Thursday's This & That

Good morning all! I recently participated in Kat Sloma's Liberate Your Art postcard swap.  I've received some wonderful post card size art in the mail.  The sunshine one is from Deanna Swauger, and the collage is from Karen Smithey.  I also received these:

"Hello" from Janice Darby; Horse from Shelly G; Church from Cara; and roosters from Cinda Bauman.  Aren't they all wonderful?

In other news, Shimelle Laine's annual September class "Learn Something New Everyday" starts on Saturday. I received an email reminder yesterday.  I've done this class a couple of times. This is the mini-album I made in 2010, and you can read my review at this link. I am going back and forth about whether to participate this year. I have a visual journal I could use or a mini-album made of pennant shaped chipboard that has been gathering dust in my closet. Is anyone else going to participate?

Finally, it's been a while since I've shared some music.  Here's a very funny Train video (okay, you have to have a little bit of a dark sense of humor to appreciate it). 

If you're in the mood for something a little softer and beautiful, check out this video of Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight from Amos Lee.

Finally, I love everything about this song and video.  Upbeat, great visuals and a fantastic message.  It fits my upbeat mood this morning because Paul came home from the hospital yesterday! He had a long stay battling an infection, and we are thrilled to have him home. Enjoy your day and keep your eyes on the prize!

New Music Monday: Found with Shazam

It's been a while since I've posted music recommendations. Today, I'm sharing some songs I found through Shazam.  That means when I heard the song on my car radio, I used the Shazam app to find the song title and artist.  It's also a great way to keep a record of songs I like.  The video above, Train's Drive By is a current favorite. Love the melody; love the San Francisco Bay Area locale; love the cars; love everything!
Next up, Changing by The Airborne Toxic Event:

Great music, and fantastic dancing!!!  And for more fun, check out the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Impression that I Get:

Here's something with a feminine vibe and a little craftiness thrown into the video:

Finally, Bruce Springsteen's voice and passion still makes my heart pound:

Got any favorites today? How do you find your new music? Do you use shazam?
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Weekly OLW Check-In: 
1. We got our nonfunctioning hot tub and outgrown playstructure hauled away by our yard service! This goes a long way to tidying up the backyard.  
2. Clara and cleaned out our small attic. We tossed four bags of garbage; created four big boxes of toys to donate; crushed and recycled over a dozen old boxes; and put six suitcases and two car seats into the dump run pile. Plus I gave away a bunch of stuff through freecycle.
3. I organized the clutter on the kitchen breakfast table. Next step is putting it away. LOL!

New Music Monday: Instrumental and OLW Check-in

For the last in my New Music Monday series, here's an awesome instrumental video from the band Laszlo, featuring the song, "Mr. Sunshine." Guaranteed to get your day off to a happy start!
If you like jazz instrumentals, I can also recommend  two songs by Dakota Suite: "Namiko" and "Heart of Empty."
So, now it's feedback time (and be honest) - do you like this music feature? Should I continue with it? Or would you prefer I stick with  art, photography and more about my life?  If I do continue it, how often? Once a month seems about right to me. What do you think?
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Weekly OLW Check-In: Still working on organizing my craft space. Starting on some of the home purging/cleaning, too. This week I
1. Cleared out and reorganized the two drawers and cupboard in the bathroom where I keep craft stuff.  I have an entire drawer full of tapes, glues and adhesives.  Is that excessive?
2. Cleaned out and organized the cabinets, counter and drawers in the kids' bathroom. Felt like I was channeling Stacey from Havoc and Mayhem when I found things to throw out which had expired in the last century!
3. Cleaned out and organized the counter, cabinets and drawers in the master bath. Threw away 12 old tooth brushes!
4. Found someone who wanted the keyboard and convinced them to come pick it up.
5. Organized my chipboard and grungeboard.
6. Cleaned out and organized the completed paper-based art project bin, art projects to do bin, assemblage stuff bin and overflow ephemera box.
7. Mailed off about a dozen stamps to new homes!

New Music Monday: The Women

Last Monday, I shared some of the new music which is in circulation on my ipod right now. In looking at it, I realized that it didn't have that many women represented. So, this week, I thought I'd post some videos of my favorite current female recording artists.  Up top, I posted "Simmer Down" by Nostaligia 77.  In a totally different vein:

Here's "Rock On" by Love Inks (I wonder if she stamps?).  I bought a few other songs from her: Skeleton Key, Too Wild, and In My Dreams.  Next a live performance with David Letterman:

This is Feist performing "How Come You Never Go There?" She also has a totally cute Sesame Street video floating around on You Tube! Finally, a woman who has become pretty popular, but I like a couple of her new songs:

This is Florence + Machine performing "No Light, No Light." I also purchased her new song, "Shake It Out."
I hope you enjoy the music today! Got any favorites in this batch? Or any recommendations of your own?

New Music Monday

When working with Henry to clean up the desk top in his room, we came across a few itunes gift cards. He said he didn't use them anymore and that I could have them.  He gets all his music off of You Tube these days, but I decided to go old school and buy some new music.  In particular, I decided to support some artists that are new to me and not widely established (at least in the U.S.) by buying their albums.  First up, I bought "The Head and the Heart" by The Head and the Heart.  You can check out the video for" Lost in My Mind" above.  Next up:

I bought the album "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" by Girls. You can check out the video for the song "Honey Bunny" above. My next purchase:

I bought the album "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes. This is a video of the song "Grown Ocean."  Finally, I bought an album from a band not widely known in the U.S. (though I hear they're big in the U.K.):

They're called Elbow, and I bought the album "Build a Rocket Boys!" The video above is for the song "With Love."
I also bought several songs from The Decemberists and Trevor Hall.  I love having new music on my ipod! Do you have any good new music to recommend? Do you fancy any of the ones featured here today?

Music to Bake By

School's out, and I'm celebrating by drinking a little wine, baking a few cookies and listening to some great tunes - let the holidays begin!
I'm going to my annual cookie exchange tomorrow. You can read more about it in this post. This year, I settled on "Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies," which are full of yummy oatmeal, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and chopped pecans.  Here's the recipe:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup softened butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
(red & green m&m's to garnish)
Directions:  Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Cream butter, then add sugars, eggs and vanilla.  Mix in flour mixture and oats, then cranberries, chips and nuts. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment paper. Push a few M&M's on top of cookie.  Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.
Beverly is having a virtual cookie exchange, and I'm linking up to it. Grab yourself a festive beverage and go to this link to find more recipes. Although usually I drink champagne while baking (read the back story in this post), tonight I enjoyed a very nice Chateauneuf-du-Pape. 
I also enjoyed some awesome music tonight.  First up is Natural Born Lover by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings:

Followed by Jenny by Walk the Moon - the regular version and an acoustic version because I can't decide which is better (which do you like better?):


And, finally, anything by Ben L'Oncle Soul but especially Soul Man here's the English version, followed by the uber-cool French version (you can choose your favorite!):


Do you listen to music while you do Christmas baking? Do you have any other good music to share?

Of Books, Videos, Classes and Photo Scavenger Hunts

I love this video of a song called "Longer and Stronger" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. We saw her at a music festival a couple of weeks ago, and the song really, really spoke to me. Push play and listen to it while you read the rest of today's post. Here's a sample of some of the lyrics:
"Pretty young things, how they come and they go
Ain't nothing lasting but no girl is sure
But a woman like me can stand the test of time
Day after day, you know that I . . .
Longer and stronger, that's how I live
The more I get the more I got to give
Fifty years of soul gone by, fifty more to come
You think you've seen something
But, Lord, I've just begun. . . "
I should mention that I was inspired to post this video because of this post from Tara Whitney with an awesome video by Walk the Moon.  Check it out!
Also, it's time to pass the book.  The next recipient of Still Missing is Just Jim Jams. Send me an email with your mailing address to rinda1961{at} yahoo {dot} com, and I'll get it in the mail to you.
I'm also curious about how many folks are doing the new Shimelle class. I'm a bit torn because I'm going to be gone for a good portion of it. I was actually hoping the new class would be in the fall.
Finally, I am over the moon excited by how many people are participating in the summertime photography and snapshot scavenger hunt!  Check out this post on Irene's blog; I love how it gives you a sense of Houston, Texas. Karen found a town meeting (see this post), which somehow just made me feel proud to be an American. Cindy continues to use the scavenger hunt as a way to tell stories about the places she lives and works, for example, this story about 101 California Street, San Francisco. Jacky is making a very cool mini-album for her pictures; check it out here. You may have noticed that I amended one of the items (decorated mailboxes) so that international participants can substitute a photograph of a garden sculpture. Should be easy-peasy! Let me know if there's any others that seem impossible. Again, the goal is for folks to have some fun with this. For those who have asked, it's definitely not too late to join.The hunt lasts until mid-September (details are in this post). The list is on the sidebar of my blog, there on the left.  Feel free to post a link to your entries below.
Enjoy the video and the rest of your weekend! Be sure to check back Monday for something grungily exciting!