Cruise Report

This is sort of a belated post about our Caribbean cruise. We got back three weeks ago, but I guess it's just been busy. We had a wonderful week aboard the Carnival Triumph - warm weather, fun ports, gorgeous blue Caribbean seas, relaxing days where our biggest decision was when and what to eat! We visited Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel - all places we had never been. This photo was taken on our shore excursion at Cozumel on a large catamaran that took us snorkeling and to a private beach.

The ship was huge. We explored a lot, but I'm sure we didn't see all of it. 893 feet long, with 3,000 guests from all over the world and an international crew of 1,000. We had great dinners every night. Even I finally maxed out on shrimp! And even after we were stuffed, we had to sample the fancy desserts! Then we went to a show every night - singing, dancing, comedian, illusionist. They were all really fun.

One of our favorite things was having a balcony room. Even though we booked late, our room and the Lesters' were side by side on the back of the ship. We sat on our balcony a lot, enjoying sunrises, sunsets, coffee in the morning, a glass of wine at night, and always the relaxing view of the sea.

We've lost the few pounds we gained, our tans are fading, but the memories will last forever! :)

show choir saturday

Surprise, this blog isn't from one of the Prentices. Joel and I spent all day Saturday at a show choir competition at Belmont University in Nashville. We were getting paid to play in the band for an area high school show choir. The program was classics: Will It Go Round in Circles, September, Dust in the Wind, Best of My Love (girl's song), Takin' Care of Business (guy's song), and a 70s medley to end it. Only two costume changes, nothing super elaborate, just a solid all around act, and they ended up taking 3rd behind two super elaborate and much larger choirs. So they really did well.

Unfortunately, we had to leave at 6:15, and we didn't get back until 4am. We had down time during the day, but I was sick and throwing up, so that wasn't too much fun. It was interesting to get a sense of the show choir world. Lots of super-crazed, high energy kids packed into a hall is insane. That was the main lesson learned. Jeff and Darren, I'm glad you guys aren't totally crazy like that.

Black History Month

As a part of Black History Month, we are had two traditional African American worship services on campus during our regular Wednesday morning chapel. Part of this included a traditional gospel heritage choir that I was a part of. The choir had about 40 students, we practiced a few times and performed twice, directed by Rollo Dilworth. It was incredible to be a part of such a rich tradition of soulful music. I'm in the upper left in green. There is a regular non-audition gospel choir with about 200 students, 95% of which are white. We made about twice as much sound today. It was a blast.

flu and film

Sorry for my long absence. Things are warming up in TN and I'm finally feeling better after fighting the flu this last week.

I hope you've all been able to check out the podcast, which is linked from Joel's post. You may remember a post I had last semester that had photos from a German cyclist film. Well the university had its film festival this weekend, and Heinrich was 1st place out of five different short films critiqued by a panel of three school faculty. The theme of the festival was "courage." It was exciting to play a part in making this movie. Our roommate, Rocco, was director, producer and editor, and his brother back in NJ wrote the script. Once the script was finished, I did a rough translation of it into German and then sent it back to NJ where some native German speakers fine tuned it. Then, just last weekend, I did the narration, and then Rocco was up super late editing it all in and creating subtitles. The finished product was pretty satisfying. You can watch it here.

In other news, we finally got a sweet couch for the apartment.

4 Generations

The time in Indiana was good, my dad turned 85, as you can see he is still a good looking guy! He really enjoyed Keegan, but was ready to have a quiet house back to himself after a couple of days............heah, two year olds are noisy!

A Hive of Badgers.

Dearly Beloved,

We are gathered here on this blog, to speak, show and tell about all things in our life. With things ranging from weather to broken limbs.

So, somewhere in between those two is my next post. But, before I get to that... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!


Item One: I NOW HAVE A BED! What a blessing. Michael found a bed (mattress, frame, and boxspring) on craigslist.chattanooga and it happened to be selling for $40 in Cleveland. So, I emailed saying I was interested. I got a call a few nights later and I went over to the seller's house with Rocco and his truck.

We arrived and opened the door to 2 girls sitting on the couch, a cat to the side and a movie playing in the background. They were both laden with tattoos and smoking most likely their 3rd or 4th pack of cigarettes. In the middle of the room was the mattress and a low-lying frame. The one girl said, "Do you still want it?" I wasn't sure what to say. I asked "Where is the boxspring?" She said, "Oh I thought that was it (pointing to the frame.)" Seeing that I may not buy it, she continued to say "You know, just take it for $10."

So I did.

It smelled of smoke so I left it outside for 24 hours. Then, I completely soaked it with FeBreeze. It smells nice now :)

Notice the bike bottle holder.



PRE-MATTRESS



Item Two: The Badger Hive

Michael, Rocco and I have started a podcast. We hope to record every Sat. morning and then Rocco will have it edited and primed for listening by the end of the weekend. So, if you have some spare time, check it out (and let us know what you think.)

By the way, Laura, we talked about the Super Bowl and how there are a bunch of Poser fans on Super Bowl night only. So, thanks for not being part of that statistic.

The Badger Hive

It is named after the Honey Badger, which happens to be the most ferocious animal on the surface of Earth.

love,
Joel

Super Sunday Super Lame

I am posting about my boring life so that we do not let the blog die! I am not watching the big game because I never care about football during the regular season so why pretend to care today? I will be stopping by a party to get some free pizza during halftime. Otherwise, I will be spending time with my new best friend, my philosophy of art textbook.

We have been hit with a tropical heat wave here in chicago with temperatures rising to nearly 35 degrees. This means that I can wear regular shoes instead of boots for once. I'm taking 10 academic credit hours (as opposed to last semesters' 18) so my life is more manageable this semester. I am working towards my senior show which will hang March 18- 28 with a March 26 reception. Once that is over I will be pretty much done for the rest of the semester!

As many of you know, Anders is in Bethlehem, Israel right now. He's there for 2.5 months (until the beginning of April) volunteering at Bethlehem Bible College for Palestinians. He's living on campus and volunteering teaching English and doing some maintenance on the campus. The West Bank has been safe from the Gaza strip violence so that has been fortunate. He's spent a few weeks adjusting but is finally getting the swing of things, he said it's been weird adjusting to a place with so much hatred and tension as a part of everyday life. The bible college has taken a strong position of non-violence which brings a very powerful and uncommon presence to the West Bank. Yesterday he went to Jericho and saw Zaccheus' Sycamore tree!

Cruisin'

Tom, Bella, and I made a couple of loops around Riverwood Golf Course this afternoon. The cross country skiing conditions were great, and we got a good workout. Now that the temps have warmed up, it's fun to be able to enjoy all this snow.

But we are looking forward to fun of a different and much warmer kind . . . we are going on a cruise! It's been in the works for a while, but we didn't know for sure until about ten days ago. We fly to Miami this Saturday, meet up with Doug and Jody Lester and their daughter and son-in-law, and then board the ship on Sunday for a western Caribbean cruise. We'll be stopping at Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. It will be a first for Tom and me, so we're pretty excited. Fun and sun - here we come! Watch for more blogging when we return.

Blog #70 (here's to many more!)

Hey Gang,

I'm just laying on the floor/my bed. Michael and I have finished our first half week of school. We're now taking "awake" naps at 860 Highland Avenue (my new home.) We are full of wonderful food from the McCluskey household. We are good friends with their son, John, and so we've eaten there nearly every sunday lunch for the past year or more. They call it "Family Lunch."

I've put up some posters that used to hang at the lake. One of my favorites is the Deer jumping over the moon:
I wish that I could go sledding at Grandma's house right now.

Jeff On The Mend

Jeff demonstrated additional thrills and spills last Thurs. at a ski meet. He hooked a ski on a slalom gate, fell and hit his knee badly. We didn't know if he had a fracture or torn ligaments until we got the good news from a doc at orthopedic urgent care. Just a bad bruise and lots of swelling.

The moon walk on crutches is coming along. He hopes to be back to dancing form by the weekend, but no skiing for a couple of weeks.

Stuntmen

Try hitting "pause" for amazement/amusement.

Grandpa's pride n joy

I love this picture of Keegan on Dave's workbench, so I got an enlargement for his office, Keegan got so excited when he saw it,one of his favorite things to do is play around on grandpas work bench.

father and son

This was my favorite shot taken during the weekend.

white Christmas

Prentice Landing Book List

I'm looking for some new books to read and wondering what my family recommends and I will compile a booklist. Hooray!
What was your favorite book of 2008? (you can put pre-2008 books as well)

Laura: The Red House by Sarah Messer

Carolyn: What's So Amazing about Grace? by Phillip Yancey

Jeff: 1984 by George Orwell

Happy New Year!

Jeff Pre-carnate...?

A Frightening resemblance.

practice blues

Here's a blues that you can practice with. Get serious, or your blues will be lacking.

Christmas blues.

Here's an idea I had for when we get together. Let's all do some blues. Everyone can sing and play, so there should be no getting out of this. You can bring instruments, prepare some verses, scat, or just let it go on the fly (probably the best plan. I rounded up a video of Fats McPhereson and Joe Wallace demonstrating some F blues.

oh the memories...

Here's looking forward to Christmas in Jamestown:

Also featuring Joel HMS (how's my shovel) Land:

Snow day in Denver

good morning. Our church service has been cancelled. We only have 2-4 inches of snow, but its really cold......thought you northerners would get a kick out of that.

And while we're at it...

The other day I was browsing the internet and came across this studly figure. and then, as I stared I realized that I was looking at myself 20 years later. Notice the similar facial features, and it looks like I never decided to remove the mole on the left side of my face. click for bigger image.

brothers?

Wow you look sharp! Does anyone else see the resemblence between these two?

Or is it just me...

Have a safe trip home you guys and we'll see you up there in a few.

Finished

I turned in my final paper today at 6pm, and I am now finished! I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe catching up on sleep would be a good step. Joel and I are flying home Friday morning. I can't wait.

I feel this classy right now:

Nov. Band trip, finals, and such

Hey gang,
I know I promised you all some pics of the band tour but I didn't take many and several are on my phone and I can't figure out how to put them on here yet. If I do, I will. Anyway, if I could sum up the band trip in one word, it would be probably be: Interesting. From the crappy hotel (which included switching rooms three times before we got a good one, haha), to the driver (who had to make a u-turn into the right lane coming back across the border), to the performances (which went well!), and to the amazing Winnipeg Symphony. It was fun and worth the troubles and definitely memorable. I can go into details about the trip for those of you who want to know more, when we meet at Christmas time.
I have one final this coming week, then the other 5 finals are during finals week (15th-18th). So I should be pretty busy till Christmas break. I can't wait till Christmas rolls around, it shall be glorious!

AKLand

Greetings from finals week!

one week left of classes before winter break starts! i am writing from a computer lab where i am working on a video project. or sitting here for a million hours waiting for my video to save. it's been "fun" and "wonderful", actually it has been a royal disaster. let's just say that i have dropped my video art class for next semester. on a brighter note i have 25 pages of papers to write and a giant critique of all of my work with the entire faculty next week. then it will be christmas!

2009 Calendar

This is the time of year I usually start working on the family calendar. I decided this year I'm going to place orders and (sigh) ask for reimbursement. They run $20 each -Correction, I found a deal for $10 + tax! If anyone's still interested, I'll get going!

Keegan has BIG news...

Our bean is due July 15th 2009. We are all so excited for Keegan to be a big brother.

JHS Choir

Think back about 30+ years when the Prentice three were singing in the JHS Choir. I went to their Christmas concert tonight and it surely brought back memories. Then the JC Choir joined in for a number (I guess the first time ever). More memories. I'm surely grateful that everyone in the family likes to sing. No more backing out, Julie. The proof is right there on the Blog and Keegan has a good start. Would you care to try again for a church number on Dec. 28th?

Cozy

I know that having a fireplace is nothing new for the Prentice/Land family, but it is for me. Since I was young I have dreamed of having a cozy fireplace. We have been in our house for a few years but this is the first winter we are actually using the fireplace and its beautiful! I bought the screen off of craigslist, we are going to paint it brown to match the woodwork. Come to Denver and sit in front of the fire with me.

Gonna jump up and down

We've been practicing this one!

I'M GONNA JUMP UP AND DOWN, Gonna spin right around, Gonna praise Your Name forever. Gonna shout out loud, Gonna deafen the crowd, Gonna send my praise to heaven.
I will run this race and I will never stop. I'll follow Jesus till the day I drop. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When you've got such a lot, When you've got not a lot, What? Be happy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Da man on campus

Surprise B-Day Fun

My boyfriend's 30th birthday was last Sunday, so his sister and I got together and planned a surprise party for him. He was surprised, and it was a super fun party. We had about 15 people attend and some wonderful food.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I couldn't wait until Friday!
I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving.

Tour De Colleges

We've traversed the upper Midwest from the bluffs of the mighty James River to the shores of Lake Michigan reviewing institutions of higher learning. It was educational in itself and a good excuse for some family road tripping.

Thanksgiving party

I went to a thanksgiving party last weekend where we all dressed up as pilgrims and indians. There was a bountiful spread, and a good time was had by all. My costume was a piece of fabric with a hole in the middle of it for my head.

TN exercise

This is Joel, Rocco, and I getting it done.

SuccesS

Here is the answer to Michael's wish.

ps. I love this picture. the framing is brilliant.

Vote for a hero

A young woman from Bismarck, Anne Mahlum, is in the running to be CNN's Top Hero. She is a runner, and has started a program for homeless people to run with her - to get motivated, to find support and encouragement, as well as get in shape. It's called "Back On Your Feet". As one of the top ten finalists, she has already received $10,000. Her program is growing and expanding, working with job training programs, and now she's in the running for Top Hero and $100,000. Her dad, who is on Tom's basketball team, said that anyone can go to www.cnn.com/heroes and vote for her. There is a story about her at that site, as well as some short videos. A very inspiring story and a worthy young woman.

Keegan at the Zoo

Ben took Keegan to the zoo recently. He was more interested in climbing on the benches than he was with the animals........he does have good form, as you can see.

THE MARCHING EAGLES

The Kennedy Eagles marching band was back this year after about an 8 yr lapse. New leadership and increased numbers in the band program over the past 3-4 yrs (and a LOT of volunteer help from people like Carolyn) made it possible to do this again. Marching replaced regular class for the combined bands this first quarter. Their Marching Band set included "Kung Fu Fighting" "Play that Funky Music" "Pick Up the Pieces"

A classmate (Ruth) and myself have been working on an outdoor public sculpture on campus as part of the requirement for my spatial arts class. We made this giant piece out of discarded bottles that we collected from around campus. It was amazing how beautiful it was- considering we used trash to make it. I've been really interested in exploring the use of discarded and found objects as opposed to traditional art making supplies. Besides being cost effective, it challenges the notion of what is art and what can be made into art? I really enjoy taking something that is nonfunctional and purposeless and repurposing it to give it purpose.


It was also lovely to have my family up for the weekend :)

News From Chicago

We had a great trip down to the Windy City Thursday through Saturday. I think the falling barometer chased us all the way to WI.

We got to help out with the kids at Bethel's Graffiti Zone on Thursday, went to an art show that Laura organized, Ate out for some tasty Mediterranean and Mexican food. Met most if not all of Laura's housemates, got Jeff an official campus tour, and stopped for brunch with the Wennstroms on the way home Saturday. And yes it feels like November now that we are back home.

Here is a shot of the artist in her studio space.

The whole nation has been hearing about the snow in the Dakotas. All the stereotypes about North Dakota have been reinforced. But it actually was a pretty major storm. We got 9" in Bismarck, and you all know that when wind is involved, that means 2" in some places and four foot drifts in very inconvenient places. Our driveway was mostly clear, but on the front steps and under the deck was a different story. School was called off on Friday, and before 9 a.m. the neighbor kids were ringing the door bell asking if they could sled on our hill.

The weather didn't change our plans much. We stayed home on Saturday and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls in Michael's old room, soon to become Tom's more spacious office. Our streets are still icy, and the snowbanks are probably here to stay unless we get lots of sunshine and warmer temps.

Tom did decide that he should dig the rest of the carrots out of the garden. So after digging through a snowdrift and some mud underneath, he brought in two large bags of crisp, organically homegrown carrots. Wish I could offer you all free samples. The taste always reminds me of Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Ruby's garden.

Belated Halloween

Without further a do, here is the picture of our 80's Aerobics Team "Planet Fitness"


from left to right: Vanessa Hottie Boddie, William Quadtastic Vitaman, Stephen Steelabs Rodriguez, and Damien Firm Buns Salmonslinger.

actually: Hannah (my old roomate's girlfriend,) Luke (my old roomate,) Max, and myself.


to say the least, we attracted quite a crowd and burned thousands of calories.

Consider your Monday officially brightened!

music history and theory

I spent Thursday through Sunday in Nashville for the Society for Music Theory and American Musicological Society joint conference. Basically Geek Central. Almost every person there had a PhD in some kind of music. It was what I imagined a Star Wars conference to be except everyone was talking about diminshed 5ths, extended harmonies, authentic cadences, and chromatic mediants.

Anyway, it was mainly listening to presentations of papers all day. Here are some of the ridiculous presentation titles:

"'I sing, I laud, I pray, I teach': Hymnbook and Catechism in Hamburg, 1558-1598"
"Auditory Stream Segregation and Schubert's Piano Sonata in Bb"
"The Tristan Progession as an Energetic Voice Leading Paradigm"

It was pretty cool to see all of this research and to see what these guys really do, but.....let's just say I was ready to come home when it was over. Is this what I want to do with my life? hmmmm.........

I'm a Free Man!

Well, after a surprising unanimous vote, along with encouragement from my buddies............

Mr. Chin has been freed from Beard prison. For awhile he could see the light and a way out, but he was still stuck behind the bars. Then along came a rebel named Sergent Shaver, who busted through the bars and freed Mr. Chin for good.

The End

In other words, I'm clean-shaven! I felt sad and weird for a second or two while I was in the process of the shave, but it is a nice change. Below is a few pics: Before & After style!

Tomorrow is the last football game of the season for the Jimmies and it looks like it will be played in a little snow, so that should be interesting! Even though pep band was cancelled for the game due to weather, I still plan on going and cheering for the good ol' Jimmie squad! GO JIMMIES!

May the blogs continue to bring joy to our hearts,

Austin

Half Boy Half Tiger!

Hello everyone! I finally figured out how to contribute to this blog instead of just lurking : )

So Keegan is now 21 months old and has a big personality and a mind of his own...which made Halloween a bit more difficult this year than last. We had a tiger costume for him, but since he was not interested at all in the hood portion of the suit, he went as a super scary Half Boy Half Tiger (covered in chocolate).
Then we did attempt to sneak his Tiger hat on... as you can see, he was not at all thrilled and immediately removed it.
All in all it was a very good Halloween.

Election Day

When our friends Dean and Rebecca asked their daughter, Maggie (9) who she wanted to be for Halloween, she said "Sarah Palin". Rebecca's reply was: "well you probably won't get much candy in our neighborhood!" I hardly recognized her in readers, make-up and hair color. Colorado may be a swing state, but we live in a decidedly liberal neighborhood. I hope everyone voted and enjoys watching the coverage.

Halloween

What did everyone do for Halloween? What did you dress up as?

I was a flower garden, I wore a bunch of different floral patterns... everyone said I just looked normal.