Modern Living in an Old Home

I usually try not to reveal to many things about my inner most personal life on the internet, but this is something that I talk about with my friends a lot, and something kind of fun.

When my husband and I were getting close to our wedding date, we of course were searching for an apartment. We definitely wanted one in the older part of town, as we absolutely love vintage things, and the nostalgia that surrounds them. Plus it's a quiet part of this crazy college town, so it's nice to be in a more settled, quiet part of town. We were lucky enough to really just stumble upon the apartment we are currently living in. We absolutely love it, but it is SUPER quirky. Much like our personalities. There is nothing necessarily wrong with living in a quirky house, but there are definitely some things to get used to. So here you have it. Functioning in an extremely quirky home.

As far as our land lord knows, our humble home was built around the 40's. A lot of the things in our house were gradually added as the years went by. The house was of course originally built as a single family home, but has been converted into a 4-plex. Which I love, because we still get the feeling of living in a home while just living in an apartment.

Let's start with the kitchen.

This is our cute kitchen. Typical galley style kitchen, so nothing particularly special. Definitely no dish washer. That has been a bit of an adjustment, but still manageable. There is something far more dysfunctional about our kitchen. You see where that arrow is pointing? THAT. Is one of the only plugs I have in my entire kitchen.

All of the items that tend to need to be plugged in all the time sit next to this plug. This also makes it hard for me to use smaller appliances such as blenders, kitchen Aids, crock pots, etc. If I ever need to use a crock pot for something, the crock pot pulls up a chair and has a nice sit while it does its work. Other than that, our kitchen is pretty cute, and we actually have a ridiculous amount of cabinet space. So I really can't complain. Except for one other thing.

This is a creepy door. A very creepy door. When we first were shown the apartment, we were shown this door, and there is a small hallway behind it with shelves and some pantry space. There are also some stairs leading to what used to be a door that lead to the outside when the house was originally built. Our land lord said that it didn't go anywhere anymore. We quickly dismissed the thought. 

The Door remained, and remains "locked" from our side, and we thought nothing of it. When we first moved in, we were chillin' in the living room, and suddenly we heard voices as if someone else were in our apartment. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. I made my husband go investigate. He unlatched the door, and went into the hallway. He went all the way down the stairs, to find that there was a corner he could walk around. Around that corner was our downstairs neighbor's kitchen....

He could even see what they were cooking for dinner. Obviously we have pretty much just left that door locked, and don't really use the shelves or anything in this weird creepy hallway.

It occurs to me as I look at these pictures that my house, when edited a certain way would be the perfect horror film location. Definitely a consideration when living in a dated home.

On to the bathroom. A perhaps even less functional part of our home.

This is our little sink.

That's right! No counter space! It's actually pretty okay. You just find a way to work around it. My husband actually loves vintage sink fixtures, so when he saw this he was pretty much sold. I'll admit that it has a certain charm, but functionality is not one of them.

Now the toilet. This seems really odd, as all toilets are the same, and it's just a toilet. But this is the space that exists between our toilet, and the bath tub.

Yes it is extremely awkward. I can't even fit my legs in this awkward space. So I straight up just sit side-ways on it. It's just become a normal thing, so I really don't think much of it these days, but when we first moved in, I had a very hard time with it. It just wasn't set up very well.

Now the shower. Again, seems like a weird thing to be posting pictures of. 

The shower head itself seams pretty normal, and it isn't too bad. But the way that the shower works is kind of weird.

It's basically a catheter that takes water from what would usually be the bath tub faucet, and brings it to the shower head. We also have the old fashioned "hot" and "cold" knobs going on. Needless to say, not many baths happen here.

Now some other random things around the house. The door knobs.

Seems pretty normal, most of the door knobs look like this. Which would be fine, but at some point in the life of this apartment, somebody got really lazy and decided to paint over all of these cute little vintage key holes on all of the doors. It would be so cute if these cute little fixtures were in their original state! Unfortunately everything in this apartment has been painted over. Not only these, but things such as land lines, door hinges, basically everything. Somebody also decided to paint the walls white, but then paint the trims weird colors. Like red, and off green.

This is more of a personal choice, and it sort of just happened. My kitchen is full of little critters.

We put these on our registry as something fun for people to get. And people actually got them for us. Our little squirrel cookie jar, and fox pepper shakers. It makes me so happy. And of course we can't forget Quincey!

Quincey is a quail, but he is also a Tea Pot. I couldn't resist buying him at a vintage fair I went to a short while ago. 

For the most part, this is the cute little quirkiness of our little home. We actually really love it here, despite the dysfunction of some things. We love the quirky heart and warm feeling that this little place gives us. 

This is our first place together, and one we have already shared many memories with. It's starting to feel much more like a home and less like an old apartment. Especially with our own flair and style being added to this cute little place. For now this is a great place for us to be, and we have enjoyed all of the curve balls it has given us. No matter how strange. 

We have loved making this place our own, and I believe that is a true mark of a home. Being with those you love, and getting a place to reflect who you are together.

Sketches from a Wintery Day.

I went for a walk today.

It was a January kind of day- at the end of March. Winter seams to not quite be ready to let go of its grasp. Earlier this week it snowed for nearly two days straight, and now there is a lingering coldness that is definitely a Winter kind of cold. 

I went for a walk anyway, despite the chill in the air. It was a jazz kind of day. A rainy kind of day, even though that rain was actually snow, I refused to admit that it was still snowy outside. 

Pandora did a poor job at picking out some rainy jazz, but with some guidance it eventually caught on. 

The great thing about Jazz is that it acknowledges the fact that it's okay to be down, and not be completely happy, yet it boosts your spirits without forcing you to feel all warm and fluffy about yourself. It's like a good friend who will sit on the ground and do nothing but wallow with you for a while, and you somehow leave feeling better. It doesn't try to hard to make you suddenly feel better. It simply takes you as you are, and leaves you be. 

Not that I was particularly depressed or sad about anything. I'm actually an extremely optimistic person, but it was just a grey day.

Eventually I made my way to a bench to do some sketching. I've been a terrible artist lately and haven't actually been practicing drawing things. Which is where your skills tend to actually improve. So I'm setting out to start doing that more. I basically just drew what I could see from the bench. And I realized something.

I started with the big things in my line of sight. A lamp post. The house behind the lamp post. The street. Then I realized something. There were about 5 trees that I hadn't even seen. It's not that I didn't see them, it's that I was looking right through them. Which is fine, and something that many of us do, but then I looked around, and I had this awakening moment of like, "Woah. There are trees everywhere." 

This sounds extremely lame and like one of the most obvious things anyone has ever said. But I noticed the dead, empty trees for one of the first times in my life. The trees of winter. That's one of the cool things about drawing actually, it forces you to notice things that wouldn't usually be noticed. Because when you are drawing something you want to be accurate and you want to dictate EVERYTHING you see. Drawing is something like 60% looking and 40% actually drawing. 

When I noticed all of the trees, with their sad, wintery looks, and their barren branches, I took a minute and just looked at the trees. And I was just like, there are so many things that I probably don't ever notice. Which is just a part of life, as our brains can really only hold so much information. But at the same time, it was such a wholesome moment. I even looked beyond the houses I was drawing to see the giant masses of trees spread through the valley.

It's crazy how our minds just stop recognizing things. These things stop registering to us, and we sort of just float through life in a daze of sorts. Now I'm not necessarily one of those, "We should stop to smell every rose" type of people, and that's really not the point I'm trying to get across. I suppose the point really is that sometimes we just seem to look right through things. Right through people. What a great practice it has been for me to sit and draw something right in front of me. Forcing myself to just look is one of the purist practices I have. 

Eventually my ink drawing turned into more of a watercolor drawing, as it was sprinkling a little bit. Which I actually didn't mind. It gave the scene I drew such a great tone.

After some quality art time I continued my walk through my neighborhood. I live in a definite college town, and I live in (my mind) one of the most charming parts of town. It's the quiet part of town, where an equal amount of elderly, and newly weds live. I love walking past the houses. I know that my house was built in the 40's, so I would assume that many of the houses in my neighborhood are from a similar time. Most of the houses have been converted into some sort of apartment complex. It's fun to walk through and imagine what the house looks like, and what it used to look like inside. Most of these houses have little newlyweds stowed away in the basement apartment. I love the nostalgia that these houses seem to give off.

I love the artistic flow of the place I live in. Even though we just barely got a Denny's and lack a decent book store, and many other things I would like to have. I enjoy the slow, quiet pace of this little town for now. Such a great reminder to notice the things we have while we still have them. In our world, things change so drastically, we never know when we will be moving on to the next phase of our lives, and as we say in my family, "It ain't never gon' be the same."

How to Dump Pop Music. (You can still be friends...)

I'm about to get real.

Because this is so important.

I'm talking about music.

Now everyone listens to music. Let's rewind to when I was a young arrogant Teen. Back then I only listened to classical music, and turned my nose up to anything that was not classical. I pretty much thought that anyone who listened to modern music was absolute scum for not listening to classical music. I was THAT snob. 

I was actually really annoying about it... I've been reading through old journals and Facebook posts lately and man I was a little entitled brat. **Face palm.**

Fast forward a few years. Eventually I was sick of having no idea what kids my age were talking about. Plus I figured if I was going to make fun of their music I should know what I was listening to. So I broke. I started listening to pop. 

But something crazy happened. I kinda liked it. So then I started branching off and listening to all sorts of "modern music," and eventually got into the indie scene of, "I listen to bands you've never heard of," and "I was listening to these guys before they were cool." That's about where I'm at now.

That's all besides the point. The point is, I branched out.

When I was the classical snob of my younger years, I think I knew that I was fighting a losing battle and that's why I was such a brat about it. The thing is, people actually don't care how bad the music is that they are listening to. And This is important. People don't care that a lot of music being made these days is just bad. I think subconsciously I knew that, and I knew that there was nothing I could do, which made me fight harder to get people to listen to good music. 

There are several reasons why people don't care about how bad music has become.  Pop music is easy to find. It's just there. On the radio, in the car, on the TV. It's cheap entertainment, and takes no effort for the listener to find, or enjoy. If fulfills its ultimate purpose and that is to have a catchy melody that is easy to like, and easy to understand.

Something important to understand is that we have a music industry that rewards PERFORMERS. Not SONG WRITERS. True, many popular musicians write their own music, which is totally awesome. But MANY, MANY of the big artists, (The ones with more than 1 million followers/ listeners,) DO NOT WRITE THEIR OWN MUSIC. They just perform it. The song writers are still paid 50% of all profits, but they receive little recognition. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND. (Usually I am not a chronic "caps lock" user, so this is very important.) 

Pop music on the radio is also screened before a base audience that decides whether or not they like a song based on listening to about 7 seconds of that song. If enough people like it, then the song gets played on public radio. 

IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY PUT EFFORT INTO FINDING IT. You have to do your research, and you have to actually try. 

NO PANDORA WILL NOT JUST MAGICALLY FIND WONDERFUL MUSIC FOR YOU. If you want to just jam to a bunch of music of a similar genre, then Pandora is great, but PANDORA IS NOT A MUSIC DISCOVERY TOOL. Pandora uses an algorithm to find similar songs based on other songs you like. It is preprogrammed, and it is a computer on the other side sending songs to you. It can only do so much.

Discovering music has become a major hobby for me. I constantly need new music and I go on a new crusade almost every week. Here's how I do it, and what I use. It may not work the same for everyone, but if you truly want to find new great music, this is a great way to do it.

Step 1: The Actual Discovery.

There are several sites on the great world wide web out there that I use to find new jams. 

        Spotify works pretty well. I use Apple music these days, and I like it a bit better, but the free version of Spotify on your computer will work just the same.

If you type in an artist that you already know you like, there will usually be a tab that says, "Artists like this," or "similar artists." This is a great way to link things to sounds you already love. You have to be careful, because just like a good old fashioned game of "telephone," the original sound you were looking for can quickly turn into an entirely different genre or sub genre. 

Usually what I do, is I do a big haul of music, and I just flip through hundreds of songs. I listen to artists and albums, and I usually don't listen to entire songs, but I get a general vibe from the songs I'm listening to. If I like it enough in the beginning I save it to a playlist, or somewhere I can find it later. Then comes,

Step 2: The Field Test.

For me I connect well with music while I'm out and about. The best places are on a walk or while I'm driving around. This is where I find that playlist and just put it on. This is usually where I can listen to the whole song and definitely feel if it's right for me or not. For some reason here is where I can just immediately know weather or not it's a keeper. 

So now I know which songs I like. Next usually comes a bit of time where I just fall in love with these songs and play them more frequently than my other stuff. 

Step 3: Excitement.

You have to be careful during this part, this is usually the point in pop music where they play the hottest new song NON STOP on the radio and make everyone totally sick of that song. You have to be careful not to do that to your discoveries.

Don't get me wrong, there are totally those songs that I will play on repeat for the rest of my life with no reservations at all. Midnight City by M83 is totally one of those. That song will probably be on every playlist I make for the rest of my life. And that's okay. But you have to be super careful with new songs, because you can totally ruin a good song by playing it too much.

Step 4: Throw it back.

This is where you put the new stuff away for a little bit. Go back to some old stuff. It will make you appreciate it so much more and bring back tons of great memories. This also helps your brain and ears get exposed to different things which is so great for stimulating your brain. Seriously, a wide range of genres is honestly one of the best musical choices you can ever make for your brain.

Step 5: Come back to your new stuff later.

Sometimes I totally am unsure about a song, and I go through a love-hate relationship with it. So I put it away for a while, and like many relationships we have in life, all I needed was time. Sometimes a little time is totally what has saved certain songs for me. Coming back to a song at a later point is the greatest thing. Sometimes that song is totally what I needed in my life, but I didn't need it when I first discovered it. It has seriously been a life saver so many times. 

This has been the case with so many of my current favorite songs that I cannot express the importance of doing this. 

Side note- Musical slumps happen. Sometimes you just won't know what to listen to. It happens to me all the time, and I'm literally constantly on the search for new tunes. This is where Step 4 comes in. Throwing it back is always a great way to get the brain juices flowing, and make you remember what was happening in your life when you found the song, and what makes you- you!

Here are also some music sites for the open minded music lover. 

I listen to A LOT of genres. Not country. Country is just terrible. But other than that I love LOTS OF MUSIC. I of course love classical, but I also love electronic, chill step, ambient electronic, alternative, rustic acoustic, jazz, smooth jazz, hard-bop jazz, be-bop jazz, new orleans jazz, indie rock, Soul, Motown, Bollywood, Oldies, Basically I will give most things a fighting chance before I totally move on with my life. So these sites are great for the music lover who has a totally open mind.

thisismyjam.com- This website was a great idea. People just literally got on and posted their current jam. Unfortunately not enough people were using it so the site shut down. But the archive of the site is still there. So you can get on and just listen to people's jams that they posted for about 2 years. You have to be careful because some people listen to crazy stuff that might not be your cup of tea. But people also listened to some awesome stuff that is worth the listen. I've found and re-found some great stuff on this site.

bandcamp.com- This site is a great place for totally new, budding artists. We are talking about artists that have less than 5,000 listeners and are totally new to the world of music. (Well atleast to the known world of music. They've been around, you just haven't seen them yet.) These artists are all super independent, so there are options to buy music from, and fund these new budding artists. Which is totally awesome. Support independent and local artists as much as you can. It enriches the community so much.

Well, I can't legitimately use up all of your life rambling about how much better your musical experience could be. You have to go out and make it better yourself. But if you really don't know where to find some good stuff I would love to give any help and suggestions I can.

Basically you just have to get out there and start looking. And that's the fun part! And don't be scared that you might run into some smut. If that isn't your style, just be smart, and know what to look for. Most songs will tell you if they have explicit material before you take a listen. Do it for the future of music! Do it for your poor ears!

Music is a huge reflection of who you are. Make it reflect something that is truly an image of you, not just an image of what the media says you should be.

Messiah

I figured I should do this now, as it recently happened and is fresh on my mind.

Handel's Messiah. My thoughts.

This past weekend was easter weekend, and I had the opportunity to see The Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform Handel's Messiah. THE ENTIRE THING. 

First of all, getting tickets was nearly impossible. I waited with my husband at our computer right before tickets opened. It was the most stressful two minutes of my life as we sat and filled out the ticket information. Part of the problem is that all of the concerts done by the choir are totally free. The other problem being they were doing a very popular piece that everyone recognizes. After yelling at my husband to type faster about 80 times, we were able to snag some tickets. I went back to try to snag a few for my siblings a few minutes later, and they were pretty much sold out. I was surprised. Utah hasn't always been the most cultured place, so I'm wondering where all of these classical music-o-chiles came from....

The night of the concert we of course grabbed some delicious food before.

Some great Italian. Nothing much to talk about. I mean Italian is Italian, and when it isn't just Olive Garden then of course it's going to be amazing.

Eventually we meandered our way towards the Tabernacle. I was particularly excited because this concert was to be held at the actual Tabernacle, which has amazing acoustics. I have played there myself as a musician, and the acoustics are crazy when you are actually playing there. You can hear the sound reverberating and coming back to you. You actually have to not pay attention to it and just concentrate on watching your conductor.

When we arrived we saw THIS.

This was the line for people who ALREADY HAD TICKETS. Not the standby line. I was actually worried that we might not get in even though we totally had tickets. It was completely mind blowing. I have never seen lines like this for classical music concerts. It just doesn't happen these days.

Luckily we did eventually get inside, and find some decent seats.

This choir knows how to showcase itself.  Especially in the Tabernacle, it is such a sight to see and hear this wonderful choir in its original home. 

As far as the music itself goes, it was amazing. I honestly lack the words to describe it. I mean come on. 

This is a piece that had the composer weeping as he wrote it.  It is a piece that was initially turned down by the elites of the day, so Handel ended up just performing it at many charity events. The entire piece directly quotes scripture, and is no small feat. 

The piece is what is called an Oratorio. It's basically an opera sung in english and is typically quoting scripture or similar text.  It's also typically a large group of musicians. Choral and instrumental. Handel chose quite the subject matter, as it is about the savior of the world. I can think of no one better suited for such a task however, as this work truly does justice to its subject matter. 

Who can truly remain unmoved by those opening lines,
      
      "Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people."

I could literally quote the entire thing right now, and every line of it would strike some type of chord.

      "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

This concert was not for the faint of heart. It lasted roughly 2 and a half hours, and we were sitting on pioneer style benches that left even my very spry hind quarters barking at me by the end. 

Of course everyone recognizes the Hallelujah chorus, as movies use it for practically everything, but what was surprising to me was that people actually just got up and left after that chorus was done. The chorus is not the end of the piece. There is probably about 20 more minutes of music after that, and the actual finale of the piece was truly spectacular. I even grew up listening to full length albums of the Messiah at christmas time, and I don't believe I had ever heard the actual finale until this concert. It was truly remarkable.

Especially in the Tabernacle. When the Organ came in with the Choir at full sound, the benches just rattled under the immense sound, and my heart was pounding. It was spectacular! I can't imagine leaving before that triumphant end. 

I can say no ill thing of this piece and this entire concert. It would seam that Handel was truly accompanied by angels when he created this work.

For this concert, everything was amazing. The baroque styles were masterfully conquered. Of course the soloists were remarkable. Especially the Soprano. No offense sopranos, but I often get lost in the "sopranoness" of the Soprano, but this one had a particularly clear, tight tone that was truly angelic. Of course the choir and orchestra were absolutely beautiful, and I am so grateful I was able to attend such an event. 

If you haven't heard all of Handel's Messiah, at least put it on while you're cooking dinner or doing homework or something. It is a great musical palette cleanser, and a great overall piece to boost your appreciation of classical music.

Go listen to some classical music today! 

Growing Pains

18 Year Old Me:

           "Oh My Gosh I know so much stuff because I'm an adult now! I should start a blog about all of the stuff I know because I'm so knowledgable!"

           *Proceeds to spew verbal vomit all over the internet.*

 

      Perhaps not as much verbal vomit as I think, but verbal vomit nonetheless. This effort may be futile as I will just continue to unleash the same filth on the internet, but I hope to do so in a slightly classier manner.

      Sadly many blogs are nothing but verbal vomit and a place to air out one's dirty laundry. So I really can't weed out all of that, but perhaps I can be more tactful with the vomit that does seep out. 

      I love things that look pretty, sound pretty, taste pretty, smell pretty. I'm an art girl. Always have been. I love creating my own humble works of art as well. The thing is, I have never really quite found a place to fully talk about my art or art in general. I never really found that niche. I'm sure they are out there, and I have found kindred spirits of course, but I have never really found THAT group. Which is fine. That's just how it is. So perhaps this will be me reaching for a bit of something like that. 

      Either way, it will be somewhat entertaining, a little bit interesting, you might learn something once in a while, and you might get some new ideas from it too. Kinda like Pinterest (; Anyways. Enjoy it as much as you can. 

Here is a pretty painting that I like to start out.

Renoir's "Le Moulin de la Galette."