Things change and friends move on and sometimes we're the ones moving on. It can be depressing, it can be scary. It can hurt, it can make us feel unloved and unwanted.
But God never changes, he never leaves, he never moves on. He never gives up.
Do you love music? Are you always looking for something new to listen to? I thought I'd put together a list of some of my current favorite songs. It's always fun for me to listen to other peoples' favorite music and sometimes find a new favorite song or artist. :)
First up, is the song Slip Away by Josh Garrels. I've been really liking Josh Garrels lately, especially his CD "Love & War & The Sea In Between". He has such a unique voice, a really interesting style of music (folky with some rap thrown in once in a while. Don't believe me about the rap? listen to SISU or The Resistance) My most favorite song is probably Good Friday, but like I said, I'm currently loving Slip Away.
The next two would be Life and Waterways by Ludovico Einaudi. This guy is an Italian composer who just may be my favorite composer. This past weekend I was incredibly privileged to be able to see him perform in New York City with his ensemble. It was amazing! I can't wait to see him again sometime.
The next song is one that my sister listened to and either recommended to me or I stole from her Grooveshark playlist. Soldiers by Ben Howard is a sweet and calming love song. I love his voice and how it's just him and his guitar. Simple things can be so beautiful.
Florence + The Machine can have some really great songs like Spectrum and Breath of Life and Dog Days are Over, but the one that I've recently been playing a lot would be Swimming. It's just a really fun song if you like her style of music.
And the last one would have to be from the "Return of the King" soundtrack. I recently re-listened to most of the songs from the three Lord of the Rings movies, and was so struck by the beauty of the songs and the talent of Howard Shore for composing them! They strike a chord in my heart *sob*. Okay, but seriously, one song that I think is really good is actually not on the regular soundtrack. I think it's on some sort of special extended soundtrack (because the song is only in an extended scene from the movie), but you can get the single song on iTunes. Liv Tyler (Arwen) sings this, and I just love her voice. The song sounds happy and sad and haunting and comforting all at the same time.
So give these six songs a listen to, and let me know what some of your favorite (or current favorite) songs are!
Hi there. Yeah, you probably forgot about me. I have been gone for a very long time...I'm sorry about that.
My Thanksgiving was good, my Christmas was good, my New Years was good, and now it's February, and people are making valentines and red and pink decorations to hang up around the place.
I would first like to say that I am now a Shabby Apple affiliate (yay!) What does that mean, you ask? It means that I get to display a cute little Shabby Apple icon in my sidebar, and if you click on it, then it will take you to the website and I will get some sort of coupon. So go ahead! Check out all the cute clothes that Shabby Apple has to offer, and maybe you'll find something you love! My birthday is coming up....I will be twenty years old; no longer a teenager. I was actually having a harder time adjusting to that fact last year when I was turning nineteen - just thinking about how it was my last year as a teenager and whatnot - but now that it comes to it, it doesn't feel too bad. Yeah, it scares me a little, but it's not as bad as I thought, even though nineteen is such a wonderful number. Twenty-one is next and that's not too bad. ;) In regards to photography I'm sorry to say that I haven't been incredibly inspired this year. I think it must be because I am not forced to take a picture every day this year like I was last year. It's nice because it's freeing, but it's also hard because I'm not forced to take a picture every day, which causes me to be less inspired. But really, if I want inspiration I can always go read one of my copies of Kinfolk. It's the most inspiring thing I own, I believe. Goodness, I love that magazine. If you can, go pick up (or order) a copy ASAP. It will be one of the best things to happen to you. But back to the photography thing. I did get inspired the other day when it was golden hour in the late afternoon and the sun was glinting through the glass jars we have lined up on our countertop. Something else that I have been loving lately (besides Kinfolk) is Earl Grey tea. It is my sponsor drink for this winter (a.k.a. It has sponsored ME in my mood shifts this winter. It has comforting qualities). I drink it in huge Anthropologie mugs that hide my face when I tip it up to sip the dregs from the bottom. And always with a bit of honey. I made the switch from sugar to honey, and I couldn't even tell a difference. It's better for you. You should try it out. Music - (Well yes, I think I must go through all categories now that I have begun) For music I have been listening to the Of Monsters and Men CD that I got for Christmas, and Ludovico Einaudi's new CD, and the soundtrack to The Hobbit and other movies. (I'll put a Grooveshark playlist at the bottom of this post for you to hear these amazing songs.) It's been lovely. I can never get over how much I love music and how amazing it is for God to have created it. I've been playing the Misty Mountains song on the piano, and transcriptions for BBC soundtracks like North and South and Little Dorrit and the 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility. For movies I've seen "Les Miserables" and "The Hobbit" in theaters, and I want to see both again. Actually, I did see "Les Mis" twice, just because it's so amazing. I've been watching "Downton Abbey" (ahhhh!!! I was inwardly freaking out over the second-to-most-recent episode) and "Once Upon a Time". We rewatched "Kidnapped" recently which was just so homey and wonderful, as well as "Shenandoah". Go watch those last two if you haven't before. They don't seem to be very well known but they are extremely wonderful, in my mind at least. We also saw "North and South" again the other night which was just pure amazingness. Places - I will *hopefully* be attending my second NeedtoBreathe concert in May with two of my sisters and a guy from our church. Then a bit later in May my favorite composer (yes, you read that right) will be in New York City, so I'm really hoping to be able to go see him there. I told myself that the next time he was in New York I would find a way to go see him. So if I don't end up getting tickets for my birthday, then I ill be buying them myself and checking with my aunt to see if I can take a train up to her house in Bronxville and go with her to the concert. Assuming, of course, that she'll want to go, which I think she will. :) And that is all I have to say for now. Have a lovely night or day or whatever it is when you read this. Make sure to listen to this very special, extremely varied, playlist that I have put together for you, and let me know which songs you liked best. It's worth a listen to. ;)
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.
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!
