Music of 2009

I'm kind of addicted to music. Especially now that I'm (currently) living by myself, I spend a lot of time listening to music. I put it on as a filler, I put it on while I'm working on something or reading, I put it on when I'm feeling happy, sad, discouraged, goofy, & any other possible emotion.

The other day I was listening to a soundtrack & noticed that I listen to one particular song on it a great deal more than any of the others. Then I was curious & started looking through all the songs on my iTunes to find out which songs I listen to the most. I reset my count at the beginning of every year, so I thought it would be fun to make a list of my most listened to songs of the year.

I couldn't really pick a place to stop, so I wound up with my top thirty. I'll list all of them at the end, but below is the top 15 without repeating any artists.

15. Falling Slowly by The Frames (listened to 64 times in 2009)

14. Viva la Vida by Coldplay (listened to 73 times in 2009)

13. Think Twice by Eve 6 (listened to 76 times in 2009)

12. That Song in my Head by Julianne Hough (listened to 80 times in 2009)

11. Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy (listened to 82 times in 2009)

10. Minor Details by Sondre Lerche AND Stop & Stare by OneRepublic (listened to 85 times in 2009)

9. We All Need Saving by Jon McLaughlin (listened to 100 times in 2009)

8. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz (listened to 103 times in 2009)

7. Bubbly by Colbie Caillat (listened to 121 times in 2009)

6. Thinking of You by Katy Perry (listened to 129 times in 2009)

5. Folding Chair by Regina Spektor (listened to 131 times in 2009)

4. When the Stars Go Blue by Tim McGraw (listened to 135 times in 2009)

3. Say by John Mayer (listened to 139 times in 2009)

2. My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson (listened to 148 times in 2009)

1. I Was Made For You by She & Him (listened to 167 times in 2009)

Full 30: Falling Slowly by the Frames; Think of You by A Fine Frenzy; Clocks by Coldplay; Viva la Vida by Coldplay; Think Twice by Eve 6; Near to You by A Fine Frenzy; Two Way Monologue by Sondre Lerche; That Song in My Head by Julianne Hough; Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy; Minor Details by Sondre Lerche; Stop & Store by OneRepublic; Change is Hard by She & Him; Lucky by Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Caillait; We All Need Saving by Jon McLaughlin; I'm Yours by Jason Mraz; Hero by Regina Spektor; Hot N Cold by Katy Perry; This is Not a Test by She & Him; I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry; Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer; Bubbly by Colbie Caillait; Fidelity by Regina Spektor; Us by Regina Spektor; Thinking of You by Katy Perry; Folding Chair by Regina Spektor; When the Stars Go Blue by Tim McGraw; Say by John Mayer; My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson; Sweet Darlin' by She & Him; I Was Made for You by She & Him

This is not a love story

At the beginning of the month one of my best friends from college, who now lives far away in Maine - practically Canada, came to visit. One of the things we did was go see the movie 500 Days of Summer. If you haven't seen it, you should. We both absolutely loved it!

Throughout the movie, we kept commenting on how we loved the music. We recognized a few of the songs by Regina Spektor, a few of the songs are clearly identified as The Smiths, & Zooey Deschanel sang part of a cover of Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra. Other than that, the music was all new to my ears. My friend got the soundtrack & she raved about it. It's on the top of my "to get" list the next time I can make a luxury purchase.

The other night, I looked up the list of tracks on the soundtrack so that I could find them on YouTube. Not the easiest task, but I found a good number of them. During the search, I came across this gem. It's a short video that Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon Levitt (the lead male in the movie) made with the same director. It's set to a She & Him song, one of my favorites: Why Do You Let Me Stay Here.

*No spoilers for the movie. Promise.

view on YouTube

Since I saw it the other night, I've been obsessed. I've always been a big fan of Zooey Deschanel, so it's not a surprise that when she partnered with M. Ward to form She & Him I became a big fan of them. Zooey acting AND singing is always a perfect combo for me, & I loved her & JGL in the movie. Therefore, I practically drool over this video.

Oh & as a side note, I also love Emily Deschanel (lead actress on Bones). The Deschanel sisters = love. In case you didn't already know. ;)

Some things you don't forget

So, I still haven't written a post on my trip to NYC. I need to get on that. It's one of those things I keep telling myself I need to do, but never get around to actually doing. Just like I've been telling myself for about two weeks that I needed to e-mail one of my former profs, who I'm friends with, since we never got together like we were planning. I told myself this so many times that I had a few dreams in which she was featured. My subconscious was even getting on me to e-mail her! Granted, she e-mailed me this morning ... so problem solved. I don't think that's possible with a blog post though. Too bad!

For now, I have something much more random to ramble about. Since I was thinking about writing a post, I got to thinking about when I used to journal. Despite the amount of time I spend on my laptop, I'm a paper & pen kind of gal. I LOVE office supplies. My favorite type of pen is a Pilot EasyTouch fine point. I usually have black ink, but also love blue ink. I'm a huge fan of yellow legal pads. Honestly, I have an obscene amount of pens, pads of paper, etc. When I was younger, I always had a surplus of journals. Family members would get them for me, I would pick up one that I liked in a store.

I went in & out of phases with journaling. Sometimes I would write every day, sometimes there would be long stretches where I didn't bother. For a while, there was a constant though. I would name my journal. I progressed from writing "Dear Diary" or "Dear Journal" to "Dear Grace" "Dear Kendra". (I did use those two names. Not sure where Grace came from, but Kendra was after my 7th grade English teacher who gave me that particular journal as a Christmas present.) Back then, the words seemed to flow better when it was more like I was writing a letter to someone instead of just writing for myself.

I still have some of my old journals, although I did toss some of them. Really, who wants to look back at those middle school journals that are ALL about the boys you had crushes on? Sometimes I can't believe how boy crazy I was! (And then I remember that I still am sometimes.)

The few memories captured in those discarded journals that I would want to look back on, those are still etched in my mind. Like the first time I danced with a boy -- a boy I had a huge crush on that entire year. We danced to I Can Love You Like That ... the Boyz II Men version, of course, not the lovely John Michael Montgomery version I heard on the radio a few weeks ago. Ryan's hands were around my waist and he sang along to the song. Twelve years later, I can still picture it clearly.

That's actually an elementary school story, not middle school, but you catch my drift.

On a completely different note (I think), I want to pimp out my alter ego: @JoyfulHeart87 on Twitter. I started a second Twitter account because I had a dream that my family decided to get on Twitter & knew I was on there, so I had to hurry up & create a new account & Tweet a ton so it didn't look suspicious. Since I'm massively paranoid about things, I was like ... it wouldn't hurt to have a second account. So now I have my regular Twitter account & this new one, which I'm using mostly to Tweet about activist/advocate related things. Just FYI. :)

Blogathon Tunes Post No. 3

I keep drifting off. I think this is my 8:30 post. Check out Rockin to the Beat by the Black Eyed Peas.

Blogathon Tunes Post No. 2

Here are 10 songs from my iTunes, via the shuffle option:

Story of my Life -- Bon Jovi
I Could Not Ask for More -- Edwin McCain
Pedestal -- Fergie
From Time to Time -- Rascal Flatts
I'm Not That Girl (Reprise) -- Kristen Chenoweth, Wicked soundtrack
Pushing Up Daisies -- Garth Brooks
Wrapped Around -- Brad Paisley
Sixteen going on Seventeen -- Sound of Music soundtrack
Miss Independent -- Kelly Clarkson
Girls Just Want to Have Fun -- Cyndi Lauper

Blogathon Tunes Post No. 1

If you're looking for a song to listen to, I've happily had Lovegame by Lady GaGa stuck in my head for a while.

A Little Mood Music

The weather has been TERRIBLE here lately. It's the end of June & we've barely had any sun. All the rain & overcast skies have certainly been taking a toll on my mood, as well as the mood of just about everyone. The forecast for the week is rain, rain, & more rain. The thought is just depressing. So, in an attempt to lighten my mood, I decided to give you a top 10 list of songs which I've been digging lately.

(My musical choice might also have something to do with watching August Rush today, which is an absolutely wonderful movie.)

Falling Slowly by The FramesI Hear the Bells by Mike DoughtyThinking of You by Katy PerryCatch my Disease by Ben LeeBetter in Time by Leona LewisValerie by Amy Winehouse (Mark Ronson version)I Want You by Kelly ClarksonAll I Wanna Do by SugarlandSummertime by Kenny Chesney
I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas