28 years and still working the bugs out.

Jan
13

iPod Top 25

Life

On my commute home from work last night, I was scrolling through my iPod, trying to find a new playlist to listen to. That’s when I stumbled upon the automatically-generated Top 25 Most Played playlist. It piqued my curiosity, so I selected it and hit play.

Some songs weren’t a big surprise, but a few seemed completely out of left-field (see #18, for example). So, without further adieu, enjoy my (embarrassing) list, linked to the song/video/band wherever possible…

Alone in this Bed (Capeside) by Framing Hanley
Wings of a Butterfly (Album Version) by Him
Fine Again [Explicit] by Seether — Probably one of my favorite songs ever.
Lollipop by Framing Hanley
Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey — Any top-songs list in my world has to include Journey!
Lost in a Memory by Casting Shadows — My favorite song by friends’ band.
Never Leave by Seether
Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts
Happens All the Time (Album Version) by Cold
Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry
Better Off by Casting Shadows
You Think You’re a Man (7″ Radio Edit) by Full Frontal — Random song from the Queer as Folk season 1 soundtrack. I love me some dance-music.
Dear God by Avenged Sevenfold
I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry
Girl Next Door by Saving Jane
Addicted [Explicit] by Saving Abel
Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood — One of my favorite songs to sing at the top of my lungs when I’m alone in the car.
Joyride by Roxette — I don’t even know what to say about this one. I have NO IDEA how it got on here. Really.
Reckless by Alabama — One of my favorite songs to crank up when driving with the t-tops off on my 300ZX.
Cure My Tragedy by Cold
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley — Can’t believe this is on here! At my old job, a coworker of mine used to listen to this on repeat All. Day. LONG. I can’t stand this song anymore.
More than a Feeling by Boston
The Way I Are by Timbaland featuring Heri Hilson & D.O.E. — Totally random! I love the beat and it’s another song I love to turn up loud when I’m driving in the Z.
Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane — Uh, DUH … total car-song!
I’m in a Hurry by Alabama — Apparently I’ve been on an Alabama-kick recently?

If you have an iPod or other MP3 player that aggregates your “Top ‘X’ Songs”, I dare you to have a look, then post about it at your blog and comment here with the link, or just post your list in the comments!

Tags: iPod, itunes, music, songs

8 comments

Jan
12

On Getting (Relatively) Older

Life

by Mandi

I’ll be turning 28 at the end of February. In the past, I’ve always dreaded my birthday. If I could have stopped time, I think I’d have stayed about 17 forever. (I had a hell of a good time as a teenager…)

Turning 27 last year was a difficult birthday for me, for some reason. It was just that much to the side of being past mid-20′s and into late-20′s, and it freaked me out. I spent my birthday feeling sorry for myself, despite my friends trying their best to cheer me up.

A good thing came out of it though: a few days after I turned 27, it started to sink in that birthdays will come and go and sulking about it wasn’t going to do a damn bit of good. (DUH!) Perhaps not much of a revelation, but once you let this truly soak in to your psyche, you realize that it’s silly not to celebrate every moment and enjoy it for what it is.

So this year, I’m looking forward to 28. There’s a small part of it that bothers me. Ya know, the part where 30 is oh-so rapidly approaching. But what’s the point of being upset? Besides, 28 just sounds like a good number to me. A happy number, even! I’m going to go with it…

A dear friend of mine turns 27 later this month and he’s taking it hard for the same reasons I’ve had in the past. Getting older just isn’t fun sometimes. I’m trying really hard to think of the good things about being in your late-20′s, so that I can cheer him up.

IDEAS, anyone!? Share in the comments, please…

Tags: age, birthdays, getting older

4 comments

Jan
11

How I Spend My Weekends (Covered in Paint)

Life

by Mandi

Ya’ll… it’s Monday and I’m feeling completely brain-dead.

I spent my weekend mostly covered in paint. As I think I’ve mentioned before, I had to paint our bathroom. I always seem to get temporary amnesia and think, Oh painting isn’t so bad.

No. It freaking SUCKS. You know why!? Because I can’t seem to ever paint a room without stepping in the effing paint!!

I’m not joking. I had paint covering the bottoms of both feet (thankfully I was barefoot). I also had it in my hair (despite having worn a bandanna), covering my entire left shoulder (because I backed into a wet wall on accident) and of course all over my hands.

At least it’s pretty much DONE.

I spent my evenings knitting and finishing my February Lady Sweater, which I’ve had on the needles for over a year and haven’t touched since last winter.

I’m really excited to get to wear it! If you want to read more about this sweater and my other knitting projects, have a look at my other blog: Mandi Knits.

When I wasn’t painting or knitting this weekend, I was watching marathons of Forensic Files, Snapped, Haunting Evidence, and some special on the Zodiac Killer. I don’t know WTF was up with that, but needless to say I had myself scared stupid all weekend. So last night before bedtime I threw in some good ol’ Iron Chef America to balance it out.

Tags: decor, design, home improvement, knitting, painting, sweaters, tv

5 comments

Jan
09

Blissdom ’10

On Blogging

by Mandi

Yesterday, I got a blog comment from the lovely Cynthia of A Shimmy In My Spirit asking me if I was attending the Blissdom Conference.

Um. Excuse me … what what?! What’s this you speak of?!

I promptly had to google that shiz … and come to find out, it’s … well … let me just copy/paste the description from their site:

Blissdom is the premiere conference for women who find and express their bliss by publishing online. Blissdom ‘10, our third conference, is a welcoming oasis in the ever-changing blogging world. Speakers and panels featuring the best blogging, public relations and social media pros will be gathering to mentor new and old friends alike.

This is Blissdom’s most exciting year, with even more incredible content, events, networking and surprises scheduled than ever before. The size of our conference is perfect–full of synergy and opportunity, but intimate enough to get personally benefit from the professional development and personally fulfilling agenda options.

[More]

In other words … paradise for a geek of the female persuasion. So, okay yah, SOLD!

I quickly checked my bank account balance, scrutinized my budget spreadsheet, and counted on my fingers and toes … and ultimately decided to register for the Saturday sessions. You can read about the sessions here or on the agenda page.

Saturday’s sessions include both a business track and a writing track. I’m leaning toward primarily the business track, which includes:

Leveraging Social Media to Build Your Business
Evolving into a Professional Blogger — Paths to Success
Niche Blogging — Experts Talk About Blogging Your Passions and Expertise
The Wizard of Ads- Pulling Back the Curtain on Online Advertising.

I’m considering swapping out the Niche Blogging session to jump ship over to the writing track and pick up Content is Queen – Communicating Your Brilliance through High Quality Writing. I haven’t decided yet. All the sessions look super fun and interesting. Makes me wish I could be in two places at once.

So… any of ya’ll going? If so, be sure to look for me and come introduce yourself!

Tags: blissdom '10, blogs, conferences

7 comments

Jan
08

Snow and Ice come to Middle TN

Life

by Mandi

It came a little later than expected (starting around noon yesterday, I believe), but Nashville did indeed get some snow.

Not quite a blizzard, but impressive for what I’ve experienced in middle Tennessee over the last three years that I’ve lived here. Here are some more pictures from around town, posted on the Tennessean’s website.

The snow really wasn’t bad at all. The not-so-fun part was that there was ICE. The main roads were fairly good (at least in Nashville and north of the city) but secondary roads were somewhat slippery. On my evening commute home from work, I encountered one car that had slid off the road, but thankfully didn’t see any serious accidents.

The road I live on was basically a sheet of ice, but thankfully wasn’t too bad to drive on, so long as you took it very slowly and didn’t make any sudden wheel-adjustments. I actually didn’t realize just how icy it was until I walked out to the mailbox and was standing on the road. (Almost wiped out… whoops!)

Observing everyone’s panic over the road conditions made me very grateful that I spent my first 8 years driving in a climate where these sort of road conditions are common five months out of the year (or more).

But it really could be worse…

Once again, there’s the snow as of this morning at my parents’ house in Erie, Pennsylvania. According to my mother, the cars were totally bare at 11:30 PM last night. They’re expecting more lake-effect snow Saturday and Sunday. FUN!

Tags: ice, snow, weather

7 comments