Montana Folk Festival 2013

This past weekend marked the annual Montana Folk Festival, a 3 day festival with tons of live performers on 5 stages. I might venture to say that this year has been the best Folk Fest so far! All of the performers were lovely and the weather was perfect, not to mention all of the delicious food vendors! I got to meet some of the bands and performers when I volunteered at artist check-in, and they were all very very nice. Possibly my favorite group of performers was Mythili Prakash, a traditional Bharata Natayam music and dance group. The dancer was so graceful. Every part of her body was perfectly choreographed, down to her hands, eyes, and eyebrows. And her outfit was absolutely stunning!! I don't have pictures, but I have hyperlinked their name above to the website. Among my other favorites were Fendika, Debo Band, and Karan Casey. Check them out!

Due to the current camera situation, I only have a few photos to post, but here they are!

 At the "Original Stage". This headframe was converted into a stage that is now used for the folk fest, along with other summer events.

Fendika performing on the Broadway stage

Jessica, Me, and Maggie enjoying the music!

The Original Stage lit up at night-so pretty!

So all in all, this was a wonderful Folk Fest. I hope it will be just as good next year!

Broken Cameras and (thankfully) Not-Broken Scanner!

So I haven't posted in a few days... heh heh... but I have (kind of) an excuse! As I may have mentioned, my camera broke before we left for Greece and I have been borrowing Maggie's since. But guess what? Maggie's camera just broke too, leaving me unable to take more photos to post! Fortunately Maggie and I were able to get a few photos from the Montana Folk Festival that happened this weekend, amd those will go up tomorrow night!

Anyways, for today I decided to show you some drawings that I have done recently. thank goodness my scanner still works (fingers crossed)!

 A super fancy letter R I copied from a picture I found online

 

I sketched this from a picture in June's issue of Teen Vogue... I tend to draw from pictures a lot. But I guess that's the way you learn!

These are a few doodles I did that became the "Coolest Kids on the Block" photos!

 Kitties!

 A slightly lopsided person wearing Indian wedding jewelry

 Some flowers... Right now I would say my favorite flower is a toss-up between daisies and Queen Anne's lace

I drew these at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Even with limbs and stuff missing, the statues were incredible! These are of the goddess Nike

I drew this at our villa on Alonnosis. My swimsuit and sarong hanging to dry

And a skull

So hopefully I will have access to a camera soon and more photos will be coming. Folk Fest pictures tomorrow!

Greece: Part 4

Double Cool With Knobs!
Vissis Street in Athens

Okay, this set is a little weird, but I had to put it in. Athens has an entire street dedicated to doorknobs! I read about it online before we left (the article said "every doorknob known to mankind can be seen here") and I knew we had to go there. I NEEDED a new (Greek) doorknob for my room, I tell you! So on our last day in Athens, I dragged part of our group with me to go see what was sure to be the most doorknobs anyone would ever see in the same place at the same time ever. And it was! There must have been 20 different doorknob stores with every imaginable shape, size, and style. It was magnificent. Unfortunately, we were there on a Sunday and all of the shops were closed, so I didn't get my Greek doorknob after all. But I feel honored just to have seen such a collection of doorknobs.

Also, here is a super cool doorknob we found on the island. The Greeks really know their doorknobs!

Okay, so that was me geeking out about doorknobs. I don't even know. But to redeem myself, I would like to close by showing you a lovely compilation of graffiti in Athens and cute kitties on Alonnisos:

When I saw this parking job, the first thing I thought was. "Who let Maggie park their car??"

There were so many cats on the island!

Honorable mention to these dogs who, despite not being cats, were very cute.

Thank you for looking at my pictures from Greece! More non-Greece stuff coming

Greece: Part 3

Alonnisos
Pictures from Alonnisos, the island we spent 10 days on

Maggie took this picture on the Ferry to the island. The trip there took about 5 hours, stopping at two other islands before reaching Alonnisos

Maggie, Mackenzie, and I went scuba diving!! It was a really unique experience. The equipment was hard to maneuver in at first, but we got the hang of it! Definitely something I would do again

 Coming out of the water after 45 continuous minutes under the surface! Completely surreal

A harbor we stopped in on our way to Alonnisos

Our lovely villa! This house was beautiful, and perfect for our group! We were right next to Votsi Beach, a beautiful inlet with amazingly clear water. It was so nice for night swimming!

Most of the beaches were rocky like this. A bit hard on the feet, but the upside is no sand in your swimsuit!

An abandoned lighthouse on the beach. Maggie and I went inside. It was really cool and a bit creepy!

There was an old abandoned boat at one beach we visited and this message was posted on the side

Boats in Votsi Bay

A house in the old town on the island. The whole area was so rustic and beautiful!

My dad found a sea urchin and brought it ashore! It felt really cool and it was awesome to see the way it's spines moved

On a boat tour, we went to a monastery on a secluded island. The steps leading up the hill were really steep!

At the monastery

After that long climb in the heat we had to go swimming from the boat! The water is actually that color!

Maggie on the boat

On the way home we saw dolphins! It was definitely one of the best moments of the trip. I was listening to this song and it was perfect!

Crustacean death traps! One night we went to a restaurant right on the water and had fresh seafood. I'm not a huge fan of seafood, but it was pretty good!

I covered Maggie in rocks while she was resting on the beach. When she got up, she had rock-shaped tan lines!

A museum on the island had a huge camera collection that was really awesome to see. They had cameras dating back to the 1800s. It's too bad there isn't much of a reference in the picture, but these cameras are only about two inches wide! So cute, and perfect for sleuthing.

I need this Spider-Man camera!

Maggie and Calvin combing the beach for sea glass

These lovely keychain tag things came from a Greek ice cream package. I thought they were cute.

Handmade beeswax candles from a  store in the Old Town

On the last day on the island, Maggie and I walked to this gorgeous lookout point. The sun was just coming up and the water was unbelievably clear and blue

Maggie and I threw this into the Mediterranean  sea so that some fish will find it and be touched. Love you Maggie!!

Okay, so that's it for the island! I have a few other random pictures from the trip to post. Those are coming soon!