might as well face it.

One of the YouTube comments reads "FIERCE cover." And I agree.


And this is probably the song I have listened to the most this week:


Happy Friday!

when it rains, it pours.

I finished the bit of homework I absolutely needed to do. I watched an episode of a television show that I admit, is a guilty pleasure. I actually shut down my computer, a rarity. I got ready for bed. I checked that my alarm clock was turned on and set to the correct time. I turned off my lights. I laid down. I was ready to rest.

I was ready to rest.

I was going to go to sleep.

I got out of bed. I turned the lights back on. I hoisted my computer up onto my lap and turned it on. I listened to the sound of it coming back to life as I drummed my fingers across the keyboard. And I started to write.

There are very few nights where I feel inspired to write something right that second. They primarily happen during the summer, when I'm feeling free and when the actual necessity of sleep doesn't crowd my daily or nightly habits because I know I will get to it at some point. My stress level at those times is usually quite low. My imagination is flowing because of books or music or stories I've been reading or listening to or sharing. I can't wait to write something down, and I have to do it at that exact moment or else I will lose it.

That is what I'm feeling right now.

Writing soul, it's been awhile.

Thanks for returning.

If you could stick around until I finish my play script, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Now back to sleep.

Today I'm running on

caffeine...
and big dreams
It's been a really inspiring morning.

photos google images and weheartit.com

wanna see my new social life?

Here they are! :) My bus core and the new source of multiple emails a day, texts, calls and excited jabber about getting this and that donated and applying for this or that grant and planning a community service project in this city or a housing location in that place.

Planning for this Pay it Forward tour is the most fun pain-in-the-side thing I have ever done. It is constantly on my mind, taking up more lines on my to-do lists than school or anything else combined. If I didn't believe in it as much as I do, it would probably be easy to stop now. Instead, I'm thinking of how amazing this experience is going to end up and I get a big smile on my face and a giddy feeling and actually call one of my core or another friend who loves me just to say "WE ARE GOING TO DO IT!"

I'm really excited tonight. My core has been rocking at getting things set up and donated so far this week (AND ITS ONLY TUESDAY!) I was a little apprehensive about getting everything done after we spent all of last weekend "Up North" in Gilbert, MN learning about planning and all of the little things you kind of forget about doing to make a tour actually happen. It's really going to come together, though, and I couldn't be happier! I know this tedious process of emailing corporations and cold-calling businesses and other people is all a part of the amazing end result, but remind me of that true fact if I start venting about it at some point in the next 44 days. (Because I'm sure I will want to at some point.) Please and thank you.

feeling: overwhelmed.

from here

It's been an overwhelming start to the semester. Stories and other random chatter coming again soon, when I have more than a few minutes to relay them. All I know is that if I can make it through all of the things I have going on in the next few months, I will be ready for anything.

Oh! And even though last semester was (to date) the hardest I'd had (this one is going to win that by a landslide) I made the Dean's List! My tech-savvy mom scanned the letter and emailed it to me letting me know yesterday. It was a nice bright spot to my day so I thought I'd share.

Please bear with me if there are a little fewer posts this semester, though! There is so much I want to share, but since the Pay it Forward tour I am leading is a mystery tour, there is also so so much I cannot share in order to keep the cities and activities a surprise!

Help The Manly Minnesota Milers!

Here we are, disapproving of AIDS. (photo and caption taken from manlyminnesotamilers.org.)

Today, I'm doing something I've never done before - promoting really cool people I ACTUALLY KNOW (okay, I only legitimately know one of them, but I'm sure they are all wonderful people) and offering a little something something if you DONATE TO THEM. I'm serious.

I am calling out to all of you to help these manly men do their part to help fight AIDS in America. They are embarking on a cycling adventure, called the AIDS/LifeCycle which is a 7-day bike ride from June 6-12, 2010, culminating in 545 miles for each of them to bike.

Here's a little excerpt from their website:
"Our goal in attempting this feat, despite our incredible out-of-shapedness, is to convince a bunch of people to help us raise a grand total of 12,000 bucks for AIDS charity. If our calculations are correct, which they are, then that's about 8 bucks per mile."

Wade, the miler on the right in the photo above, is my friend and the person I donated to. (You have to pick one person on their team, but all of the money goes to the same cause.)

As a bonus, if you donate and leave me a comment or email me at janaetime AT yahoo DOT com (janaetime@yahoo.com) with your name/address, I will be sending you a thank you AND a CD full of amazing music, including a few of Wade's favorite songs. For real. Donate to them, I send you a letter and CD. Easy and awesome. Make me proud, friends and family.

Thank you all so much!

please please can i go?

AH! I just finally sat down and looked at the Coachella lineup this year and it is INCREDIBLE. Do you want to know what I have been listening to this last year? Well, most of the bands in the poster. Granted, there are some I have never heard of, but I'm sure they are incredible.

If I could go, I wouldn't miss: Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, She & Him, Muse, Matt & Kim, Phoenix, MGMT, Hot Chip (which I just recently listened to thanks to my friend Beth), Yeasayer, Ceu, Dirty Projecters, The XX, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Tokyo Police Club, Corinne Bailey Rae, Pavement, Jonsi, Julian Casablancas, Yo La Tengo, Mew, I'm getting dangerously close to listing half of the bands present...I think you get the idea. It's a dream of mine to attend Coachella one day. Anyone want to go next year?! I'm much too busy in March to even dream of going this year...but if you are not and can fathom this amazing lineup, tickets go on sale 1/22. More info here. It will be amazing, no doubt in my mind.

Does anyone know of any banquet halls I can rent?

In Sioux Falls, SD? For around 50 people? Get at me if you have any suggestions. I'm on the prowl and seeking help.

Also, it's my last first day of school of my undergraduate career. Perhaps I'll snap a picture when I get home tonight with my backpack. I very gracefully ran out of my house without my coat zipped in order to catch the bus this morning, so obviously there was no time for that. At least I haven't slipped or anything. Yet.

tomorrow's my last first day of school.

and what, do you suppose, I'm doing?

making a playlist, that's what.

Enjoy:


(I actually didn't realize that the first two songs were named "I'm Ready" until now. I guess I'm really ready.)

All songs based on the actual playlist I made in my itunes. Get at me if you want a copy. I love sending mail.

Music Monday

Please, please enjoy these musical wonders this Martin Luther King Jr. day and thank your lucky stars that since I didn't have to actually go into work today, and simply have been working on things at home, I got sidetracked and have been listening to way too much music for my own good. Also, I bought the latest Paste magazine. (Remember my ode to the last one?) With each Paste mag you buy (or subscribe to, which I'm seriously considering) you get the code to download a new playlist with 20ish songs on it. They're pretty great. I've been musically resurrected yet again. But, most of the songs listed below are because I heard them on the radio on my way to Target this morning or I've been finding them via the internet. I surf the web a lot. Do people even use that phrase "surf the web" anymore? Well, apparently I do and I have.

I actually woke up to this song, via the fabulous The Current radio station.



I've recently discovered Allison Weiss. She's fabulous and I love this video. (She loves pancakes.)

Don't actually watch this Owl City video (because there really isn't one), just click play and go about the rest of your web surfing. I haven't figured out how to embed regular old mp3s on blogger - apparently its pretty impossible to do.

Also, just love Owl City because they are from Minnesota.

And last, but certainly not least, my latest addiction is the band Metric.

love love love love. Listen to more here.

i hate pop-tart crusts.

Now, I know that some of you are thinking "what are they supposed to do, Janae, just let the delicious gooey faux-fruit filling gush out into the wrapper?" No. That is not what I am suggesting. I'm just saying I hate the edges of pop-tarts. Especially the super generic brand that was bought for a tour because we were on a budget and that is what we do, but no one likes generic brand pop-tarts (don't even pretend you do - you know that real ones are 300 times better) so we had a ton of boxes left over and everyone took one or two home and I haven't really gone grocery shopping since I've been back in the cities (6 days and counting) and before I left I was already eating everything possible because I didn't have time to go grocery shopping during finals week and generic brand pop-tarts are practically all I have left in my cupboard except for a few spices, stale tortilla chips, marshmallows and dry pasta, so it is what I happen to be consuming right now and it is bad.

Whatever, pop-tarts are bad for you anyways. No one should eat them if they want to be semi-healthy. And that is where the rant came from.

With all of this coverage on Haiti, I feel really silly for not even mentioning it yet. And then starting off this post with a bash on fake pop-tarts which probably made most of you click off your computers and put in a toaster strudel. But I am mentioning it now. If you haven't donated but want to, there are a few ways that I have been reading about that seem really wonderful.

You can text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. The money will be directly charged to your phone bill.

Partners in Health has a great reputation for helping with health care in Haiti and you can donate by going to their home website, or by going to their designated Haiti relief website, Stand With Haiti at standwithhaiti.org.

Another option is to support small businesses and Haiti relief by buying handmade goods. Each shop listed on this website is giving a percentage or all of the money that you spend towards Haiti relief.

Let's tackle both problems and never buy generic brand pop-tarts again while using the savings to help donate to Haiti. This post is coming off much more light-hearted than it probably should, but I'm sure you have all seen the destruction and devastating photos on the news, so there is no need for me to relay those here. And, just in case you haven't seen anything, CNN has an entire page dedicated to up-to-date stories, news, testimonials, photos, and everything else you want to know about the earthquake here. (Including an entire article on how money is the most important thing needed, and reputable organizations to donate to here.)

it seems to me that most of us are living precisely the lives we want to live. we just don’t realize it.

The subject line comes from a fabulous conclusion to a woman's tumblr post that i have reread a couple of times over the last few days. I love it. If you want to read it, click here.

Now, I haven't updated this with stories or pictures in awhile. I hear it. "Geez, Janae. Thinking you can go off and have winter break and not update anyone on anything you are doing." I did have a couple people from closer to where I'm from say that ever since I'd been back I hadn't been blogging. The truth is, I'm not sure what I did over break is really that interesting. But, here goes nothing.

(By the way, I LOVE when at the end of sit-coms, the characters sit down and say "the truth is..." and the dramatic culmination-to-the-problem music comes on. It makes me sit back and chuckle everytime and I usually get a little feeling in the pit of my stomach that is triggering the THIS IS IMPORTANT notion that I should be paying attention even though I already was - but the truth is, this is what you were watching for in the first place. Get it together and remember this valuable, sound lesson, DJ Tanner. Or Stephanie. Or Michelle. Or Danny for that matter.)

Since I didn't get home for break until a few short days before Christmas, I'm going to start with Christmas Eve. It blizzarded. Is that a word? It is now. This year was the first year ever that I didn't spend Christmas Eve at my grandma and grandpa's farm, eating spaghetti (our family's tradition - with homemade sauce), devouring the best cookies ever that are only made at Christmastime (and that you can tell my grandpa frosted because of the extra red hots on top), and very un-patiently waiting until all of the dishes were cleaned up from dinner before we could open presents. It's a wonderful tradition and it didn't really feel like Christmas without it. We did have a make-up day, with all of the things I described above, but it wasn't quite the same. I think anyone who was snowed in on Christmas feels a little bit of the same way.

Christmas day came and my mom went alllllllllll out. In my immediate family we have started our own new tradition: re-Thanksgiving. Last year for Thanksgiving, my brother and I were both out of the country so we re-did it in January, on my birthday in fact. This year, my brother and his fiance both missed out, so we re-did Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas. No one was really allowed to drive anywhere because of the blizzard, but we have family that live a couple houses down from us and a few neighbors that feel like family, and they all came over for the feast. It was actually really nice and felt special in it's own way. And the fact that the day started out with my 25-year-old brother screaming at me to WAKE UP around 8:00 AM so we could open presents from SANTA just made the entire day funny. I didn't hear him at first - I can't remember what I thought he said through my sleepy coma but it was something ridiculous - and then I finally understood he was yelling "JANAE GET UP!" I rolled over, checked my phone, realized how early it was, thought to myself "Good Lord, Brian," dragged myself out of bed, threw on a sweatshirt and trudged downstairs to find everyone already in their respective positions patiently (or not so) waiting for me to join them so we could start dishing out the goods. It was just like it used to be when we were little, and Brian (the oldest of us) was as giddy as ever. I secretly hope this never changes, even though I know I made a few cracks at how he should grow up a little bit, considering he is getting married and graduating with a masters this year.

After Christmas I spent a large chunk of my time with my friend Ashley, watching Sex and the City (if you didn't read a couple posts below this, Santa gave me ALL of the seasons and if you bet we finished them, you would be correct), baking, pretending that I would actually go trudge through the snow to make it to other people's houses when the weather was too bad to drive in, actually driving my dad's pick-up to people's houses and being scared to death while doing so (I'm afraid of it for some reason...), BAKING, getting things ready for a sewing project and then realizing our sewing machine no longer works and hurting another in the process, wearing sweatpants day in and day out, meeting up with friends in other cities, READING, listening to all sorts of new music and burning CD's for friends, avoiding the internet, and going to Ashley's house and baking for her family. In short, it was wonderful.

What did you do? Leave me a comment (they are my favorite things to read) and let me know!

There are always more silly stories to share but I must get back to being productive for the day, so here's a song to send you on your way:

Listen to the all of the new Vampire Weekend album here.

this just made my day.

"Kayla stopped in yesterday with the CD. Thank you! I put in the CD on the way home from school and even stopping at Kel's house and at the gas station, I didn't hear a peep out of Shay. I don't know if it was a fluke thing or if he really does love the Beatles! :)"

(excerpt from an email from little Shay's (remember him?) mom)I got to play with him last May and found out he would be calm and quiet if I put the Beatles on, so I made a CD for him but, due to blizzards, didn't get it to his mom when I was home over break. Thankfully she got it yesterday and he remembered just how to act when the Beatles play! I love this little boy so much.
Ha!

the thing I love the most about home is...

...that I can magically run into people I know and miss randomly in a city neither of us live in! I went to Sioux Falls both Saturday and Sunday of this week and both met up and ran into some really great friends. That is something that is not nearly as easy to do in a larger city - I'm usually planning meet-ups with friends for days if not weeks in advance. It's silly, really, when we don't live very far from one another, but it is just how it seems to work. Either way to Beth, Stacy, Brittany, Joe and another Stacy -- I'm glad we've seen each other for at least a few minutes in the last couple days!

Today we had another Christmas celebration with family at the Make-A-Wish SD headquarters. It was very cool - the building is new (actually it may be a little over a year old, but I couldn't attend the opening so it is new to me) and we had the in because of my aunt, who is the CEO. She does some incredible work, and has done it for as long as I can remember. She definitely has what I consider an incredibly hard yet rewarding job, and I can only hope to be as lucky someday.

While we are on the topic of Christmas, I thought I'd share a couple quick photos of an ugly sweater party I went to the weekend before Christmas. It was very fun but I didn't take out my camera once, so I'm relying on other people's photos to document the night!Spending some quality couch time with good friends. Our fabulous sweaters!

And hanging out with the boys! All of the people in these photos were on the Pay It Forward tour I went on during last year's spring break. If the incentive of incredibly good friends doesn't get you on a tour, I don't know what will. (Okay, okay, the travel and community service are pretty great, too.)

Tonight is my last night being 21. I think I might go have a sip of wine to celebrate.

Happy 2010!

I spent New Years Eve practicing my Martha Stewart skills to pull off a last minute get together while patiently waiting for one of my best friends to get off of work. I think I rocked it, or as Martha would say, what I did was a "good thing." I made a couple homemade pizzas, mozzarella sticks, and Red Velvet cupcakes complete with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles (and I admit, the sprinkles were K's idea.) Other people brought the hard-to-resist chips and yummy desserts, including homemade fudge which I hadn't had the stomach for last night but have successfully eaten a few pieces of today. It is spectacular. I think my favorite part of the night was from about 1-3 am when the last people standing were sitting around a table sharing stories and laughing boisterously at incredibly odd things. I'll throw in a teaser: edible blueberry britches. I'm not sure anyone wants me to elaborate.

I've spent today eating one (three?) leftover cupcakes while watching endless episodes of Sex and the City (I will finish all of them before I go back to school), the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, reading the book mentioned in the previous post, talking to a couple friends, and cleaning up from said party. All in all, it's been a wonderful, lazy New Years day. I am officially ready to embrace 2010 and all of the exciting, challenging, and crazy things that will happen - not the least of which includes my graduation from college.
Bring it on 2010!