OLW Blog Hop - July

Welcome. If you're visiting from the One Little Word Blog Hop, I'm so happy you're here. I came home a few days ago from a great trip across the Pacific Northwest - photos to follow soon I hope - to a dead hard drive on my PC.

 Luckily, I only lost the on board hard drive and not my portable where all my data is actually stored (I also use Carbonite's back up service so everything is also stored off site), but it's still a challenge to not have my regular PC. I'm using an old laptop to post tonight, but it's messed up all my workflows a bit. That said, my power was out the night before I left and...what is there to do for a digital gal when all the lights are off...crafting by candle light and flash light. I set up my flash light and a couple of candles in my studio and just played with paint and other craft tools for about two hours while the rest of the world was dark.

 But, that's not what you're here to "hear" today...you're here to see the soundtrack that is currently bringing me a lot of joy. I should start off by saying I LOVE music. I have gigabytes of it...it's a collection that according to iTunes would take weeks to play all the way through once. So...to pick just a few favorites is a challenge. I organize my playlists by mood and lately I've been using a lot of my "my favorites" and "makes me happy" playlists as well as my "makes me sing" which is always a favorite.

 For this post, I chose the following eight songs (along with one card that just says "feel the music".  I chose that title because I don't often choose songs for their lyrics...really only a couple are in my list for the lyrics.  All the rest are about the rhythm, the sound...the feeling you get.  Even the names of my playlists are by mood (makes me happy, makes me sappy, makes me dance).  Music is all about feeling to me.  So, while I can't necessarily tell you what these have to do with the word intention - my word for 2012, I can tell you these are songs I have loved since the first time I heard them and I bought them almost immediately after hearing them...I guess that's intentional.  Enjoy!

1. Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk.  I've always said if I got married this is the song that would play for the first dance - but it's always, always a favorite song.  You might also remember it from this other big project earlier this year.  I am not too proud to admit that when I heard this played for the first time in an episode of Dawson's Creek, I ran right out and tried to find it.

2. I'm Alright by JoDee Messina.  I adore JoDee Messina and have been lucky enough to see her from about the fourth row of the Grand Ole Opry.  This song is definitely on my "Makes Me Sing" soundtrack...I've known all the words since about 2 hours after I first heard the song.

3. I think I was late to discover Adele, but isn't this young woman's voice incredible?  I'm partial to Rolling in the Deep, but I like a number of her songs. As I took the time to read the lyrics of several of her songs that are in my collection tonight, I realized that I probably wouldn't pick them for the lyrics - but I do love that sound.

4.  I have a very special relationship with the movie Sweet Home Alabama.  It, along with a few others, were constant companions - providing much needed background noise, without distraction - while I finished my dissertation.  I love the Jewel cover by the same name that was a theme to that movie.  I haven't visited Alabama for any length of time, but I will someday and when I land or cross the state line I'll probably sing this as proudly as I sing Back Home Again in Indiana every time I return home.

5.  I've been a fan of the television show NCIS since well before it was number one in the ratings and everyone was watching it.  I quote the show a lot more often than even I probably realize in my daily conversations and I've been known to headslap people on occasion - only when completely deserved of course.  So, when they released a soundtrack to the show, I grabbed it up.  My favorite track by far is sung by Cote de Pablo - one of the show's stars...it's called Temptation.

6.  Kelly Clarkson could make my list twice - both in duets.  (Funny I've never watched her in that television show though).  And even though I saw she and Reba McEntire (coming up next) in concert and got to see them do Because of You live, it is her duet with Jason Aldean that I'm going to include here...Don't You Wanna Stay .

7.  Reba McEntire could make this list a hundred times as I think I own everything she's ever recorded.  My current Reba favorite is I Want A Cowboy .  I actually identify with the words in this one too, but I love the sound just as much as the words.

8.  And, to round out the list, I'm not even sure how to describe this song.  It's performed by Roisin Murphy and it's called Ramalama.  If I need to get moving...this is my go to song.  I identify with the line "takin' a picture" of course...but all the rest of it is just this oddly pulled together rhythm and sound that I adore.

 The letter and number stamping on these was done with a set of stamps I hand-carved during Julie-Balzer's awesome Stamp Carving 101 class.  The handwriting is my own.  I hope you've enjoyed the visit.  Please feel free to visit again.  I look forward to adding to my own music collection visiting everyone else in the Blog Hop.


Margie - http://xnomads.typepad.com
Kara  - http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com <--You are here -->
Monica  - http://scrapinspired.com/tag/one-little-word/
Lisa - http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/
Donna - http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Mrs. Wookie - http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/ 
Monica B - http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com
Ruth - http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Naomi - http://poeticaperture.com/
Veronica - http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com
Carolina - http://www.micinnamons.blogspot.com
Cindy - http://seriousplay.typepad.com
Kelly - http://mindingmynest.com
Brighton - http://www.simplebrighton.com
Nikki  - http://www.inkyart.com.au
Amanda - http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Tere  - http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Cheri - http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com