Tag: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day Mixtape

LaurenLeave a comment

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!

10 Things to Love About Winter

LaurenLeave a comment

I don’t think it’s any secret that winter is not my favorite season.  Actually, it’s not my second of third favorite either.  As someone who is always cold — seriously don’t think my feet ever defrosted after getting into bed the other night — winter is my worst nightmare and I cope by keeping the heater on in my office 24/7 and declaring that “I hate it here!  I’m moving!” every time I have to go outside.  BUT, in an attempt to be more positive, I’ve come across a bunch of things that I actually do like about winter.  I think they’ll keep me going until April when spring weather finally shows up.

10 Things to Love About Winter

1. Award Shows!

Bet you didn’t see that one coming.  I’m sorry, but I love it all.  I love heading to the movie theater on a cold winter day.  I love talking Joey’s ear off about whatever movie we just saw.  I love reading what the critics and other moviegoers had to say.  I love a red carpet full of actors in crazy (sometimes good crazy, sometimes bad crazy) outfits.  I love rooting for the movies I liked and against the ones I didn’t.  And I love overzealously tweeting about it all.

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2. Comfort food.

Fact: winter makes hot oatmeal taste better, increased coffee consumption acceptable and constant soup-making totally normal.  Joey loves soup more than a normal human being probably should so this time of year is his jam.  I’m happy to oblige on the soup-eating spree because there’s no denying that nothing tastes better than hot soup on a cold night.

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3. Valentine’s Day.

Okay, call me a sucker but I love V-Day.  I think it probably has something to do with how I was raised to believe this was a big and important holiday. When my sister and I were little, my mom went all out with big helium balloons in our rooms when we woke up and Christmas-worthy presents — no joke, one year I got a car — so she’s pretty much ruined me for life 😛  I also seem to be impervious to bad moods on Valentine’s Day… knock on wood.

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4. Winter Birthdays.

I wonder if post-Christmas babies like having their birthdays in the dead of winter after all the holiday hoopla has passed.  I mean, I still enjoy celebrating them.  My dad and my nephew have birthdays in January and February, respectively and I definitely like the idea of having celebrations to look forward to once we’re finally back to that working-all-5-days-of-the-workweek thing.  We took my dad to True Food Kitchen on Monday night for his birthday and he loved it.  Who doesn’t?

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5. Denver Restaurant Week

I hate that DRW and Valentine’s Day can’t coincide, as it’s hard to justify going out for two expensive dinners two weeks in a row.  And yet, I somehow to manage justifying it every year.  I’m about to pop over to the DRW website now to stalk to the restaurant menus.  If you don’t have a restaurant week where you live, it’s 7 days where a bunch of restaurants offer a set multi-course menu for a set price (ours used to be $52.80, the altitude of Denver, for 2 people but it just changed to $30/person).  Picking just one (or 2 :D) restaurant out of the list is an agonizing decision every single year.

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6. Winter TV shows are back.

Season 3 of Girls premiered last Sunday.  Did you watch?  What did you think?  As much as I loved the first two seasons, I’m not so sure about this one.  Maybe my expectations were too high but I didn’t find it as funny as I usually do.  It’s a week later and I haven’t quoted a single line.  Shameless on the other hand, never disappoints.  Seriously love that show so much.

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7. The Super Bowl

Yeah, I really just said that.  I honestly couldn’t care less about the actual game — although I think I’m required to care if the Broncos make it — but the food, beer (or jello shots!), commercials and halftime show are what I live for.  The past two years we’ve thrown a party but this year’s shindig is still up in the air.  If worse comes to worse, I’ll make myself some game time snacks and watch with Joey.  Oh and actually be able to hear the commercials instead of listening to a room full of guys arguing about the game.

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8. Mardi Gras.

Okay, so Colorado Mardi Gras celebrations aren’t exactly like New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations (read: the only people celebrating are college kids who will use any excuse to get drunk), but I still look forward a surprise King Cake in the mail, watching live feed of Bourbon street online and cooking a Cajun meal in honor of the holiday.  Plus it’s the one time a year when I can wear a string of obnoxiously colored beads to work and feel cool.

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9. Colorado sunsets.

Fact: Colorado has the best sunsets.  I know you probably thought your state had the best, but you’re wrong.  Sorry.  Although I love summer and those sunsets are very pretty, they’ve got nothing on winter.  It probably also has something to do with the fact that daylight savings means the sun is setting as I’m driving home from work, so those vibrant blues, pinks and purples are just BAM! right in my face.  I went on Instagram yesterday to find 3 pictures of the sunset in a row.  It was pretty breathtaking though 🙂

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10. It makes spring feel that much better.

When the snow finally stops coming (although in Colorado, there could be snow all the way up to May…), warm weather becomes more the norm and bare trees are replaced by big colorful blossoms, it’s practically impossible to be in a bad mood.

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Happy Friday, all!