Month: February 2014

Valentine’s Day Mixtape

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True Story: When I was a senior in high school, I dragged my sister (who was an adorable little freshman) to Walmart with me the night before Valentine’s Day to help pick out a present for my then boyfriend.  We settled on a singing card, a bag of candy and CD of “make out songs.”  I swear it was actually called that!

Even Truer Story: We broke up the next morning.  I know, on Valentine’s Day.  Bad timing, but it had to be done.  Instead, I signed the card to myself, shared the candy with my friends and added the CD to my own collection because hey, it was funny.  And while I could never re-create the original (it was obviously bad luck anyways), I thought I could make an even better “Valentine’s Day Mixtape.”  Make outs totally optional.

V Day Mix Tape

1. “I Love You Always and Forever” by Donna Lewis

Every time this song comes on mid-workout I have to remind my self not to sing out loud.  I can tell you from experience, it’s nearly impossible.

2. “Moon River” by Andy Williams

I can’t even put my love of this song into words.  It’s pure perfection.

3. “Hold On, We’re Going Home” by Drake

I know, I know, I shouldn’t.  I mean, it’s Drake.  But this song is my jam.  And Drake totally won we over after his recent hosting gig on SNL.  He kind of killed (in a good way) the first half of the show.  Just please don’t make me listen to “Started From the Bottom” ever again.

4. “In My Life” by the Beatles

I’m still in Beatles mode from last Sunday’s tribute.  The lyrics of this song pull at my heartstrings so hard.  I wish so bad that Joey was a Beatles fan, because I’d certainly consider this for a first dance song.  I guess I can always hold out for the father/daughter dance, right Dad?

5. “All of Me” by John Legend

I don’t think I will ever tire of hearing John Legend perform this song live.  His voice + the lyrics = love song perfection.

6. “Love on Top” by Beyonce

Or as she’s apparently going by in her new album, Yonce.  If you’re a normal person, you remember her singing this before announcing to the world she was pregnant.  If you’re Joey, you remember me singing this in the living room and getting embarrassingly into it as the song builds and builds and builds.  It’s a winner either way.

7. “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston

If you tell me you’ve never belted this out in the car by yourself with the volume turned as loud as it can go, you’re lying.

8. “Mirrors” by Justin Timberlake

Joey claims that this is his favorite JT song…EVER!  Not so sure I’d take it all the way there, but I definitely think it’s good.

9. “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher

Back before buying a song was as easy as grabbing your phone and hitting the iTunes button, I used to anxiously wait for the oldies station my mom always listened to to play this song.  Which wasn’t often.  But when it did happen, I was definitely in my happy place.  “Then put your little hand in mine.  There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb.”

10. “St. Patrick’s Day” by John Mayer

It basically kills me that it wasn’t easier for me to find a real “love song” by my favorite of artists.  Please ignore that the real message of this one is “Let’s be in love till all the holidays are over,” and just enjoy it for how pretty it sounds 😛

11. “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele

Yes, I know this is originally a Bob Dylan song so I will have to credit him with the beautiful lyrics, but it in my very important opinion, Adele’s version is better.  Her voice just oozes that desperate and raw emotion that the lyrics are after.  I feel your love, Adele!

12. “Nothing Compares to You” by Sinead O’Connor

The baldness, the tear, the emotion.  The end.

13. Emmylou by First Aid Kit

This song comes up all the time on the Civil Wars iPhone Radio station I’m constantly listening to and I find it so so beautiful.

14. “Something” by the Beatles

I know, another Beatles song, but hear me out.  This is my favorite Beatles song.  Ever ever ever.  It’s that opening line, it’s that George Harrison wrote it, it’s that middle verse (“I don’t knoooow, I don’t know) and it’s that epic guitar solo.  It doesn’t get better than this.

Wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day!

An Oddly Relaxed Weekend

Lauren2 Comments

So if you know me in real life, you can vouch that “relaxed” is not really a word you’d use to describe me.  More like “stressed” or “uptight” or “unable to cope with a change in plans.”  I swear, the older I get, the less and less I understand the saying “go with the flow,” but as I’m obviously aware of it, I’m doing my best to be more flexible.  Case in point: last night’s dinner.

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I slaved away at this beautiful quiche, put it in the oven for an hour… and forgot to turn the oven on.  DOH!  I was really looking forward to eating it and I was really disappointed but instead of throwing the quiche across the room, I just pulled out some leftovers.  Oh well!

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Post-work on Friday, we picked up our Save the Dates!  They were $40 more than we thought they’d be (thanks, hidden fees!), but we’re too happy with how they came out to be mad about it.  Now for that whole addressing them part…

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See this plate of fettuccine?  This is the last time I ever attempt to make an alfredo.  I’m cursed and it always comes out thick and gloopy.  I wasn’t at all impressed with this dinner but I tossed some salt and pepper on it and decided it suddenly didn’t taste half bad.  Or maybe that had something to do with the wine?  We also spent the entire night watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony.  What did you guys think?  I thought the projector screens were incredible and the War and Peace and Swan Lake parts made me so happy.  Plus, how cool are those colorful Russian buildings?

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So cake usually isn’t what I consider a nutritionally dense breakfast, but sometimes you have a cake tasting scheduled at 10 AM and sometimes you just roll with it and decide you’ll make up for it by eating a salad later.  We had our second cake tasting at a bakery in Lafayette and brought both moms this time around.  We still have one more to do next weekend (holy cake tastings, right?), but I can already tell it’s going to be a hard decision.  We saw these on our way out and thought they were hilarious.

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Like I said, I’ll make up for it later with salad.  But does a blue cheese and buttermilk dressing-covered salad still count as a salad?  Answer: yes.  We tried out a new (to us) restaurant in the Highlands and managed to nab a front row parking spot (seriously lucky!) and a table inside the tiny eatery, which is called Bang! for anyone wondering.  I thought this salad was just okay but the place was cute enough for me to go back again.

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Then I was somehow relaxed enough to volunteer to help with drywalling.  This is the 123984984th time we’ve made a giant mess of our living room.  Our couch is parked in the middle of our kitchen, every inch of the living room is covered in dust from sanding and by the end of Saturday Joey and I were covered in drywall (I swear it’s in my eyes permanently), but as messy as it was, I didn’t mind helping.  It means we’re a step closer to being able to clean up all the dust for good!  We also saw yet another band that night and guess what?  We’re booking them!  This is major success.

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Sunday’s breakfast was the polar opposite of Saturday’s.  Nutritional powerhouse!  I crushed this meal then headed to the gym for a quick workout, which makes me feel better about how I literally sat on my butt for the rest of the day.  The Olympics made me do it!  Who else thought Sage Kotsenburg’s reaction to the score for his gold-medal winning performance was great?  More of him, please!

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The rest of Sunday involved camping out at a little coffee shop on Tennyson Street called Downpours.  They have house-made almond milk, chai and flavored syrups, which is awesome, but they also have a total of like 5 tables.  We were lucky enough to score couch seats within a few minutes of being there but things were looking grim for a minute there.  Anyways, we were busy crafting our wedding website.  I did not want one but I eventually lost that battle 🙂  We’re almost done so I feel like it was a productive day.

Besides that whole dinner mishap, Sunday night was all about the Beatles tribute show.  I LOVED IT!!!!!!  Despite Ed Sheeran’s terrible hair, his rendition of “In My Life” almost made me cry.  Despite John Mayer’s pants, his rendition of “Don’t Let Me Down” with Keith Urban was pure perfection.  And despite all the performances by incredibly talented musicians, my favorite was by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.  My heart was so happy through the whole thing.

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Did you watch the Beatles tribute?

Are you paying attention to the Winter Olympics?

Wedding website: yay or nay?