Me? I think I’ll be hanging out at home. Mike and I had planned to go out (I’ve never gone out for New Years in my entire life) but he has to work early the next morning, so I think we’re going to stay in. There will be some Asti involved, though.
Could those two be any stinkin’ cuter!? For serious.
Gosh, I love all these female artists who can just belt it out. Seriously, I’m in love …
… and …
Adele’s album, 21, was released earlier this year and Christina Perri’s album, Lovestrong, comes out in May. I seriously think I need both, immediately. {Ok, so I have to wait till May for the one… fine.}
Ever since I started dating my hunny, I’ve gotten more into music than I ever have been before. He’s somehow convinced (re-convinced?) me to move away from using iTunes or Amazon to buy MP3s and instead return to buying actual CDs.
I didn’t “get it” when he first tried to persuade me, and I can’t explain it even now that I agree. There’s just something satisfying about having the actual album physically in your hands (particularly if there’s nice album art) that is just satisfying to me.
Do you prefer buying CDs or just downloading from iTunes or Amazon? Why?
Today was a music-filled day. Mike got his new Ibanez guitar off layaway. Little Man played the drums.
… And me? I took a ukulele workshop with my friend Ron!
(Ron and I are very intense musicians, as you can clearly see.)
The workshop was SO fun. It was a very high-level overview. We learned the parts of the ukulele and some basic chords and strumming techniques. We got tablature handouts for Somewhere Over The Rainbow and the oh-so-popular Hey Soul Sister by Train.
(As an aside: The lead singer of Train, Pat Monahan, is from right here in Erie. So I suppose it was appropriate to be learning that song.)
The second half of the class was an art workshop to customize our new instruments …
Mod-Podge, stickers, paint-pens … it felt like elementary school art class! It was actually an interesting exercise in letting go. (At least for me.) I’d never normally glue things to a musical instrument, because it would go against my “keep things nice”-obsession.
As a child, I couldn’t mix Play-Doh colors together or punch holes in the pattern-papers for my Lite-Bright because I didn’t want to “ruin” them. Interestingly, Ron said he was the same way as a kid. Apparently he was able to let go today in class too…
It was nice to have permission, and to be encouraged to be creative this way. There were so many beautiful one-of-a-kind instruments created in that class! It was also a lot of fun to watch all the other people in the class, young and old, embrace their creative sides.
Above are the results of my ukulele (left) and Ron’s (right).
Now I have a lot of practice ahead of me. My fingertips and wrists are already sore from playing, but I’m having fun. Mike says he wants a recital of what I’ve learned when he gets home from work. (Ha ha.)
It’s the weekend and I decided was a good reason to make a post about random happy things that have gone on this week …
* I had dinner at my Grandma Rita’s house the other night. We had such a nice visit. She shared a cookie recipe with me for these lovely crunchy sugar cookies that I can remember my great gram making years ago. They’re fabulous dunked in coffee. Yum! I’m planning to make a double batch and take some to my grandma as a “thank you”.
* I spent my Saturday morning with my hunny. He went across town and got donuts from my favorite locally-owned shop (which is in a not-so-nice part of the city). Haven’t had donuts from this shop since I was a kid! I made coffee which, for some reason, tasted especially wonderful too. We spent the morning talking, sipping coffee, and listening the Mumford and Sons CD. How great of a morning is that!?
* Earlier this week, we found out the other day that Cold is going to be playing at Peabody’s in Cleveland on March 29th. We scored tickets (for only $15 each!) and I got the day off work to go. From what I understand, Peabody’s is a fairly small venue, so it should be amazing.
* Stopped by World of Music today and saw they were having signups for a Ukulele Workshop next weekend. For $45, you get a ukulele, a beginner group lesson, “learning materials” (a booklet of some sort, presumably) and an art workshop to customize your new uke. Seriously … how fun does that sound?! I stood there and debated for a quite a while and finally decided to just go for it.
… As a result I’ve wasted the rest of my afternoon browsing sites like Ukulele Underground (!!) and perusing ukulele cover songs on YouTube. (Check out the one above – awesome!) I’m ridiculously excited. Mike says I have to learn to at least play “Happy Birthday” by the time his birthday rolls around next January. (Deal!)
* Finally, I wanted to share some wonderful new-to-me blogs that I’ve stumbled upon recently. I just adore these ladies … Liz at SrslyLiz, Danielle at Sometimes Sweet, Alycia at The Curious Pug, Elycia at Love Elycia and Kyla at KylaRoma.com. Check them out!
I’m off to catch a nap – ’cause there’s nothing more luxurious and wonderful on a rainy afternoon – and enjoy the rest of my weekend. Hope y’all are having a great Saturday too!
