One Day....

Well, I’ve done it.  Again.  I am so busy that I have run out of time…for anything.  Work is going well, but with my job, I am on call every other weekend, so that pretty well limits my time.  Then I have some things I am doing with my church, to try and help out for a while.  Things I am very happy to do, and am very capable of doing, but yet it is still more time that is taken up.  I am doing things that I enjoy with friends, and yet it feels that I don’t get to see them as much as I want.  I am seeing my husband more, which rocks, but it still feels like I rarely see him. 

This is something I am good at.  I love to be busy.  I hate being bored.  But I do not enjoy feeling overwhelmed.  I am okay with having plans every night, as long as I still feel like I have room to breathe.  It is a very careful balance for me.  If I am too busy, I become exhausted and stop doing anything.  If I am not busy enough, I sit at home and become depressed.  I have not yet perfected the balance.

I think some of my feelings of being overwhelmed is that I have such an amazing weekend coming up.  Yes, I know I’m weird. When I look forward to things, it becomes very all encompassing.  I live for anticipation of an event, as much as for the event itself.  I have a weekend of family time, friend time, me time.  It’s perfect.  But I have been so busy preparing for it, that I am swamped. 

I have so many blogs, with so many pictures, that I want to post, yet I cannot seem to focus enough to actually sit down and write them.  I have so much that I want to do on my house, but I never have the energy, or the time.  I have so many more concerts and events that I want to go to, but every evening is accounted for.

The key, I think, is to remember that it only takes one day.  One day to turn it around.  And you only need to take it one day at a time.  It is so much easier to say, than to live.  But, okay.  I will keep trying  What else is there?  I have a very bad habit of trying to make broad, sweeping changes, all at one time.  I rarely make one small change, it is normally an entire lifestyle change.  And big surprise…they don’t stick.  They don’t last more than a few days, as it is just too hard. 

One day.  One change.  One step. 

Tomorrow is a new day.  Tomorrow is a day when I can start over.  It is the beauty of this life that we live.  It is the beauty of forgiveness, the beauty of grace.  Tomorrow is a brand new day. 

And after all, tomorrow starts my amazing weekend.  I promise that I will blog about it. 

So how about we all try to treat tomorrow like a brand new day.  A day to start anew, a day to stop beating ourselves up over the past, a day to try and change one thing, no matter how small.

And of course, my song of the day.  The perfect song for this day.  “Brand New Day” by Joshua Radin.

Grateful

Do you ever have those days where you are simply grateful for your life? Days where you look around and feel pretty darn content?  I'm not talking about a time when nothing is wrong, when you don't have a care in the world. I think these days are better. You see the troubles, you are aware of your life, with all its ups and down, and you are still happy.

Last night, I had one of those days. I was driving home and an amazing feeling came over me. I felt okay. I felt blessed. I felt like things would be okay.

It was really a pretty ordinary day. I worked, had some good moments and some really tough ones, but that's the usual. Then I headed to my church to volunteer for a few hours. Next was meeting up with two of my best friends for some Zumba. That felt good. On the way home, we chatted about my upcoming birthday and their very secretive plans!  Then it was to home. And life felt good.

Despite my stressors at work, in life, and (being the type-A person who prefers to be in control) my birthday - I just felt content.

I love those days. I sincerely hope that everyone gets to experience a day like that, at least once in a while.  It is pretty amazing.

So, for my song of the day, I am going with "Happier?" by Teddy Geiger.  It is off of his new album, "The Last Fear", which, by the way, is phenomenal.  In it, he asks...Could I be happier?  And right now, I'm okay without answering it.  Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side, but I am okay with how things are.  I am very content, and that makes me extremely happy.

Therefore, I give you "Happier?" by Teddy Geiger.

Fun. - In Concert

So now, it's time.  Time for Fun.

It was...simply...Amazing!

The quality of the music, the performance, the lights, the energy, you name it!  It absolutely was amazing.

The show was about an hour and a half.  It felt like ten minutes, no more.  Time flew.  That, to me, is the sign of a perfect show.

The way to determine if it was a good show, is by asking if you would go see them live, again.  To Fun., I say YES!  Absolutely, without a doubt, no question in my mind...YES!

So check out the pics, please watch the videos, it is worth your time.  And if you get a chance to see Fun. perform, I strongly recommend finding a way to make it happen.

And, of course, my song of the day.  What else could it be?  It is "Some Nights" by Fun. (This was their encore piece!)

And for those wondering, yes, we did make the trip back home that same night.  It was a long night, but we made it safe and it was worth every moment!!!!

Tegan & Sara - In Concert

Sorry for the long hiatus, life got quite busy for a while.

But anyway.

So, several months ago, Fun. announced their US tour.  Liz & I immediately started searching dates to see how close they were coming to home.  The closest was about 2.5 hours away.  When it appeared that they weren't coming any closer (sad face!), we decided to hunt for tickets.  Then we found out that it was sold out!!!  Major bummer!  Next step for us was to search second hand sites.  It took a while, but we found actual seats in the price range we could afford.

Next up was the three month waiting game.

Being the type-A person that I am, I spent quite a bit of time researching the venue (we had never been there before), the drive, and more.

Finally, the day came.  We left work early (love that little bonus) and started the drive.  We got there at about 5:20.  The show started at 8pm, but we had no idea when the doors would open, so we figured early was better than late.  We hung out on the lawn, listened to the four competing radio stations blast their respective music (whose idea is that???), and tried not to die of heat stroke (it was 95 degrees!).  Then the crowds started to grow, and grow, and grow.

 Finally, the doors opened, and we headed in.  Inside there was an area set up for merchandise, for drinks, and for several organizations related to LGBT rights.  We picked up these rockin stickers!

(the view of the venue from the top of the hill)

(Yep, there was a giant Fun. sign too!)

With merchandise purchased, pictures taken, and drinks in hand, we found out seats.

(Second to last row of seats, but still in front of the 4,800 people on the lawn)

A while later, the opening band came on.  Tegan & Sara.  Simply put...They Rock!  I had gotten their album a few months ago, and they are just as amazing live as they are recorded.

Check out the crowd shot!  We took this while making a quick run (ha! nothing is quick with 7,700 people!) for snacks. Figured we better do it before Fun. went on....

(Panorama shot covering most of the crowd.)

So in honor of one of the best opening bands I have seen, my song for the day is the one that I have the clip of above...."Closer" by Tegan and Sara

A giant THANK YOU to Tegan & Sara for an amazing start to an amazing night!!!!!
(and stay tuned for the blog about Fun.!)

Going Home?

So, I mentioned a long weekend.  I am enjoying my long weekend on a road trip with my Mom.  We have traveled to her hometown for a big celebration.  Now, when I say "big", that is relative, as the town is 200 people.  I always enjoy coming back here.  I never lived in this town, but I remember visiting Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and other family here.  There is something special about visiting where some of your history comes from.

Of course, no trip to a hometown is complete without visiting all the sights.  For us, that means the old church, the farmlands, and the cemetery.  We do this every time we visit, and it wouldn't feel right without going to these important places.

 Rolling hills of farmland

 The Old Country Church

A panoramic view of parts of the cemetery and surrounding farmlands

Even though this is not My home, it is still home.  And for me, that means lots of interesting thoughts run through my head.  I imagine what it would be like to live here, I imagine what I would be like if I had been raised here, I imagine how different life can be.  I mean, I live in a pretty good sized city, though I grew up in a small town.  However, my small town upbringing was still much larger than this tiny town.  It many times just feels like a different world.  People are different, the way time works is different.  Everything is just a bit different.  Not right, not wrong, not better, not worse.  Just different.  

I truly value the chance to come back, visit family and friends, and connect to our history.  It is something that I should probably do more of.  And if this blog is about dreams, I feel that this is a good one to hang onto.  Dreams of family, dreams of not losing touch, dreams of knowing what we are connected to.

I was struggling to come up with a song to describe how I am feeling today.  So many emotions, so many thoughts.  I'm sure the perfect song is out there, but honestly, I am too tired to try and find it today.  So, enjoy this song.  It is by Katie Herzig, a wonderful musician that opened for one of my favorites a few years back.  And while it is not quite perfect for today, it comes close.

So here, for my song of the day, is "Jack and Jill" by Katie Herzig.

Foreshadowing?

So, for about a week, I kept waking up with the same song in my head. The first line is "Put on your war paint."  I feel like maybe I should have paid attention to that.

Last week was the most stressful week of the year for where I work. Each year we have a state inspection. We have a six month window for them to come in. Everything we do and have done is scrutinized to find the smallest error that they can uncover. Even when you do everything right, something will be found. It boils down to a VERY stressful period of time, culminating in the visit and a report with what you messed up. 

Last Tuesday morning was the start of our inspection, with them leaving on Friday afternoon. 

So, back to that song. I'm not one to read meaning into songs that I hear, dreams that I have. But maybe there is something to it. Maybe we should pay greater attention to what our subconscious is telling us. 

Our survey turned out great, thank goodness. And now a long weekend of vacation is starting for me. 

What does this all mean? No idea. But for me, I may pay attention to the lyrics of what is going through my head when I wake up each day. 

So enjoy this song, it is one of my favorites. My song of the day is "The Phoenix" by Fall Out Boy.

A Good Day

Today was a good day. It was a day with much joy, much contentment, much happiness. 

Much of what made it a good day was little things. Things not worth mentioning. Many were broad spectrum things, but I don't feel a need to get into them, either. 

It is enough to just know that it was a good day. We all need those once in a while. We need a day, where when we reach the close, we feel a little better than the day before. A chance to feel happy. To enjoy the lives that we are living. 

I hope that today was a good day for each of you, as well. And if it wasn't, tomorrow is another day...another chance for a good day. 

So I leave you with my song of the day. "We Are More" by Erin McKeown. A phenomenal artist and a great piece to listen to...on any day. 

We Are More

This morning I saw a glimmer of hope

In the eyes that I met at the door

Of separate futures and confident sutures

To the wounds that we have endured

You hate the words of war, but baby face it!

That's what it's been for us

We were never good fighters or very good soldiers

But through this we are more

It's victorian this embroidering ordering and

Sorting of memory to museum quality

In a box we are, we are and we're art

For the victims and tourists to see

And this victory we're part of is part and

Parameter of all that has come before

We were never good fighters or very good soldiers

But through this we are more

What's the harm in ruins, reminds us of who

We were in darker times

In the pieces of colonies, we'll find that we follow

A church of our own design

By our best, we're remembered, baptized we surrender

By air, by water, by shore

We were never good fighters or very good soldiers

But through this we are more