Music Gives Life To Everything

As I've mentioned before, I am a massive music lover (my iTunes library recently surpassed 6000 songs) so today I'm going to share with you guys some of the songs that have been on repeat recently on my iPod.

VIA

1. The Civil Wars: Yes I know I mentioned them yesterday, but the album is just so dang good. I'm obsessed. I think my favorites are "To Whom It May Concern" and "I've Got This Friend". I also love that people don't know how to categorize their music. The Grammy's have nominated them in both Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Folk Album. As a big country fan, I personally don't see them in that category but I would love nothing more than for this group and others similar to it to begin creating their own niche, and a place for that niche in radio.


2. Lily Allen- Never Gonna Happen: Okay, call my super late to the party on this one (her most recent album came out in 2009) but if you have listened to top 40 radio at all recently then you have heard T-Pain's 5 O'Clock which uses the chorus of the Lily Allen song "Who'd Have Known". In any case I went back and listened to her album "It's Not Me, It's You" and I just love her peppy way of tearing someone down. Yes I realize that sounds like an oxymoron, but only this girl can sing about never wanting to see someone again and still sound so sweet. "Never Gonna Happen" is my personal fave on the album.

3. Taylor Swift ft The Civil Wars- Safe and Sound: Taylor is my girl. Call me a teenage girl if you want to, but I love her. She recently released this single that is going to be on The Hunger Games soundtrack. It is different from her normal, bubbly, country-pop. Her voice is much more folksy, airy, and light in this song (I'm sure the influence of The Civil Wars helps). Also, if you've read The Hunger Games, I think this song is perfectly written for the novel and even evokes a specific scene in my mind (I won't say which scene though just in case some one reading hasn't read and plans to).

4. Jake Owen- Obviously I have to give my country people a spot on here. I recently downloaded his album, Barefoot Blue Jean Night. I had loved the title track this summer but hadn't heard the rest of it until hearing his most recent single "Alone With You" (WHICH I LOOOOVVVEE) on the radio. I like "Settin The World On Fire", "The Journey of Your Life", and "The One That Got Away".


5. Kate Voegele- This one is not exactly new either (hey, at least this album came out in 2011), but I've loved this girl ever since she was on One Tree Hill (two shout outs to that show in two days hehe). Her most recent album, Gravity Happens, wasn't my fave at first but it has grown on me since. My initial favorites were "Impatient Girl" and "Sandcastles" but I also love the title track, "Beg You To Fall", and "Enjoy The Ride".

VIA

Let me know what you guys have been obsessed with lately-- seriously I am ALWAYS on the hunt for new music!

-- I think I was tired when I wrote this post because I just went back through (Thursday afternoon) and fixed multiple typos... whoops!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Since I didn't do a link up yesterday, I thought I would link up with Jaime today for her weekly "What I'm Loving".

Now if I'm honest this list was a little bit difficult to put together, mainly because the holidays just ended and I am officially no longer on vacation. I am quite sad to see Christmas and New Year's go. This year was just so amazing.

Yesterday was my first day back at work in just over a week, and if I'm honest it definitely was dragging. But that is enough complaining!

Here is what I'm loving...

...all the amazing pictures I got this past week/weekend with my wonderful friends. Check out my NYE and beach trip posts to see all those great pics!

I already posted this... but I just love it sooo much!

...the return of some of my favorite TV shows- The Bachelor, Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game (a recent discovery), etc. AND... ONE TREE HILL comes back next week! Obviously I am pretty pumped about that one.

... RE-reading The Hunger Games on my kindle, even though I have at least four other books on there that I have yet to read.

It's just so good!

...The Civil Wars most recent album. Bethany told me this weekend that I needed to listen to it, which I did today... And it's amazing. I'm sad I didn't download it sooner.

I'm going short post today, so that's all for me. Link up with Jamie and share what you are loving this week!

NYE in San Francisco!

Normally I would do Megan's Sometimes/Always link up today, but I am just so excited to share my NYE with y'all that I just can't wait!

My final day/night of 2011 was spent with two of my absolute best friends in one of my favorite cities. We went in to the weekend knowing two things: 1. We were going to watch the Bruins play Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. 2. We had a hotel in the city (What up Holiday Inn?!) and therefore our night would be spent out in SF. Everything that happened after that was unexpected and unplanned which made the night so much better. Get ready for quite the photo dump in this post!

Bethany and I decided to take the CalTrain in to the city instead of driving so we packed up our backpacks with our NYE attire and set off for the city. Taking the train ended up being an awesome choice since it dropped us off literally right down the street from AT&T park. I wish I had gotten a pick of us with our back packs since we probably looked like total dorks (especially while sipping Bloody Mary's in an Irish pub while waiting for Jo to get in to the city).

Jo showed up, we ditched our stuff in her car and headed to the stadium. Stopping to get a pic in front of the water in McCovey Cove.

Our seats were in the bleacher section set up in right field. We got in to the stadium just in time to see our new favorite country cutie, Hunter Hayes, sing the national anthem; read we RAN to our seats to catch a glimpse of him on the field.

The Bruins ended up losing the game, but we still had a ton of fun and got to see a bunch of friends from UCLA that we hadn't seen in awhile.

After getting lost multiple times on the way to our hotel (seriously SF- you may only be 40 some square miles but your streets are so confusing!) we finally parked, checked in, and made plans for dinner. Jo is an awesome Yelpper and discovered the just around the corner was a great little diner called Grubstake, which has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!

After a quick trip to the liquor store, it was back to the hotel to prepare for our night! We (obviously) played the obligatory "Holidae Inn" by Chingy since we were in fact "chillin at the Holiday Inn." Then it was off to our friend Danielle's apartment to celebrate the New Year and her 23rd birthday!

We rang in the new year at a karaoke bar called Silver Cloud, and then were joined by a couple of friends from UCLA where we closed down the bar and then trekked back to the hotel for some more drinks and conversation (though Jo missed this last part as she fell asleep less than fifteen minutes after returning to the hotel). In the end we said goodbye to our friends and drifted off to sleep around 4:30am. We certainly did not waste a minute of our last hours of 2011 nor our first few hours of 2012.

Pizza for lunch on our first meal of 2012 sealed the weekend, and it was back to Mountain View and then on to Fresno.

If NYE is any indication, 2012 is going to be an amazing year. I can't wait to see what is in store for me, my friends, and our epic adventures together!

Never Turn Your Back On The Ocean!

Happy 2012 everyone!

I hope all of you had an amazing NYE! I know I had an amazing final week of 2011, and I am going to share all that excitement with you all this week. 

As you may already know, I spent a few days up in Sea Ranch with my best friend at her parents beach house. We were so sad to have to leave on friday after, because it was a fabulous couple of days full of exploring trails, watching movies, drinking wine, a little bit of blogging, and just simply relaxing! We took about a bajillion pictures but I'll try not to overwhelm you with too many. With out further ado, I'll just let the pictures do the talking (at least for the most part).

The drive to and from Sea Ranch is not particularly easy but it is beautiful. Driving slowly along the twisty turny Highway 1 can be a bit scary (especially when goats randomly decide to run in front of the car!) but it also lends itself to some beautiful views.

Some shots from the drive to Sea Ranch

The views at the beach house did not dissapoint either. Although it was very cloudy, misty, and foggy (our hair and clothes were wet like we had just walked through the rain when we got home) we enjoyed every minute of walking the trails along the beach.

We also got really good at using the self timer on my camera, and finding creative places to set the camera to get a good shot of the two of us together.

And of course who could forget our couple of pics to document our evening in the house. Alex cooked. We enjoyed yummy wine. We played Mancala and Scategories (board games are still fun even at 22 years old!). And we watched a ton of movies- the highlight of which was definitely Mary Kate and Ashley's gem, Our Lips Are Sealed.

"BIG TIME FUN!"- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson

And of course, here are a few of my favorite pictures.

And last but not least here's a couple of awkward/funny, candid shots Alex got of me.

Overall, it was an AMAZING trip, but it was just the beginning of my NYE weekend. Still to come are stories from my time in San Francisco for the UCLA bowl game and NYE in the city! Stay tuned =)