Thanks Google Chrome - as if I'm not well aware I'm logging some extra hours these days. Each time I open a new tab, here's the sobering reminder of my most frequented websites:
Facebook is only #5? This project is totally inflicting upon my work/stalk balance.
Fortunately, I'm sick at creating playlists. These days - when I'm staring at my computer screen for upwards of 14 hours - I've filled Config Zone Out* with The Temper Trap. (insert obligatory [500] Days of Summer soundtrack shout-out here)
The entire album is magical, but Love Lost is a clear front runner - maybe that's why it's the first track! I recommend first listening to Love Lost while driving - hopefully you're alone, it's dark and you're not hitting a lot of lights. Oh, let's add the backdrop of rain too. Now you're ready to love this song!
At first I didn't like the video, but when the little girls ran out (around 2:50) I felt nostalgic for the years when me and Maggie would stay up late singing Mariah Carey in the reflection of our living room window, pretending to serenade our little 4th grade crushes. 4th grade crush = Steven Wood
Ok time for me to get back to work GET A BLOODY MOVE ON! Don't mind that I'm going to tag this Australian band with British Invasion ... hot accents ... all the same.
*My Config Zone Out playlist features The National Arcade Fire Annie Lenox Angels & Airwaves Marc Cohen Freelance Whales Friendly Fires Mumford & Sons Sia Stars The Temper Trap Tori Amos One Republic The Postal Service Muse Florence + the Machine Fiona Apple Ellie Goulding Bloc Party
Has it really been a month? Yikes! Guess counting people took more time than I anticipated. But now I'm back - committed to the cause - and have a yummy little number that you need to play on repeat immediately (if you don't already).
So wanna know the fastest way to make me happy? Play Vanessa Carlton. Not only do I love her music, I think I want to be her. Only she can match the enthusiasm and ADHD-ness to which I bang My Heart Will Go On out on the piano (wearing this, wearing only this). She dated my future blog-subject/husband Stephan Jenkins, is a classically trained ballerina, has long shiny brown hair and likes to wear a lot of eyeliner. Did your heart just explode in envy? Yeah, mine too!
Initially, I wasn't too impressed with Vanessa and her completely unrelatable hit A Thousand Miles:
Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you...
Tonight.
Don't count on me walking a thousand miles in one night to see you. Even if you've got Ryan Reynold's wit, Justin Bieber's 'bama bangs and Brad Pitt's ability to eat on camera, I would only get about 55 miles - putting me in Woodbridge, VA. Vanessa, it's ok that you weren't a math major, but a song about being so in love that you'd spend all night walking to a place that just got a Target isn't going to tickle my pickle.
Shockingly, I don't remember when I first heard White Houses. I can't give you details as to what I was wearing, what I was thinking, what homework I was ignoring - all I know it was sometime early senior year at Duke. I've been a Vanessa believer ever since.
Whenever I hear White Houses, I just want to spin around in happy little circles just like Vanessa in her banned-from-MTV video (apparently her coming-of-age lyrics were too descriptive for the land of fist pumps and Justin Bobbys). I love the melody - so sweetly vulnerable - and how it interplays with antsy, awkward tempo. And the lyrics? I feel like I'm playing house on the set of The Wonder Years - so excited, filled with self-importance and no a clue as to what I'm doing:
Maybe I'm a little bit over my head
I come undone at the things he said
And he's so funny in his bright red shirt
We were all in love and we all got hurt
So give Vanessa a spin - if you like it, I also recommend Nolita Fairytale and Hands On Me. If you don't like it, well, you're probably a communist.
Today I was walking around Pentagon City Mall, collecting some delights for Saturday's party, when I heard tidbits of possibly one of the most epic songs ever known to man. I couldn't bask in all its glory at that moment - my hearing was impaired by those visiting middle school kids and their relentless sexting - however once in my car, I promptly threw in my Joshua Tree CD and played track three ... on repeat.
I'll admit it - I'm not the biggest U2 fan. In fact, I really don't get the hype. The truth of the matter is that I bought their CD in high school to impress the opposite sex; my male cohorts at the time loved Bono and his creepy sunglasses. With my Hanson albums carving a scarlet mmmbop into my chest, I was basically forced onto a street with no name. For months, The Joshua Tree gathered dust in my little black Case Logic ... until a cold day in August 1999.
Actually, the day wasn't cold at all - it started out like any summer day in Mandeville; me and my friends swimming in my pool, ripening our tans and demanding that my dad make us pina coladas (without the alcohol - see Prom After-Party Invite for details). All was well until I was made aware that my boyfriend had decided that he was going to dump me upon returning from soccer camp.
Dumped? What? But that ruined all our (my) plans! What about our group date to see Blair Witch? What about homecoming? I mean we had gone to school together since we were four years old ... and how many couples were birthed by the same doctor ... who was he to mess with fate? Oh AND we had a fish together. Men can be so selfish.
This was my 16 year old girl logic. Bless. My. Heart. It should be noted that the fish jumped to its death a few weeks later.
After the shock of news set in, I decided that I'd beat him to the punch. I left him a sassy little message ... I had decided that we needed to talk. The next morning we met on the lakefront, said our goodbyes and then made plans to meet up with our incestuous group of friends that night.
Seeing as this was my first relationship, it never crossed my mind that it would eventually end (see Plans section above). Without a real life reference point, I did what any pure blooded American would do - turned on the TV. My misery needed company and I found that in ... Ross and Rachel.
You remember when they broke up. It's nighttime ... rainy ... lots of forelorn looks from New York windowsills. But what you really remember is With or Without You playing in the background, burning a We-Were-On-A-Break sized hole into your heart. Needless to say, I found my 10th grade break-up anthem.
So when I heard this song today, it made me laugh. I think sometimes, we love to be heartbroken. In small doses, that raw emotion is refreshing. I'd bet good money that most of us secretly enjoy amplifying those feelings with a great song like this one, obviously played on repeat. I love that 16 year old version of me because I know, much like Ross and Rachel, everything turns out just fine.
Spoiler Alert: Taylor and I never got back together.
