New Year's Eve

So. What are you doing on New Year's Eve?

I think you should find a ukulele and a handsome man with a guitar and play this song together.



P.S. Zooey and Joe are secretly married...I just know it.

For a laugh

Just to brighten your day...

P.S. What's the difference between the alphabet and the Christmas alphabet? The Christmas alphabet has no L in it. Ha....haha....

Piano

So lately I've been obsessed with piano music. I don't know if that's just because I'm on break (which has been fantastic by the way), or if I've just been in that kind of mood for the past week or so...but anyway, I thought I would share a few songs that I am learning or want to learn to play.

This first one is a piece I am learning and it is coming along quite nicely. :) It's from the movie Howl's Moving Castle, and it was composed by Joe Hisaishi. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. If you have access to a netflix account, you can watch it instantly on there. So go watch it. Right now. But first, listen to the main theme:

It's not quite as hard to play as I first thought...but then again, I think I have a slightly simpler version. :)

This next one is by Balmorhea, a group of musicians that play mainly orchestral pieces (I don't think any of the songs have words...but then again, I haven't heard a whole lot of their stuff). But anyways, the instruments they use complement each other really well and the songs are beautiful. Here is one example (it's called 'Baleen Morning'):

Doesn't that just make you wanna go out on a walk on a rainy day? It's so simple and elegant...I imagine this to be a song someone might play for their wedding march. :) If you want to find out more about Balmorhea, check their website. (Oh, and I haven't learned to play this one...I haven't found the sheet music yet.)

This last one is my most recent obsession. I've been listening to it every day for the past week or so. I found some sheet music for it, so I will begin learning it shortly. I'm so excited! It's from the movie Amelie, a french film that came out in 2001. I've never seen the movie, but it's apparently very good. The soundtrack contains a lot of piano pieces, but this one caught my attention. It's simply the best. Have a listen:

Well, I hope you enjoyed these fantastic compositions. They are excellent background music for reading/writing/studying/life in general. :)

P.S. Christmas is 6 days away...does that freak anyone else out? It snuck up on me this year...

For your enjoyment

This just makes me happy.

P.S. Some background info: This guy on youtube makes remixes of movies by using ONLY sounds from the movie itself. He sometimes adds a beat to it, but most of the time he just records and plays back music and sounds from the movies and somehow creates beautiful music. It's pretty awesome. The vid above is called "Bloom." There's lots more you can check out on his youtube channel. I put the link over there on the side (at the top)------------------------------------------------------------------>>

The Thanksgiving post

Well, I thought about putting up a deep, thoughtful post about Thanksgiving for this week, but my cousin made a post on her blog that I think is just the best.

Please take a moment to read...

Click here

P.S. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. :)

Do me a favor...

....and listen to this song.

Don't be surprised if you hit the replay button a hundred times. I did.

P.S. Actually, just listen to the entire album when you have 41 minutes to spare.

Passion

Everyone who is 18-25 years of age needs to go to Passion 2012.

It's at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 2-5, and will include speakers such as John Piper, Louie Giglio, and Francis Chan.

It will also include amazing worship music by Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, and Christy Nockels (among others).

Join other students and young adults in a time of growth, fellowship, and worship for the glory of God!

Go to 268generation.com for more information about how to register.

Hope to see you at the Dome!

P.S. I added the link for the website under "Stuff you should see." And if you can't make it this year, come to Passion 2013! :)

Pretty People: Male Version

Such fine fellows...

Brandon Routh

Sean Faris

Gene Kelly

Colin Egglesfield

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto

Reeve Carney

Christian Bale

James Dean

Ryan Gosling

John Krasinski

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Reeve Carney

Andrew Garfield 

John Krasinski

P.S. Credit goes to whoever took the pictures (I found them on Google, sooo I don't know who took them specifically. :)

Happy November!

It's November everyone!!! Remember to write a novel and not to shave this month. :)


Here are some cool things that happened on November 1st in the past:


November 1


1512

Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were shown to the public for the first time.


1755
Earthquake, fires, and tsunami leveled Lisbon and claimed 70,000 lives.


1765
The Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the American colonies, went into effect.


1870
The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.


1936
Benito Mussolini described the new alliance between Nazi Germany and Italy as an "axis" running between Berlin and Rome.


1952
The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb in a test in the Marshall Islands.


1993

The Maastricht Treaty was enacted, establishing the European Union.

-From Factmonster.com

P.S. In case you were wondering...

Why you shouldn't shave this month

Why you should write a novel

Twitter

So I decided I like Twitter. I hated it for about a year after I got one, but now I appreciate it much more. Let me tell you why....it's because I find awesome quotes like these:

"If you watch Little Mermaid backwards it's the depressing tale of a princess who loses her legs and all of her friends except for a crab."

Yeah. All you have to do is find the right people to follow, and voila. You have an entire web page that is basically a news feed with little awesome quotes that put a smile on your face every day.
Such as….


“My favorite new genre of popular music is the one where beautiful young people sing songs about how looks don't matter.”

“Beware of unnecessary warnings.”

“What do you call a nosy pepper? Jalapeño business.”

“I miss the simpler days, when there was only one kind of water.”

“’I'm above the Law.’ - guy who lives upstairs from Jude Law”

“If you ever see me with hunched shoulders chances are I've either murdered someone or am eating a cupcake. Could go either way really.”

“Is the world ready for a Land Before Time 37? Yes, I think so.”

“Surprisingly a certain coffee shop didn't appreciate me throwing ninja stars at bucks.”

“If you watch Willy Wonka backwards it's the magical journey of a boy who finds a golden ticket to live in 1 room with 6 creepy old people.”

“It's hard to say goodbye and ‘worcestershire sauce’”

“Good luck trying to out manner a Chick-fil-a employee. Not happening.” (one of my top favorites…)

“Autocorrect is like that person who just graduated college and think they know everything.”

“It's sad how Wile E. Coyote is remembered for his violence, and not for his brilliantly realistic paintings of tunnels.”

My advice: go get a twitter account.

P.S. In case you’re interested, midterms went very well. J

It's midterm week

Hello world. I apologize for my absence...but I really do have a legitimate reason. I was out of town last weekend and this week I have been catching up on homework and studying for midterms. I'm afraid that I won't have a "real" post until later next week. I need time after midterms are over so I can recover from the results (in case they're really bad...ya know?). So anyways, please excuse me while I go dive in a hole and bury myself in schoolwork. I will resurface next week...hopefully.

Ha.

P.S. For those of you who are also in the middle of midterm week, I wish you the best of luck. I feel your pain if you are in pain, and if you aren't in pain.......that's great.

The heavens declare the glory of God...

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

 "Coma Cluster" of galaxies

 The Earth and Moon

Iceland volcano eruption from space

 

Hurricane Irene

 The "pale blue dot," also known as Earth, in the band of light on the right of the image.

The North Pole of the Moon 

 The Whirlpool Galaxy

The Sun and Moon

Recent image of Saturn

 Lord, what moved Your heart to love lowly man before any star could herald Your praise?

P.S. All photos belong to NASA

Awesome thing of the day

A song that's 1000000x better than Adele's overplayed version that is sung completely 100% a capella by a handsome man with a beautiful smile? Yes please.

More of this guy can be found in the link over there on the side somewhere (at the top) ------------------------------------------------>



P.S. This post is dedicated to Emily....because apparently, she's marrying him (he just doesn't know it yet)

Favorites: Music Videos

1. Must Have Done Something Right by Relient K

2. Far Away by Nickleback

3. Speed of Sound by Coldplay

4. Northern Downpour by Panic at the Disco

5. Savin' Me by Nickelback

(The main guy in this one is pretty darn good looking. Just sayin)

6. Breathe by Anna Nalick (click on the link)

Breathe (2 AM)

P.S. I realized when I put my little note in parentheses underneath the Savin' Me video, it could have one of three meanings: 1) I am referring to the lead singer, 2) I am referring to the guy whose story we follow throughout the video, or 3) if you read the note BEFORE watching the vid, you might've thought I was referring to the first guy we see with the shiny black hair and trench coat. If you guessed 1 or 3, I laugh at your ignorance of my judgment regarding people's outward appearances. If you guessed 2, then you get a hug.

Pretty People

The world is full of them.

P.S. I do not own these photos. Credit goes to the photographers who took them....some of which I know personally. :)