poland

krakow via condenasttraveler

Ebert and I are going to Poland in June and we're beyond excited! There's a work conference in Krakow that Ebert will be attending and I'll just be tagging along. Do you want to know the best part? Ebert's oldest and dearest friend lives 45 minutes outside of Krakow with his family. We haven't seen Matt and Natalia in a few years and we've never met their 4 year-old daughter Gabriella, so when this opportunity presented itself we could not pass it up. It's going to be so great to see all of them.

The first part of our week-long trip will be spent in the town that our friends live in, then we'll spend the rest of our time in Krakow. Ebert will be busy at his conference when we're in Krakow so I'll be venturing around the city by myself. My sister has traveled to Europe twice by herself (Spain & Italy) and I've always been a little envious of having that kind of solo adventure. I looked into flying out a few days before or after to visit other cities, like Prague or Vienna, but it just didn't work out. I guess seeing Krakow's sites solo and flying over on a separate plane will be as close to traveling by myself as I'll get on this trip.

Ebert is then going to London. His company recently opened a London office and he wants to check it out since he'll be nearby. I decided not to join him for this part of the trip since it will be all work, work, work for him and I know that I'll just want to play, play, play. In 2007, we were in London for about 24-hours. It just so happened that we had a long lay-over on our way back from Matt and Natalia's wedding in Austria. It was a whirl-wind 24-hours. We tried to see as much as we could in a short amount of time and we succeeded. We were already exhausted but all that running around just made us even more exhausted. I'd really like to visit London again but at a much slower pace when it can be a vacation trip and not a work trip. We'll have to plan for that next time.

Although my dream trip with Ebert is to go to Italy. We've both been before but never together. Now that will be an awesome adventure! Where are some of your dream places to visit?

low @ the sh*tty barn sessions

I'm excited to finally have something worth sharing with you. I should have posted this last week but I've been in a bit of a creative funk. What's new, right? I won't go into it now, I can talk about creative blocks another time, and besides I don't want to give it anymore energy. Instead, I just want to share with you the awesome time that Ebert and I had at The Shitty Barn Sessions.

Last Wednesday we left work early and adventured up to Spring Green, WI to see one of our favorite bands, Low, play in a shitty barn. Actually, it wasn't shitty at all. It was intimate and serene- there was a simple casualness of just listening to great music.

Before the concert started we sat on the grass enjoying some Beef and Vegan Burgundy from Enos Farm, a local Spring Green farm. They served it with a side of bread slathered with delicious homemade butter, which you can see in one of the pictures below. Seriously, it was so good I could have eaten a whole loaf of just bread and butter. Our dessert options were either a chocolate chip cookie or macaroons, so, of course, we got both. And there was a pretty good selection of beer and wine for our drinking pleasure.

The show began around dusk so we made our way into the barn and sat on our camp chairs in the last row, which was only 8 rows back. There was this magical sense of community that you don't experience at typical concert venues. People weren't texting or taking selfless, only the occasional photo of the band. They were really just experiencing the music, being in the moment. The night air was cool and crisp so we huddled under a blanket. We could smell the campfire as Low played one favorite song after another. And, at one point, a bat flew in through the open barn doors.

All of these moments made this evening one of my all time favorite music experiences, especially since I was able to share it with this guy.

Check out these official photos from the evening and then watch my favorite Low music video.