st andrews + lady gaga

Okay. I love St Andrews. As you may or may not know, I studied abroad there for my junior year of uni*.

Also as you may or may not know I kind of like Lady Gaga**.

You can then imagine HOW FREAKING STOKED I was when I found this little gem of a video. It combines the beautiful setting of St Andrews with the melodic delights of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". Oh. AND. It's a cappella***.



*That's short for university kids. It's British. Deal with it.

**That is an understatement.

***TOTAL nerd for some good a cappella. Isn't that right Lizzy?

thankful on a thursday

I am foregoing the introduction of today's Thankful on a Thursday because friends, I am exhausted. My entire body aches not just for sleep, but for rest. So here is my wee list of gratitude, although this week I feel I have failed miserably to share just how very thankful I am because this week has been full of His goodness in more ways than I can count.

1. A week full of sunshine.
2. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There is nothing my God cannot do.
3. I have the very best friends. I don't know what I would do without them.
4. Deer Hunter. Not the movie, but the game we played at youth group.
5. A high school production of Aida. The awkward ways those kids with only one line deliver that one line and the AMAZING voice of the girl who played Aida. Wow.
6. How could you not be thankful when movies like this exist?
7. The overwhelming sense of His faithfulness and His goodness, even in the midst of trial, that I have had all week long.
8. Dinner with mom at Mother's.
9. Johnny Cash. You sir were exactly what these ears needed to hear.*
10. Holy Week and the anticipation of the resurrection.
11. Honesty. Even when it is hard.

Two fantastic things about this song. First, we sang this in church on Sunday. Second, that's Scott and Seth Avett you hear playing the banjo and stomp their feet in the background.

fabulous friday video goodness—a little pop a little not

Okay. I sort of love this song. ALOT. If it's on when I'm in the car [on those rare occasions I'm actually driving] you will find me singing it. LOUDLY.



And this? This is my city.

fabulous friday video goodness—avetts again

I couldn't NOT post Avett Brothers videos for today. After their EPIC benefit show on Monday, I feel it would be irresponsible of me to NOT share some of this EPICNESS with you.

First up: Portland Town [their opening song]



Next up we have "Pretty Girl from Chile" [which, during the first few bars I was convinced was "Go to Sleep"]. I've seen the brothers rock out and go crazy before. But this was a whole new level which, you end up missing in this video because the song went on for another four or five minutes after this video ends.



Next is "Please Pardon Yourself." It's quite the breakup song. At this point in the post I should inform you that I'm going to post ALL the youtube videos I can find from this show.



Oh man. I was SO excited when they played "Jenny and the Summer Day." It's so quintessentially summer and it made me wish I had a river to jump in and a big jug of sweet tea to drink. As is evidenced by the camera work of the person who shot the video, it's hard to contain yourself when the Avetts play the songs you love.



This next one is for Ms. Kathy Simpson since my attempt to send my lame video from my phone didn't work.



Okay. There ARE more videos. But maybe that's enough for one post.

do fun stuff

A while ago...almost two years I think...I stumbled upon a gorgeous picture of this pregnant mother, belly almost bursting out of her top, glowing with love for what she was growing inside of her. That picture was part of a maternity series, and that maternity series was photographed by her husband, Ryan. I began visiting Ryan's site to check out the maternity series. Then I subscribed to his RSS feed so I could read the posts he was writing and see the pictures he was taking between the maternity photos.

It was amazing reading about the pregnancy [my very favorite post, that I emailed to as many girlfriends as I possibly could, is this one.]. And the posts between the pregnancy posts were amazing. They were about life. They were about what it was like for Ryan and his wife Cole to be newly married. They were about what it was like for Ryan to be an expectant father, and they were about what it was like learning to be stepdad to Cole's son, who he refers to a LB [the Littlest Buddy because Ryan calls all his friends buddy].

Mid-pregnancy LB was diagnosed with SMS [Smith Magenis Syndrome—read more about it here.]. And from there, as I've read Ryan's blog, I—and all his other readers—have watched Ryan and Cole grapple with what it means to be parents of a kid with SMS, what it means for LB to have SMS, all the while doing it with the fierce love of parents who want the very best for their son.

After reading his blog, one thing Ryan most certainly is is driven. So when he decided he wanted to do something to help not just LB, but other people with SMS, it didn't take long for it to become this HUGE idea. What did Ryan do? Oh, you know, he got a bunch of his musician friends together and they made an album. WHICH DEBUTED AT NUMBER ONE ON ITUNES. Ryan's going to release an album every year on LB's birthday, and the proceeds of the album go to SMS research. Because right not there's not much information and there's not a whole lot of funding.

So. What does this mean? It means that if you're a parent and you have good taste in music and are sick of listening to Kidz Bop and Yo Gabba Gabba, there's a BETTER, AWESOMER album out there with music for your kids that won't make your ears bleed. You can listen to the album below, AND you can buy it on iTunes. Also, I love the birthday song. I kind of want to find a way to incorporate it into my next birthday.



PS.I'm late to the game here, friends. All the cool people blogged about it on Monday. I suffered from Notenoughpeoplereadmyblog-itis, but a run this morning, complimented by ruminating on how much work Ryan and his friends and family have put into this project, cured me real quick. Even if I'm the only one who buys it [and then gives it too all of my friends with kids for their respective children's birthdays], I still want you to know about it. K. That's it.

fabulous friday video goodness

I was all set to post a different video today. And then Nish reminded me just how much I loved...Blink182. Those boys with their potty jokes, their tattoos (mmm...tattoos...) and their piercings, playing their sugary bubblegum punk. How I loved them. So in honor of the past, here is Blink182.

fabulous friday video goodness—BONUS AVETTS

A little bonus Avett Goodness via the always awesome Joe Kwon[the cellist for The Avett Brothers]. A lovely Friday night to you all, and please to enjoy.

The Fall - The Avett Brothers feat. G. Love from Joseph Kwon on Vimeo.

fabulous video goodness

I officially need a tuxedo and some dance lessons.

glasses please

I love discovering videos like this on Friday. It almost makes it feel like the weekend has come early.

I Am A Girl - The Girls With Glasses Theme Song from The Girls With Glasses on Vimeo.

singing la la la la la

This is so stinking cute. These notes have been plinking their way through my mind since first hearing this song when I woke up this morning.



Happy Little Pea by Rabbit