MFT Day 27: Arcade Fire's Funeral

I actually switched the order I got my Arcade Fire albums.  I got Neon Bible first, after hearing excerpts from it on NPR.  I love it, and I'm pretty sure played a hole in it.  After listening to a concert of theirs on NPR, I then decided to get Funeral.  A smart choice indeed.

When I stuck it in my car the first time and turned up the speakers, I started to cry at the soft plinking beginning.  Then as the song built into a cacophony of sound and ideas, I was definitely crying pretty hard.  And that love carried throughout the entire album. 

The CDs I have in my car trade in and out, but I always make sure I have Funeral in there, because I pretty regularly want to pop that in and enjoy.  The Suburbs is pretty great, and I am thrilled that they won the Grammy for album of the year to give their talents and strengths some recognition in a field that sometimes values Taylor Swifts more than Arcade Fires, but no matter what, Funeral is always where my heart will be.

Here's that first song, and turn up the volume and let it overpower you.

MFT Day 26: Mandee's

This post may be biased by the fact that I'm enjoying myself a little Friday night that will involve yoga pants, trashy TV, doing a mountain of laundry, and a calzone from Mandee's.

When I first moved to Salem, I needed to find my neighborhood pizza place.  I somehow stumbled upon Mandee's, possibly because they were only a couple of miles away, and also because you can order online.  Yes, you can order online.  It's insanely helpful for those times when you don't want to have to call.  They're also very quick with their delivery, which is nice.  I got a calzone, and in less than half an hour it was in my hands.  How's that?!

I've discussed convenience, but onto the food itself.  Mmmmmm  Their buffalo chicken is insanely tasty.  I also just had a calzone with a bunch of veggies in it, and that also was quite tasty.  Their salads are massive.  I've never had food there I didn't like.

When I go into the store itself, I'm always pleased at how nice and friendly the staff is.  I feel like I know them personally!  And they're always willing to appease our requests for insane amounts of blue cheese dressing, which is a win.

Salem residents, definitely check out Mandee's!  So worth it!

MFT Day 25: lifelong commitment

Over the weekend, some great happened.  Ricky proposed!  It's been a whirlwind of good, surreal, tears, and lots of joy.  Hence my slight absence from the blog.  I promise that once things calm down I'll find 5 more things I like, and get back to blogging.

I also promise that this won't become a blog all about my wedding and planning it.  I plan on getting my craft on, so if I come up with cool projects, I'll share them here. 

But here's a minor savoring the moment moment:  I'll discuss the pretty ring.  I always knew I wanted a cushion cut, because I like how it looks so old-timey.  Like something Lady Mary would receive from dear old Cousin Matthew.  And I knew I wanted something with visual interest.  Ricky (with the help of his dad) found a nice ring, and he picked out the band himself.  It's a palladium band with neat scrolls.  It looks old timey but it's all mine.

The box is actually the ring box Ricky's dad gave Ricky's mum her engagement ring in, so I like the familial element to it.  Another friend who has offered to make our bands if we want gave us an antique ring box, so I have a feeling at our wedding, we'll use both.

Coo, what a sight!

I do promise I have several more favorite things to discuss, but I wanted to send a HUGE appreciation out to Robert Sherman.  The Sherman brothers pretty much wrote the soundtrack to my childhood.  There is somewhere out there a VHS tape of me and Pete jumping on the couch enthusiastically to Step In Time. 

When you read a list of all the Disney movies The Sherman brothers penned music for, you'll be amazed.  Mary Poppins.  Parent Trap.  Jungle Book.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  And I'm just skimming the surface!

I highly recommend renting the Sherman Brothers documentary, because it's fascinating.  It displays all the songs they wrote together, but also shows the strained and complicated relationship the brothers had their entire adult lives.  It's amazing.

The passing of Robert Sherman yesterday seems to close out a "deaths from my childhood come in threes", with Jan Berenstain and Davy Jones last week.


Here's a favorite of mine from Mary Poppins:

A brief pause in MFT...

I would also be remiss if in the middle of this My Favorite Things meme I didn't pause to acknowledge Davy Jones, the "cute British guy" in The Monkees.  I've always had a soft spot for The Monkees for their programmed and imaged pop of the 60's.  I was quite surprised when Ricky told me he had passed away, especially since he was so young.  I'm sure somewhere out there right now Marcia Brady is a little sad at the loss of her prom date.

I also wowed Ricky with the trivia that Davy Jones also performed on the Ed Sullivan Show the night the Beatles played.  He originated the role of the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver, and the same night that the Beatles were on, the cast performed a number from the show.   He said that after seeing The Beatles performed, he caught the rock star bug.

Here are my two favorite songs of theirs.  First, Daydream Believer. 





And secondly, Cuddly Toy.  I have a soft spot for this song because Harry Nilsson wrote it for the Monkees.  Ricky pointed out it's interesting because they actually sound like Nilsson when they sing this song. 

MFT Day 24: Pinterest

I know I know...

Somehow my "I will be diligent and write every day!" mantra derailed last week.  For a weekend with not a lot going on in it other than The Oscars, it was pretty busy and lacked time and motivation to think of my favorite things I want to share with you.  But because I don't want this dragging along all summer (hello, favorite song meme?) I'm going to write something up today and probably tomorrow night.  Saturday is Jess' wedding, and I can guarantee that I will not have enough time to write something.  So this sadly stretches into March, but I'm okay with it.

Today I'm going to talk about Pinterest.  Many months ago my friend Kirsten mentioned that she had gotten an early invite to this new website where you pin your favorite things on boards you create.  I was intrigued, so she passed an invitation along to me.  I am now HOOKED.

I love that I can collect favorite ideas and images in one place and recall them visually.  I have a saved file on my browser for recipes, but I feel like they don't pop as much as when I can see the picture of the meal or dessert.  What's key is that Pinterest saves the link the photo came from, so when I click on the photo of the cake batter milkshake recipes, I automatically am there.  (PS, I will be trying this soon)  I've also been using it for the following uses:

--planning trips.  I used Pinterest last summer to plan my trip to Burlington, by pinning images of stores I wanted to go to and sites I wanted to see.  I'm also planning my return to the Hudson River Valley with Ricky and our trip to Buffalo for Erin's wedding.

--design ideas for future homes.  I've been getting ideas for paint samples and layouts for when Ricky and I eventually move.  I've also found several nice bureaus I want to get soon.

--gifts for people.  Ricky has his own board where if I see an idea for what to get him, I'll save it for a future event.  His 30th birthday is coming up, so right now there are several things on there that he'll probably get.

--pretty things to look at.  Hey, sometimes a girl just wants to look at a board filled completely with puppies and flowers.



Many of my friends are using Pinterest for helping them plan their weddings as well, which is brilliant.  You can see all the great ideas you have for dresses and flowers and decor, receive feedback, and have the original links to the source. 

So in short, I love Pinterest for how easy it is to sort, organize, and display ideas I have.