Category: Playlists and Mix CDs
Today.
| May 8, 2012 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs, Random Thoughts |
Is my big day. I hope by the time you’re reading this I’m well into my day and everything is flowing smoothly.
In the meantime, wanna check out my keynote speaker for today? I’m kind of excited.
For those of you who are under the impression I can’t make a cohesive playlist to save my life, I present you with this:
Oh. Wait. I guess that still doesn’t count as cohesive. But at least you know I have depth?
Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. I have serious nails, ferocious tights, and two pairs of shoes. I think I can handle anything, but then again I ran out of time to practice my hair, so, you know, there’s that.
The first person to accurately guess how many pairs of shoes I packed for this one day, two night trip gets my next batch of cookies! I’ll even mail ‘em to ya!
Do-Wah-Doo
| March 24, 2012 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
Just in case anyone else is at home tonight and needs a song to rock out to. It’s a few years old, but still awesome.
Journey Forward ::6::
| March 22, 2012 | Filled under Journey Forward, Playlists and Mix CDs |
Every week I’m surprised that we’ve reached Thursday already! I’m excited to be linking up with Chelsea at Life is a Sunset again this week for another Journey Forward post.
When I first started thinking about this prompt I was pretty sure there wasn’t anything I could write about – but I quickly decided that there are actually a lot of different things I do when I need to take a step back from a difficult emotional situation or problem I’m facing. And they all have one thing in common: Music.
One place I find myself going a lot is the road. If I have a lot on my mind I always love to go for a drive. It’s best on the nights when I can turn the music up and crank my windows down. I may or may not sing while I drive, depending on what’s weighing on me at the time. I find this option works best for giving me the time I need to step away from a situation and calm down. I can get my emotions out by singing or crying or talking to myself or just sitting and staring at the lines on the road.
There are, for the record, an awful lot of good songs about driving. I highly recommend “Another White Dash” by Butterfly Boucher. Especially if you’ve ever packed up everything you love in your car and driven a great distance.
Something else I do a lot – okay, probably not more than the average person – is get in the shower. I always get mixed reactions to this but it works for me. If I’m particularly upset about something I’ll get in the shower and crank my music. Then if I need to cry or just sit and let the water wash over me – it doesn’t matter. It’s almost a symbolic action as much as it is a comforting one because I can literally wash my feelings away.
Depending on my mood, sometimes what I really need is just the precision I associate with baking. When I step into the kitchen it’s like stepping into a world where emotions aren’t welcome. There are rules- but there are no rules. I may dance and sing like everything is very lighthearted but there’s still an incredible tension – will the bread rise? Will the cake collapse? Negative thoughts aren’t welcome, and that’s part of the reason I prefer to bake alone. People make it complicated. People ask questions and offer unwelcome suggestions. People worry, or worry me. Sometimes I just need the kitchen to myself until I’m ready to share again.
Finally, sometimes the best thing I can do is just go for a run or a swim. This is the trickiest one to accomplish but when I get it right it’s really effective. I find that when I’m pushing my body to a certain point I can’t get caught up in whatever emotional turbulence I might feel looming over me. It sometimes backfires though because feelings are sneaky and like to invite themselves in where they’re not welcome. I highly caution you against crying in a swimming pool because it makes those crucial things like breathing basically impossible. Also you may not want to be the crying girl on the treadmill or side of the road. I mean, follow your bliss, but give it some thought.
And now because writing this post made me think of all the awesome songs I turn to when I’m feeling emotional or whatnot, here’s a playlist for you!
If you’d like to listen “live” you can click here to listen in Spotify.
How do you get re-centered or re-focused and energized?
Music to Swim To
| February 2, 2012 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
I’m here today with part of that playlist I promised, only this is better than an iTunes screenshot because you can actually listen to this one! Now if you see an interesting song you can check it out right here, right now instead of just skimming the list. Fun, right?
This is a selection of the songs that I swim to on a regular basis. Yep, I take my iPod shuffle in the pool with me. I have over 9 hours of music on my swimming playlist, but these are my favorites that I always come back to.
Now that I’ve gotten used to swimming with music I can’t really imagine going back to swimming without it. Sometimes I think I might try swimming to a book on tape but I also find that I have a hard time counting laps if I get too distracted by my thoughts so maybe I won’t be able to manage listening to a book and swimming laps at the same time. You should see me try to walk while chewing gum.
Anyway, it seemed fitting for me to share some music with you today because today we’re kicking off the “All You Need is Love” link up hosted by Meg at Moments Like This (and in case you’re not already aware, making playlists is one of my love languages). The goal is to remind people that love isn’t just for couples (though Valentine’s Day tends to make us feel that way) – there’s lots of love to be had out there and we can share it with each other in a lot of ways. I’m excited to be part of this link up with some other awesome bloggers from around the internet!
So be sure to check in each Thursday and see the new post for that week.
Do you prefer to work out to music or would you prefer to have “quiet time” while working out? Have you ever listened to a book on tape while exercising?
The Hot Chocolate Playlists
| November 30, 2011 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
I registered for the Hot Chocolate race over the summer when I first heard about it. Of course I would run for chocolate, who wouldn’t?
I started training, starting working through Couch to 5k again and then just…stopped running. I’m not entirely sure when I gave it up entirely but it was a few months ago. As race day started getting closer my anxiety started creeping up. I’m not gonna lie, it’s still pretty high even though I’m just running the 5k portion of the race. The elevation and my lack of training are making me a nervous wreck. I keep thinking about just staying home – but I already paid for the race and don’t want to waste the money.
I also keep reminding myself that I will not be the slowest person out there and that no one ever said I had to be the best runner just to participate. Yes, you are supposed to keep a 15minute per mile pace, but I’m sure I can handle that even if I walk. A lot.
So I’m going through the motions and talking myself down every time I feel my anxiety getting high. And as part of my pre-race ritual I’m making fun playlists for Race Day.
Here’s the one that I just did from my iTunes library using the search terms “Chocolate,” “Hot,” “Sugar,” “Candy,” and “Cake.” I can’t endorse trying to run to this one, but you just never know!
It would be an interesting run, that’s for sure. I may use that one as my driving to and from the race list. Now as far as my actual running mix goes, it’s a little bit all over the place – in true Kate style- but hopefully it will be motivating and upbeat enough to keep me going – especially over those hills. Yikes.
This playlist includes a few more of those songs I refer to as “triggers” but a more “positive” thing to say might be “subliminal messages” (I know trigger can sometimes be a bad word in the healthy living world) – they have entire verses or lines that have motivating messages or simple reminders.
And then there are the songs that will just make me laugh. Cause sometimes you need a laugh to break things up and make you feel okay again. Young Leek is a good example because who wants to be jiggling while they’re running? No one I know, but more power to you if you do.
You’ll also notice that this playlist is 2 hours long. I never know what kind of mood I’m going to be in on Race Day so I have enough options to skip entire songs and I know I’ll end up repeating some of those songs that I think of as my “power songs” – Machinehead is one of those surprising songs that always pushes me. I think part of it is the fact that they keep saying “Breathe in, breathe out.”
When you make yourself a workout playlist do you include “subliminal messages” or “triggers” for yourself? What do you do to combat pre-race anxiety? Do you have a pre-race ritual?
Playlists and Mix CDs
| November 16, 2011 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
It might not surprise many of you to know that I have playlists for just about every activity in my daily life. At any given moment there are around 10 different “shower” playlists alone
A glimpse at the train wreck that is my "Ultimate Shower Mix" - where I've combined all incarnations of my showering mixes with hilarious results. At a whopping 2.9 hours long I've yet to listen to it all in the course of one shower.
So naturally I also have fun things like “Kate’s Driving Mix” and “Kate’s Car Mix” (don’t get those two confused, it would be awkward for everyone involved). There are more baking playlists than there are showering playlists, but more cleaning playlists than baking playlists. I’m inclined to set up a chart for you, but I’ll refrain.
A section of the "Bachelorette Weekend" playlist. This was what we listened to while driving to our top secret girl's weekend getaway
And now that I’ve shared those playlists with you and ruined all semblance of any “street cred” I had once accumulated I feel I should remind you that Klout says I’m good at music so you should stop laughing at me and start taking notes.
Kidding.
Sort of.
I’ve decided I’m going to embrace my penchant for creating awesome and sometimes groan-inducingly awful playlists and mix CDs and bring you a series (if not a permanent feature) that is entirely music-centered. And since I’ve made this point about how there’s a playlist for everything in my life I want to start with the most recent Mix CD I made – The High School Boys mix:
The High School Boys Mix
Each song on this list (with the exception of #20) belongs to a boy I hung out with in high school. Two of the boys have 2 songs – and they were the boys I could have easily devoted an entire CD to. Not necessarily because they were hugely important to me (I mean that in a nice way) but because they were major music influencers in my life.
But it’s also cause I had huge crushes on them. Let’s be real.
When Kathy and I first came up with idea for the CD it was pretty late at night and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. But when I got started with the list of boys I hung out with it was pretty easy to fill in the songs. Should I be embarrassed that I still had all this music from my high school days? Meh.
So I was excited to present my finished CD to Kathy at breakfast the next morning with a list of boys – and she’s still working on decoding it.
The thing about music for me is that it’s attached to my memory in some interesting ways. For example, “We Danced Anyway” by Deana Carter is not a song that boy would have ever listened to, so it’s not that the song was actually playing at a pivotal moment in our relationship. It’s all about the lyrics and how they describe that moment:
The summer air was heavy and sweet
You and I on a crowded street
There was music everywhere
I can see us there
In a happy little foreign town
Where the stars hung upside down
A half a world away
Far, far away
I remember you were laughing
We were so in love, we were so in love
And the band played
Songs that we had never heard
But we danced anyway
We never understood the words
We just sang, oh
La la la
And we danced anyway
Okay, so what was that moment exactly? That time we were at the Warped Tour and he came barreling through a mosh pit just to scoop me up into one of those amazing spin-around hugs. Be still my young punk-rocker heart! Oh high school.
And yes, you’re right, there’s another song that’s way more fitting to describe that moment but even at 17 I knew Blink-182 was not hardcore enough anymore. No, Deana Carter isn’t exactly “hardcore” but at least I had the good sense not to share that with everyone.
Until now. But I once admitted a fondness for Britney Spears on this blog so I know you all know better than to believe I’m serious about my rocker status.
Do you fall in love with songs for their lyrics or are you all about the music itself? What was your favorite song you associated with a crush (high school or more recently)?
Mix CD Monday
| November 7, 2011 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
Today I’m rocking out to these:
I’m also on Twitter with my #mixCDmonday hashtag – feel free to join in any time you see that pop up. Just tweet whichever lyrics stick out to you and add the hashtag. There are a few of us who use it so by the end of the day we have a crazy mix of songs.
So in the spirit of this Mix-tastic day I thought I would revisit my rules for making an awesome mix CD.
1 – Unless you are making a “best of” mix, you should never include more than one song by the same artist. The only other exception to this rule is when the songs have a completely different sound. Odds of that are really low.
2 – You must listen to the CD the whole way through one time with no skips and without looking at the track list. Only when you have completed the first listen can you skip around, hit repeat, or read the song listing.
3 – The most suitable venue for enjoying a mix CD is your car, with a good friend. Ideally the weather will be such that you can roll the windows down and rock out. If that’s not an option, lying on the family room floor with the music up is also acceptable. Your final option is your kitchen, but I would caution you against that unless you’re relatively certain you’re not going to have a serious emotional reaction (SER).
4 – Unacceptable venues for mix CD enjoyment include: hospital beds, bathtubs, roof ledges, anywhere you have access to weapons. If you have a CD that produces an SER those are bad places to be. If you have a CD that produces dance fever, those are also bad places to be. Just…don’t.
5 – Mix CDs, like Disney movies, have limited access time. You may enjoy a mix CD for one calendar year before you should retire it to “The Vault.” Depending on the giver of the mix CD the CD must remain “in Vault” for varying amounts of time. If it’s a mix CD that produces an SER you should be prepared to leave it “in Vault” for a minimum of 3 years (there is no maximum penalty for mix CDs, however I believe 10 years to be sufficient in most cases. If you’re holding on to an SER for more than 10 years you may need to consider professional help (IMHO)). Friendly mix CDs may only stay “in Vault” one calendar year, but each re-run period should be progressively shorter 9 months, 6 months, etc. so as not to produce burnout. Seasonal mix CDs have far more limited run periods of 7-30 days each calendar year depending on the significance of the holiday. I should make you all a flow chart to refer to.
6 – Mix CDs should be labeled accordingly. The label need not be super creative, but you will receive bonus points for titling. I also prefer to include the year on my CDs so there’s no confusion about when it was created. It’s nice to include your name on a CD, but be cautious about including any other identifying information such as “from your lovely dovey booboo who adores you to pieces.” What’s cute/funny right now may not always be so.
Questions? Concerns? What was your favorite mix CD you’ve ever gotten? Or are you “anti” mix CD?
A Halloween Mix CD
| October 31, 2011 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs |
Thing I have in common with your 6 year old? My love for Halloween. I’m kind of a big nerd about it.
So this morning I was beyond excited to pull out an old mix CD from high school to rock out to. This one sounded promising just by the title alone.
It begins as you might expect:
This is Halloween – Nightmare Before Christmas. That movie had been released a few years earlier and was enjoying its first resurgance as a cult classic.
And then because I was a precocious child we also had this beautiful piece of music:
Danse Macabre – Camille Saint-Saens. I still adore this song.
And from there things just get a little strange in that way that only mix cds I made in high school can. As soon as you think you know what you’re up against, BAM! things take another weird turn.
Purple People Eater (Dance Version, complete with stunt sound effects – does anyone know what I mean by that?) – Alvin and the Chipmunks
Come With Me – “Diddy” (though I think he was still known as Puff Daddy back then). It has a really haunting sound to it but I think I picked it because it was included in our dance team’s halloween mashup and I liked it.
Come Little Children – Sarah from Hocus Pocus
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Jack’s Lament – Nightmare Before Christmas
Monster Mash – Cause, you know, I was all about some cliches
Little Black Backpack – Stroke 9. All I can think is that this song was included because it was scary how bad it was. No, really. This song was kind of like Friday before Rebecca Black was even born.
Emotion Sickness – Silverchair. It’s pretty haunting and so it definitely fits in the theme.
Everlong – Foo Fighters. Pshhh I have no idea how this fits at all.
Heaven is so Far Away – The Offspring. I’d like to claim this is some kind of social commentary but odds are high I was just digging this song at the time.
Tonight, Tonight – The Smashing Pumpkins. I know I was just digging this song at the time
Try to Think about Elvis – Patty Loveless. I HAVE NO IDEA. I’m sure there was a boy involved, but how I thought this fit into the Halloween theme? No clue. This is one of those “Um, Kate?” moments.
Youth of a Nation – POD. Scary powerful song, and it gives me goosebumps to listen to it. Dunno if it’s really Halloween-tastic enough, but it’s a better fit than the one before it…
Rockabye – Shawn Mullins. This song was one of the songs I just kept coming back to in high school. It’s probably on about 8 or so of the mix cds I made then. I know it’s because I felt like the song was written about me:
All her friends tell her she’s so pretty. But she’d be a whole lot prettier if she smiled once in a while. Cause even her smile looks like a frown. She’s seen her share of devils in this angels’ town.
Oh, high school.
Innocent – Our Lady Peace. This song is another one I kept coming back to and I actually still get a little teary-eyed if it catches me at the right time. It’s because of the second verse (which at 16 I also knew was written about me):
Oh, and Gina’s losing faith in what she knows. Hates her music, hates all of her clothes. Thinks of surgery and a new nose. Every calorie is a war. And she wishes she was a dancer, and that she’d never heard of cancer, she wishes God would give her some answers and make her feel beautiful.
I’m a little sad that I still identify with those words in some ways but it’s a completely different feeling now.
Where Would you Be? – Martina McBride. Oh if only I could remember which boy was behind this song. Clearly doesn’t fit on this CD at all – another WTF moment- but I’m having a good laugh over it. So..worth it.
Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle. Um, okay. Also doesn’t fit at all. Which reminds me that there was usually a point on most of my mix CDs where I just tried to fill up the rest of the CD so it wasn’t wasted. And that explains why there’s a dramatic shift in the content of this CD.
Naturally I started thinking about what I would put on a Halloween Mix CD if I were going to make one today. I’m still scheming but I think I have a few ideas.
What are your plans for Halloween? What songs do you think are essential for a Halloween Mix CD?
New Running Playlist
| September 13, 2011 | Filled under Getting Healthy, Playlists and Mix CDs |
My post for this morning was totally eaten by internet demons. Bah!
There are FAR too many things on my mind for this time of day. I blame the change in weather for giving me dreams I remember. That means I wake up with fake feelings and there’s nothing quite like having to talk yourself out of those to put a girl in a seriously weird mood.
Anyway, I’ve resurrected this post from the first draft that saved when the final version didn’t. I’ll never think it’s as good, but oh well!
Yesterday I started playing around with Pandora again. If you’re not aware, I have a long, sordid history of Pandora-related trauma. I mean, seriously. But then my friend showed me how to use the quick-mix feature and so I was trying that out a little more.
At first it was wonderful. I heard songs I liked and though the combination was strange because I have such a varied set of stations, I didn’t have any of those awful outlier songs that Pandora tries to foist on you. But then I started hearing repeats of songs I’d already heard in what seemed to be almost the same order. Which was when I realized that they were basically only playing songs that I had given a thumbs-up to. Really?
I really wish I could quit Pandora entirely.
Fortunately I had a great deal of musical success later yesterday afternoon when I made myself a new running playlist. It’s basically awesome and I’m struggling to keep myself from listening to it all the time because I don’t want to get burned out on the songs. I’m so happy with it though!
When it comes to running music I generally like things that are really fast and/or really angry. My new playlist is a perfect mix of both:
Don’t let that single explicit label fool you – most of them deserve it but it doesn’t display for some reason. Out of consideration for my readers, I also omitted the songs whose titles include profanity even though one of those songs would have gotten a serious laugh out of anyone who’s familiar with it. If you’re not offended by that sort of thing, or any other vulgarness, you might look up the Lords of Acid song about a cat. Only by cat I mean it’s not safe for work.
Side note: I could probably write a whole post on profanity, but in summary I think any word can be a “bad” word if you use it that way. I basically don’t even hear it anymore, least of all in music, and don’t find it to be offensive. Especially while working out. As long as I can keep myself from using it then I’m not worried about being around it.
Anyway, I was really greatful for this playlist when I started encountering hills on my run yesterday. I picked an old route and conveniently forgot it was mildly hilly. But I just cranked my music and pushed myself up the 3 little hills and then felt really proud of myself for doing it. Someday I’ll be able to tear up the big hill in my neighborhood which would technically be the start of my run and then I’ll really feel like a champ (goal? I think so!).
What kind of music are you listening to these days? How does music impact your mood?
Mix-Tape Tuesday
| August 16, 2011 | Filled under Playlists and Mix CDs, Social Media |
I’m in a dim sum-induced coma. I almost even wrote comma instead of coma. Oh gosh.
I joined Klout because I was curious and discovered they believe me to be influential about songs and music. If you know me in real life, you may have just injured yourself by laughing too hard. I don’t understand anything about Klout or how they determine those things does it have to do with the fact that I’m always talking about mix cds?
Anyway, while I’m in my overeating haze, I thought I’d share some delightful music tidbits I’ve come across recently.
The first one is thanks to my summer intern who found it on our local pop station’s website. Apparently this is a thing – people make videos of themselves dancing in apple stores. WHAT? I’ve never been in an apple store that’s this un-crowded. I think this kid is adorable:
Okay, you thought I was serious about the music thing? Alright, calm down. Here’s someone else my intern tipped me off to – I’m way behind on this girl, so if you’re “into” music you’re probably already over her and onto the next big thing:
If you’re a mature Justin Bieber fan (secretly or not) you might enjoy this kid I found through Spotify:
Apparently there’s some hate between Cody Simpson and Justin Bieber fans, but I figure we’re mostly adults here, or we pretend to be, so we can probably have love for both, right? (this is where I get hate crimed)
And finally, I came across this lovely girl today (via Just a Titch). She’s done a ton of covers and I just love her voice :
What are you listening to these days? Got any favorite songs lately?
