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life music

On Ireland, “Galway Girl,” and the new Ed Sheeran album

March 16, 2017

galway girlNearly nine years ago, I stepped off the plane (after a series of travel problems) and walked onto a bus being driven by a man named Paddy. Out the window, all the grass was green, like Arkansas in Spring, with the landscape being broken up by shrubs to control the wind and a giant stone statue of a salmon.

I have very little photos of the summer I spent in Ireland, at least if you take into account how long I was there, and I have almost no photos of any of the cities we were in, preferring to preserve the landscape. It’s strange that the things I remember the most–the salmon statue and walking in Cork and being led around campus by a lovely blind guy, the vegetable soup I had for lunch in Galway, the time Niall (our tour guide throughout the summer) played American Idiot on the bus so that we could hear something of home, and the day I lost my wallet and ate cake for lunch–I have no evidence of.

galway girlMy trip to Ireland was also the year after Once was released, which I was obsessed with, and it happened to also be the year P.S. I Love You came out on DVD. I watched the latter movie for the first time on the plane ride over, and considering “Galway Girl” by Steve Earle was played in every pub all summer, I’m glad I did or I would have been quite confused.

Over the years, I have made many, many mixes (2016, 2010, for example) around St. Patrick’s Day in celebration of this trip. They almost always include “Galway Girl” by Steve Earle, because of the nostalgia, but if I made an entire mix this year, it would probably also include “Galway Girl” by Ed Sheeran.

If you’re tired of my Saint Patrick’s Day mixes, you can try the new Ed Sheeran album for some modern Celtic sounds this year. For the most part, I really enjoy the entire album (minus “Barcelona” because it just seems so out-of-pocket with the rest of it). There is just enough Celtic vibes in Sheeran’s “Galway Girl” and “Castle on the Hill” for me to remember the feeling I had as soon as I got off the plane and stepped on Irish soil–like I was finally home.

life music

February Playlist: On Moving and Music

February 16, 2017

February playlistA little life update with your February playlist: February has been a month of transition. Half of my weekends this year have been spent traveling to different states for one reason or another (Chicago for a wedding, NYC for BroadwayCon, Dallas to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch); it’s the kind of travel that means you never really unpack your suitcase because you’re just too tired to contemplate spending the energy on it.

Also, I started teaching college writing again this semester, and preparing for the lessons (because I’m determined to do better teaching them and using my voice of authority for good) and grading has been a pleasant sort of exhausting.

And yet, with all of that, I spent the first week of February officially moving into a 300-square-foot house. (Don’t worry, I’ll show you all pictures later.)

I am the sort of person who likes things settled, organized, and decorated, and considering I am still trying to get everything moved and sorted into my place, it’s been exhausting trying to get all the details settled. Every single day after work.

So, this February playlist is all about motivating me to spend my energy wisely, to remember the balance between work and life. As usual, that includes a few pop and 80s tunes, but this playlist has a large number of songs from musicals floating around in it, too.

I hope this month’s playlist reminds you spring is on the way, with green grass and the smell of rain. Spend some time outside, enjoying the sky, and remember to spend some time enjoying your family and friends. Let’s make Spring all about balance, and February all about getting things settled.

life music

Winter Playlist: Chill in January

January 19, 2017
winter playlist

winter playlistWhen the holidays pass and winter really settles into its groove, I can’t help but remember the episode of How I Met Your Mother where they talk about couples going into hibernation this time of year (“Single Stamina,” season 2). It aired in 2006, around the birth of YouTube, otherwise I’m sure the people hibernating from the biting wind in NYC would have included more than just couples.

Yes, this is the time of year where it takes way more motivation to stay active or make plans with friends. All I really want to do is meal plan some comfort food, talk someone else into making said comfort food, and binge a ton of tv shows. (Last year, that meant The Flash, Jessica Jones, and Blue Bloods.)

The reality of this January, however, is that I’m traveling quite a bit and prepping to move into a (tiny) lake cottage. So while I would love to catch up on The Flash, or finish Haven, or watch A Series of Unfortunate Events, I find myself gravitating towards a show that I started watching in the fall–Grey’s Anatomy.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I am not caught up to the current season of this show. At all. I keep talking about it so much that I inadvertently convince friends to watch it and then start back at the beginning with them so we can chat about their feelings as they go through. (Susie assures me that this means I am a good friend, but really I think it’s inherent FOMO.) Which means that I’ve seen the first 8-9 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy a few times already, even though I’m basically in season 12 in my actual viewing of the show.

So I watch Grey’s while I work on baseball marketing, or handler schedules for BroadwayCon, or pack for trips, or plan for new organization ideas for moving. The music for Grey’s is pretty well-known at this point. They use (mostly) indie bands, and nearly all the music in the first few seasons were songs I loved while in college and so they fill me with all the nostalgia.

This is a long winded explanation for me to say that my winter playlist makes me feel warmer, but it’s also got a lot of songs that have been used in Grey’s Anatomy at one point or another. So put this playlist on shuffle and remember that you are not alone, even when you are hibernating, and you are loved by more people than you know.

life

Welcome, 2017!

January 10, 2017

A Year for Expression and Self Care

2016 has been labeled a Dumpster Fire, and I know that on the big scale, on the things-not-directly-related-to-my-personal-life scale, that is too true. The world out there is poised to collapse, with artists who made so much positive impact dying and political forces moving to destroy basic human rights.

But the thing about 2016 is that, for me, it was the year of anxiety attacks. There were good things that happened–a new job, a couple of maybe-dates, two of my good friends getting married, more confidence in my singing voice, and healthier diet & exercising routine. I tried to focus on creating healthy habits, but I really spent most of the first half of the year curled up in a ball trying to convince myself that my panic attacks were not, in fact, heart attacks.

It means that a year with the potential for great joy–my first trip to NYC, seeing a Broadway play, and BroadwayCon, GeekyCon, new job with bosses/coworkers who appreciate and understand my drive–was really a year when I tried to navigate dealing with massive anxiety. I developed good and bad habits of handling this and then had to back pedal in a lot of ways so that I could try to move forward in 2017.

My resolutions for 2017 are geared toward self care, mostly. They include the following:

  • stable night routine to promote better sleep
  • improve my morning routine habits to include more time to focus on things that fill me with gratitude
  • continue my healthy diet/exercise habits, because they make me feel more successful than I actually am
  • find ways to use my voice and privilege to promote good journalism, human rights, diversity, and compassion

So the last goal is lofty and vague, but with the current political climate in the country, I need to find ways to give myself hope for the future–for my future, my niece and nephew’s, for Amudha’s, for my family’s, for the people I love and interact with in Arkansas. 

There are some amazing things ahead for 2017, but there’s also a fight ahead. I’d like to think the new year will give us some motivation to get started. What are you doing to promote self care and expression in 2017?

life

On Maintaining Long Distance (Best) Friendships

January 5, 2017

long distance relationshipsReal talk. Relationships are hard. Relationships with family, friends, co-workers, lovers. Long distance relationships are hard.

For me, relationships feel extraordinarily hard. With depression and anxiety my brain plays a lot of *fun* tricks when it comes to the people in my life. But then again, I know I’m the luckiest person in the world. 

I have a family that loves and supports me. I have an incredible boyfriend who is incredibly loving, understanding, forgiving, caring (really I could go on and on for DAYS. We’re still super gushy and gross with each other. Its been 6 months but still). I have amazing friends that get it when I have to cancel last minute or they don’t hear from me for a few days.

Though my best relationship, my strongest relationship is and always will be with my best friend. (Sorry, Hunter.) 

From the moment Jenna and I met, we became best friends. When we moved almost cross country from each other 2 years later, it was ROUGH. I missed being able to see, talk to, and hug my best friend every day. There is a beauty of having your emotional support…your person…in the same physical location as you. Wallowing is a lot easier when you’re sharing your junk food with someone. And on those rare occasions (like in 9 days when she lands in Chicago) we are in the same place we take full advantage of it. We spend our time doing all the things that make us happy, all the right foods, movies, coffee. It is the perfect reset after the roughest of times and the worst life events.

Our times together are rare. Which just means that we have to put in extra work for making our relationship work. We call each other all the time. When we can’t pick up, we don’t worry about it because we know the other one is going to leave a LONG voicemail (Jenna got one that was 5 minutes long once). We vent about everything from when we feel gross to from when someone does something that pisses us the hell off. We lift each other up when we’re down – even if we’re both down at the same time. We keep each other sane when we’re losing it. 

Bottom line – We are there for each other all the time. No matter what. We are always there for each other, and honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.