#MusicMonday: Music to get happy to.

How has everybody been? I'm still in the holding pattern with the weight loss. Holding at a loss of eight pounds so far (the ten I lost, plus the three I put back on, minus another that I lost just in time for last weigh-in), and I had better see improvement this week. And that's all I've got to say about that! I've also potentially made my first Etsy sale, and I don't even have my Shoppe up and running yet! Isn't that great? It's NOT set in stone, but someone did inquire about the adorable flamingo barware set I showed off during last Thursday's Thrift Score Thursday post, and I gave them price and they want the items at that price! They can't get it just yet, but that's okay....I have a tentative launch date of May 15 for the Etsy Shoppe, and will be listing it there if the first potential buyer is unable to take it off my hands. Now, if only the rest of my vintage stuff could sell that quickly, I'd be doing great!

Today's "Monday's Music Moves Me" theme is "Music that picks you up when you're feeling down".

#Music#Monday and a little game of catch-up

What all has transpired since I last chatted with my Music Monday friends?

Well, on my end, it's been a good week for thrifting. I managed to come across a part of my own thrifting/home/design/decor holy grail just a little over a week ago, and revealed it in a blog post here (in case you missed it - but be forewarned, I'm so in love with this piece I'll probably be sharing this post for a while yet). I also picked up some really, REALLY cool retro items for the still-not-yet-up-and-running Etsy store. I'm still trying to do inventory on all the items I'm listing because I have literally YEARS' worth of vintage dishes & such that I'll be listing. But what I'm really waiting on is a day with decent natural light so I can get some hopefully decent photos.

And oh! the storms. We haven't been hit like Texas (thank goodness!), but we've had a few bouts of severe weather here and it's rained every day for several weeks. I do love the rain - and the storms - but my lawn is way overgrown, and since I've not had a day off when it HASN'T been raining, my yard is now that yard....the shame of the block. But what can I do?

Back in the saddle again - I think

It seems like every time I think I'm ready to ride again, more stuff comes up and I end up on an unintentional hiatus for a while. That's what happened these past few weeks, and is bound to happen again. But at the moment? I'm just happy to have a few free minutes to type a few paragraphs out, share some music, and a sneak peek of something else that I'm really, REALLY excited about. Like....SO excited! You don't even know. But you will Thursday, if you come back for my #ThriftScoreThursday post.

In the meantime, it's #MusicMonday!

Road Trip Random #MusicMonday + BotB Winner for 3.21.15

As is my usual custom here of late, I am off to a bit of a late start on Music Monday, and certainly off to a late start on announcing a winner for the Battle of the Bands for 3.15.15. But I just got back from a quick trip back home to visit the folks and hopefully start getting a feel for my future home (more on that another time), and prior to that worked seven days in a row, the last two of which were doubles. I am beginning to think my schedule may always be something like this, but I'm not going to complain. I need every cent I can earn from my job! So first up will be the BotB winner...

#MusicMonday for 3.9.15

Ah....if only I had time to turn music on and the world off...

Let's just say in that case, I'd probably still have the world turned off. It's been kind of a stressful week. We had our ice storm Thursday, I had to be late to work because of it Friday, then worked a longer day than I had expected Saturday and it was SO BUSY! I am grateful, but tired. I was so stressed out I thrift shopped on the way home, and did not come out of the store empty-handed. I found the most perfect little beaded vintage evening bags from the 60s. So far, I haven't managed to get a good photo of them, but as soon as I do, it will be up here and on IG!

Battle of the Bands and #MusicMonday for 3.1.15

Howdy, folks! I'm terribly sorry to be combining posts like this again, but hopefully life levels out some and I get a bit of down time to prepare things a bit better in the next month. (No promises for this one yet-it's getting real up in here and I have to start doing things like pricing electricians, contractors and storage units, and taking care of some personal business to be sure I'm doing the right thing with this house.) So far, work and being sick seem to have sucked February right out of my life. But here's to getting better! And music...

#MusicMonday and Battle of the Bands Winner

I feel I need to apologize for my tardiness in announcing the Battle of the Bands winner for the February 15 battle. Time is getting away from me a lot here lately, and it seems all I want to do is sleep when I have a free minute!

Weekend musings, #MusicMonday and #TuesdayCoffeeChat on Wednesday

I went to visit my family this past weekend. This was a planned visit, so I had hoped I would leave the blog a bit better prepared than I did, but due to an exhausting work schedule and an incredible amount of things to tend to before leaving, that obviously never happened. I am still playing catch-up. I've also fallen into the deep end of Pinterest again, but FINALLY I am pinning with a purpose because those big changes I've been talking about for years (the past two years, in fact)? Those changes are set to begin at last.

Super Bowled-over but ready to start the work week

That pic over on the left? (Which I actually saw on another blogger's page today and had to go do a search for it so I could have it for myself - and now I can't find that blog so I can do a proper shout-out) Really says it all. This can be evidenced in the hornet's nest I stirred up with the first of this month's Battle of the Bands installments. I knew I'd eventually find some covers basically only I like, haha! (Feel free to go give any of the covers a listen and vote, if you have the time/inclination.)

Inspired by the weather

This past week it was pretty cold. But just pretty cold; not unbearably cold. Thank goodness! My whole world seems to shut down when it gets unbearably cold. I'll barricade myself in my bedroom under my covers, which is wonderful for my reading and getting caught up on tv, but pretty bad for blogging and bloghopping and returning social media messages and emails. I tend to avoid the computer when I'm in my little sanctuary, even though I have it with me in there.

On dreams and talent and winners.

And based on that title, this is probably not the post you'd think it is. Since I was under the weather and binging on Netflix when not sleeping on Sunday, I missed Music Monday.

Music Monday Random

Happy Monday! The title says it all. It's been cold, I've been a bit under the weather and tired, and time got away from me. I don't really have much of a post put together, so how about I just hit "random" on the ol' iPhone and see what it gives me? Works for me!

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions

Yes, the road to hell may indeed be paved with good intentions - yet here I am with mine for both myself and the blog this year.

This is the post I meant to write for publication last Thursday, but that was when all the electrical outlets in my living room stopped working, causing me to vacillate between bouts of the following: uncontrollable sobbing. Wanting to take the extension cord I'd been using to power a heater in my bedroom (because during the summer, all but one wall of outlets stopped working in there) and severely beat floors, walls and windows with it - but I couldn't because I knew repairing and replacing them would be too expensive! And lastly, once tired and spent from all the distress, having zero fucks left to give it, only to re-energize myself enough during those calm periods to get worked up all over again. But back to my good intentions for the year...

Twas the night before the night before Christmas

And honestly, it's all been a bit of a blur since then. Work, work, and more work. Other stuff, other stuff, and more other stuff. Time is slipping away from me fast, people, and with the end of the year approaching, my mind is a whirling dervish of post ideas, project ideas, to-do lists, goals for the coming year, and the changes coming my way. Lots and LOTS of changes this year, and some pretty big ones here in the not-so-distant future. But? That is still another time and place (and post). So for this, my final Music Monday offering of 2014, I give you one of my favorite songs released this year:

The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday, and for those of you who won't be visiting me again before next Monday, I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful, and prosperous 2015!

This post participates in Monday's Music Moves Me at X-Mas Dolly's.

And Musical Mondays at Miss Angie's.

Wishing you the happiest of holidays

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah/Chanuka, or something entirely different or nothing at all, I hope you have the happiest of days and get to spend time with friends and loved ones or otherwise doing something that makes you happy. This is a short and busy week for me as well as most of us, I assume, so I am keeping today's Music Monday/4M short and simple. I have two songs to share - the first is one of my favorite lighthearted songs of the season and the other is a repeat appearance from Christmases past. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know it's just not a Christmas post from me without its inclusion:

Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad

Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Chris Kattan and Horatio Sanz - I Wish It Was Christmas Today

For more music, head to Dolly's to listen - and play along!

Monday puts most of us in the mood for battle

As for me? It's usually just another day, but this time I am feeling it. This month is going by so fast, and I just can't seem to find time to get it all done.

Oh. Howdy!

This month also just keeps bringing a plethora of new things, especially on the blog hop front. There's always Music Monday, then earlier this month I participated in the Mix Tape Shuffle. Now? There's a new hop I'm excited to try to join up with called Battle of the Bands.

The rules are pretty simple - pick two recordings of a particular song to "do battle." Twice per month, on the 1st and 15th. Link up, and visitors to your blog can cast their vote for their favorite. Six days later, cast your own vote and declare a winner. I consider myself somewhat of a cover/tribute afficianado, so you know this is right up my alley! (Edited for future reference (though not part of the rules) I will probably never throw an original into the ring, so to speak).

First off, we have the legendary Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl". This is the original, and therefore not part of the "battle."

Now, I will ask you to listen to the two songs below (or at least enough of them to get a feel for what they sound like) and vote for which one you like better. Or least worse, whichever the case may be!

In 1996, Brooklyn Gothic/Doom Metal band Type O Negative covered "Cinnamon Girl" for their fourth studio album, October Rust.

Iconic 90's alt-rockers The Smashing Pumpkins also covered "Cinnamon Girl" and included it on the 2012 bonus CD reiussue of Pisces Iscariot.

Now.....for the rest of Music Monday. It's back to a Christmas song and I've been really in the mood for more from Etta James, so here she is singing "The Little Drummer Boy".

Isn't it just divine? For more Music Monday, be sure to visit X-Mas Dolly and Battle of the Bands. As always, if you have a music meme, be sure to mention it in the comments so I can participate here and pass it along!

It's my last vacation Monday

...for this go round, at least, and I am here in Atlanta at Casa de Spank trying to get more comfortable with blogging from the iPad mini. (Oh, and for a Braves game and Weezer show, too!) Spank did generously offer use of her lovely MacBook Pro, but since Google requires you to add accounts before you can use them, I figured I'd probably better not mess with her settings.

So the drive over was inspiring and calming, as always.

Road trips are always so soothing for the soul, and this one was no exception. There is nothing quite like the solitude of the scenic backroads to peel the stress away as the miles go by. And as always, there is the music. The loud music.

In honor of being in Atlanta and starting to feel normal again after some very stressful weeks prior, let's turn up some fun, local music, shall we?



For more Music Monday, be sure to check out Dolly's!

My life as a country song

It feels good to be back on the blog after an unintended yet forced hiatus! July was the most colossal of bitches to me (and my family), hence my possibly-over-dramatic-yet-still-entirely-accurate post title. There was sadness. There was anger. There was gloom, despair, and agony. There were life-changing events. There was my oldest son's car trouble, my youngest son's move back home and his car trouble. There was MY car trouble, where the skid plate got knocked out from underneath my car. And my laptop died. And our oldest family pet had to be rushed to the emergency vet during late night hours only to have to have some expensive surgery the next morning. That was the time I couldn't sleep for over forty hours. But thankfully, she is still here with us.

I cried "UNCLE!!!!" many times. So very, very many times. We are still trying to recover from these setbacks financially, but we are doing pretty good, all things considered.

Here's to a better August. Hopefully a better rest-of-the-year! It was off to a disastrously bad start, but I am on vacation for the next eight days, and I am loving every minute of it! So far I've gotten so absorbed in housecleaning, various other projects, and the HGTV Folio app. And miraculously, Last month didn't force me to guzzle down gallon after gallon of intoxicating adult beverages. There has been a lot of this, though:

Nothing quite beats iced coffee on the back porch!

This is time for a reset, so I am going to let the incredible Mr. Marley lead the way...

For more Music Monday, be sure to visit Dolly's!

Agony

First and foremost, I hope everyone enjoyed their Father's Day - celebrating your fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, fathers of your children, or yourself if you're a mom pulling double duty as a dad as well - whichever applies to you. But I truly hope it did not involve agony!

Secondly, I am sitting here in abject misery because I have what must be at least a hundred mosquito bites.  I know that doesn't exactly sound like a lot, but I am not over-exaggerating for effect here, folks.  I am quite welt-y and itchy, and what's more, I'm still sporting a gel manicure, so I can't even violently scratch the bites.  Coconut oil helps take the itch away, but if anything touches one of them, it's on again.  So yeah, I'm pretty uncomfortable.  But my deck is now all decked out with some festive lights which have been sitting in my closet for a few years after I purchased them (on clearance, of course!)...

They're pretty, but I'm still debating whether or not it was worth being devoured by so many evil, pesky little minions of Satan.

Ahem.  Onto more exciting news...

In the hopes of finding my groove and "writing" voice again, I've teamed up with The Nora Guild.  So if anyone is visiting from #thenoraguild , hello!  It's good to meet you, and I'm so glad you're here!  

Also, starting tomorrow, I will be doing the 25 Songs, 25 Days challenge.  I haven't looked into linking up or anything, but here's the gist of it:

But for now?  It's #MusicMonday and time for a tune from a rock and roll legend:

Paul McCartney and Wings:  "Blackbird"

 

I look forward to taking my broken wings and learning to fly.

Be sure to visit Dolly for more music for your Monday!

Wow...it's Monday again already?

Because honestly, the past four weeks have just flown by in a crazy blur. I took a long weekend and went to visit family, then came back and worked for ten days straight (except for the one day I *had* to call out to get my car fixed - there was no other time, since I worked through both weeks and a weekend!), then took another long weekend to visit Spank in Atlanta. It was a much, MUCH needed girl's weekend!

There was junking/thrifting/antiquing/flea marketing:

Clockwise from top left: some really cool, way oversized silver bangles; mid-century pendant lamp; adorable fish wall hangings; tall, skinny mid-century table lamp; and vintage red lamp (part of an identical set. I have a pair of very similar ones, but mine are smaller. And I totally have shade envy!)

I got a manicure for the first time since the mid-nineties:

And speaking of the nineties, I've been really nostalgic for that decade musically lately.  This band wasn't around for very long, but they had an impact on me, and (some of) the lyrics to this song really resonate with me:

Blind Melon - "Tones of Home"

And also during the visit, much music was discussed.  We're planning our concerts up to the end of the summer, and here's one of my favorites from one of the bands we'll be seeing in August:

Weezer - "Dope Nose"

Also a nineties band, but that song wasn't a nineties song...

So after that long weekend, I came back and am now in the middle of a nine-day-in-a-row stretch.  At this point I'm stressed and irritable and no one can stand to be around me.  I'm trying to learn to take care of myself through the stress and constant motion, though, because I think this might just be another "new normal" for me.

C'est la vie.

What music is on YOUR mind this week?

This post is part of Monday's Music Moves Me at Dolly's place.