I, I Love You

And I keep hittin' repe-pe-pe-pe-pe-peat.





Happy Valentine's Day.

No: Oil that burned quite slowly . . .

Just in case you need a little pick-me-up during our favorite holiday season. . . .


Can I interest you in Hannukah?

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If we could float away

This post is long overdue.

McCall and I went to the very much anticipated Coldplay concert in a time when both our lives were filled with anxiety. She was taking the dreaded NCLEX two days later, and I was preparing to quit my job and move across the country (plus it was nearly birthday week). (She had more anxiety than I did.)

We picked up dinner on the way—Buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese will be forever linked with the anticipation felt this night—and at some point during our trip to the TD Gardens I told McCall that this was the night she might see me dance.

It is well known by all my friends in all stages of life that I rarely dance in front of people. But this concert was different than all those times I've refused to dance. There was a palpable energy in the room; I felt the music in my bones. And when the music is that deep inside of you, you really don't have a choice but to dance.

We sang and we danced, and when Chris Martin came out and started "Us Against the World" alone on the acoustic guitar, McCall cried (but, you know, Chris Martin is her sloth).



I have never been as jealous of Gwyneth Paltrow as I was that night.

Never Changing

In July I took a trip up to Vermont with McCall, Anne Marie, Curtis, and Jake. During the drive, McCall suggested we play a game where we'd go in a circle, choose a song on the ipod, and then tell the rest of the car a memory that went along with the song. 

It's incredible how strongly music is tied to memory.

There is a band based in Vegas that has rapidly become successful over the last year. Most of their LDS following claims them as being from Provo, since the initial band was started there. But all current members (except one) attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston. And while he was in school, the drummer was good friends with my roommate Danielle. Who introduced me to the band's EP while we lived together.

So even though they really aren't connected to Boston as a band, they will always be connected to Boston in my mind. And when I run into their music everywhere from the radio to the Olympics to movie trailers, I can't help but think of D and be so proud of her friend.

And Then There Were Four

I attended my very first concert in 2007. Snow Patrol, a new listen for me, and OK Go opened the concert for them. It was a cold March night in Salt Lake, and I went with a boy who'd broken up with me a month before, but we were still friends. The concert was loud and overwhelming, but so fun, and the lead singer shared a great anecdote about singing Set Fire to the Third Bar in San Diego.

Really crappy photo taken on a phone before the iPhone existed.

My next concert happened a little over a year later. In May 2008, while home for the summer, I drove with Kirs and her good friend Sarah out to Bend to see Death Cab for Cutie, with The Decemberists and Mates of State opening. As we waited to get in we could hear the band tuning, and as they ran through What Sarah Said it started to rain and the entire line began to sing along with the band. It was magical.

Kirs and I waiting in line.

Sarah and I at the concert. We were smashed up in the front.

My last concert was probably the most fun. While I was in Jerusalem Kait and Erik started dating, and they got engaged the following May. I discovered Erik's love for Kelly Clarkson on Kaitlyn's birthday, and that spring of 2009 when Kait was home in Oregon but Erik and I were still in Provo I accompanied him to the Kelly Clarkson concert at UVU. I have only seen Erik more excited one other time in our friendship (the day he and Kait got married) than when we went to that concert. He was beaming; it was just as much fun to watch Erik as it was to watch Kelly Clarkson. And her live version of Miss Independent was better than any recording possible.

A double rainbow over the stage. The rain was rockin'.

Tonight will be my fourth, and quite probably best, concert. At 7:00 p.m. in the TD Gardens, McCall and I will dance like crazy people while listening to Coldplay. I finally get to wear the glow-in-the-dark musically-coordinated bracelets, and see the patented Coldplay confetti. I can't wait. 

Reckless Abandon

And a quote from a much loved movie:

You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work.


Happy Valentines Day. 

Get Back in my Life

So sorry about the lack of posts. I had so many things I wanted to tell you about, like

Meeting Stephen Pinker and Lois Lowry (wow!).
The best ice cream flavor at Cold Stone (Cookie Doughn't You Want Some).
Actually accomplishing a to do list.
My hunt for animal print (pun intended).
Expense reports are fun (what??).

But I'm designing designing designing with a few breaks for the flute for the next 36 hours. Instead, I'll leave you with a taste of the music that's been accompanying Lingo. Hands All Over, Maroon 5. Surprisingly excellent design music.

Goodbye, November

You were kind of exhausting. And let's be honest, these have been on repeat since the 25th.

 

 

Plus, I may or may not listen to How the Grinch Stole Christmas while I work.

Saturday Afternoon

When the forecast looks like this . . .

And all you want to do is stay in bed watching your new trashy TV obsession . . .

Source here.

The only cure is magazine designing out of the house with a lot of this . . .

Some of her gorgeous voice (possibly the sexiest voice a woman could have after Sophia Bush) . . .




And falling in love with their new album . . . 

D-I-S-C-O

has been stuck in my head. All day. My favorite is, I think, the boxes on the heads.


Enjoy.

Perspective

Having a hard day? Just look up these soundtracks.

Work will become a magical place. And time will run as though you had your very own Time Turner to get to 5:00 faster than usual.

'Tis true. And delightful.

Simple Things

Pray in the morning,

Pray at night,

Read your scriptures

And you'll be all right.

—Dad

 

 

 

Source here.

A List of Things in My Life

1. I've been having really unsettling dreams lately. No, I don't eat before bed. No, I'm not abnormally stressed out. Yes, it is affecting my sleeping ability. A dream journal has been suggested. Thoughts?

2. We pitched story ideas in my editing class today, and I will be doing a restaurant review for Kickass Cupcakes. To determine if they actually are. (I've been told, yes.)

3. Ran into my boss getting off the T yesterday morning. Apparently we ride the same train. Usually I get to the office first, though, so we've never seen each other before.

4. Mumford & Sons. Megan, I know you said you didn't like Little Lion Man, but listen to Winter Winds. The trumpet part rocks.

5. I freaking love my old man sweater. And flannel. And wearing them in the fall. It's fall!

6. Boots are on backorder. Blast and wretch.

7. I laughed out loud on the T last week reading Bossypants. The lady standing in front of me looked at me and said, "You're the third person I've seen on the T today laughing at that book. I think I have to read it."

8. Working from home cons: I am sick.

9. Working from home pros: Stretchy pants and Full House reruns. Can you say score?

10. I am designing my hands down dream magazine to create (and hopefully will create at some time in the future). It will be a heck of a lot of work. But it will be awesome.

Apparently, I Judge People

I spent a lot of time last week with my mouth shut on a variety of topics, then spewing my soapboxes to Melis via gmail (sorry Melis). Topics such as

• The GOP debates. Good grief. 
• Language change. It evolves. And I have strong feelings on the matter. Big surprise.  
• The Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN. And Israel's increasing isolation in the Middle East. And our tenuous position there. Boy howdy, it'll be an interesting week this week.

Also, who thought it was a good idea for BYU to go independent? Embarrassing game on Saturday. 


But don't worry, it hasn't been all bitten tongues or diatribes toward Bronco Mendenhall. I have spent a lot of time lovin' on these songs. Give them a listen?






That Wilco song is bee-yew-ti-ful. Seriously, I listen to it on repeat for hours. Better than the JEW cover, I think I've decided. 

And thanks to Danielle for the Mumford & Sons love. Well, Danielle and Spotify.



K, I'm out.

Not a Sunday Appropriate Post

But a totally weather appropriate one.


Here are two songs to accompany your baby hurricane day. (You know, baby earthquake Tuesday, baby hurricane Sunday. No big deal, Boston.)








See you after the storm, dears.

(shimmy, shimmy, shimmy)

Reasons why I'm happy today:

1) No roommates for five days. It's truly delightful.
2) An average of only 50% humidity. (ha.)
3) Sushi for lunch with coworkers.
4) A sparkling clean kitchen (see point 1).
5) Three bookcases that will be organized and catalogued tonight.
6) My self-purchased birthday gift is currently en route.
7) A work field trip to get photos framed.
8) I'm actually going to purchase the heels I've tried on three times.
9) A pencil skirt as part of my attire makes me (almost) look my age.
10) The Lizze McGuire soundtrack during the commute makes me feel 15. Girls Camp, anyone?

Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful

"The boy neglects his music now, and I'm glad of it, for he was getting too fond of it. But the piano suffers for want of use; wouldn't some of your girls like to run over, and practice on it now and then, just to keep it in tune, you know, ma'am?"


Today I wished I lived in 1860s Boston. I'd happily join Beth in keeping the piano from its suffering.

Hatch Shell

I have a new favorite place in Boston.

Image found here.

I went last night to a concert given by the Boston Landmark Orchestra. They do this every week throughout the summer, and let me tell you, it was so much fun. I've always loved orchestra concerts, but something about being out on the grass right next to the water makes it an entirely different kind of enjoyable. And I got to talk through the whole thing without anyone getting annoyed! (You all know how I love to talk during entertainment. (Sorry, Melis.)) Tchaikovsky's Symphony 4 was beautiful, and reminded me of Sleeping Beauty (the movie, not the opera—because really, when would anything remind me of an opera? Never, that's when.). Apparently I'm not far off the mark though, because Tchaikovsky wrote Sleeping Beauty too. Go figure.

The Hatch Shell has a series of outdoor events throughout the summer. Tomorrow we're heading out there to watch Despicable Me for a roommate's birthday. Cake and a movie outside by the Charles? The only thing that would make it better is if we were on a sailboat on the water instead.

Tunes, tunes, tunes

(Just one.)

But really. Coldplay = love.




 

Invented: A Review

I’ve been listening to the newest Jimmy Eat World album at work for the last two days straight (interspersed with some Adele, who is stuck in my head whenever JEW isn’t playing). I keep having thoughts I want to share with someone, but none of my current gchat buddies know the album, so I’m logging them here. So, my official, detailed, biased review of Invented. 

 

1.   1. Heart Is Hard to Find—I love it. I do. I hate, hate, hate though, that they include the F word (warning for you). It makes me want to cry. Because the song is gorgeous in every other aspect. Also, if you listen with only one earphone in you will be confused as to the key until you hit the first chorus. I can never get it right unless I’m using both ears, and that is very confusing to me. 

2.     2. My Best Theory—Classic JEW. I dance in my chair at work and probably look like an idiot. Great driving song. 

3.     3. Evidence—Also good. Feels more like Chase This Light than Futures. Poppier? 

4.     4. Higher Devotion—Meh. I have to be in the exact right mood. Skip it 50% of the time. 

5.     5. Movielike—But if you skip High Devotion you get to Movielike, and that one is great. The harmonies in the chorus are so fun to sing, reminiscent of Futures. (Futures was the best JEW album, as we all know.)

 

6.     6. Coffee and Cigarettes—Routinely skip this as the acoustic is better. See number 14.

7.     7. Stop—First five seconds you think you're listening to Stevie Wonder. Then it resolves into JEW. But it does make for a strange first five seconds.

8.     8. Littlething—One of my favorites on the album. Maybe my absolute favorite song in its entirety, although I like parts of others better. I'll think on that one. The high piano part makes me happy.

9.     9. Cut—I really like this song too. Movielike through Cut is a great set of songs. Sort of a 23/Polaris combo to me. More mellow. And the guitar around minute 3:00 is slightly (slightly) like Moses Mayfield.

1010. Action Needed—Hmm. No thanks. Nine times out of ten I skip it.

1111. Invented— Is it bad that I love the slow, sad songs best? Man. And I really love the female vocals. And the opening guitar. The only bad part to me is from minute 4:57 to 5:44 when it gets rougher. Why couldn’t it have stayed soft and sad and slow? It ends that way though, so the song redeems itself for me.  

1212. Mixtape—The first 25 seconds of this song always make me want to skip it. Then I switch tabs, see it’s Mixtape, and hold out. The last 6:06 of the song is great. 

1313. You and I—Here we’ve hit the deluxe edition. This is a cover of a Wilco song. I like it. I haven’t compared it to the original, so who knows how that pans out. Kirs probably does, actually. Ask her.

1414. Coffee and Cigarettes (acoustic)—The acoustic is much lighter than the original, and it’s better. To me anyway. I like the chorus the best; it’s a happy song. “I’ve been a lot of places since, but nothing else compares.” 

1515. Precision Auto—Too much for me. It feels like Nothingwrong on Futures. 

1616. Anais (Demo)—Catchy. Not spectacular. I like the vocals, though. Best lines are “But neither of them ever met you at your best/Come and see me and we’ll brush up on bad habits.” 

   17. Mixtape (acoustic)—Remember how I liked the original? Acoustic’s good too.