Wednesday, September 29, 2010

For Me This is Heaven

Music has always been something I've treasured. I've used it to cheer me up. I've used it to sulk. I've used it to reminisce, cry, laugh, move, quote. It's always had a huge effect on me.

Sometimes I go through music ruts. I wait for new songs or artists and nothing shows us or impresses me. When this happens I revert back to oldies but goodies: Third Eye Blind, Tori Amos, Vanessa Carlton, and songs that make me think of college from The Starting Line, Finch, The Used, etc.

This Tuesday a new CD came out that got me excited about music again. Jimmy Eat World's Invented felt like a CD I haven't listened to in a while and seriously missed. I've been listening to JEW since high school and it's gotten me through some rough times. They always have a way of putting words to things I can't express. It always seems like the albums were written for me. Their songs are timeless and I will never get sick of hearing the intro to 23 or the Weatherford and Casey Moore's references in If You Don't, Dont (hey, I lived right there!). Nothing will remind me of sitting at the McConnell desk in college than A Sunday or Crush. In 2004, Polaris accompanied me on many solo drives in Flagstaff when I needed alone time to think.

Their new album isn't breakthrough or amazing or completely different from anything they've done, but that's why I love it. It's familiar and it speaks to me. And those connections that people have are the only things that should matter to musicians.

I'll gladly sing my Whooooaaaa-ohhh-oh-ohhhhhs on October 30th at the Marquee and feel tingly and teary-eyed when 23 is played.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

We Become the Things We Do

Wowza! It's Friday already tomorrow! Hard to believe that we were in Flagstaff a week ago tomorrow. The madness! Yes, madness. Lots and lots of fun... it's hard to go back there and not be in college mood. Lots of wine was consumed, a little dancing was done, some things were lost, and a good time was had by all. That is all.

Mooooooving on... this week actually went pretty fast, minus a few bumps in the road that got me in a cruddy mood for a little bit. I sort of milked it though. I told J I wasn't having that great of a day yesterday and that some Pizzeria Bianco was needed. So of course he obliged. We got there later than normal due to work and meetings, got in the first seating, AND there was still seats left after everyone went in. It was rare form. But so delicious, as always.

Not much is happening this weekend but coming up I have a wedding shower, a wedding, and a weekend with the boys. I think we're going to take a trip up north (and I'm taking a sick day!) and bringing the dogs with us. It's almost fall break time. Well, J has his two weeks before mine so we'll be using his for our stay-cation time :)

That's about all the boring things happening in my life ;) I'm catching up on Teen Mom and some DVR'd shows, then it's bedtime. I LOVE going to bed before 9. Such a loser, I know.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

 Happy Thursday! I'm getting super duper excited for this weekend and Flagstaff! I just checked the weather and it's going to be nice and chilly ;)

Yesterday was J & I's 6 month wedding anniversary! Yes, we celebrated six months. We went out to Postino's for some delicious bruschetta and creme brulee, then we went home and opened up our Vintage Dom Perignon champagne we received as a gift. We drank the whole bottle, which wasn't very difficult. I didn't wake up with a headache or anything so I guess that's a good sign.

This week has been kind of crazy at work. I have yet to get groups in here. Hopefully tomorrow. There's been a lot of schedule changes which has made my job even more difficult since the sixth grade schedule was all over the place to begin with. I'm excited to get working with kiddos. I'm going to have very small groups and of course every teacher thinks they're going to perform miracles. The middle school is sort of a stressful place for a teacher, especially with a population like ours. It's really our last chance to help them out and keep them in school and hope hope hope that they don't drop out. It's a very defeating feeling when you've given everything to work with students and they don't make the right choices. Such is our job, though! All you can hope for is that the students realize that you genuinely care about them and even if they say nothing to you, hope that you made some sort of smidgen of difference in their life. No pressure!

In other news, we have a new addition to our family: a kitten! I honestly do not like cats and never thought I'd want to adopt one, but it was so hard having our foster babies in our house since they were four weeks old and not wanting to keep one! We went to the Humane Society to see if any of them were left. We really went back for one (with the patch on his eye) and ended up getting the crazy jumper, climber, and scratcher. His name is Charlie and he's calmed down quite a bit. He's really funny. The dogs are used to him by now and his shenanigans. They were picking on him a little this morning, which was fun to watch. No more pets!

I'm off to eat our Rosh Hashanah leftovers with the leadership team and continue working away. Have a super weekend!