chirstmas is all about" for themselves.