New Music Monday – Meiko

It’s the return of the poppy/folky/songwriter/vocalist chick. Ahhhhhh! (just kidding…well, just about the whole “ahhhhh!” part, the rest is true.) This girl isn’t really “new”, but she’s not as well known as I would expect her to be. I know, we’ve been inundated with cute, poppy, vocalists, but more than a few lack the song writing talent that Meiko has. Her songs are cute, honest, fun, and thoughtful and I’m sure many more adjectives but my thesaurus is broken.

I could go into the standard, “here’s her bio…and here’s here music and why I like it” format I’ve been using, but to be honest, I’m pretty sure the best way to explain why you should love her is to explain why I love her. (Ok, I’ll admit it, I cannot get my head into writing today, and rather than force the issue with something super contrived and unauthentic I’m gonna do an abbreviated post.)

I fell in love with Meiko’s music earlier this year. Her song, “Boys with Girlfriends” popped into my life, and as with most awesome things, it was purely random but couldn’t have happened at a better time. It was the thing I needed to figure out a really tricky situation. I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but that song saved me a lot of trouble…A LOT. I eventually downloaded her self-titled album and instantly became hooked. The sound of the album is soft and her lyrics are kinda cutesy but honest and reality based. It’s one of my favorite albums this year because it feels authentic and not studio/record exec driven.

On To the Music:
(I’m just going to highlight a few of my favorites, but I do have all the songs from her album on the grooveshark widget above.)

Reasons to Love You – This was the second song I ever heard by Meiko and like I said above, I was hooked. The way that her voice carries the song, as opposed to the guitar and other strings, is pretty awesome. It’s not an overpowering screeching song, so that’s a HUGE plus, its very natural and unforced. The lyrics are simple and honest and it’s really a fun song to sing along to.

Boys With Girlfriends – This song is unbelievably catchy and the lyrics are dead on when it comes to the whole opposite sex BFF world I generally live in. But aside from the lyrics, the style and movement of this song is pretty cool too. It’s a bit of a departure from the rest of the album, but it works perfectly none the less.

Sleep – C’mon…how am I not going to LOVE a song titled “Sleep”, its like my 3rd favorite activity. But aside from the sentimental attachment to the word, I like this song because I love the way her voice is relatively quiet compared to the music, it’s got a whisper-like quality to it that works well with the lyrics and the music is very melodic and has a great lullaby vibe to it.

Said and Done – Another vocally driven song that I love. I love how the songs starts are pretty simple with a guitar and what sounds like a muffled trombone/(sax/trumpet perhaps?–I can’t quite place the instrument in the first part of the song…) and slowly more and more elements are added. I just love this arrangement, even if you just took her voice off the track it would be a great song and I love that quality.

Like I said, these are just a few of my favorites, I really do love the whole album. She is a great song writer and the arrangements on every track are fantastic. The order of the tracks present a great storytelling quality and that helps make this album a “non-track jumping” album.

Best of 2009 – The Best Place

Finally, an easy one!! Whewwww! Whenever I’m asked what my favorite place is it’s always the same answer, “Grams’ house, for SURE!” And that’s been true my whole life. I write about my family a lot, and that’s mostly because they’re just damn awesome. But specifically, the family matriarch, “Grams”, has had the biggest impact on my life (aside from my parents), and spending time with her at her house on the lake, is the most perfect place in the world.

Gram's Lake

What makes Grams’ house the best place for me in 2009? Its not only because the woman makes the best enchiladas, chicken mole’, beans and rice, and all kinds of other Mexican deliciousness, she lives on a beautiful lake, where we spend most of our time. The lake is just awesome. Spending time there is always fun and comforting at the same time. When things get crappy, it’s guaranteed that spending an hour on the lake or even sitting at the beach will make it better. (The food doesn’t hurt either.) Also, talking with Grams always puts life in perspective…quickly. She’s not one to mince words and sugarcoat the truth. She’ll tell me how it is and what I need to do to fix a problem. She’s not one to judge or condemn, but she’ll sure as hell make sure that I know if I’m fucking up. Sometimes I’ll just call her and say, “Ok Grams here’s the deal, HELP!!” and with her sweet frankness, she’ll hit me over the head with a big bag of honesty. Her unmatched wisdom has helped me through some pretty crappy times this year. (Now I just need to work on that whole cooking thing…)

A typical weekend at Gram’s house is filled with boatloads of awesomeness and laughter. On any given weekend, there’s guaranteed to be at least 2-8 people there. Usually a trip to Gram’s warrants a phone call, “Just letting you know I’ll be up there this weekend, going to stay at M&D’s (my word for mom and dad’s), so if you need me to pick up anything, let me know.” Usually Grams only asks for simple things, “Hey go to Morgan’s (which doesn’t exist anymore) or El Burrito and pick up chorizo/tortillas, etc” To which I happily oblige, because that means she’s cooking something…at the very least, breakfast, but I can figure out what she’s making based on her order.

When I arrive, its usually chit-chat time, we catch up, talk about what’s happening in my life, knitting, or other family members. (Not in a gossipy way, but in a “I had dinner with so-and-so last week, he/she’s doing well, did so-and-so tell you they have a new car/puppy/house/job/boyfriend/etc? blah blah blah” way). Then we either do some yard work or go out on the lake. Usually there’s a bunch of people at her house, so it’s never quiet or boring (although I like that too) but we’ll spend the entire day out on the lake jet skiing, boating, etc. Then we eat. Following that, there’s cleaning up to do and more chit-chat on the deck. By the end of the day I’m usually exhausted, but happy.

The result of spending the day at Grams.

Now that I’ve moved, I’m 5 minutes away. I’m excited to spend more time over there, learning more knitting tricks, cooking tips, maybe she’ll even give me one of her magic pans–cuz I’m starting to think that’s the missing ingredient in my Mexican cooking. And above all, just spending time with one of my favorite people in the whole world at one of the best places in the whole world.

Best of 2009 – Album of the Year

“Well it’s not whatcha look like when you’re doing what you’re doing, it’s whatcha doing when you’re doing whatcha look like you’re doing” – Jack Johnson, “Bubble Toes”

I thought this would be easy. I figured I’d been submerged in new music all year I should be able to easily choose a favorite album of the year. Well that was tough. REALLY tough. But as I searched through everything I had in iTunes, I realized I had only 6 albums from 2009. And I wrote them down, gave ‘em a quick listen and it was clear which one was my favorite, Jack Johnson – En Concert.

Jack and I have a bit of history together, and there’s a TON of sentimental attachment to him and his music. (Ok, mostly the music since I don’t know him and we’re not buddies or even pen pals.) Every time I’m in a bad mood and need something to make happy or put a smile on my face, I always end up going to Jack…Johnson, not Daniels. I’ve accumulated nearly every album that Mr. Johnson has done, from BrushFire Fairytales to Thicker than Water (a soundtrack to a surf movie) to Sing-a-longs and Lullabies (The Curious George Soundtrack) to Sleep Through the Static. I have 12 albums in total, which is more than any other artist.

I have a kajillion stories I could share that involve Jack’s music. And while most of them are only important to me and the people who were there, it’s kind of funny how many events have happened where his music was literally the soundtrack. The night a few friends and I drove all over hell, just ‘cuz, we listened to “In Between Dreams” and sang and acted like idiots, it may have been one of the best nights where nothing bad happened, no one got drunk, no one got mad, it was just wonderfully silly. Or when my sister and I went to go see Jack back in 2008, in Somerset, WI. It was a perfect summer day for an outdoor concert and we had the BEST time. When we left, we were stopped by a traffic cop who asked us if we were heading back to MN, a few people apparently didn’t have a ride and just needed a ride back to Stillwater, so we drove them back with us. It was the first time I ever allowed strangers in my car, but it was 2 girls and one girly looking guy, we felt we could take them if anything got sketchy. After we dropped them off, my sister and I laughed the whole way home about how random the day had been. We ran into about 20 people we knew, met a super-duper tan drunk guy which we called “Dirt Mound” because he kept falling over and looked like a pile of dirt and how a friend of ours was utterly amazed that I knew the words to every single song. It is one of my favorite concert memories.

The thing most people are stuck by is how much mine and Jack’s political views differ. I’ve been accused of being a closet hippie, which given the fact that I don’t like wearing shoes and would be content living in a tent on the beach in Hawaii, they’re either onto something or on something. Regardless, I can respect Jack and the things he’s passionate about even if I don’t agree with everything he does or says. But my interest in the music has NOTHING to do with politics, I love the sound and his lyrics and his voice. He’s just a big giant ball of wonderfulness. (Unfortunately, he’s married to an equally wonderful wife, but there’s always hope…right? lol jk)

2009 has been a year of so many things finally coming to a head or an end and since Jack has been a HUGE part of the soundtrack of my life the past 7-8 years so it’s only fitting that he would release a “Live-best of” album this year. Nearly every single song on that album is a favorite, and while it’s heavily weighted toward more recent stuff from “Sleep Through the Static” and “In Between Dreams” he’s added in a few gems from “BrushFire Fairytales”– Flake and Bubble Toes, its probably the thing most closely related to the soundtrack of my life. There are a few songs that could be added, and few that shouldn’t be on the list, but all-in-all, it’s clear that En Concert is the perfect choice for my favorite album of the year.

Best of 2009 – Challenge

When it comes to challenges this year, I’ve had more than a boat load, both professionally and personally. When it came to picking the best, it was somewhat difficult. But when it comes down to it, the criteria I used when deciding was, “Did it help me grow? Did it make MY life better?” Taking that into account, I have to say that the “Great People Purge“, had the best impact on the quality of my life.

Dealing with friends has been interesting this year. And most of the people I’ve had difficulty with really aren’t friends, they’re the ones you call “friends” but they’re anything but. They’re the leeches, life suckers, energy eaters, and waste your time with their drama and craziness. So, I decided to delete them from my life. (ie: deleting them from my BlackBerry, my email contacts, my address book, the Christmas card list, etc….)

A hallmark card replacement to use when deleting someone. Created by Mike, in April.

It’s amazing amusing sad to look back and think of how much time I spent dealing with horrible people. And to be honest, they’re not “bad” people, they’re just bad for me. I used to think that I was being a good friend by following people around and cleaning up their messes for them, putting in time and energy that wasn’t reciprocated, being a friend to them when they were a fair weather friend to me. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that’s not helping anyone, especially me. It wasn’t making me feel good and it definitely wasn’t bringing anything positive into my life. So they were deleted.

I have to admit that it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. It’s hard to look at someone you’ve known so long, invested a lot of time in, and think, “Nope, you gotta go. D-E-L-E-T-E.” And I remember struggling with that idea for a while. I questioned, “Is there anything positive I can squeeze out of that person? Isn’t there just ONE thing that could make me change my mind?” After those questions, there were many who just couldn’t make the cut, no matter how much I wanted them to. To be completely honest, I almost skipped “the purge” all together. I didn’t think I was capable of really ridding my life of those people. I tend of have odd sentimental attachments to people I’ve known for a long time and for some reason, the number of years I was friends with someone was more important than the quality of that friendship. But now that its done, I don’t miss them, I don’t miss the post-bar, emotional/mental breakdown calls at 3 am, or “hey can you help me out, I need some money, again.”, the “Buuuuuuuut I LOOOOOOOVE him/her” conversations, and I don’t miss banging my head against the wall in frustration. I don’t miss most of the people I deleted and that’s telling because I thought I would. I thought I would regret it, but I haven’t.

Even though I’ve completed “the great people purge”, it’s still something that I think I need to revisit from time to time. Last night, for instance, I had a conversation with a friend and he (whether he knows it or not) reminded me that even though new people come into your life, it doesn’t mean they have any right to stay there. “The purge” is going to be an on-going thing, I need to keep reminding myself that QUALITY is always better than QUANTITY. Always.

Best of 2009 – Moment of Peace

Most people spend their lives trying to find a way to add a little peace to their lives. Some people never get it. Others have found ways to add those moments to their lives every single day. And sometimes that moment just sort of happens and when it does its amazing. Unfortunately I spent a huge part of my life not really ever feeling “at peace”. It wasn’t until I was in college and took a class on world religion and had to do an assignment that changed all of that.

For our assignment we were to attend a service, worship, meditation of a religion different than one we were for familiar with . My choices were to visit a service at a synagogue, a mosque, Buddhist meditation or some other service (such as a Hmong funeral or something similar). (For me that meant anything other than a Christan service). We were to observe and participate (as best we could) to understand better how said religion was practiced. I decided to visit the Zen Center in St. Paul, MN for its Sunday Meditation. The week before I went to the meditation, we had my professor’s mother-in-law in class who was a practicing Buddhist and had been to a meditation with the Dali Lama. So it was something that was fresh and sparked an interest. At the meditation it felt very similar to your standard Christian Sunday service. Kids running around playing, adult standing around talking (without shoes, of course) then the service started. It was basically 30 minutes of meditation, followed by 30 minutes of “teaching” on how to incorporate Buddhism into your daily busy life. That was it. It was painless, informative and extremely interesting. Afterward I had the opportunity to talk to a few people who happened to notice the new face and I was able to learn a few tricks to help with meditation at home.

So I took those things and decided that for a week, I would try to meditate once a day. Since meditation isn’t something that needs to be done a certain way, or in a certain place I decided that the best time to try it was either at night before I went to sleep or when I woke up in the morning. After that week I felt I had it down. I wrote my 6 page paper on my experience and that was that. I still attempted to practice but eventually just stopped incorporating it into my daily routine.

Fast forward a few years later (earlier this year), I was sitting at home after an extremely long day at work, my head was on fire from all the thoughts racing through it and almost out of some strange instinct, I closed my eyes, created a mental focal point and starting becoming aware of my breath. It was kind of odd. I’m still not entirely sure how long I sat there, I think it was about an hour. When I was done, my head didn’t hurt any more and I truly felt 100% better. After that, I decided that I would spend at least 30 minutes a day meditating. And that’s what I have done.

It’s interesting that something that seems so difficult sometimes can make you feel at peace. (Trying to quiet my mind and keep my attention focused is nearly impossible some days.) If you’ve never tried meditation, I suggest you at least give it a try. It’s not as weird as most people make it out to be. And no, you don’t need to sit in an extremely awkward position for hours and hours and hours for it to work. Here are a few tips from the zen center to help if you want to give it a try:

The aim of meditation is to be intimate with whatever experience arises.

Breathe gently through your nose. Follow the breath as it moves in and out from a point two finger widths beneath your navel.

Allow the breath to sponsor awareness of the body, feelings, and the mind.

When your attention wanders, gently and directly return to the vivid present moment with earnestness.

For sitting meditation, sit comfortably with your back naturally straight, either on a cushion or in a chair.

Or you can also try this method….

New Music Monday – The Script

(Little widget from Grooveshark near the bottom if you want to listen to a few tracks while you read. Enjoy!!)

The Script is a Dublin-born pop/rock trio that has virtually taken over Ireland and the UK charts since they released their debut self-titled album in 2008. To date they’ve sold nearly 1.5 million albums worldwide. All that said, of all the artists and groups I’ve come across recently (past few years, at the VERY least.), this band has, by far, the most amazing story I’ve ever heard. And as “Hot Press” said in their story on the group, “…so strange and terrifying that if you put it in a movie, no one would believe it.” And that is indeed true, I challenge anyone to top it.

Frontman, Danny O’Donoghue had grown up in a very musical family, being the youngest of 6 siblings, and had taken to music at a young age. At the age of 16, he dropped out of school to pursue his passion and he ended up with a part-time teaching job at Digges Lane Studios where he would meet his future band mate, Mark Sheehan.

Song writer, Mark Sheehan had a bit of a different upbringing and says, “This is going to sound like a fucking cliché, but music has saved my life.” And that’s probably true, if it hadn’t been for music and a chance meeting with Danny, he might have been in jail, or worse, dead. His father died when he was young, and he was raised alone with his mother. Most of his young, impressionable years were spent dabbling in various crimes, from robbery, arson, burglary, and using drugs. But all throughout that time, he was writing songs and was officially driven towards music when was 15 and shortly after he met Danny.

“A friend told me about a guy in Digges Lane selling music equipment – it was Mark. I’d also heard about him as a hip hop dancer. Anyone who was cool around that time was doing something in Digges Lane. Mark was one of the main teachers – a lot of stars, including Colin Farrell and even Prince Naseem did his class.

It was one of those meetings of minds. A eureka moment. I was like, ‘You’re into hip hop? I’m into hip hop. You’re into fucking making music, I’m into making music’. It was a big deal because back then everybody was into rock and if you were into hip hop, it was like, ‘Fuck off!’ Especially in Dublin. Back then we were trying to fly that flag high, for fucking hip hop. Two skinny white kids. I could see Mark was a star. So, I ended up partnering up with him.”

The two built a studio in Mark’s back yard and started writing and producing their own music. They ran into U2 manager Paul McGuinness one day at Digges Lane and he gave them a chance to show him their music. He eventually signed the pair (Named at the time, MyTown) and they ended up in the states touring but never really took off, so they decided to call it quits after a few years.

They spent the next few years on a new project, The Script, added Dublin based drummer, Glen Powers and worked on landing a record deal. They finally signed one, which became the start of an epic battle against all odds to find success in the music world.

A few weeks after signing is when the group was stuck with their first tragedy, Mark’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was then that the group decided they couldn’t stay in the states, Mark wanted to be with his mother. So the group moved back to Dublin and worked on their album in the studio Mark and Danny built in the backyard at Danny’s mother’s house, which was right behind the hospital where his mother was admitted. The trio spent their days recording and writing, O’Donoghue describes it like this,

“We were really just using the studio as a punch bag – [Mark] was so pent up with emotion that he’d come in and write shite one day and the next day he’d come in with a fucking gem of really truthful, honest stuff. It was hard, man. It was hard for him. But it was hard for us too – to see your best mate going through something like that. Behind it all, you really want him to have his head clear for the big prospect of the first album. We were producing and writing it – we had enough rope to hang ourselves here. And his mother kept getting progressively worse and worse.”

Unfortunately, the passing of Mark’s mother didn’t signify the end of their tragedies, it only marked the beginning. Four months later, Danny’s father died suddenly of an undiagnosed stomach aneurysm. “It was like hammer blow after hammer blow. We actually sat around as a band and went, ‘Are we up to this task?’ Then, when it was all over, we came out of that time with guns a-blazing.” the lead singer said. But that was a fleeting moment.

About to start their first UK tour and with their first single, We Cry, getting airplay on radio stations across the UK, the trio was struck with another nearly tragic event. Lead singer, Danny, woke up one morning with a terrible pain in his side, he walked down to the hospital and was horrified at what the doctors said was ailing him, his lung had collapsed. He was rushed into surgery to repair the lung, which was caused by Spontaneous Pneumothorax, he says, “If you’re tall and skinny you’re the fucking poster boy for it. It just happens to some people.”

Drummer, Glen Powers, wasn’t immune to the misfortunes that had befallen his band mates. One night while out with his parents, he went to use the restroom and slipped, hitting his head on the sink and again when he hit the marble floor. When he came to, he went back to sit with his family and told them what happened, assuring them he was fine, but his father insisted that he see a doctor right away. He has been under observation for about 8 hours when his head was in terrible pain and his nose started bleeding, they did a scan and discovered he had fractured his head in two spots causing hematoma. He was rushed into surgery, and had two metal plates placed in his skull.

Shortly after, the band’s debut album hit #1 on both the UK and Ireland charts and they all breathed a sigh of relief. These days the tragedies are behind them and they’re enjoying great success. They even claim (though I haven’t been able to find anything with the exact quote) that Bono, of U2 (duh!), has told them that they’re one of his favorite bands. That could be due to the fact that they’re Dublin boys, or the fact that they worked with his manager, but regardless, that’s pretty high accolades for such a (relatively) young band.

I’ve been listening to their album on and off for the past few months, and it wasn’t until I came across their story that the music made more sense to me. While most of them sound like love songs, and they are and could be, they were all written during a pretty tragic time in their lives and when you listen to the lyrics and music you can really feel the raw emotion and pain these guys were dealing with. The whole album is an awesome mix of rock, R&B, with hip-hop style lyrics mixed with rock tones as well.

(Hey! That’s a super nifty deal from GrooveShark, and sooo much easier than stupid youtube. lol Thank you Bob for telling me about it on last weeks post!)

The first song is, “Breakeven”. Its a great song, the lyrics are so honest and the music is very rhythmic and easy to listen to, and even a bit “catchy”, for such a sad song.

“The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” was actually the first song I ever heard by this group, and I assume most of you might find it at least slightly familiar. Its one of those songs that can often times be dismissed, well I did anyway. It sounds very similar to “Breakeven”, in theme and music, but its such a great song and when you think about the time frame it was written in, its also a pretty heart-wrenching song.

“We cry” is the first song on the album and it really showcases their hip-hop/R&B influences. It reminds me of Jason Mraz or Mat Kearney. Very soulful for a group of white guys from Dublin, and I have to admit that I was surprised by it, especially given that it doesn’t sound similar to “The Man Who Can’t Be moved.”

I don’t even know what to say about “Rusty Halo”. The lyrics are freaking genius, starting with…”Looking at the bible trying to find a loophole”. And when you think about Mark’s life of crime, you can clearly get a sense of where he was at in his life when we wrote it. (I love when you can put the pieces together like that.)

“Fall For Anything” honestly reminded me of an odd mix of Maroon 5 and Fall Out Boy. It’s a great song, its very “poppy” but I like it. I like the way it mixes things up throughout the song. Between the verses and chorus it almost sounds like it could be two different songs, yet they’re melted perfectly together.

“If You See Kay” Again with the hip-hop-ish lyrics and beats but in the background you have a great you have a great little guitar sound, and it mixes perfectly with the song and if you’re not listening you probably wouldn’t even notice it. I love it.

“I’m Yours” A great little love song, with perfect lyrics that aren’t cheesy or fake or record-label-forced. It’s a simple guitar and a little percussion tossed in there. The guitar work sounds very Mexican and this song could probably be done in Spanish and you would never know it was done by a group from Dublin.

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this MONSTER of a post and enjoy the music even more. These guys are great, and even if you don’t like their music as much as I do, you must certainly appreciate their journey.

Best of 2009 – Blog Find of the Year

2009 has been an interesting year for me and the blogosphere. Admittedly, I hadn’t been a big blog reader in 2008 or even years prior, and when I think back now, I wonder why I never had much of an interest. I mean, I enjoy reading, opinions are one of my favorite things (Even if they’re wrong, at the very least they’re funny.), and I love the internet and all most that it encompasses, why have I neglected a huge part of it? I think it boils down to the fact that, and as many of you know, most people annoy me, so why would I want to search through the BILLIONS of useless, annoying, whiny blogs out there in search of a handful of good ones? I wouldn’t, my time is FAR too valuable. Well, it was, until I discovered Twitter in February.

I stumbled upon twitter kind of accidentally after I purchased my first BlackBerry. I was talking with a friend, who is a techie, webnerd and big fan of all things blackberry, and after discussing the 6 trillion different “necessary” apps to install on my BlackBerry, she mentioned “TwitterBerry”. After learning about Twitter, I had the same feelings as I had about blogs, “Great. That’s all I need is a bunch of narcissistic idiots shouting into space what they had for breakfast and how cool it is to have 2 billion followers. (Eyeroll).” But being the fair person I am, I tried it out and I was hooked. I mostly blame the entire #tcot hashtag and the current political climate. (Is it ok to blame Obama for this? I mean, technically…its ALL his fault.) Of course I naturally gravitated toward other conservatives on twitter, common interests and all. And twitter, being the gateway drug that it is, suddenly opened the door to the great expansive world we all know and love, the blogosphere.

Initially, I only read a few blogs, here and there, as people posted links to their newest posts on twitter and if I happened to catch it in my ever-growing stream of twitter followees. When the number of people I followed started reaching, what I thought at the time, an insanely high amount, at about 500, I noticed that my bookmarks were a bit unruly. I had at least 50 blogs bookmarked that I, heroically, attempted to read regularly. (Yes, without a reader, just from bookmarks. *sigh*) And it was around that time, I decided to start my blog, mostly out of necessity, since 140 characters is a bit tight when discussing anything of substance. Of course that lead to more and more discoveries. (My bloglines list has since been narrowed down, from a high of 135, to exactly 90 blogs from all over the place, right, left, news, tech, randomness, etc…)

To pick just ONE of all the wonderfully awesome blogs I’ve discovered over the past year would be IMPOSSIBLE! That would be like asking me to pick my favorite Jack Johnson song, soooo not gonna happen. But I will say that I have a good collection of “the best of *my* blogosphere” listed on the side over there –>. I know what you’re thinking, “that’s soooo Switzerland!” So I’ve narrowed down my list to a few that I love to read regularly.

Roaring Republican: Jeff is a good friend of mine and an excellent political commentator. His views and mine are virtually identical, except for that whole Sarah Palin thing, and possibly a few others. His commentary is smart and funny and he’s definitely not afraid to attack the right as well as the left.

It’s Only Words: Paula’s blog was one of the first I read when I started on twitter, so I suppose it has some sentimental value, but it’s not placed on the list for that reason. She’s a great writer, very thoughtful and thought-provoking. She’s also very involved in Washington (state) politics and is a great resource for information and humor (see: It’s Only Words’ Sexiest Man Alive Award, 2009). (And if you happen to be into sewing, check out her blog, Sew Confused.)

Mike Wilson: Again, I came across Mike’s blog in my early days on twitter, and after becoming friends and understanding the man behind the words, it became one of my favorite blogs to read. Admittedly, it took a while to catch on to a few topics he covered, namely the techie, programmie, webspeak I wasn’t (and am still not) very familiar with. But the politics, random funny videos/pictures, anecdotes, and at times, slap in the face reality checks, are fantastically awesome and intelligent. (If you happen to like cigars, check out Mike’s other blog, “Cigar Noob” and if you’re a gamer, check out his OTHER blog, “The Vortigaunt Shuffle“)

Stickee Notes “Ooooh, Stickee…teehee…oh that’s good.” That’s generally the reaction I have to his posts. Stickee writes with a sense of humor, which depending on your sensitivity, that could be misunderstood as offensive. He’s blunt and straight to the point on topics ranging from politics to social commentary, and I like it. He doesn’t believe in political correctness, so if you’re looking for some PC-utopian-leftist drivel, stay away from this blog. He will beat you over the head with common sense and sarcasm, so be prepared. (You can also check him out at “The Anticrat” and Feed Your ADHD)

Conservative TNA: What can I say, I LOVE a snarky woman! It definitely doesn’t hurt Trish’s cause that we share the same birthday, kindred spirits of sorts. She’s an entertaining woman and her posts reflect her amazing sense of humor. Her commentary is spot-on, intelligent, and sometimes very giggle-worthy.

Those are just a few of the great blogs I’ve discovered this year, hopefully you’re able to enjoy them as much as I do. If not, don’t read them and search through the 8 kajillion other blogs out there and share what you find with me. I’m always looking for well-written, fun, interesting blogs to read.

Best Of 2009 Blog Challenge

I had come across Gwen’s post about the “best of 2009 blog challenge” the other day, bookmarked it and forgot all about it. I came back to it today after reading a friends blog and decided that it was the perfect thing for me to do. Especially given my lack of writing lately. So since we’re 2 days into the month I will post two of the “prompts” in this one post and then starting tomorrow it will be one post a day. (if I can survive that pace, lol)

December 1st – Best Trip of 2009

That has to be the big family trip to Myrtle Beach, SC in July. It was a 10 day adventure with my entire family: parents, sisters, their kids, friends etc. To call it an “adventure” is a bit misleading, we were maybe 2 characters away from it being a replica of National Lampoon’s Vacation. With 12 people trying to organize, get along, and ultimately get through the day without killing someone, it proved to be quite comical at times.

The plan, which really wasn’t a plan at all, was to just hang out at the beach most of the time we were there. It kept the kids busy and gave the adults time to relax (aka: drink). On the first day, my parents went to some store to buy a towel or something and ended up coming back with 2 body boards for the kids. Well Cassie, Jake, Brian, Bonnie and I got sick of taking turns with them, so we went and bought our own. That was too much fun. We were such dorks. Unfortunately my parents became a bit concerned as the day got later and they realized how much we had been drinking. So we only got one warning to be careful and “I’m not coming in to save you!” (Yes, my mother really said that.) As the tide rose, we came up with a new game plan, to see who could ride a wave all the way into shore near our stuff. Closest one had to take a shot. So there was 4-5 full grown adults riding these little body boards all the way into shore. And if you’ve never done that, eventually you’re legs drag on the sand/rocks. So we all had scratches and cuts down our legs for the next few days. (Add the ocean water to that and its not that awesome)

The next days we were literally too sore to do anything, so we sat at the beach and drank some more. (see picture)

The weather was perfect, so was the water. Unfortunately, I saw a jellyfish a little too close for comfort and my sister and screamed like 5 year olds and ran out of the water and collapsed in the sand, then Dad says, “You do know you both are covered in sand…you’re gonna have to go back into the water and rinse off.” Cassie and I laid there and laughed for a solid 10 minutes. Then marched back into the water like the brave women we are. (Also, we had to prove to the children that there was nothing to be afraid of…)

The rest of trip was slightly uneventful, except when we decided that we should take NASCAR fan dad to visit Darlington. It was 150 degrees that day. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a race track, but that just radiates HEAT. Then I saw what the fans sit on, regular metal folding chairs (basically) I learned that NASCAR fans really are insane! (Kidding…) But while we were there, there’s a BBQ place across the street and a truck drove by with a trailer full of pigs, and it sounded like the pigs were saying, “Noooooooooooo” “Noooooooooo” (in this last pic, you can kinda see the trailer of pigs…driving down the road)
I’ve never laughed so hard in my entire life!! But the laughter only lasted a minute because then I realized again just how hot it was! It felt like HELL, shoot for all I know, that’s where Hell is, Darlington, SC.

The whole trip ended w/o a hitch, I even survived my 9+days without my blackberry. So it was a major deal for me. But even better, my sisters and I didn’t kill each other or my Mom. So overall it was a great vacation filled with a bunch of awesome memories and about a kabillion inside jokes that we still joke around about to this day.

December 2nd – Best Restaurant moment

This is a tough one, because there are a few that I could classify as “the best”. But I’ll go with the one with the least incriminating story.

Back in August, my best friend came into town to pick out brides maid dresses for her wedding. We had a great afternoon hanging out in the bridal shop all day then decided we’d go grab a bite to eat. And like old times, we picked Applebee’s. Not because the food is spectacular but because a majority of our favorite memories some how involved Applebee’s, either before an event, after…or some where in between.

So Monica, Crystal, Amy and I go to the Forest Lake Applebees, get seated. Then, like always, the reminiscing began. Now when the 4 of us get together, our stories generally involve hilarity, drunkiness and the infamous phrase, “I don’t remember but you told me I said/did….”. We’re chatting about all kinds of events that have happened to us over the years and we’re laughing so hard that we can’t even explain to the waiter that we do in fact want drinks, but we’re laughing too hard to talk. I mean full on tears in our eyes, belly laughs. Thankfully the waiter realizes we need a moment and leaves. We start talking about all of our trigger words/phrases that instantly trigger the giggles, a few include: Oreos, eye ball licking, “WHERE ARE MY SHOES?!”, “Just ONE shot of tequila tonight, girls”, “Dane Cook sucks!”, “Ohhhhhhhhh Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…..”.

We try to get serious enough to look at the menu and pick something to eat/drink. And normally I would have had a margarita or two but I wasn’t in the drinking mood that Saturday at 2 in the afternoon. So I pass, and I get heat from all 3 girls. “What do you mean you’re not drinking? I don’t think you’ve ever walked out of an Applebee’s sober!” Which then leads into various stories of the 4 of us visiting Applebee’s for happy hour and leaving at 9 and walking home. (When we all lived in Forest Lake, that was possible…now, not so much) So the waiter comes around again, “Can I take your order miss?” I don’t know how that made me laugh but it did, and I couldn’t stop. I had been plagued with the giggles when all I wanted to do was order my damn food. So like an adult, I point to what I want on the menu and apparently my giggles were contagious because the other girls couldn’t stop laughing either, then the waiter was infected and the bartender.

We continued the giggle fest, but were still able to eat and talk. It turned out to be one of my favorite restaurant moments of the year. Its always fun to hang out with friends you haven’t seen in a while and giggle like little girls. We get to do it again in a few months for Monica’s bachlorette party and again for her wedding in June, and I am so looking forward to it.

Obama RUINED my Christmas!! OK, not really…but I still don’t like him.

So, not only is Obama broadcasting yet another prime-time special tomorrow night, he’s ONCE AGAIN, bumping a show I want to watch so I can watch him. (The first time it happened was during American Idol…*sigh*) Granted, I have cable, so I DO have options, and I won’t really need to watch because I’ll be able to look at my twitter feed while I’m watching “Dirty Jobs” to see what he has to say because there will be 900 of my followers live-tweeting the event. No, it’s not a speech, press conference or anything else that remotely requires a smidge of dignity and respect. It’s an event. But what pissed me off the most is that I was looking forward to watching my favorite Christmas show of all time, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Now, I realize that I will be able to see it next week and all that. But let me get this straight, it’s been three months since General McCrystal requested more troops to support the war in Afghanistan? It’s gone beyond dithering at this point; it is full on neglect of our men and women who are serving in Afghanistan every day.

But instead of sitting down and focusing on the fact that we have a WAR to WIN (win, yes, as in VICTORY.) this bastard thinks that spending 25 of his first 300 days in office, that’s 8%, playing golf is a way to come up with an URGENT straegy. FAIL.

You wanna know how many days Good Ol’ G. W. spent playing golf? 24 days — in 34 freaking MONTHS! That’s roughly 2.4% of his time spent on the golf course. How about if we factored in all the time spent at the b-ball court with a little pick-up game with his White House pals? Surely Bush was too old and Texan to play basketball; perhaps he and Laura enjoyed a game of Croquet or Lawn Darts. (Did you know they don’t make the metal darts anymore…yes, I’m dead serious.)

I’m not really looking forward to listening to Obama speak again tomorrow. I have a feeling it’s going to sound like this, “We are in…..a hard fought war….with unseen enemies. America…cannot afford….to spend…valuable resources…that we need…to provide….insurance to all….Americans. (pause for applause) We will be sending…additional troops…to Afghanistan…to secure the freedom…of the Afghani people…and take down…the Taliban. We have to… come up with….an exist….strategy…and in the next….few weeks…and/or months…I will personally…be on your TV…again to inform….you of what…that…might be. (pause for applause) This…like Health Care Reform….will not be fast…it will be…a slow…drawn out….process…but I feel…our country will….perhaps…maybe, ok I don’t really know…Ok listen, I don’t know what the HELL I’m doing here. Maybe you guys would be better off with Joey Biden? Shit…OK let me be real with you guys for a minute, I’m kinda having buyers remorse with Joe. I mean he’s a great guy and all that…but the son of a bitch just won’t shut the hell up! What we need to do is change some of these laws so I can just appoint Hillary to do this job. That woman has some balls…or so Bill says anyway.” News channels cut to regularly scheduled programming and everyone is happy.

Shuddup, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Blogging…(yeah, that’s really my title…)

(Via: http://www.wordle.net/ and comprised of the most frequently used words in my most recent posts…kinda weighted don’t you think?)

I had a post, actually 8, sitting in my “drafts”, and yesterday I thought, “You should probably finish those…”. Well, needless to say, I didn’t. I just junked them…ALL. I’m suffering from a little “deleters remorse” now, but I’ll survive. But I started thinking about a lot of things pertaining to my blog, probably most importantly, its purpose.

I started blogging back in April (i think) and the whole purpose of my blog, initially, was that 140 characters wasn’t enough to discuss anything of substance, so I’d use it as an extension of twitter, so to speak. I came up with the title because I didn’t want my blog to be solely about one subject (politics), and to try and come up with a few words that truthfully represents me would be an impossible task, so Randomly Candice was born. I didn’t write often, and I didn’t write well…hell, I still don’t. I just write things that pop into my head, quite literally. But in the beginning I was a bit more politically motivated, it was around the time of the Tax Day Tea Parties and there was a lot more happening in the political world than in my life.

Out of all of that, a few other “features” came to light. The “late night ramblings” posts, which to be honest, were/are (though they’ve been neglected as of late) my favorite things to write because it allows my brain to just drain out on any topic and I don’t restrict myself to maintaining proper structure or even to remotely making sense. But I also started vlogging, which has been interesting…to say the least. Then the New Music Monday’s post, which have taken up quite a bit of my blog space lately, but is still my favorite new “thing”. (Yes, I know I’ve been neglecting the el bloggo, sorry kids.) But as you can see, I get really into something for a bit…then the interest fades and I move onto some other subject. But still, I stick to the same format, politics, me, stuff, things…randomness. Which I guess is the beauty of it. (or curse…still haven’t decided)

Another thing that remains consistent, and what I often get the most commentary on, is the fact that a lot of my posts aren’t personal enough for some people. I know, we live in this trainwreck world and everyone wants to seek out the dirt on everyone else, because that’s fun, right? Well, my views on sharing personal information are this, the purpose of my posts are never to destroy someone else, I know I get snarky, and sometimes down right bitchy about some vague person in my posts. But I am not going to post something that says, “yeah so you all know my friend Marcus, right…well listen to this juicy gossip” That’s not only mean, but totally unethical and down right stupid! I don’t even do that in real life, let alone on some crappy blog that people, for unknown reasons, read. You don’t know Marcus, and you don’t need to know anything that happens in his life unless he decides to start a blog and write it himself. (FTR: none of my posts are about Marcus in anyway shape or form…at least I don’t think…) And I don’t share a lot of details about the people and relationships that really matter to me, as a wise friend once said, “Not because it doesn’t matter, but because it does.” And that couldn’t be more true. There are certain things I’ll share with certain people, and those people are the privileged few. (Sorry, not trying to sound elitist, but you wouldn’t tell a stranger on the bus the same things you told your best friend 5 minutes before in a telephone conversation. Or perhaps you would, if you’re one of those annoying people who have really personal conversations in a crowded elevator, in that case, all I have to say to you is, “SHUT THE HELL UP! NO ONE CARES!!”)

And that leads me to another thing, I have such great readers. A few not so great, but there’s only so much I can do to keep the bitter crazies away from my blog. (Blog stalking is a new sport and frankly, its really creepy, FYI) I’m very happy that people like reading my blog and reading comments from readers is still fun (I may not always respond but I do read them) and I’m all for freedom of speech and more often than not, allow all comments on my posts. Unless, of course, its a death threat, or someone threatening to rip out my uterus so I cannot create any more conservative zombies. (True story, by the way. See…liberals are mean!! JK! Not all of them are crazy psychos, just a few.) But really…its great to get feedback, even if it’s not a raving review, and while I do like those, I also like getting constructive criticism just as much.

I don’t know if I’ll write forever, but I do know that right now, I’m enjoying how my blog has turned out over all these months. As I just told someone today, “its virtually everything I wanted it to be.” That being said, it’s by no means perfect, but that’s why I like it. Its mine and how I That is unless a crazy liberal really does find a way to hunt me down and destroy my uterus, then chances are my blog writing days will some to an abrupt end. Lets just hope it doesn’t come down to that…