saturday songs.

A new playlist for you! I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished today. I have mounds of laundry calling my name, lists upon lists of things on yellow, lined paper patiently waiting to be crossed off, a room that needs a little spruce and calls to make. Everything's always a little easier to do with some tunes.

she lives in an orange tree.

A pretty song (but no pretty video.) I've been addicted to oranges lately - eating at least one a day. I'm not sure if this is because they were on sale at Rainbow or if I am just really into them right now, but, even though my orange peeling skills are still horrid and almost painful to watch, once I finish peeling it, I'm a happy girl.

Today has been a whirlwind kind of day. One that starts off busy, then slow and inspirational, then super busy, then something happens that scares you a little bit so your heart is racing and you are getting a little nervous, then inspirational again, then nervous, then a little sad, then my "get it together and form a plan" brain started up and I made 10 calls in less than an hour and sent out at least that many emails and now I'm finally feeling okay to get back in the relaxing stage. Good thing, too, because it is getting dangerously close to 1am and tomorrow is going to be busy, too. Oh! Everything always happens at once and it's fabulous if you can take a step back and think about it in the big scheme of life. I have trouble doing that sometimes, but I'm working on it.

I'm going to have to become "the girl that does yoga" more often.

Rubik's cube party!

Here are a couple of photos from a few weekends ago. For one of my friends birthdays, we had a "Rubik's Cube Party." It was my first experience with one so, just in case it is also your first experience with one, here are the basic rules:

1.) Wear all of the colors of Rubik's cube.
2.) Be prepared to do a little clothing swap throughout the night.
3.) Get solved! (End up in one color by the end of the night!)

It was a riot. Literally. When you're older, I'll tell you stories.

Sarah and I in our "before" outfits!A couple of my favorite girls! Sarah, Katie, Val and ISarah and Anne - it was her birthday party!This is the closest to "solved" we have a picture of. I'm pretty sure I was wearing 4 shirts at this time.Ahhh a few of my favorite people - Alex and Sarah!

And these are only the few pictures I have of the beginning of the night. Riot, I tell ya. Hope your week started off well!

wishful thinking.

Such a good song, and this is a great cover. Originally seen here.

Last night my friend Sarah and I ordered enough Chinese for a large family and devoured quite a bit of it, along with Special K bars/Scotcharoos (the name all depends on where you're from) that I had made because of a craving I had for them earlier this week.

I've been a busy bee lately, hence shorter posts and lots of good music instead of text. I've definitely overloaded myself this semester (who? me...nahhh) which my friends all warned me about, but I told them I could handle it. Each day I seem to agree to do something extra, when I really should learn to say something along the lines of "I just really can't fit that into my schedule, but I support you doing it!"

I guess I am that person who overloads herself to a point of no return, but the thing is, I've always been able to work myself out of it. King of Wishful Thinking? Nah. Queen of Wishful Thinking is more like it.

Mumford...

is a cool name. Mumford and Sons is even better. I've heard some buzz about this band this week and finally listened to them a little bit this afternoon. They are incredible, and definitely worthy of the reviews they have been getting. My friend Xavier even blogged about them here and was told about them from our mutual friend Beth from what I understand! She has excellent taste. They both do, really.

Here are a couple songs to get you hooked:






Listen to more here or here. I'm hooked. (And they will be at Sasquatch!)

omg. omg. omg.

I want to go this even more than I want to go to Bonnaroo. The Sasquatch Music Festival's lineup was announced today and I'm drooling. Tickets don't go on sale until February 20th, so I have a few days to decide if I can actually make this happen or not, yet. Anyone want to go with me?

you know those days?

You know those days that you try and try and call and email and try again to get someone to either answer your call or call you back or email you back or even acknowledge the fact that you are asking for something in a very nice, Midwestern manner while they are overtaken by the kindness and actually put off by it so they just hang up in your face? I've had a lot of those days.

And then there are the days when you wake up in a good mood and decide that TODAY IS THE DAY that I will not take no for an answer and we will get a housing site in my city because I am going to be responsible for 42 other people and myself in a strange city in less than a month and that is a pretty incredible responsibility and dang it, it's time to get this figured out.

A few days ago, someone asked me what I do everyday. Instead of going through the list of things I try to cram into each 24 hour period, and it can get long, I answered "cold call and hope to make it through to the next one."

That about sums it up.

p.s. I think we have housing!

ASHLEY LISTEN!

I was going to post this song/video to my friend Ashley's Facebook wall, and then I realized that the last two posts she had were both links from me. This is my attempt at not making myself look like a Facebook stalker of one of my favorite people. (Wait, what do you mean the title of this post means I still am a crazy person?) I do think others will enjoy this song, as well.

And my friend Alyssa deserves a shout out for re-reminding me of Matisyahu today!

Happy day!

from here.

Happy Valentine's Day to you, friends and family. Do something special for yourself. I'm going to a movie and getting popcorn, because it is an unwritten rule in my world that if you go to a movie on Valentine's Day, a little extra butter is in order. I think my valentine already knows and expects this, which makes it even better.

Superman Sleepover!

Last night my bus core had a sleepover! Our bus is named Superman, and we have used that name to it's full potential. What does one do at a Superman sleepover, you ask? Well, I'll let you in on a few of the fun, secret things!

First, we have story time. Then, once Nate (our lone boy!) arrives and gifts us with "DIVA" sweethearts, we all freak out, pile on my bed, and take super cheesy and fabulous pictures! Before our bus was dubbed Superman by the powers that be, we called ourselves the divas and requested this song over and over at multiple radio stations.
Then, we diva-itize Nate. He loved it. John Lennon, purple sunglasses and all. Xixi told us to give her our "fancy faces." Umm...We youtube Beyonce, Jay-Z, Soulja Boy, Destiny's Child, etc., start dance parties, and google "Ghetto" for Xixi, who swears she doesn't know what it is.We laugh. A lot.
And have such good conversations, ideas and support for one another. You know you've found some good friends when you had a stressful day, and they can take it all away by just being there. They also re-enacted a scene over and over for me so I could videotape them for a class assignment. Superman, you are spectacular.

my sunlight.

first seen here.

This video is beautiful, so colorful and the lighting is incredible. And on top of that, it's actually a great rap song. If you want to hear more from this band, go here.

It's what I listened to a couple of times this morning in between phone calls and emails, and dang it, it's catchy.

dresses + photos

If I had to choose a day to redo, today it would be this one. Pretty dresses, pretty grass, a pretty sculpture garden, a pretty wonderful friend named Hanna, and a pretty great photographer named Greg.

I'm done with this snow business. It took me half an hour to get Lola (my car) out from under a mountain of snow today, all to move her to the other side of the street so she wouldn't be towed. I watched two cars get towed in front of my house today. They mean business when they say "Snow Emergency."

So, on this very cold night, I'm going to think of pretty dresses and summer days instead of my drenched jeans and mittens and cold toes.

imperfect.

My bangs are much too long and are getting into my eyes.
I'm wearing clothes that have gone through the wash about three too many times.
I stuffed my jeans in my boots because it's snowing and I dislike wet jean bottoms.
I just finished an assignment due in a half an hour.
I rewarded myself with some M&Ms.
I still haven't finished something I had planned on finishing this weekend.
I'm planning a sleepover.

Today I am splendidly imperfect and alive.
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body..."
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

baking time.

So, I am rarely home in the evenings to make delicious dinners or to even make simple dinners and watch TV or chat with the roommates. Usually, I am on campus until about 8-10pm, so by the time I get home I've either eaten or don't want to make a big hoopla about what I'm going to fix. But! On Thursdays, I get home around 7. (I know, right?) Last night I took advantage of this and whipped up some delicious pizza and red velvet cupcakes. Yum.

I'm not that ambitious, so I started with a regular cheese pizza that I had in the freezer, added onions, green peppers, tomatoes, ground turkey (that I cooked separately), and more cheese (I live with people from Wisconsin) and let me tell you, it was incredible. Sure, I had been craving pizza for days, but seriously, this was so good that I wish I had leftovers.
Then I turned to the cupcakes! Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They are calling my name right now, and I know it will be hard to refuse them once I get home today. My roommates and I all "sampled" the batter, I managed to ruin a yellow shirt with it (I'm a messy baker and wouldn't have it any other way), and we were laughing and watching Grey's Anatomy together. It's been a long week so it was nice to have an hour just to sit and eat and share our lives. Have you done that lately? Because I think you should. It's important.

hmph. ha!

I was in a bad mood yesterday. I can't say I wasn't or blame it on anything or account for all of the reasons why I was crabby, but I was. It was just one of those days that everything kind of creeps up and grabs you, and you are not ready for it so your defense is just to sit and stew and have a little attitude. But that is not what I want to focus on. So! Here are a couple good things that have happened in the last couple of days:

*I woke up at 4am this morning naturally. Now, this could be construed as bad, but the fact that I did some homework, laundry and cleaned up my room in that burst of energy instead of laying in my bed means I took advantage. I can't seem to get on a normal sleeping schedule, so I'm trying to make the most of the one I've been given.

*I was craving a brownie the entire day yesterday and in some crazy twist of fate, one of my friends brought brownies for the entire class that I had last night.

*We have finished our t-shirt design!

*Instead of me going up to people yesterday, hounding them to come on a tour (I did, and do almost everyday, but whatever) one person actually came up to ME!

*I got two chai lattes. Boom.

*I've learned that I really enjoy writing plays. It was an assignment for one of my classes, and I have really been getting into it. It's fun thinking of how an actor might portray a person you have in your head, even though you are just writing lines.

*I finally finished burning a couple of CDs for a friend, and she will get them tonight.

*My sister reminded me that she still owes me a coffee or a lion for helping her with something this weekend. I asked for a new computer, to which she said no. I then re-made up this conversation and told someone that after I asked for a computer she said "how about a sandwich?" and we had some fun, witty banter. It could have happened. I mean, she said a lion, why not a sandwich? (Am I the only one who does this? Probably. I blame the play writing and lack of sleep.)

*And now for the rest of the day, I will focus on doing much more of this:

Hope you have a happy Wednesday!

February.

February is such a blah month. You know what I mean? In January you started a whole new year and the freshness lasts until pretty much the end of the month. In February, that freshness is gone and responsibility is setting in. I think this is especially true as us college students enter into our third week of college and the homework and assignments start piling up and the instructors expect a little bit more of you and if you walk into class late, there is a penalty as opposed to that first time or two where it probably wasn't nearly as big of a deal.

It is also the time when you have to be hunkering down in real life, trying to find a job, finishing random applications, praying for a grant for your bus so something really cool can take place, and then right smack dab in the middle is Valentine's Day, which for some is a welcome relief and for others is a big looming day where if you just had a date a few days or weeks ahead of time, you don't know what you should do or wear or expect, and if you haven't had a date in a while, then you are thinking of what to do for yourself so you don't end up sitting at home alone or with your equally miserable roommates devouring ice cream tub after ice cream tub and watching "He's Just Not That Into You" for the twentieth time. (I mean, what? Not me or my friends, of course.)

I'm just kidding, but I did have a little chat with someone today about the effect February can have on a person, and it doesn't seem to have a very good one. This is going to be a busy, busy month. I am planning on baking pretty cupcakes to make it through. I've been craving the red velvet ones I made for new years, so they might just make a comeback. Or I may possibly try my hand at gluten-free cupcakes for my core. (If I can find a good recipe.)
Oh so pretty. (all cupcake images weheartit.com)

I also bought a couple new CDs yesterday and have made a few new mixes for friends. I promise they are more centered than any I usually put on here (which are mashes of whatever I happen to really like to listen to at that time.) I'm currently in a love relationship with making CDs. It calms me down when I get stressed. The only bad part about it, is that my computer yelled at me yesterday after I downloaded the two new ones. I am ENTIRELY out of space on my computer. This is not good. I deleted some things I could in order to get the music, but I need to back up my computer ASAP; it is scaring me every second it is on lately because of this fact. I'm going to have to invest in a new one sooner or later, but I was really hoping to get through this semester with the one I have now. We've been through so much, to so many countries and homes, crashing twice, battery dying a ridiculous amount of times, an entirely new keyboard. Come to think of it, this computer has been a major pain in my side. But I like it. So it stays for now.
Seen here.

I am pretty excited for this movie, though! There are way too many stars in it to not be at least a guilty pleasure.

Oh, February. Be nice to me.