listen to the land.

day 77. listen to the land.

oh yes. this song makes me feel 7 years old again. i had this song on a record when i was younger and we would listen to it when we were packing to go to Disney World. I am in love with Disney World, if you didn't know. & EPCOT is one of my favorite places on this planet. just listening to this song now makes me wish i were there right now.

My brother and I are probably two of the luckiest kids ever because our parent's spoiled us with trips there every year. I am so thankful now because I have some of the greatest memories, and I'm certain that those trips are partially the reason why my brother and I are still so close to this day.

However, in spite of all the great memories, i have one horrible one. On one excursion, when I was probably in the 1st grade, I got really ticked off over the actions of a costumed character. I don't understand why they always have to kiss you (hello intimacy issues), but I let it slide because i just love mickey. anyway, i got extremely angry when one of Cinderella's mice, PERLA, decided to give my dad a kiss. I was so upset that I was crying and everyone thought it was hilarious. and then when we got home, my parents thought it would be a good idea to send my dad a postcard and act like it came from the freaking character. i didn't think it was funny. i was legitimately frightened that my dad was going to leave our family for a cartoon mouse.

forever and ever, amen.

day 76 forever & ever, amen. by randy travis & the avett brothers.



one of my favorite songs ever sung as a duet with my favorite band ever.

for some reason i have always loved this song. i think i heard it for the first time on one of those time life commercials when i was younger and it's always been a fave. it's such a cheesy love song and always a sign of a good day when i hear it. in fact, hearing it was the inspiration for my country themed Christmas party this year.

i stumbled upon this cover by accident, and ever since have been hoping and praying that someone will serenade me with this. i can only hope that my future boyfriend ends up going back and reading this and then acting upon my greatest wish. i would probably faint.

carried away.

day 75. carried away. by passion pit.

my new theme song & i think the girl in this video is my soul sister.

my summer goal is to have a show down with a bus. the streets in my neighborhood are narrow, but still busses mosey on down & corner cars so they have to back the whole way down the street.  Then the bus drivers don't even acknowledge with a proper thank you. it's the second part of that story that sends me over the edge. if you're going to make me back it up (in any area of my life) then i want a proper thank you. but no. it's not happened once in the 30 times I've had to do it. so.. my goal is to sit there the next time it happens and make the BUS back up. i told my mom this story and she said "sometimes I worry about you."

i get carried away easily. so easily. but i think that's why i'm so fun to be around, MOM.

flowers in your hair.

day 74. flowers in your hair. by the lumineers.

this song is short, sweet, and right to the point. it's per.fec.tion. & i am listening to it on repeat all day long.

cinema.

day 73. cinema. by benny benassi.

help. i like a techno song. it's not okay & i don't know what to do about it, but send a little wish out into the universe that this is not the first of many.

girlfriend.

day 72. girlfriend.

maybe i am just including this song so i make it perfectly clear that i am not the only person who has ever acted like a total weirdo over a boy.

st. patrick's day 2005 & unnamed friend is sitting at her computer playing this song over and over and over again and bawling her eyes out. it might have been sad if it was a sad song playing, but the rest of us, who were sitting in the living room in our festive green just could not stop laughing. it's such a ridiculous song, and i'm 99% sure said friend called up the guy with the girlfriend and played this song for him over the phone.

months later when we were sure that bringing up the song wouldn't make her upset, we reminded our friend about that day and laughed and laughed and laughed. to this day, it is one of our favorite stories & a perfect memory. how boring would life be if girls never lost their shit over a boy. there'd basically be zero fun stories to tell.

hit or miss.

day 71. hit or miss. by new found glory.

new found glory (insert smiley face with heart eyes here)!!!!!! so 00's.

once upon a time, my 18 year old brother went to the new found glory concert and took a friend instead of his 15 year old sister... (HOW DARE HE.. am I right??). To make me feel better, he brought me home a water bottle that he swore the lead singer threw into the crowd. looking back now, i'm pretty sure he found it on the ground and brought it to me just to placate me and stop me from moping around the house. at the time, though, I truly believed him. I kept that water bottle next to my bed like it was filled with holy water and showed it off anytime a friend would come over. flash forward to a few weeks in the future when I ACCIDENTALLY took a sip of the dirty, old, warm water thinking it was a different bottle.

i thought it was cool at the time that i started puking the next morning - especially because i told everyone that "Jordan from new found glory" got me sick. but really, looking back, i got sick because i drank some dirty stranger's month old water. i'd say this is a cautionary tale, but i'm pretty sure no one else out there is ridiculous enough to make this same mistake.

 

san dimas high school football rules.

day 70. san dimas high school football rules. by the ataris.

the first thing I think of when I hear this song is lovespell-scented lotion from victoria's secret. I don't know about anyone else my age, but at my school we were obsessed with that stuff for all of highschool. obsessed might not even convey just how many bottles of lotion and body spray I had. I mean i'm actually positive that I still have a stockpile of some at my parent's house that I've not even been able to use yet. I liked it because it made me smell like fruit by the foot. I guess that's weird.

the second thing I think of is my best friend thea because this was one of our high school anthems. we went through a stage where we listened to this song over and over again and replaced the whitney in "whitney, don't you understand here what I say is true, I just want you to know I have a major crush on you." with whomever we had a crush on at the moment. (sidenote: I actually just did that to myself while playing this song again for the first time in years. whoa. revelation. I didn't even KNOW I had a crush on that person. yikes.) I though I would write more about how thea and I started safety-pinning our clothing together and temporarily changed our names (I called myself Zoe), but now I think I need to go and mentally wrap my head around these feelings for my so called crush and why i'm 28 years old and still getting crushes on people like I did when I was 16. help.

old friend.

day 69. old friend. by sea wolf.

when people aren't messing with my music at work, i discover great songs. like this one. i'm sure i've said it before, but the reason i love reading and listening to music is because i always find that other people can express how i feel ten million times better than i ever could. this is a song that expresses exactly how i feel today. & exactly what i would say if i could.

i was a fool.

day 68. i was a fool. by tegan & sara.

if i sang karaoke, i would sing this song. i lived this song for 5 years & there isn't all that much i can say about it. but i would definitely sing about it. if i wasn't worried an agent would discover me. i have no more time for another job.

mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

day 67. mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. by waylon jennings & willie nelson.

happy mother's day!

i think my mom worried about me for awhile in my mid-twenties when i went through a country phase. i became a member of, and solely hung out at, the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, started playing pool, wearing more plaid than normal, and started listening to songs like this in the car.

luckily i remained mostly unscathed. if not, i'm a little more rough around the edges and it's all for the best. i'm 100% nostalgic about that time in my life, and look forward to someday in the future when I ditch the city lifestyle and live in the middle of nowhere.

can't help falling in love.

day 66. fleet foxes. can't help falling in love.

in middle school i was digging a guy in the high school marching band.  & despite being hilariously unathletic and a major advocate of hanging out indoors, i used to walk/run the track with my mom just in hopes of glancing the marching band practicing. that summer leading to eighth grade they played "can't help falling in love." and i just pathetically felt that way about my crush. & his dinkles. if you don't know what dinkles are, you just wouldn't understand. but, go ahead and google it.

i heard this version the other day, and it is honestly one of the most beautiful songs i have ever heard. every single time i hear this song, in any form, it takes me back to summer nights at age 13. which is when everything SEEMS so complicated, but is really one of the last times in life when it's EASY. if only we would realize it at the time. enjoy!

joy.

day 65. joy. by ellie goulding.

one of the reasons i love music is because sometimes a song just gets you right in the heart. or the gut. or the head. this song got me in all three the first time i heard it. since one of my personal goals in the past few months has been to let joy into my life, this song made me feel like i could take on the world. i'm always in awe of the way musicians or authors or even just my friends can word things in a way that sticks with me. in case you were wondering one of my favorite intentions during yoga is "let joy in." namaste, ellie.

first day of my life.

day 64. first day of my life. by bright eyes.

insert stereotypical wedding song for all late 20/early 30 hipsters here.

this song played on a loop through my head the first time i saw a boy i briefly dated in my early 20's. i was standing on a balcony when i set my sights on him and time stopped. i looked at my roommate and said "oh my god, i am going to marry that guy." straight out of a movie. i'm sure i also dramatically threw myself onto a couch or something.

on a side note, don't you love how people tell the story of how they met their future spouse and in the story, they are always so SURE that this person is going to be the "one" that they inevitably always tell someone - usually their mother - "this is the one i am going to marry." but, what they don't say is how many other times they have said that about someone. clearly i've already said that about someone I DIDN'T end up with (and some others along the way). but, maybe that's just me.

the best part of this story is not my melodramatic personality. the best part is that i told the guy the story about seeing him from the balcony and it didn't send him running in the other direction. it made him like me more. it made him declare. "Ash. I love you." did i mention that we only BRIEFLY dated? what was wrong with him? as it turned out, i introduced him to a friend and he ended up dumping me for her. & it was on to the next one, on to the next one, on to the next one for him.  his love for falling in love did not come hand in hand with fidelity or loyalty.


despite this, he remained my close and dear friend for a large chunk of my 20's. until I flew to another state to see him and he blew me off.... so he could go out and cheat on his fiance while she was out of town. friendship over.

i just don't have room for people like that in my life & now thank the good Lord often that I was oh so wrong on that day Conor Oberst & his sappy tune flitted through my head. when i tell my "how we met story," it will go like this. "he's not the first guy i thought i would someday marry, but 10th times the charm, right?" god, my mother in law is going to love me.

society.

day 63. society. by eddie vedder.

eddie vedder is just one of those people that suit every single mood. in particular, i like to listen to this song all the time. more & more i'm realizing that I NEED TO MOVE TO THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. inevitably, i will someday live in a log cabin, play the fiddle, and write every day sitting by my fireplace. until then, the city lifestyle is just going to have to cut it.

this song also reminds me of the time i watched "into the wild" with my mother and she started to worry that my brother would one day pack up and live a solitary existence just like christopher mccandless did. to which i said "are we talking about the same person?" luckily, since then he's found love, gotten married, and had a baby. if i were my mother i would have been more worried about me.

and if you haven't seen "into the wild," you must. it is heart-wrenching. or maybe i was just the only person who didn't know what was going to happen until the end.

i walk the line.

 day 62. i walk the line. by johnny cash.

back in the day, i once made this my instant messenger away message only to be dumped before coming back to the computer. it kind of sucked. and the thing is, it had nothing to do with me making that my away message. he didn't use IM. thank god. or it would have been realllllly embarassing. um hello. i felt like a real idiot coming home and having to undo that message. rookie mistake. i learned at a young age not to make every miniscule detail of my relationship business everyone else's business.

i swear to you, my plan is to one day post pictures of my wedding and have people be like.. "WTF. I didn't even know she had a boyfriend."

here comes the sun.

day 61. here comes the sun. by george harrison.

i realize that this song is actually a beatles tune, but it is george harrison's song & my favorite version is of a solo george harrison performing live. have i mentioned before how much i love that man? well, i do.

i listened to this version - recorded at harrison's concert for bangladesh over and over again while i was flying to bangladesh a few years ago. because what else should you do during a 20 hour trip to bangladesh?  i literally listened to nothing else but beatles songs and george, john, and paul during that three week excursion. & i don't use literally lightly here. i literally listened to nothing else.

this song is great to listen to during the changing of winter to spring. but this song is also good to listen to every other day. i consider it a good day when my playlist or radio station stumbles upon this. fresh days, fresh starts, and new beginnings. hyfr.

mama, i'm alright.

 day 60. mama, i'm alright. by miranda lambert.

truth is out by now that i have a semi-secret love for country music that extends past my love for taylor swift. can't help it. i think it has something to do with the time i was hoodwinked into going to the kenny chesney concert, fell down the steps, and walked around on a busted ankle all day. i've not been the same since.

country tunes are always very "feelings" oriented, so i should know better than to put any of them on my running mix - let alone my marathon mix. i mean, seriously, running tends to make me emotional enough on it's own.

being surrounded by 30,000 people who are running for someone they love who can't, or to support a cause that is close to their hearts, or just because it makes them feel alive, is a feeling that everyone should experience in their lives. and on top of that, there are the thousands of volunteers and spectators who are there to support people they know and love. & those who do it for no other reason than to support a complete stranger going for a goal. it's all a big love-fest. aka something i normally avoid. but it gets right at my heart to be a part of something that means so much to so many people. which is why i have to stop and walk when i come across something that really tugs on my heart strings. for instance, i saw a little old man cheering with the organ donation people holding up a sign that said "i got my heart in 1989." and of course i started feeling like i was going to cry and couldn't breathe so i had to walk for a bit.

which is the same reaction i had when this song came on. lord only knows why. although probably the line "my step is sure, and i know my name. i'm strong just like you prayed i'd be." i run because it makes me feel strong. it makes me feel like i am enough, that i can give enough, and be enough to overcome anything that life throws my way. i run because running 13.1 miles is something that i never thought i would be able to do. (because i'm the type of person who falls down steps). & honestly, i hope that everyone has something in their lives that makes them feel the way that running can make me feel.

beta love.

day 59. beta love. by ra ra riot.

this song brings "best day ever" vibes.

for one, it reminds me of my super cool niece. she introduced me to this song and it is one of her favorites. great taste in music, cute as a button, and only 9 months old. watch out world.

for another, it makes me think of two cute robots falling in love.

and lastly, it makes me think that i really can take on whatever life is throwing at me. on long days it makes me happy. on happy days it makes me happier.

tonight when I was setting up my running playlist for tomorrow morning i knew this was a must have. here's to starting a two hour run to a song that makes me feel superhuman.

i love it.

day 58. i love it. by icona pop.

yeah yeah. this is a judgement free zone. i like this song. no... i love it. (ha ha).

laundry room.

day 57. laundry room. by the avett brothers.

this is, hands down, my favorite avett brothers song.

i'm not going to try to pretend that it doesn't remind me word for word of someone. the best songs always do. to me, this song is about selfless love. for someone who deserves it. because if we are all being honest, sometimes people don't. but when you find those people that do, it's special. and they leave the very best kinds of indelible marks on your life.

okay. sappy rant over. but if you don't experience feelings when listening to this song, there's got to be something wrong with you. just my own, very humble, personal opinion.

using a live version of this song is a must, because the avett brothers are more amazing live than any studio version could ever capture. also because i love the fact that these guys have the same hair (un)style as i do. it just makes me love them that much more. 

turn on me.

day 56. turn on me. by the shins.

it's like the shins all day, errrday lately.

i have a real knack for putting together mixes. and i think my real talent lies in order. it typically takes me about a month to put together a mix for someone. i take it that seriously. & so after i choose the songs, i toy around with the order and transitions until it is JUST right. i wonder if i could get a job doing just that? with no musical experience other than the flute and my recent forays into fiddle playing, i doubt it.

however, i think the shins made a mistake on the order of the songs on their wincing the night away album. i mean, i don't know.  can you tell james mercer and the shins that you think they messed up? maybe, but probably not. they clearly know better. however, i think it would have been lovely to have a comet appears say "still to come, the worst part and you know it." and then later on in the album have turn on me say "the worst part is over, now get back on that horse and ride." but they appear in the opposite order, which to me sends the message - "you thought the worst part was over, but no ma'am it is still to come." which... YIKES.

regardless, of how they appear on the album in my mind it's all "the worst part came, it's over. now buck up bronco. you are amazing." which is why you will find "a comet appears" posted a week ago and "turn on me" today.

i realize that this is probably confusing to anyone who has limited knowledge on the shins. so... disclaimer.