Track #001 - Mr. Jones

Kate's Playlist - Track #001

Song Title:  Mr. Jones
Artist:  Counting Crows
Album:  August and Everything After

My thoughts:
Mr. Jones is one of my absolute all time favorite songs!  I have so many good memories with this song.  Anytime I hear it I can't help but smile!  My girlfriends and I have always loved to sing this song together, the Counting Crows concert is where I met Gary, I sang this to my brother-in-law (Mr. Jones) at his wedding!  This song just makes me happy, plain and simple!  :)

Video:

Lyrics:
I was down at the New Amsterdam staring at this yellow-haired girl

Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation with this black-haired flamenco dancer
She dances while his father plays guitar
She’s suddenly beautiful
We all want something beautiful
I wish I was beautiful

So come dance this silence down through the morning
Cut up, Maria! Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
I want to be someone who believes

Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales
Stare at the beautiful women
“She’s looking at you. Ah, no, no, she’s looking at me.”
Smiling in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely

I will paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful
Gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play

Mr. Jones and me look into the future
Stare at the beautiful women
“She’s looking at you.
Uh, I don’t think so. She’s looking at me.”
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely

I want to be a lion
Everybody wants to pass as cats
We all want to be big big stars, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me because I don’t believe in anything
and I want to be someone to believe

Mr. Jones and me stumbling through the barrio
Yeah we stare at the beautiful women
“She’s perfect for you, Man, there’s got to be somebody for me.”
I want to be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, son, that’s just about as funky as you can be

Mr. Jones and me staring at the video
When I look at the television, I want to see me staring right back at me
We all want to be big stars, but we don’t know why and we don’t know how
But when everybody loves me, I’m going to be just about as happy as can be
Mr. Jones and me, we’re gonna be big stars….

Kate's Playlist

There is a commercial I keep hearing on the radio for Iheartradio, it says “I don’t believe in God, I believe in music.  Some people pray, I turn on the radio.”

I don’t often talk about my feelings on religion, mainly because I know my opinion is not a popular one.  I know what I believe and I don’t feel like I need to argue it with anyone.  I don’t have any desire to push my feelings on anyone else, the same as I hope other people don’t feel like they need to push their feelings on me. 

But I really love this commercial and every time I hear it, it really resonates with me. 

Music is very important to me.  No matter what kind of mood I am in or what kind of day I am having, there is always a song that can match it.  If I’m upset, the right song can snap me out of it.   There are certain songs that I will listen to, probably the same way that religious people have a certain prayer that they always go to in a time of need. 

Music plays like a soundtrack to every important memory I have.  I can tell you a song that was important to me at that time.  

I love music, I love concerts.  This is something vital to my existence.   And since this blog is all about me, I’m going to introduce something new.  Once a week I am going to share a song with everyone and explain what it means to me.  We are going to call it Kate’s Playlist.  I hope you all enjoy it, I’m looking forward to sharing my favorite songs with everyone!  

Sooo.... Over two months since the last post....

My mom sent me a text a few days ago saying how she love the last post I put on the blog and I couldn't remember what the post was about.  I had to pull it up and see....  I think that is a sign I have been majorly slacking on the blog!!!

Truth is I haven't had a whole lot to say!  Life has been just going along.  Nothing really all that exciting to report!

I'm going to get back on track with the blog though, I enjoy doing it and I don't want to let it slip through the cracks of my life.  I have some new ideas I've been thinking about adding to my repertoire, so we will see if I can get those rolling.  And I will try to get back to my 5 Things Fridays.  :)

5 Things Friday - Mommy Advice

There are a lot of new moms in my life right now.  In honor of that I am going to give you all a little bit of mommy advice from what I have learned over the last 4 years:

1.  You are going to learn a lot about your own mom.  You are going to appreciate everything she ever did for you so much more now that you have somebody to do it all for on your own.  And you are going to see things in a whole new light.  I don't know about you, but I have always firmly believed that my mom knows the answer to any question that I might have.  And I'm sure my mom knows a lot, but I'm also sure she just wings it a lot of the time, and I'm ok with that!  I still call her before I make decisions and I still take whatever she tells me into major consideration.  You are going to look at anything your mom ever did that frustrated you or that you didn't understand WHY she would do that... and now it will all just kind of make sense.  And your mom is going to become a peer on top of your mom and on top of your child's grandma.  You and your mom now get to relate to things concerning being a mom... its fun!  

2.  You are going to fall madly in love - with your HUSBAND.  Yes, you will love the baby too and yes I am sure you already love your husband, that is why you married him.  But after you have your baby and you watch your husband take care of the baby and take care of you....  You will fall harder for him than you ever thought possible.  And it doesn't end after the initial shock wears off.  Its going to surprise you when you least expect it later on.  When you see certain moments between your husband and your child, moments that will seem so ordinary to anyone else, they will make you weak at the knees.  Enjoy it, its one of the best perks of being a mom.  A lot of the time you are the only one who will get to witness those amazing moments.  

3.  You are going to worry - a lot.  And I'm pretty convinced it isn't ever going to stop.  You start worrying about your baby when you are pregnant and then you just keep worrying.  I think the worries make us better people, also crazy people... but its all good.  Just know you aren't alone, we all feel the same way about our kids.  

4.  You are going to need your friends.  I know in the beginning its overwhelming.  Babies take up a lot of time and all the other time is spent catching up on chores and sleep.  But do your best to keep those friendships a priority.  You will need your friends that have kids to remind you that you aren't crazy and to help you out when you have random questions.  But you are also still going to need your friends without kids.  The ones that still go to the bars, the ones that still get to sleep in on the weekends.  Because they are the ones that remind you of who you once were.  And its ok that you have moved into a new phase of your life.  But every once in a while you are going to need a break from being mom and want to go out and have some fun and you need friends to do that with.  Its also really fun to live vicariously through their stories of what they have been up to!

5.  Your life is going to change... drastically.  I know it seems obvious, but you really have no idea.  Until you are a couple years in and you look back and think - wow, I can't believe that my life used to be like that.  I can't believe that I used to sleep/shop/relax/drink/______ all sorts of random things.  I have hopes... high hopes that someday Lyla will be all grown up and I will get back to doing all those things.  But who knows, by then I might not even miss them anymore.  

Heard Around the House #27

Scene:  Me at the Post Office

Me:  I also need two books of stamps.

Post Office Guy:  Would you like Flags or Flowers?

Me:  Flags are fine.

Post Office Guy:  Or I have Harry Potter.

Me: HARRY POTTER!!  Do they cost the same as normal stamps?

Post Office Guy: “laughing” Yes they do.

Me:  Well then I for sure want the Harry Potter ones!  What a fun surprise!  Now I won’t want to mail anything, I will want to keep them!

Post Office Guy: “smiling – seriously loving my Harry Potter enthusiasm”

 

Introducing Angela Joy

I was so excited to meet Angie, then I forgot to share some pictures of her!  Such a sweet little girl, we are all so blessed to have her here!  Becca is a very proud big sister and Lyla just adores her!  I'm sure those two will have all kinds of fun teaching her things as she gets older.

5 Things Friday - Happy New Year!

So its January 31^st…. its officially been 2014 for a month and I just realized I have not done ANY blog posts yet this year! 

I have my reasons.  For starters January is a horrible month.  Its depressing.  Its cold.  There isn’t anything fun going on or anything to look forward to.  Its hard to make any kind of plans because you never know what the weather is going to do.   Bottom line – January is incredibly boring.   But there are a few things we have done in the last month that are worth recapping.  I have only taken a few pictures the whole month, so if I have a picture to accompany my story I will add it!  Here we go:

1.  New Years Eve:

That afternoon we went to visit my friend Sammy and her family.  We wanted to see their new house and since we all have kids and Sammy is pregnant none of us were going out so we had a quiet evening in.  Sammy and I thought it was hilarious that we dressed our girls in the same shirts that day!  We stayed there until about 9:00 then we went home.  Lyla and I went to bed and Gary watched the ball drop on his own.  I told you – January just stinks.

 

2.  Burge Holiday Party:

Our party wasn’t so much of a “party” this year, I would call it more of a “get together”.  We still had a lot of fun though!  Amanda, Justin and Becca came down.  Ashley and Jeremy drove up.  And our neighbors came over.  I made some fun new appetizers.  We ate.  We drank.  We all had a nice night.

3.  Lyla’s First Movie:

Gary and I took Lyla to see her first movie at a movie theater.  We went to see Frozen.  It was fun.  Lyla was a perfect angel and just sat and took in the whole thing.  It was a cute movie, I think Gary liked it the most out of the 3 of us!  He is still talking about it!  He downloaded the soundtrack for Lyla (himself) so the two of them are constantly singing Frozen songs!

4.  Lyla’s First Slumber Party:

Lyla got to have her first friend sleepover.  Her and Becca are so cute together!  They really just adore each other.  I hope they stay friends for a very long time!  I camped out with the two of them in the living room.  They stayed up until 11:30 when they both got in trouble and FINALLY went to sleep, only to wake back up at 5:30 in the morning!  Oh well, we all survived and the girls had fun, that’s all that matters!

 

5.  Amanda Had Her Baby:

In a very bittersweet coincidence, Amanda went in to labor this past Sunday and gave birth to a healthy baby girl – Angela Joy.  Sunday was also the one year anniversary of losing Cassie.  Its very strange how the world works sometimes.  But we are all so happy that Angie is here now!  I have not got to meet her yet.  Lyla has, so I’m a bit jealous of that!  J  We are going to their house tonight to take them dinner and spend some time with the newest addition to their great family!

So those are the highlights – I’m going to just refuse to talk about the “polar vortex” that hung on for 2 weeks and I’m  not going to mention all the snow/ice/slush/crap crap crap all over the place outside.  And I wouldn’t dream of bringing up how terrified I am to get our gas bill……  

Happy 2014!