Monday, October 25, 2010

Music Monday #17 ~ Wordless

Gosh, I so love a good sing-a-long.
Typically, if I can't sing a song, I don't like it.
(We won't bother discussing whether that singing sounds good or not)

But there are exceptions to every rule and there are definitely some in this case.

Sometimes it is just nice to sit back and listen...
...to just feel the music.

I'm pretty sure that all my continual howling over songs takes away their full meaning,
so when a song comes along that doesn't have any words,
I am forced to keep my mouth shut and open my ears.

Sure there have been some amazing compositions created over the centuries.
Who doesn't love a bit of Mozart or Beethoven now and then?

But the instrumentals I am highlighting today are some of my all-time favorites composed within the last century.
I will post them in chronological order.

First up is from 1946...my dad will love this one.
He and I were both born too late.
We listened to this a time or two thousand when I was a kid.
And I love the theatricality of the band in this performance.

Here's "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller:


The next two songs were both recorded in 1959.

I have to admit right here and now that I am not a fan of the saxophone.
There are just very few songs out there with that instrument in it that I really enjoy.
But here's another exception to another rule...
...Dave Brubeck.
Amazing jazz artist.
Amazing song.
(and prepare to be blown away by the drum solo)
Good stuff.

Here's "Take Five":



And the other from the same year is seriously one of my absolute favorite songs.
Even if it weren't associated with "La Bamba".

Here's "Sleepwalk" by Santo & Johnny:
(Les, you can just skip this one ;-)


And last, but certainly not least, is a piece composed by Bjork for the movie "Dancer in the Dark".
It is the opening overture and is simply titled "Overture".
It's not very long, but incredibly powerful.
This song alone has, at times, brought tears to my eyes.



Well, I hope you enjoyed this chance to just sit back and listen to some incredible songs by some incredible artists.
We should probably all give our mouths a break from time to time and let our ears get some use.

Take care,

Monday, October 18, 2010

Music Monday #16 ~ Let It Be

Though my opinions may steer my political leanings pretty far to the right, I find that many today think that means that this makes me an ignorant, hateful, war-mongering bigot.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am first and foremost a Christian.

And the Bible tells me these things:

God is love.
God created us out of love.
God intends for us to love each other.

Sin is another matter.
Sin, and the architect of sin, the devil, are constantly struggling for control of our lives.

No one but Jesus has ever been perfect, or will ever be.
So in light of this, it is impossible for me to hate one of my brothers or sisters in Christ because of his sin.
Being a sinful person myself keeps me from truly being able to place judgement on another.

I do hate the sin though.
I hate war and fighting.
And I hate what sin does to obscure the love and happiness that God wants for us.

If for one moment we could all (left, right or middle) just stop and realize
that not one of us is perfect,
that not one of us is doing things exactly right,
then we might be able to see each other for what we truly are...

creations of love.

Every person that God has created is worthy of being loved.
Because God first loved us.

If we will only gather ourselves into that love of God
and see that love in each other,
 then it will be that much harder for the devil to overshadow it with hatred.
And for just a moment we could "let it be".



(I am well aware that The Beatles were not professing Christians, but the message of  letting go of our hate for a person, if only to allow that person to live to see another day, is quite compelling, don't you think?)
Excerpt is from the film "Across the Universe"
"Let it Be" performed by Carol Woods & Timothy T. Mitchum

Monday, October 11, 2010

Music Monday #15 ~ My Björk

She's been my dearest musical love for over 15 years now.

She made my room look like this...


...helped cultivate a deep friendship with this guy...


...and broke my heart in this movie.


I am eternally connected to her...though I will likely never meet her.

But the thing that got me the most about her was the purity of her voice.
Most often in her music it it hard to truly hear it's power because it has to compete with the electronic sounds and orchestras in her music.

But I have finally heard a gorgeousness from her that I haven't heard years.
A collaboration with Antony and the Johnsons.

Fletta

Completely in Icelandic...only accompanied by Antony Hegarty and a piano.

Absolutely gorgeous.

And it comes at a perfect time in my life.
These days have found me very introspective and pondering.
And that is the emotion I also feel while listening to this song.

I do hope you'll give her voice a chance.


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Catching up...Part III ~ A funeral, a wedding, fun w/ friends, birthdays and more

Well I am determined to finish up this "catching up" business with this post.
I do not want to get this far behind again.
It's definitely not worth having to overwork my scattered memory to rebuild the past.

As you recall, my last post included a birth in family.
Well, a few days later we received tragic news that one of my mom's oldest friends (since 2 yrs old!) passed away after a long illness.
To make the pain even worse was the fact that less than a week before his death, his mother, who practically helped raise my mom, suffered from an aneurysm and was on life support.
She never knew that her son had passed.
We attended his funeral on the 18th and a few days later his mother went to see Jesus as well.
The whole ordeal was extremely upsetting to my mom of course and therefore to me too.
It had also been just 6 months since she had lost her brother.
It's been a rough year for her, but we have consolation in the fact that none of them are suffering from their earthly pains any longer and are hopefully resting joyfully in the arms of the Savior in Heaven.

Now that I've shared the bad news in our lives, I'd like to move on to some good news.
The same day that we attended the funeral, I also got to attend a wedding.
My husband's good friend, Brian, was the groom and Terry was actually a groomsman in the ceremony.
Jude was very excited to see us getting all dressed up that he even wanted to participate in the occasion as you can see in this shot of him walking around in my shoes. =)
(can't wait to embarass him with this pic in a few years!)


The outdoor wedding and indoor reception were both beautiful.
It was a small gathering which made it really nice.
I felt like I knew everyone in the room.
And check out how well my skateboard tee and jeans hubby cleans up!


Here we are with the happily married couple, Brian and Shauna!


The following weekend was a bit less busy, but I was able to finally get two of my bestest buds together with me for dinner, Baskin-Robbins and great conversation.

Michael, on the left, I met in the spring of 1995 in a drawing class that we were taking in community college.
We quickly became great friends, as we shared very similar tastes in music.
He is an amazing artist and is currently in graphic design.
It's not often that a talent like that actually gets to be put to use in one's work, but I am so proud of what he is doing.
Scott, on the right, you have seen here before.
He is totally my BFF.
My crazy and spontaneous BFF.
We have been this way since we were freshmen in high school...21 years now.
Back in our early college years...I say early, because out of the 3 of us, only Scott has an actual degree, and it took a while for that to happen. Michael is almost there with his degree and me, well...one day...but back in the day, these two guys and my husband, Terry, were my closest friends in the world.
Each one played an integral role in the person I am today.
But only one would be my perfect match...my soulmate...and that is the one that I married.
I was and am blessed to have these three best friends.
Though all of our lives have taken different paths and time and responsibility has stolen away the opportunities to see each other as often as we'd like, this one night with two of my greatest friends was truly priceless.
In the meantime, I've noticed that my little 2 yr old is turning into a "big boy" more and more every day.
He is becoming more confident in his physical abilities... 


And quite the little artist as well!
Below you are viewing the piece entitled "Tree and Two Suns". =P
Well, that's what it is!
A tree (with a few leaves) on the right and two suns on the left.
Pretty good for a 27 month old!


And we can't forget his self-portrait entitled "Grumpy Jude". (haha!)


On the 28th, we celebrated Terry's 39th birthday.
Only one more year and I'll be married to a 40 year old! GASP!! =)
But he's not letting the numbers bring him down.
He celebrated the day the way HE wanted...at the skatepark.
Jude spent some time watching Daddy skate.

He became more comfortable in the bowl this time.
He had never had the opportunity in all his years of skating to be in a bowl before they built this skatepark nearby.
So he spent a great deal of time enjoying it.
I suggested that he try dropping in from the corner here so as to build up some speed to hopefully get some height on the other side.


Um, yeah...probably wasn't the greatest suggestion to a concrete bowl novice as he turned too fast and had quite the spill. I was really afraid that he had hurt his hand/arm, but he came out unscathed.
I was of course forthcoming with the apologies.


Oh, there was one injury...the faceplate of his kneepad was knocked off.
When Terry tossed it out of the bowl, Jude kept pushing it back in to him because he knew Terry was supposed to be wearing it.

That evening we ate Terry's request of Goode Co. Pecan Pie.
Yes, the pie costs almost $32...IF you're having it shipped.
If you live in the area though it's only $15.
Is it worth it?
Um, I hated pecan pie.
That is, until I tried this one.
It is amazing. Period.
Sooooo worth it.

And Terry even got a candle in his piece of pie.


Cecilia, on the other hand, doesn't like pecans in the least, so she had a piece of the tres leches I made from scratch (whipped cream and all) for my Bunco gathering the day before.
Well, she tried it at least. Then she discovered she doesn't like soggy cake.
But seriously...it's tres leches...it's supposed to be like that.
And personally, I thought it was excellent.


Four days later, on Oct. 2nd, it was mine and Terry's 6th wedding anniversary.
We enjoyed the rare treat of a night out alone.
My dear parents watched the kids while we dined at Buca di Beppo.
Great food...great atmosphere...noisy homecoming teenagers.
But we'll definitely be eating there again.


After dinner we walked along the Woodlands Waterway and to the market street area nearby.
We sat and ate ice cream and purused the bookstore...ALONE.
Let's just say, we enjoyed the quiet time.

And here we are....caught up again.
In three days, on the 10th, it will be my 35th birthday.
10-10-10
Very cool.

Thanks for taking the time and interest in this long post and catching up with my family.

Take care and God bless,

Monday, October 4, 2010

Music Monday #14 ~ Anniversary Mix Edition



Over the weekend Terry and I celebrated our 6th year of marriage.
Sure there have been a couple of rough spots here and there, but overall we have been blessed with an incredible relationship.
I credit this mostly to the fact that we were such close friends before we began to really date.
I cherish our ability to just hang out and chat like old buds.
I once opened a fortune cookie that read:
"A good friendship is often more important than a passionate romance".
And I couldn't agree more.
I'm not saying that there's no romance in our relationship, because there is.
There is simple sweetness about our love that remains as fresh today as it did so many years ago when we began.
But that friendship, that is what I value above all else in our relationship...and that is what I think will keep us together to the end.

Anyway, this is a music post, so I wanted to use this occasion to highlight some of the songs that my dear husband has given to me over the years.

He has such a great love and knowledge of music.
I have often told him that he would do well in the music industry...production wise...because of his incredible ear for quality.
He doesn't skimp on quality one bit when choosing songs to "dedicate" to his wife either.
Though I'd love to share every song he's given to me with you, there obviously isn't enough time or space in this post.

So, here is just a sampling of the feelings and music that my love has shared with me...










Thank you for letting me give you a peek into our lovely little life.
I do love every moment of it...good and bad.

Enjoy the love in your life as well because you never know how long it will be there.

Take care,