I know everyone is gaga over seventies rock and the 80s were just so freaking cool but I’m all about the 90s. No Doubt was my first love. I can still picture driving with the moon roof open and the windows rolled down blasting Gwen and her friends and just feeling totally free.

So I love to listen to current artists and music but this is what I fall back on when I want something that feels like me. I only put one song from each artist and I’m mad because Playlist didn’t have quite a few of the songs I wanted. Oh well.

I wont go through and tell you why I love each song except to say that they kick a$$.  The only one that I want to mention is Flogging Molly.  I love them because they remind me of Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings singing and dancing on tables without a care in the world.

So I’m infatuated with the 90s. How about you?

Today is my ninth wedding anniversary and to commemorate it I’m sharing my favorite love song and the movie that goes with it.  Moulin Rouge is an absolute visual masterpiece.  Eye candy.  Baz Lurhmann made this world breath takingly beautiful.  The colors pop the music is spectacular.  Nicole Kidman and Ewan MacGregor are just made for their roles.  I can not say nice enough things about this movie.

So the story goes that a young writer falls in love with a courtesan while trying to get backers for his play.  The man who decides to front the play insists on having the courtesan all to himself.  It gets scary as the writer and the courtesan try to hide their love.

Now as you can imagine if you know anything about the Moulin Rouge there is some sexual content in this movie but it’s very mild and mostly it’s funny.  This is simultaneously a heartwarming and a heartbreaking love story.  It has given me one of the most meaningful love songs in my life.  Correction.  When I think of love songs I think of this song.  When I imagine dancing at my 50th wedding anniversary, it’s to this song.  If I had any singing aspirations at all it would be to record this song with Scott.  It speaks so deep inside of me. It says, “I will love you until my dying day,” which may seem unromatic but I look at it a different way.  We never truly die.  There is no end to us.  No final moment where we cease to exist so to me what they are saying is I will love you for always.  There will never come a day when I do not love you for I will never cease to exist.  ”Until the end of time.”

I know there have to be some of you who’ve seen this movie.  What did you think?

This is my all-time favorite Christmas album.  All of the songs aren’t here but this will give you a good idea what it’s all about.  It’s just a guy playing the piano, but it’s so much more than that.  My mom and my aunt used to play this in their houses around the holidays and every time I listen to it it brings back the most wonderful memories.  I used to dance around in the living room pretending to be a ballerina on a beautiful stage.  I would be off in my own world while the music played.  Those are the real memories now for the made up ones.  You all know I’m in Sunnyvale where it doesn’t snow but when I listen to this music I can imagine the snow falling and feel the warmth of a fire on my face.  I imagine myself out in the snow twirling around catching snowflakes on my tongue.  I can picture the stable with Mary and the baby Jesus.  I can see the animals all around and hear their soft noises.  I can be right there with them.  I love this album.

I’m trying to share this music with my kids but so far it’s been met with “Mom, this is so boring.” “I hate boring music.  Can we listen to something else.”  I don’t care.  I’m not giving up yet.  If I can remember and don’t get too caught up in the moment, I’m planning on playing this while we open presents.  That way there will be at least one good association with the music.

It’s very rare for me that something like this lasts from my childhood so this is very special to me.  I hope you enjoy it.  What’s your favorite Christmas album?

After Liz posted her playlist, it really got me thinking about some of my own song indulgences. Bear in mind these are all oldies (can mid-nineties be considered oldies now?). I’m too lazy to post any explanations other then the first song was Ben and I’s wedding song. It was pretty much exactly what he told me when he proposed. We had been dealing with a long distance on and off relationship for almost 6 years by then, and it was finally time for me to “quit my life” and stay with him.

Every song on this playlist is a flashback to different point in my life, have fun listening.

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. -Voltaire
 
Oh hey.  My name is Liz.  Miss Boyd if you’re nasty.  Kidding, Liz is fine.  Julianne is my best friend, and since I am always trying to get her to listen to songs I like, she said I have to write an entry about music.  So, here goes.  My parents are really great singers, and music was always a part of our family.  My parents tried to get me and my brother to play instruments and learn to sing. That went ok until my brother kept breaking his arms and couldn’t hold his instruments and until everyone found out that i sucked too.  Let me just say taking piano lessons from your own mom is AWESOME! When I say awesome, I mean not awesome.  Sorry Mom.  Oh!  I CAN play the begining of Pachelbel’s Cannon (you know, the one that’s always played at weddings), Doe a Deer from sound of music (I recently taught myself to play it on a musical slot machine in Vegas.), I know all the words to Salt ‘n Pepa’s Shoop, and I can totally rock the hymn Count Your Many Blessings with two fingers.  Top that suckers!!!  Anyway, I digress.  Here are some of my favorite songs and why I love them.  So as one of my pretend boyfriends, John Cusack in High Fidelity said, “Here is my top five.”  Ok, I couldn’t narrow it down to five, so here is my top five (right now anyway) and a few more.

#10  Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard
Ok who doesn’t love a little butt rock?  You know you do!  This song came out on the album Hysteria when I was  10 years old. That is when I knew I loved rock.  I mean how can you not love a band that has a one arm drummer and a made for tv movie about them.  The movie, played on VH1.   This is the greatest music channel ever since MTV started sucking, by the way. The movie was totally rad!!!
 
#9   Freedom by George Michael

Dude! You know you love this song and that you remember the video!  All the super modles walking around in an abandoned house singing the song.  Ridiculous!!

 
#8   Kiss by Prince
Duh, it was in Pretty Woman and it’s Britney Spears most favorite song of all time!  That’s all you need to know.
 
#7   Hallelujah by Paramore
This band is from Tennessee.  The singer started singing in the band when she was 13.  Maybe the piano lessons she took from her mom worked out better than mine did.
 
#6   Kick Push by Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco is kind of like pop/rap.  I’m not normally real crazy about a lot of rap, but I really like the jazzy (not to be confused with jazz hands) feel of it.
 
#5   Melissa by The Allman Brothers
I love this old song from the 1970’s.  I also have a crazy hippy aunt named Melissa who once told me the song might be about her.
 
#4   Skinny Love by Bon Iver

I just love how this song is so depressing.  Sometimes you just need one of those.
 
#3   Trouble by Ray LaMontagne

This dudes voice is gravely like sandpaper, and I love it.  Its kind of like you are listening to one of your parents old scratchy records.  I also love the lyrics.
 
#2   Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
I love the hugeness and the orchestration of this song.  Jeff buckley was a genius.
 
#1   Into the Mystic by Van Morrison
I have loved Van Morrison and this song since I was a little girl.  It’s just so chill.  I don’t really have a specific reason why it is my favorite, it just is.  
 
So, there you have it.  Some of my favorites.  As I was writing this, I thought about a hundred more songs I could have listed.  Maybe I’ll have to write another entry.  I hope you guys enjoy!!!  Mom, if you are reading this, see your efforts weren’t in vain.  I’m a really good listener.  And again sorry about the piano lesson comment.  I was me not you.

The only time I ever listen to music is when I’m running or running around in the car so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite music from my car trips with you.  Here are three songs that I heard today.

1.  Groove is in the Heart by Dee Light.  An oldie but oh what a goody.  This was seriously my favorite song to dance to at my Church’s Young Adult (18-30ish) Dances.  All the fun sounds and beat changes that you get to move your body to.  It makes me feel alive every time I hear it.

2.  American Boy by Estelle.  As far as I know this is a relatively new one, but I could be wrong.  It just reminded me of songs I used to dance to at old school house parties back in the day.  A nice slow groove going on.

3.  Say by John Mayer.  This one is different from the other two.  It’s more meaningful.  It’s a man talking to his lover telling her that she needs to speak her mind even though it’s hard.  He needs to hear what she has to say.  This is a good one for me to hear over and over since I tend to bottle up all of my thoughts and emotions.

Well this is the first time using the playlist.  You have to start it yourself.  That way if you don’t want to listen to it you don’t have to.  You’re welcome.  Let me know what you think of the songs or if you have any memories connected to them.  It was a good radio day for me.

If you know what that stands for this post is for you.  In my lonely state this morning I turned on The View to keep me company and lo and behold there was the whole New Kids on the Block crew.  They’re together again!!!  Oh happy day.  Now unfortunately for me I’m not a NKOTB fan.  But I assumed some of you were, so I wanted to share the happy news with you.  Of course, I’m totally out of the loop on all things musical so you may have known this for a long time now.  Apparently there’s a new album, The Block (you can buy it on iTunes).  If you want, you can go to their site and see the video for their new song Single.  You can also check out their tour dates.  That’s right ladies, they’re going on tour!!

Personally, I don’t think any of them have aged well and I’m not sure anything fabulous is going to come of this, but I’ve been wrong before.  So if you’re a NKOTB fan go support your boys.  They need you.  Then let me know what you think about their new album or the reunion or the tour.  Just let me know what you think.  I’m dying to hear a fans perspective.

And I know I’m posting right on top of the kids again.  I just can’t help myself, I get so excited, so make sure you look below at Oli’s first day of preschool.

Holy crow!:)  You’ll never believe the connection I found Tuesday night.  So I have Brooke White’s album.  About a year ago I was searching for modest tees and came upon a brand new site (don’t remember what it was called but it’s since gone out of business) and on the blog was a link to Brooke’s album Songs From the Attic. (I can’t find the link so I settled for Amazon – I did not pay more than $10 for my copy).  I was in an impulsive mood and bought it.  I’ve listened to it a couple of times since but that’s saying a lot from me.  I just don’t connect to music like other people do.  Anyway, I kept seeing her on American Idol and hearing her name and thinking I knew her from somewhere.  Finally Tuesday night I went into my iTunes library and found the album.  I listened to one of the songs and knew for sure it was her.  The first and probably the last time this will ever happen.  The funny thing is she’s not even my favorite on the show.  I really like Carly Smithson.  But she just hasn’t been doing so well the last few weeks.  So just to recap, I’m not saying I made Brooke who she is or that I discovered her.  I totally stumbled upon her.  I just feel like I’m part of her home town now.  I don’t know her personally, but I feel like I actually have a tiny connection to someone on one of my favorite shows.  It’s so exciting.