FIRE

So I'm sure everyone around me is probably very tired of hearing Adele (since that's all I ever play), but I love her latest album, 21. I could listen to the entire album, not skipping any of the songs, over and over again...which I do way too frequently. There are upbeat songs, there are simple ones with just the piano, there are songs that I belt at the top of my lungs, and there are ones that I just sit and listen to the words. One song in particular, Set Fire to the Rain, is one that I can't wait to hear everyday when I get in my car. It's just one of those songs that will never get old.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE

She came a few weeks ago and played at The Fox in Atlanta. It was such an awesome concert! The lighting, the set list, everything about the concert was perfect.

30 DAY CHALLENGE: DAY 13

Day 13: A picture of your favorite band/artist

A few years ago, I would have said Rascal Flatts hands down, but now this is a little harder! I wasn't sure who to choose so I'll just make a list:

Stars

James Morrison

Rascal Flatts

Lady Antebellum

Mumford & Sons

Joshua Radin

Out of those though, I guess I would still have to choose Rascal Flatts since I have all of their cds and could probably tell you the words to the majority of their songs, it's just a harder decision now!

STARS AND JOSHUA RADIN

I cannot stop listening to this song. Or this one...

JOSHUA RADIN

This was one of the best concerts! I had never been to Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta which has an awesome set up. We decided to stand the whole night, and we were so close which was great! We missed the first opening act, but the second, Anya Marina, was so good. If you watch Grey's Anatomy then you probably would recognize some of her songs; she has such a distinct voice and she was hilarious. Joshua Radin, though, was amazing. He was so funny and his performance has resulted in me listening to his CDs on repeat.

**in the fifth picture, you can see that 2 students joined him on stage. joshua radin is involved in a program where he goes into different schools where he is performing and helps out with their music class. he was nice enough to invite two of the students out on stage with him for a song. it was so sweet and a really good song too!

CHRISTMAS...STILL?!

First off, I am planning some big changes for my little blog :) Hopefully, I'll follow through with everything, but soon there might be a new name, new banner, and new layout. I still haven't picked everything out yet, but look for some changes soon!

Now, I hope everyone had a happy new year! I'm still riding the high of Christmas so this post will be filled with presents and of course more shopping!

my present to my grandma! the lyrics are from the song that my aunt sang at my grandpa's funeral :)

all of my awesome Mary Poppins present from my dad and step-mom. the snow globe plays "Chim Chim Cheree," the cup says "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and the umbrella is just like the one she has in the movie! i felt like a little kid opening those presents :)

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Now, on to today's shopping trip!

I used up the rest of my Barnes & Noble giftcard, used some of the Forever 21 giftcards, and I could NOT pass up the Vera Bradley bag! I love it!

My favorite purchase of the day though was the earrings from Forever 21. I've been looking for some this color and for only $1.50, I had to get them!

I'm going to cheat again and say that this post is for days 273 - 278. I PROMISE there will be actual picture for each day next time!

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By the way, I suggest you all listen to this song on repeat. It is amazing!

DAYS 222 - 236

Day 222:

I started a new painting. I haven't really done that much to it, so when I'm done I'll be sure to post the stages and what it was supposed to be!

Day 223:

For some reason, while I was folding clothes at work on Tuesday, this song randomly popped into my head. I couldn't really remember the words, but I kept singing it the rest of the night.

Day 224:

On the way to work, the sky was so pretty! Yes, I know, it's not safe to take pictures when you're driving, but I have talent, so I succeeded :)

Day 225:

I had a lot of time between classes, so I took some pictures of the fall-like trees on campus. I wish I would have brought my actual camera, but I had to settle for my phone. You can still see how pretty the colors are though!

Day 226:

GREATEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR! This movie was so awesome. Everyone in it have now become my heroes. There was so much going on that it was kind of hard to follow, but when it all came together in the end, oh man! By the way, I totally called the ending, but we won't brag about that right now. I am definitely going to buy this when it comes out and make everyone around me watch it!

Day 227:

Sara made some DELICIOUS cookies. They were some double chocolate with pomegranate seed cookies...I don't remember what kind exactly, but I'm sure she could tell you. The pomegranate part was crunch and kind of tart which was paired well with the chocolate. I think I ate about 40 of them.

Day 228:

This day started out unsuccessful, but it turned out to be a good one! We set out in the morning to go to the flea market about 15 minutes out of Athens, but when we got there, hardly anyone had set up and we didn't see anything remotely interesting. So, we decided to head out to the outlet mall and do some shopping, but we didn't really know how to get there. We ended up driving through downtown Commerce and then finally making it to the outlet mall where we stayed for a good 5 hours. It was a pretty productive day in my book!

Day 229:

 So I technically didn't see this movie on Monday, but I did see it Sunday night when we got back from the outlet mall. It was an ok movie. I expected it to be much funnier than it was, so that was disappointing, but other than that it was pretty good. I thought the story line was really good, and the acting was good, but I gess I just expected more from it.

Day 230:

I started a new book: Lost. I read Wicked a while back and really liked it so I decided to try another Gregory Maguire book. This one includes some things from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, so I hoping it will be pretty interesting!

Day 231:

One Day Sale on a WEDNESDAY?! Crazy, I know.

Day 232:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at midnight? Yes, please! It was so good! The only other midnight showing I've been to are the first two Twilight movies (go ahead and laugh) so I kind of expected this one to be about the same, everyone squealing when someone came on the screen and laughing at inappropriate parts...blah blah. But this one was so much better! I guess from the anticipation, everyone was deathly silent except at funny or scary parts. I swear, I was scared to drink anything because I didn't want to make too much noise, it was that quiet! It was a great movie though. The only part that I wasn't a big fan of was the entwined nakedness between Harry and Hermoine. That was NOT in the book and I didn't understand why the felt the need to include it. Other than that, I'm so ready for the second part!!

Day 233:

 PACKING TIME! I hate packing, I always try to fit too much in my bag. I just don't want to leave anything!

Day 234:

After a long day at work, I made it home finally. Before I got home though, I stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up some books for Christmas. I bought two present and one for myself: Under the Dome. I've heard this one was pretty good, and it was cheap so I went ahead and got it!

Day 235:

We watched the last part of the AMA's and I LOVED the Backstreet Boys performance. It was a great ending to the show! I was a much bigger BSB fan than N*Sync back in the day, so I was so happy that they were on there. I wish they would make a comeback!

Day 236:

So I'm a little obsessed with making study schedule every week. This time, I had to make it for finals. I only have 2 this semester (WHAAT?!) so it was pretty easy. I doubt I'll actually stick to the schedule, but it's nice to have one.

**Sorry this was so long! I promise to try and keep better track of this and not put it off, I just got too busy last week! Next Sunday, you can expect a shorter one :)

*all movie posters from Google Images and weheartit.com

DAYS 207-221

So, in staying with the same theme from two weeks ago, I'm just going to post music videos for 365 day thing. I know, I know, the whole point it to post pictures, but when you don't take pictures religiously, how are you supposed to keep up?? Anyways, I'll try to do pictures for the next week!

Day 207:

Stars - "Changes"

Day 208:

Rascal Flatts - "Unstoppable"

Day 209:

John Mayer - "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"

Day 210:

Hall & Oats - "You Make My Dreams Come True"

Day 211:

Muse - "Resistance"

Day 212:

The Beatles - "Oh! Darling"

Day 213:

Gomez - "How We Operate"

Day 214:

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - "Falling Slowly"

Day 215:

Jason Aldean - "This I Gotta See"

Day 216:

Casting Crowns - "East to West"

Day 217:

Lady Antebellum - "Home Is Where the Heart Is"

Day 218:

Patty Griffin - "Up To the Mountain"

Day 219:

Garth Brooks - "Beaches of Cheyenne"

Day 220:

Carrie Underwood - "Starts with Goodbye"

Day 221:

And in honor of Macy's starting to play Christmas music...

Mariah Carey - "All I Want For Christmas Is You"

DAYS 200 - 206

Since nothing really occurred over the past week, I decided to this a little different. Instead of doing a picture for each day, I'm going to post a music video of a song that I listened to during the day. I always have my iPod in between classes and on the way to work I listen to all of my burned cds so this is going to be much easier than a picture!

Day 200:

"DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher

Day 201:

"Saving Amy" - Brantley Gilbert

Day 202:

"You Got What I Need" - Joshua Radin (i didnt know he just released a new cd! i have to download it asap!)

Day 203:

"Drumming" - Florence + the Machine

Day 204:

"Cosmic Love" - Florence + the Machine

Day 205:

"Precious Love" - James Morrison

Day 206:

"Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)" - The Script

P.S. Have you seen this video? My roommate showed it to me and I have had it stuck in my head for days! It's not that I even really like the song, it's just so catchy!

I CAN NO LONGER SAY NO...

when someone asks me if I've done karaoke. Granted, it was in Macy's, but I did it! We had an event for "Shop for a Cause" where the customers donate money to charity and in return they get coupons, so they brought in karaoke for the customers. The customer's weren't really into it at first, but all of the employees were! The first song 4 of us sang as a group was "YMCA." We thought about turning it around and spelling MACY, but it didn't work that well. There were some other employees that decided to face the crowd (more like 4 people) and even three of the managers go up there and sang a song together. It was hilarious! Everyone was supposed to be in their own departments, but since it was game day, there weren't that many customers so we were all watching people sing. Another girl and I got up to sing another song. We were debating on "Love is a Battlefield" and "Don't Stop Believin'" but we both thought that the first one would be more fun and entertaining though so we got up there and did out best rendition of Pat Benatar. I was a little giggly because I hadn't done it before and I found it funny, but other than that, it was a ton of fun! I would love to do it again somewhere that's not work, with onlookers who aren't my co-workers. Overall though, it was a great way to pass the time and we raised a lot of money that day so it was well worth it!

I really wish I had the videos of the performances, but sadly, I didn't take any :(

DUET? YES PLEASE.

I had never heard of the song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" until I had a discussion with my roommates about our favorite songs to sing in the car. Kayla brought this one up because she said that it should be made into a duet and after listening to the Death Cab for Cutie version, I completely agree. But then I heard Amy Millan's (one of the lead singers of Stars) version and I love it. There's something about that song...it gets stuck in my head so easily!!

Death Cab for Cutie's Version:

And Amy Millan's:

this is not the full version, but it was the best one

I personally think they should record the song together. I'm just sayin'...

DAYS 181 - 186

Day 181:

I finally started Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben. I know it's been up on the side bar for a while, but I kept forgetting to change it when I read the other books! So far it's really good and it's a quick read so expect a review soon.

Day 182:

I had to order this book for my Parental Education and Child Guidance class. Now, Amazon keeps suggesting other parental books. I hopefully won't be needing those for a while...

Day 183:

We had yet another themed party! This one was based on Jersey Shore and let me tell you, there were so very interesting outfits! Not too many people showed up since most went home but it was still a pretty good turn out and it was fun!

Day 184:

Sara, Kerry, and I traveled to the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta for the Stars concert. I didn't start listening to them until a couple of years ago and in the past month, I've been listening to them a lot. They are so good and if you haven't heard of them, I recommend their latest cd, The Five Ghosts. It is awesome. They played my favorite song and some that I haven't heard before which was awesome. AH they were so good!!

Day 185:

I drove to my dad's house yesterday to drop off some books for my grandparents and a book sale they're having. It was a pretty day so the drive wasn't bad and we ended up watching the Falcons (who won!). I haven't been watching them this season, but this game was pretty interesting.

Day 186:

I absolutely love this weather! It makes walking to class much more bearable. I can't wait until the leaves start changing and I actually have to take a jacket with me. Hopefully, that will be soon!

DAY 159-166

Day 159:

Since I was home, I had to go pick up Levi from his little boarding vacation. He's always so excited to go home after he's been there!

Day 160:



For a class assignment, I had to watch a children's television program and read a children's book. Since I read Mary Poppins a while back, I decided to use that for the book and for the show, I watched The Fairly OddParents. I hadn't seen that show in a while, but it was still as entertaining now as it was when I was younger.

Day 161:



It was grocery day!! I decided to make some pasta salad that I could munch on for a while. Instead of making just enough to last me a few meals, I ended up making a ton. It filled up a very large container...I have a feeling I'll be throwing some of it away soon.

Day 162:



My pictures came! I ordered close to 700 pictures from SnapFish recently and they finally arrived! For some reason, I hadn't ordered pictures in over a year, so the result was a large package. I'm glad they're cheap though!

Day 163:



I made the tastiest breakfast needed to fuel my 10 hour shift. It consisted of a waffle sandwich with Nutella and strawberries in the middle. It was absolutely delicious!

Day 164:



As you can see from this post, the family and I traveled to Summerville for the family reunion which was a lot of fun!

Day 165:



It has been so much fun having Bella and Alexi living here!

Day 166:



Oh ya know, just Max watching some quality TV. The VMA's replayed so he insisted on watching them. Did anyone else think that Rihanna and Taylor Swift didn't perform that well? I think my favorite performer of the night was Usher. He can sing and dance and who doesn't love "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love"?!