Old Time Radio.

I think that it is extremely unfortunate that listening to the radio has gone "out of style". There are so many other media outlets in which to receive information now that not many people listen to the radio anymore. I am as guilty as anyone. I generally tune in to "Prairie Home Companion" every Saturday for an hour and listen to a few NPR shows here and there, but that is really it.

Last week, thanks to a friend, I discovered old time radio horror stories. They are like movies/tv shows for radio. They are really, REALLY great and they force you to just listen. No watching. No feeling. Just listening. I love it.

Here is a website where you can download some of them for fairly cheaply:
http://www.otrcat.com/mysteryhorror-c-113.html
You can also download them for free on limewire or buy them more cheaply on ITUNES.

Enjoy!

bicycle goodness.

As of last summer I have a wonderful Trek road bike that I LOVE riding every time I get the opportunity. I got the bike thinking I was going to get really serious about it all and do races and such. That dream wasn't exactly realized last summer. This summer, I am setting some new bicycle goals.

My boyfriend and I both have nice bikes that we enjoy riding so we went on a 16-mile ride together on Sunday and it was great. So here are my new goals for the summer on the bicycle:

1. Ride at least twice a week, (this means REALLY ride, not just piddle around town).
2. Get up to riding 30 miles at a time.
3. Up my average speed to about 15/16 mph.
4. Buy new pedals, new helmet, cycling shorts and a computer for bike.

On another note, those of you that have a bike, ride it! It is such a pleasant, easy and enjoyable way to get exercise. Especially if you can ride it out in the country and take your camera with you. Last week I was on vacation in the FL Keys and I took my bike... and my camera. And those two things were fairly inseperable for the entire trip. Take a ride out in the country and take some pictures. Exercise and create all at the same time. :)

long overdue musical suggestions.

So it has been WAY too long since I have last added some musical suggestion so the blogsy. So here goes nothing.

Artist: The tallest man on earth. (Not seriously, just the name of the artist.)
What is it? Folky goodness.
How does it make me feel? Like I need to buy a banjo and learn to write songs.


Artist: Willy Mason
What is it? make a difference music.
How does it make me feel? Like I need to go out into the world and make a difference in the world.
P.S. If you look back a few posts, I posted a song of his (lyrics only). That songs says it all really.


Song: Rock, salt and nails
What is it?: Pure, bluegrassy goodness
How does it make me feel? Like love sucks and that I never want to be in a relationship again, (but in the best way you could ever imagine.)
P.S. The song was written by a songwriter by the name of Utah Phillips and performed first by Steve Young. But many, many artists have covered and do cover this song.

mi vacacione.

Last year was my first time to experience the Florida Keys. After my college graduation, my mother decided to take the whole family down to the keys and camp for a week. Well, I can honestly say it is one of my favorite places now. With clear blue carribean-like waters, white sandy beaches, tons of marine life to see and most importantly, WARM SUN, you really can't beat it if you are looking for a beach vacation.

Bahia Honda state park is our camping destination. But we venture out of the state park daily to do snorkeling, kayaking, diving (if you are my sister and her boyfriend), renting boats, and even checking out of the local eateries, shops, etc. It is also about an hour drive from key west (where the southern most point of the US is). Key west is a VERY cool, hip little town with lots of cool things to get into. We are hoping with the recent devistating oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, the keys won't be affected. knock on wood. Here are some pictures just to make you extremely jealous. :)

Willy Mason.

Willy Mason, musician-songwriter, is the writer of my latest song obsession. This song makes me want to be better. And make a difference. In everything. Thanks, Willy.

OXYGEN
by: Willy Mason

I wanna be better than oxygen, So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin, For all the children who think that they've got a disease
I wanna be cooler than t.v. For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be
We can be stronger than bombs, If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry, As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance, Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.

I wanna see through all the lies of society, To the reality, happiness is at stake
I wanna hold up my head with dignity, Proud of a life where to give means more than to take
I wan't to live beyond the modern mentality. Where paper is all that you're really taught to create
Do you remember the forgotten America? Justice, equality, freedom to every race?
Just need to get past all the lies and hypocrisy, Make up and hair to the truth behind every face
That look around to all the people you see, How many of them are happy and free?
I know it sounds like a dream, But it's the only thing that can get me to sleep at night
I know it's hard to believe, But it's easy to see that something here isn't rightI know the future looks dark, But it's there that the kids of today must carry the light.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew.

If i'm afraid to catch a dream, I weave your baskets and I'll float them down the river stream
Each one i weave with words i speak to carry love to your relief.

I wanna be better than oxygen, So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin, For all the children who think that they've got a disease
I wanna be cooler than t.v., For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be
We can be stronger than bombs, If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry, As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance, Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.

On and on, and on, and on it goes
The world it just keeps spinning
Until i'm dizzy, time to breathe
So close my eyes and start again anew

braids.

I love braids. I have kept my hair fairly short for a while now making it impossible to braid it into beautiful, long, braids. However, I have been telling myself for a while now that I cannot get the hair cut again so I can have beautiful braids. Well, my hair is officially long enough and I'm loving it. Here is a wonderful dedication to all the amazing hair and braids in the world.

summer projects.

1. I have an outrageously large jar of buttons at my house. I need to figure out something crafty/cute to do with these buttons. Ideas?





2. Buy a Holga camera and take ridiculously cool pictures.









MORE TO COME.

fashion goodness.

I spend the majority of my 4-hour office workday blogging. Whether it be adding to my blog, (which has been semi uninspiring lately), or looking at TONS of other amazing, fantastical fashion/cooking/crafty/amazingartsyness blogs, I do it... for a good 4 hours daily.

This being said, I really need to work on making my blog a bit more interesting. My absolute favorite blogs to look at are the vintage fashion blogs. I heart all things vintage and own lots of things vintage. I really just need to start taking more time on the material in my posts- not just surfing the web and sharing things with everyone that they can go find on their own.

As I brainstorm on ideas, everything will continue to be the same old, same old. However, if anyone has any great crafty/artsy/musical/creative/semi-nontimeconsuming things I could post about, comment PLEASE! I am a lady of endless interests and love to try new things. Throw something my way.

adulthood.

I just want to be a kid again.

In the last year of my life, I have reached the scary place known as adulthood. I pay all of my own bills. I have 4 jobs. I go to bed before midnight EVERY night. I have the energy of an 80-year-old woman when I get to the end of my days.

I don't like it.

When you are young, you want to be grown. When you are grown, you want to be young. Why is it that we can never be happy where we are in life? I am going to make a determined effort to start living in the moment. There is nothing but the present, after all.

Gulf of Mexico oil slick.

I had dinner with mi madre last night after church, (this is a fairly regular occurance). Over dinner, we talked about lots of things. Our conversations generally end up migrating towards being healthy, eating right, and those kinds of things. Last night we touched on our recent eating habits, environmental law, (she is teaching a class on it at MSU today), an upcoming trip to Holiday World, my sister coming home, the food I was eating, how removed the everyday person is from what they eat, (Nobody in my life, with the exception of my mom, has any clue where their food comes from and what has been added, modified, taken away, etc. This soapbox will be saved for another post), and then finally our conversation migrated to the recent devistation in the gulf of mexico.

Just in case you weren't aware, a BP oil rig off the coast of Louisiana (approximatley worth 5 billion dollars), burned up last Tuesday after some oil drilling went a bit wrong. With the oil rig gone, over 5,000 barrels of oil have been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico daily since last Tuesday. This oil is practically as thick as roofing tar and is covering an area 74,000 km wide on top of the ocean. Because of this thick blanket of tar, TONS of oceanic wildlife are dying because of their inability to breath and their lack of sunlight. The oil slick is expanding so rapdily on a daily basis that the government made an agreement with BP to burn part of the slick yesterday, (Wednesday), so the oil would not leak into the environmental wetlands of Southern Louisiana, killing even more wildlife.

This devistating occurence will have no better outcome. This is a lose-lose situation. Either they burn up the entire oil slick sending unimaginable amounts of air pollution into our ozone, or they do not burn it and hundreds of miles of wetlands and wildlife are smothered in tar. Sad. Sad. Sad. Let's remember to keep all the leaders and decision-makers in our thoughts and prayers.

Nicole Atkins.

Alright. I know you are all thinking, "Hmmm... I thought she said her musical obsessions change every few weeks. I haven't seen a new musical post in a while." WELL HERE IS A FANTASTIC ONE.

I first heard Nicole Atkins in Nashville, TN at the Ryman Auditorium opening up for the Avett Brothers on Halloween. That voice amazed me. She was a great live act. I kind of forgot about her for a while and suddenly, as if some magical musical (god, i love alliteration) force was taking hold of my life, she pops up on my iPod when I had set it to shuffle mode. Yes, yes... magical musical forces are generally the only kind of forces that ever take hold of my life but still... Is that fate or is that fate? The start of a new 2-week obsession. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


This is my favorite song as of now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xdkX4z3Q6M

I'm a crusader.

If you know me, you know that I am somewhat notorious for getting very convicted about lots of things. I like to have opinions about things, and as long as I have an educated opinion, I generally like to share it with others. My best friend calls me a crusader. Well here comes my next crusade.

People need to stop taking themselves so seriously. There are so many people in this tiny little town of Murray, KY that have the opetimized "holier than though" attitude. People think that because they listen to "alternative/indie" music and wear "different" clothing, that they are better than others.

The fact of the matter is, so many of these people are just searching for a certain mold or box in which they want to fit. They do everything they can to fit that mold, totally independent of whether they actually like, care about, or are convicted about what it represents.

What needs to happen is simple. People need to be themselves and not continually try to perfectly portray a certain image. Do what you feel. Do what you like. Who cares if other people don't like it or don't care about it. Be yourself dammit.



"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." ~e.e. cummings

bun bun dedication.

I have 2 pet rabbits. Their names are Asher and Faust. I am questioning whether I will be taking them along to Louisville with me in the Fall or leaving them with the BF here in Murray (he is madly in love with them, too). I am leaning towards just taking my cat (Lily) with me since I am questioning the amount of time I will have for the bunnies when I am in school. This decision makes me sad. Because I love them. And they are my little life garnishes. So here is a photo dedication to all the lovely pet bunnies all over the world that make their owner's lives a bit brighter on a daily basis.

Neko.

Nobody is a better singer/songwriter/all around amazing musician and cool ass chick than Ms. Neko Case. That voice will never bore my not-so-easily entertained ears. Punk/indie meets country music; nothing could make me a happier lady.

cottonfactory.com

If you haven't visited the above mentioned website, go there... now. It's worth your time. Especially if you have a ridiculously odd and sometimes screwed up sense of humor. And if you like sharing that sense of humor with others by wearing strange t-shirts with obsurd things written on them, you will be in the right place. These are my two most recent purchases. (The pictures are what is printed on the t-shirts.)

Moving.

Come the beginning of August-ish, I will be moving to a new city, into a new apartment, surrounded by new things. I am excited. I have lived in Western, KY for almost 23 years now and I am ready for a change.

I was talking to a friend last night about moving (who is also moving away to graduate school next year), and he asked, "So why are you staying in KY if you are so desperate to get away?" I wasn't really sure what to say. Since I made the decision to audition for graduate schools, I told myself that the 2 KY schools were going to be my last two choices. And even as of now, (after making my decision to go to Louisville), my number one school is UC Boulder. But as I told him last night, MONEY TALKS. Louisville wants me there and is willing to give me full tuition, stipend and health care for 2 years. That is something to which you really cannot say no. Even after they told me of the assistantship which they were offering me, I was arguing with myself about it. "All this time I have been telling myself I MUST get far far away and now the closest school gives me all this money."

Well, to make a long story short, I chose Louisville and am happy with the decision. I am close to my family, (which is more and more important to me with 2 younger siblings, ages 8 and 9). I have TONS of friends in Louisville, which is nice. I am somewhat familiar with the city. And although he would hate me admitting this, I am really glad to be going somewhere where I am within driving distance of my boyfriend (who is staying in Murray to work). So overall, it's a good thing. And i'm happy. And excited.

That all being said, one of the most exciting things for me is moving into a new place. And decorating a new place. And buying some new furniture and such things. The flea marketing madness has begun and I am looking forward to finding lots of unique, interesting things for the new place. Here are some inspirations from one of my favorite decorating websites.