floating down the river (top 5 thursdays - music!)

Love this topic! It's hard for me to make a list of only 5 songs, but here goes:

(excuse me while I sit here and stare at things for five minutes because this is HARD for me. UGH.)

1. I Want it That Way (Backstreet Boys)

This song is for my sister. Because it's our song. We would sing it to eachother, upstairs in Browning (our houses were known by their street names, because my parents bought houses as our family got bigger, and then kept the old ones and rented them out -- we were not super rich, I promise.) We would text eachother when it came on the radio. We occasionally just text eachother the opening lines. Because it is ours. We're not even really that big of Backstreet Boys fans...

2. Wannabe (Spice Girls)

Because seriously, what girl didn't want to be a Spice Girl? My best friend, Jess, and I used to dance around to this song. We knew all the words. I was Ginger Spice, because I had red hair, and she was Scary Spice because, well...she looks kind of like Scary Spice. ;)

3. Poker Face (Lady Gaga)

So this song isn't all that old, but it reminds me of first hanging out with Nate before we were dating. Specifically, the first time we went dancing with the other memebers of our a cappella group (where we met,) this song came on. We got fed up with not knowing the words to this "new" song and told the other person we would have it memorized by the next time we went dancing. The rest is history!

4. Call on Me (Eric Prydz)

I didn't discover this song until college, when it was played pretty much every Tuesday 80's night at AJ's on the roofdeck dancefloor. AJ's is nasty, but it's where I gained some of my best friends in college and discovered my love for ridiculous 80's powerpop. And seriously, the roof deck would sway if too many people were up there. And if you started jumping up and down -- because that's what you do to 80's songs -- they turned off the music until everyone stopped, so we didn't go crashing down through the roof of the building below. Now, I just get all dancy when I hear this song. I wish it would last forever

5. For Good (Wicked)

This song reminds me of my friend Megan. She's very far away now, and getting married next year. We aren't as close as we used to be, but I love her. Back when we met in high school and were roommates freshman year of college, this was going to be the closing song of our senior recital. Well, we never really got there. But this song (really this whole musical) reminds me of her. She helped me grow up, and be stronger than I thought I could be. We were ridiculous.

I have so many more I could put here: Africa (Toto,) Our Children (Ragtime,) Ironic (Alanis Morisette,) The Luckiest (Ben Folds,) The Next Ten Minutes (The Last Five Years.)  I have so many memories, associated with so many things because I live my life through music. It's part of being a musician. =)

Wanna do this and link up? Go here!

-C

(I was trying to think of songs that reminded me of all three of my best friends from high school, and I couldn't come up with anything that wasn't choral. I have individual songs: Cotton Eyed Joe -- Jessamyn, you know what I'm talkin' about; The Rose - for my Leslie...do you guys remember anything I'm missing?)

concrete jungle where dreams are made

Empire State of Mind always reminds me of my friend Zoe. She's from LA, but moved to Boston for a year or so (where I met her,) before she moved up to NYC. Now she works for Food Network (! -- that exclamation point represents my seething jealousy.) And she does a mean Alicia Keys impersonation.

Last night out before Nate and I left on our adventure!

We are both from non-snowy places, so we get real excited about snow.

I've decided that there's no point in checking the weather for any reason other than the temperature here in Seattle, because it was supposed to rain all day yesterday and it didn't do anything until about 6PM, when it decided to thunderstorm and hail, as Nate and I were walking home from the grocery store. Today was supposed to be mostly sunny, and it's been raining since I left the house at 7:45 this morning.

I love grocery shopping, but sometimes going to the grocery store (especially on Sundays, when it's a made house) makes me feel like this:

{via}

Hehe.

In any case, we made burritos last night for dinner, because our fridge is malfunctioning and likes to freeze things. So I asked Nate to put the chicken that was in the freezer in the fridge to defrost and it didn't. So we used the ground beef we got, instead. I cooked up some mushrooms, onions and yellow corn to put as the filling (Nate added green peppers and jalapenos -- so spicy!) and we stuffed it inside burrito shells with some iceberg lettuce and cheddar cheese. It was super delicious, and there was plenty left over, so I have the makings for a taco salad for lunch!

In other news, I got my beauty bag from Target! Free things rock my life.

{via}

You can never have too many small makeup bags! I also love the book of coupons and the extra moisteurizing chapstick and lotion (because I am always extra dry-skinned.) The only thing I'm not positive I'll use is the hot pink lip gloss sample. My lips are naturally pretty pink, so I don't like to add a whole lot of color to them. (And by 'not use,' I mean I'll probably put it on at home, decide it's way too much color and take it off before I leave the house.)

Also, I always read about people bookmarking things, and I'd like to take this time to mention my favorite way to bookmark: SVPPLY

Basically, it's like a feed for your 'want to buy's, with an easy-to-install bookmark app that allows you to add things from outside sources to your feed. You can also follow people and see what they're adding, and add them if you like their taste! I can't share my feed on here, because I use it to keep track of things I think would make good gifts for people, but I did find that grocery bag on the site. So check it out! (and if you really want to see my feed, you can e-mail me.

-C

Big White Room

I've been listening to five tracks on my new Jessie J album kind of constantly:

-Price Tag
-Do It Like a Dude
-Who's Laughing Now
-Mamma Knows Best
-Who You Are

Big White Room is growing on me, but I feel sometimes that the recording (that's on the CD, I haven't listened to any others,) is slightly contrived. It's such an introspective song, I kind of want to hear it devoid of runs, repeated syllables. Without her all-out, girl-power, let-loose voice. Just...the song. Calm. And sad. Because really, that's what it's about. And maybe it's just me, because I don't do runs or girl-power shouting (up in that range.)

However, I really find it interesting that there are all these songs that are going along with the 'yourself is beautiful/good enough' movement coming out now. Born This Way and Who You Are, which are the two that come immediately to mind,  both speak to staying true to yourself and knowing that you are beautiful and good enough, no matter what other people say. I find it kind of disheartening that it has come to the point where we need to send specific messages via music, text, videos, etc. to reverse all the body image damage pop culture has done to our psyches. But that's what has spawned this information-age purge and re-assignment, via people like music divas, video vixens and CaitlinHTP's OperationBeautiful.

Enough heavy stuff, let's talk about the dinosaur cake Nate made me this weekend!

Yeah, my boyfriend made that. That most awesomest of cakes. He's legit.

He also stayed up until, like, 1:30AM on Saturday making it. Granted he didn't start until, like, 9PM, and then had to wait until the cake had cooled to start frosting, but I couldn't quite make it up that late, because I'm an old lady. So I didn't see the finished product until the next morning. Which was awesome!

What was your best birthday cake?

-C

now what?

This is my timeline for all Ke$ha's songs:

1) Song comes out. I hate it on principle.
2) I hear the song a couple more times, and kind of start to like it. It has a good beat.
3) I now know all the words to the song and dance around every time it comes on.
4) I've now downloaded it and listen to it several times a day.
5) I watch the video and go WTF, James Van Der Beek?

I do have to say, however, that I discovered 'Take it Off' on her album before it was released as a single and figured eventually it would be on the radio, so I shut that one down before it could enter the timeline. Boo Yah.

-C

iTunes Genius

I am a fan of iTunes, despite some of its more obvious faults, and I think Genius is a pretty cool mod. Most of the time, it has no idea what I want to listen to. But every once and a while, it gets something right.

I created a playlist off of Aimee Mann's 'Wise Up' (which they didn't have on MixTape,) but I tried to put the rest of the playlist on there as best as I could.

the Playlist (click to listen)
1. Wise Up - Aimee Mann (not on playlist because they're poopy, but listen to it here. Or you can listen to my college a cappella group, All-Night Yahtzee, do it here.)
2. Winter - Tori Amos (originally 'Precious Things' on the playlist, but mixtape didn't have that, so I subbed)
3. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
4. Postcards from Italy - Beirut
5. Brick - Ben Folds
6. Warning Sign - Coldplay
7. Bedshaped - Keane (originally She Has No Time, listen to that here. And listen to the kick-ass version by the UNC Clef Hangers, with solo sung by Anoop Desai, here. No really, listen to it. I actually like it better than the original.)
8. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) - Billy Joel
9. Where is My Mind - The Pixies
10. Paranoid Android - Radiohead
(originally Mr. Zebra by Tori Amos was in here, but I couldn't find anything I want to sub for it, so listen to it, here.)
11. Tymps (The Sick in the head Song) - Fiona Apple
12. The Luckiest - Ben Folds
13. We Never Change - Coldplay
14. Battle of Who Could Care Less - Ben Folds
15. Exit Music (For a Film) - Radiohead
16. Elephant Gun - Beirut
17. Falling for the First Time - Barenaked Ladies
18. Sunshine - Keane
19. Still Fighting It - Ben Folds
20. Landed - Ben Folds
21. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay
22. Don't Cry - Seal
23. Army - ben Folds
24. Criminal - Fiona Apple

We went out for drinks with my co-workers last night, so dinner was quick pasta with cheese (it's also lunch today,) but tonight, I'm contemplating making baked teriyaki-brown sugar salmon with brown rice. Need to figure out a veggie, since I'm pretty sure all we have is onions or celery. We might have some frozen brussel sprouts. Maybe I'll chop those up and toss them in with the rice.

I'm excited, because our bananas are almost mushy enough to make banana bread, which is obv the best and most nutrious breakfast in the whole word. Especially when you slaughter cover it with brown sugar and butter. Obviously.

We went grocery shopping at the regular grocery store (as opposed to the Asian market) and spent $56 and saved $27, which I'd say is pretty fair. We got a bunch of chips, mainly because I had coupons so we could get them FREE (uhm, yes please free bag of Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato chips?!) We're also contemplating starting to make our own trail mix again, since trail mix is expensive (although, the ingredients we like for trail mix are also expensive, but maybe not as expensive, so it works out,) like we used to in MA. See, when we lived in Boston, we bought one of those GIANT tubs of Utz cheese balls, like lard-os, and ate the whole thing. And then saved the tub and made a bunch of different kinds of (really bad for you) trail mixes that our friends LOVED, which included things like marshmallows and honey bbq chips. Clearly, we were concerned about losing weight. Anyway, it's fun to make trail mix, because you get to put exactly what you want in it. And exaclty what I want is chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! Oh, and maybe some almonds.

Also bought a thing of dry roasted, un-salted peanuts that was on sale to make peanut butter with. Get excited.

I was listening to Lonely Avenue (Ben Folds & Nick Hornsby collaboration) this morning, and some of the lyrics to Practical Amanda really spoke to me. So I made a picture with them. Behold:

What about you guys? Any specific artist or band's lyrics speak to you?

-C

(p.s. because I just know you were worried, I'm probably still gonna do the accent vlog. I might make the boy do it with me, because we are from opposite ends of the east coast, so we say some things differently.)

it's the day of the show, y'all

Really, if you've never seen Waiting for Guffman (and you've ever done any kind of theatre, especially community theatre, stop reading this post RIGHT NOW and go watch it. Seriously.

But for realsies, THE MORNINGSTAR VEGGIE CORNDOGS ARE BACK!!! I am a huge fan of this product (and a lot of other MorningStar products) despite the fact that I am not a vegetarian. Nor have I ever been a vegetarian. But when I was younger, I wasn't really a big meat fan. Now I've discovered that I like most meat, but certain things still have to be seasoned past the point of recognition marinated for me to find them palatable. This doesn't include corn dogs, but if there's a way that I can still enjoy a corn dog, have it fool me into tasting like a corn dog, and be vaguely more healthy for me than an actual corn dog, I am all for it. Their tomato basil burgers and breaded spinach-artichoke bites are also quite tasty. Go try them! Now.

Do it.

In other news, it's a snow emergency in Boston, and a balmy forty degrees and foggy here in Seattle. With all the snow they've been getting in the northeast, I go back and forth between loving that I'm not there to deal with it and hating that I'm not there to see all the snow. I am still a Florida kid at heart, and snow is exciting. I'm not sure how exciting it would be at this point in the game, though.

Feeling kind of fancy today. Love this bracelet that my aunt got me from LOFT, but it's systematically ripping all my armhair out of a small portion of my forearm. Ouch!

Sometimes, I feel just feel like listening to a cappella. And sometimes, I am overcome with an arrangement of a song. Or the soloist. Or how gelled it sounds. Like (Maroon 5's) Secret, covered by the Carolina Tar Heel Voices. I mean, could it get any sexier?

-C

give me something to believe

Two thirty pm is usually the time of day when I start contemplating a second cup of coffee. To be fair, according to my coffee maker, eight ounces is a cup a coffee...so when I drink my ten ounces in the morning, it's more than a cup. So...I guess it would be my second and a half cup of coffee?

I've been reading a lot of foodie blogs, and it seems like nut butters are not that difficult to make. So I'm probably going to try that at some point in the not too distant future. Probably at least peanut and almond butter (if I can bring myself to stomach how much a giant vat of almonds costs,) and maybe some walnut butter? Do people even make walnut butter? Mayhaps I should do some research. It seems to me, however, than any nut with sufficient oils in it should make a butter. Of some sort. Right?

Dinner last night was just a bunch of veggies cooked together and thrown into tomato sauce and dumped on top of pasta, so it wasn't anything terribly exciting. But it sure is delicious! No matter how much I eat, I (usually) want pasta. It's easy, it tastes good. My mother used to warn my sister and I we would turn into noodles. Noo-dees. yeah, I know what that sounds like. We were little kids, ok?

Tonight, I think I'll roast the half chicken breast we have on top of some sweet potatoes and onions. We can eat half, and chop the rest up to make chicken salad with! Homemade chicken salad, with home-cooked chicken breast, seems so much more appealing than canned chicken. Not that I have anything against canned chicken, but making things from scratch has a certain delight about it. It just feels like you're eating better, even if you are still adding ridiculous amounts of mayo to the mixture.

In any case, here's TPTP for the last three days, including today. I really love the scarf that I got from Express on Friday...they had a black one, too. I'm contemplating going back for it. And maybe for some more tops. You know, ones that look exactly like the ones I bought already, just in different colors. I'm building up my work wardrobe. I'm gonna be a professional! Maybe.

Monday, January 24th:

Yesterday, January 25th:

Today, January 26th:

Nothing too exciting, but aside from not wearing any makeup yesterday, I'm feeling very work oriented. It's fancy.

Also, currently kind of obssesed with this song. Can't seem to find anywhere to download it (even if I'm willing to pay money.) It's a sad day. Sad, sad day.


Also....ALSO...see those little boxes? Underneath the post? You can click them. And then you can let me know if you think my posts are funny. Or interesting. Or just cool, just so I know you're reading. See? No awkward commentary necessary.

Yay!

These Lovers Play New Music

(kudos if you know what show the title lyrics are from.)

I did some reflecting this morning as I was walking to work, because I loaded some new music on my phone to listen to (new to my phone, old to me) that I had downloaded the previous night. Specifically, Vaughn Williams 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.' I don't know exactly why, but this is one of my favorite pieces. It's one of those pieces that feels so right, it makes you want to crawl out of yourself and curl up inside it, and beg you to never let it go.

So this made me nostalgic for all the things I got to experience at FSU. My freshman and sophomore years, I lived in a dorm where half of the occupancy was dedicated to music majors (I think the other half was education and/or women's studies majors.) We had everything -- singers, composers, instrumentalists, theorists, teachers. There were classrooms and practice rooms in the dorm, and a piano in the lounge. People gave mini concerts, there. We did theory homework at 3AM, there (what procrastination? me? never!) We practiced quartets for sightreading, we practiced for piano class, (which I managed to never have to take -- yay for nine years of lessons and waiting until after I decided I didn't want to be a performance major...so I guess other people practiced for piano class ;) We honed our craft, and made connections, friendships and partnerships along the way. We were ideally located -- less than five minutes from the library (both regular and music,) concert halls, dance rooms, Pitaria (delicious greek food,) the strip (read: of bars -- holla!) and theatre. We never slept. We had pancakes at midnight on Fridays. We saw movies for free. We had an indoor pool and track at our disposal. Hell, we could be in the circus, if we wanted to.

As much as I was ready to leave by the time 2008 rolled around, I would sometimes give anything to be back there. Back to knowing where everything is. Back to having a whole dorm full of friends.

My friend Christopher and I were talking briefly this morning about a concert we went to, where the they played Rite of Spring by Stravinsky (you know the dinosaur part of the original Fantasia? Yup, that's the piece!) It was the last piece on the program (because it is a performance piece, and an incredibly difficult one, at that.) I believe they played Procession of the Nobles first (if you don't know this piece, you SHOULD! It's one of my favorites. Go listen to it, there, on YouTube. (I apparently just really like Russian composers.)) Then, there was a marimba concerto on the program right before the intermission, played by our fantastic(ly nerdy) percussion professor, Dr. Parks, after which was a short break and then Stravinsky.

We were sitting there with the concert hall full of people, halfway through the third movement of the marimba concerto and the whole hall suddenly goes pitck black. The music fizzles out, as the performers realize they can no longer see, and we all sit there patiently waiting for them to get the power back on. The generators kick in, so there's at least emergency power, but after a good 10 minutes, the stage manager comes out and announces that they'll have to reschedule the performance, because they don't know why the power is out and don't know when it will come back on.

Now, I have to say, that this is all occurring really near to the time when Cloverfield was released (cue scary music.) So we leave the theatre, joking about giant dinosaurs attacking the city. Outside, on the edge of campus, there are no lights on. Anywhere. No streetlights, no building lights. The whole campus is dark. We find out later that the whole southeasten portion of the city is dark, because a small plan crashed into some power lines in the middle of town. Thankfully, no one was hurt (I'm pretty sure even the pilot survived.) And the whole situation made it slightly more acceptable for our concert to be rescheduled. It was one of those nights that remains in my memory, and I think always will.

I had an education at FSU. In many things, being a real person, being a better person, being a friend. The normal, education type stuff. But I cherish my music education the most, I think. I have always been exposed to many different kinds of music, and to build on top of that throughout college -- it was a gift. A gift of Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shosktakovich and other fantastic Russian amd Eastern European composers.

Selected Listening (Instrumental)
1. Scheherazade IV. Festival at Baghdad (Rimsky-Koraskov) The themes in this can be heard throughout all four movements, but they're most prevalent in this one. I think that's why it's my favorite.
2. Procession of the Nobles (Rimsky-Korsakov) Just fun. Only about 2 minutes long.
3. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughn Williams) Long, but totally worth it. There are so many fantastic musical climaxes in this piece.
4. Pictures at an Exhibition - Promenade Theme (Mussorgsky) Very march-y. The theme itself isn't that long, but it's the "traveling" music between the pieces, so it comes back throughout the whole piece. If you have time, listen to Pictures in its entirety. You'll probably recognize some of the movements ;)
5. Piano Concerto No. 2 Movement II - First Part | Second Part (Rachmaninoff) I can play this! Well, parts of it, on the piano. It's so grandiose. Also, if you've seen Center Stage, you've heard it. And seen Zoe Saldana dance to it.
6. October (Whitacre) Beautiful. If you listen to nothing else on this list, listen to this piece!
7. An American Elegy (Ticheli) Reminds me of the end of Mr. Holland's Opus. Inspirational.
8. Watchmen, Tell Us of the Night (Camphouse) This piece...for some reason I always come back to it. I can never remember what it sounds like, but listening to it is epic.
9. Op. 72 No. 1 - Nocturne in E Minor (Chopin) I love Chopin. This piece is beautiful. In the movie 'The Pianist,' which is also beautiful, and you should see it if you haven't.
10. Peer Gynt Suite - Solveig's Song (Grieg) Probably one of the lesser known movements from this Suite. You probably know the first movement, so go listen to that, too ;)

Selected Listening (Choral)
1. Sleep (Whitacre) As beautiful as October, so listen to it!
2. Sing Me to Heaven (Gawthrop) Our mixed small ensemble got to sing this is high school, and I was forever jealous. It is simply beautiful.
3. Ave Maria (Biebl) Chanticleer is the bomb. And this piece, I got to sing in high school ;)
4. Song for Athene (Taverner) Similar to the Biebl, but much more modal. Very cool, unexpected.
5. I'm Gonna Sing Til the Spirit Moves in My Heart (Hogan) Fun!
6. Bogoroditse Devo (Rachmaninoff) Favorite of all time. Sang this in high school. It's on my Christmas playlist. It's Ave Maria, but in Russian. And by one of my favorite composers.
7. Windham (Read arr. Holmes) This piece is cool. Very American in tradition.
8. Homeland (Stroope) I think this is the (unofficial) British National Anthem. It is an extraoridnary piece.
9. O Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen) I...can't say anything except beautiful. Lauridsen writes beautiful music. If you like this, listen to his Requiem.
10. Remember (Chatman) Another just beautiful piece that I never got to sing. Le sigh.

Like these? Don't like these? Think I'm crazy for telling you to listen to all this? Let me know!

-C

this is the sun's birthday

I've been kind of obsessed with Whitacre lately. I've been leaving him on as we're falling asleep, and listening to the CD I have pretty much the entire workday. It reminds me how much I love singing with a choir, and how much I miss it.

Tonight, I tried making potato chips. We bought purple potatoes and sweet potatoes at the market, and the plan was to make purple potato, sweet potato and eggplant chips to have as a medley, but our oven thwarted my plans. It has this affinity towards getting way hotter than it's supposed to, so not only did I turn the heat down, but I also cut the time by ten minutes or so. I burned a couple batches before I got smart and only started trying to cook a couple chips at a time, to try and get the temp and time right. It didn't ever really work out, but I managed to get enough to be somewhat satisfied with the result. I have enough to take some for a snack to work tomorrow, and maybe some for Tuesday, as well. I'll probably try the sweet potatoes next. If anyone has any suggestions for home-made potato chips, please let me know!

This afternoon we went to the Apple Store and did a little more grocery shopping. Now we're finishing up laundry, and I'm about to figure out what to bring for lunch to work tomorrow. I've slept in way too late this weekend, so getting up in the morning is going to be tough, but I'm determined to look decent tomorrow AND make it to work on time. Since, you know, I didn't make it past putting on a t-shirt, jeans and a hat. At least it was a cute hat? (plus it meant I didn't have to do my hair. Win!)

Time to go make either white bean spread or hummus to take to work with carrots tomorrow. Haven't decided which. It will be a split second decision!

-C