5 Faves

I've been squee-ing about a few things lately (except for the fact that I'm pretty sure I've never actually squee-d in my life). Here are some of them.

1.

The Book With No Pictures

by B.J. Novak

If you have a child roundabouts the ages of 3, 4, or 5, get a hold of this book somehow and be ready for adorable belly laughs. Cora is in love with it, and has been asking to read "Booboobutt" every night. (Read it, you'll understand.)

2.

Vests

Where have these been all my life? Or at least the past 2 winters I've lived here in Snowtown, USA? I can't zip them any more, but I throw one of these puppies on immediately when I get home and my arms are happy and my core is happy and momma is happy.

3.

"Wood of the Cradle"

Yeah, yeah, Christmas season is over, I know. But we sang this a few times at church during the season (perfect communion song, no?), and I just loved it. Not sure if I've just never heard it before, or if I've just never paid attention. And now it's stuck in my head.

4.

fruit and veggie muffins for my picky toddler

These Fruity & Veggie Muffins have been a big hit around here, at least with the little one. This is the second time we've made them (and frozen half the batch to use later). Cora even helped me make them, telling me how she doesn't like broccoli during it. (My response: "That's okay, you don't have to like everything.") But of course Little Miss Picky scarfed them down once they became actual muffins.

5.

this photography book

My BIL knew I was getting a DSLR camera for Christmas, so he got me this book as an accompaniment. It's fabulous! (I had been trying to learn some stuff from schmucks on YouTube, which was seriously hit-or-miss. Mostly miss.) I still have a loooong way to go, but now I've at least heard of metering patterns and figured out how to change my white balance. Also, it's a photography book that includes lots of pictures and tells you the settings used to achieve them. Thank God.

Linking up with Jenna's #5Faves

7QT: Family time, Singing Nuns, Snow Monsters

--- 1 ---

My entire family was here last week for Thanksgiving. They drove up in one van on the 12-hour trek from Georgia. That means my husband had to step over every single one of his in-laws for 6 days straight. He handled it quite gracefully. Also, with my niece Emma here, it meant we had two potty-training toddlers under one roof. Emma's almost 3 and we were hoping having her see Cora on the potty would help, but I don't think it did.

--- 2 ---

So yeah, we're still sorta potty-training Cora. As a cloth-diapering mom, it is sooooo nice that my kid usually poops on the potty! She doesn't really communicate when she needs to go, though, so we're definitely not there yet. I just put her on both before and after her nap, and that's usually when she poops. I've only cleaned TWO poopy diapers in the past month, and B has cleaned one! My goal is to go a bit more full-force around when she turns 2.

--- 3 ---

Family pics!
While my family was here, I forced them to take pictures for my 2014 calendar! And my wall, of course.

Cora and her 2 cousins

All 9 of us (and 2 more in my sister's tummy!)

Also, I would like to note that Cora and her cousin Emma were wearing the same shirt in different colors, and it was completely unplanned. (It's hard to see in these pics, but the shirts have sparkles across the chest.) My sister and I didn't even know they owned the same shirt until they both were wearing them that day.

--- 4 ---

Okay, who watched The Sound of Music Live! on NBC last night?

:: raises hand ::

It wasn't terrible, but Carrie Underwood is obviously not an actress. It was weird without any audience, but still being a stage version. The truth is I have a lot of respect for Carrie because I, too, am a singer and not an actor. I really do want to be cast in a stage production of . . . something one of these days. Any pointers are welcome. Also, let it be known that I suck at auditions.

--- 5 ---

The closest I've gotten to being in a play or musical was back in high school. My school chorus would put on a musical revue every year--just singing and dancing various songs within a theme, no acting. But at least we got costumes. So here I am as a nun. (This was on VHS, and I just filmed it off the TV. Low tech.)

I'm on the left, and yes, I KNOW I'm off-key. I probably even knew that as I was singing it back in 2002.


But yeah, it's pretty obvious I don't know anything about acting.Why am I looking down? Or is that just my eyebrows playing tricks?

--- 6 ---

Oh hey, have you checked out my giveaway yet? It's buried in a post about how to actually win giveaways, because that's how I roll. Just like this is buried in Take #6 between a ridiculous video and a cute picture.

--- 7 ---

My mother-in-law got Cora a new jacket that makes her look like a yeti.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

5 Favorites: Road Trip Edition

We have recently returned from a pretty massive trip! I drove with Cora while B flew, and we met up in Norfolk, VA, for 2 weeks. Then I drove a different route back to our home in Indiana. 2002 miles, 6 states, 3 tunnels, over 25 bucks in tolls, and it looked like this big circle:

Here are some unexpected favorites from the road.

1.

Justin Timberlake: The 20/20 Experience

This album, well, it really is an experience. With most of the songs clocking in at over 6 minutes, this is a great one for a road trip. I was never a huge 'N Sync fan back in the day, but now I just can't deny the talent of JT. I especially love his smooth falsetto (which makes it easy for me to sing along!). My favorites from the album are "Pusher Love Girl" and "Don't Hold the Wall."

2.

Charleston, West Virginia

I have actually been to this city before, way way back in 2006 for 2 days with my college Women's Glee Club that I sang in (I dug that picture above off my Facebook album from then). We went there to sing at a conference and didn't see too much of the city. I decided to book a hotel in this city as a stopover on our way out to Norfolk, and didn't give that much more thought. I didn't see much of the city until I was driving out of it, but it was simply breathtaking. I drove along one side of the Kanawha River cutting through the mountains, with beautiful old buildings to my left and eventually passed the state capitol. There was lots of "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing," and only my toddler to share it with. I definitely want to return and give Charleston a  proper visit one of these days.

3.

Highway Rest Areas

Yep, this was at a rest area on I-64 between Richmond and Norfolk!

These places are awesome. I actually ate very little fast food on this whole trip, thanks to these. We had a cooler bag in the car since Cora needed milk and is also quite picky, so we just ate whatever was in there (read: lots of hummus for Cora). Rest areas were also a great place to just let her 'run' around (as a kid who hasn't actually started running but can walk fast does). If they had handicapped buttons to open the restroom door, she was all over those! (She loves pushing the one at the Y where I work out.) Cora also charmed the heck out of all the old ladies, since her new favorite thing is to say, "Hiiiiii!" to everyone. And I mean, she is cute.

4.

Eat'n Park

On the way home, we stayed the night with an old friend of mine from Atlanta who now lives in Pittsburgh. She asked if we wanted to go to her favorite breakfast place in the morning, and of course I said yes. I had never heard of Eat'n Park, but had to ask if you get out of your car since no way in heck was I letting Cora eat a whole breakfast in her car seat! Well, it's kinda like a much better version of Denny's. (It did start as a carhop-style restaurant like Sonic, though, hence the name). I wolfed down these S'mores pancakes in about 5 seconds flat.

Yes, there is a layer of marshmallow fluff between the pancakes. I know you're jealous.

My friend made sure that we got their signature Smiley cookies before we left. You can bet that if your mama eats s'mores pancakes and calls it breakfast, then you probably don't turn down giant smiley cookies.

We actually did salvage more than half of this thing to eat later on at a rest area. Also, it's got an eyepatch because the Pittsburgh Pirates are doing well this season and people like them.

5.

Car Mirror and My Pal Violet

B was driving us to the beach when I took this.
And yes, I know her chest clip is slightly too high--it has a tendency to ride up sometimes.

Driving solo across the country with a toddler in a carseat can be tricky sometimes. We still have her rear-facing, so I am so glad that I invested a few bucks into a good mirror for the backseat. (I found it at Target.) It was easy to see if she was sleeping (she's a great car sleeper, thankfully!) or if she had dropped all her toys. I kept a bag of toys in the front seat and could just hand stuff back to her.

One of the biggest hits for this child was her My Pal Violet stuffed animal. (There's a green one named Scout if you want gender-neutral, too.) It's odd since she really doesn't play with it much at home, but in the car it was seriously her best friend. She just kept hitting all the buttons on the paws and listening to all the songs. It even says her name. And when I finally got fed up with hearing the same 5 songs over and over, I was able to hook it up to the computer and switch them out. As far as annoying kids' toys go, this is one of the best!


Check out more Faves at Moxie Wife

Running Playlist (Part Two)

This is a continuation from the running playlist post I did two weeks ago. Here are 7 more songs that I jam out to while on the trail. Tomorrow is my first race in over 2 years! It's the Riverfest 4K, and my goal time is 23:00. Let's hope I can do it!

This thing now has new purple headphones, but I was too lazy to take another picture.

(There are little music  players from Grooveshark below each song title; hopefully they all load for you.)

WARNING: Almost all of these songs have explicit lyrics, so click the players at your own discretion.

1. "Natalie" by Bruno Mars (2013)

Makes me laugh, and makes me go faster somehow (even though according to jog.fm the BPM would put you at a 13:48 mile, which is way slower than I run).  

2. "Love Like Woe" by The Ready Set (2010)
This song is just fun and fast. (6:48 mile pace! Which is sorta half that Bruno Mars song, so they go together, right?)

3. "Troublemaker" by Olly Murs featuring Flo Rida (2011)
Hey, this song even says "run as fast you can" in it! A good time to do, well, exactly that.

  4. "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada (2009)
If you want dance-pop, Cascada is your girl.
5. "Backstabber" by Ke$ha (2010)
This is probably closest to my pace (or at least where I aim to be). 160 BPM for a 9:00 mile. I'm usually closer to 9:30 for longer runs, but I'm doing a 4K race tomorrow and in my practice for it a week ago I got under 9, so I hope this helps!! (If you want to hear more about my love/hate relationship with Ke$ha, there is this post from 2 years ago.)

6. "I Love It" by Icona Pop (feat. Charlie XCX) (2012)
Well, if you want to get technical, I actually have the "Glee" cast version, since I found that one for free. But this song is straight Eurotrash, and you know what? I don't care.
7.  "Love Is Marching" by BarlowGirl (2009)
This is either a warm-up or a cool-down song, but it's super pretty.
Another 7, so 7QT it is! See more at Conversion Diary.

My Running Playlist (Part One)

I can't believe I went so long without running music. I did the Couch-to-5k a few years back with just the thoughts in my head. For Christmas, I got a small mp3 player that is perfect for the gym and running. (And probably beats wearing a phone on your arm, but I wouldn't know anything about that.) This tiny little thing just clips to my shorts!

I'm about to get new headphones for it, but these have been doing okay as long as it isn't too windy.

(There are little music  players from Grooveshark below each song title; hopefully they all load for you.)

1. "Feeling Good" by Michael Bublé (2005)
This is a great warm-up song. But I usually let my playlist go on random, so it's a nice boost toward the end of a run, too (as I found out today). Hey, I'm always ready to hear the silky smooth voice of Mr. Bublé (see my concert review from 2010 if you want more on that.)

2. "Here We Go" by 'N Sync (1997)
I was never a huge boy band fan back in the day, but I got the 'N Sync 'experience' from a good friend who had her entire room plastered with their images. I never had a backlash against their music or anything, so listening to this song just reminds me of high school and also makes for a great first song to hit as I embark on my running journey.

  3. "Chloe (You're The One I Want)" by Emblem3 (2013)
Definitely the newest song on my list, but oh-so-catchy. Also, it reminds me of a friend bearing that name, which gives me a good chuckle.

  4. "Save Me, San Francisco" by Train (2011)
I just plain like this song, and I want to get my butt back to this city ASAP. I think this is the one song on the list that I consistently try to sing along to during my run. Cardioke, anyone?

  5. "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen (1978)
Well, if you're gonna pick a song by Queen to run to, you might as well go all out, amirite? I've never even had a fat bottom.

  6. "22" by Taylor Swift (2013)
It's been a good 7 years since I was Taylor's age, but she totally nailed it. I met my future husband that year, I 'served my country' in AmeriCorps, dealt with homesickness and/or lovesickness for the first time, and it was the most "miserable and magical" year of my life. Plus, this song is super-catchy which means it's fun to run to.

  7. "Baby" by Relient K (Justin Bieber cover, 2011)
If you never quite caught Bieber Fever, and don't want to admit you actually like his first single, then this might be the best way to go. It's a little less peppy than the original, so perhaps you could save it for your cool-down.
I'll be back next week with another handful of tracks off my playlist! (I run for over 30 minutes, so there is definitely more.) I would usually recommend jog.fm to anyone looking for running music (it gives you music to match your pace), but it hasn't served me as well as I thought it would due to my weird pace. But check it out anyway. And since I just happened to do 7 of these, I might as well link up with 7QT at Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes (Things That Annoy Me Edition)

Today it's being hosted at Camp Patton!

Sometimes you just gotta get a few things off your chest.  I don't complain too much usually, so today I am going all "kitchen sink" on you with 7 things that annoy me.

— 1 —

The "Happy Birthday To You" song.  The melody of this song is terrible, especially for people who have no musical training.  It has an octave jump that just makes people uncomfortable because it usually requires switching from your chest register to your head if you're female.  It's also really awkward to be the birthday person.  What are you supposed to do?  Sing along?  Smile in silence?

— 2 —

When people on Pinterest don't pin the original recipe/idea and you have to jump through five hoops to get to it.  Or worse, the link is just a generic blog link and not to any post in particular.  Good luck, sucker!

— 3 —

Dresses that tie in the back for no reason.  I have a few of them, and it's usually just a little cotton cord (nothing special).  If it doesn't change the structure of the dress by tying it, then all it's doing is making it uncomfortable for me to sit in a chair (or a wooden church pew, or my car, etc. etc.).  I would just take it out, but often it's sewn in or I would have to cut off those little loops too.

This dress ties in the back, but WHY?  It's probably a conspiracy.

— 4 —

When people write "wa-la" (or some variant) but mean "voilà."  If you're going to use a term, learn how to spell it first, please.  It literally means "see there" in French, so let's keep it French.

— 5 —

Sites that have a "keep me logged in" option, but then don't actually keep me logged in.  Woe is me.

— 6 —

People who want to "eat my baby's face".  Why is this a thing?  I mean, she's cute, but I've never wanted to "eat her up" or "eat her with a spoon" or whatever.  Why do some people feel compelled to eat cute things?  I'm sure Freud has some answer, but please keep your cannibalistic tendencies away from my baby's face!

Please don't eat me!

— 7 —

When people say they are "apart of" something but really mean "a part of" something.  Um, do you realize you just said the opposite of what you meant?  Grumble grumble.

For more of today's Quick Takes, check out Camp Patton.

the Birth of a Nickname

When we named our baby, B and I put a lot of thought into the names we chose, even though we technically named Cora after she was born.  We had two names picked and waited to see which one "fit." In the process of picking our "finalists," we generally strayed from anything that could have a long-standing nickname. My mom never in a million years thought that my name would end up "Cat" after naming me Catherine.  It just wasn't a popular nickname back in 1984, so it never crossed her mind.  But my friends ended up giving it to me in middle school, and, for better or worse, it stuck.  It's definitely my name now--it was even on my most recent business card.

However, the name Cora is very hard to give a nickname.  I guess you could do "CoCo," but that reminds me of a gorilla, so no thanks.  Corry is a different name entirely.  These are actually a few of the reasons we liked this name.

All that being said, I now have a few nicknames for our baby.  I'm pretty much the only one who uses them.  B acknowledges them, but he won't use them himself.  Her nickname?  "Little Boop Boop."  I don't blame him for not using it.  This came about because back when she was about 6 weeks old and starting to give a social smile, I realized she always did it if "booped" her nose.  Basically, I would just tap it with my index finger and say "boop boop" in that high pitch only befitting for "booping" a baby's nose.  This nickname has now evolved sometimes into "Boopsy" and--my favorite--"The Boopster."

I often sing a song I made up that goes, "Lil' Boop Boop, Lil' Boop Boop, Lil' Boop Boop Boop Boop Boop Boop," (award-winning lyrics, I know), while I hold her hands and wave them back and forth.  This can instantly calm her down and smile, and sometimes she even laughs.  However, now I'm starting to fear she doesn't actually know her real name.  So I made up another song called "We love Cora" to the tune of "Frère Jacques"/"Are You Sleeping?", in hopes she might know that her name isn't actually The Boopster.

Here's a video of me singing both of the songs to her (it also includes an example of me "booping" her nose):



p.s. That blanket beneath her in the video?  Yeah, that's the free one we got from Budget for Baby :)

Some Thoughts on the Lip Dub Proposal

Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure by know you've at least heard of the "awesome" lip dub proposal that went viral on YouTube.  It's pretty cheesy; you can watch it here if you don't know what I'm talking about.

While the idea is cute, and I love musicals, with all their happy singing and dancing, as much as the next girl, I would have told this guy NO.  No, Isaac, I don't want to marry you.  And you have Bruno Mars and his crappy lyrics to thank for that.

This song irks me, which is kinda sad because I generally love the music of Bruno Mars and his vocal style.  If you really listen to the lyrics of this song, however, it's about being so drunk that you want to run off to some drive-thru chapel and get married on a whim.  And the fact that this is an acceptable thing to sing about on the radio gives a bit of insight why the divorce rate in our country is so high.

The second line of the song goes, "We're looking for something dumb to do."  I've done a lot of dumb things in my life, but getting married is not on that list.  And it shouldn't be on anyone's dumb list, if they actually hold their vows sacred.

Maybe it's because I got married in the Catholic Church, which I think does an excellent job of teaching the importance of each sacrament, marriage included, that running off to a "chapel on the Boulevard" after drinking some "dancing juice" doesn't appeal to me.  Actually, the wedding coordinator at the church informed me that intoxication can invalidate the sacrament.  Instead of 'pre-gaming' to settle my nerves, I had a Subway sandwich.  It wasn't too hard to save the drinking for the reception afterward.  I was also informed that the Catholic Church suggests and engagement spanning between six months and two years.  Granted, I know of at least one couple that got a priest's blessing to make it sooner (oh, military life), but I think these guidelines are good.  Six months gives you enough time to see if you're making a mistake (and to take the premarital class required by the Church), and my best guess is if it takes you more than two years, then you're focusing on the wrong things.

The one line that probably bugs me the most is, "If we wake up and you wanna break up, that's cool."  Why in the hell would that be in the song you use to propose to your girlfriend??  I'm sure at least one person involved in that lipdub/flashmob charade had the exact same thought running through his or her head.  How could they not? I'm pretty sure Isaac was hoping for a lifetime commitment here, not a one night stand.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but if I were the one proposing, I would think this thing completely through.  And completely through obviously includes the lyrics of the song.  I mean, they're kind of important, right? I don't care how catchy the freakin' beat is, do people actually listen to lyrics any more? Or maybe everyone has stopped listening to the verses and only hears the refrain?  I don't know, but I hear it all, and all is not well.

some new music: Colleen Nixon

Okay, so I kinda know this girl.  We sorta worked together at a camp in north Georgia many moons ago when we were both college students.  She's also our current priest's sister-in-law (small world, huh?).  Anyway, I've loved her voice ever since I heard her sing at that camp seven years ago.  I got to hear her sing again at our Pensacola church back in 2010, when she was pregnant with her son (that's her baby boy in the video).  I bought her religious CD then, and it has helped me out whenever my spirits need lifting.  She also has some secular songs, and this is one of them.

I have this primed to start right before the music starts, but this is actually from her KickStarter campaign that she has going right now, so there's some of her talking about it before and after.  (She's beautiful, amirite?!)  She's trying to raise some money so she can record a full-length album, so if you feel so inclined, head on over to KickStarter and help the girl out (you can pre-buy a digital copy of her album for $10).

Enjoy "Perfect" by Colleen Nixon!


Linking up with Goodnight Moon if she ever puts her hop back up...

not quite a lullaby

Every morning, I nurse baby Cora in the glider in her nursery. In lieu of a uni-tasking white noise machine, I put a CD player in there that also has radio.  I figured if she needed white noise, we could just tune it to static or burn a CD of it.  So far, she's only needed the static once, but I've been enjoying listening to the radio during those 9am(ish) feedings.  When this song comes on, it makes my day a lot better!




Doesn't it make you just want to dance around your living room?

By the way, are boy bands making a comeback?  These guys look so YOUNG!

Link up your song with Goodnight Moon

 

secret santa swag (and a song)

This year I decided to participate in a few different secret santa swaps.  One I did through reddit, and was sent a crochet book with a mildly ugly baby on the front.

I really have no desire to crochet blankets, but if I want to, now I have a book.

My baby has enough blankets, seriously.  But at least I got something, and the gifter put some thought into it which I always appreciate.

Another secret santa I did this year was a milspouse one, hosted by fellow sub wife Wife of a Sailor.  I was really excited when I got my match (yet another sub wife!) to send to since I had been reading her blog for over a year.  I'm still kicking myself because she announced her pregnancy the day after I sent the package out!  I definitely could've thrown some baby stuff in there . . . oh well.

As for who had me, it was a mystery until I got my package in the mail earlier this week.  When I got the package from my apartment's office, it was jingling!  It contained a sweet card from Ashley at Ashley Amazing.  It also contained all of these awesome and festive decorations:

It actually had 2 towels, but it was laundry day so one went in the bathroom right away!

There's some jingling bells both in the little sleigh and on the wreath holder that's sorta tucked behind the towel.  In her card, she said the countdown tree was for next year, but I liked it so much that I added it to the display on the bar already.

I told you I got more cards!

Ashley, thank you sooo much for all the fun stuff!

And since I saw The Nutcracker last weekend with some friends, I will leave you with my favorite dance and music from that, the Trepak (Russian dance).  I had this stuck in my head for days!


Have you ever seen a gal about 9 months pregnant try to prance about the room doing her best ballerina impression?  Um, because that just might have been me last week . . .

 

a little Christmas music

This past weekend, B and I had the privilege to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah by the Choral Society of Pensacola.  I actually had hoped to be singing with the group we saw, but decided not to push it with the pregnancy.  I also purposely didn't join the other (less-involved) choir I had sang with in the spring because their only concert for the fall was on the same night as this one!  (I really think the directors need to get together to plan around each other.)

Anyway, the concert was being held our our beautiful church, and we showed up ready to buy some general admission tickets.  The ticket gal asked, "Do you want some reserved section tickets?  These were just returned and are already paid for, so you can have them for free."  Sweet!  So we sat 8 rows back and listened to beautiful music for the next 2 hours.

They actually did the ENTIRE Messiah oratorio (all 3 parts), not just the traditional Christmas section with the "Hallelujah" chorus tacked on like I was expecting.  The soloists and choir were fantastic, and I loved hearing the other parts that I wasn't as familiar with.  I was so jealous that I wasn't up there singing myself!  But at the "Hallelujah" Chorus part (end of the Easter section, of course), you stand up (it's tradition!), and at this concert, the conductor turned around and conducted the audience so it was okay to sing along.  I sorta sang, but I was exhausted, making me realize that I made the right call about pregnancy vs. singing.

Here is the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus performing the first choral part of the Messiah, "And the Glory of the Lord":

I must sing with a symphony orchestra once again!  I miss it.
p.s. If you want to hear the "Hallelujah" chorus, check out this post I did at Eastertime.

well, that's one way to announce a Christmas list

I'm linking up with Goodnight Moon's What's Your Song? today!


 I got an Etta James album at the library and listened to it on my trip the other week. Of course we've all heard her signature "At Last," but I've been enjoying her more sassy side.  This song just makes me laugh:


I just love her voice.  Are you an Etta fan as well?

DeLuna Fest music

Earlier this week, I posted about my experience at DeLuna Fest, and now I want to share some of the good music with you!  The cool thing about festivals is discovering new music.  We saw a band called Telekinesis on Saturday, and I actually really liked them.  They're apparently from Seattle, so they probably don't come this way often.  Only a few hundred people came to their set since it was early afternoon, so it was nice and intimate.  They even took a request from a fan and played a song that wasn't on their playlist.

So here is Telekinesis:



I also just wanted to share my favorite Cake song with you, since I got to see them and all.


That one was really fun to hear live because the whole crowd knew it and was really into it and doing the shouting parts right on time along with the "ahh ahh"'s.

Linking up with Goodnight Moon today!  (It has been entirely too long since my last one.)

pregnancy vs. a music festival

This past weekend, B and I got the opportunity to attend DeLuna Fest for "free." I use that term loosely because we had to volunteer to sit behind a table for four hours on Saturday to get our tickets.  And we had to pay $20 for parking on Friday night when we went to see our bands (and the $1 toll both days).  At least we found free parking on Saturday.

DeLuna Fest is a 3-day music festival here on Pensacola Beach, and it's only in its second year.  I was originally interested in it because of some of the headlining bands, namely Weezer and Cake.  Linkin Park was also slate to perform, but they dropped out all of 2 weeks beforehand.  Lame.  The tickets were super-expensive, so I'm glad we were able to volunteer our way into it.

The two bands I mostly wanted to see both performed on Friday night, so we headed out to the beach.  The last time I went to a big musical festival with multiple stages was when I was in high school and went to Music Midtown in Atlanta (does that still exist?) and saw Hole, 98°, newly-famous Kid Rock (gag), and a pre-famous Jessica Simpson all in one weekend.  B had never been to anything like this, so I'm glad he got the experience.  The cool thing about DeLuna Fest is that the two main stages were right on the beach, in the sand. This was awesome later when I just needed to sit my pregnant butt down.

We got there on Friday night, just in time to see the last song from a duo called Matt and Kim.  (I'd heard of them before, but don't know their music.)  We realized then that we didn't have a program--actually, I'm not even sure if there WERE programs available--had no idea what stage we were at, and I couldn't remember which band I wanted was coming on first.  We also don't have smart phones, which is probably why there were no programs readily available.  Somehow we ended up running into an acquaintance (we know all of like 10 people in this town, so that was a slight miracle), and she looked it up on her phone.  It was sort of wrong, but I asked some other guy and Cake was indeed playing on the stage we were at in just under an hour.  So we sat around and waited.

Some people around us "lit up" in true music-festival-sense (if you know what I mean).  I knew the smell right away and was trying to get away from it, if anything, to protect my baby.  Somehow B cannot smell this stuff.  I told him to take a big whiff and remember that smell for later (especially when our kids are teens), and he kept saying that he didn't smell anything.  What.  The.  Heck.  The things I learn about my husband . . . guess I'll be the narc of the house.

Another thing that kept bothering me, especially once Cake started playing, was people walking by us and bumping into me.  (This is the opposite of what I thought would happen--I thought we were all going to get pushed forward and smooshed up once the band came on the stage.  Apparently, there is no pleasing me.) I've always been protective of my space, but now it's even more so.  We were pretty close up, and I just don't see why people find the need to mill around to get over there or leave only minutes into a set.  I was trying to perfect a certain stance with my hands on my hips and elbows out so that people wouldn't think I make a good passageway; it was semi-effective.  There were also beach balls and playground balls being bounced around through a lot of it, and one of the more rubbery playground balls totally smacked me in the bump during the first song.  B did a great job of protecting his pregnant wife from falling crowd-surfers though.

via Wikipedia

As for the music, Cake was really good.  Apparently they have some new stuff out, so I didn't recognize that (or even like it too much), but they mostly stuck to their crowd-pleasing classics.  Here's where DeLuna Fest needed to fix their logistics.  Cake ended at 9 and Weezer started promptly at 9.  A large handful of people left Cake early to haul it down to the other end of the beach to see all of Weezer's set, and the rest of us waited until the end, then trucked it down there.  I was in sneakers because I needed the support and hauling butt through sand was not easy.  Also, my knees had apparently locked during the hour watching Cake and it was so hard to move my pregnant behind anyway.  B refused to take me piggy-back.  Almost everyone at Cake went to Weezer, so it was just a cluster&*^$! of people trying to get down the beach as quickly as possible.

I made it through about 3 songs at Weezer before I plopped my butt down in the sand and just listened.  Weezer has a ton of good music that everyone knows, but for whatever dumb reason, they were playing a bunch of not-so-good stuff for most of it.  This included a cover of "Pumped Up Kicks," which is currently on the radio.  It wasn't even a very good cover, in my opinion.  I told B to take another whiff of the air when they started playing "Hash Pipe," and he still couldn't smell it.  Sigh.

The next day we saw a band that we'd never heard of (more on them later this week), and then The Shins later that night.  We made it an hour through that set then left because we were both really exhausted.  We also realized that we're getting old, especially being around all those beach-bum-hippies.  B's back was starting to hurt, and of course I had the normal pregnancy woes.  I've pretty much decided that my rock concert days are behind me as I didn't really enjoy the concerts as much as I once would have.  That's probably the last "standing up" concert I'll go to for a long while.  The next concert I see I will be sitting in a comfy chair/church pew with a bunch of gray-haired ladies around me.  And the only standing I'll be doing is for the Hallelujah chorus.

As for the volunteering we did, we were right next to the USO tent and they gave us Girl Scout cookies.  Can't argue with that!

 

stuck like glue

At the wedding we attended the other weekend in Texas, there was of course a lot of dancing and music. Good music, bad music, Texas-two-stepping music, the Chicken Dance, and even the Hokie Pokie (for the groom's sister, a proud VT alum).  But I did get to hear a song that was new to me, and it was absolutely adorable watching the bride and groom sing it to each other while dancing.  (They were also the tallest people in the entire room and she was in all white, so it was pretty easy to watch them; this, however, was not their first dance.)

I don't listen to much country music, so this was new to me but probably not to most.  I wrote some notes about the song down on the side of a medicine box in my purse so I could look it up later.

If this had been a napkin, I probably wouldn't be writing this post

 The song is apparently by Sugarland, and yeah, the video is slightly disturbing to me.

when minor events trigger strong musical memories

Do you ever have a minor life event that prompts you to remember a song lyric? And then whenever you are reminded of that event, the lyric keeps coming back until you just have to sing the whole song? Okay, maybe that's just me.

My minor life event: bra shopping.  I kid you not.  A few weeks ago when my parents were in town, my mom and I went to the outlets over in Alabama.  The Maidenform outlet had all of their bras for $9.99.  I've never actually bought a Maidenform bra because they're mostly carried in department stores which refuse to carry my weird size.  But the outlet had them!  I bought two, and they are awesome.

Then, for the next week or so, every time I put one of my new bras on, a lyric from a song I hadn't heard in about 10 years got stuck in my head.  The lyric?  "It's wilting the quilting of my Maidenform."

The song is called "It's Raining on Prom Night," and you're probably more familiar with it if you've seen the stage version of Grease.  In the movie, it's not very prominent.  I think it just plays in the background when they're in the diner.  However, it is on the movie soundtrack, as done by Cindy Bullens.


I had originally wanted to share a pop/punk cover of it by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes that I had on some mix tape in high school, but I listened to it again and realized that they changed some of the words which altered the meaning of the song into something much more disgusting.  Now that I've piqued your interest on that, here's a link to it.  But don't say I didn't warn you.

catchy like whoa

This song definitely did not get enough airplay around these parts.  Love love love danceable, catchy songs.


Also, I discovered Grooveshark recently and it's 10 gabillion times better than Playlist.com (which often has the wrong song attached to a title--LAME).  I haven't even made a login and was able to embed that thing above.  Speaking of logins, when I tried to sign up for Playlist.com, someone had used my email to create the login name "Twilightlover266446".  Umm, I read the first two Twilight books and thought they were truly terrible!  (I might lose some followers by saying that, but oh well.)  But I changed the password, so yeah, that's my login now.  Doesn't matter because I'm never going back to that site ever again.

Also on Grooveshark, I was also able to find a song I had been digging and digging for back at Christmas.  Here's a link to that post and the actual cover of Mr. Grinch that I have finally found 8 months later.

a true entertainer: billy joel

Link up with Goodnight Moon!

Does anyone else think Billy Joel was a total musical genius?  Umm, I do.  (Not the biggest fan of his personal life, but this is about his music.  Learn the difference.)  I really didn't even know his music very well until I got my mom all his greatest hits CD's a number of years ago.  I somehow ended up with at least one of them in my constant possession, and I love listening to it.  I am always in awe of how he can really tell a story with the song and bring out very honest emotions.  I'll admit I've cried listening to "Piano Man."  On more than one occasion.

But what got me thinking about Billy Joel lately was hearing Bruno Mars sing about throwing his "hand in his pants" in "The Lazy Song,"* which has apparently been playing on loop at the radio stations around here.  No matter what time of day, when I hear that lyric, I will always think of this Billy Joel song:


It's definitely one of my favorites.  I also can never help but laugh when he sings the line, "But if I go cold I won't get sold; I'll get put in the back in the discount rack, like another can of beans" because a few years ago B bought a Billy Joel cassette tape for 50¢ at a thrift shop (yes, he still has a car that plays cassette tapes).  Now, I don't think Billy has really gone cold, but that format certainly has.  And I didn't see any cans of beans around.

*If you haven't seen the video for this one, please click on that link and be ready to laugh.

a car milestone and driving music

While driving back through "L.A." (Lower Alabama) on Monday, my car hit a big milestone!!  I've had her for three and a half years, so I think this is right on track!

I do not condone taking pictures while driving.  And yes, I need to clean!

While this was happening, I was listening to one of my all-time favorite bands and my absolute favorite song of theirs was playing. Obviously, the fates were aligned on this one! So here is the song I heard on that beautiful afternoon:




Every week for my song linkups, I try to use Playlist.com, but apparently my musical tastes are on the slightly obscure side. Youtube to the rescue. If you're not familiar with Relient K, they are indeed a Christian band, but they are not a "worshippy" type of band.  They just sing songs from a Christian perspective, although some of their songs have nothing to do with that at all.  I think they are masters at catchy tunes and witty/smart lyrics.  My college friends and I used to "car dance" to this stuff without one ounce of shame. They've definitely grown up since a lot of my favorites came out, but it's kinda nice because it's growing with me.  (I featured a much more mature song from them back on this post.)  Here's one of my other all-time-faves that falls into the witty/smart/catchy/not-inherently-Christian category.




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