City Places and High-Rise Spaces

I'll admit it wholeheartedly and without shame: I'm a city girl.

Despite my country girl tendencies to want to constantly have dirt under my finger nails from gardening, enjoying growing my own food, loving walking through fields and forests, loving hiking through miles of mountains, and wanting to live in a cottage in the middle of a pine forest, I have far more city tendencies than country tendencies.

I live in a lovely city, however it isn't the kind of city that I so much prefer. I love big cities. Flashing lights and skyscrapers, eclectic people groups and styles, museums and history on every corner; indeed, cities are my favorite and always will be.

I don't get to go to real big cities very often; perhaps two to four times a year. But I will spring at any chance I can possibly get to see the city skyline of some lovely place like Chicago. In April, I got the chance to go to a big city. The big city of the South: Atlanta. I go to Atlanta relatively frequently, but its almost never just to hang out and have fun. However, this time it was. My cousin, Macy, is a senior in high school this year and she wanted to have a senior trip. The destination: Atlanta.

Macy discovered a month or so ago that The Fox Theatre would soon be presenting Les Miserables, so she bought tickets for four, and we planned a trip up to Atlanta.

We arrived in Atlanta late in the afternoon on a day in late April, and went up to our hotel, which was right across the street from the Fox. Macy and I, admittedly, are not exactly used to acting upscale, high class, and rich. Trying to pull it off when walking in and seeing this was difficult:

As neat as I suppose it would be to be truly swanky, I don't think it would be nearly as much fun. When you're rich and often exposed to fancy architecture and cool big city adventures, I suppose things like this wouldn't take your breath away as much. You wouldn't take as much pleasure in it. So although I may want to act swanky, I don't think I ever would want to be that way.

We walked into the hotel, dressed up for our night at the Fox. I always greatly appreciate going into places like this, because I get to see those truly big city people. Somehow I think I've always had a fantasy about being the wife of a big-business, big-city guy and being that woman who walks around in her business skirt and black pumps in fancy hotels. And in this kind of hotel, you see those kinds of women. I've always loved how neat and professional they look, and imagined that I myself might be that schnazzy one day.

These nice, lovely men carried our bags upstairs for us (so nice to not have to drag my hundred pound bag stuffed with half of my belongings up 14 floors), and we got to look around our hotel room a bit before heading out to dinner.

{this was just the living room. we also had a kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms!}

After examining our room, we went downstairs to go find a restaurant. Once outside, we walked in a big circle only to come back around to the front of our hotel, when we saw an Italian restaurant diagonally across from our hotel, and decided to head in there since we had almost no time to eat before the show. Once we got in, we had to wait for a while, but once we got our seat, everything was super quick. Our waiter was a nice young man who was very professional and quick to make sure we got our meal and got out the door before the show started. I ordered the best salad I've ever had in my life. Most restaurants? Hello cheap iceberg salad. This restaurant? I got the fanciest salad made entirely of arugula with this awesome lemon dressing on top with cheese and some other fancy toppings. It was delish, and I have to admit, I felt pretty schmancy eating an arugula salad. 

After we finished eating, we walked up half a block at the most to the Fox theatre, and sat down probably 20 seconds after the show had started - we barely made it in time. It was absolutely excellent! Despite the fact that we were sitting in nearly the back of the theatre, it was a wonderful show. The singers were incredibly talented and the props and movement were wonderful. Eponine was definitely my favorite, tho  Jean Valjean can hardly be ignored. Everyone was absolutely wonderful!

However, after a three hour long show, I was quite ready to be headed back to the hotel, which thankfully was right across the street. We headed upstairs and Macy and I got some pictures outside on our three inch wide balcony that we could barely fit on.

The next morning Macy and I had planned on going up to the roof top pool and swimming for a while, but we had gotten to bed so late after the show we just slept late. After we got up we headed downstairs to a restaurant they have in the hotel, whose fruit, I might add, was delicious but ridiculously overpriced. Despite their overpriced fruit, everything was amazing; I had the most delicious french toast I've ever had in my life, and I even tried a raspberry for the first time. (and yes, I hated it. seriously, who eats those things?)

We sat outside for a bit and then we went up to the rooftop pool. It was quite lovely: there was a pool in the lower part, and then you could walk up a few stairs for a spectacular view of midtown Atlanta. We were quite close to the tallest building in Atlanta which excited me profusely. I do love skyscrapers quite a lot. Macy and I proceeded to take several pictures up there as well:

After our adventures up on the rooftop (and as Macy and I will both attest, there were indeed some adventures ;), we went back down to our room to pack up and head out. I must say I'll miss that hotel more than almost any hotel I've had the pleasure of staying in. Especially considering the fact that one of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had stayed in it once. I do love old, swanky hotels.

After heading out of the hotel, we proceeded over to The World of Coke, where we tried a ridiculous amount of flavors of Coke products from around the world, most of which, I must add, were absolutely repulsive. I think I'll stick with my every day bottle of Coke.

We grabbed lunch (and got to watch a bunch of people learning how to ride a segway.... and as Macy so astutely put it, they looked like rolly pollies) and then went to Dillards to shop a bit. I found a really cute dress in the junior's dress department which I got for eighteen bucks. My thrifty mother has taught me well. I know a deal when I see one, and getting a dance dress for eighteen bucks is most *definitely* a deal.

After our outing at Dillards, we decided it was about time to head back. But before we did, we stopped at a Midtown Starbucks (um. can we say dream work place?) to grab a snack and some coffee. I got my usual iced chai tea latte, and my mom and I split our usual old fashioned doughnut. We sat outside and snagged a few more pictures before heading out:

 {I think at this point I was catching on to the whole swanky thing.

Don't you think?

really?

No?

okay...}

After our adventure to Starbucks and getting wind blown into our face, coffee, and food, we headed back out. We had had a lovely time, and I'm not sorry to admit that I pined away for at least fifteen minutes about wanting to live in a high rise apartment.

In fact, I determined after leaving that once I finish college, I'm going to live in a high rise apartment in Atlanta, get a cat and name it Cashmere, work in a Starbucks, and go to art museums all the time. Good? Good.

As strange as I might sound when I refer to Atlanta and any big city, it really can be explained. I lived the majority of my life in two ugly little towns. However, when I was seven or eight, a love for big cities and travel entered my brain, and ever since it has grown. Going to Chicago when I was eight didn't help anything. I remember that vacation as the best one I ever had. From a young age my love for travel has grown, and my love for travel includes big cities. 

Big cities have some kind of a hold on me. Like I said previously, although I do have some country girl tendencies, the big city has some sort of grasp on me. I can't explain what it is exactly. I've always loved different cultures, ideas, and fashion, so I know that that is part of it. But there seems some kind of mystery of a big city: how everything and everyone fits together in some ridiculous yet artful conglomeration. How history, art, culture, ideas, businesses, celebrities, average Joes, music, and life somehow mix into this great place where skyscrapers abound and there is never a moment when there isn't some movement of life. 

I suppose that is part of why I love a big city so much. Everything and everyone is always on the move. It's in a constant state of change. And although I don't like some change, I do love other kinds. The kinds you see in cities. New ideas, new faces, new opportunities springing up on every corner of the sidewalk. Inspiration galore. It's a lovely place for an aspiring writer, photographer, and art historian to be. 

A big city, to me, is a piece of art in and of itself. Art tends to revolve around a story, history, an idea, a person. A big city revolves around all of those things and then some. It's abounding with all of them, and coming up with new ones every day.

Big cities are lovely places. They will always have a hold on me. They will always catch my eye. They will always make me want to hold on to them a little bit longer, explore them a little bit more, and watch the movement pass by. Those movements pass every moment and if you don't catch them at that exact second, they'll be gone forever. Oh the moments of a big city: they're entrancing and beautiful. Elegant and mysterious. And if no one else misses them, I will. I'll wish I had seen them before they passed. I'll wish I had been there before they were gone. But I'll imagine them. Wish for them. And perhaps one day, I'll create some of those little moments that make up a big city. 

Every city is a living body.
{st. augustine} 

On Art

My attention has been called to art, as of late.
First I watched a session in the Truth Project that dealt with art.
Then our high school intern at church did a blog post on art.
And suddenly I felt compelled to give my own thoughts on the matter of art.

I love art. In all it's glory and everything about it. There are so many different types of art: painting, drawing, photography, writing, music - it's all beautiful and it's all a gift from God.
Ever considered art as a gift from God?
I honestly feel like God gave me the talent of photography. Which honestly is a pretty gargantuan job He has handed me. God has created all this beauty. And some people are given a particular talent to show that beauty to others. With photography, I feel like I can show at least some of the beauty He has created in my little corner of the world.
Some people are given a gift of painting - being able to express feelings and show different places, objects, emotions, and people in their own special way. Not only are they showing the beauty He has created through whatever they are painting, they're showing the beauty He has created in their souls. No person paints or does any kind of art the same way. Each person has their own way of expressing art, and through the way they express it, they are showing a part of themselves.
Art is beauty. Showing beauty. Glorifying God for the beauty He has created.

As I watched the Truth Project, I really was drawn to the fact that Del Tackett was saying so many Christians view art as evil. As wrong. As "worldly."
But how can that be? If art is showing beauty, then how can it be evil or worldly? God created all of this beauty. Shouldn't we share it? How is sharing His beauty wrong or evil? Comprehending this question was a new view for me. Honestly, I've never viewed art as evil. Obviously, art can be twisted into something bad. Everything can be twisted. But inherently, is it worldly? No.
A "guest speaker" for the Truth Project, who is an artist, said it beautifully. He said that art, obviously, can be twisted into something evil.
But as Christians, it is our job to twist it back into something pure. Something good. Something beautiful.

God is the founder of all beauty. He is the founder of art. Christians have been given the job of retaining the purity of what He has created.

However, art has taken a twist for the worse in the past century.
And I don't mean to be a hater or anything, but I honestly think we have a problem when there is modern art and metal music in the world.
You may feel completely different about this kind of thing, but how can I say anything else? Modern art and metal music is not retaining the beauty God has created. When Paul says in Philippians to think about things that are pure, lovely, and excellent, he was talking about literally everything. Including art.
Think about it. As Christians, are we not supposed to be supporting and creating lovely things? Obviously. And when we support the modern art movement, we're supporting "art" that looks like a five year old's scribbles. Lovely? Not quite. It's formless. It has no shape or beauty. Some say, "Oh, modern art is just expressing the painters feelings." Yes, but isn't that what artists have been doing for the past thousands of years? Compare the following paintings:




Now. Compare. First picture. Did it express the artist's "emotions"? Perhaps. But can you tell what the heck it's supposed to "express"? Well. I can't. And if you can't even tell what it expresses, does it matter that the "artist" was supposedly trying to express anything?
Second picture. (favorite artist by the way) Does it express emotion? Obviously. To me, this painting captures some of the strongest emotions I've ever seen in a painting. But you can tell what it is. It's beautiful. It's creative. It has form and meaning.

However, after all of this talk of showing God's beauty, I want to make something clear.
Now you'll recall at the beginning of this post, I mentioned that my intern high school pastor did a blog post on art. And although this has already crossed my mind, I think he put it so beautifully, I had to quote him:

"I believe that this is when God will be most satisfied, when His people find joy, beauty, peace, and goodness in all the good things that He has created and when they produce art that is no longer a 'Christian' version of what the world likes, but art that is so true and glorious that the world cannot help but notice."
-Josh

Beautifully put? I think so.
For a while, a few years ago, I thought everything should be Christian. Christian this and Christian that. Music, art, just about anything that could be turned into something Christian.
I no longer think that way.
As I said earlier, God created beauty. So beauty doesn't have to be turned into something Christian. It already is. It's God-given. And honestly, don't you think we'd reach more people if our art wasn't "Christian" but was something that was, as Josh said, so absolutely glorious that the world would want to reach out and touch the beauty? Art is full of God. Sure, people can try to remove Him from beauty, but isn't it sort of hard to remove the Creator from the created thing? It's like trying to remove the fact that an artist painted a picture. It's like saying the artist has no relevance to the picture. But isn't the piece of art just a reflection of the artist? In other words, art doesn't have to be Christian to reach other people, or to be beautiful and completely relevant to God and glorifying Him.
If He gave you a gift of art, use it with all your might to glorify Him. It can reach the lost, lighten the soul of a Christian, and bring joy to a dark world.

Amazing?
Yes.