a fine frenzy.

So....

music influences in my life are HUGE
i probably listen to music at least 5 hours a day. maybe more.

silence bothers me sometimes and music fills it up and makes you feel better.

there is nothing better than finding a song or artist who can whip up some good lyrics either (as i have said before)

one artist i want to write about, because her influence upon me has been huge, is Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy. in my opinion she is classified as an indie singer/songwriter who has a wondrously haunting voice and unusual lyrics (at times). however, i love her music nonetheless.

Right now she has two albums out, One Cell in the Sea and Bomb in a Birdcage. i havent had a chance yet to really listen to the newest album, (BiaB) but from what i hear it is much different from OCithS.

I fell in love with her first album because of the significance it seemed to play in my life. and the music was beautiful as well. one of my all time favorite songs by her...well ok i have to pick more than one... so three....

1) Almost Lover

2) Come On, Come Out

3) Ashes & Wine

off One Cell in the Sea

Her lyrics are so powerful and they make you actually feel emotion. you can tell that she really does put her heart and soul into what she does. it makes me commend her all the more because i feel that music these days has lost its meaning in a way. now, anyone can be in music, but it takes a truly talented person to get it right in my opinion. alison definitely accomplishes this.

to say the least, if you havent had the chance as least give her a try. she is an amazing musician with a lot of talent. her music videos are really good too if you get the chance.

admiring,

annie em.

a random post. among many others...

today is easter, He is risen. im starting not to be a fan of family holidays anymore, but today was ok for one i guess. me and my sister (and also best friend) hung out the whole time at Oma's house and watched ferris bueller's day off (BIG fan of the 80's by the way) and sleeping beauty. what a combination.
anyways, to say the least, it was an ok time. it was just my family and then the aunt and uncle. maybe i would be more inclined to family gatherings if they were bigger and had more people my age..but oh well. my sister is all the company i need!
so aside from watching movies, we snuck onto a golf course and had a mini photo shoot. man i love photography. if only i had endless amounts of money to spend on things i love; i would have bought myself a nice expensive camera a loooong time ago.
here are some of our brilliant pics (i picked my faves)

my beautiful sister.

the dynamic duo

it wasnt a huge photo shoot, kind of impromptu and whatnot, but oh well. it will be fun this summer because i plan on doing a lot of experimentation with photography and such. the summer is always a good time to find something you are interested in and explore it. because what else are you going to do with massive amounts of time?

so that concludes random part #1...now to begin other random things

this is my blog description thing, but i am changing it so i wanted to post it here so i would always remember it...

"i'm letting go, giving it up. its all Yours now. do what you will, have your way and i'll follow. whatever the outcome, i'll live for You alone."

that has been on my blog for awhile now, but what does it mean exactly? well it serves as a reminder to myself of what i am living for. i wrote it because of certain situations that i was dealing with in my life at the time and because of my failed attempts at trying to deal with things. too many times, we try to help ourselves without remembering that we dont have to go it alone. we have Him to help and guide us.

So the spark behind the phrase is to be reminding myself when i freak out over things i cant control or things i dont know that i need to place my trust and let things go. interestingly enough, the pastor at church this morning was saying something along the lines of 'when you put God first and make Him your priority, everything else will fall into place'...

but of course, as with many things, it is much easier said than done. i have decided its time to make a concious effort again to stop trying to control the world. we just have to accept that things cant always go our way and sometimes we dont know why things happen or what the outcome will be but we just have to tell ourselves, "whatever the outcome, I'll live for you alone."

peace is living,

annie em.

what a blustery day...

so today there was an easter egg hunt in our neighborhood...my mom and one of her good friends decided about twelve years ago they wanted to do some kind of ministry for our neighborhood hence the Shadowbrook Easter Egg Hunt was born.
we share the easter story with whoever decides to come and of course we sugar the kids up and send them home. amid the pastel eggs that invade the yards, me, jordan, steph, aubrey and brielle hung out and had a good time being out normal goofy selves.

anyways to prove that i can make impromptu art, i made a lovely collage(?) out of nerds. yes, the candy.

my masterpiece!

yeah...well aside from the fact that i have had way too much sugar in the past few days, i would say easter break has been fairly productive.

so i guess i should find a cool point to add to this blog. hmmm lets see.

one of the most recent brilliant (but delayed) discoveries i have had is the band Fair. I say delayed because i have had their cd in my iTunes for well over a year, but i finally just listened to it over this past week. one word. AMAZING

lets explore this band.

band: Fair, the creation of acclaimed Tooth & Nail producer Aaron Sprinkle, who is the lead singer of the band. so their first album The Best Worst-Case Scenario is the one i have been listening too (2006) but i just discovered that they released a new album this year! Eeek! oh the joys... the new album is called Disappearing World. i havent had a chance to listen to it yet, but i want to as soon as possible. honestly what makes or breaks a band is seriously lyrics. yes, i am guilty of liking cheesy bands who have no lyrical diversity whatsoever, but when it comes down to it, i truly love all the bands who have amazing lyrics. ones that describe your feelings in a way you would never think of. think of how much better music would be these days if people actually tried to get away from cliche and attempt realness and beauty in writing. aaron sprinkle definitely hits the nail on the head with that one.

just to give you an idea of who aaron sprinkle is, he produces a lot of Tooth & Nail bands (including Anberlin, my favorite band of all time) while writing his own stuff on the side. amazing. to say the least, they are my newest discovery. i would compare them to This Providence by closest comparison.

a challenge for everyone out there: finally listen to that cd by the band that has been sitting in your library just waiting to be discovered. i have found some of my favorite songs/artists this way. although maybe this should serve as my lesson that an 8,000 song library might just be too big. but i cant help it. i just love music too much! so go discover something great!

be inspired,

annie em