(30) Picked All My Weeds and Kept the Flowers…

First thing’s first… HAPPY 30 POSTS!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! Only 470 more to go! Oy. Thanks for sticking with me through the first thirty days of Samantha. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Alright, time to get down to business.

I pride myself on being able to make an excellent mix CD. That being said, I have a really hard time making a mix for someone and just limiting myself to one CD featuring the best of the best. I find it too challenging to pick the top 10 songs in my 10,000 song iTunes library. I just can’t do it, and end up giving my friends an entire library of musical excellence instead of just one great playlist.

I think my biggest problem is that listening to music is something as natural to me as breathing. I wake up with a song stuck in my head, I go to sleep humming a tune. I listen to my music library in both good times and bad, and have deep emotional attachments to every single song. Although my current favorites fluctuate from time to time, I’ll always find my way back to that forgotten song sooner or later.

For this post, I wanted to challenge myself to pick my top 20 favorite songs of all time and share them with you, but I felt too limited and was one step a way from a nervous breakdown because of it. Instead, I want to share with you all the songs that meant the most to me today, Monday, January 23, 2012.

In no particular order:

1. Kelly Clarkson, Sober (Live at the Troubadour) 
2. Chris Mann, L.o.v.e
3. Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk, Paperweight
4. Bethany Joy Galeotti, Halo
5. Kelly Clarkson, The Sun Will Rise
6. Ella Mae Bowen, Holding Out for a Hero
7. Pink, Just Like a Pill
   

Even now, I am still having a hard time stopping myself at seven songs. I keep thinking of others that, although I didn’t listen to them today, I love them so much I wish I did.

So instead of adding more songs to my list, I am going to leave you with this: From now on, including posting daily, I am going to post one song, just one, that I have selected as my anthem for the day. Although I have a feeling this is going to be more difficult than finding 500+ words to some up my life on a 24/7 basis, it is a challenge that I know, just like the rest of these challenges, will be extremely rewarding in the end.

(27) Favorite Things

Woohoo! It’s Friday and time for the post I look forward to writing every single week.

This week I slowly eased myself back into reality, while desperately trying to bask in my ever diminishing post-vacation glow.

To make the transition as smooth as possible, I really relied on the comforts of life (music, television, food, etc.), and while most are just mindless fodder, some have turned into full-blown obsessions.

Jon McLaughlin ft. Sara Bareilles, “Summer is Over”

In general, I think Sara Bareilles can do no wrong (I choose to ignore her latest album Kaleidiscope Heart, which pails in comparison to her debut record Little Voice), and in this duet with Jon McLaughlin, she reminds me why I love her oh so much. To say it’s been on repeat on my iPod the past couple of days is an understatement, lets just leave it at that.

How I Met Your Mother

I initially started watching HIMYM as a way to fill time while television series are on hiatus. I started with season 1 on Sunday, and have now watched every episode in order through season 4. While I had caught random reruns on television before, I was completely unaware of how wonderful HIMYM was. Super cute, super obsessed, and super dying to meet the mother.

Winter Spiced Lattes

There is an amazing restaurant/coffee shop in Baltimore that I like to go to with friends whenever I want to grab something to eat that is less chain food restaurant-y, and more yummy delicious. When I was there yesterday, my meal was so tasty, but the standout was the winter spiced latte I got to accompany my meal. With ingredients like cinnamon, ginger, orange peel,
cloves, cardamom & whipped cream, it was the perfect sweet compliment to my savory soup and sandwich, and I cannot wait to have another one ASAP.

Essie Nail Color

I do have a bit of a nail polish obsession in general, but Essie nail polish is absolutely my favorite… it comes in the best shades and doesn’t chip on my nails nearly as much as OPI. Right now I have their pale pink glitter polish slathered all over my fingertips and tootsies, and though I know it will be a bitch to get off, at the moment I am loving the extra sparkle.