I thought a lot about our wedding song, though.  Music is kind of our thing, and I wanted something that really spoke to both of us.  We ended up dancing to “Feels Like Home” by Bonnie Raitt, which worked.  It is a great song, and I thought that it worked well because it was a little bit country and a little bit not, just like us. And, I love the lyrics of that song.

However, what I really wanted was a Dave Matthews song.  The boy and I are big fans (although, I know that he isn’t for everyone, so if you don’t like him, then you don’t need to tell me), and we have seen him a ton in concert throughout our relationship, before wedding and after.  And, I was pretty bummed that in 2000 I couldn’t really find a song that worked for the first dance.   We listened to everything we owned, which was everything that they had out.  And, we didn’t really find something that fit all the way.

Since then, we have had quite a few dave songs that have echoed what was going on in our lives.  “Stay or Leave” was our song when the boy was supposed to be sent to Korea.  It fit perfectly.  And, “Steady As We Go” was our Iraq deployment song.

But, the band’s new album just came out.  And, it has some amazing songs on it!  Including this one, “You and Me.”  And, this would have been our wedding song.  It is just cheesy enough to be awesome!

YOU & ME by Dave Matthews

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we’ll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

You and I, we’re not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we’re gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it’s you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
The two of us together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby

So, today was a long day because I said the same thing four times, with emphasis and meaning.  So, I am sitting in my office at the end of the day decompressing, definitely not talking.  And, I was looking through some of my blogs, and I found this post by Angry Chicken.  It is a great cover of a song that I love.  So, I went to check out his other videos.  When I found the one below, I knew that I was in love!

I think CaptainBurrito and I have the same taste in music!  Never thought I would say that on my blog.  What a great little pick-me up this afternoon!

Now, I need to get my butt in gear to get this semester off to the right start and get all the school stuff organized.  School is going to start before I know it.  Next Thursday in fact.  Doesn’t seem at all possible, particularly when I still have Christmas presents to get out to my family.  Handmade gifts will start much earlier this year, for sure.

But, before I forge on with all that “important” stuff, I took a few moments a few days ago and created our 2008 Year in Review playlist.  I explained a little of this concept here, but the basic run down is that every year I create one master playlist that encapsulates this last year for us musically.  This year, I thought that I would share it with everyone.

The list of songs are below, but you can get to the playlist on iTunes, the way we buy music, here.  This iMix isn’t the complete list because the way that iTunes allows those mixes to be made, but all the songs are below with their own individual link in case anyone is interested.

This year was actually a little light, mostly likely because of the writer’s strike, coming in at 58 songs.  And, they are listed here in the order that I added them to the list, so in no order in particular.  Happy Listening!

• New Soul | Yael Naim
• Falling In Love At a Coffee Shop | Landon Pigg
• Mahna, Mahna | Cake
• Strangers In the Night | Cake
• Polite Dance Song | The Bird And The Bee
• Sweeter Than This | Katie Herzig
• From My Heart to Yours | Laura Izibor
• Where I Stood | Missy Higgins
• Psycho | Puddle of Mudd
• Big Blow |  Alpha Rev
• I Found a Reason | Cat Power
• Tell Her This | Del Amitri
• Giving Up |  Ingrid Michaelson
• Sleep Through the Static |  Jack Johnson
• Details In the Fabric (feat. James Morrison) |  Jason Mraz
• In My Arms |  Jon Foreman
• Breathe In Breathe Out |  Mat Kearney
• Shake It | Metro Station
• Float On | Modest Mouse
• Ice Cream | Muscles
• Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games (aka: The Outback Song) | Of Montreal
• Buildings & Mountains | Republic Tigers
• La Breeze | Simian
• Don’t You Evah | Spoon
• Walkie Talkie Man |  Steriogram
• Shut Up and Let Me Go |  The Ting Tings
• Hideaway | The Weepies
• All Good Things |  The Weepies
• Just Blue | The Weepies
• Takes So Long | The Weepies
• All Good (Original) | Zeroleen
• Piano Song |  Meiko
• Calabria 2008 | Enur (feat. MIMS & Natasja)
• Bartender Song (aka Sittin’ at a Bar) | Rehab
• Modern Guilt |  Beck
• Modern Nature | Sondre Lerche
• How Lucky We Are | Meiko
• Boys With Girlfriends | Meiko
• Disturbia | Rihanna
• You’re a Wolf | Sea Wolf
• Be OK | Ingrid Michaelson
• American Boy |  Studio All-Stars
• And Then You | Greg Laswell
• Hurt |  Johnny Cash
• Bonfire Blondes | Beck
• Herculean The Good, The Bad & The Queen
• Strange & Beautiful (I’ll Put a Spell On You) |  Aqualung
• Ha Ha | Emiliana Torrini
• Youthless | Beck
• The Longer I Run | Peter Bradley Adams
• Altogether Now | Patrick & Eugene
• You and I | Ingrid Michaelson
• Mr. Hurricane | Beast
• It’s a New Day | will.i.am
• Art | Tanya Davis
• Ordinary Day | Emilie Mover
• Walcott | Vampire Weekend
• Days Go On | Greg Laswell

Art by Tanya Davis

I wondered what would be the worth of my words in the world
if i write them and then recite them are they worth being heard
just because i like them does that mean i should mic them
and see what might unfurl

i think of the significance of my opinions here
is it significant to be giving them does anybody care
just because i’m into this does that mean i should live like it
and really do i dare

art, art i want you
art you make it pretty hard not too
and my heart is trying hard here to follow you
but i can’t always tell if i ought to

so i pondered the point of my art in this life
if i make it will someone take it and think it’s genuine
will they be glad that i did ’cause they got something good out of it
will they leave me and be any more inspired

i question the outcome of the outpouring of myself
if i tell everyone my stories will this keep me healthy and well
will it give me purpose, to this world some sort of service
is it worth it, how can i tell

art, art…

My little home in the universe.

A big part of me finding my home here though has been the tons of other women I have been reading over the last year.  They have helped me nestle in here in this space.  One of those women posted this video today.  Go check it out.

It is indeed a new day (for me, for our country, for our world), and I can’t wait to see what the next 100 posts reveal!

At the end of the season, I go through and weed out the duds, and I create one playlist for the year.  I know they are right for the overall list if I turn them on and start singing immediately.  Once in a while, I will hear a song that I know will end up on that list immediately.  And, as I have said before, lots of those songs have recently come from TV: Grey’s Anatomy and commercials specifically.

Well, one such artist, named Meiko, found her way on our 2007 Year in Review.   The song was “Reasons to Love You.”  It was on Grey’s at the beginning of last season.  And, I immediately knew it was going to be a favorite.  So, when her whole cd showed up in my iTunes recommendations, I threw it in my shopping cart to remind myself to check it out.

Well, my fabulous brothers gave us iTunes money for our birthdays, one of my favorite gifts because it really does keep on giving.  So, I had a chance to listen to some of her album.  I love it!  And, there is one song in particular that I know will end up as part of the 2008 list!  I knew it after I listened to the 30 second iTunes preview!  It is called “How Lucky We Are.”

One day we’ll get outta this shitty apartment
One day is all it takes for things to turn around now
All I know is I got you and you got me, babe

And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

One day we’ll get in the car and drive anywhere we wanna go
And then we’ll stay in a five star, mini-bar, luxury hotel room
Cuz all I know is I got you and you got me, babe

And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, oh oh oh
How lucky we are, are, are…

One day we’ll turn on the tv and we won’t see nothing ’bout war
And when that morning comes
I’ll make coffee and you’ll read the paper
We’ll talk about our plans
And I’ll keep saying how lucky we are

How lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are
Oh how lucky, how lucky, how lucky we are

Well, Christine Kane is up to it again. She has created a new website. She is working on a new cd; one that she says could be her last, which scares me. But, she had the idea to reveal the man behind the curtain of the music industry, so to speak. This resonated with me so clearly because it is what I try to do in my teaching. Her theory is that there doesn’t need to be any huge secret behind the way the music industry works, so she is telling us how she creates songs, and she is letting her fans have input.

The coolest part is that you can decide what type of interaction you want to have with this record. You get to decide how much money you want to spend, and there are different packages you can buy. I haven’t decided which one I want yet, but what I love about this so much is that her intention to create an album without a huge debt that she will have to work to pay off. Instead, we are all investing in her process, and she has created a revenue stream that allows her to do that, which I love. It goes along with my new ideas about money so clearly!

Well, today, she posted one of the new songs that will be on the album, called Virginia. And, I love it! It renewed my idea that I want to contribute to this process for so many reasons. Last week the boy and I found out that we might have the possibility to come back to Virginia to live for a few years. And, until I was told that it was a chance, I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to come home. I know that Christine’s song is about a girl coming into her own, but this song is about so much more than that for me. It always feels like her songs are speaking right to me, which makes this the most important kind of music for me.

Not to mention that if that is what she sounds like sitting at her kitchen table, then can you imagine how much the whole album is going to rock? If this is a hint to what is to come on this new album, I can’t wait until it is done. You should definitely go check it out!

Giving Up

What if we stop having a ball?
What if the paint chips from the wall?
What if there’s always cups in the sink?
What if I’m not what you think I am?

What if I fall further than you?
What if you dream of somebody new?
What if I never let you win, chase you with a rolling pin?
Well what if I do?

I am giving up on making passes and
I am giving up on half empty glassess and
I am giving up on greener grasses.
I am giving up.

What if our baby comes home after nine?
What it your eyes close before mine?
What if you lose yourself sometimes? Then I’ll be the one to find you
Safe in my heart.

I am giving up on making passes and
I am giving up on half empty glassess and
I am giving up on greener grasses.
I am giving up.

I am giving up.
I am giving up.
I am giving up on greener grasses.

I am giving up for you.
I am giving up for you.
I am giving up.

New Soul by Yael Naim

I’m a new soul I can do this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take.
But since I came here felt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

I’m a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit about what is true and faith.
But why don’t please trying to comunnicate finding just in love is not always easy to make.

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

This is a happy end cause’ you don’t understand everything you have done wise everything so wrong

this is a happy end come and give me your hand I’ll take your far away.

[Refrain]:
I’m a new soul I can do this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take but since I came here fellt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la….