Music Mondays (Vol. 3)

I haven’t been keeping up to well on my blog, but it’s Monday and I have a lot of time on my hands right now.  Being that we are only a week and a half away from Christmas, I decided I’d focus on a new favorite cover of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Jack Johnson.

Surprisingly, I just heard it for the first time a couple days ago.  I love Christmas music, especially your old school Christmas songs.  You know, the ones sung by Bing Crosby, or Frank, and all those people.  All the songs you learned how to sing as a kid, all the ones that just make you feel good inside, I just can’t get enough of them.  There were a few years were I couldn’t really listen to a whole lot of it.  It got old, and quick, but eventually it grew on me again.  Now I listen to it as much as I can the couple weeks before Christmas.

So of course, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is one of those songs that just takes you back to your childhood.  And if you every saw the 1964 TV special, it makes it that much better.  When I heard Jack’s rendition of it the other night, I loved it right away.  It’s got your typical Jack Johnson sound and feel, with the Christmas twist.  And you know every popular artist has to have a Christmas album.  You already know how the songs goes, but if you like Jack Johnson, I encourage you to check it out.  It’s got a few twists of it’s own that make it even more fun and entertaining to listen to.  So, check it out.  Go Google it and enjoy.

Merry Christmas!!!

-p

Birthday Party

A week ago, my friend and I threw a birthday party for ourselves, to celebrate us turning 24.  We figured it could be one of the last times most of our friends would be relatively close to each other.  Many have or will be graduating soon and we’ll be going our seperate ways more and more as time goes on.  We decided to throw a black and white party, since we both love being able to dress up and never get enough opportunities to do so.  The fun part though was that we asked people to wear converse/chucks instead of dress shoes.

So there you have it…it was actually going to happen (my group of friends have a tendancy to never pull through with things and/or back out of plans that we try to make).  I was pretty excited and couldn’t wait.  We threw it in my parents back yard, and went all out.  Decorated the back yard with as many lights as we could light up.  Put some candles out.  Made some great fingerfoods.  Made a special jazz playlist with some of our favorite songs/artists.

We had a blast!  It was one of my favorite parties ever.  Such an amazing group of people, although many were missed.  We danced, we ate, we laughed, and a smashing good time.  haha.

It was definitely a stressful/hectic  preparation, but it paid off.  The lights made my entire backyard look amazing!  I know we all had a lot of fun.  The food was great, and best of all was the cake made by my brother.  mmm…yummy.  I had a lot of leftovers though to last me the next several days.  haha, but it was all very good.  And for everyone who wore converse/chucks, it made it that much more fun!  It was so comfortable!  And they looked cool too!

I wish I could go back and revisit that night, but instead I’ve got some pictures to show for it (which I’ll be posting later).

Mid-Twenties?

It’s official.  I’m 24.

I am not one to complain about getting older, or being afraid to tell people my age.  I cherish being able to grow older, unlike many women who constantly try to stay as young as possible.

Anyway, that being said, it’s still a bit weird to think about being in my mid-twenties.  I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by.  It hasn’t set in yet, but then again I don’t think I’ve ever remembered feeling/knowing that I’ve gotten older.  It might also be because my life post college hasn’t taken off yet.  I’m not working towards much right now, and I’m still trying to figure out what to do with myself without getting stuck where I’m at at the moment.  Nonetheless, I’ve had a great birthday.  Well, more like birthday week.  It was quite eventful and ended with a bang!

Three days before my birthday I went to Disneyland to get my pass again, so that on my birthday I could use it to get my $72 gift certificate!  I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to have money to spend on whatever I want from Disneyland!  The only downfall was that it was sooo crowded that day, being Labor Day weekend and all.  The next day, I along with about 25 others went to the John Williams concert at the Hollwood Bowl.  This group has gone for the past 4 years, and it’s amazing each year.  I can’t wait till next year already!  Sunday was a busy day, getting things ready for the big finale.  I was beat by the end of the day.  Then Monday….DISNEYLAND!!!  It was great to be able to spend my birthday at one of my favorite places to go.  I had a couple of friends who joined me throughout the day…it wasn’t much, but it was fun and much appreciated.  Tuesday just kind of rolled along, then Wednesday night I went out with the family to a nice Italian restaurant near our house.  That was the first time any of us had gone there and we enjoyed it very much.  Thursday and Friday, and even Saturday blended in together because it was spent setting up my house for the smashing party that would be that Saturday night.  My friend Hannah and I turned 24 and wanted to throw a nice party for ourselves and our friends.  We figured it could possibly be the last time most of our friends would be relatively in the same area.  Plus, it would be a great excuse to get all dressed up and what not.

All in all, it was a great birthday.  I’ll post a different blog to talk about the birthday party…but it was an amazing night.

I look forward to what this year will bring, and I hope something good comes along.  I’m getting tired of not knowing what to do and not having a real job.  But I guess these things happen when you’re growing up…

Music Mondays (Vol. 2)

Harry Connick Jr.

Oh how I love him.  I first heard him perform on a daytime talk show back when I was 15 or so.  I was hooked ever since.  If I had to pick only one celebrity crush, it would be him.  It is kind of ironic that I choose to write about him today because I went to his website and realized that he comes out with a new vinyl tomorrow titled “Your Song”.  Once I have a listen I will let you know what I think.  Although I’m sure I will love it. 

Originally from New Orleans and currently residing in New York, Harry has been performing since the age of 5.  Since then, he has become a huge success with over 25 albums.  Not only has he become an accomplished musician, but he has also become an accomplished actor in film, television, and even musicals.  He has received plenty of awards, including Grammy’s.

He has a very eclectic style of music, which is one of the many reasons why I love listening to him.  His music is very creative, both original compositions and arrangements.  You will definitely not get bored listening to him…if anything, there is something for everyone.  If you don’t like one thing, you might like another.  I never get tired listening to him…heck, I was just listening to on of his Christmas songs earlier today.  His music has  unique flare that I have failed to find in most other artists.  One of my other favorite things about him is his piano work.  It always makes me wish I could play the piano the way he does.  I will listen to his piano solos in a song over and over again.  It is always fun to listen to his songs because you can hear how much fun they are all having, and it just makes the music that much better.

If you’ve never heard any of his music, I highly encourage you to do so, and let me know what you think.  What I have written doesn’t do him justice.  Anyway, go check him out.

And as they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bonne temps roulez”, let the good times roll.

Random Dream

I don’t remember a whole lot about my dream, like where it started or how, but I do remember the ending.  With the little I do remember though, it was enough to make it feel like I was in a movie, or like my dream could become a movie.

The main character, I think it was me in my dream (or sometimes someone else), is at a school.  In light of some fishy things that have been going on around school, I decided to do some snooping around to try and figure out what was going on.  One of the teachers (maybe the principal) always seemed to be doing something odd…none of the students liked him.  He’s the enemy in this story…so of course we don’t like him.    Anyway, I noticed that there was this room (more like a closet) that strange things seemed to happen in.  I had figured out enough to know that the principal was hiding something, and that room had something to do with it.  One night, while I was sneeking around the school, doing some investigating, I realized that I could hear/talk to the walls.  You know how people always say, “If the walls could talk”, well these could.  But I’m not sure exactly about this next part, because I think that I could only hear certain things or they only said certain things…I don’t know.  Anyway, it helped shed some light on what was going on.  So I went into the room/closet for a while.  There wasn’t much in there but a dinky bed and a small cupboard that seemed to have been sealed.  I managed to break through the seal and reveal a couple of drawers.  I opened the drawers, which ended up being empty, but then I noticed that the bottom of the drawers fragile.  Someone had made a secret compartment at the bottom of them.  So I carefully opened it up, to try and keep these persons secrets hidden.  What I found were a lot of little notes that had been written to or by this person.  I recognized the name on the notes as a fellow schoolmate and made sure I hid them safely back in the drawer…just in case…and put it all back.  I didn’t want anything bad to happen to the girl if the principal found them.  Realizing that this room was being used to shut students inside as punishment, I convinced my friends to help me hide later that night to spy on our prinicpal.  The rest of what happens is a bit fuzzy, but later that night, we see him taking something into the room and then leaving.  So we all went into the room to see what it was…but apparently he was expecting us and knew we were there because as soon as we went in, the door closed and we were trapped inside.  It gets even fuzzier now, but somehow we escaped and were running from the principal.  Then I heard some noise from the walls and I remembered that I could hear them.  I knew they would somehow help me…but then I woke up.

The noise I was hearing form the walls was knocking…because my dad was knocking on my door to ask me a question.

…and so my movie like dream ended.  But maybe one day I’ll take it to Hollywood through one of my filmmaker friends and become famous.  haha.