#84.

This musician and this song.

#83.

Laughter.

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." --E. E. Cummings

#82.

Music. And Blogs.

I was catching up on all the blogs I follow today and got inspired by a few of them. One of them just kept me laughing. So please check out the blog nothingbutbonfires.com. You won't regret it. 

I was reading one post about her favorite songs from this past year (read about it here). She creatively titled the post "Songs That Drove My Neighbors Crazy". I could say the same since I share her sentiments about hearing a song, deciding that I love it, then playing it on repeat for DAYS. Loudly. Listening to the song usually involves movement of some kind. I say 'movement' because I doubt some people would recognize my jumping around as a form of dance. In any case, this is my list of songs that have chronicled my life in 2011 (either by choice, accident, or force).

1. Mil Pasos by Soha

I blogged about this one awhile ago. Read about it here.

2. "Siciliano" by Antonia Vivaldi

My friend Matt shared this with me. I knew Matt from high school and he was in a band from a genre that I had little tolerance for. (I would say that the jury is out until he sends me a song that changes my mind. I'm open to it.)  To my surprise, I've recently discovered that this cat has an affinity for classical music. Very cool and attractively impressive in my book. He shared this song with me in November and it was pretty much the only song I could fall asleep listening for a week. LOVED it. It's beautiful. Take a listen.

3. "It's Over Now" by Marc Broussard. 

Worst song to listen to during a break-up? Sure. As long as you have multiple boxes of tissues within reach -- it'll be great. Everyone has a song like this stored in their own history of "break-up jams". Especially when it comes to us women. It's like we need this period of self-inflicted torturous crying to move on. Eventually. After we listen to the song just one more time. One more and we'll be ok. We swear.

(I do have a male friend who listened to "Indiana" by Jon McLaughlin for a long period of time. That song is a real depressing tear-jerker. So maybe it's not just something us women do.)

4. "Summer Rain" by Matthew Morrison

Mmmm guilty pleasure. I have not been kissed in the rain so I don't understand the stereotypical girly desire be kissed in the rain. However, this song definitely helps the fascination.

5. Blow by Ke$ha. 

My roommate while I lived in Greece played this song often and it was quite catchy and got stuck in my head very easily. So it's on this list by default.

6. "Mary Magdalene" by Foxes Have Foxholes.

Cute. Sweet. Sentimental. Kind. Lovely.  My friend CJ gets the credit for introducing me to this band and this song.

7. "Wet" by Nicole Sherzinger

Ahhhhhmmmm. She's hot. She's got it. You can't deny it.

8. "Brooklyn" by Wakey Wakey

The piano in this song is what made me fall so effortlessly in love with it. I can imagine the piano playing, then realizing it has company, and politely apologizing. But the company would whisper, "No. Please. It's ok. I insist. Carry on with those keys." 

9. "Captivated" by Stephanie Germanotta

Girl's got pipes! Points to you if you know this artist. 

10. "My Racing Thoughts" -- Jack's Mannequinn

Jack's Mannequinn, Coldplay, Yellowcard....they all came out with new stuff this year and it was difficult picking one song. But this one is on my "Running" playlist so I hear it a lot. Boom. Win.

11. "I Look So Good Without You" by Jessie James. 

Anything by Jessie James, really. She was my summer shower party jam. I had a job as a Resident Asisstant for a summer college-prep program. All the girls on the hall were about 18 and belted her music from deep down inside some raw, emotional place where someone did them wrong. Classic behavior. We've all been there. (It was Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" for me. I totally get it.)

12. "Poema"

I took a class on Musicality in your Argentine Tango this fall and for one whole hour and a half class, this was the only song we danced to. It really is a pretty song but I unchecked it in my tango playlist after that class. I'm ok with a "poema" break for a bit.

#81.

Laundry Day (in the winter).

In the summer, my laundry piles up for a long time. And when it finally gets done, it takes an equally long time sitting around before getting folded. And then some time passes before it gets put away.

But in the winter, my A-game comes out. I do laundry like a boss. I love the feeling of clean, comforting, cozy warm things to wrap around my body. In this moment, life is perfect. And every day I dedicate to doing laundry, this song always gets stuck in my head.

#80.

Toll Booth People.

There's a reason I don't own an EZPass. I honestly get excited to interact with someone completely random and unexpected. I love surprises and you never know what person you're gonna get. You could get the woman that calls you "babydoll", whose hair has a blue tint. Or you could get the guy with the waxed eyebrows that doesn't open his mouth to say a single word. (Like, any word! Say anything! It doesn't even have to be English!)  Or you  could encounter the man hidden behind a plethora of tattoos....the one that, on the hand that reaches for your money, probably has some unexpectedly terrifying graphic of a knife in a heart, or a dragon eating a human, or a woman with ungodly large jugs. Oh, and the music the workers listen to ALWAYS gets me!  Beach boys is a guaranteed cheer-me-up surprise.

You just never know.

...cause life's like a box of choc'lates. You never know whatcha gonna get. :)

#79--Part II.

I enjoy this website, too!

http://streetpeeper.com/

#79.

Fashion.

But not just for the way it looks or the designer's notoriety. It's because of this:

"The time you spend in shopping for your clothes and then the time you take to put outfits together each day should be looked on as opportunities to give love to yourself. In the process of figuring out what to wear you are assessing how you’re feeling that day and acknowledging yourself."

Why should I dress for anyone other than myself? Lemme tell you, there are certain fabrics that I feel like I was born to wear! Long, satin things like this for example:

And I could dance an effortless quickstep in this:

From thefrock.com

And I love how I feel when I dress up a casual outfit with a great blazer. A blazer is my go-to piece. With a long necklace. Enough jazz to be "fashionable" but enough comfort to still feel like yourself!

I dream about these shoes. And for a shamelessly brief period of my life I considered dating a doctor who would buy me these as Christmas was right around the corner. (I, almost regretfully, stuck to my age and morals instead.)

Can't you just hear the sound of their pointed red heels clicking? They're beckoning me.

Vintage. LOVE vintage. (Vintage teases me and nearly tempts me to spend money I don't have. I almost bought this dress).

And honestly, I adore couture. It's such a work of art. Impossible to actually wear practically but amazing in a photograph. Maybe that's why I am intrigued by it. All those textures and yards of patterns make my eyes see a billion different photo opportunities.

And one day, I'd like to rock a romper. They're what I consider a fashion challenge. I just want to find one that works. Somehow. It could be a grand fail but I want to try it!

#78.

Christmas Lights. In plethora.

I am a bit of a scrooge. Christmas lights are only pretty to me a good, solid week after Thanksgiving. Before then, I really do not like them. No matter how elegant or tasteful they are. 

BUT....I grew up in the country where my house was surrounded by farms and a large expanse of land. The stars in the country are so bright and there are so many of them! The sky is so pitch black and so big. Sitting on my deck at night, or swinging in the hammock at night, or sitting in the hot tub on the deck.....it is the most astounding thing to lay back and stare with your jaw dropped at the sky. There are many things that I love about living in the city now, but returning home....the stars are just something that the city's got nothing on! I might even go so far as to say the stars are what I come home for. (but the people are equally amazing as well!)

You can hop in the car and wind around all the back country roads for 10 minutes. It will be so dark that you will drive slow to be careful for deer. At one point, you will be driving up this hill and just when you hit the crest of it, your eyes will fill with so much wonder just like they do when you're star gazing in my back yard. Your eyes have spent the last 10 minutes getting used to the dark and when you see all this light you blink and, like a child in disbelief, rub your eyes. What lies in the valley before you is the largest display of christmas lights you have ever seen! I'm not talking about the eighth of an acre that your city neighbor packed as many lights onto as possible. This place is a little over 3 acres. So picture that. Three acres of lights in the middle of nowhere! You can't help but smile and no matter how much of a Scrooge you're trying to be....a smile finds itself on your face.