All By Myself

     The thing I love most about finding a different song for each of my posts is that it forces me to find new music.  Honestly, sometimes I completely hate it for one reason or another.  Usually the reason is I can't find a song that I like that fits the blog post and I just want to go to bed.  Other times though, like right now, I can't wait until I can blog again so I can share this amazing band with you.
     I wish there was a genre for this band that I could type in so I would get more bands like this one.  They are completely unique in that in one of their CDs they have so many different sounds.  All of their songs are fun and you can tell that they are doing this because they love it, not for the fame or the money (okay, maybe a little for both, but mostly because they love it).  I just found on youtube a playlist of "officially unofficial music videos, hand-made, band-made by Walk the Moon without a film crew or a budget."  That quote was taken directly from the description of their "7in7" playlist, where they made 7 videos (in 7 days) while on tour in order to promote their upcoming self-titled album.  I've shared some of their music on here before after I stumbled across Anna Sun and then came back for more with Shiver Shiver (although I should have used the music video featured below as it is so much better than the live version).  I finally downloaded their whole CD and man are there some jems on the album.  I can't stop listening to the song that the title of this post is named after, mostly because of the different rounds in the chorus.  I want to find more bands like this one.  If you know of any, please pretty please let me know.  I'd be forever in your debt.   I also just found out that they are going to be in Nashville on a Tuesday which makes me super sad because who would miss work to go with me?

"Shiver Shiver" by Walk the Moon

     I had my first day of an internship at Click Magazine (in DeSoto County) today, but I'm going back on Tuesday to have my second first day.  I'm extremely proud of my outfit so I had to share.

     Now it's down to OXFORD for Grove Season!  

Art brought to you by Scoots Peterson (my grandmother) and Welzie (of Two Crows Surfboards).

Title: "I Can Lift a Car" by Walk the Moon

(btw, opening your eyes underwater and trying to look good is really rather difficult for those of you who haven't tried... which makes this video even more awesome)

I Paint the Pictures of Emotions

     Tonight there was a fun painting party benefiting Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center, the very first child advocacy center in DeSoto County.  A child advocacy center helps children who have been abused.  From what I understand, a center such as this one will make sure everyone works together in order to better benefit the children.  Broken down simply, they advocate for children who have suffered through abuse.  The most simple way they will advocate for each child is instead of having to recount their abuse story over and over again to multiple people and reliving through that traumatic event in their life, the child will just have to tell their story once.  On their Facebook page they have an adorable diagram of the process that a child who has been abused has to go through before the center and after.  While you may not see child abuse in your day to day life, it is a very real problem throughout the world, no county in America is exempt from it.  If you want to know more or volunteer you should check out their website and their Facebook page.

    The painting party tonight allowed us to paint pictures at Pleasant Hill Art Center to decorate the advocacy center.  How awesome is that?  For those of you unfamiliar with Pleasant Hill Art Center, the lovely women who run it help you create a work of art (that sometimes you wouldn't be able to create otherwise).  Their theory is everyone is an artist (and unlike my drawing professor who proclaimed he could teach anyone to draw, their theory is way more accurate).  If you can't quite get your picture there on your own, they are there with just a few suggestions (and maybe a little stroke or two) that will get your painting to the next level of perfection.  My mom has been to at least 3 parties there in the past few months (my dad even attend 2 of those and enjoyed himself!).  It's one of those things where you have fun doing it and you're even proud of your work in the end.  I felt like I was taking a lot more pictures than I actually took (like always).  But I had a blast and while I might would have wandered around a little more taking pictures, I'm very thankful for the reason I stayed put.

Title: "Paint the Pictures" by of Verona

I'm Glad of What Keeps Me Afloat

     We grilled out tonight which gave us more time with the pups.  It was nice and breezy most of the time (but it got hot really quick when the breeze died down).  Oscar continues to amuse me almost every minute I'm outside (when he isn't being extremely lazy).   He has tons of personality that actually compliments Jack.  This time they weren't fighting non-stop, instead they were preoccupied with other things (eating cherry pits, chasing wasps, stealthily trying to get the bone away from each other, keeping a paw wet).  All in all we humans had a great time watching the dogs run around being silly (or laying around, if you're Oscar).

Title: "The Water" by Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling

Watermelon Mint Cooler

     I thought I might post a quick recipe of a drink I made for book club.  It's been a while since I've posted a recipe and I thought I might change it up a bit.  I originally found this recipe, but I've tweaked it a little.  It's pretty easy and the end result is delicious.  It is definitely a summer drink but one you can drink through fall to keep you refreshed.

Ingredients:

4 c chopped watermelon

¼ t salt

¼ c simple syrup (½ c sugar, ¼ c water)

1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

2-3 mint leaves

Directions:

Blend all ingredients with ice on “frozen drink” setting of blender or until smooth. 

Fill glass half full with watermelon mixture and top with champagne or sparkling water. 

Garnish with fresh mint and watermelon wedges.

Enjoy!

Now I'll Be Bold As Well As Strong

     I find myself in cycles of obsessively having a camera almost glued to my hand and never having anything resembling a camera near me.  With my iPhone camera, these cycles have some what changed a little (meaning instead of never having a camera near me I might take a few photos here and there but there is still usually a limit to that--like no people pictures).  Of course, as a freelance photographer when I'm covering an event (or taking portraits) it doesn't matter what stage of the cycle I'm in I will still cover an event like it's my job (because it is).  As of right now I'm in my not so favorite cycle, the never taking picture part (or at least not as much as I should/wish I would).

     I hosted book club tonight.  Preparing for tonight was so much fun.  I spent a good part of the day melting chocolate and puréeing watermelon.  I definitely would not have been able to proficiently do any of the hosting without the help of my mom and my dad.   (My dad helped me make the peanut butter cups.)  One of the things I was most excited about (besides all of my recipes being a hit) was the fact that everyone enjoyed the book (Wicked City by Ace Atkins)!  We had a lively discussion about it before deciding on some new books for the coming months.  Our list seriously rocks (it's extremely diverse) and I can't wait to read it.  

     In the coming days and weeks, I'm going to try and work on maintaining a happy medium of pictures.  After all, this weekend is a Game Weekend (as in a Grove Weekend, since I never really go to the games).  I enjoyed Wicked City so much, I honestly wouldn't mind reading other books by Ace Atkins.  The next title of his on my list would have to be Infamous.  I heard him speak about it at the Literacy is Key event in Memphis (last January, benefiting Literacy Midsouth).  Just the way he spoke about it made me want to read it (even before I had read book by him).  After reading Wicked City, I want to read it even more because I know he can develop characters as fully as they deserve.

Title: "Nothing is Written" by Mumford and Sons

Heavier Than I Knew

     If you follow my blog regularly, you will have noticed I didn't post yesterday.  I've been pretty down in the dumps lately over my migraines.  I hate to say that I'm depressed because I started feeling bad again, but when my health went backwards instead of forwards it really frustrated me.  It's still frustrating me.  I even think I feel better and then I start to do something (because I'm feeling better) and I'll feel bad again.  It has given me the strangest urge to sob at any little thing.
     I didn't really feel like blogging yesterday, but there have been many times where I've just sucked it up and felt accomplished after I posted even just a little something.  Then I realized it was Sunday.  Sunday meant that it was my "five things I'm thankful for" day and I just couldn't do it.  Of course, I had things I'm thankful for.  I'm always thankful for my family (including my puppies and my kitty).  That could have been three things already, but I wanted to be thankful for other things.  So here's my second attempt at things five things I'm thankful for this past week.

It's almost Tuesday and my turn to host Book Club!

meaning I get to feel like a grown-up because even though I'm hosting in my parent's house, 

I'm the actual host (not my mom)

I feel like I'm preparing a very small feast of desserts

I won't ruin the surprise for the ladies who are coming 

but I will say one of the things involves watermelon

I found out this morning that there is a Little Free Library in Mississippi

in Arkabutla to be exact

I don't have a picture but it still makes me feel a little better about the state of Mississippi

The simple fact that I don't feel as bad as I did on Thursday and Friday

 

I might get to hang this amazing piece of art on my wall

(it's from Hawaii)

Title: "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra

You Fashion Your Life

     I keep finding myself striving to do more, especially now that I'm back to not feeling so well.  Now that I know if I try to do anything (and everything) I want to do, I will end up with a headache.  I know that sounds weird (or like I'm just creating a self-fulling prophecy) but I've been living with this pain for long enough to know that if I'm very calm and I sit around/lay around and do nothing I'll feel better (and like I can do something) and then when I do something (anything) the pain immediately comes back.  I've gotten to the point where I'm hesitant to even knit because I'm scared it will bring on a headache.
     While I'm sitting around, I find myself thinking of half thought out plans of things I want to do.  I keep saying "when I feel better I'm going to..." I think that it's uplifting that I know I have plans, that I'm not content with just laying around all day doing nothing but watching TV or reading.  I'm hoping that once I do feel better I will follow through with everything I've said I'm going to do.  Even more than that I'm truly hoping I will feel better enough to have the energy to work and do other things, maybe even make some friends around the DeSoto County area.  Until then I'm just going to have to keep taking my medicine, work, and be fulfilled with what God has put in my life (my family and my puppies, oh and my kitty).

Poor Kitty Dante still gets barked at by Puppy Oscar.

Title: "Bird on a Wire" by Sarah Blasko

Here Comes the Sun

     My day has been pretty taken over by my monster of a migraine.  I finally got some relief after going back to the chiropractor and taking my migraine medicine, but I've been pretty much out of commission.  I'm working on finding a migraine journal app for my phone that I really like so I can keep track of everything that is important (duration, how many per week, etc).  I've tried two different apps but I'm not in love with either one so we'll see.

   

Title: "Gimme Sympathy" by Metric