Mixtape Monday: Holy Week Hymns

As we prepare for Easter Sunday this week, I thought it would be fitting to make a Holy Week mixtape (because this week is Holy Week). Thinking about Holy Week brings me back to growing up in church tradition. I remember celebrating Palm Sunday (yesterday) with huge palm leaves, waving them in the air and laying them down like the people did as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. On Maundy Thursday we went back to church, this time to the small, old chapel, where we celebrated Jesus's Last Supper with his disciples, took a special communion, and listened to the solemn bells go silent. Good Friday was basically celebrated by not going to school. As a kid, I always felt like we should call it Black Friday or something more grim... Jesus died! But he died to save us and rose again. And that is good.

So, as we lead up to Easter this week, and as I am thinking about those traditions (which I personally like), I have made you guys a playlist of some of my favorite, more traditional songs. Hymns. Those of you who know me know that I love hymns. I think they are wonderful for so many different reasons - one being that I believe they sing the gospel so purely. I could go on and on. But don't worry, if you are not a hymn fan, these are mostly not straight out of the hymnal grandma style. Many artists have modernized hymns and made them a new kind of beautiful and fun. Many hymns are originally so beautiful that recreating them is just unnecessary, but I digress. Give these tunes a chance, you might just find yourself enjoying them. And because they are my favorite (and I just couldn't help myself [or choose just 10, I could make a 100 song playlist]), you get 15 songs this week!

Happy Holy Week!

Mixtape Monday: Powering Through

It has been a very long winter up here in New England. I have been done with it for a while, but it has not been done with me. Deep down, I know winter can't last forever, but I am finding it hard to believe that right now, especially after it faked us out by almost going away and then (bam!) snowing again. This playlist is dedicated to powering through. Powering through this everlasting winter, powering through that last bit of work, powering through the week, whatever it is that we need to power through.

This playlist is intentionally less depressing, because encouragement is needed to power through. Needtobreathe's Keep Your Eyes Open is my ultimate "be where you are" song. In my first year of college I was lonely and wishing for home and comfort - not recognizing or looking for the good where I was. I went to see NTB at the Georgia Theatre with my dear friend Maggie, and they played that song. As I listened to them sing it, I was convicted of not really stepping into my new "great unknown." Now I am trying to remember the same thing in another new place.

The rest of the songs are a compilation of songs that bring a bit of encouragement, from their beats and or lyrics or the way they can be related to, by artists old and new. I have some favorites from the group, but I can let you choose your own. I hope you enjoy this week's playlist and maybe find some new artists to indulge in.

Mixtape Monday: Getting to Know Me

Happy Monday! Here begins my blogging series called Mixtape Monday. I will not pretend to be unique in the naming of this series, it seems to be a popular Monday phenomenon, but I still like it. I thought this series would be the most fun, and it is the one that will be kicking off the schedule. I am still trying to figure out exactly what to do with my other ideas, so please feel free to continue to push me in any directions that seem interesting to you.

It was difficult for me to make a 10-song playlist; I like a lot of music, and I have many more songs waiting for you. I know though, that if I want to do this every week, I have to control myself. 10 feels like a nice, controlled number.

This first playlist is a bit of an introduction to me and some of the music I love. People always ask me who my favorite artist is... that is too hard of a question to answer, but if I had to pick, I can usually narrow it down to either Needtobreathe or the Weepies, depending on my mood. They are both in here.
If you know me well, you know that I enjoy depressing songs and books and movies, all the depressing works. I don't know why; maybe I am morbid, but there is something so real about struggle and pain, and I think that songs about that are so genuine. I have tried not to bring you guys down too badly this Monday, but I am warning you that you'll see some sad songs here.
I love singer/songwriter, indie/folk, and alternative-ish music. A lot of that is in here too.
Since last year, I have also gained a slight appreciation for the mainstream. There are some good artists in that group. Taylor Swift is one of them, but because she does not allow her music on Spotify (which I will be using to create playlists), you may have to jam to Ms. Swift on your own time. I do.
Great voices impress me. I love to be able to hear singers' voices; I love harmonies and duets; I love male/female duos; I love acoustic music and cool instruments, and I am a fan of listening to the lyrics.

All that being said, you will get a taste of the music and artists I love in this first playlist - some new interests and some that I have been listening to as long as they have been around. Hopefully you will enjoy them too, and hopefully you will want to come back for more.

Enjoy!

Spring Cleaning and Blog Proceeding

Hello!

(or "I wish it felt like Spring here") CLEANING

As you may have noticed upon arriving at my blog, the style is new, and fresh, and (I think) better. My hand-drawn wreath and scratchy lettering is just for my Etsy shop now ;] Thanks to a friendly fellow Etsy seller, my blog is looking clean and put together. While I know a little bit about coding... really just how to manipulate it once it is already there... I am not good at starting from scratch, so I decided to put my big girl panties on and work with someone who actually knows what's up for pretty cheap. I decided I wanted to make my blog look more professional but still feel fun and happy. I think this template met my desires. 

As you may also notice, I have added a link/page that connects to an about me page (on google plus) and another link/page that connects you to a new online store that I am trying out. This store is run by big cartel, and I really love the fresh, clean look of things. It has some of the same products as my Etsy page, so you could buy from either place, but I do enjoy the feel of the new online store from big cartel. The only thing with the new store (right now, while I'm trying it out) is that you have to pay with Paypal. Let me know what you think of the new store! Seriously, tell me!

PROCEEDING

In addition to the aforementioned changes, I wanted to develop more of a plan for this blog, what will appear on it, and when. One reason is that I want to push myself to continue to invest in the things I care about in my personal life, namely creativity (DIY, up-cycling, arts & crafts), music (appreciating what I already love and always finding new artists), and reading (anything from fiction to cookbooks to religious writings and everything in between). I don't want to make this blog random and fill it with too many things, but I also don't feel ready super-specialize the topic of my blog right now. I think going with some main categories that I want to pursue anyway will help me to keep updating the blog and keep investing my time the way I want to.

SO, I need you. Please. I would love your feedback and or ideas about my ideas. I have been trying to be clever in thinking up names of the main themes for my blog (creating, reading, and music).
- I would love to share a sort of mixtape/playlist on here once a week. Hopefully I can give some of you a nice little soundtrack for the week. These are my cheesy ideas for what to call the series: Mixtape Monday, Sunday Serenades, and Tuesday Tunes. I like the idea of the playlist coming out at the beginning of the week, though.
- For reading, I probably just would like to write up a summary, recommendation, and thoughts about my most recent reading endeavor (similar to my daring greatly post). I thought of some weekly names, but I don't know that I could truly post about a book every week. I'd like to read that much, but it may not be realistic. So, Sunday Summary, Folio Friday, or, for a monthly version, Monthly Manuscript?
- As far as creating/DIY goes, I'd love to post about some of my own projects (like the pocket notebooks) and also maybe some DIY instructions that everyone can follow; my cheesy series name ideas are as follows: Wednesday Workshop. That's it. I struggled with this one.

What do you think about my cheesy series names? Do you have better ideas? (I'm sure you do.) They don't all have to be name based on a day they would air, but I do want to try to make a more or less predictable schedule. Do you even like the ideas for what might be posted? Do you prefer some topics over others?

I'd love to keep this blog true to me, and to it's name, which leans more toward the creative and DIY side of things, but I would love any suggestions. Feel free to comment, or just tell me, what you think. In fact, please do! I have enjoyed being back on this blog so far. I'd think it was great if people enjoyed reading it too. Thank you to those who do!