2012, A Year To Remember

This morning when I went on Facebook, it gave me the option to see my 2012 in review. Naturally, I clicked it to see what it would say, and the following items were what I was shown:

• The photo album I posted after last year's SnowGlobe Music Festival (NYE in South Lake Tahoe)
• The day that Steven and I became Facebook friends after we met at said NYE festival
• My birthday on February 26 when many beloved friends of mine wished me well
• When I started working at the Disney/ABC Television Group in March
• A glorious trip to Vegas that I took with some of my closest to see Bassnectar and celebrate my birthday, my birthday twin's birthday, and our Papa Bear's birthday
• The end of the job I started at DATG in March, and the start of a new position there
• Photos and video from Coachella with the Famaree
• Photos from the utterly life-changing Lightning in a Bottle experience that I shared with some of my favorites, new and old
• Photos from my fifth and last EDC in Las Vegas
• A funny "Brotip" that I shared that states, "Ladies, guys are sick of hearing you ask where all of the "nice guys" are. They're in the friend zone, where you left them." (So true, by the way.)
• The end of my other job at DATG
• Posts about this year's SnowGlobe Music Festival
• The making of Steven and my relationship "Facebook Official," and it's end
• And the assortment of friends I've added, and pages I've liked

Overall, looking at the year 2012, I see so many good times, with so many dear friends. I am so blessed by the experiences that I've had and the people that I know and have met. I need to remember to say thank you to my Lord far more often than I do. 

Now, because I tend to view things from multiple points of view, I see the amazing life that I have lived and been given and am thankful for it, but at the same time, I see an array of experiences I've had before. 

I love music festivals and music, but do I want all my years to consist of just that? No. While they bring to me a new love for life and remind me that there are peaceful people out there like myself, I know that I want more than just that. With the exception of my jobs and having a boyfriend, Facebook could only find music festivals or raves to show me as highlights of my year. I want more! 

So it is with great joy, overflowing joy, that I tell you that I have finally acquired the final pieces of the puzzle that I needed in order to go to Spain and return to my European life! (Which is even better news, because as I was searching for alternative job options in case I couldn't go to Spain, I realized that none will work for my wild spirit and I just yet.) I am overjoyed and cannot wait to return to the life I have felt pulled to for years. I couldn't be happier, and I haven't felt so right about something in quite a while. Praise be to God! 

Today's Thoughts: I can't wait to see what my "year in review" for 2013 will look like! I have a feeling it's going to be a year I am incredibly proud of. God's plans for us are so much greater than our own. We will never understand His timing, but we must trust it, and not worry, because in the end, everything works out, and if it doesn't, it's not the end. 

Mash Me Up

I, like every other person I've ever known, LOVE MUSIC! It is one of the things I can honestly say my life would be lacking, boring, and empty without. Music keeps me alive just as much as food and water, and in most cases, gives me a much bigger dose of energy than any espresso. There is a song for any day, any emotion, any situation, and EVERY moment of your crazy life, and can take you to places you've never gone before. "My Heart Will Go On" takes me back to eighth grade in an instant. It was the year my life improved ten-fold and I finally saw Titanic. When I think about or hear that song I see myself standing in the shower belting out the words thinking I was Celine Dion herself. "Peaches & Cream" takes me back to eighth grade also, but in a very different way. It, on the other, more inappropriate hand, takes me back to winter Church camp with my best friend at the time. I see myself walking around the snow covered camp grounds with my hot pink compact disc player in hand, foam ear piece headphones on blast, Adidas sweatpants and doodled Converse shoes on, rapping to myself and playing the song on repeat so I could memorize every last line. (And yes, if you put it or "Fantasy" by Ludacris on, I will still bust out every word.:) When Benny Benassi's "Come Fly Away" catches my ear, I am suddenly in my best friend's Volvo our sophomore year of college. We're driving around Chico playing the music at an annoyingly high level, and letting our voices soar as we have an all-out car dance session. And now, whenever I hear that dirty, filthy, nasty, and delicious Bassnectar, I am taken back to the football field of the community college in South Shore, Lake Tahoe, during SnowGlobe. I see myself gigging harder than I ever have before, feeling the music course through every ounce of my body, making me move to it, feeling every vibration from the bass and drop of the beat thinking, "I hope I don't break my neck from whipping my head around so hard," and being caught up in the intimate experience he and I were sharing (never mind the thousands of others around).

Yes, music is quite an interesting thing. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but I think that a song is worth much more. A string of memories, an instant rush of feelings, phrases, dance moves, or conversations shared, yup, music is the key to life my friends. And since I have been blessed with such a strong case of A.D.D., it makes sense that one of my favorite genres is mash-ups. They fit who I am and what I am quite perfectly. They're rarely staying the same for very long, but they're always a blend. Taking songs that are from genres as different as water and absinthe, but putting them together to make something incredible and brilliant. Mash-ups are a great way to describe any life. Different pieces of different people, places, things, ideas, cultures, and styles, that all play an important part in the finished product. Hardly ever boring, and generally unexpected, just like my life. :)

So here's a playlist my roomie and I recently discovered on 8tracks.com. It has some of the best mash-ups I've heard in a while, and is sure to put you in a good mood, and take you down memory lane!

CLICK ME & ENJOY

Today's Quote: "All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it." Jean Cocteau