Same Trailer Different Park

You might remember that I mentioned Kacey Musgraves in one of my first posts and now I'm finally getting around to writing about her music. I first came across her at a Lady Antebellum concert where she was the support act and I remember that her genuine sounding country songs really made her stand out.
She is very 'country' and even her outfit screamed 'country'. She really does fit the genre in that her some of her songs are about trying to escape the oppressive, dull and dreary small town life that was ahead of her. But like any other artist, she also does songs about love (because let's face it, it would be kind of hard not to).
The first time that I played her cd was a bit of a strange one. It was about 6 months ago and I'd just got back from hanging out with H and because I was in such a good mood, the first time I played Kacey's cd, I was a bit like god this is depressing. But then I listened to it again - I really listened to it and fell in love with it. It is a great cd, and really opens your eyes to proper country music. It even gives you an insight into the small Southern American town lifestyle, which is one of the most interesting things about her music.
If you want to check out some of her music, I'll give you a lowdown of a few of my favourites from her debut (and only full length) album, Same Trailer Different Park.

Follow Your Arrow: my FAVOURITE song on the album and probably of all time. It's about not caring what anybody thinks because all that matters is that you do what makes you happy because there will always be haters. Haters be haters. My life motto in a song.
My House: such an upbeat song that will have you singing along after a few listens and the line 'Anywhere beside you is the place that I'll call home' just sticks.
Blowin' Smoke: the title on this track can be a bit deceiving, but it's actually about the little diner that she used to work in and everybody else's stories that were brave enough to escape for a better life. This is the song that I remember most from her performance at Lady Antebellum and easily my second favourite on the album. So catchy.
Silver Lining: the opener on the album and an honest account about seeing the silver lining in a bad day.
Stupid: A song about how love just ends up making you feel stupid after every heartbreak - see, that's proper country right there.

Honestly, if you haven't heard any of her songs, GO AND LISTEN. She is amazing (and annoyingly pretty too). And I want a nose ring.

 

 

It's a Holly Jolly Time

Well guys, Christmas is fast approaching and I don't know about you but I CAN'T WAIT. SERIOUSLY CANNOT WAIT. It couldn't come fast enough to be honest! I broke out the Christmas songs a few days ago and that was probably a bad idea because then it's still about a month to go and I already feel so Christmassy.
This Christmas is going to be an extra special one this year. And H has an epic Christmas party every year and because we weren't at that friend stage last year I didn't go, so this year I'm not only going but am also JOINT HOST. This idea makes me so stoked and obviously I can't wait for our party and I've planned what I'm going to wear already and it's all just so EXCITING (I made a few purchases the other day and then decided that they were perfectly smart/casual/festive enough for this party).
As well as the party, I've got some other pretty cool things planned: day trips out, New Year's celebrations, ice skating that are all going to make this year especially fantastic.
So it's Thanksgiving in America on the 28th which definitely means that Christmas is nearly here. I heard the other day that they prefer Thanksgiving more than actual Christmas and consider it to be more of a family get together, which I didn't know. But they basically get two Christmas' though which is so unfair. I wonder if they get two lots of presents? Hhmm I don't know. I know that they get two Christmas dinners which is pretty awesome. I can't wait to eat my own body weight in food.
One of the things that I love about this time of year are the lights in the streets and shop windows and wrapping up warm to go outside and the Christmas songs playing in shops and the general (ironically) warmness that Christmas has.
So if you weren't feeling festive before, I hope that just thinking about it makes you want to celebrate it. Stick on the Christmas songs, put up a tree soon, string tinsel and lights from every possible place, buy every single mince pie, walk the streets at night when the lights are on, have a cheeky kiss under the mistletoe but most of all don't forget to celebrate and appreciate everybody that is around you. After all, Christmas is the time to be thankful and loving so even if you don't do it at any other time, make sure that people know how you much you appreciate them this festive season.

Meet me under the mistletoe.


(Lady Antebellum's 'On This Winter's Night' is a wonderfully merry Christmas cd so I suggest that you go out and buy yourself a copy NOW)

Good Practise?

I'll tell you one thing: it's always better when we're together.

I'll look at those stars and we're together.

Sometimes, it's being surrounded by lots of people that can make you feel the loneliest. I'm not a group person and I function better one-on-one or in a small group, so on occasions, when I'm in a group I find it harder to connect with all of those people and that's often when I find myself craving to be back with my little group of friends and feeling totally comfortable. But I just take the idea of the big group dynamic as good practise.
And sometimes you just have to fake your confidence and fake your smile so that everyone else thinks you're feeling more comfortable than you actually might be. Faking a smile can often cover a multitude of things.

And it just might make me smile but the whole time I'm wishing it was you instead.

Lucky in a Funny Way

It's the worst feeling. Missing someone.
You wonder if they miss you as much as you miss them and you begin to think that you miss them way more and build up a whole elaborate story in your head about how they are carrying on without a thought about you and it just makes you angry and tense. But why do we do it? Why do we presume that they're not missing us?
Because it's likely that they probably are too. They even tell you most days that they miss you and you feel comforted by it, but then your foolish mind takes over again and you convince yourself that you're being forgotten about. Maybe it's insecurity. Maybe it's passion. Or maybe it really is all just in your head and you need to believe them when they say that they really do miss you.
Although on the other hand, missing someone is a lucky thing to experience. It doesn't seem like that when you physically cannot get off the floor, are awake for most of the night or drink a bit too much in order to numb it. But then you get yourself off the floor and get to sleep early and don't need to drink that much and you realise that you are missing somebody for a reason. You are missing somebody because they mean so much to you, are fundamental to your life, they understand you like nobody else and make you feel loved and cherished.
Then you remember that they'll be waiting for you when you get back. You'll get back home and all of your doubts, worries, pain will be seem so far away and you'll laugh at yourself for feeling like that. But when you're not with them and missing them is sometimes so painful, sometimes you try and remember how it felt to be younger. Younger when you couldn't relate to songs like they were written for you, when you had friends that you could spend weeks apart from without missing them because you didn't know what it was to miss someone, before people came crashing into your life like a beautiful force of nature and changed your life in such a great way that it would become impossible not to have them in your life. But then being older beats that because you get to meet people and form wonderful connections with them and then there's the prospect of falling in love too.

So remember that when you're missing somebody, you're lucky. Some people haven't met anybody to miss yet and remember that when you're feeling lost without them, it's the passion in your heart that will keep you going and that you are lucky to have somebody that means so much to you.

It's definitely not an easy thing to remember, but try. Try to remember that and maybe it will get a bit easier.

Underneath It's All the Same

Ok so I know Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' song 'Same Love' has been out for a while now, but I've only just come across it and I think it's absolutely fantastic. Usually I'm not into rap, but from the first time that I heard this song, I remember the lyrics made me stop what I was doing and just held me captivated. They're so painfully true about the things that gay people have to suffer and are right when they say how we should all fight for marriage equality because we should. It is true when they say that 'America still lives in fear' and it does, but the topic shouldn't fill people with fear because it doesn't define people. It doesn't change people. It shouldn't take away their marriage rights. It's not a choice. All that should matter is that people are happy and if loving somebody of the same sex is what makes people happy, then their happiness should be the important point, not what sex somebody's partner is. We should all take courage from this song and fight for this cause because marriage equality and homophobia is something that is a problem across the whole world. So let's fight.
Because underneath, it really is the same love.
At the end of the day, it's all just love.

Love is love.


So live on and be yourself.

I'm a Sucker For...

I never used scroll through tonnes of these things because I always just thought they were ridiculous and a waste of time, but my sister was always obsessed with them and I would say 'why do you read those?' (with a sort of snobby opinion about them). But it's only since I've come to uni that I've been reading them because for some reason, I turned to them when I was feeling a bit lost and needed some encouragement and inspiration. I even still read them now and I have nothing to feel sad about. But now I only read the happy ones and it makes me realise how grateful and lucky I really am.

So now that I've become a bit of a sucker for them, maybe you will too?

(AND there's a quote for every mood and occasion!! I especially love Ellen Degeneres' quote because I think and realise now how true it really is)

 

Break the Barrier

I have a bit of a fascination with places like airports. There is a reason - I don't just stand there like 'I LOVE IT HERE'. It's the stories in it.

I find it amazing how all of those people rushing past you seem like just people. To you they mean nothing, they're just more people that make the place more annoyingly busy and try to push in front of you in the queue but to someone else, they're.....everything. To one person they mean everything.
It's strange how before you meet people they are only a face. You might walk past the same person on the way to school or see the same person on the bus everyday on the way to work and never get to know them, so they stay as only a face.

I love walking past the arrivals gate at the airport. It's full of people waiting and they all look so excited. Maybe some are parents, some are boyfriends, girlfriends, sisters, brothers or friends and I always wonder what the relations are when the people come through that arrivals gate and see their people. Think of all of those stories that people have within them that only a few will know. People are amazing you know. Some hide everything, whilst others share everything, some open up with persistence, whilst others open up without any help, some are hoping for love, whilst others are in love. It's all of these things that people have inside them that only a few know.

I think that it shows the power of communication, because the only thing that differentiates you from everybody else is communication. It also shows how powerful it is when you break through that barrier and connect with someone. When you connect with someone and you let them in and they let you in, you both become one more that gets to know about the other person. It feels wonderful when you can see someone letting you in and its almost as if you can see them making the decision to give themselves up to you.

Because when somebody lets you in and you let them in, it doesn't just happen, it's a conscious choice. So whatever you do, never forget that you've both decided and that's not an easy thing to do.

Maybe it's more dangerous to decide to let somebody in than it is to not even think about it and just let it happen. But what is more powerful and special is that you've both realised that the reason you've chosen to do it is because it's going to lead to something amazing.