Timeline of My Life to Music 2015

It's like when a baby is born and grandma dies the same year. It's like reaching the top of your dream mountain and falling off once you get there. It's like realizing there really are monsters in a closet full of your favorite things. 

January 2015

Santigold "Starstruck"

February 2015

Disclosure "Latch"

March 2015

Beyonce' "Ring the Alarm"

April 2015

Little Dragon "No Love"

May 2015

Duncan Sheik "Barely Breathing"

June 2015

Townes Van Zandt "Lungs"

July 2015

Katie Paisant "Human Enough"

August 2015

Mozella "You Don't Love Anyone But Yourself"

September 2015

The New Orleans Suspects "All the Money"

October 2015

Florence + the Machine "What Kind of Man"

November 2015

Phoenix "If I Ever Feel Better"

December 2015

Tom Petty "You Don't Know How It Feels" 

2015 proved that it's possible to realize your dream and have it ripped away shortly after. 

Timeline of My Life to Music 2013

As predicted in last years post 2013 was no cake walk. We had a lot of ups and downs securing a location for our brewery. Each month we'd get our hopes up about another location; we'd draw plans, draft agreements and then the deals would fall through. We also watched our son grow from a baby to develop his strong personality and begin to destroy our home the way that toddlers do. Never a dull moment. I look forward to success in 2014 with the opening of our brewery and the introduction of our beer to our community. 

  

January 2013

Yacht "Psychic City"

February 2013

Miguel "Sure Thing"

March 2013

James Taylor "Your Smiling Face"

April 2013

Iron & Wine "Upward Over the Mountain"

May 2013

Bishop Allen "Heart"

June 2013

REO Speed Wagon "Keep on Loving You"

July 2013

Broadheds "Nothing that I Care About"

August 2013

Devendra Banhart "Baby"

September 2013

Jessie Ware "Wildest Moments"

October 2013
The Two Man Gentleman Band "Fancy Beer"

December 2013

Coconut Records "West Coast"

My Love Story

Someone finally wrote my love story...

Here's how it starts:

"It’s hard to say if 

The Courtyard Brewery

is a love story 

about beer 

or a beer story

 about love. 

Either way, it began 

on Frenchmen Street." 

Read the rest here: NOLA DEFENDER.

Timeline of My Life to Music 2012

Another year, another set of lyrics that find their way into my life playing like a soundtrack. It's been action packed for sure, going through pregnancy, birth, and finishing the remodel on my Katrina home renovation. Blood, sweat and tears this year. My goals are set high for 2013 so it shouldn't be a cake walk either.



 
January 2012
Besides Daniel "Learn How to Fight"

  

February 2012

Priscilla Ahn "The Boobs Song"

 
March 2012

Bright Eyes "No Lies Just Love"

April 2012

Frank Sinatra "That's Life"

May 2012

Jill Barber "Never Quit Loving You"

June 2012

OK GO "Needing/Getting"

July 2012

Beatles "Obladi Oblada"

August 2012

Phil Collins "You'll Be Here in My Heart"

September 2012

 Neutral Milk Hotel "Love You More Than Life"

October 2012

Feist "Bittersweet Melodies"

November 2012

Walyon Jennings "Good Hearted Woman"

December 2012

The Flying Lizards "Money"

Mom Gang

Two months ago I was jumped in to the mom gang. The initiation lasted four weeks, and amounted to a grueling hazing that takes over all of your body and most of your mind. When it's over, you wake up a new person and are welcomed into the posse with respect.

 Moms for Life.

 

Lines that Last a Lifetime

Sometimes it’s a note on the counter or a drunken slip up, but sometimes husbands say a few words that melt your heart. Today, my husband was dancing around the apartment showing off this move and that move. He said that he used to dance in the shower and in his room growing up. Then he said,

“I’ve been practicing my whole life to dance with you.”

Lessons from Lyrics #7

 

Photo by c@rljones

Weight of Lies by The Avett Brothers

10 Tweets Worth Sharing

So many tweets roll across my phone each day. Here are a few that I particularly liked.

In My Face

My husband takes lots of photos of me, especially double exposures of my face. Above is a double exposure that he took of me in a flea market. I was annoyed (as usual) that I had to pose and hold up a black shirt behind my head...in the middle of a store. Of course, I love the result. 

The second one is another film photo that he took of me just moments after we said our vows. He loves it and so do I.

 

Paranoia Kitchen

 

photo by digitpedia 

 I see why codes and regulations are so much more stringent in California. Those people are paranoid about everything. My husband, a native, is no exception. Last night, I was told that steaming broccoli in the microwave would kill the nutrients. I was also told not to use the new bowls in the microwave because "you can only microwave dishes that say 'microwave safe' on the bottom" and that the bowl was "clay and may have lead in it".

I dropped what I was doing and turned to Google to rescue me from "paranoia kitchen". Within minutes I found that he was wrong on both counts. 

Claim #1 - Microwaves Kill Nutrients 

Microwaves may actually maintain more nutrients in vegetables than other cooking methods because of the quick cook time. "The factors that determine the extent [of destroying nutrients] are how long the food is cooked, how much liquid is used and the cooking temperature."

Claim #2 - Dishes that don't say "microwave safe" on the bottom aren't microwave safe

I found this WikiHow on testing dishes for use in the microwave. Following the instructions, I found that the unlabeled bowls that were accused of containing lead passed the test.

photo by DavidErickson
 
After the research and testing, I was able to resume my meal and thoroughly enjoy my micorwave steamed broccoli. Yum.

Someone is looking up to you

 photo by Capt Kodak

I don't know what kind of mother I'll be but I'm going to try my best and hope that there will be some fun along the way.

I’d Rather be the Father

by Faith Shearin

Right from the start, it's easier to be the father: no morning
nausea, no stretch marks. You can wait outside the

delivery room and keep your clothes on. Notice how
closely the word mother resembles smother, notice

how she is either too strict or too lenient: wrong for giving up
everything or not enough. Psychology books blame her

for whatever is the matter with all of us while the father
slips into the next room for a beer. I wanted to be

the rational one, the one who told a joke at dinner.
If I were her father we would throw a ball across

the lawn while the grill fills with smoke. But who
wants to be the mother? Who wants to tell her what

to wear and deliver her to the beauty shop and explain
bras and tampons? Who wants to show her what

a woman still is? I am supposed to teach her how to
wash the dishes and do the laundry only I don't want

her to grow up and be like me. I'd rather be the father
who tells her she is loved; I'd rather take her fishing

and teach her to skip stones across the lake of history;
I'd rather show her how far she can spit.

"I'd Rather be the Father" by Faith Shearin, from Moving the Piano. 

© Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2011.  Posted on Writer's Almanac.

Lessons from Lyrics #6

My brain is trained to fall asleep when this song is played on repeat. It only takes one or two runs before I begin my descent into dreamland. This phenomenon is a combination of nostalgia and the soothing melody.

When we first started dating, my husband sent me songs that reminded him of me or would relay a romantic message. I cherished these songs and if memory serves me correctly, this was the first song that he sent me.

It was so perfect...introduced me to a new artist yet had lyrics good enough to be written by Bob Dylan. These lyrics showed me that I had left an impression on him yet he expected nothing in return.

Love Locks

So yeah. I've been busy. I went to Houston for beer week, Athens Georgia for the best beer shopping in the country and New York for an annual Broadway show and eating/shopping experience. I got Sheetrock up in the house, which is a huge step! Oh and...I got married!!! Yep.

This is where the journey home has taken me...into the arms of my love.

We came here floating on separate clouds from separate lands heavy with rain but light in spirit. We converged ever so lightly for a brief moment. Light enough not to frighten either of us away but memorable enough to last forever.

This moment was magic (rarely have I used this word before now) but for us through this experience, the word is defined.

A friend of mine traveled to Germany the week of our wedding. He toasted us from afar with a German brew and walked across this bridge while thinking of us on our special day. The bridge was full of love locks. Each individual locked to another symbolizing love and union.

photo by Athulf Josef Dernbecher

 

photo by bdrsky

 

photo by Liu Hongshi liuhs

 

photo by Andrew Wenger

 
photo by chotda

Enjoy these love lock photos from around the world. I'll tell you more about our magical day in posts to come.

Plums...Pass It On

 

photo by Shil Patel

Sometimes people come into your life that are going through exactly what you you've gone through in the past so that you can comfort them and they can remind you where you've been. I have a new friend like that. She forwarded me this blog post, and it reminded me......

how much I like plums.

READ THE BLOG POST HERE

I Know How to Catch a Cab