The Future

At the end of my sophomore year, I was extremely nervous about entering my junior year of high school. Some pretty challenging classes loomed before me including this class and when Mr. Logsdon came to visit our English class last year I was very intimidated (no offense Mr. Logsdon) about the high quality work I would have to produce in the coming year in all of my classes, not just English.

As it turns out, I really enjoyed each of my classes this year finding new passions in math and physics as well as discovering my own writing style that I had never really understood before AP Lang. and Comp. Moreover, while my sometimes tangential conservations with Mr. Pope irritated some people in my class, APUSH really made my year a great year academically because I felt that I got to know the American identity as a person, not just a period of time in history. In addition to my enjoyment of the curriculum, I really enjoyed strengthening friendships with teachers and starting new ones while I actually lost a teacher midyear due to personnel issues.

To be quite honest, it was not that great of a year on a personal level and I realized that I have made so many mistakes in the past and I am currently trying to work on them in preparation for my senior year when I hope to be the best person I can possibly be (like Annie Bradford: it is impossible to be angry at Annie). In a way, I plan on focusing on my mistakes from my past years of high school and embarking on my own "quete du soi" or personal quest to truly find myself and while it seems cliche, it is important to me that I know who I am before I begin my life as an adult.

This year turned out to be relatively risk free with the riskiest thing I have done is gone zip-lining if that counts as a risky activity.

Over the summer I am planning on volunteering for a significant amount of time at the Best Friend's Day Center, fundraising for the Walk to End Alzheimer's, working on my mentoring project, and attending GSP (this might change, I am trying to find out if I was chosen to be a Page for Senator McConnell but since the Ashley Judd scandal  his office won't answer its phones or respond to emails). I am excited about GSP because I feel that it will be a great time to really experience new subject areas that I have explored before and it will give me some time to find myself personally, which is really my largest priority for the summer. At the end of summer, I will be working on the Common App and supplements, but I have finished all my college visits (yay!).

My biggest goal for next year is seriously focusing on my mentoring project and having all my college applications finished before November 1st. It may be a lofty goal, but it is not set in stone at this point. I plan on reaching these goals by getting as much work done over the summer as possible while staying very organized with a giant calendar for all my important due dates.

BTW: I am kind of sad that this is our last blog of the year. I really enjoyed these expressions of opinion and emotion so thank you Mr. Logsdon for reading each and every blog. I felt like it was a great opportunity to express ourselves in a personal way with each other that was unique and interesting.

lovin life i guess

Oh my goodness gracious, this year has been magnificent and wonderful and I feel like it's been so much more than I ever thought it would be and it's just been so different.

The biggest thing that's probably changed my whole year has been my lack of volleyball. I know it's something I probably talk about a lot, but not playing has changed so much. I learned that I didn't have to identify as an athlete to be taken seriously (why did I think this?? I have no idea), I learned that there are so many more fun ways to work out other than jump roping constantly and doing squats like there's no tomorrow (I got to play some super fun indoor soccer), and I learned that there are things I enjoy WAY more than waking up at 5 AM every Saturday morning to play in a hot gym for 14 hours and spending lots of my time in spandex shorts. I mean, I know that's what I loved about playing volleyball, but it feels like such a relief to not worry about it.

What I learned is that I L O V E to bake and cook. I mean, I used to not be able to successfully make coffee (??now I live on making coffee??), but I find a serious comfort in having a kitchen full of supplies and a recipe to follow- if there are step by step instructions on how to make something, I feel a little bit invincible. And then everything is yummy at the end!

And that taught me that I like to craft, which taught me that I like to make monogrammed shirts, and that I loved starting my own business and that I loved to write by starting my own blog. I've learned that I love to learn (I know it's cheesy and it sounds like I'm a suck up but I'm being dead serious). I've learned that I love to feel like I can do something and that I love feeling like I'm on top of the world and that I love what I believe in and I love my friends and my family and I even like being by myself (even when everyone else is out). I love a LOT.

What I'm most excited about this summer is this program I'm going to be in through the Wharton school at Penn, called Leadership in the Business World. I feel like I talk about it a lot, but I cannot explain my enthusiasm (this is why me and Helen are friends). What's most exciting is that I'm actually going to be on the San Francisco campus (!!!!!!!!) and will spend three glorious weeks in SF and then fly to Philadelphia for the last week. We'll work on business plans and meet with execs from Google and eBay and live and breathe business and economics. And the people there will be from ALL over the world: New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, Turkey, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, London, Paris, and so many more places. I'm honestly the most 'diverse', being a normal white girl from Kentucky. But this summer will be crazy, I'll be in Wingate, NC for church camp, then my family's going to Boston for vacation (it'll be weird now knowing the circumstances), and then I'll fly across the country to SF.. it makes my mom want to cry knowing I'll be by myself.

But I'm being dead serious when I say that this year has been GREAT. It makes me excited for senior year and college but not want to leave this high school that I love. Everything about this year has been great- even all the stresses and worries and anxiety have been worth it. I can't even put into words how happy I am.

The Future

I definitely consider this to be a learning year for me. I feel like I let immaturity and lack of discipline creep up on me in the fall semester. I may no longer have my consecutive A's streak, but I still think I developed a much better work ethic, which is more valuable than any record or GPA. Probably the biggest thing I've learned so far is to not dwell on what others are doing. Not trying to sound pretentious, but why should I give a Hoover Dam about who got what score on the ACT? There's no reason to be jealous or discouraged about what others do. It's more about focusing on what you can control while praising others who follow the same motivated path. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a very competitive person. I see a ton of people (even some in the Academy) who may have it slightly better than I do. Maybe they have more connections, more friends, better test scores, better GPA's, etc. Of all that stuff I just mentioned, what can I control? Nothing. All I can do is work as hard as can trying to improve my abilities and raise my game. Everything else will just fall into place.

As for future plans, I've started to narrow down my college list during the second semester. Right now, I have it down to about 6 or 7 schools. Here's how I have the top 6 ordered right now.
George Washington
UVA
North Carolina
American U.
Kentucky
George Mason

I really loved my trips to both GW and UVA over Spring Break. Both had really nice campuses and first class academic resources. Haven't had the chance to visit American or UNC yet, but I'm hoping I will be able to over the next few months. I'm planning to major in Political Science with a Pre-Law track, which is part of what made GW so appealing.

What I'm most looking forward to is this summer. I was able to get into CHA at Murray State, which runs for 3 weeks in mid-June. That's going to be a great opportunity to get away from it all and live the college experience firsthand. I'm also going to hit the ground running on my mentoring project this summer. I'll be working with MyClyns helping them introduce new healthy cleaning and sanitation products into 7 pilot FCPS Schools (Henry Clay included). One of the major parts is replacing the Purell dispensers with new alcohol-free and scent-free hand sanitizer. It probably means I'll have to wage war with some of our school's scented hand sanitizer supporters (You know who you are), but I think our products will have a successful debut. Shout out Mrs. Logsdon for helping me set up my project and agreeing to serve as my mentor.

The Future

               As cliché as it is, junior year has flown by. I remember dreading the first day of school and dreading the monotony that this year would surely bring but now all I want to do is go back to the beginning and have little more time to figure out what I want to do and to de-stress a little. Junior year marked our upperclassmanship, and dang, that is crazy.

               The biggest success of junior year is not pulling all of my hair out and having an emotional breakdown in the middle of school with the amount of just stuff that’s been thrown at me. People always say that junior year is the toughest academically and I’ve been able to deal with it, so that’s always a plus.

               Failures have such a negative sense of finality to them and I just don’t like it. Maybe it’s because I don’t like to admit defeat. However, I can own up to the hundreds of mistakes that I’ve made this year. I really should’ve dedicated myself more academically instead of getting so easily distracted by literally all the things. I should’ve taken more initiative in my outside activities and put more effort into them. Hopefully next year I’ll keep these in mind, but by this time next year I can already see an awful case of senioritis taking root in me.

               This year has been quite risk free. I think the riskiest it’s gotten is …… starting Physics web homework a few hours before it was due? It wasn’t the most stress free Sunday night ever. Well actually, I officially started driving this year. There’s a pretty big risk. From that I learned that people can get incredibly aggressive when they can’t see your face and that they can be quite self-centered.

               I’m planning on traveling a bit over the summer to do college visits, but the bulk of my summer will be spent at GSP. And doing summer homework and volunteering at the hospital if I can. Summer marks the beginning of freaking out over college things, so it should be fun filled and happy times. Yay.

               My biggest goal is to get all of my applications done before the hour before applications are due. And in order to do this I’m going to have the most organized planner ever. I’m thinking about getting an agenda just for application dates and things, but that might be overkill. My second goal is to not become terribly apathetic and contract senioritis, and so far I haven’t got a game plan for that, but it’ll worked on sooner or later. 

Blog #23

It's unbelievable that my junior year is almost over. I remember being crazy stressed for this year because everyone talked about how it was all about college planning and tons of work. Surprisingly, this year was not so bad. I'd say it was filled with exponentially more successes than failures. My homework was almost always completed (aside from 2 times where I felt very bad for not doing it), my grades have all been favorable, and I survived the ACT. Granted, I still have AP exams and finals to worry about, but my worrying is not being wasted on subjects that I am certain to pass. Over summer I plan to begin my mentoring project, go on college visits, and generally read as many books as possible. I try to beat my record of the number of books read per summer, and my current record is 20 books. As for my senior year, I simply want to enjoy it and experience as much high school as possible. I'm extremely excited for all my classes I am going to take and I believe I'll have a lot of fun next year. Like Tristan, I'm going to try to become more involved in school activities because I, too, sit at home and wish I had something to do. Overall, I hope senior year is amazing, will prepare me for my future, and lessen my debilitating fear of the future.

EL FUTURO

Your done!  - well almost
Your Junior year (nearly) OVER.Tell us about it.


First off, please note that it is *You're. 

Okay, I'm done being sassy. Actually, maybe not. Because for me, this year can be summed up in the frank hashtag of #thesassisreal. Junior year has been incredibly stressful for me because I've been juggling piano, school, standardized tests, volunteering, applications, club requirements, you know, the usual. And just like everyone else, I've had a few all-nighters and nervous breakdowns which have resulted in high levels of relentless sass. I guess that could count as my risk taken. If I see you twisting a story because you suffer from a severe case of self-victimization, then you better BELIEVE i will point it out. That's just one example of my sass. Usually, my facial expressions give it all away. Rumor has it that I do some serious, blatant eye-rolling without knowing (or do I). Basically, I've decided to be sassy because that is WHO I AM am i right ha. ha. ha. I sound like Adam Kiser AM I RIGHT. 
I spent a nice, long time trying to be a sweetheart like Annie Bradford (it is physically impossible to be mean to her) but I realized that I am just not that nice of a person. I am sassy. (euphemism for obnoxious and bratty?)

I'll sum up my very extensive list of successes (jk jk jk) with one word: March. March is always an Asian's busiest month. I'm serious; ask any Asian and I GUARANTEE that he or she will concur with me. This March, I had two piano competitions, followed by the ACT and the SAT in the same week, KHSSL state for Speech and Debate, and a very important summer program application to complete. I know that might not sound like too much, but they all overlapped so I almost died. 

This summer will probably be the greatest and most educational summer of MY MEAGER EXISTENCE. 

Here's some background on what I'm about to gush about:
The Medill School of Journalism has been consistently ranked as the #1 or #2 school of journalism in the country. They host the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute, which is a 5-week summer program for experienced high school journalists. The 84 students live in a dorm on Northwestern's campus and take classes in print, broadcast, digital, and audio journalism. Basically, the program prepares high schoolers for college and media careers. Students receive individual instruction from famous journalists and current Medill professors, and visit professional media outlets like CBS Chicago and the Chicago Tribune.

So a while back, I annoyed all of my friends with incessant comments regarding this journalism program I just happened to come across over the Internet. My interest transformed into an all-out unhealthy obsession that literally drove me to insanity.
 Fortunately, however, that insanity led me to create probably the strongest application of my life. Y’all have no idea how many edits were sprawled across my desk, how many nights I fretted over my writing samples, how many times I daydreamed of an acceptance letter.And so it happened. When I got in, my tear ducts decided to think, “you know, now would be a great time to make an appearance.” I started crying that really ugly cry we all have; i’m talking the whole shabang—skewed face, heaves, sputtering breaths, quick tears.I’m super pumped about this. This has been a crucial part of my dream for a very, very long time. I still can’t believe I got in to begin with!!

Sure I'd love to make friends with some of the international students (they're from Guam, France, Indonesia, El Salvador, etc!!!!) and explore Chicago, but above all else,  I hope to grow and be challenged and walk away from the program as a more coherent and forceful writer.

Walking on a Bed of Grass on a Windy Day Getting into a Bubbly Mood

"Walking on a Bed of Grass on a Windy Day Getting into a Bubbly Mood"
1. Pick the perfectly temperatured, windy day.
2. Put on something that flattering
3. Put in Headphones
4. Walk towards the nearest open field while listening to this playlist and you should get into a bubbly mood.

Always Like This -  Bombay Bicycle Club

Here we are provided with almost an introductory song into the realm of bubbliness as we introduce a piece that uplifts the spirits of the listener with drum beats, soothing melodies, and euphoric rhythmic patterns. 

This Head I Hold - Electric Guest
This song is perfect for beginning your transition into a bubbly mood as its upbeat temp and leading vocalist transform your emotions into a swirl of upbeat emotions. (the actual song doesnt have the random cut scene the music video does but im still showing you it because its hilarious and provides a perfect satirical analysis on today's society.)

Money - The Drums
This song provides a sense of urgency towards happiness and the main chorus to the song is "before i die, id like to do something nice."

Kites - The Geographers
Now that the past three songs have transitioned the listener into a bubbly enough mood it is time to progress from simple bubbliness to a feeling of true, unwarranted happiness. This songs synthesized beats and tenor of a vocalist combined with an intense back beat take the listener towards happiness.

Doses and Mimosas - Cherub
In order to ensure your happiness continues for the rest of the day you need a song that has such a strong rhythmic vibe to it that you feel a sudden urge to dance. Cherub's, Doses and Mimosas , though it may contain an explicit message, provides the listener with a sense of relentless euphoria and happiness through dance.

done/

Future

Every day at school is a drag. I feel like I’m there forever. And then suddenly I wake up and there are only 20 days of school left? This year has gone by so fast, but it’s been a good year for me. The schoolwork wasn’t as hard as I thought (people always say your junior year is the worst). One thing that makes this year really special for me and that I’m sure some people have noticed is that I really came out of my shell and am more comfortable talking and participating. In past years if a teacher even mentioned having to talk in class, I would have a mental breakdown. But now I’m pretty okay with it, and sometimes I’m even a class disruption, which I find ironic. It doesn’t bother me though because it just shows how far I’ve come.

Now the year’s almost over which means tests are coming. And freshman year I thought finals were bad. This year, I have an EOC, 4 AP tests, and 6 finals. Great. But I feel like I’ll be okay. I’m pretty confident now since I got a 31 on the ACT, and 36 on the English section. I even got a 30 on the science section, which quite literally made me cry tears of joy. I really need to study though. I’ll get around to it

This summer I have to do practically my whole mentoring project, but I’m cool with that. I’m interning at a vet clinic. I’m also going to be volunteering at Saint Joseph East, and hopefully at the Humane Society as well. I don’t want to just sit around this summer, and I want to do something productive with my life. But I have no clue what.

Future

The year is almost over but right now its crunch time. I plan on studying non stop until my eyes bleed and then napping and studying some more to prepare for all these AP tests / the ACT because these next few years will determine whether im the richest man in the world or the poorest. I know I am going to go into medicine, specifically neuroscience and do research with genetic engineerign on the side hopefully with interspecies modification. Essentially I plan on patenting a way to genetically modify fetuses to full grown adults and captialize on it to progress the human race. this year is the first time in my whole high school career ive slept during class and ive been doing it like crazy but that is only becaue I learn at home.bye.

The Future!

Well I have finally reached my last blog post. That's exciting! So I think I will just go in order of the prompt to finish it off.

Successes? Well this year I have somehow managed to balance being Band Council President, 4 music ensembles and school work. I would consider that a success. I also got a great score on my ACT so that's an accomplishment.

Failures? I didn't do so well in seating this year for band and I have gotten a few "B's", but beyond that I wouldn't say I have had that many failures.

Lesson Learned/Risks Taken? Well I learned that even a semi-severely asthmatic kid can march in a 6 mile parade and have the time of her life! I would also say that was a risk, that ended up working out quite well! I also learned that you are going to mess up and you won't always succeed but you just need to try harder the next time an opportunity arises.

Mistakes made? Too many to mention them all. Mainly I wish I had been better at time management during marching season so I wouldn't have had to play "catch-up" at the end of the semester.

Summer? This summer I am spending two weeks in Wyoming on a family vacation. I dont know why my parents decide to take me to a ranch when I am most allergic to horses, but I just plan on taking all my meds as often as possible! I will also have band camp!

Senior year? For senior year I would love to be drum major for the marching band, auditions are in about two weeks so I am working to get there. Also, I want to be seated higher in band (practice practice practice). I would like to be accepted to a great college, right now my favorite option is Purdue. I also want to just have a good time and enjoy senior year, and be as involved as I reasonably can be. I know all my friends and I will be going off to college in different states after we graduate so I would like to make the most of it.

Sorry for all my band blogs! and that is all I have to say. It has been great blogging with y'all!

Fictional Character

If I could be any fictional character, I think I would most like to be Ginny Blackstone from Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Ginny gets to go on this fabulous fully funded international adventure following, as the title would suggest, 13 little blue envelopes. How cool would it be to say you traveled around Europe by yourself following letters your dead aunt left you? Slightly sketchy, but nevertheless a fun story. With her aunt’s quirkiness, she finds herself meeting new people who are equally as quirky, but somehow have some sort of deeper meaning in the jigsaw puzzle that her aunt has created for her. Wouldn’t you love to go to a dumpling place in New York and find a plane ticket to London? Or donate a couple hundred pounds to a cute, British, starving actor who ends up taking you to Scotland? And of course, there is the slightly bitter sweet ending that doesn’t seem at all realistic, but hey, everything gets solved in the sequel so that’s always a plus. 

Sorry that this was late Mr. Logsdon! 

Assignment 23: The Future

With the near a close, I just wish I could go back. While I had fun outside of school, I didn’t do as well in school as I would have liked. Part of it stemming from just not being interested in the class and part of it from just being lazy, I did not do as well as I should have. I am excited to start next year, though, and am very optimistic. I’m glad to have made National Honor Society and I’m happy with my ACT score (especially English, thanks to you, Mr Logsdon!). Senior year I want to stay on top of everything and have a lot of extracurricular. I don’t want to get behind and have things looming over my head. And I want to be involved at school too, because I hate the feeling of just coming home and not having anything to do. I hope that my classes will be more interesting and I am also very excited to not have a first hour. Outside of school, senior year will be a blast. I love my class and am excited to spend the last year of high school with them. Hopefully I can accomplish everything and get into a good college, but we will see!

Assignment 22: the perfect playlist

My perfect playlist would be one for being at the beach.

1.)  The Only Place // Best Coast – This song is perfect for a sunny day at the beach. It has a fast tempo which is always nice when you’re having fun in the sun. The chorus sings “Why would you live anywhere else? We’ve got the ocean, got the babes, we’ve got the sun we’ve got the waves” which is just a perfect description for the beach, and honestly, why would you want to live anywhere else?

2.)  Stella // San Cisco – I love when a song has lyrics having to do with what I’m doing, so naturally I love the first verse of this song while laying out at the beach “Your heart's down, down in the ocean Don't get burnt put on your sun lotion”, but not only does this song have fitting lyrics but it’s also a very uplifting song. It fits the beach perfectly because I love being at the beach, so obviously I want to listen to happy music.

3.)  Seafarer // Tennis – This song just has the perfect “summer” vibe. It’s cool, uplifting and just bright. It has to do with the ocean and it’s just perfect.

4.)  Before the Dive // St Lucia – Again, this song just has a cheery feel to it. The synth makes it pop and stand out.

5.)  Deadbeat Summer // Neon Indian – This song just makes you want to dance, it’s retro but fresh and I love the fact that it’s about summer.

Assignment 21: Fictional Character, Fictional Life

If I could be any fictional character from anything I would be Bruce Wayne. No matter what, Bruce Wayne always comes out on top. He can’t even die. He is rich, powerful and lives a double life—all of which are awesome. I would love to have all the money he does and then be able to live another life where you give back to the world by saving it. Both of his “lives” are well known and, for the most part, respected as well. Batman is a hero to nearly everybody and Bruce Wayne is a local celebrity. But the most important thing to me is how rich he is. I mean he’s #8 on Forbes’ richest fictional characters! I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t like about being Bruce Wayne. Yeah he gets beat up a lot and yeah he may have more than a safe amount of near death experiences, but I’d say everything else more than makes up for it. Through the good and the bad, I would always love to be Bruce Wayne.

Epic Playlist of Epicness

Okay so literally the majority of my songs in my itunes library are soundtrack. So I shall stay true to that and compile my playlist of absolutely epic soundtrack songs, whether they may be tear-jerking or make me want to fight in a battle FOR NARNIA! And when I say soundtrack, I mean the scores from movies/tv shows. So here are my top five, with a representative song for each movie that has a wonderful score.

1. Freedom/The Execution/Bannockburn- James Horner (from the soundtrack of Braveheart) This song falls into both previously mentioned categories, though the battle would be for Scotland and not for Narnia. Okay so this 7 and a half minute long song pretty much spans the entire end of the movie starting from, as you can probably guess, the execution of William Wallace. I am just very attached to this song/movie because I think I might be way too close emotionally to my Scottish heritage. We watched most of this movie in seventh grade in World Civ. and I just got really into it. So when we started watching the scene when they are killing Wallace, and with his dying breath, he shouts FREEDOM and the music swells, I just lost it and broke down into tears. He just wants Scotland to be free! I still lose it when I watch it. Especially since at the end, the men who fought with Wallace finally battled the English at Bannockburn and won their freedom! That part of the song makes me cry too. I credit it to the soundtrack a lot, though. Because as we all know, the music sets the tone and ultimately makes a movie. I listen to the song when I'm in a revolutionary mood and want to take down the English for Scotland. Also there's lots of bagpipes, which is always fantastic.

2. The Battle- Harry Gregson-Williams (from the soundtrack of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) I'll stick with the theme of battles and such for now. So this one, as you might have guessed, is from the battle scene from Narnia, where they take down the White Witch and her army of evil Narnians. Most of the criteria for what makes this song so great were mentioned in the first song listed. Makes me feel like I'm wielding a sword in battle and that is always a super feeling. Perhaps I was a warrior in a previous life.

3. Old Friends- Howard Shore (from the soundtrack of The Hobbit) I would include the entire soundtrack of this movie if I could, but alas, I cannot. It is all pure gold, just like the kind that Smaug is hoarding in Erebor. This song seemed like the best choice because it just seems to encapsulate the spirit of the Shire in a song. It's cheerful and carefree, just like most Hobbits. Plus it feels nostalgic for the Lord of the Rings films to hear the similar themes throughout the movie.

4. Mischief Managed- John Williams (from the soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) I couldn't get through this without putting an HP representative in here. Like with the Hobbit, I wish I could include the entirety of each score from all eight movies, and it was truly difficult picking just one. There are many other songs from the various movies that I absolutely love, but I picked this one because it seems to capture the real feel of Harry Potter, and it's probably one of the most recognizable themes from the movies. I almost feel like it's cheating to pick this song because it's a twelve minute song that plays during the credits of the movie so it fits all the themes from throughout the movie into one song. It's the genius of John Williams rolled into one nicely compiled song. Plus it's my favorite HP movie (I think), so it's like a little summary of the tone of the movie in one song.

5. He's a Pirate- Klaus Badelt (from the soundtrack of The Pirates of the Caribbean) Yes one of the most recognizable movie themes, but it's popular for a reason. Once again, it's a powerful song with a strong orchestral arrangement that makes me feel much more epic than I actually am. In this case, I'm a pirate, which in my opinion is pretty awesome.

So it was hard to have to leave out tons of other film scores but this will have to do. And I have made a revelation that I apparently really like battles.

Assignment 23: The Future

You're done!  - well almost
Your Junior year (nearly) OVER.
Tell us about it.
Successes? Failures? Lessons Learned? Risks taken? Mistakes made? What will you do in the Summer?  What do you want for your Senior year? How do you plan to reach your goals?

Minimum of 150 words - due on Sunday, April 28 at 11:59 pm

A Play Down Memory Lane

Personally when I can link music into my life and my relationships the music becomes far more powerful than ever before. Growing up on country music it holds a place in my heart and has allowed me to connect with people in very unique way. My playlist consists of songs that connect me to the most important people in my life.

"Finally Friday" by George Jones

My father and I sang this song every Friday on the way to school from early elementary school into late middle school. George Jones was my dad's favorite artist and his music never fails to conjure memories that we share.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones

This was the Monday song for my dad and me. It lacks the energy of the former, but even now as I listen to it I can picture my father randomly bursting into his own heartfelt rendition.

"Boney Finger" by Hoyt Axton

My father and I stumbled across this song on an old mixed tape and it became an instant joke between us. Anytime one of us is working away on a project the other chimes in with the chorus which is always rewarded with laughter and a smile.

"A Boy Named Sue" by Johny Cash

When I was younger my dad's parents took my cousin and me on a trip to Gatlinburg. The entire was we listened to the same Johny Cash album over and over again. A Boy Named Sue developed as my favorite song, but i ironically never knew the full lyrics. Every time the words came around to the one profain word in the song my grandaddy would lower the volume quickly and precisely. I didn't learn about the dirty word's place in the song until much later in my life.

"Ol' Red" by Blake Shelton

This song always takes me back to riding in the car with my grandpa. After his passing I hadn't heard the song in years, but when I stumbled across it on a CD it took me back to being a little kid in the backseat getting picked up from school by my grandpa. In that moment it brought tears to me eyes and occasionally its a hard song to hear, but I'm so thankful for the fact that a song can bring us back together again.

Relaxed and Happy

Anchor by Zee Avi- Well really anything by Zee Avi makes me happy. Described as a “whimsical jazzy singer” her tone is always calming. Most of her songs incorporate guitar as well as other not as commonly used instruments like the tambourine.

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers- I’m not sure if it’s the upbeat nature of this song, their strong Scottish accents, or the fact that it was a recurring song in How I Met Your Mother, but this song always effortlessly puts a smile on my face.

Sweet Pea by Amos Lee-  Just like Zee Avi I really love everything by him. This is one of his faster tempo songs but most of them are really slow and are great to listen to after a long stressful day. I always like to listen to Amos Lee whenever I’m really worried about something or need to unwind.

Little Liar by Paper Lions- I don’t know that I’ve ever paid close enough attention to this song to actually know what it’s talking about to be honest but I love voice and the beat to this song.

Nuvole Bianchi by Ludovico Einaudi- Let’s be honest we can’t have a relaxing playlist without having a classical song on there and this is probably my favorite one. 

HAPPY PLAYLIST

This is my happy playlist. They are a collection of my favorite songs and songs that simply make me happy.

Hey Girl- OAR- This has to be one of my all time favorites and its speacil to me. This song gives a relaxing yet fun feel to my playlist.

Thrift Shop- Macklemoore- This song is the best song in the world to drive to, I can promise you that. Its fast, funny, and upbeat, all of which make me happy. Who doesnt love poppin tags?!?!

Gone Gone Gone- Phillip Phillips- I think this song is really sweet and meaningful and whenever I hear the chorus I automatically get a huge grin on my face. "I'll love you long after you're gone gone gone"

Because We Can- Bon Jovi- This song is not only the most motivating song, but since Bon Jovi is a classic, it makes this song a classic. It adds motivation to my happy playlist.

Wannabe- Spice Girls- I am going to go ahead and admit that I was a HUGE Spice Girls fan. I had almost every Spice Girl barbie (minus ginger spice and posh spice ):). This song is a throwback and adds nostalgia to my happy playlist.

All of these songs work together to create an awesome playlist that turns regular old Caroline into happy Caroline. And when Caroline is happy, EVERYBODY is happy.

Blog #22

The Perfect Playlist: Best Songs from Musicals to Sing Along to Loudly

I can almost hear groaning in the background due to that title. Anyway, it's not too much of a secret that I absolutely adore musicals. There's something different about songs from musicals compared to "normal" songs (it's probably that the characters are singing what would be normal conversation for them, but just go along with it.) Songs from musicals are my favorite to sing to when I'm home alone, so here we go.

1. La Vie Boheme from Rent - No doubt the best freakin' song in the whole play. It's fast paced, every character sings in it, and it's a huge celebration of the bohemian lifestyle that is condemned by the world at this time. I also have the ability of singing every single word of this song without messing up the words so that's a big contender in why I chose this song.
2. Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge! - Almost anyone who knows me knows that this movie is  my favorite movie and has been since I was five. This song is a mash up of many different love songs and it's quite a lot of fun to try to sing every single part by yourself.
3. On My Own from Les Miserables - I don't think I need to mention how everyone who has ever sung this song kills it, every time. Eponine is the character most easily related to since everyone knows how unrequited love feels. This song is also best sung in the most dramatic way possible, as loudly as you dare.
4. I Won't Say I'm In Love from Hercules - I know this doesn't technically count as a musical, but I'm counting it anyway. This is one of my favorite Disney songs, and Megara is one of my favorite Disney characters, so I had to include this song.
5. Hey Jude from Across the Universe - Also unsure of whether or not this counts as a musical, but there was no other way I could fathom ending this playlist. Hey Jude is one of my favorite songs ever (notice how many times I've said "my favorite..." in this blog post?) and it's a perfect ending for a playlist such as this one.