Posted in Music, Playlists

When it’s 70 degrees in February

When it’s warm outside in February, there is no other option but to make a playlist you can listen to while your dog drags you around the park (I should really get a wagon or sled or something for him to pull me in, w’d both have more fun that way).  IMG_5736

All You Had To Do Was Stay – Taylor Swift – 1989
“People like you always want back, the love they pushed aside, but people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye.” 

Wild – Troye Sivan – Wild EP
“You make my heart shake, bend, and break. But I can’t turn away and it’s driving me wild.”

Without You – Parachute – Wide Awake
“Doesn’t matter where I go. Doesn’t matter if I run. We were always gonna get too close. We were always gonna fall in love.”

Remedy – Adele – 25
“When the world seems so cruel, and your heart makes you feel like a fool. I promise you will see that I will be your remedy.”

Don’t – Ed Sheeran – X
“And I wasn’t looking for a promise or 
commitment, but this was never just fun and I thought you were different.”

Same Old Love – Selena Gomez – Revival
“Take away your things and go, you can’t take back what you said. I know I’ve heard it all before at least a million times, I’m not one to forget, you know.”

Ordinary Words – Hanson – Members Only EP 2010
“Well, give it to me straight, so I can feel your pain. Nothing lasts forever, life don’t work that way. I know you’d love to hate me, but it’s too late for that.”

Say You’re Mine – Kate Voegele – Gravity Happens
“I bit my tongue for too long. My patience gets a bit thin. I gotta tell you the way that it is. I think you know this is something different we’ve started. We’re more than ordinary.”

Disappear – Matt Nathanson – Show Me Your Fangs
“For my greatest trick, the one everyone cheers. You’re deep in love, and I’m not even here.”

Should’ve Been Us – Tori Kelly – Unbreakable Smile
“Dressed up, got my heart messed up. You got yours and I got mine. It’s unfair that I still care and I wonder where you are tonight.”

Alone Again – Betty Who – Take Me When You Go
“Get away. Anywhere but here. I’m gonna give you a break. Drive until you disappear. And maybe then you’ll say ‘don’t ever leave me alone again’.”

Sorry – Justin Bieber – Purpose
“I know you know that I made those mistakes maybe once or twice. And by once or twice I mean maybe a couple a hundred times.”

Out Of the Woods – Taylor Swift – 1989
“Remember when we couldn’t take the heat? I walked out and said, ‘I’m settin’ you free,’ but the monsters turned out to be just trees. And when the sun came up you were looking at me.” 

We Don’t Talk Anymore – Charlie Puth Feat Selena Gomez – 9 Track Mind
“Every now and then I think you might want me to come show up at your door. But I’m just too afraid that I’ll be wrong.”

Shameless – The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness
“You want me to fix you but it’s never enough. That’s why you always call me cause you’re scared to be loved.”

Holes Inside – Joe Brooks – A Reason To Swim
“If you hold tight, shadows will be lost in the light. Because sometimes, fate and your dreams will collide. So don’t walk away from me.” 

Energy – Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
“I got girls askin’ me about the code for the Wi-Fi. So they can talk about they timeline and show me pictures of they friends, just to tell me they ain’t really friends.”

Catch Me – Demi Lovato – Here We Go Again
“Before I fall too fast, kiss me quick but make it last. So I can see how badly this will hurt me when you say goodbye.”

Perfect – One Direction – Made in the A.M.
“If you like cameras flashing every time we go out…”

Jinx – DANC – Swway EP
“Fingers cross when I kiss you. Knocking on wood when I miss you. Acting like a teenage fool when you are with me.” 

Sun is Shining – Axwell ^ Ingrosso – Sun is Shining (Single)
“And we’re gonna be alright. Dry your tears and hold tight. Can’t you tell I got news for you. Sun is shining and so are you.”

Posted in #GratiTuesday, Uncategorized

#GratiTuesday: Side by side or miles a part, sisters will always be connected by the heart

This week I am grateful for my sister, Stephanie Bradshaw. Her birthday was last week, and this post was supposed to occur then, but as you clearly can see, planning ahead is not my strong suit.

SIMG_1749teph and I grew up in an unconventional family system. As you may know (or not know), we are technically only half-sisters. Not that that has ever really mattered to us, it just means that we had different dads. It never meant that we were any sort of “second rate sisters” or whatever. She grew up with my grandparents in their home with my brother, while I grew up at home with my mom and dad (her mom also, just so we’re clear). I honestly think that’s probably why we get along so well, because we never really had to compete for attention. And I’m sure that 8.5 year (to be exact. I was her half-brithday present) age gap helps in that as well, that meant we were never trying to share friends or make-up or clothing, so there was really nothing to fight about.

I can remember being probably about 6th grade aged and it was the beginning of the school year and my parents didn’t have the money to take me new clothes shopping, and as far as I was concerned that was the end of the world. Because what kind of girls shows up to the first day of school in something she wore to school last year? But Steph took me shopping with her own money and bought me at least two new outfits (one of them included Mary-Kate and Ashley brand electric blue plaid pants). And it was then that I knew I wanted to be like hr when I grew up. Steph is kind, and funny (sometimes the two are mutually exclusive). She thinks of others. She’s a thoughtful, creative writer. And I’m proud that she is my sister. IMG_2557

These days we’re best friends because that 8.5 years didn’t matter so much once we both because adults. Though she does still feed me on occasion because as an adult mother she cooks dinner every night, and as an adult with just a dog I don’t always cook dinner (read: pretty much never).

We like to go to concerts together (namely Taylor Swift, we’ve seen her every time she’s come to the Sprint Center) and we like to go shopping…well I like to go shopping, she probably wouldn’t agree so much on that one. What we can agree on is Cici’s Pizza, we would both eat there literally every day if given the chance.

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Love you, Steph! Happy GratiTuesday!

(Lucky for everyone I’m such a poor planner that I couldn’t find any photos of us as children. I did com across this one from her wedding though! So rejoice, sister! Also you can thank our mother who pretty much took zero photos during my childhood.)

Posted in Music, Pop Culture

Grammy “Predictions”

Each year I try to predict how the Academy will choose it’s winner, but the is year I’m 26 and have discovered that there is literally no predicting anything. Not the weather, and definitely not the Academy.

So this year I’m just going to to go with my heart and choose who I want to win the awards. (and you can pretty much assume if T. Swift is nominated, I want her to win.) I didn’t choose for the awards of music I didn’t listen to…obviously. Some of the awards I have attached reasons I want them to win…some of them I didn’t.

Record Of The Year
• Really Love — D’Angelo And The Vanguard
• Uptown Funk — Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
• Thinking Out Loud — Ed Sheeran
• Blank Space — Taylor Swift
• Can’t Feel My Face — The Weeknd

If we give them a Grammy will the song go away? I like it (not as much as I liked the bottom three nominees), and it was good the first 400 billion times I heard it, but now I find myself switching stations when it comes on. But, the fact that I’ve hear it upwards of 400 billion times has got to count for something. 

Album Of The Year
• Sound & Color —  Alabama Shakes
• To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar
• Traveller —  Chris Stapleton
• 1989 — Taylor Swift
• Beauty Behind The Madness — The Weeknd

The Academy is so random when they choose their winners. I can’t actually decide how they choose? Commercial success? Critical success? Relevancy? I’m actually convinced they just put all the names in a hat and draw from it. Yes, all of the albums are good, but none of them had the selling power of 1989, nor did any of the rest of them produce as many singles as 1989.

Song Of The Year
• Alright —  Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
• Blank Space — Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters
(Taylor Swift)
• Girl Crush — Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters
(Little Big Town)
• See You Again — Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
• Thinking Out Loud — Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge, songwriters
(Ed Sheeran)

I love Ed Sheeran, and I loved See You Again…but Blank Space is one of the best written, most clever, and creative songs to be written in a long time.

Best New Artist
• Courtney Barnett
• James Bay
• Sam Hunt
• Tori Kelly
• Meghan Trainor

This one, for me, is kind of a toss up between Megan Trainer and Tori Kelly. Megan Trainer writes some pretty catchy songs, but Tori Kelly is a pretty much undiscovered powerhouse.

Best Pop Solo Performance
• Heartbeat Song — Kelly Clarkson
• Love Me Like You Do — Ellie Goulding
• Thinking Out Loud — Ed Sheeran
• Blank Space — Taylor Swift
• Can’t Feel My Face — The Weeknd

Be still my heart.

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
• Ship To Wreck — Florence + The Machine
• Sugar — Maroon 5
• Uptown Funk — Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
• Bad Blood — Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar
• See You Again — Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth

I actually like the Taylor Swift not featuring Kendrick Lamar version better. And this is my favorite Maroon 5 song since their Hands All Over album. 

Best Pop Vocal Album
• Piece By Piece — Kelly Clarkson
• How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful — Florence + The Machine
• Uptown Special — Mark Ronson
 • 1989 — Taylor Swift
• Before This World — James Taylor

Best Dance Recording
• We’re All We Need — Above & Beyond Featuring Zoë Johnston
• Go — The Chemical Brothers
• Never Catch Me —  Flying Lotus Featuring Kendrick Lamar
• Runaway (U & I) — Galantis
• Where Are Ü Now — Skrillex And Diplo With Justin Bieber

Give the Biebs a Grammy!

Best Rap Performance
• Apparently —  J. Cole
• Back To Back — Drake
• Trap Queen — Fetty Wap
• Alright — Kendrick Lamar
• Truffle Butter —  Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
• All Day — Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney

Full disclosure: I only listen to Drake.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
• One Man Can Change The World — Big Sean Featuring Kanye West & John Legend
• Glory —  Common & John Legend
• Classic Man — Jidenna Featuring Roman GianArthur
• These Walls — Kendrick Lamar Featuring Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
• Only —  Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown

This song made it onto my ultimate summer 2015 playlist

Best Rap Song
• All Day — Ernest Brown, Tyler Bryant, Sean Combs, Mike Dean, Rennard East, Noah Goldstein, Malik Yusef Jones, Karim Kharbouch, Allan Kyariga, Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney, Victor Mensah, Charles Njapa, Che Pope, Patrick Reynolds, Allen Ritter, Kanye West, Mario Winans & Cydel Young, songwriters
(Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney)
• Alright — Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
• Energy — Richard Dorfmeister, A. Graham, Markus Kienzl, M. O’Brien, M. Samuels & Phillip Thomas, songwriters
(Drake)
• Glory — Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith & John Stephens, songwriters
(Common & John Legend)
• Trap Queen — Tony Fadd & Willie J. Maxwell, songwriters
(Fetty Wap)

Side note: WHY DO YOU NEED NINETEEN SONGWRITERS FOR ONE SONG! If it takes that many people to make it work…you should just give it up!

Best Rap Album
• 2014 Forest Hills Drive —  J. Cole
• Compton —  Dr. Dre
• If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late — Drake
• To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar
• The Pinkprint — Nicki Minaj

Best Country Solo Performance
• Burning House — Cam
• Traveller — Chris Stapleton
• Little Toy Guns — Carrie Underwood
• John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 — Keith Urban
• Chances Are — Lee Ann Womack

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
• Stay A Little Longer — Brothers Osborne
• If I Needed You — Joey+Rory
• The Driver — Charles Kelley, Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay
• Girl Crush — Little Big Town
• Lonely Tonight — Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe

Boy can Charles Kelly sing.

Best Country Song
• Chances Are — Hayes Carll, songwriter
(Lee Ann Womack)
• Diamond Rings And Old Barstools — Barry Dean, Luke Laird & Jonathan Singleton, songwriters (Tim McGraw)
• Girl Crush — Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters
(Little Big Town)
• Hold My Hand — Brandy Clark & Mark Stephen Jones, songwriters
(Brandy Clark)
• Traveller — Chris Stapleton, songwriter
(Chris Stapleton)

Pretty clever. 

Best Country Album
• Montevallo — Sam Hunt
• Pain Killer — Little Big Town
• The Blade — Ashley Monroe
• Pageant Material — Kacey Musgraves
• Traveller — Chris Stapleton

Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
• Empire: Season 1
• Fifty Shades Of Grey
• Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
• Pitch Perfect 2
• Selma

They incorporated Mmmbop, how can I not choose them?

Best Song Written For Visual Media
• Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey) — Ahmad Balshe, Stephan Moccio, Jason Quenneville & Abel Tesfaye, songwriters (The Weeknd)
• Glory — Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith & John Stephens, songwriters (Common & John Legend)
• Love Me Like You Do — Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, Tove Nilsson, Ali Payami & Ilya Salmanzadeh, songwriters (Ellie Goulding)
• See You Again — Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
• Til It Happens To You — Lady Gaga & Diane Warren, songwriters (Lady Gaga)

I did not cry in the back of the theater of AN ACTION MOVIE or nothing.

Best Music Video
• LSD — ASAP Rocky
• I Feel Love (Every Million Miles) — The Dead Weather
• Alright — Kendrick Lamar
• Bad Blood — Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar
• Freedom — Pharrell Williams

Posted in #GratiTuesday, Everyday Happenings, Uncategorized

#GratiTuesday: Bolivar City Fire

Today, and always, I am grateful for my Bolivar City Fire Department family. All of them.

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I know I have blogged about this before, but it’s never going to stop being true, I never in a million years thought I would be working in the fire service. Like, never. The thought never once crossed my mind.

But now, after three years with BCFD, I have no idea who I would be without these people in my life. They have given me so much and enriched my life more than I can quantify. And I don’t just mean the people who work with me at the station…I mean everyone of them, spouses/significant others and children included.

These families have graciously welcomed me into their hearts. I’ve formed friendships with them that I didn’t even know I needed.

And that is what I love so much about BCFD, we truly are a family. And how many people get to say that about the people they work with? I am a lucky girl. It sounds a little exaggerated to say it, but I really believe if I was in distress I could call anyone of the members of our department and they would drop everything to aid me…I’ve seen it happen. And I don’t think there is a single crew who’s family hasn’t welcomed me to a meal (or twelve), and their wives/fiancés/significant others have spent many hours hanging out and talking with me and getting to know me. And that means more to me that I think they’ll ever comprehend. Because being accepted and loved by your work family is not a luxury everyone has, and I feel very fortunate.

I am eternally grateful for their friendships.

Happy GratiTuesday! 

Posted in #GratiTuesday, Everyday Happenings, Uncategorized

#GratiTuesday: Alexis Layne

Today is the 12th birthday of my niece, Alexis. And today I am grateful for her.
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She is funny, smart, and creative.
And when I say smart, I mean she’s way smarter than I was at 12. She’s probably way smarter at 12 than I am at 26.
And when I say creative, I mean that she has more creativity in her pinky than I could ever hope to have. She likes to paint and draw and create things.

 
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She is also thoughtful and has a mess of feelings. And it’s hard having feelings in middle school. Because middle schoolers are not the most sensitive of creatures. They poke and make fun, and bully. And I spend a lot of time worrying about her.

She’d rather play Minecraft than wash her hair, and I love her for that. Because come on, why wash your hair if you don’t have to?

Happy Birthday, Alexis! And happy GratiTuesday!