MONDAY MUSIC SHARE: Barcelona ‘Fall in Love’


Happy Presidents Day, people!

Today is a little unique since it’s sort of the last day of a 3-day weekend and the beginning of a new week. Best of both worlds I guess! I’m making no sense. It’s OK. 

Anyways, I wanted to pass this video on to you guys. I saw it featured on Nylon Magazine recently. This band is one of the cool callbacks that I have in life because they actually performed for the RELEVANT Podcast back in 2009. And that evening a few of us went to The Social and saw them live. Not only were they incredibly cool but their music is pretty rad.

I believe they’re on a new label right now and are preparing to release their next album. Fall in Love is their first single off of it … it’s sort of like smooth jamz or something. I don’t know, I kind of like it. 


5 Things This Week

So it’s almost midnight … I’m here in the last five minutes of Friday before the week ends to bring you my 5TT post. I could give you excuses for my sheer lack of follow-through, but I won’t.

First off, Happy Valentine’s Day.  I hope it was amazing and full of love.  Mine consisted of food prep for a homeless shelter, so in a lot of ways I forgot that today was anything special. 

Anyways, here are 5 things going on right now:

WINTER OLYMPICS ARE ON - So the Olympics are officially happening in Sochi and I can’t watch any of it right now. This is my life without cable.

I heard about the dire conditions of the city, the missing iconic ring, and how the Flying Tomato failed to get a half-pipe medal … but my favorite piece of commentary has been this article on Buzzfeed: The 33 People With The Best Names In The 2014 Sochi Olympics.  You guys, the comments are golden.

TVLESS TUESDAY UPDATE: I WENT HIKING - So one of the reasons I’ve been totally slacking on my 5TT posts is because I’ve been doing this thing called TVLess Tuesdays. It’s been pretty good so far. 

Not watching TV one day a week isn’t as bad as it can be, you just have to be disciplined to watch certain shows a little later.  It’s that whole marshmallow delayed gratification thing.

Anyways, my Tuesdays have been filled with other things lately.  Mostly hangout times with friends and going to the library - I’ve checked out some books but haven’t read much yet. But this week I did go hiking!

It was supposed to be a really simple 40 minute hike. But somehow on the way back my friend and I took a wrong turn. And our short hike became a two hour hike. Bah.

It was good though. Scouting new areas of LA is good. I can’t believe that was the first time I hiked to the Hollywood Sign.

DINING OUT ONCE A WEEK - Giving up TV once a week isn’t the only thing that I’ve been intentional about, I’ve actually managed to dine out only once a week for the past two months. If you know me at all, you’d realize what a big feat this is.

I mean, there have a been a few exceptions but for the most part I’ve been sticking to my guns and staying disciplined in this area. It’s not just a money thing but it’s more of a healthy living, be a good steward kind of thing. 

Anyways, it’s been really awesome. That, plus the fact that Andi has banned certain foods out of this kitchen, I’ve been forced to plan meals and make things like granola and drink more water. Is this what being an adult is like?

TRAVEL PLANNING - You guys, I’m going on six weeks here without any travel and I’m starting to twitch. I still want to explore the SoCal but I also want to plan in trips out of state. 

  • Houston. It’s stupid that I haven’t been there yet since my best friend had her baby. Issa is turning one soon. I should be there.
  • Orlando. Because I haven’t seen my FL friends in a long while and I’ve been craving Pom Pom’s for like ages.
  • And Denver. I’ve always wanted to tackle Pike’s Peak again. Or skiing. I’m totally down for a ski trip. Who’s with me? 

I’ve got to start mapping out dates ASAP.

TWO YEARS - So this past week marked my two year anniversary since I moved to LA. It’s so weird to think about how I’m even here and how much God has blessed me in such a short time.

Great people, great church, great neighborhood, great roommates.

It’s weird to think that my time in Florida was actually shorter than my time here. Crazy. So many seasons, so pivotal in many ways. But this is where I am now and it’s been awesome.


MONDAY MUSIC SHARE: John Mark McMillan - “Love At The End” (Official Music Video)


This Monday Music Share comes a day late only because the music video was released just today. WHADDUP.

Thanks to the very awesome music stylings of Mr. Chad Michael Snavely, I was able to see the very new, very unique single off of John Mark McMillan’s upcoming LP Borderland. 

You may have heard of him, John Mark McMillan.  He wrote that brilliant worship song that we all love … “Oh How He Loves Me.”

Anyways, check it. Have a great evening. 5TT should be up soon.  

:)


5 Things Tuesday

I was really debating on if I should stay up and write this post or just wait until tomorrow …

But here I am. Trying to stick to my commitments.

Plus, I can’t skip writing a 5TT post when we had a crazy awesome Super Bowl win like that.  So yeah.

SUPER BOWL 48 WAS AWESOME - The commercials were great. The Seahawks played like boss. The defense was ridic. Percy Harvin’s touchdown at the kickoff of the second half was glorious. Bruno Mars killed it. There were interception after interception during that game. Priceless Peyton Manning faces. Hilarious Tim Tebow commercials. An awesome Bud Light advert.

And we won. The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl. 43-8. 

That score is just ridiculous. That first snap was ridiculous!

Anyways.  My city has been an uproar for days, rioting #HowSeattleRiots … (by not jaywalking).  But it’s amazing. And I love my city. And I love my Seahawks.

BJ NOVAK WROTE A BOOK - Thanks to all the cool people on my Instagram feed, I now know of an awesome new book called One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

I really want to read it. Someone buy it for me.

HIMYM JUST KEEPS KNOCKING IT OUT OF THE PARK - Seriously, the episodes have been phenomenal.  But last week’s episode - the 200th episode centered around the Mother. Amazeballs. The episode before that where we find out the kids names? I cried. And this last week where Ted gave another amazing mini-speech about love.

Seriously. SO GOOD.

THIS SUNDANCE FILM - I honestly don’t know anything about this movie but I love the look/feel of these photos that came with it. From the light skimming I just did, God Help The Girl is a film based around troubled European kids against a backdrop of some sort of folk music.

I could be totally wrong, but that’s what my short attention span grasped. But look! It’s Cassie (Hannah Murray from Skins)!

Anyways, I think these shots might just inspire a new shoot soon.

FACEBOOK TURNED 10 TODAY. AND I’M OLD. - Two things about this:

First, I can’t believe I’ve been on Facebook for 8 years. It has connected me with old friends and new friends. Even some friends that I technically haven’t met yet. I watched that customized Facebook video of mine and it made me smile. So many seasons of my life just flashed before my eyes like that. I then realized how blessed I am.

Secondly, Facebook is 10 years old. As in like out with the old. Kids these days don’t even really use Facebook, they use Snapchat. Or Vine. Or Twitter. Or Tumblr. And the thing I’m realizing is that we’re creating this nonsensical generation of short-attention-spanned, ignorant, groupthink batch of youngsters who don’t know how to think before speaking. 

Especially after that whole Coca-Cola commercial thing happened, not cool. 

Anyways. I’m just concerned about how things are moving in this direction. Let’s use social media for good things, always making sure to create good content and have genuine relationships in real life. Turn off the TV more (on Tuesdays) and read a book or hang out with people. It’s awesome.

That’s my sage advice for the day. 

I need to go to bed. It’s almost 2 AM.


MONDAY MUSIC SHARE: St. Paul de Vence - “Mama” // Ballard Sessions #46


Look … two weeks in a row!  I’m getting back in the swing of things. Sort of.

Anyways, here’s a lovely acoustic performance by St. Paul de Vence, an:

Indie folk band notable for evocative storytelling, vintage style, layered melodies, and breathtaking harmonies.

They’re amazing. And they’re from Seattle.

This Kickstarter-backed band is now in studio recording.  Can’t wait to hear what else they have in store for us!

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