MaRCH MuSiC MaDNeSS!

So this is something I decided I wanted to do a couple of months ago. 

It may be boring, it may be fun.. who knows? I'm gonna give it a try :)

You see, I love music! 

For those of you who didn't know that just read this and you'll understand :) 

So here's my idea..

Everyone has seen the Top 20 Music Awards, right?

I'm stealing their idea :) 

kinda sorta

Thanks to iTunes, I can see what my top songs are. 

So at the end of every month I am going to put up my Top Ten. 

Then I'll give a little more insight into the ToP SoNG!

Since I just reset everything at the beginning of the month, a lot of the songs are tied for now. 

Just give me a month or so and this should be much more effective.

With that said....

Here's my... 

ToP 10 SoNGS FRoM MaRCH

(This month is gonna have 12 instead of 10. We had one BiG Tie)

NuMBeR 12. Back to December by Taylor Swift

NuMBeR 11. Never Had a Dream Come True by S Club 7

NuMBeR 10. Carried Away by Marc Scibilia
NuMBeR 9. Can't Let Go by Landon Pigg

NuMBeR 8. Total Eclipse of the Heart by the Glee Cast

NuMBeR 7. Time in Between by Francesca Battistelli

NuMBeR 6. Climbing the Wall by Backstreet Boys

NuMBeR 5. Forever by Vertical Horizon

NuMBeR 4. Falling In by Lifehouse

NuMBeR 3. Every Moment by Joy Williams

NuMBeR 2. Uptown Girl by Billy Joel

and now, the moment you've all been waiting for!!!

DRuM RoLL PLeaSe....

SoNG NuMBeR 1 is....

ToNiGHT ToNiGHT by HoT CHeLLe Rae

You know those songs that you just listen to over and over and over and over after you first get them? This was that lucky song. Apparently I listened to this song 29 times...the next closest song. 5 times.. haha  

You see it was a Thursday night and I had just got out of my lovely three-hour physiology lecture. My car radio has a mind of it's own you see. It randomly turns off, and it randomly turns on; aLL THe TiMe. So as I was driving home, after several minutes in silence, my radio popped on. This was the song that came on! It was love :) The music video may not be so great cause it's only lyrics... but the song... SuPeRB :D

MeDiTaTioN... HMM...

Dear Peeps,

For some reason MeDiTaTioN seems to be mentioned just about everywhere I have been for the last week or so. Class, work, the usual. Maybe it has something to do with my mind going a million miles a minute lately.. who knows?

Not me, but the mind racing has gotsta go!

With that said, does anyone out there know anything about it?? Anything at all? Pointers would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if I'll actually do it, but I really am curious. PLeaSe and THaNK You! 

Much Love, 

ME

A FaCe FuLL oF CHaLK aND a MiLLioN SMiLES

To anyone looking for a reason to visit UTaH, look no further. Just go ahead and book your trip for the last weekend in March; I promise you won't be disappointed! That's the weekend that houses what we call the HoLi FeSTiVaL (or the FeSTiVaL oF CoLoRS). Watch and keep reading and you'll see exactly what I mean :)

This year I went with BReNNoN, some kids I met through him just over a year ago, JeReMy and PHiLiP, and then my roomate SaRaH. We got there around 11 which I guess was early enough to get rockstar parking! After a little walk, it was straight into the center of a ginormous group of jumping/crowd surfing people! Note to self: DoN'T WeaR FLiP FLoPS iF you WaNT To JuMP aRouND iN THe CRoWDS! Sounds like common sense right? Yeah well I must not have been thinking.. haha :) Anywho, after Philip, Jeremy and Brennon took a ride crowd surfing we kinda lost them, so Sarah and I went to grab some colors.

Do you know how hard it is to find three people in a group of thousands when every last person is plastered in colors, and therefore looking the same? HARD! Lucky for us Philip wasn't hard to find.

The robed guy in the shades, that is Philip. 

He could be found crowd surfing, dancing to the tunes coming from the stage in the center of this giant hill, or doing things like this... please enjoy. 

Just in case you were wondering, yes that is a trash can, yes there was still garbage in it, and no I most definitely did not get in! Anyways, back to the point, while standing at the top of the hill looking for those three, and with no signs of them anywhere, here come Philip running, out of the large group of people also at the top of the hill, and all of a sudden doing summersaults down the large hill of mud. And that is how you play "Where's Waldo" at the Sri Sri Rahda Krishna Temple!

We had so much fun! After some time down in the crowds, we hiked back up to the top of the hill and found ourselves in the center of a giant mudslide! I didn't go in at first, but lets face it, who goes to the Festival of Colors to stay clean? Thats what I thought.  (sorry I scream a lot, in real life, but especially in this next video)

Before we knew it it was 1 'o' clock and time to throw the colors! Brennon and I booked it to the bottom where the stage was to get right in the center. Crazy, breathtaking (but really), and down right insane pretty much describes it.

Just add 4x as many people in the same amount of space. That's
what it looked like when we threw the colors

In the midst of all the craziness, I had lost Sarah. Just call her right? Wrong, my phone was dead! Just go wait where we were gonna meet if we got separated? Wrong! We just kept missing each other. Call on Brennon's phone? Wrong and wrong. A) I don't have her number memorized, and B) Brennon had taken off asap to get to his sister's birthday lunch. 

So what did I do? I walked back to the car, shoeless none the less, and frantically hopped on the freeway to find the closest store that sold car chargers. Only one exit up and there was a little mobile store. I ran in, covered from head to toe in chalk and mud; and shoeless. Then the kind man at the counter says, "Well you're the most interesting customer I've had all day." Yeah, I can see why he would say that. Well he had a charger and thats all that mattered. 

Well I ran back to my car, plugged in the charger, plugged in my phone and vuala, NoTHiN'! At this point I think I have completely killed my phone, so I jump back on the freeway to go to Walmart to buy a new one. Then I figure out you just have to twist the charger to make it work. And there ya go, now I have a working phone! 

I finally found Sarah, we jump in the car and while sitting in lots of lovely traffic, I decide I want to go back and play. KaeSi and CaNDaCe, my cousin, were there and Brennon was heading back with his fam. So.. Sarah and I stop at Shoko, get some real shoes and go back. Round two wasn't quite as fun, and we couldn't find Brennon's gang, but still worth it non the less. 

Lesson Learned: iF You HaVeN'T GoNe, GO!!!

BoN JoVi = ABSoLuTe BLiSS :D

Well lets just start off by saying I absolutely love music! Anyone who knows me can tell you that in a car it's impossible for me to not sing to whatever is playing, whether i know the song or not (Thanks for that one mom). Until my Tanner came along, I was the only one of my siblings who would sing along in church. And lastly, my iPod is always on me, and playing if possible :) 

With that said, let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time, I was a mere 16 years old. During that year I came across an album (see left) that would quickly become one of my absolute favorites! That is when my real love started. Before that there were the two hits that everyone knows, but I hadn't put a whole lot of thought into said band until crazy koolaid man happened. From then on we have had a very special relationship! THe eND.  but really, just watch this and then you'll believe me:)  

For the your sake I really really hope you know who I am talking about, or will at least know who I'm talking about once I've said who they are (some of you sneaky ones may have gotten the giveaway in the post title). Otherwise you are missin out!  I don't know that it's possible to have been born in the last 25 years and not know who this blessed group of people are. But just in case there is someone out there who actually is living under a rock, first don't worry I'll love you anyways; but more importantly let me introduce you to some people you should get to know before you do ANyTHiNG else!

JoN BoN JoVi and the rest of the BoN JoVi CReW

We may or may not have forgotten the tickets. We may have decided to switch cars when we went back to get the tickets. We may have had to fill up with gas cause we switched cars. But we sped a little, ok maybe a lot, and drove past EnergySolutions right the minute the concert was supposed to start. The lines outside though, dang! There were still several thousand people outside waiting to get in. So we hurried and found some free parking, and ran to wait in line. Much to our surprise it went way faster than we thought! Ten minutes tops and BReN, PReSToN, TeRReNCe, BeTHaNY, her friend and I were in :)  

JaNNeTTe had told me that RyAn STaR had already started, so we booked it once we were inside! Of all his songs there were only two that I really wanted to hear, "Start a Fire" and "Breathe". We got there just in time! We heard them both :) And ERiN, NaTe, JaNNeTTe and SHeiLa were there to great us! 

Preston, Brennon, Bethany, i don't know her name, and Terrence

 Then the real fun started, BON JOVI took the stage!!! He was so good! His music is good enough as it is, but I didn't know all the songs. The thing I loved about him was that he had such a great energy that even those songs were great! All I can say is if you ever get the chance to go see Bon Jovi live, DO IT! I promise you, you will not regret it! He is so much fun to jam out to!

That concert ticket was the BEST $26 BUCK I'VE EVER SPENT!!!!! Our seats might not have been so good, but I did't even care cause we were all smiles from ear to ear all night long.

Dear BoN JoVi, I LoVe You and that is all :)

LaTeR LiFe iDea NuMBeR 3

Ok so this post is probably gonna bore some of you to death, but others may find it very helpful  (particularly those with children). This is just a copy of a handout I got in my Human Development Class today. It's got some really good tips on how to help kids and teens build better resilience. In other words, things you can do to help your kids handle stressful situations with a little more ease. 


10 TiPS FoR BuiLDiNG ReSiLieNCe iN CHiLDReN aND TeeNS

(aka: how to avoid this)

1. MaKe CoNNeCTioNS. Teach your child how to make friends, including the skill of empathy, or feeling another's pain. Encourage your child to be a friend in order to get friends. Build a strong family network to support your child through his or her inevitable disappointments and hurts. At school watch to make sure that one child is not being isolated. Connecting with people  provides social support and strengthens resilience. Some find comfort in connecting with a higher power, whether through organized religion or privately you may wish to introduce your child to your own traditions or worship.
 2. HeLP YouR CHiLD By HaViNG HiM oR HeR HeLP oTHeRS. Children who may feel helpless can be empowered by helping others. Engage your child in age-appropriate volunteer work, or ask for assistance yourself with some task that he or she can master. At school, brainstorm with children about ways they can help others.
3. MaiNTaiN a DaiLy RouTiNe. Sticking to a routine can be comforting to children, especially younger children who crave structure in their lives. Encourage your child to build his or her routines.
4. TaKe a BReaK. While it is important to stick to routines, endlessly worrying can be counter-productive. Teach your child how to focus on something besides what's worrying him. Br aware of what your child is exposed to that can be troubling, whether it be news, the internet, or overheard conversations, and make sure your child takes a break from those things it they trouble her. Although schools are being held for performance on standardized tests, build and unstructured time during the school day to allow children to be creative.  (One of the girls in my class talked about something they did in her family. I can't decide if I like it or not; it'll take a little more thought. I think it's worth stashing for a later discussion though. She said that her parents gave her two days per school year to just skip school. She said they had to tell her mom a couple days ahead of time. That way they could plan ahead a make sure things were still finished in time. The day was never anything extraordinary, just a day at home) 
5. TeaCH youR CHiLD SeLF-CaRe. Make yourself a good example, and teach your child the importance of making time to eat properly, exercise and rest. Make sure your child has time to have fun, and make sure that your child hasn't scheduled every moment of his or her like with no "down time" to relax. Caring for oneself and even having fun will help your child stay balanced and better deal with stressful times. 
6. MoVe ToWaRD youR GoaLS. Teach your child to set reasonable goals and then to move toward them one step at a time. Moving toward that goal - even if it's a tiny step - and receiving praise for doing so will focus your child on what he or she has accomplished rather than on what he or she hasn't accomplished, and can help build resilience to move forward in the face of challenges. At school, break down large assignments into small, achievable goals for younger children, and for older children, acknowledge accomplishments on the way to larger goals.
7. NuRTuRe a PoSiTiVe SeLF-VieW. Help your child remember ways that he or she has successfully handled hardships in the past and then help him understand that these past challenges help him build the strength to handle future challenges. Help your child learn to trust himself to solve problems and make appropriate decisions. Teach your child to see the humor in life, and the ability to laugh at one's self. At school, help children see how their individual accomplishments contribute to the wellbeing of the class as a whole.
8. KeeP THiNGS iN PeRSPeCTiVe aND MaiNTaiN a HoPeFuL ouTLooK. Even when your child is facing very painful events, help him look an the situation in a broader context and jeep a long-term perspective. Although your child may be too your to consider a long-term look on his own, help his or her see that there is a future beyond the current situation and that the future can be good. An optimistic and positive outlook enables your child to see the good things in life and can keep going even in the hardest times. In school, use history to show that life moves on after bad events. (Another girl in my class actually has a child, and she said that one thing she does with her little girl is talk about all the good things that happened that day, and then about all the good things that will happen the next day. That way she'll go to be with an optimistic outlook.)
9. LooK FoR oPPoRTuNiTieS FoR SeLF-DiSCoVeRy. Tough times are often the times when children learn the most about themselves. Help your child take a look at how whatever he is facing can teach him "what he is made of." At school, consider leading discussions of what each student has learned after facing down a tough situation.
10. aCCePT THaT CHaNGe iS PaRT oF LiViNG. Change often can be scary for children and teens. Help your child see that change is part of life and new goals can replace goals that have become unattainable. In school, point out how students have changed as they moved up in grade levels and discuss how that change has had an impact on the students.