tessa-enright.com

Exposaroonie

I just entered a photo for the challenge at Exposaroonie.

This is a web site that encourages people of all skill-levels to take pictures and submit them in their weekly challenges. Occasionally they have prizes.

The theme this time was Vintage. I'm not completely thrilled with my submission, but I figured I'd give it a try anyways.

Yeah, not so vintage, but oh well.

I would like to try to submit one again soon, except that the next one is a patriotic challenge, and I'm pretty sure they intended it to be American for the 4th of July and not German, so that should be tricky. But maybe I will think of something creative.

Check out the website and vote for your favorite submission. It doesn't have to be me, since there were so many better pictures submitted. Maybe you can even submit one yourself!

3 Comment(s)

Piano Man

Sometime on Tuesday afternoon, I realized that Elton John was playing a concert in Leipzig (which is about an hour away) this Thursday night (July 3rd).

I soon discovered that the concert was sold out, but that there were tickets on Ebay. Of course I couldn't understand Ebay in German, so I called Mike in and asked what he thought.

He said something to the effect of, "That's two days away, no."

But I had my little heart set on seeing Elton John and I started playing "Tiny Dancer" on repeat.

Mike finally realized that I really wanted to go, and so we tried to bid on some tickets. The first seller ignored our requests to pick up the tickets in Dresden, and he mailed them to Markersdorf, making it impossible for us to get them before Thursday.

This made Tessa sad, so we bid on some different tickets that we could pick up outside of the entrance on Thursday night.

Mike kept reminding me that the tickets could be fake or that the guy might not show up with them, but I was excited, none the less.

The afternoon before, as I was listening to "Candle in the Wind", I began to worry. What if it really does go wrong? Or what if the concert is lame, and Mike is bored, and it's all my fault?

Well, I shouldn't have been so silly because Elton John is awesome. Even though apparently, in Germany, he is not as famous as he is in the U.S. Mike told me he is well known for his Princess Diana version of "Candle in the Wind".

"But haven't you heard of "Benny and the Jets", "Crocodile Rock", or "Your Song?"

"My song?

"No, "Your Song"!

Sometimes I am really quite shocked by the differences in our musical tastes.

On the car ride there we started seeing grey clouds and heard on the radio that there was a weather warning for a storm in West Saxony, exactly where we were headed.

When we got to the concert, we found the man almost immediately, got our tickets, and got in. It all went very smoothly.

Our seats were not amazing, but that's what you get for barely paying half price for them. I could still see the huge screen, so I figured it would be okay until people started standing up, and then my height deficiencies would come into play.

Elton came on stage with his band and started with some song I don't know. Then he played, ahem, The B*tch is Back, and another one I didn't know. So far the concert was pretty tame. People were sitting, talking, and smoking (how rude!) as Elton played.

Finally Elton played "Tiny Dancer" and dedicated it to all the ladies. I thought, surely now everyone will get excited? But nobody seemed to even know the song.

I happily sang along to one of my favorite Elton songs, but began to wonder why some of these people even came to see it.

Elton played more songs, like "Levon", "Honkey Cat", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", and "Rocket Man". But still, not much enthusiasm. I was very surprised, because Rocket Man is quite a popular song in the U.S., I think.

Finally, Elton started playing "Sacrifice", which is just okay for me. And all of a sudden people started cheering and a crowd rushed the stage.

I couldn't believe it, but apparently everyone knew this song, even though I just vaguely remembered it as some song from the 90's. They also seemed to really like "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".

I asked Mike if we should go rush the stage, too, and he said yes, so we pushed our way up there, and got fairly close.

This is when the concert got really fun. Everyone was dancing (although there wasn't much singing since no one knew the words), and having fun. I was so close to Elton that I could see him and take his picture.

Mike and I danced while Elton played songs like "Crocodile Rock", "Benny and the Jets", and "Candle in the Wind".

Finally came the encore, and I knew that he absolutely had to play "Your Song", or I would be sorely disappointed. And he did. I was actually surprised when he came on and played "Pinball Wizard" as well.

Elton John was a lot of fun. He made me laugh with his facial expressions, and he really put on a good show. And it didn't rain, too much.

While we were there I saw posters for a concert on July 14th with Billy Idol. Now that I've got concert fever, who wants to go with me? Mike doesn't seem that interested!

I only included a few pictures of the concert, because I didn't want to bore those of you who aren't really interested. But if you are, there is an album with more here.

2 Comment(s)

Pictures

I finally am getting around to editing and uploading some of the photos I scanned while I was in Arizona.

I may not have mentioned it before, but I undertook the huge task of scanning all of my mother's photos. I did half of them last summer, and the other half during the week I stayed with them in May.

So, here are some photos taken while I was in Arizona in May with my family.

We have a strange family tradition of wearing funny hats while playing games. This is my dad and my brothers. We played Mexican Train Dominoes and Cranium.

My brothers and I the night of Nathaniel's high school grad. Would have been a great picture if he kept his eyes open!

No Comments yet

What Do You Think?

So, what do you think about my new look?

I think it's super cute, but that's just my opinion.

I get bored with things pretty quickly, so I suddenly had the urge to change things up a bit. I was playing around with photoshop and I liked what I did, so I went with it!

The banner has a picture of the Dresden Panorama, and I also tried to incorporate a "mail theme". Anyways, Mike said it was very "girly", and I said, "Well, I'm a girl!".

The title is new as well. There is a story behind it...

I had a summer job where I worked in the dorms during conferences at NAU. I lived there with the rest of the staff, so we spent lots of time together. They quickly learned that there were lots of things that I didn't like, such as the salad dressing touching the other food on the plate, being touched, or speaking to people before 10am, etc.

One of my co-workers suggested we make a list of the things "Tessa Disapproves of", but then she said,

"No, that would be too long. It would be much easier if we just made a list of things "Tessa Approves of". That would be much shorter.

So it kind of became a running gag. If I liked or disliked something, they would say "Tessa does/does not approve".

Anyways, I approve of this blog and its super cute new layout.

We finally got curtains. But they seemed to only sell really long, floor-length curtains. The woman at Toom said we could get them custom-made, and I said "Yeah, right!"

I decided that I would attempt to cut and hem the curtains on my own. I've never actually hemmed anything in my life, but how hard can it be?

Well, it was a little tricky, but I did it. And now my curtains are slightly crooked, but they are hanging and doing their thing. So I am happy.

2 Comment(s)

New Apartment

Just wanted to share a few pictures of our new apartment. I am really wiped out after all of the moving and unpacking, but we are finally settled and out of there! Just a few more little things on the list.

Penny was rather frightened after the move. She hid in the closet and wouldn't come out. But eventually when she did I showed her the balcony, and she cautiously sniffed around. I think she liked it.

Here is our kitchen. We still need chairs and curtains in all of the rooms.

This is a view of our apartment, we are on the first floor and that is our balcony. Most of the people have lots of plants and German flags (because of the Euro Cup) on their balconies, but I don't have much of a green thumb so we will probably just use it for storage and maybe buy some chairs to sit out there and eat or read.

Here is a view of my desk where I am sitting at this very moment...how interesting.

Penny was exhausted after all of the moving. It was hard working carrying all of that furniture, but she is a champ.

Here is our teeny little bedroom. Somehow we managed to fit all of the furniture in there, plus a new desk. And no, I never make my bed.

Here is our exciting bathroom. We picked orange...don't know why, since I hate orange. Although, I guess you could also say that my banner is orange? I'm just confused I guess.

I had to have this sign when I saw it. The verb kämpfen means to fight or to battle, so basically it's like a "Beware of Dog" sign. Pretty sweet. She is ferocious, watch out!

2 Comment(s)