June Bug

Okay, okay! It's been a while. But I've been a wee bit busy, you know, singing and...stuff. Mostly stuff. Here's the low-down:

Summer Skool

Yes, I know you're jealous. I get to write 4 essays and go to 2.25 hours of class a day. It's awesome. Who needs sleeping in and the beach when you can have a freezing cold classroom and boredom. Yeah, be jealous.

Conditioning

So as you may know, I tore my meniscus right before Spring Break this year, and I wasn't cleared by my doctor to run until the start of summer. When I was cleared, the PT suggested that I follow the c25k plan. All of those crazy letters actually stand for "Couch Potato to 5K," which is a fancy title for "getyourbuttofthecouchandlearntorun." I'm currently working on my second round of Week 3; in order to insure that I'm not injuring myself again, if I feel even the slightest amount of fatigue in my knees, I re-do the week. Sure, it might take a long time, but I'd really not like to tear my meniscus again, no thanks.

This is what happens when it's humid and I run outside.

Embrace the blurriness of this photo.

Embrace the awkward face I'm making

Embrace the white-girl fro.

Om nom nomming

I like food so naturally, I've been a bit busy in the kitchen this summer! This week alone I made muffins, pancakes, and delicious raspberry tarts with a nommy whipped cream. I fully intend on making the tarts again. In fact, they were so good that my family ate them all before I had the chance to take a picture! So instead, I will delight your eyes with pictures of my brancakes (that's bran-pancakes for those of you who didn't know). They tasted terrible. But they looked darn good.

The bananas are happy to see you! (Please enjoy how creepily awkward that last statement was)

Yummo? Not so much...

Bird Sitting...

So I've been bird sitting for a family I know. Thank goodness the birds are low-maintenance because I don't think I could handle a crazy Alfred Hitchcock-esque sitting job. However, one of the birds was looking a bit funky, so Hannah and I just HAD to draw a picture of it.

Isn't it cute? Yeah, I know I suck at drawing. Don't judge.

Hannah decided that she needed to draw a gangster bird.

She told me that he was too cool for me to comprehend.

Must be true because I just don't get it...

So that's basically my month of June in a nutshell. I hope I find more to blog about in July (Like MY BIRTHDAY) that will be slightly more entertaining.

Keep those birds classy, folks.

Raspberries!

No, I'm not talking about the awkward kind where you vibrate your lips and make weird sounds... (even trying to describe it sounds awkward...) I'm talking 'bout THIS kind:

Woah. Don't those look delicious? Yeah, I know they do. And I ate them ALL for my lunch today. Well, not all of them, but a good amount. Check out how friggin GIGANTIC they are!!!

That is one massive raspberry, and that isn't even the largest one! Needless to say, they were delicious and I gobbled mine down in no time at all. Om nom nom...

True to my word, I got off my lazy bum and PRACTICED yesterday! *silent applause* Nothing to strenuous, just a simple warm-up followed by my Lutgen Vocalises and some interval exercises. I should take a picture of where I have to practice when I'm at home. You would all weep with sadness at the smallness of the space, the electric keyboard, and the fact that there is a gigantic map of the Gulf Coast of Texas right above the keyboard. To make matters worse, I have to awkwardly face away from the wall while singing or else the sound bounces back to me too quickly and my eardrums bleed. Not a pretty sight, to be sure!

BUT, I didn't practice today. *boo hisssss* I actually ended up at my grandparent's house this afternoon to work on some of the furniture that I'll be taking back to the Wack with me in August. I sanded my dresser, filled in all the nooks and nail holes with wood putty, painted the dresser, sanded the chairs for the dining set, and then painted those too. You'll never guess the name of the paint I used. ULTRA PURE WHITE. Yes, folks, that's an actual paint color. What is this world coming tooooooooo? All in all, it was a very productive afternoon and I'll hopefully have pictures for you when I finish with all of my furniture!

I'm off to write a classy literary analysis!

Rain On the Mown Grass

"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth."

Psalms 72:6

This verse is ironic for one reason and one reason only: it was because of the rain that our grass did not get "mown." BUT, more importantly, it did rain. And the rain was much needed, but it certainly did not rain enough to even dampen the cracked dirt and burnt grass that I currently call my yard. Can I get a "Woo-hoo!" for droughts, y'all? Even thought it rained, and the rain was less than satisfactory, I did get some rockin pictures of the plants in the rain! Check it:

Totally tubular, right? Okay, not really. But honestly, if you hadn't seen rain in months, you'd be pretty excited, too!

In other news, I got really bored on Friday morning and the empty fridge was laughing at my grumbling tummy, so naturally I decided to bake Vegan Whole Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with Spiced ‘Buttercream’. The recipe's all there (I'm far to lazy to type it out for you, but a big thanks to Angela for being a vegan baker who likes to share. Mad props.) but I made a few "modifications." By modifications, I mean I didn't use anything healthy and they're hardly vegan. I have a boat load of whole wheat flour a mi casa, but no whole wheat PASTRY flour, so I just made do with the all-purpose version. Plus, I wasn't going to send my very southern father out on a wild goose chase for non-dairy butter, so I just whimpered a little and added in the real thing for the frosting. But it was only half a stick, so that's not too bad, right? Anyway, let the pictures commence!

This is zee batter. Or, most of it. This is actually all of the wet ingredients post being mixed together. You can't even tell that there aren't any eggs in there because the vinegar adds the bubbly that eggs are usually used for!

Zee actual batter. With the chocolate powder and stuff. And by stuff, I mean all the other ingredients.

The cupcakes, fresh from the oven. Not gonna lie to you, they smelled disgusting. Imagine a cocktail of vinegar and chocolate. Throw up a little in your mouth. That's the smell.

Finally! The finished product. Don't it look purty? Okay, maybe not. But a girl can try. I'm not sure how they taste, because I haven't had one yet *gasp*, but my parents and BabyBrother all confirm that they taste awesome for something that is sorta-vegan. Sorta.

Before I wrap this sucker up, I feel like I should inform you all that I took the month of May off from singing to recover mentally and physically from a grueling semester. That month has turned in to a month and a half. I have promised myself that I'll start practicing on Monday after my English class, and then I'll probably feel better about my self and won't feel the need to bake so much in order to fill the empty void that was singing. But don't hold me to it.

Keep it classy and cool!

P.S. Cho, if you're reading this, I've been practicing for 3 hours a day, every day since school let out. No breaks for this little sangar! (My dad's word, not mine...)

A Year Of Free Music!!

Oh goodness, what a day it has been! Today I received conformation that the majority of the people in our Year of Free Music group received their CDs!!! Confused about what exactly I'm so happy about? Check it:

"So here's the idea! We all love music, and who doesn't love free music? So basically each person is assigned a month. You make 11 copies of a mixed CD filled with various music from your collection, on your assigned month. Then, you distribute the CDs to the members of the group, and by the end of the year you have a whole lot of new music! make sense? :)" source

Sounds totally awesome, right??? Well, June was my month so I made a CD of 18 of my favorite songs (trust me, there were so many more...) Bet you're dying to know which songs out of my massive collection I chose to put on such a short CD. Wait no more! And, as an added bonus, I'll even give you some epic commentary!

•  Overture/About To Crash-- Dream Theater (First two Tracks) I really wish I could have put all of DT's album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence on this CD, but I had to limit myself to only the first two songs :( My dad has been listening to Dream Theater since they started their band in the early 90s. All of the members of the band hold degrees from Julliard Conservatory or Berkley School of Music in their respective instruments (except the singer. His degree is in clarinet, which he plays on a few songs from other albums). In a nut shell, this is by far one of my most favorite bands for their ability to write good MUSIC.
• Invincible-- Pat Benatar Pat Benatar= my hero. To me, she is the female version of Freddy Mercury. Well, not really. But I love her voice a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. Though not her most famous, this song happens to be my favorite of hers. I'm not entirely sure why, but it probably has something to do with the epicness of it all. Look up the lyrics if you want. You won't regret it.
• Ain't No Rest for the Wicked-- Cage the Elephant I am currently obsessed with Cage the Elephant, and this song has a really great message. You may recognize the instrumental breaks from the trailer of the movie The Blindside. Great movie, great song.
• Man of la Mancha-- Linda Eder Oh. My. God. I want have a vocal chord transplant from this woman. Enjoy the Spanish flair, but when you get to 2:11, be prepared to pee yourself.
• Change Nothing-- I Nine My dad actually got me hooked on I Nine about a year ago. 1:52 is where it's at for this song. Lead singer Carmen Keigans "has a serious set of pipes," as my dad would say. And the song's not too bad, either :P
• When I Think of You-- Michael W Smith and the African Children's Choir Michael W Smith is by far my favorite modern composer and singer. He is my inspiration for getting into music in the first place. I saw him live for the first time when I was 3 or 4 and begged my mom to put me piano lessons. The rest is history. This song is my favorite praise/worship song EVER. Even if I've had a suck-tastic day, I could listen to this song and it's guaranteed that a smile will cross my face. If you don't smile when watching this, I'm just going to assume you have no heart.
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)-- Eurythmics Annie Lennox is the queen of rock (sorry, Pat). She started off as an opera singer, but quit that to form Eurythmics and become one of the most famous rock bands of all time. Secretly, I want to follow in her footsteps and form an epic rock band. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
• Roam-- The B-52s You say, "Party band," and I say, "B-52s." Their absurd lyrics and funky beats are so catchy! This is one of their more "normal" songs, but is sure is a goodie (probably because lead singer, Fred, doesn't open his mouth much)! Just watch the video for all of the innuendo, if nothing else. Also by the B-52s- "Love Shack" and "Rock Lobster." Hilarious.
• The Prophet's Song-- Queen (Freddy Mercury) Freddy Mercury. Oh my gosh, what a man. It's a shame he died so young, because Lord only knows what other amazingess could have come from such a throat. This song is criminally under-rated by listeners of Queen. Much like their chart-topping hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" (which was actually a flop when it fist came out), Freddy uses what little technology was available in the early 80s to put this track together. Did I mention that he did ALL OF THE FREAKIN' VOCALS. If that's not awesome on it's own, I don't know what is.
• German Sparkle Party-- The Something Experience I suggest that you don't actually watch the video. You should just listen to the song and throw your own personal dance party. It helps that I am half German, and the friend who introduced me to this song is also half German. We have a dance. Nobigdeal.
• Pinball Wizard-- The Who This song is from the Who's rock opera Tommy. By far the most famous rock opera ever written. This song was originally written for the fabulous Elton John, but I couldn't find my dad's recording of the movie in time to put the Elton John version on the CD. Sadness. However, The Who's version is just as good :P
• Big Scary Animal-- Belinda Carlisle I really am not a huge fan of Belinda Carlisle, but I actually like this song of hers. It came on my iPod randomly one day and I started dancing to it. Kinda random, but it's a feel-good song, so I put it on. I was going to change it out with Phil Collins' True Colors, but my computer crashed while I was trying to re-upload the CD and I didn't get it in time.
• Johnny America-- Five for Fighting This song makes me actually like America a little bit. It's an inspirational, feel-good piece and it makes me smile a little.
• If This Room Could Move Another epic I Nine song? Yes, I do believe so! This one has a faster beat than "Change Nothing," but the vocals are just as solid.
• Hot Mess-- Cobra Starship Yes, I listen to Cobra Starship. No, I'm not embarrassed about it. I love running to this song; it gets stuck in my head for days on end...
• Son of Man-- Phil Collins Okay, okay. There's a lot of Phil Collins in this post. But I am admittedly obsessed. That probably has something to do with the fact that my fist concert ever was a Phil Collins concert. My mom was very pregnant with me when she, my dad, our pastor, and his wife went to his concert in Houston. Mr. Collins holds a special place in my heart, and as cheesy as it is, this is one of my favorite songs that he does.
• The Gambler-- Fun. I could go on and on about this song, but all I will say is that I cry every time I hear it.

So, that's my CD! I hope you enjoy my musical selection and don't vote me off the island as far as musical taste goes. I tried to keep it as classy as possible!