My New "Hit Repeat" Song: Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis

I realized that it's been a long time since a shared a favorite song. Here's one that I heard on the radio recently and LOVE!!

Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis:


Evidently Leona's been big in Europe for a couple years now (she's British), but is just now hitting the US by storm. Her bebut album, Spirit, was released in North America in April 2008 and debuted at number one in the US Billboard 200 chart. She is the first British artist to reach the top of the chart with a debut album.

Enjoy!

The Twelve Days of Christmas...

like you've never seen it before courtesy of Straight No Chaser!

Matthew Mayer, a Budding Artist, and Cold-Weather Comfort Food

Matthew Mayer:
The annual Christmas dinner was last night at the College and afterward Matthew Mayer held a concert in the auditorium. I heard him for the first time last year in November and LOVED him immediately. I was so moved that I actually wrote a poem about the experience and later created a layout around it.

Nothing has changed...he's was still AMAZING. I bought two more of his CD's to add to the three that I bought last year and he autographed both for me...he's such a down-to-earth, personable guy! He currently lives in Omaha, NE and plays mainly within the Midwest, but has played in cities all over the country. If you ever have the chance to hear him in concert, you should not pass up the chance.

You can learn more about him and purchase his CD's on his official website. You can also hear a couple of his songs on his MySpace page.

He's just such an outstanding musician and you can see how much he LOVES music and performing. He gets very emotionally involved while playing and is interactive with his audience, which is wonderful.

There was a couple songs in his performance where the piano actually began to smoke! I don't know about you, but I've never seen a piano smoke before...talk about putting energy and emotion into your music!!

Thanks for another night of beautiful music, Matt!

(The photos above were taken by Theresa Condon. I am also the advisor for the student newspaper at the College and she is our staff photographer. Thanks for the photos, Theresa! I was too wrapped up in the music to take any pictures!)

A Budding Artist:
Kailtin has been all about coloring and drawing and painting lately! She spends hours at her old-fashioned school desk in the living room coloring or at the kitchen table painting...it's so fun to watch her 'creating'!

Cold-Day Comfort Food:
I made chili today. Considering it's only 12 degrees and snowing here today, it sounded like a good idea.

I am not, nor never will be, a gourmet. My recipe is simple...

2 lbs browned hamburger
2 cans chili beans
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
2 diced green peppers
1 diced onion
1 packet of chili seasoning
Salt, pepper and oregano to taste
Garnish with a little shredded cheese and serve

I always like to make a BIG batch so it lasts the weekend...and sometimes more. To me, chili tastes even better 'left-over'. It's been simmering on the stove all afternoon...mmmm...I think it's time for supper!

Speaking of Favorite Songs...

Kaitlin seems to have a couple lately herself.

Every time this Old Navy commercial comes on featuring Ingrid Michaelson's song, "The Way I Am," she always starts singing along...it's so cute!

Here's the full song off imeem:

She also has a 'thing' for "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's...she really only knows the chorus and kinda stumble-mumbles through the rest, but who cares...it's adorable!

Quite refined musical tastes for a 5-year-old...I'm impressed. But wait, she also loves everything Hanna Montana/Miley Cyrus. And her father does have her singing "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by Smashing Pumpkins which she calls "The Rat in a Cage Song"...hmmm...not so refined, maybe?

New Favorite Song: Apologize by OneRepublic

We have a short break in our fair schedule right now so I walked a couple blocks over to Chipoltle Mexican Grill and got some lunch. First time I've ever eaten there...very good!

Now I'm back in my room on the 17th floor of the Hilton in downtown Minneapolis and just had to find the song I heard on the radio driving up here yesterday..."Apologize" by OneRepublic. It is officially my new favorite song...enjoy:

A Little Rant on Pachelbel's Canon

I actually really like Pachelbel's Canon in D...but this is still way funny:

Josh...You Were Everything I Expected...and SO MUCH MORE!

I have been super excited for Josh Groban's Awake Concert in Omaha for months now. Despite spending what, to me, is a lot of money for a ticket, I knew it would be a great show. Well, I was most certainly not disappointed. Nor were my mom or sister, who previously were not quite as 'in love' with Josh as I am (my sister didn't even know who he was...gasp...the horror!). However, after the concert, I think they are believers in the wonders of Josh as well!

This is what I knew about Josh:

*He has a voice that moves me.

*He is amazingly handsome in a very unconventional way.

This is what I didn't know about Josh:

*He is musically inclined beyond his voice. For a few songs in the performance he took to the piano and it was beautiful and for a song towards the end of the show, he took over the drums as well.

*He's FUNNY. No, really funny. Not liked staged, comedian funny, but off-the-cuff funny. Some of it, of course, was more in the way that he said stuff than what he said, so it's hard to express it here, but believe me, he's funny.

*He may be talented musically, but the boy can't dance. After his duet with Kidjo (his opening act), she attempted to get him to dance. (That, too, was also a little funny. :-)) At the same time, the fact that he was willing to 'expose' one of his 'weaknesses' makes him just that much more charming.

In all seriousness, I cannot remember a time in my life that I have been moved from tears of emotional awe to laughter and back and forth so many times within a 2 hour period. This guy is a true entertainer. Honestly, there were moments within the show that I felt a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Women in the scene where she attends the opera for the first time and she is so awed that her chest swells up, eyebrows raise and blinks away her tears.

Really, I've mainly shared my impressions of Josh and my experience at this concert, but if you'd like more 'details', here is a great review I found of the concert. It seems this reviewer agrees with me that Josh is much more than what you might initially suspect. She also gives a great rundown of the content of the show and although it was for a different location, it sounds pretty much the same.

One major difference was that we got not one, not two, but THREE encore songs...either Josh just likes us Midwesterners a bit more or we're just a little more persistent! :-)

My only regrets...now I wish I would have gotten over the price a bit more and paid more for closer seats and I now kind of wish I would have taken my daughter along. Yes, she's only 5, but I know she would have loved this experience, too. An appreciation for GREAT music can never be developed too early.

I'll make up for that the next time Josh comes back our way...I would pay double to see him again...and next time Kaitlin will be with me.

Tonight's Entertainment: Josh Groban at Omaha's Qwest Center...WOOHOO!

Leaving for Omaha in about a half-hour...can't wait for the concert tonight!!! The ONLY thing that bums me out a bit is that cameras are not allowed in the arena...so no pics of Josh for me...and none to share with you :-(. Oh well, I'm still sure is going to be a GREAT show!

In the meantime, enjoy:

"Dad...Mom thinks Shane is cute!"

We had a great weekend with Riverboat Days. One of the highlights was certainly listening to Brule yesterday. I got some great pictures, too, which is always good.

This is Paul LaRoche. He's the one that started Brule and he has quite the history. He was at a young age and didn't even find this out, or that he was actually Native American, until his adoptive parents passed away.

This is his daughter, Nicole. She is quite the flutist...

This is Paul's son, Shane...and yes, I think he is cute. Kaitlin is quite perceptive...but not very discreet. As soon as we got home yesterday afternoon, she was telling on me (hence the title of this post). It turned out okay though. His response was, "Well, I think Nicole's pretty cute, too."

Here's the whole group. I really liked how I got the Meridian Bridge in the background of these shots.

They had some Native American Dancers join them for a few of their sets. They had some beautiful costumes.

This is Moses Brings Plenty. He plays percussion and has been in quite a few well known movies such as Hidalgo and Pirates of the Caribbean and is set to play Crazy Horse in an upcoming TV movie.

As for the next two photos, all I can say is "I'm jealous!!" (especially the one with Shane!)

Looking Forward to Riverboat Days

I'm thankful to be at the end of one very busy work week. This time of year is always pretty hectic in the Admissions Office at MMC, so I'm really looking forward to taking some time off from responsibilities and enjoying the festivities with this weekend's Riverboat Days here in Yankton!

It begins with fireworks tonight...hoping they don't get rained out. It started raining pretty heavily just as I was leaving work, but it seems to have tapered off pretty quickly. Hopefully that's the end of it.

Tomorrow morning I'm helping with the Mount Marty hosted 5K Walk/Run and as soon as that's over, I'll be finding my sister and Kaitlin along the parade route.

The rest of the weekend, I hope to enjoy the crafts, food and music down at Riverside Park. Brule/AIRO is going to be here again...so glad they keep coming back! I love listening to them...and Shane's not bad on the eyes either! :-) Here's a couple pics from last year:

AIRO is Shane's band (his father's band is Brule) and the playlist below features music from one of AIRO's CD's:

Kaitlin likes listening to them, too. We've went and listened to them for at least a little while every year since she was born. I'm sure that Kaitlin will have a great time, too! One of her highlights last year was getting this butterfly painted on her face:

Hopefully, I'll have some new fun photos to share after the weekend is over.

Gravel Lines by Amy Seeley

Why does it always seem that I manage to find (and fall in love with) the most obscure and hard to find songs!! This song is called "Gravel Lines" by Amy Seeley. Case in point:



Let me know what you think of the song.

Chris Daughtry at the Sioux Empire Fair, My Becky Fleck Page Maps Debute and a Kaitlin Witticism

I actually have quite a lot to cover tonight, so here it goes:

#1 - I love my sister. Yes, I do! My sister Lynnie, with all of her awesome workplace connections, emailed me today that she got FREE TICKETS for us to Chris Daughtry's concert at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls, SD on August 9th. I am so pumped!! I haven't been to a concert since I was in college (we won't discuss how long ago that was) and now I'm going to TWO of them (post about the other one) in August!! For your listening pleasure, click play to hear Daughtry's "Home."

Chris_Daughtry - H...

#2 - The June edition of Becky Fleck's PageMaps came out today. Why is this a big deal (to me anyway), you might ask? Well, because I have a layout featured in it and Becky Fleck is my FAVORITE scrapbook layout sketch artist...LOVE this woman's work. Here was the sketch assignment I received in late April:

And this is the layout I created which was inspired by it:

It was so much fun and I am so honored to have been asked by her to contribute!! I hope that the invitation will not be the last. You definitely need to head on over to PageMaps and check out Becky's extensive archive of GREAT sketches and also see some of the other talented artists included in the June addition.

#3 - Kaitlin surely is a source of fun and laughter in our household. In fact, I don't think I know anyone that can amuse me like she can.

Last night, we were watching TV and a commercial for Pantene Pro-V came on with these model with long, luxurious, shiny hair. Kaitlin said, "Mommy, you should get that shampoo. It would make your hair prettier." (Like, obviously all it takes is the right shampoo to have hair like the models on TV...right?)

"Don't you like my hair?" I asked.

"No, not really..."

I furrowed my brow, stuck out my bottom lip a bit and feigned hurt feelings. Kaitlin's eyes got big...she realized her blunder and immediately went into damage control mode.

"Oh, I like the yellow parts, Mommy," she said and I begin to smile. "But not really the brown parts," she continued. Uh oh...we're backtracking here - down went my brows.

"But I have brown parts, too, Mom, and I don't like my brown parts either. I just like my yellow parts like I like your yellow parts, Mom..."

I was still frowning.

Kaitlin sighed and said, "I love you, Mommy," with the sweetest little smile.

I couldn't help but laugh at her. Now, if only my hubby could learn how to dig himself out his holes that well!!

Look at my little 'mini-grad'!!

My little girl graduated from preschool on Monday night! Sniff, sniff...she is growing up way too fast, that's for sure! I use the phrase 'growing up' loosely, mind you - case in point:

Do you see my little munchkin? Yup, she's the one in the purple dress, waving at you! In case you didn't notice, she's also about a head shorter than every other kid in her class...this picture doesn't show her whole class, but believe me, she is!

The program was really cute (and not too long, which was an added bonus)! Each of the three preschool classes got up to sing a song. The song that Kaitlin's class sang was "Father Abraham." It was the cutest thing EVER!! If you are patient, watch the click below. I apologize in advance for the breaks in the video. I was using the movie mode on my camera. I haven't used it much and didn't realize this would happen if I took pictures at the same time...I know it's a little annoying, but I think the cuteness factor of the kids makes up for it. (For the record, I won't be taking pictures while taking video anymore!)

Didn't she recover ever so gracefully from loosing her hat!!

Then they played a slide show of pictures of the kids throughout the year while playing "Let Them Be Little" by Billy Dean. Click play below to here the song.

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Got just a little teary-eyed on that one!!

After that, they each were called up to receive their certificate...Kaitlin looked so proud...and we are certainly very proud of her!

Grey's Anatomy season finale and "Keep Breathing" by Ingrid Michaelson

I watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy the other night (yes, I realize I'm a little late in commenting...it's been a busy weekend). I think some fans are pretty worked up over it, beings it didn't have the usually 'happy' ending and all.

On the contrary, I really liked the show...although I'm not sure I can wait four months to find out just who will be back next season and what they are going to do with them. Lots of changes it looks like.

Anyway, what I really wanted to post on was the song played during the final scenes of the show - "Keep Breathing" by Ingrid Michaelson. I LOVED that song and of course, had to try to find out what it was. I found out what it was and who it was by, but no luck in downloading it...it doesn't seem to be available yet.

However, Ingrid does have it on her player and you can listen to it here just like 84,114 other people have done since it was posted late Thursday night (at the time of this post). It is just such a beautifully haunting song...enjoy!

UPDATE: Found a neat little mp3 widget...now you can listen to the song right here!

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Lots of randomness for this post...

First, how 'bout this weather? Mother Nature isn't playing nice. At least not in southeastern South Dakota. A week ago or so we were basking in the seemingly springlike sunny and upper-sixty degree weather and today it felt like winter all over again...a high around thirty and a bitterly cold wind. I even saw a few snowflakes fluttering around on my way back to work at lunchtime. The forecast doesn't look much better either. We'll be lucky to break 40 degrees this week it seems. Well, she does always have to have the last word I guess. I just can't wait till spring is here to stay!

Second, got my weekly dose of American Idol tonight...however, I'm finding myself less and less interested this year. I think it's largely due to my frustration that Sanjaya is still in the game. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow night. Also been watching the new season of Dancing with the stars here and there. I don't really have any favorites (yet), but it's just fun to watch and I get just as much of a kick out of watching Kaitlin dance around the living room trying to mimic the dancers movements. It really is quite comical. The main highlight of tonight's show was that it featured Josh Groban and I definitely wanted to see that, which leads into...

#3 - I found out that Josh Groban is coming to Omaha in August this year, so am definitely making plans to see him in concert this time. He was in Sioux City in February '06 and I have been regretting not going then. This is one of my favorite songs he has out right now.

I think he would be so absolutely amazing to see/hear in real life. Can't wait for August to get here now!!

Fourth, haven't been taken as many pics lately as I would like, but I did get a closeup of Kaitlin's eyes last week and did a little 'fiddlin' with it in Photoshop. What do you think?

No, her eyes aren't really blue. She kind of got stuck with the hazel eyes that both her dad and I have. They really are quite pretty, but their color never seems to show up that well in pics. Maybe I just haven't got the shot right yet. In the meantime, between contacts and technology, no one has to be limited to the eye color they were born with, now do they?

Well, I guess that about it for tonight...it's way past my bedtime!

Half Acre by Hem

It's not too often that a commercial gets my attention. I mean REALLY gets my attention. Recently, I saw a Liberty Mutual commercial that really stood out to me with a pay-it-forward type theme. Do you recognize it?

The music is what really pulled me in. I just love the piano and the soothing voice of the artist. So, with a small piece of the lyrics that I could make out in the commercial, I went to Google to find the song. It's called "Half Acre" by a group called Hem. I already downloaded it and it's in my playlist. After reading the lyrics, I love that about the song, too! They are so uplifting.

I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
and folded in this scrap of paper
is a land I grew in

Think of every town you've lived in
every room you lay your head
and what is it that you remember?

Do you carry every sadness with you
every hour your heart was broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with you

A man is walking on the highway
A woman stares out at the sea
and light is only now just breaking

So we carry every sadness with us
every hour our hearts were broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with us

But I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
I am carrying this scrap of paper
that can crack the darkest sky wide open
every burden taken from me
every night my heart unfolding
my home

Below is a live performance of the full song...enjoy!