I'm in love with this little Aviator hat! Isn't it so adorable and retro-vintage? They've also got a superhero one with wings but I like the aviator one the best. Cute kids site that sells vintage-inspired kids items. I so wish I was back in the 40's/50's! The Baby Gardner via The violet Hours.
It's been a while since I really felt compelled to run to the record store and buy a new cd. I used to LOVE music. It wasn't just an accessory or something going on in the background, music was my life. A song or an album could completely turn my mood around (for better or worse, but usually better) and I always, always turned to music when I was in a bad mood. It was the one thing I knew would always help.
Not that I think music's not important anymore, but I'm not sure that people really appreciate it as much as it used to be appreciated. In the days of iTunes and Shazaam where you can download a song instantly or look up a song and find out the artist and title before it's even over, people aren't forced to think of music as much anymore.
I remember multiple times when I was so excited beyond belief about a new cd coming out. One time in high school I had to cry and beg my mom to take me to the music store to go buy a new cd the day it came out. I refused to wait until the next day and almost ended up taking a bus (instead, I'm sure I racked up an extra week or chores- but well worth it for brand new music).
Another time a friend and I ditched our first class and waited outside Target for them to open so we could buy 'N Sync's album No Strings Attached (yep, the one that sold over 2 million copies the first week) not only for ourselves but for about 5 other friends. Once I raced all over town to find a new album that came out that day but wasn't very well distributed, and since I refused to take the hour and a half drive back to school without it, I think I missed the majority of my classes that day. Another time some friends and I raced over to Tower Records to get there before they closed at midnight, to buy an album by a new band we'd just seen in concert. Then there was the time I missed an entire day of school to wait outside Tower Records when Hanson's new album finally came out after 3 years.
So, in conclusion, I've fallen off of the music bandwagon. But not so hard that I've stopped buying cd's all together, as the actual cd is as much a part of the whole music experience as the music itself. It's still hard for me to purchase just one song off of iTunes. I figure that when an artist comes out with a single that's good enough for me to consider purchasing, then they probably have more good songs on the album. I think a lot of people loose out on good music because they don't give non-single songs a chance. Why pay for a whole album when you can purchase a single song off iTunes? But some of the best, life-changing songs aren't always released as a single.
So this year one of my goals is to get back on the music wagon (I was a music major for goodness sakes!). There's still one or two artists that I'll run to to music store the day their music is released for, but other then that I haven't gotten much the past couple years. My goal is new music at least every two weeks. So far this year I've gotten Lady Antebellum's new cd (the day it came out!) and The Valentine's Day soundtrack (courtesy of my wonderful hubby!). Then today I was at Best Buy picking up a cd for my husband for Valentine's Day and I heard that Cobra Starship song that's so infectious, "Good Girls Go Bad." I really like that song (and the music video's pretty entertaining) and I'd been considering downloading the song but since I was there and have been in the mood for some new music I grabbed their cd.
So I pop the cd in (there's nothing like the feeling of new music in the car) and start off with song #3 "Good Girls Go Bad." If it's an artist I already like then I always start with the first song and listen all the way though, as an album is something that needs to be listened to as a whole. If it's a new artist, I usually listed to the song I already like and know and then start at the beginning. Let me say, I got through 4 songs and this is the kind of album that is dangerous to listen to in the car because it makes me want to drive fast. It'll be hard to listen to while typing away at the computer because I'll just want to get up and dance around the room or go run around the block or something. Maybe it'll be some new motivational jogging music :)
If you haven't seen the Cobra Starship music video check it out, you'll smile...
I'm setting a new goal for myself and this blog that I dove headfirst into and then abruptly neglected once I got busy. Post at least once a week. Here's post 1, by the end of the year I hope to have at least 52 posts, hopefully more. Another of my goals is to spend less time on the computer and more time on scrapbooking/crafting. I know, that seems kind of counter-productive to the blogging thing, so I guess it's really just less time on facebook and more time being creative.
A friend of mine just recently started blogging and with the new year she posted a list of things she's proud that she accomplished last year. I think it's a good idea to not only look at our goals but also our accomplishments, weather or not they were goals, so here I go.
Things I'm proud of or accomplished in 2009:
I got married! This one had been a long time coming, but once it was decided we were able to pull it off in under 4 months, which was pretty impressive to me (and totally stressful, I don't recommend it if you've got more time, haha).
I found some new music to LOVE. I'm really into music (to me it's as essential as air) and it'd been a while since I'd found a new album that I'd been able to really get. You know where you know every word to every song and you can recite the whole things forwards and backwards. This year it was Taylor Swift's "Fearless" which is now one of my all-time favorite albums.
My son. I'm so proud of him and amazed everyday. He loves to tell stories with really complicated plots and lots of characters.
My son started preschool last year! It was a great parent participation preschool that we went to for 2 semesters, but are taking a break this coming semester.
As for the new year, I'm not very good at year-long goals. Most of the time I'm good at delayed gratification, but for goals I'm all about instant gratification, I like to see results pronto. So what I like to do is create a different daily goal for myself each week. So I get a week of a particular goal for each day. Usually it's random things, like going to bed early every night for a week (not easy for me), drinking enough water each day (something I'm really bad at), not shopping at all (ok, that might be impossible), or cleaning up a particular room over the period of a week so it all gets done. This works for me because by the end of the week I'm bored with the goal and ready to move on.
I'd forgotten that I loved Valentine's Day so much and I'm getting into the spirit early this year by making a "Happy Valentine's Day" sign.
So our main colors are chocolate brown, bright pink and ivory. I want a gorgeous vintage/glam feel to the day and it's nice that the place where our reception is being held has huge tall ceilings with marble flooring, tall columns and beautiful molding all around.
Beautiful, sophisticated pink hues. image via theknot.com
For a cleaner look I've thought of going with light blue tablecloths, like in this picture. We'll just have to wait and see! I think we'll probably stick with pink or bown to keep with our color scheme. image via The Memory Journalists.
s Do you see a theme here? Round, white cake, bright pink flowers. That's what we're going for and we've come up with a design that puts a damask-type design along the top edge of each tier. so 14" 10" and 6" rounds to keep a good amount of sizing difference between each tier. I'm so excited to see our cake!
Is it ok to change the theme of a blog? I guess if I'm just doing it for myself and don't really figure that anyone else actually reads it, then why not? Ok, I'm switching my "whatever inspiration" over to "wedding inspiration" because that's what I'm in now: wedding mode! I'll probably go back to the whole "whatever" mode in a couple months after our wedding.
First off: engagement photos! We haven't had any taken and I didn't really think we were, but I've been pouring through wedding blogs all over and now I want to do a vintage type photo shoot! I don't really like balloons at weddings (I used to think they were cheesy and should be reserved for birthday parties) but I've seen some pictures lately that I'm loving! I love the balloons in this picture (from the Sophia Coppola-directed Dior commercial) because they aren't typical balloon shape (they're totally spheres- so cool!) and the colors! So gorgeous with matte colors instead of blaring red, yellow and blue birthday balloons.
