Music and miscellaneous

I love music. I really really do. I love to play music on the piano or listen to it. I love haunting soundtracks and wistful melodies. I love songs with words or without words. I love rock songs and worship songs. I love pop songs and folk songs. I love Celtic songs and funky songs.
Here are some of my favorites.

Favorite #1: NeedtoBreathe


My favorite band at the moment is a band called NeedtoBreathe. They are Christians (although not all of their music has extremely Christian lyrics) and I probably started liking them about five years ago (wow! I didn't know it had been that long! :)) when their first CD ("Daylight") came out. They have come a long way since then, and I still love their music. I have actually heard some of their songs on the radio before (namely, "Something Beautiful" and "Slumber" and "Drive All Night"), and last month they performed on the Jay Leno show. Now, let me just say, I think that they are amazing. :) Here are a couple of my favorite songs from their newest album "The Reckoning" which came out in September.





Okay, to tell you the truth, I like almost every song on their new CD, but these two are...really good. :D I also love "Oohs and Aahs", "White Fences", and "A Place Only You Can Go".

Favorite #2: Ludovico Einaudi


Ludovico Einaudi is a Italian composer who is in his mid-fifties. My friend Sam S. introduced me to "Nuvole Bianche" which I  absolutely loved. I probably listened to it about a million times. I found the sheet music to it and can now play it. (I actually played it for the baccalaureate service at my church when I graduated.) I have since discovered his music for myself, and I am crazy about it. I am hoping to one day be able to go to a concert of his. Some of my favorite songs include "Il fuori dalla notte", "Primavera", "Divenire", "Bella Notte", and, of course, "Nuvole Bianche". :) Here are two more of my favorites.





Favorite #3: Various


What do I mean by that? Well I mean that BarlowGirl used to be my favorite band, I love different soundtracks (Like "How To Train Your Dragon", the new "Robin Hood", "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Secret Garden", and "The Village", to name a few), I like some of Owl City, I like "Indelible Grace" (they take old hymns and put a new tune to them, while keeping the original words! I love it because the lyrics to hymns are usually wonderful, while the tunes can be a little dreary at times.), "Newsboys", "Phil Keaggy", "Leahy", and "U2". I am a huge fan of instrumental music (soundtracks or composers), especially haunting (usually piano) pieces. But my favorite piano piece (perhaps of all time)?? Yann Tiersen's "Comptine d'un autre été: L'après-midi" from the French movie Amelie (which I have never seen).

It is so gorgeous, so haunting, so amazing and so fabulous! It makes me want to close my eyes and let it sink into me. *happy sigh*

Here is "Forbidden Friendship" by John Powell from How to Train Your Dragon. (another favorite)

I think I could cry listening to this song. It is just so beautiful and sweet. I love how the music really builds. :)

"The Gravel Road" by James Newton Howard from The Village (which I have also never seen).

Soooo haunting and almost creepy but amazing and beautiful at the same time. I love to just sway as the violin plays the high notes as if it's a soprano voice singing its heart out. :)

I really think I could go posting videos on here forever, but I don't that any of you will listen to each and every one of these songs (I don't blame you, but you really SHOULD!), and I know that if I posted more and more that that would further deter you from sampling my favorite music. So I shall leave those music pieces with you to listen to and contemplate, and (hopefully) learn to love, just as I have.

On another note (hee hee, pun not intended), I went n a bike ride with my sister Meghan today. It ws very nice to get out and exercise. I even made the oh-so-practical choice of leaving my precious camera behind, since it would most likely be a hindrance. But I did so want to take some pictures of the leaf-strewn path. *pouts*

I also thought of a seriously possible name for my laptop. Mortimer. And I shan't tell you why. :D Let's just say it's a little inside name. Just like Fisher (sort of). I'm not certain that that's his name, but it is a very good possibility. :)

I felt like I had something else to tell you all, but perhaps not. Oh! I might have remembered.
Well, I won a giveaway! Two giveaways, in fact! The first one I won was a prize where the name was being redrawn since the original winner had never responded. So I am getting some yummy pumpkin pie soap! And then the second was winning Gloria's Fall Giveaway #2 which was an 8x10" photo print from Something Beautiful's Etsy shop. :) I am so excited!

On the 29th I am going to give blood for the first time, at my church! I have felt very strongly that it is important to give blood, for a while now, but I wasn't able to because of weight restrictions, but I am finally able to! Of course, I am very nervous (especially since my sister fainted last time she gave blood!), but my Dad is going to donate as well, and I have wanted to do this for so long, that I am glad to go. :) Have you ever given blood?

Well I do believe that that is all for now! Have a blessed evening!