Thankfulness Challenge - Day 17

Yesterday I talked of my love of TV and how it’s used to unwind, relax, veg out and chill after a long day at work. I mentioned that Music was my other love. Where TV is my go to at the end of the day, music usually gets me through the day. When I’m having a bad day at work I can put my headphones on and mellow out while accomplishing the items I need to in order for the next day to be better. When I’m having a good productive day at work there’s peppy music for that too. When the guy down the hall is arguing with his wife, or there is a lot of foot traffic on my hallway I have music for that too. So I'm thankful for the creative people who use their talents to entertain me and keep me sane!

Some of my favorite go to artists (new and old) include, because frankly there’s too many to name all of them:

§  Bryan White @bryan_white My ALL-TIME favorite artist ever…. I mean literally if I could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life it would be this guy. It’s crazy to me to think that he’s been entertaining me since 1994 and every CD is better than the last. Not to tell you my age or anything but I bought Bryan’s first album on tape for my first ever car. http://www.bryanwhite.com/

§  Markus Fox @Markus_Fox is a new country music artist who is currently pushing his way up the charts with songs from his debut EP Thinkin’ Out Loud. His award winning song I’m Still Coming Home makes me tear up every time he sings it and his other single 22 Miles From Hell gives me chills. He’s going to be tearing up the charts very soon jump in the Fox Hole now! http://www.markusfox.com/

§  Eric Erdman @EricErdmanMusic I’ll admit I met Eric through Markus (well Markus’ mom) and was blown away, the way this man strings together concepts and thoughts makes me laugh, smile and think. The fact that he’s a complete sweetheart and adorable didn’t hurt. http://www.ericerdmanmusic.com/

§  Haley & Michaels @haleynmichaels As a How I Met Your Mother fan when I hear I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) I sit up and pay attention and the cover Haley and Michaels do of it is fantastic. The way they blend their voices together and put their own spin on it. They owned this song and give it new life. They also have a new  EP well worth the money. Just Another Love Song their other single is great. http://haleyandmichaels.richardsandsouthern.com/haley-and-michaels-ep.html

§  Nathan Woodward @nathanwoodward a Jazz recording artist who plays a mean saxophone. That’s the one instrument I’ve always wanted to learn to play. It fascinates me and always elevates a song when included on the track. I’m so glad he tweeted me about his album allowing me to find his music. I have used it several times during a stressful situation to relax and mellow out. http://www.nathanwoodward.com/

§  Maddie and Tae @MaddieandTae I was listening to the radio one day on my way to a Markus Fox show and heard the new song Girl in a Country Song and it made me giggle. When I got home I immediately looked them up and followed them on Twitter. They recently released their debut EP and I can’t stop listening to it. These ladies are really talented. They co-wrote each track on the EP and Sierra and Fly are amazing. They run through my head constantly. I work up this morning singing Fly. It’s a beautiful song. If I had a negative thing to say about Maddie and Tae it’s that their EP was too short it definitely left me wanting more. http://www.maddieandtae.com/

As you can tell music makes me happy but even more important that that I love discovering new artist and connecting with them especially early in their career. It’s fantastic watching a really talented person go from an unknown to being on radio, all over you tube and seeing their hard work pay off on the charts. It’s also pretty fantastic seeing an artist who rises back up after being knocked down by the music industry. So whether you buy digital music, CDs, records, or just listen to the radio take a minute to listen to an artist you haven’t heard before … you might be surprised by the artist you come to meet.

While the list above contains a lot of country artist …that’s just the kick I’m on at the moment. I go through spurts of genres and then I’ll get sick of it and move to another genre and eventually make my way back. I LOVE Random on an MP3 player or several CDs flipping back and forth cause I do get bored when I listen to the same thing all day long. Don’t worry there will be many more posts of artist I think you all need to know and I’d love to hear about artist you like that I could discover.

--Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 16

So Golden’s last few posts have been about what helps her unwind, relax, just veg out as her brain settles down before getting back to the reality of the real world outside of her front door. Where she relies on movies and books, I go to my TV and music. I LOVE books I don’t read nearly as much as I wish I could, tho if I’m really into a book nothing else comes in front of it. I like movies too but often a movie is something that I fall asleep during. Ask Golden, Kill Bill is like a valium for me, every single time about 15 minutes in I am hit by a bout of Narcolepsy. EVERY.DAMN.TIME!!! Nope for me my go to escape is television. My TV watching is as varied as my music listening. I love watching dramas, comedy, the lovely dramedy, cooking shows, etc. anything that I find fascinating or creative makes me happy.

While my love of music is not a surprise to you loyal reader it's my I love of TV that I'm focused on for the moment. I love falling into a story arc or being blown away by the visuals on my screen and now with Twitter I love connecting to the people on my TV. One of my favorite shows at the moment is The Goldbergs, which a friend of mine was all you have to watch this so I did and I laughed. So I came back the next week and laughed even more, now it’s my favorite show of the week. Adam Goldberg the creator of the show loves to tweet with fans either before or after the show, and often during it. The cast of Agents of Shield are also big "live tweet" fans. 

I am not however a fan of the “Live Tweet” during a show. I loved How I Met Your Mother, from day one to the last episode (yes I LOVED THE FINALE!!!!) but I think if the Live Tweet had been a thing I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Granted I tweeted with a few of the writers/creators/actors throughout the years about an episode but usually AFTER it aired. If I’m looking at my phone or my Surface then I’m not “watching the show” or enjoying the show I’m watching and tweeting in the hopes someone will see it and think I’m cleaver and smart. Plus talking about major events during a show can ruin it for other people, granted that's more their issue than mine but yeah no one needs to be a dick cause they are in a different time zone.

I’d much rather sit back, maybe with a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show for what it is. That’s not to say I won’t jump on Twitter during a commercial or after a pretty funny moment and throw something out there then jump back into my show right after.

My current TV must list by day includes these shows:

§  Sunday – Black Dog Salvage – must see TV on DIY – these guys are crazy creative and awesome.

§  Monday – Castle on ABC … NOTHING …. Not a single thing on this earth comes before Castle. NOTHING.

§  Tuesday – Marvel’s Agents of Shield on ABC – by far my all time favorite show!  

§  Wednesday – The Goldbergs on ABC – seriously check out this show it’s awesome and brings back some fantastic memories. On the other side of that spectrum my other new “go to” show is Red Band Society, I’m obsessed with those kids.  

§  Thursday – Rehab Addict on both DIY and HGTV – Nicole is ah-mazing she’s hard working, funny, and super talented. She’s also a really active twitter user, tho I know sometimes she wishes people wouldn’t tweet her as much negativity. She’s a very positive person and likes to display that to the world.

§  Friday – I usually flip around and see what I can find. On some days I’ll get a marathon of How It’s Made or Salvage Dawgs and just veg out with those.

§  Saturday – This is usually reserved for football or some other type of sport.

On nights where there is nothing on I rely on my TIVO which is filled with old episodes of Night Court, Designing Women, various food network shows, that are mostly used for background noise while I type away on my Surface. I am thankful for the creative people who are smart enough to sell a show to a network, and for that network to be smart enough to put those shows on the air for my enjoyment.

Maybe this is why I create my TV calendars for Halloween and Christmas cause there’s so much going on I don’t want to miss any of it. With a calendar by chair I can check it and make sure that all those nights that I have nothing to watch or my shows are on “break” I can fill that void with some awesome holiday goodness to get me into the holiday spirit. I’ve started the Christmas calendar … I hope to post it on Dec. 1^st that way everyone can make the most of it during the holiday. Keep up with the blog cause this is where it will be posted and you’ll not want to miss it.

What does your TV relaxation list include?  

--Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 15

I am writing this to you all from the cozy tissue littered sick nest of my bed. Please consider this my last will and testament. Well, ok so I may not be dying, but I'm close to it. Ok, so I may not be close to it. It may just be the flu and I'm a dramatic fevered bitch. Either way, I totally feel like ass! Ok. Ok. Ok. I will shut up with my bitching before you turn the blog channel. Plus this month is supposed to be about being thankful not about boring the shit out of people with my snotty lifestyle.

My past few blog contributions have been about the importance of the chill. And how it does a body, mind, and soul good.

Marcy is a huge music fan. Music allows her to mellow out and melt away. I like music, but my taste in music is really bad. I admit that freely. Plus relaxing is not how I use music. Music tends to pep me up, but it could be because the type of music I prefer is fast with a beat. So I usually lean on music to get me revved. Like while I'm getting ready to go out, or while I'm trying to meet a deadline, or even that one time I went to the gym. So music doesn't really soothe my soul. But movies, movies totally do!

I love going to the movie theater. Especially the older classic theatres that you can still find across the U.S. The ones that play "The Wizard of Oz" or "It's a Wonderful Life" and allow you to melt away into a past life.

I even love curling up on the couch and watching a movie. I crave movies the way some people crave food. Being sick recently, I've been craving my "Sick Time Movie Playlist". It has such great hits as "The Labyrinth", "The Princess Bride" "Stardust" "Flight of Dragons". You know excellent movies that don't work against the cold meds but instead enhance the experience.

Have you ever gone to a proper theatre and been so drawn into the production that your peripheral falls away and you are completely focused with such tunnel vision, that you forget where you are when you snap back to yourself? I love that feeling. And I love it when that happens when I'm watching a good movie. As the holiday season is starting i, like most people I'm sure, have a "Seasonal Movie Playlist" so you will probably get tired of hearing about my love of movies. So I will do my best not to bore you with my love of Movie Playlists. I am so thankful for the creative people who create these movies and hopefully you too can extract some of the beauty and movie magic that I am so thankful for. Because movies, especially some of the classics, are magical and I am thankful that they allow me to suspend my mind and journey to places and times that would otherwise be impossible for me to reach.
 

I know that there exists a type of person that doesn't like "old movies". Hey, you like what you like. So I'm not trying to tell you that you are wrong to feel that way, but yeah....you're wrong to feel that way. Just kidding (no I'm not). But if you find yourself with time on your hands and you need a movie to escape to, here are a few of my favorites.
 

Please to enjoy...

§  Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (Peter Sellers is comedy gold in the absurd)

§  Cat on A Hot Tin Roof (I can't turn away from the beautiful perfection of Liz Taylor and Paul Newman.)

§  To Kill A Mockingbird (I cry every time. "Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father's passing")

§  Guys and Dolls (You just can't beat Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. Brando was gorgeous before he went all nutters.)

§  Harvey (I dare you to not believe in a giant 6ft, three and a half inch tall invisible rabbit after you see this)

§  The Goonies (Because come on we all are Goonies at heart. Plus, Hello? Cyndi Lauper soundtrack)

§  Jurassic Park (Because you can't get much cooler than dinosaurs. Well you could if you put them in space!)

§  Mothra vs. Godzilla, 1962 (I. Love. Godzilla! And mothra is the only kaiju I know that comes with her own tiny bitches)

§  Godfather (which has Brando during his nutters period and Robert Duvall who also plays Boo Radley from "To Kill A Mockingbird". Connections are fun.)

§  The Birds (I'm not sure what's most impressive, the fact that this movie is frightening no matter how many times I see it or the fact that Tippi exists in that same outfit all weekend long through numerous bird attacks and still looks fly!)
 

-golden (@theonlygolden)

 

 

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 14

At our office we have a blood drive every 6 months or so. The blood mobile comes to our office and we sign up, walk downstairs and spent about 30 minutes or so in the buss answering all these insane questions, get poked, lay around for a few minutes, then get a cookie a glass of juice and head back to work. It’s a wonderful opportunity to help our community. Typically they stay from 8:30-1, sometimes longer if there’s a stream of people trying to get in. There happened to be a blood drive on Sep. 11^th and the blood mobile ended up staying until well after 6pm.

Today was a blood drive day, or as I call it “Blood Sucking Day!” I got my submittal emailed to the other office (who was going to print/bind/and hand deliver it (see yesterday’s post if you have no idea what I’m talking about) and the receptionist called and said it was my turn. I grabbed my ID and took off downstairs. I read the paperwork and headed to the bus. I went into the room to answer the insane questions and the nurse went to take my blood pressure. She put the cuff on my arm and started squeezing. She jokingly asked, high or low? I said high … it’s always high. She was listening to my blood pressure and went huh…. Let’s try a different cuff. This one doesn’t always work right. She went out and got another cuff and came back. She started the process again. Upon finishing the task she said … that’s not … ok I’m going to get someone else to listen. She called one of the other ladies into the room and she completed the process again. After this time they both looked at me like I had a lobster on my head doing a dance and shouting profanities.  

It was determined that my blood pressure was too high for me to donate. As I said it’s always high, sometimes more than others but usually on the higher spectrum. They gave me a sheet of paper with the numbers on it and I was sent on my way with a big speech about getting it checked out. I told them I would. I made my way back to my desk and my boss saw me, he said that was quick. I told him what happened and now he’s all stressed out. It’s like everyone thinks I’m going to keel over dead at any moment.

I tried to tell him it’s been a super stressful week, from my friend’s surgery, to the last minute submittal and the long hours it’s just been a long week. I feel fine but I do have to admit it was nice of him to be concerned. So for today I’m thankful to have a boss that seems to appreciate what I do, appreciate who I am and who actually looked at me today and said “If something happens to you not only will it affect our work in a negative way but also I’ll miss you!” So I guess that means I’ll make a doctor’s appointment, something I truly hate to do. Good guilt trip Steven … well played sir!

-Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 13

Today, I’m not going to lie, has been rough. Yesterday after lunch it was decided my firm would submit on a project that was DUE on Friday. This Friday. Tomrorow. So doing the math that gives me a day…day and a half to get it done. I spent most of yesterday afternoon getting the team started or at least figuring out who my team would include. We knew about one sub but needed another and the manager involved was literally MIA. He has this thing he does where he sits on a project for a week or so then says let’s submit then like Keyser Soze is gone. You can e-mail and you can call but he’s just like the wind and gone which is frustrating as hell. The guy is a super nice fella and I have no doubt he’s busy and not just ignoring me cause he can but damn it’s annoying that I can’t get my work done cause I can’t get him to make a damn decision.

I got to work today before 6:30am, and left at 6:30 tonight. I did leave for about 30 minutes to grab some lunch but because this guy couldn’t make a decision I felt like I was behind all day long. I know in my head it’s not me, and I didn’t drop the ball, but I also know it’s not going to get done if I don’t keep pushing it. I deeply resent almost having to be a bitch to get answers for a project. That said I knocked out everything but the resumes today. Which is pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself. Keep in mind that working on this one has taken away from the one that I was suppose to be working on for next week. Sigh...

So today I’m thankful that my coworkers were smart enough to see that both my headphones were in my ears, that I was super focused on the task at hand and they left me alone. This has been a pretty stressful week, from a dear friend having a double mastectomy on Tuesday, to the stress of this submittal, Friday can’t get here fast enough.

On a side note if anyone sees Golden give her a Diet Coke and a pat on the head cause she has the black plague and I miss her so tell her to get better soon!!!  --Marcy

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 12

I’m thankful tonight for the internet, it’s the place I go to in order to relax, find out information, it helps me find new musicians to follow resulting in more music for me, and games, oh there are so many games available for free to play. However the thing I love about the internet the most is my ability to use it to secure free food.

Back in college it was the greatest weapon to get a free Chinese Buffett usually at the expense of Golden but also others. If I was sick of that I’d go for pizza or chick-fil-a. I wasn’t always right but was more right that wrong.

The bets usually centered around a celebrity and their status of breathing or not so much, or if some celebrity was in this movie or not and the internet always had the answers. Life before the internet had to be a sad one, lucky for me I don’t really remember those dark and scary days. I envy the kids of today who get to carry the internet in their pocket. In my day we had to wait to look something up, remember that it needed to be looked up, and wait for that horrible dial-up sound to make it happen.

OK I admit I’m not quite that old, yes I had to deal with dial up but also knew the sweet sweet awesomeness of high speed internet. So for Day 12 I’m thankful for the endless wonder that is the internet. For someone who loved to thumb through the encyclopedia and end up jumping from volume A to G and then to K and back to C before ending at W makes the internet fascinating to me. Granted there are some negative areas of the internet but because of the way it's set up I just avoid those areas of the internet. The worst part is when it’s 11:30 at night and I can’t sleep cause I’m still on my phone or thinking about an article I recently read …. Small price to pay tho …. I guess.

 

Plus where else but the internet can you find Jem pimping out a Honda and telling GI Joe to bug off ...

 

 

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 11

Today is the day that everyone’s time lines change to show their various military family members with a post on how proud of them they are, how they miss their family members, and how much they love them. People change their profile picture to their dad in their military fatigues or their brother in his dress blues, or a mommy soldier being welcomed home by their children. They post these long stories about their military family member and each one is really touching.

As you scroll up and down your various timelines pause and read what that soldier did and think about how his/her life, actions, and sacrifice has altered your life and give a like, a comment, or even just silently pray for him/her and their families. I can't imagine how hard it has to be to be a spouse, parent, kid, friend, loved one of a soldier gone for months or years at a time.

Today, and everyday, I am thankful for those who put themselves in harms way everyday for me, I appreciate the sacrifice and salute you.

May you all make it home safely and may you come home soon!

My favorite Marine Markus Fox, along with his cousin Eric Erdman, was on the Rick and Bubba show this morning listen to his story and hear his award winning song I'm Still Coming Home, a touching song about PTSD and dealing with it from his side of the table. He also sings 22 Miles From Hell, a fantastic song about what it's like on the front line. Today marks the year anniversary of his Debut EP Thinkin' Out Loud if you like what you hear below check it out on ITunes or wherever you buy your digital music.

Thank you Markus for your service and for your message! You truly are an amazing guy and I love how you use your talents to spread awareness on suicide in the military.