Top 10 for 2014

2014 is wrapping up, and oh what a year.  I would say I was more impacted by music this year than ever before; probably because I had so much more time alone to listen to it.   Here is to re-discovering the old and diving into the new.

I can not wait to see what 2015 has in store for our eardrums.  So many new concert venues up here in ol' CO to check out, too!

2013 was a hard year to follow in the music world, some of my new all time favs came out of last year's geniosity... but here are my top 10 Albums for 2014 (in no particular order... because the order changes with the mood) :

Beck, Morning Phase 

War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream

Phantogram, Voices

Spoon, They Want My Soul

Young the Giant, Mind Over Matter

Fink, Hard Believer

Broods, Evergreen 

The New Pornographers, Brill Busters

Highasakite, Silent Treatment

Hooray for Earth, Racy

be here now.

Intentionality.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Well let me just tell you:

in·ten·tion·al·i·ty/inˌtenCHəˈnalitē/

noun the fact of being deliberate or purposive. Every year, I have been given a word.  A word that moves and shakes that year.  This year? Intentionality (not much of a mover and shaker if you ask me).  And strangely, it is maybe the most difficult of the words I have heard.  "Abundance."  Now that was a good year.  I can handle that one.  But for some reason, intentionality seems tricky.  Also, you're a little late to the game, Word-Of-The-Year (or maybe I wasn't listening). To me, "intentionality" carries with it a "be here now."  Be present. Be intentional with both actions and (here's the hard one) thoughts.  I had a journal entry the other day that had a bit of an odd juxtaposition; it was a feeling that I really believe to be true but on the other hand also found it to be mildly impossible in my wee mind.  It said, " I feel myself being pulled into something so much greater than myself... and it is fantastic." immediately followed by, "be here now."   Well which is it? Now? Future? Stillness? Pulling?  Yeesh, Word-Of-The-Year, make up your mind!   But there is something startlingly beautiful in this intentional state.  I feel more deeply, it seems.  Feel everything.  Which (if you know me) can be quite dangerous, but it is also good. and necessary.  Is "therapeutic" the word I'm looking for? I don't know. Sure.  It also helps me see where I am going a lot more easily than if I was just bumbling down a path with my eyes closed (duh). If you have been in the dark as to where my life is right now, I recently moved from Texas to Colorado. By myself.  This move has been a tiny bit more terrifying than I had anticipated. A small part of that terror was just the fact that it was all getting away from me. Things were moving and settling and I was just flitting from one thing to the next with the same careless surface-skimming that made this move necessary for me in the fist place.  It was like driving through a garden in a car with the windows rolled up. Yes, I caught glimpses of the beauty.  I was moving forward and could check "saw the garden" off of life's list (no. that is not actually on my list. but you get it.), but I was missing all of the greatness that makes a garden what it is.  I was end goal-ing instead of letting each step add to the adventure and excitement (a habit that has been prevalent for most of my life). So. Here's to this! Breathing. Mountains. Friendships. Fire-pit nights. Journaling. God. 30. Art. Constellations (you know you can see those here? cool.)  Finding myself where I am. Dealing with those skimmed over heart-issues. Adventure. Intentionality. Here.  Final note: I was in yoga the other night (yeah. I do that now. hippy.) and this "in the moment" who-ha was going through my mind.  Well, our cool-down-meditate-center-yourself-lie-on-the-floor-but-don't-fall-asleep song was Ray LaMontagne's "Be Here Now;" A song that I have loved for years, played on repeat, fallen asleep to, and of which I had [apparently] never noted the lyrics.  So, in case you do not know the song of which I speak, here is a video of that bearded beauty singing away.  I recommend lying down on the ground and soaking it in.  It worked for me. Maybe spritz a bit of lavender? Find a sweaty stranger to hang out next to you? I don't know.

I hope you enjoyed it. Namaste. (just kidding. I don't really say that. who do you think I am?) (check back in a month.)  

This is 30.

Well,  away we go. 

A brand new decade to embrace and learn.  I'm going to be honest... 30 hit me harder than I thought it would.  I am not one who cares about numbers or aging; or rather, didn't think that I did.  However, I teared up as the clock struck midnight and I raised a shot glass saying farewell to my lost twenties.  (I played it off with a yawn. Don't worry... no one will know what a baby you are.  Also, I didn't vomacano the shot. so. double win.) 

I got glasses a couple of weeks ago.  I tried to dye my hair purple but just don't have the patience for multiple bleachings... so I got bangs instead.  I got another tattoo.  I finished all of the free Downton Abbys.  I go by Blanche, now.  30, let's do this.

Also, along the lines of some 1/3 life crisis (hey! It ain't mid yet!) I have decided to move to Colorado.  I have less than five months left here... and I am terrified.  I have never been on such a big move before.  Especially not without any friends going with me.  I am taking the fam and although I am very thankful for that, it is not quite the same.  Dad is ecstatic, as is Mom... as am I, I suppose.  But still afraid. 

Afraid that I am going to lose everyone.  Also afraid that it will end up being the same story in a different state;  because as much as it is the change that scares me... it is the change that I so desperately need. 

So, here's to my big girl year (let's hope that only means age. gotta get back to boot camp before the hips start going out).  

Does this mean I have to go by "adult," now?   I duh know... I'll ask my mom. 

"30 is the new 20."  Well, I'm not sure I got so much out of my 20s.  So let's hope 30 is... 30.

Maybe I'll dye my hair purple tomorrow.  Or buy a cat.