Tag Archives: Love

Mixtape Monday: CD

Mixtapes May 14, 2012 1 Comment

A couple of months back H asked if he could download a few songs to my iTunes account. Never one to turn down new music, I agreed. But when he started to give me song names and artists he wanted me to download I became quite puzzled.  Who were some of these artists and what were these songs? “Oh, so this is what dance music is,” I thought to myself.

Then came H’s next question: could we burn the songs to a cd? I was instantly transported back to 1998. Of course I was happy to make a cd of his new playlist for him, so I told him he just needed to give it a title. He responded with something to the effect of “well, why not just CD?”

So it was settled, H got his cd, CD, and I was left skeptical about these new songs freshly downloaded onto my computer. Turns out, H knows what he’s talking about when it comes to music (I’ve since learned in a few short months he almost always knows what he’s talking about with everything).  As you can imagine, since then the number of dance songs we’ve downloaded have tripled. I find myself running, cleaning and everything else all while enjoying these new playlists. Let’s just keep that our little secret, though. H doesn’t need to know he’s always right.

CD

Feel So Close (Radio Edit) – Calvin Harris
Levels – Avicii
Beautiful People (fest. Benny Benassi) – Chris Brown
Finger Food – Benny Benassi
Champagne Showers (feat. Natalia Kills) – LMFAO
Take Over Control (Radio Edit) [feat.Eva Simons] – Afrojack
Right Above It – Lil Wayne & Drake
Ghosts N Stuff – deadmau5
Mr. Saxobeat – Alexandra Stan
Dirty Talk – Wynter Gordon
My Feelings for You (Original Mix) – Avicii & Sebastien Drums
Shocking Silence (feat. Dino) – Benny Benassi
Love Is Gonna Save Us – Benny Benassi Presents The Biz
I Love My Sex (Pump-kin Remix) – Benny Benassi

To download the playlist in iTunes click here

My House is a Circus

Comedy, Puppy March 29, 2012 Leave a comment

I’m sure you’ll find it as hard to believe as I, but Enzo turned SIX MONTHS OLD on Sunday. My little puppy is growing up so quickly. In just one months time crazy things have happened. My house has turned into a circus.

Okay, I’ll admit, when someone sent me a photo of house breaking potty spray I climbed on my sassy horse, smug as hell. My puppy didn’t need that. From day one he’s been well-behaved and has only pottied on his faux grass. My how the mighty fall.

Enzo has gone from a well potty trained puppy to a playroom escaping pee-pee king alpha male. And he’s tried to take on my favorite Vince sweater as his new girlfriend humping partner. Needless to say, we’ve had our hands full. Luckily for you, I was able to obtain video evidence of the three-ring insanity unfolding in the living room.

You’re probably thinking I staged this and he’s on invincible wires, but nope. That’s all him. Baby climbs gates like they are rock walls. We either have the most gifted puppy ever or are doomed. Stay tuned…

Welcome Back

Life March 20, 2012 1 Comment

I think it’s a blogger rule of thumb that not posting for an extended period of time and then mentioning said absence is a no-no. Quite honestly, I feel like that would be like not mentioning the elephant in the room. So I’ve been absent for a while. What can I say, life is what happens when you’re busy avoiding your blog. Okay, I haven’t exactly been avoiding it, at least not intentionally. I’ve been somewhere in between being un-inspired and over stimulated. I guess that’s a fancy way to explain I’ve been so busy enjoying life that I haven’t had time to catch up and write about it.

There’s that and sometimes I get nervous that if I write about all of the things happening in life I might risk a chance of having them become less special. So what exactly has been keeping me too busy to write the past month or so? Let’s recap:

Taste testing my way through Over-the-Rhine in downtown Cincinnati has quickly become a new favorite hobby, one delicious restaurant at a time. From A Tavola to Senate, stay tuned for more in-depth reviews. In the meantime I have to actively keep myself from trying not to salivate from the thought of the duck gnocchi at Abigail Street.

[image via]

A new friend that I shall refer to as Hermie has stolen a great deal of my attention. Off hand I can tell you that he’s got me listening to dance music (look out Mixtape Mondays) and taught me Ohio isn’t as bad as I originally thought (which was that Ohio was the worst place on the planet). And he quite possibly loves Enzo more than I do. Photographic evidence of both the Ohio and Enzo bits can be found below.

Speaking of Enz, he is days away from six months old! Does this officially make him a toddler?! More importantly, is there a puppy term for toddler? In addition to growing .3 pounds, he has become a master in the art of escaping his playroom. First he used the blanket basket as a platform to hop onto the couch, which led to freedom. Once I took that option away he decided to scale his baby gate like a rock wall and pull his way over the top.

He’s also reverted to pretending like he’s not potty trained. This behavior was originally thought to be a urinary tract infection caused from humping (what else?) that I diagnosed via Google. One vet visit and two-hundred U.S. dollars later it was determined he was healthy as can be and just naughty.

Of course one post can’t possibly sum up and entire month, but I think this is a pretty good highlight reel. Goodness, it feels good to be back.

Why They Call It Puppy Love

Puppy February 24, 2012 Leave a comment

My baby Enzo is a whopping five months old today. I can’t believe he’s only been in my life a little over two months, let alone remember what it was like before him. They grow up so quickly, don’t they?

Five months stats include weighing in at 6.4 pounds, losing most of his baby teeth, learning how to catch a ball, sit and kiss,  and still humping my old junky Uggs at any opportunity I provide him with (which isn’t many). Other highlights include:

[Became a bonafide dare devil]

[Enjoyed his first beer]

[Took over the neighborhood]

[Discovered the joys of chirping birds and classical music]

[Mastered the art of napping]

[Became the best Valentine ever]

[Taught himself how to jump off the bed]

[Discovered the toilet paper roll]

[Made friends with a pig]

Mixtape Monday: Queen of Hearts

Mixtapes February 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Ahhh Valentines day. The holiday people love to hate and hate to love. Secretly, I love it. The search for cards I know my friends and family would appreciate is a fun challenge. Creating little tokens of affection that will make people smile is nice, too. To me, Valentines Day isn’t just about two people in a relationship showing their love for each other, rather a day for all of us to give each other an extra special piece of love. So here’s my Valentine to you. Fourteen songs that make my heart smile without being too mushy. Now mushy is something I don’t do. Enjoy.

Queen of Hearts

You Are the Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne
You and Me – Penny & the Quarters
Rivers and Roads – The Head and the Heart
Radio – Lana Del Rey
Powerful Stuff – Sean Hayes
Paperweight – Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk
Just Can’t Get Enough – The Black Eyed Peas
In The Privacy Of Our Love – Hot Chip
I Love You But I Don’t Know What to Say – Ryan Adams
I Know Places – Lykke Li
Hard to Concentrate – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Everlasting Light – The Black Keys
Crash Into Me (Live from Soundstage) – Stevie Nicks
Birthday – Kings Of Leon

To download this playlist in iTunes, click here.
Image via.

Mixtape Monday: Happy Birfday, Willie

Mixtapes January 23, 2012 Leave a comment

You may recall a little dedicated post I did a few years ago about a man I love, my best friend, Willie. Well today Willie turns the big two-niner. This weekend we gathered to celebrate with him. I made him a mixtape because that’s what we do. We don’t have to say a word to each other, rather just play a song and let the music do the talking.

Everyone freaks out about turning thirty. Me, I get my freak out on at the thought of turning twenty-nine. This is it. The last year of the twenties. Thirty seems like a walk in the park, a fresh start and new beginning. Twenty nine, on the other hand, is pressure. The final year to send out a decade of personal growth, triumphs and tragedies. And let’s be honest, there’s a big elephant in the room of the twenty-ninth birthday party: are you at a place in life you imagined you would be? If not, you only have a year to make it happen.

As you can probably sense, this has led to a great deal of anxiety for me, thinking about twenty-nine. Instead of lamenting and stressing about what I need to check off the list of life before thirty I’m giving myself a new outlook. Though I probably won’t be exactly right where I’d like to be by the time I’m thirty, at least I know with Willie at my side and music playing I’ll be a happy girl nonetheless.

[Happy Birfday, Boo]

Happy Birfday, Willie

1. Come Pick Me Up – Ryan Adams
2. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters – Elton John
3. Stay In the Clouds – Zee Avi
4. Claustrophobia – Choir of Young Believers
5. Song Cry – Jay-Z
6. All This and Heaven Too – Florence + The Machine
7. Taper Jean Girl – Kings of Leon
8. I’m Alive (w/Dave Matthews) – Kenny Chesney
9. Oooh Love – Blaze Foley
10. Rhiannon (Live) – Fleetwood Mac
11. Vienna – Billy Joel
12. Forever Young – Rod Stewart
13. You and Me – Penny & the Quarters
14. Does He Love You? – Rilo Kiley
15. Cigarettes and Coffee – Otis Redding
16. Stay Young, Go Dancing – Death Cab for Cutie
17. Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) – Gotye
18. Cold Hearted – Zac Brown Band

To download the mixtape in iTunes click here.

Eat, Fry, Love

Life November 24, 2011 Leave a comment

Today some of my racing family gathers in Indy to enjoy a lovely meal and share our thankfulness. Us ladies are going to slave away in the kitchen, whipping up traditional culinary delights such as mashed potatoes, stuffing and candied yams (my personal favorite).  I’m sure we will enjoy a few several glasses of wine, dance around in our aprons and laugh, laugh laugh our heads off.

image source unknown

And what will the men be doing (besides watching football)? They plan on deep-frying a turkey. Hey, I love deep-fried turkey just as much as any other Hoosier, but it can be a dangerous thing, turkey frying. Thank goodness William Shatner and State Farm teamed up to boldly go where no youtube video has gone before. Like a good neighbor, they made us a turkey frying awareness video:

After watching that I have all the confidence in the world we will have a successful, un-flammable Thanksgiving meal. pDid has ordered me to stay at least five feet away from the frying turkey at all times, as to avoid any possible mishaps. Here’s to raising our glasses filled with Foyt Family Wines and enjoying the evening. And if you takeaway one thing from Mr. Shatner, please have it be that the thing that lowers the turkey into the pot is called a dingle dangle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mixtape Monday: Video Games

Mixtapes November 14, 2011 Leave a comment

I’ve been working on a few mixtapes the last couple of weeks, drawing inspiration from daily joys and sorrows from the past month or so. To me, it’s funny how a song can intensify emotions and take them to a place you never knew existed. The phrase “strike a chord” refers to when you identify something to a familiar emotion or experience. But think of “strike a chord” in the literal sense. When I hear certain chords of music I’m instantly transported to a previous emotion or experience.

Over the past few weeks there are few songs I find can fit the moods I’ve been in and emotions I’ve been trying to sort through. And then, magically, I came across the video for Video Games by Lana Del Rey and it was like it was just waiting for me to discover it. I finally felt musically and visually connected to exactly how I’ve been feeling.

image via

The random images of Southern California in the video take me to a nostalgic place tucked away with my some of my favorite memories growing up, which is also a sort of feeling that can only be replicated when I wake up on a crisp morning in Seal Beach. The Chateau Marmont sign flashes and I’m instantly transformed back in time to my first trip to Fred Segal and fond memories of brunch at the legendary hotel in my early twenties. It is as though memories throughout my life are visually paired with the deep-rooted song that makes my heart a little stronger each time I hear it.

To download Video Games on iTunes click Here.

Mixtape Monday (guest post!): A 20-Year Love Affair

Uncategorized July 11, 2011 Leave a comment

I’m going to shoot it to you straight today, the story and mixtape you are about to enjoy are fantastic. Seriously, I’ve listened to the mixtape on repeat all weekend. Meet Kellee Hinshaw: Self proclaimed music lover and honest to goodness the best person to follow on Twitter if you truly love music. Her #nowplaying tweets are always so spot on I asked if she’d put together a mixtape to share. Lucky for us she obliged. 

I fell in love when I was 10 years old.  And for the last 20 years, I have been in an extremely serious relationship.  Not with any guy; but with music.  My parents bought me a cassette player for Christmas that year, but Santa (a.k.a. my wonderful, scatterbrained mother) forgot to include the actual cassettes to play in it.  So my father opened his large drawer filled with tapes upon tapes upon tapes, rustled around for a few minutes, then proudly presented me with his copy of Led Zeppelin II.  I clutched it to my chest with one hand, my new Emerson boombox the other, and ran up the stairs to my bedroom.  As soon as I pressed play, I was immediately hypnotized by Jimmy Page’s deliciously loose, bluesy guitar riffs that filled my room, as “Whole Lotta Love” began to pour through the speakers.  And when I heard Robert Plant wail, “You need coolin’, baby I’m not foolin’…” a few seconds later, I fell down the rabbit hole.  (And to this day, I maintain that Robert Plant can have my babies for that line alone.)

To say I love music is an understatement.  I love listening to it, talking about it, writing about it, analyzing it, singing it (poorly, unless I’m in the car or shower; in which case I am a rock star) and collecting it.  I recommend stuff to friends, they recommend stuff to me.  I’ve been known to dissect songs for hours in the car on road trips, at the dinner table, during parties – pretty much anywhere – much to the chagrin of anyone who isn’t as obsessed with it as I am.  Music is always there for me.  It’s my therapist.  It helps me through the good, the bad and the ugly.  It’s the universal language.  In the words of Leo Tolstoy, “Music is the shorthand of emotion.”

I’m a huge music nerd.  And without it, the world becomes a sterile cold place. From my gateway-drug of Led Zeppelin to Claude Debussy to White Zombie to Nina Simone to the The Black Keys, I listen to it all.  So here is my mixtape for you; courtesy of my extremely serious relationship with music…

Mixtape:  A 20-Year Love Affair

Eliza Doolittle – Pack Up
Andrew Belle – Static Wave (feat. Katie Herzig)
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
The Swell Season – Young Hearts Run Free
Led Zeppelin – Thank You
Tune-Yards – You Yes You
Washed Out – Belong
The Dirty Heads – Chelsea
Birdy – Skinny Love
Martin Sexton – Happy
Eels – Prizefighter
The Dead Weather – Blue Blood Blues
Marc Broussard – Lonely Night In Georgia
Nirvana – About A Girl
Iron & Wine – Passing Afternoon
Bob Schneider – Mudhouse
Otis Redding – Cigarettes & Coffee
Band of Skulls – I Know What I Am
Basia Bulat – The Shore
Sonia Dada – Lover, Lover (You Don’t Treat Me No Good)

To download playlist on iTunes click here. Click directly on songs not available on iTunes for a free download.

Love the mixtape as much as moi? Follow Kellee on twitter for great music suggestions.

Happy Birfday, Mini-me!

Uncategorized June 26, 2011 Leave a comment

The day has finally arrived, Mini-me Mackenzie is officially 21! Since Mini is such a big help with blogging escapades, I felt it only right to dedicate a post just for her on this special day. So Happy 21st Birfday, Mini! So, here’s to legally being able to have drinks at Cappy’s with the Silverfox, getting to accompany me into the Spirit & Wine store instead of waiting in the car (don’t even think about trying to oust me as Mayor) and much more fun to come.

[Mini is all grown up!]

ooxx

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