Country Music...

One of the goals I made for this year of 2011 was: to try my darn hardest to like country music. At least, to SOME extent! So, for this month of January, I've been listening to a lot of country artists, trying to find the ones that I actually really, truly like.

I first started off on Taylor Swift, as I had already tried her in the past and I knew she was FULL country...more pop-country, so I figured she'd be an easy transition from goin "no-country" to "full-country".
I can't say I'm impressed with T.S...I found her music to irritate me, and her voice to be slightly grating. She doesn't seem to have much depth to her music, and the majority of her songs have a similar sound, as well as a similar message. She's either rejoicing in her new-found love, breakin her heart over her lost love, or pining over the guy who SHOULD be with her. Love and crushes are NOT the only thing a teenage gal goes through! I think she needs to branch out more. Of her songs, there were two that didn't annoy me as much as the others. Those being: "The Best Day" & "Never Grow Up"...both being the two non-romantic ones. ;)

After I had gotten a full taste of T.S. (yes, I tried all three of her albums...), I switched over to Carrie Underwood. I hadn't listened to much of Carrie Underwood, other than listening to one of her albums start-to-finish, once. I grabbed two of her albums and loaded them onto my ipod, ready to give her a fair chance with no prior opinion locked. I found her to be one step above T.S. in my opinion...which, I suppose, is making SOME progress. ;)
I did find that she tended to grate on my nerves after a while, so she had to be taken in small doses. Again, her voice annoyed me slightly, and I found many of her songs to irk me as well. Is heartbreak and love all that country gal singers sing about?
Yet, I managed to like a few more of her songs: "Inside Your Heaven", "Temporary Home", and "Change".
Moving on from C.U., I got my hands on one of Lady Antebellum's albums. Ah! Here's where I "struck gold"! I have fallen in love with Lady Antebellum, their sound, and their music. Occasionally, yes, one or two of their songs I won't care for, but for the majority of the one album I tried, I enjoyed it. My favorites being: "Love's Lookin Good on You", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", & "One Day You Will". I am looking forward to trying their other albums.

After Lady Antebellum, I went to "Love & Theft", a band I already knew and loved. Try em...they have more a blue-grassy sound than a true, deep country sound. But they are good. My favorites by them being: "Dancing in Circles", "Runaway", & "Me Without You".


I have now, since, moved on to Rascal Flatts. I've gotten one of his albums, and just started to listen to it today. My overall thoughts, so far, are that I actually like him! His voice is...interesting. So far, my favorites by him include: "Where You Are" & "The Day Before You".

And what is up next? Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, and Miranda Lambert.
Any suggestions for a country-music newbie? Who do you love? Recommend away, peeps! And, no, there is no way you will get me to listen to Miley Cyrus or Billy Ray Cyrus...so don't even go there.

10 Things

Today...instead of posting 10 things that make me happy, I'm going to post 10 things that don't make me happy...just for the heck of it. Ready?

1. Peas. Blech. Blech. BLECH.
2. Being tired. Makes me crabby.
3. No coffee. (It's never, "But why's the rum gone??" but always "But why's the coffee gone??")
4. Glitter...the evil stuff that gets everywhere and sticks to everything. Especially your face. And hands.
5. No texts. :'( Means, no one looooooooooves me.
6. The color pink.
7. Bad eyesight. "Wha? Wha?? Who's there??" "It's meeeeeeeeeeee! Haaaaaaaarry!!"
8. Barney. Evil, evil dinosaur.
9. Bad acting in movies. GAAAAAAAAAAH. Let me pull my hair out. :P
10. Biting into cold stuff. *SHUDDER*

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

1. Memories of leaving my "mark" on the basement wall, beside my siblings.

2. Group chats with four best friends, that make me laugh.

3. Getting an unexpected day off from work.

4. Receiving a 42 page letter from my best friend.

5. Seeing Dad for the first time in a couple days.

6. Wearing matching Pigeon shirts with my favoritest littlest sister.

7. Listening to Christian artists that I grew up on. Michael W. Smith especially.

8. Curling up on a couch next to a dear friend and feelin comforted.

9. Warm fuzzy socks for -4* weather.

Random

Randomity of the day:

- It snowed again. Meh.
- Lots of chores completed, a few left...
- Been listening to "Catching Fire" on my ipod...if only the last book had been as good.
- Cracked up SO hard watching Mom and Dad trying to learn how to: slow dance, waltz, AND swing dance from a DVD.
- Made Challah bread...and secretly added more white flour to it than wheat. Shhhh!
- Worked...slow day.
- Is DYING for spring to arrive.
- Cannot wait to chat with her bestest friend tonight. *heart*

What am I currently reading: "Devil Bones" by Kathy Reichs...first in the series that the tv series, "Bones" was based upon.

What am I currently watching: "Larkrise to Candleford" season 3 with Amy. Love that show. AND! "White Collar" has started up again! w00t!

What am I currently listening to: For an audio book - "Catching Fire", and for music: Michael W. Smith, E.S.Posthumus, and William Joseph. Brilliant stuff. Grew up on Michael W. Smith, E.S.Postumus = epic, and William Joseph is great piano stuffage!

What am I currently writing: Nothing besides journaling and letter-writing.

What am I currently working on: Gloves for my brother.

Ben

Okay. So. I have all these amazing friends, who mean so incredibly much to me, that I've just GOT to tell you about each of them.


Ben wasn't an old friend, but we had gotten close so it felt like we had been friends for much longer than it's really been.
Ben was..."pretty much amazing". Especially lately. I've been struggling with a bunch of stuff, and Ben was there, all the way, ready to listen, ready to give advice, with encouragement and sympathy and offers to pray. I definitely would not have been able to get through this time as smoothly (which, not that it was exactly smooth, but it definitely would've been a lot worse without him...) if I hadn't had Ben there to calm me down, listen to me, talk to me, and make me laugh.

Cuz, yup, Ben made me laugh like crazy. And not everyone can. :P A bit of a tease, but he never pushed me too far. Somehow, even if I started to get annoyed, he'd make me end up laughing and just calling him a dork.

Thanks for being my best friend, Ben.

Fallin in love...

A friend dared me to fall in love this year. And ya know what? It's already happened. He's here with me and He makes me more content than anyone else EVER has. It's puhretty amazing.

Just sayin...

In which Sam is fooled...

Last night, my sister gets home from work, and rushes upstairs with a whole pack of kiddies trailing behind her...just to see me in my room.

Okay. Yeaaaah. A bit odd that she's rushing into my room.

"Look what I got!" she says, with a huge grin on her face. The kiddies are all giggling and grinning like hyenas.
But poor me has just been interrupted from listening to a podcast while knitting. My thoughts are still centered on NarniaWeb's opinions on the latest Narnia film!

My sister holds out a glass jar with a lid screwed on top. It's an empty jar. Ooookay.
She then bangs the top of the jar and a butterfly flutters franticly away from the top of the jar, beating it's wings on the sides.

"What?? Don't BANG it!" I say, sitting right up to get a better look. "Where did you get that?? You bought that??"
"Yes," my sis grins even more. She bangs on the jar even more.
"Stop! You're going to HURT it!" I protest.
At which, everyone...my sis and all the kiddies...break into hysterical laughter.

Greaaaaaaaat. I've been had.

"It's fake! Look!" My sis points out the wire inside the jar that the butterfly is attached to.

Yup. I admit it. I was fooled. It's a pretty cool trick!

~
More random points I feel like making:

- It is snowing.
- Back to work after a long weekend.
- My sweater is NOT done. Meh.
- I totally *heart* "Sense & Sensibility". I can never decide between S&S or Emma for my favorite Jane Austen! You'd think it'd be simple, but it's not! :P
- Hippos are so misunderstood. Just to be perfectly random. And elephants are NOT better than them. *nod*