Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Still like that old time rock'n' roll, that kind of music just soothes the soul; I reminisce about the days of old, with that old time rock 'n' roll..

I love my iPod. I love my iPhone. I love music. These three things all go hand in hand quite nicely, especially when I can load my iPod, that's on my iPhone, with lots of music and plug it in to listen to in the car! I have been doing that for a while now, and have always thought that it's great! I love the shuffle feature, and when I turn it on, I just let it go and let it surprise me with what it plays next. It's really a great system.

Sometime over the last 2 weeks or so, I started flipping through some CD books that I had in my backseat that I haven't touched in a LONG time. As I flipped through the pages, a flood of memories came back as I saw the albums or mix cds that were in there. I unplugged my iPhone and put in some albums that I used to listen to all the time, that get lost when my iPod is on shuffle. It's been so much fun to listen to complete albums again. I love flipping through CD book and seeing the graphics on the different albums, or finding CD's that you can't buy on iTunes! (I used to listen to a lot of not so famous bands, so I have quite a few albums like that.)

It might sound silly, because music is just music, right, no matter what form you listen to it in. Not for me. I love flipping through all the old records that I got from my dad a while back - can you even believe he was going to just get rid of them?! Sheesh! I'm glad I saved them! I love the sound of the music as it's played on a record player - it sounds so authentic and vintage to me and I love that. I love finding old mix tapes that I used to make - the choppy editing or the clips from the radio right before and after the song. Or the mix tapes that people made for me! I still listen to this Offspring mix that a friend made me in high school - we did a mix tape trade. He gave me awesome rock music, and I gave him awesome boy band music - HA! I love the nostalgia and the memories that go with those sounds. Like listening to the records when I was little with my dad and brother - my dad was a big air guitar player and I remember him jamming out while we played along with him or danced around. I remember driving around with friends listening to those mix tapes.

I love being able to buy music instantly on iTunes. But as I flipped through the CD books, I remember waiting in line at midnight to buy the new release with my friends, or the concerts I went to where I discovered a new band and had to have the CD right then - sometimes they would even sign it. I miss going to record stores and perusing the aisles and getting into conversations with random people or employees about what bands are good and why they like them. I discovered so much music that way. I also miss holding the CD case in my hands and reading through the CD books. The art, pictures, lyrics and bios always fascinated me. I feel like those things made music personal to me, and I have lost that spark now. Don't get me wrong, I still love listening to my music and am grateful for all the technology that goes along with making it accessible and enjoyable. I just miss the experience that used to go along with that. Maybe those feelings and ideas are part of being younger, and as you get older it just goes away.

Regardless, I'm grateful I kept some randoms CD's in my car and I think I will keep listening to them for a while before I jump back into the world of iPods and digital downloads.

Friday, April 23, 2010

When I saw him I felt the room divide into pieces, Oh the lights danced around us just like stars in the sky...

In my attempt to be a more consistent blogger, I decided I need to post. But what do I post about? How about the random thoughts that have been plaguing my mind lately.

1) I don't know how many of you know, but I love the TV show Bones. It's on its 5th season right now, and for a while I never watched it. But season 1 was on sale at Target for like $10 bucks one day, so I bought it. It looked interesting, so I thought why not. It took me forever to actually watch it, but once I did, I was hooked! Such a good show! I blew through all 4 seasons and was watching the new episodes on Thursday nights. I am a huge fan of Booth and Brennan, and I want them to get together. They recently had their 100th episode and things came to a head, but now we are in that limbo period waiting to see what happens. I know it's ridiculous, but I am a bit of a hopeless romantic in some ways, and I can't help feeling so defeated when another episodes goes by and it's still not happening. I haven't wanted two people to get together so badly since Pacy and Joey on Dawsons Creek!! (Have I said to much?!) Anyways, I just look forward to the season finale because I am thinking that a little closure will come my way. I hope.

2) I am really sad about all the education cuts going on in Cobb County right now. I really hate when education takes a huge hit, because I feel that it's one of the most important things we can do for children and our community! I have always wanted to one day be a teacher, and it seems like it gets harder and harder to be able to do that since they are constantly having to lay people off or have salary cuts. Working for a university, I have been able to see the effects of budget cuts more and I know its tough. It just makes me sad to know that kids could get a lesser quality education because of budget cuts. I was really involved in the arts in high school and I know that they can be the first ones to go, and I think it's a travesty. I don't know tons about government budgets and how they make the decisions they do, but this budget cut has inspired me to get more informed. I want to know that our kids are being taken care of and getting an education that will help them go far in life. Plus, there are so many friends I have in the education field, I hate to hear about the possibility of them getting laid off. I should probably be more informed about things before I rant about it, but it's on my mind so I thought I'd share.

3) I'm super excited and proud of Jacob and all the amazing work he's done at the house this week. Our yard is looking a million times better! I wish I could have taken some time off to help out, but he's doing such a great job. His parents have been very helpful to! I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished. I will save the details of what they are doing for a later post so we can post the pictures of it. It is definitely inspiring to make the inside of the house look as good as the outside though. I have some serious work to do!

4) I'm really happy it's Friday. I need some downtime from work. It's been a busy week! My boss has been stuck in France due to the volcano in Iceland. She was supposed to be gone for two weeks, returning to the office on Monday. They can't even catch a flight until next Tuesday. They had to drive down to Madrid from Paris to even catch that flight! I can't imagine having to deal with all of that mayhem, let alone the extra cost of spending an additional week and a half in Europe. I personally would have gone down to Italy and tried to catch a flight out of there, after some exploration of course!

5) Apparently I look as tired as I feel today. Multiple people have mentioned to me how tired I look. It's funny that some people can say that to me and it doesn't phase me at all - I know them well enough to know it's not a mean comment or I know them well enough to where they are allowed to say things like that to me (in a nice way of course.) Then there are the people who I don't know well enough, or at all really, and it comes across as a rude comment. Today has lacked the rudeness, thank goodness, but I went to the bathroom after the 4th comment and yeah...not only do I look super tired, my hair is a mess too. Oh well! Happy Friday!!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Remember spring swaps snow for leaves, you'll be happy and wholesome again, when the city clears and sun ascends...

Today is my hodgepodge update. I've been told by a few different people that I need to get on the blogging ball...so this is me..on the ball!

It's been pretty quiet here at work, which I am so grateful for. I know this is just the calm before the storm, since my boss is out for two weeks, and I know once she gets back it will be high stress all the way. We have our Annual Board of Trustee Meeting in June, and that one is always more stressful than the Quarterly ones. It's a big song and dance of putting on events and meetings and it is seriously the most stressful thing I have ever done. This will be my third one. I worked through my first one while passing a kidney stone. I had been in the ER that weekend and I still hadn't passed it by Monday morning, but I had to come in because the meetings were that week. Can we say miserable? For the record...taking Vicoden while working isn't the best idea in the world. Anyways! I am really grateful for this time where I can get as much of my stuff done as possible, so when it's gets insane around here, hopefully I won't be as stressed.

Heather and I started up a recipe blog - Don't Forget to Lick the Spoon! We have been talking about doing one for a while, and we finally did. Check it out!! It will be lots of fun to start documenting the things we love to make and to be able to share those things with you!

Bon appetit y'all!




So, I don't have kids yet, but I do have an adorable puppy, so....I'm going to talk about him for a minute :)

Bowser is adorable as ever and getting bigger every day! He has eaten a random assortment of things no dog should ever eat. The list includes: a bottle of prenatal vitamins, earwax remover, shampoo, toilet paper, make up removing face wipes, and lots of cardboard. He really loves to play outside, but not if we aren't out there with him, which can be a pain. Jacob has started teaching him how to catch a Frisbee, and he's getting pretty dang good at that. He's started trying to catch bees and other bugs that fly around. Apparently the other day he caught one, and then he opened his mouth back up and the bee flew out! HA! He's also getting more protective. Usually when people come over he goes up to them and wants them to pet him and all, but when the AC guy came the other day, Bowser didn't go up to him. He hung back and stayed near me most of the time. He would go see where the guy went and when the guy would come back, Bowser would be near me again. I won't lie - I kinda love that. This first picture is my favorite!! That's the grumpiest face I have ever seen!







I know this is pretty behind the times, but it snowed in Atlanta a few times this winter, and I love the way our house looks covered in snow! Bowser also loved the snow, but got neutered the day before the big snow hit, so he didn't get to enjoy it as much as he would have liked..