Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Love this song...

Today's Song of the Day

Because of You
Ne-Yo

Monday, April 28, 2008

Busy Weekend

I had a busy and very fun weekend! Friday night, I went to see Michael Buble at the Wells Fargo Arena. He put on an unbelievable show! Aside from the fact that he's a great singer, he's a very funny guy. He interacted with people in the crowd a couple of times and he just seemed like a really genuine person. I would definitely go see him again if he ever comes back to Des Moines. Saturday night I went to a dinner party at a friend's house and then a birthday party in Ankeny. And last night, my family came over for dinner to celebrate my Mom's upcoming birthday. It was a great weekend and this morning when my alarm went off at 6, I was wishing the weekend could last just one more day:)



Today's Song of the Day



Feeling Good

Michael Buble

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A Different Kind of Love

I think the title of my blog (Life and Lyrics) explains this, but I'm one of those people who really listens to the words of songs and I can very easily adapt a lot of songs to my own life. Tonight's entry is kind of personal, but when I listened to this song, these are the thoughts that came to me. (There's a link to the song below if you want to take a listen.)

Sometimes people aren't meant to be together, but it doesn't mean they have to hate each other. Life and people always move forward, but it's impossible to erase love. I think people try to erase it because they're afraid it will contaminate any new relationships they get into, but the love never goes away it just changes. Insecurity probably plays a part too. No one wants their current significant other to be jealous or worried, so they "pretend" like they despise their "ex" and squash any feelings that might remain. I can honestly say I would rather my next relationship be with someone who can admit their true feelings towards people in their past.

My favorite line in the song is "Just because we both know it's over, we can still be friends." I don't love Joe in the man/wife way anymore and I don't want to hang out with him like I hang out with my girlfriends. Too much has happened, too much time has passed, too much has changed us from who we were when we had that kind of love... but that doesn't mean that I can erase the kind of love for him that would make me want to be there for him as a friend if he needed me. God created us to love one another. Why does that have to be so hard for people? Regardless of what we do, God still loves us. He created us in His image, therefore we all have it within us to love each other no matter what. It hurt when our marriage ended and I felt very betrayed, but time passes and time changes the hurt if you let it. A lot of people would say that based on what happened between Joe and I it's ridiculous that I would ever offer to help him or be there for him if he needed me, or even be civil with him for that matter, but who would that hurt more? Holding on to feelings of unforgiveness and resentment can create bitterness and keep you from moving forward and loving someone else whole heartedly.

I haven't written much about the "Live Like You Were Dying" series at church lately, but I've still been thinking about it a lot. We are in our last week and one thing I know for sure is that if my life was down to only days remaining, I wouldn't want to spend one second of it feeling bitter or resentful because I couldn't let go of the past. It's impossible to forget everything that happened, but you have to let it go or else you start to squash that God given ability to feel love for everyone, even those who hurt you. That's one ability that I never want to lose.

Today's Song of the Day

Just Say the Word
Josh Kelley

Here's a link to a video of a LIVE performance of the song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrZfDGDy43Y

Friday, April 18, 2008

What I learned...

Here's what I learned from my little "healthy living challenge" experiment this week. Do not blog about something that you don't actually intend to follow through with. Enough said. I'll try again next week... but don't expect to read about it:)

Today's Song of the Day

The Take Over, The Breaks Over
Fall Out Boy

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Finished Product



I redecorated my bedroom and my bathroom a month or so ago and I said I would post pictures of the completed project... so here they are! I'm not sure the photos do justice to just how cute it really is, but it gives you the idea anyway. My friend Kyra deserves all the credit. She helped me pick out all the colors and the accessories. A friend of Kyra's, Krista Bell, painted both rooms for me. She has a painting business and she does a fabulous (and fast) job, so if you need anything painted, let me know and I'll pass her number along to you. We got everything at TJ Maxx, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Kohl's. Greatest places in the world to get good deals on cute, unique stuff for your house!

Great new song and artist...

Today's Song of the Day

In this Life
Delta Goodrem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7mtMcEOy30 (Check out the song and the video here)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Billy

If you ever get the chance to see Billy Joel in concert... you HAVE to go! He put on such a great show and we had so much fun! Our entire sales staff got tickets and we each brought a guest. You've never seen a group of people have more fun in your life. Everyone was dancing in the aisles, singing at the top of their lungs, making friends (and some enemies) with the people around us... it was crazy, but a very fun and memorable night! Piano Man was the finale and definitely one of the highlights for me. Of course the entire arena was singing, which is always kind of a cool experience. The other major highlight was completely unexpected though. Halfway through the show Billy (we're on a first name basis) brought out one of his roadies who completely took over the stage and sang "Highway to Hell". This is by no means one of my favorite songs, but you should have seen this guy! He got the whole arena standing up and singing in about 2 point 5 seconds. From then on out, the rest of the concert was a big party. It was awesome! The coolest thing about Billy Joel's music is that it has such mass appeal. There was a huge range of different kinds of people there. He sang quite a bit of his older stuff from the 70's, but I like all of his music, so that was cool with me. The only song he didn't sing that I really wanted to hear was Uptown Girl. That's such a classic 80's song.

In case you're wondering how "the challenge" went last night... not so good, but not that bad. I managed to have diet coke during the pre-party at InPlay and water during the concert, but after the concert at the post-party I let the peer presssure get to me and I had 1/2 a beer and a shot. (In my defense, the shot was a goodbye shot for my boss who's moving away... how could I politely turn that down??) I got in most of my fruits and veggies yesterday and I did work out. I didn't make it to bed by 11 though. I wouldn't call the day a complete loss. I just didn't follow ALL the guidelines I gave myself.

Today I'm on Day 3 of 7 in the challenge. So far today, I haven't eaten so good and I didn't get up on time. I've got some work to do to get back on track. I'm thinking that my recap of this little experiment I'm doing with myself could be very interesting.

Today's Song of the Day is one of the best remakes I've ever heard in my life...

Beat It
Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Piano Man

Our entire sales department is going to see Billy Joel at Wells Fargo Arena tonight. I'm very excited! I've never seen him before and I hear he puts on an awesome show. I'll have to share the details tomorrow.

I also have to report really quick on how my self-inflicted challenge is going today. I am proud to say that I did get up at 6:15 and I worked out. (I had to set two alarms... but the important thing is that I got up, right??) I ate breakfast. I've already had one fruit and two veggies today and I just passed up a piece of cake. (That was a tough one!) The real challenge of the day is coming in an hour or so. Everyone's gonna be drinking before and during the concert and I'll be enjoying a refreshing diet coke. My biggest problem today has been that I'm hungry all the time. I've eaten four times already. Granted, they were small meals, but still! Usually by this time I've had lunch and that's it. It would be interesting to see the difference in the calories I consumed through those four small meals compared to the ones I usually eat just during lunch. The experiment is really to see if I feel better throughout the day by sticking to the "rules". So far I feel better... Not nearly as sluggish and tired, and much less chaotic-feeling. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Today's Song of the Day... it's gotta be a Billy Joel tune!

Piano Man
Billy Joel

Monday, April 14, 2008

A One Week Experiment

My life has been a little chaotic lately and it's been wearing me out and making me crazy. So in an attempt to get a little normalcy and order back in my life, I'm giving myself a challenge and doing a little experiment. I think a big part of feeling chaotic has come from a little too much "I can do what I want whenever I want because I'm single and no one can boss me around" mentality, so I'm enforcing some discipline on myself for one week and I'm starting tonight. Here's my plan... don't laugh. Work with me people.
  • I have to get up at 6:15am Monday through Friday. (6 seemed too early, 6:30 seemed too lenient.) I've been sleeping in WAAAAYYYYY too late.
  • Must eat breakfast.
  • Get 30 minutes of hard exercise a day. (I'm giving myself one day off this week.)
  • No drinking alcohol AT ALL. (This might be tough when the weekend comes.) I was gonna give up soda too, but then what will I drink if I go out this weekend??
  • At least two servings of fruits and two servings of vegetables per day. I think I've been on a two week streak of eating no fruits or veggies other than lettuce and cheese drowned in ranch at Nick's. That's a streak I definitely need to break.
  • Must be in bed by 11p with the light and TV off.

OK, so those are the rules. Tonight I went to the grocery store and stocked up on all sorts of good-for-me foods and then I went to the Y and ran 2.5 miles. For dinner I had salad with carrots, radishes, sunflower seeds, balsamic, a side of cottage cheese, five shrimp, and a piece of dark chocolate. I'm off to a good start, right? I feel better already.

The experiment is to see if I can be tough enough to stick to all the rules for just one week. I know I can do it. Watch me.

Today's Song of the Day

Island (Float Away)
The Starting Line

Saturday, April 12, 2008

He's getting so big!

I took this video of my little nephew, JR, last Sunday at my parent's house. He's about seven weeks old now. His little leg was kicking a mile a minute and he had the hiccups. Adorable!

Sometimes the best laid plans...

I'm getting a good lesson this weekend in managing disappointment. I had so many fun plans and so far NONE of them have worked out. It's Saturday night at 10 and I'm blogging for goodness sake! I always try to find the brightside though, so on that note... I have found some great new songs on iTunes tonight. One of them just happens to be today's song of the day.

Today's Song of the Day

Anthem of Our Discovery
Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers

The Pink Party



Last Saturday night was my big 28th birthday bash. Amanda and Jill and Janelle are the best friends a girl could ever have... they planned a fabulous party! When I found out they were throwing me a party for my birthday I almost cried. It wasn't like I was turning 30 or anything special, they just knew it had been a stressful year and they wanted to do something nice. Mission accomplished girls! It was so much fun and the greatest gift in the world is getting to hang out with all of your friends and family in one place. My mom and dad came and my sister and Mark and twenty or so of my closest friends. Everyone dressed in pink and we took over the upstairs bar at Tonic. (Tonic has been our new hangout this year, so it was the perfect location!) The girls even bought a pink champagne cake from The Bakeshop. It was probably the best cake I've ever had. I think my favorite moment of the night was blowing out all the candles while everyone sang. It was a good moment. I seem to tell all in my blog lately, but I'm not gonna break out what I wished for when I blew out the candles:)

Thank you so much to everyone that came and celebrated with me! I love you guys!!

Friday, April 11th

Today's Song of the Day

Begin to Cry
Christopher Jak

I've been into "guys and their guitar" kind of songs lately and this is a great one.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Beautiful Mess

Today's Song of the Day is "Beautiful Mess" by Jason Mraz. It's off the "We Sing" EP. I just ran across it on iTunes tonight. There are four tracks on the EP and they all have really cool lyrics. This one struck me first because I can totally relate to parts of it.

Here are some of my favorite parts of the song...

You’ve got the best of both worlds. You’re the kind of girl who can take down a man, And lift him back up again. You are strong, but you’re needy. Humble, but you’re greedy. Based on your body language, your shouted cursive I’ve been reading. You’re style is quite selective, though your mind is rather reckless. Well I guess it just suggests that this is just what happiness is.

Although you were biased, I love your advice. Your comebacks they’re quick. And probably have to do with your insecurities. There’s no shame in being crazy, Depending on how you take these words that paraphrase this relationship we’re staging.

Good stuff, right??

Somebody asked me today if I could have any superpower which one would I want? I didn't answer, but I was secretly (not so secretly now) thinking that I wish I could permanently live in the moment and banish all fear from my life. I mean it was that or be invisible:) I know those weren't the kinds of things he was thinking of, but I think those could be considered "superpowers" because very few people actually possess those qualities. I'm not sure what my hold up on either of these really is? Letting go of the notion that we have any control whatsoever in what's happening around us is probably key to living in the moment and banishing fear. Because most of what we fear never happens anyway, what's the point of being afraid? And since we don't know what's going to happen next, we should probably just focus on what's taking place right now. It's all so simple when you're writing it down. If only it was so simple in real life.

Back to the song... I absolutely feel like a beautiful mess sometimes (edit... most times). One minute I think I have it all together, the next minute I'm completely confused and feel like I know nothing. Is it possible that our messy moments are what make the beautiful ones? If you never have those moments, you'll never be able to overcome them and grow. And when you realize you've grown, beautiful moments are born.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I'm slacking!

I'm so disappointed in myself! I've missed blogging three whole days in a row. (And I was doing so good!) I'm gonna catch up on the "Song(s) of the Day" now, and later tonight when I have more time, I'll actually write something worth reading... I hope.

Saturday, April 5th - Song of the Day
In Da Club
50 Cent

** My party was Satuday night... best birthday song EVER. **

Sunday, April 6th - Song of the Day
Nine in the Afternoon
Panic at the Disco

** They performed this song on Saturday Night Live 4/5. Check it out on iTunes! **

Monday, April 7th - Song of the Day
Oxygen
Colbie Caillat

** Track #1 on her CD. Great song. On a side note, she's touring with John Mayer this summer... but no dates in Iowa. I must go on a road trip. Travel companions needed. **

Friday, April 4, 2008

I just do what I'm told

It was my 28th birthday yesterday! Thank you so much to everyone who called, texted, emailed, and sang their birthday good wishes to me! I was thrilled with each and every one. It's good to be loved:)

Halfway through the day yesterday I started feeling kinda lousy with the chills and a stuffy nose and a headache. Not such a fun way to celebrate my birthday. I definitely want to feel better before my big birthday bash tomorrow night. I went to the doctor today hoping they would give me a miracle, but all I got was the fun treat of giving blood and a tip to go to Walgreen's and buy Mucinex D. (Wish I woulda figured that one out before she brought the needles out.) Anyone that knows me knows I don't do shots or needles very well. There was no witness besides the nurse, but take my word for it, I did good. No tears, no cringing, no freaking out. It was funny though when she came in with the needles and was getting everything ready, I said "You're going to draw my blood? I think I just have a cold. Why are you drawing blood?" She said "I just do what I'm told." At that point I figured I had no choice so I just laid back and sucked it up. Honestly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently turning 28 gave me new courage:)

Today's Song of the Day

Bleeding Love
Leona Lewis

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

27 years and 364 days...

I'm turning 28 tomorrow and I could have died three different ways before work this morning (just a slight exaggeration). I can laugh about it now...

One of my bathroom sinks and my shower has been draining kind of slow lately. A friend (actually I'm calling you out on this, Matt) suggested that I use this industrial strength drain cleaner that contractors and builders use. I thought it sounded like a good plan, so I bought some at Lowe's Saturday night. (Very exciting Saturday night as you can see.) When he was telling me how to use it, I have to admit that I questioned whether or not he thought I was dumb. I believe I said "Hello... I'm not stupid. Of course I know how to use drain cleaner." I will give him credit that he warned me it was extremely toxic. It came in a bottle wrapped in a plastic bag for goodness sake!

OK, so here's how it went down this morning...

I was instructed to pour half of the bottle in the bathtub and half in the sink. Wait 20 minutes, then run COLD water for five minutes. He said that it would smell really bad so do it right before I leave for work. The issues started when I finally got the seal open. I poured it in and it was brown and horrible looking and even worse smelling, not to mention it made a disgusting noise in the drain like it was eating whatever was in there. It splashed a little and I was afraid it was going to stain my white sink and tub, so I took a towel and tried to clean it up a little. When I was doing that I got some on my hand and it was SUPER HOT! So as if nearly suffocating from the fumes didn't kill me, the burning flesh was gonna get me. First indication it was toxic... it smelled horrible. Second indication, it was brown and disgusting. Third, it made a horrible noise! Fourth... it almost burned my skin off!! This stuff is serious, it obviously comes in a plastic bag for a reason. So I let it sit for probably 12 to 15 minutes, not the entire 20 like I was instructed. Then I turned the cold water on and went into my bedroom to get dressed. I came back in a couple minutes later and my entire bathroom was covered in water! My radio was sitting on the edge of the counter in a pool of water, so I was fairly sure I was going to get electrocuted after narrowly escaping asphyxiation and burning flesh. I turned off the water and dried up the floor and the counter and the cabinets below. I opened the cabinet to put my radio away and discovered that every single thing under there was soaking wet. Nice. I took everything out and dried it all off. I felt the pipe and it was wet too. Right underneath it there was a spot that looked like the cabinet was dissolving. I'm thinking the amazing drain cleaner ate not only the junk in the drain, but the pipe too. Long story short... I got a little more than I bargained for with this SUPER-DUPER-HEAVY-DUTY-NEVER-NEED-TO-BUY-DRANO-AGAIN drain cleaner. I think next time I'll just call a plumber:) (But I do appreciate Matt's good intentions.)

Today's Song of the Day

Uptown Girl
Billy Joel

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

It's Jake Ryan's Fault

I was talking to a friend a week or so ago about my level of expectation. We decided that I should work on finding a balance between the worst case scenario and the best case scenario because often times in my head I dream up a beautiful "best case scenario" picture of how things will go and then I'm disappointed when it doesn't happen the way I pictured it. (This is true for me in business, friendships, guys, you name it.) I'm slowly learning the OBVIOUS concept that people can't read my mind. Weird, I know I was shocked too. I think I've watched too many movies over the years and I've convinced myself that these things can actually happen in real life. (Have you seen Sixteen Candles?? Who doesn't want to sit on a table with Jake Ryan and a birthday cake??) I don't want to be one of those people who always expects the worst to happen, but as my friend pointed out, those people are often pleasantly surprised by anything other than catastrophe. Although, if you believe in the Law of Attraction (which I'm not sure whether I do), then those doom and gloom people would often get the bad stuff they were expecting, right?

The whole point of this post is that I've discovered most of life's disappointments come from unmet expectations. If I can keep my expectations somewhere between the best and the worst case and stop creating unrealistic scenarios in my head, I have a better chance of being constantly pleasantly surprised. And constantly pleasantly surprised sounds pretty great to me:)

This is a work in progress.

Today's Song of the Day (From Sixteen Candles)

If You Were Here
Thompson Twins