Mar 22, 2015

I went back to highschool.

So, I went back to high school this weekend. To be more exact, I felt like I was back in high school this weekend, and I was the happiest I have been in like... a while.

If you knew me in my good ol' high school days, you should know that I lived at live local shows or at The House of Blues trying to sneak backstage or trying to find the line of vans that all my favorite bands practically lived in. I was a "band groupie," without all of the inappropriate-ness of being a groupie. I was in love with band boys. Obsessed in love. Specifically, the skinny, greasy-haired boys of The Maine. So I totally had a huge fangirl moment this Friday when I got the chance to see my old favorite band for the first time in five years.

My friend Kate and I chose last minute to go to South By So What in Grande Prairie, the knock-off Dallas version of SXSW. Not quite as cool but hey, it was totally worth saving the gas money and the HUGE amounts of money I know we would spend in Austin. So we spent our day at the Quicktrip baseball stadium filled with black hoodied, blue hair'd, way too much eyeliner'd people that we definitely did not fit in with. Kate in her pink flannel and me in my black jeans and crochet top with my flannel around my waist. Rockin' our Vans. We tried at least. But we made the best of it, considering it was sprinkling/raining all day, we just sipped some beers and listened to good music we had never even heard of before. The best part of the day by far was getting to by the meet and greet for The Maine and embarrass myself with how excited I got and my stutter-filled story of how my best friends and I used to be in love with them. They just laughed at me and told me to enjoy the show and my beer. So I did. I loved the whole set, even though I only knew the two old songs they sang. I havent kept up with their new stuff. I was jumping singing along in the rain, I was in high school Gable heaven.

I like high school Gable and the things that made her happy. She was so simple. Good friends, good music, good vibes. You know, there's just something giddy about the atmosphere and the sounds and the people that make these things fun and exciting. It's just different/ what I loved years ago, I just forgot. I want to keep this thing going, soooooo Edgefest (cough cough EScott)?!?!

The Maine (above) & Nick Santino (below)


Mar 6, 2015

the best place on earth

Riga, Latvia. Really anywhere in Latvia. The cities, the countrysides, the people, the food, the culture, the music, the language, the weather, the all around feeling I start to get when I am even a week away from knowing I will soon be in the land of potatoes and dill. It all began five summers ago, when I went over with a group of youth from my church, and ever since, I would say I am obsessed. Why Latvia? Honestly, I can't even explain it. It's just like when you say you fall in love with somebody at first sight, I fell in love with this country at first step off the plane.

The past five summers have been filled with experiences, friendships, lessons, joy, tears, laughter, days I thought I would literally die, days I thought I never ever wanted to leave, and days that will never be erased from my memory no matter how old I grow. I could talk about Latvia forever, seriously, so I will try to keep this as short as I can.

Year one, I went to Latvia thinking it was in Africa just a week before our plane took off. No joke. For those of you that don't know, Latvia is located on the Baltic Sea in Eastern Europe.


We ended up going to an absolutely beautiful campsite in Ergli, Latvia with a group of youth from Vilandes Church, my hometown church's sister church in Riga (our connection to this random country). This campsite is where I realized that I couldn't not come back. The second to last night of camp, the night's message was translated from Latvian to our American group. I remember hearing the words from the man speaking, talking about the forgiveness and mercy of God, and that even though we are all sinners and have all done wrong, our Lord loves us endlessly. A few months before, I had made some decisions that I regretted, and lost friendships that I was somehow lucky enough to regain years later. I had been at an all time low, and I felt joy just being in this country, at this camp, and that night as a huge rain storm rolled in, and as we were singing songs of worship squished under a tent, I could literally feel the rain and something deeper than that washing me clean, like I was forgiven. It was the coolest feeling I had ever experienced, and I fell in love with it. 
Every summer since, we have been going back to Riga and helping our friends at Vilandes run multiple camps for children and youth. Year two was a 30 mile hike camp on the beaches of Latvia (see video below). Years three and four, we began a program called Ceribu Iela (Street of Hope). We held a three day day-time sports camp for children that lived in an area of Riga that was known as dangerous, and these kids were known as street kids. Just loving on them and having fun with them, we saw them beginning to change. Year five, this past summer, we were able to take these Street of Hope kids to a campsite for three days, and really get to know them better, and help them get to know Jesus. It is really something amazing to see a child who can't even speak your language, or has never even heard of Jesus, come to know Christ. Some of these campers at Street of Hope, I have known for three years now. I get to watch them grow up and learn about loving others, loving themselves, and the love of Christ, and it's basically what encourages me everyday. These kids encourage me everyday.

I have a passion for Latvia. I have dreams about bringing my friends and family there and introducing them to the places and the people I love. That place, especially Vilandes church, is another home to me, and my Latvian friends are my family. Latvia is and will always be a part of me.


Latvia 2011 from gable mansfield on Vimeo.


...

Mar 5, 2015

my sister















Today, I was bored. I woke up and there was snow everywhere and the office was closed, so I made the call that I would make today a lazy day. Lazy day meaning watching eight episodes of Always Sunny, some design work for my parents, and a little design work for fun. I ended up spending my time on this geometric design from a picture of my sister that I took a few months ago. I think it ended up pretty sweet.



this is what's cool right now, so..


Currently watching:
Broad City on Comedy Central via Hulu
I literally can't stop laughing. It's like Workaholics but set in New York City and follows two girls just doing whatever the heck they want. Every character (including all the minor ones you meet throughout) are spot on. Watch it.


Currently reading:
Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist
This book is "a collection of stories about God, and about life, and about the thousands of daily ways in which an awareness of God changes and infuses everything. It offers bright and varied glimpses of hope and redemption, giving us room to breathe, to break down and break through, calling us to our best possible lives."
-- I highly recommend it. Loving it so far.




Recently downloaded:
  • Where Are Ü Now by Skrillex & Diplo Present Jack Ü (feat. Justin Bieber), thanks Brooke
  • Lost Stars by Adam Levine
  • Shiver by Lucy Rose, thanks Girls - Season 4 ep. 5 "Sit In"
Rediscovered and on repeat:
  • Fear of Flying by A Rocket to the Moon; Take me back to highschool again, please.
  • Get Back by Demi Lovato, always.


Mar 4, 2015

ask me my name

Clearly, my name's Gable. Table with a G. Not Gabby, Gabbi, short for Gabriella, not Gabriel. Gable. Yeah I know it's weird. It's a family name, and it might be one of the best conversation starters I've got. My name is one of my favorite things about me. I used to hate it because kids at school would be like "OHHH GAY BULL lol"... clearly it's hilarious when you're a 14 year old kid going through puberty... It's fun getting a conversation started simply by a name; for me it leads to my family and then my friends and blah blah blah we're chatting about who knows what. But the sad thing I realized the other day is that people these days (myself included) most of the time when a person who holds the door open, or welcomes you into your work building, or brings out your food, we don't even bother to ask what their name is.

Yesterday I got lost in a parking garage downtown that I was lucky enough to earn a keycard for, and by earn I mean work was tired of expensing my parking. Considering my awful luck with this stupid parking garage the first day (my card declined so I had to take a ticket, I got lost for 15 minutes trying to find my car, lost trying to figure my way out of the garage, and held up a line of 5 cars / made them reverse to let me out when my card wouldn't lift the gate, and the parking attendant gave me dirty faces manually lifting the gate for me in the rain), of course I got lost the second time. I literally ended up in an underground maze of cars, identical corners, creepy whistling workers, big cement walls, and virtually no exit.
After an elevator and two sets of stairs all leading me nowhere, I found a nice lady who looked like she knew where she was going, so I said "Can you help me get out of here." So this nice lady led me right back through my footprints of course, and to the elevator up to my exit into downtown civilization. As we walked and talked about the freezing weather, and which building we were headed to, I didn't even think about asking her name, I just continually thanked her for helping me find my way. So as I write this post, I can't help but think how silly it is that somebody went out of their way to help me find mine, and I can't even tell you her name.



I was watching this weeks episode of Girls, which is the reason why I am talking about this topic and why this is titled Ask Me My Name, aka the name of freakin' Mimi-Rose Howard's strange art show. Obviously Hannah, being the psycho she is, shows up at MRH's show with her rando date, clearly fucking everything up like usual, and long story short, ends up stuck on a basically date with her ex-bf's new gf. As the two are awkwardly hating life in the cab together, MRH asks the driver "Is your name Adeem" and then tells him that he has a beautiful name. The driver perks up and says thank you, and MRH sits back all happy and stuff. At first I was like ummm okay, and MRH is like hammering Hannah to get her to say what she thought of her show, and Hannah says "it was like Beyonce to me" which made me lol. But then a few minutes later she explains to Hannah what her "art" means.

After hitting an old lady with their cab, a stolen coconut popsicle, and a painfully awkward Adam convo, Mimi-Rose starts talking about a picture she saw from the 1940s, where this little girl was standing next to a row of soldiers, and the caption just said "Girl." At first I agreed with Hannah like wtf does this even have to do with the conversation, and then she says this:

"I think it's so easy for us to get wrapped up in ourselves, in our own lives that we just completely lose our empathy. We don't want to get to know other people, and I get it, it's easier to not ask and not tell, its easier not to know someone's name."

Mimi-Rose, this is probably the only time I will ever like you, except for when you say ya'll should just go to the bar and start drinking heavily. But really, it's so easy these days to just walk by a person, or just smile a thank you, or even just look at the ground to avoid eye-contact. But why do we do this? We're all guilty of it. We don't want to get to know random people, mainly because we are too busy worrying about ourselves. She's right. It's so much easier to not ask and not tell, because who knows what could happen or who the person could end up being and doing. Why don't we smile to the cute guy next to us on the elevator on the way to work and say "Hi, I'm Gable. What's your name?"

I don't know.

Maybe because we think it sounds stupid, or we feel weird being so friendly in a world that can feel not so friendly. At the end of the episode, Hannah is still wearing her Home-Depo-looking smock that reads "ask me my name," ordering a falafel sandwich and the cashier asks her name. Hannah gets all perky and is like "my name is Hannah, what is your name?!" He totally blows her off, obviously just asking for the order. Maybe that's why. Because we can feel good and perky about being friendly one second, and the next second we're like, well you were rude when I was nice so why even bother. But you know, if we don't even bother, then where's the opportunity at all?

So tomorrow, I have decided I'm going to take Mimi-Rose Howard's advice (as much as I despise her), and try to get to know a strangers name. Even if it's just name, what's the harm in that?



Mar 3, 2015

hey, sup?

My name is Gable, and I feel like starting a blog because I feel like it. Why does anybody really start a blog... because they feel like it. You know whenever I read a funny blog or a smart person post or just like a post that makes me say "how the fack do you even come up with something like that" it makes me jealous. I want to be cool and write some stuff on the internet, so why the heck not.

Anyways. I have a cat, she's a badass, her name is Riga after my favorite place on earth. I love traveling and I want to go everywhere that Buzzfeed posts pictures of. I don't eat meat because I am stuck in an ongoing competition with my sister, and I will not lose. Jk I cheat sometimes, but like only when I've had a beer or two and I smell chili fries. Jk that's only happened like once maybe twice. I kinda know what I want to do with my life, which drives my parents insane because I am avoiding getting a real job, but hey, I am enjoying what I'm doing right now. I'm living the intern life at D Magazine, a freakin insanely awesome internship experience so far. But clearly I have enough time on my hands to imagine time to blog, so we'll see how this goes.

Up there ^^^* That's a picture of Riga, Latvia, not my cat. I will probably go on a rant someday/many days about how much I love that place and those people.

And over there >>>>* That's from my trip to New York 3 days ago to visit a few good friends. Clearly we fed some birds and did other fun stuff like that, doubt I'll talk about all of what happened that trip, partially because it is all a big beer garden filled blur. Haha just kidding, it was a great time. Shoutout to my best friend since 1st grade Devin for that. But yeah. I like seeing new places, and NY was a great and beautiful time and place.

*pictures obvi subject to change, so if you're reading and confused, I CHANGED THE PICS, sorry you missed out.

Here's a pic of Riga, my cat!! Ciau!