Midweek inspiration: Mashups

ne aspect to the current music "scene" that I have really come to enjoy are mashups. As made oh-so-popular by Glee, they've actually been around much longer, and there are various levels of sophistication to the combinations. Some of my favorites are done by DJ Earworm (his top 25 songs of the year are always entertaining), and recently I saw two previously unviewed (by me) mash-ups from him.

This first one is an amazing blend of Annie Lennox songs (see the list below). The striking aspect of single artist mashups is the potential for seamless transitions between songs, creating a completely new song. I know, I know, that's the essence of *any* mashup, but it's a special animal when featuring one artist. And then, to make it work not just from a music angle, but also the video, well, that's pretty cool.



* Why
* Walking on Broken Glass
* Little Bird
* No More I Love You’s
* Waiting in Vain
* Something So Right
* Dark Road
* Sing
* Shining Light

This second mashup features a mix of new and old; I really enjoy The Police and Kanye/The Fray... when would that ever happen? Probably not any time soon... Mix in a little Black Eyed Peas, even a bit of Alan Parsons Project... Actually, I really didn't get any Ammonia Avenue, at all. If you hear it and can tell me where it is in the video, that would be swell. Overall, though, enjoyable.



* The Fray, Heartless (Kanye West cover)
* Black Eyed Peas, Boom Boom Pow
* The Police, Message in a Bottle
* 2Pac, Dear Mama
* Alan Parsons Project, Ammonia Avenue

Sometimes inspiration comes via different venues... for me, seeing the creativity that goes into these productions, I get inspired.

Hope you enjoyed a little mixin' it up here on a fall Wednesday!

Ten Words Tuesday

If I was 14, I'd wear rainbow tights. Every day.

Weekend info-gathering roundup #3

I'm late with my round up, but didn't want to let all my fun reading go "to waste." Here's some of what I ran across in my spare time this weekend--and there wasn't too much of that! (I'm efficient, what can I say? Twitter, newsfeeds and RSS... all the best friends of the busy gal.)

Here are a couple of funny videos, completely related to all things interwebnets:





A couple of great infographics matching states with their respective appropriate media (TV or movie). I thought most of them to be pretty spot on.

 Map of states: movies

Map of states: TV

Dining in a house made of gingerbread? Yum, but I think the scent would be rather overwhelming...

Wouldn't mind finding a vase in the basement with this as the outcome. Holy cow, $85 million! Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Eight amazing, but impractical (to me) uses for an iPad. I think I'll still take my little leather stand/case...

Narcissism good for business? This article generated a lot of discussion in our house, to say the least. And led to the taking of the narcissistic personality inventory... interesting stuff. And then we all took a general personality test too. And then I took another one. Those tests are always so interesting to me...

What the food magazines are recommending for Thanksgiving menus this year. A really great roundup!

Fitness magazine published a list of 20 vegetable side dishes... quite a few of them looked quite yummy, but I was most drawn to the brussels sprouts with sherry-asiago cream sauce and the cauliflower with gruyere sauce (can we say fondue?). Might have to give those a whirl, soon.

And in all my ramblings around, I saw a quote I hadn't read in a bit, but one that I always enjoy:
In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer. -Albert Camus

Pumpkin muffins

oke up with a persistent craving for something freshly baked for breakfast and knew that I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge... naturally, I reached for my handy epicurious app on the iPad and pretty much picked the first one that popped up. Luckily, it was a yummy option--but I find that it's hard to go wrong with the epicurious folks...

Pumpkin muffins
Makes 12

1/3 cup golden raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoon raw green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (pepitas), divided

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter muffin pan if not nonstick.

Soak raisins in hot water 5 minutes, then drain.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined, then stir in raisins and 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds.

Divide batter among muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining seeds. Bake until a wooden pick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack.

I made some adjustments: no raisins for me, no thanks. And I also omitted the pumpkin seeds and substituted whole wheat flour for the all-purpose. While I enjoyed my muffin (with coffee, of course) quite a bit, they lacked a little bit of a pumpkin "punch"--a little milder in flavor than I was hoping for. Some fiddling around with the amount of pumpkin in the future may possibly help... I'll keep you posted.

Warm from the oven, these made a delicious addition to our omelette and potatoes breakfast! And undoubtedly contributed to the must-nap-after-breakfast feeling I had to fight... well, maybe fight is too strong of a word. The nap and I chatted for a bit and I gave in pretty quickly...

ragging my tired body around tonight... what a week. Without getting too melodramatic, let's just say it was a stressful week, in many ways.

But... always...  ever... grateful.

We're all together, we three, healthy and happy and peaceful. I value that, so much.

While it's fall and that means shorter days and cooler nights, we have still managed to eke out some beautiful autumn sunrises and sunsets.

I'm so grateful for my crockpot. Looking forward to putting on some stews and soups in the coming weeks, and enjoying their warmth. And grateful too for my cool new T-fal actifry healthy fryer that husband got me for my birthday... it's way cool. We have made regular fries and sweet potato fries and I even did a stirfry this week. Next up, risotto.

Ditto for the hot tub. Love that warmth.

Oh, and hot chocolate too. Can you sense the trend?

I'm grateful for insurance. When things go awry and need repair, it's so nice to have your nut covered.

I'm grateful, as always, for my friends. For lunch catch-ups and morning coffees (those are rare these days!) and emails and phone calls. I woke up on Thursday morning and this was one of the first thoughts I had: "I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Just because.

I am grateful to see examples of lives well-lived and packed full of experiences. My former father-in-law passed away this week unexpectedly and it brought back a rush of memories of him, and the time I knew him. A quiet man with a wry sense of humor, he loved his family and his God very much. He was a world traveler who passed on that love of adventure to his kids--they have all traveled extensively too. I feel honored to have known him, and while I didn't have much contact the past few years, I am grateful for the time I did have, and am deeply saddened for his family, especially his wife, Shirley.

I hope your weekend brings you peace and rest and joy.

Thursday 13: New music makes me happy

usic makes me happy, that's a pretty well-documented thing on this here blog... I've been having some fun in iTunes lately, playing around and buying a song here, a song there. I have actually sprung for a full album (Neil Diamond's cover album, "Dreams," which I'm loving), but I often like to run around and graze on music, a nibble here, a nibble there...

1. Bruno Mars, Just The Way You Are



2. Mindy Glenhill, Anchor



3. Sean Hayes, When We Fall In



4. Francesca Battistelli, Beautiful, Beautiful

5. Paul McCartney, I Want To Come Home



6. Ray LaMontagne, New York City's Killing Me



7. Hayley Sales, What You Want



8. Santana with India Arie, While My Guitar Gently Weeps



9. Shelby Lynne, Why Didn't You Call Me?



10. Eric Clapton, When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful

11. John Legend and The Roots, Wake Up Everybody



12. Brandon Flowers, Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts

13.  Katie Melua, Just Like Heaven



Yep, that's the stuff that makes me smile. And sing really loudly on my mower!

For more Thursday 13 participants, go here. Have a fabulous day!

Midweek reminder: Give me your hand

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.
-Rilke's Book of Hours, I, 59

Ten Words Tuesday

Strangely invigorated by daunting challenges ahead, sipping coffee I smile.

Got the idea from Slow Panic. Thinking it's just about perfect for my life right now... 10 words is about what I can muster!

Weekend info-gathering roundup #2

athetically fast weekend, wasn't it? I swear it was but a moment ago that I was looking forward to it, and now here we are (in the dark, no less, grrr on daylight savings time) on the other side. Sigh. There wasn't a great deal of time for reading this weekend, but when there were a few moments of quiet internet repose, here's what I found to be interesting:

A fun rundown of 10 "must have" cookbooks by the LATimes food critic Jonathan Gold.

An very interesting report about a recent example of publishing and copyright infringement... curious times we do live in. Interesting how crazy, seriously CRAZY, the interwebs get when the whole "up in arms" thing takes hold. One story turns into another story turns into 20 blog posts and 50 tweets and it just blossoms.

Speaking of "up in arms," our own local octopus controversy rages on, from Facebook to the local paper. There are the pro-octopus people. And the less so (scroll down until you feel condescended to. Then you'll know you're reading the right letter). Breathe people, breathe.

I did so want to see Due Date this weekend, but that was not to be... so I contented myself with reading about Zach Galifianakis' strange and curious humor, and we'll see the movie at some future time. I'm already looking forward to being simultaneously horrified and highly entertained.

Always find interesting stuff at Mashable... Here's an article on iPhone camera apps that could prove handy!

Socializing is possibly tied to insomnia? Hmmm.

I read a charming piece about a friendship that makes me want to write about one of my own dear friends, the kind of friend that sees you through the thick and thin, and you can write about the good and the bad you've been through together, 25 years later...

Thoroughly enjoyed an amazing photo essay called Ecolilia: A Father's Photographic Conversation with His Autistic Son. What a gift this father has given to his child--the gift of time and space to be himself. Beautiful.

A 14-year-old believes he has cracked the secret to the SAT essay. And it appears he's on to something... I'm sure we'll hear more about this story.

Hope you had a great weekend! Did you read anything interesting? Please share.

eally, was it just one short (well, it felt kind of long...) week ago that we were birthday celebrating around here? Wow. Yes, that's all I've got. Wow.

My gratitude is overflowing tonight, for many things, but especially for:

My sweet men, who never fail to let me know I'm loved. How I got so lucky, I'm not quite sure. But I'll take it.

Amazing friends. Friends I can laugh with and even cry with... though I'm less fond of being the crier. I'd rather be the one patting the shoulder, giving the hugs... just sayin'. Thankful for friends who trek across mountain passes even when they're not well. Grateful for skype and for texts and for those who have my back.

The hay is up! I know, what's that about? Well, the last cutting of alfalfa has taken about a month to get up and off the ground. Crazy how long it's taken. But I'm thankful it's happened before the snow flies! (And the snow can fly any time now, just so you know. I'm ready. Don't shoot me.)

Fall flavors. Pomegranate seeds. Butternut squash. Pumpkin lattes. Butter tarts. Pot pie and mashed potatoes. I have been looking for pumpkin ice cream in the stores and coming up empty so far... I keep being assured that it's there... I guess I need another trip to the grocery store...

Fall colors. From leaves to the beautiful sunsets and even sunrises, it's a beautiful time of year. There was a sliver of a moon one morning when Seth and I were headed in to his crack 'o dawn basketball practice, and it was just shimmering above the mountains. Gorgeous.

Our community. Some weeks it can be a bit small-feeling, this town of ours. Other weeks it feels good, people looking out for each other. This was one of those weeks, the latter... thankfully.

That the election is over. Mostly so that our elected officials can go about the other, more important business of doing, not just campaigning. Ugh for campaigning.

It's been the kind of week, too, where the sweet animals among us need extra hugs. Dear friends said goodbye to their sweet family dog. Sleep well, dear Hannah. Makes me grateful for my frolicking and wild bunch...

Here are a couple of videos to add to your weekend peacefulness... in the pet category. This is the pet I think my Mom always wishes she could have had:



And this one just makes me laugh. Yeah for kitties everywhere, even the ones who seem to be too lazy to actually get down and dirty with their fights.



So thankful for a day of rest coming my way...

Hope your weekend brings you exactly what you need!