This year is going to be a different for me. For the first time, I won't be going home for Christmas. I am spending it with Boo Thang and his family. They won't let me sit around and be sad. I don't want to wallow in sadness every holiday. So this year I'm taking back the holidays. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I already did a list of my favorite songs not by black artists. This time I am going to post my top ten songs of this year PERIOD. This year was great for music in general for me. It has helped me through the rough patches of my life and have helped me to celebrate the great times. This list doesn't repeat any songs from the last list.
1. Rather Die Young - Beyonce'
I loved Beyonce's 4 album as a whole. It was so much better than I Am....Sasha Fierce to say the least. When I heard this song, it immediately made me think of the relationship between Boo Thang and I. It's very touching and I know what it feels like to be in that type of love.
2. Hear My Call - Jill Scott
I can't listen to this song without crying. It is honest and gut-wrenching. Anytime that I am feeling in the dumps, I play this song as a reminder for prayer and reflection. Those a lost love isn't the reason for periods of grief and despair, it touches me the same.
3. Round Of Applause - Waka Flocka Flame
Please don't judge me!! Something about this song just makes me want to jump out of my seat and start twerking, lol. I don't do a lot of gimmicky rap....and I damn sure don't get down with him. I just get down with this song.
4. Lotus Flower Bomb - Wale
I'm late to the Wale party. Honestly this song and the fact that he is signed to Maybach Music Group is the only reason that I am giving him a chance now. This is a great little love song. And it features Miguel!! How can you not like it?
5. Teach Me - Miguel
How can I mention him and NOT add him to the list?! His album (though it came out late last year) is so classic to me. This particular song screams "Prince influenced" to me. It has me grooving a lot.
6. Your Hands - Marsha Ambrosius
Too much debate about whether or not this chica can sing. I LOVE her. This song to me is the best of a great album. Puts me deep in the mood.
7. Lift Off - Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Beyonce
I couldn't put the whole album down as a song and this is my favorite. Power trio.
8. Yes - Musiq Soulchild
I couldn't leave him off the list. Any time he has an album out, I'm all over it.
9. Thank You - Estelle
When is this album coming out again? I miss her voice.
10. I Miss You Now - Ledisi
This is another song that I can't listen to without going into a massive cry fest. I can't relate to this song right now, but I have certainly felt that way in life. It is just so raw and full of emotion.
This book is my very first Kindle book that I got. It was a free book that I got solely because it was a Christmas book.
This is a collection of two short stories that center around finding love. In the first story, Kate is stranded in Chicago on Christmas Eve when a sexy stranger offers her refuge from the blizzard. The second story centers around Grant and his relatively new quest for love.
I read this over the course of 24 hours. It was a quick and steamy read. I loved it.
I started reading this book because it showed up on the Goodreads list of a lot of my followers. I was excited because I have never read anything from J. California Cooper before. I'm always eager to try out new authors.
I didn't really care for this book a lot. It was depressing and for a collection of short stories, it took too long for me to finish. The style of writing was a bit too preachy for my tastes. As a Christian, even I don't like to get beat upside the head with religion. HOWEVER, I would buy this book for younger girls....mostly teenagers. I think the issue for me was that these were lessons I've already learned through trial and error....or by watching the mistakes of others. For a young person, this could make a difference. Good book, just not for me.
I am a music fanatic. My favorite genre is neo-soul music with some hip hop sprinkled in for a little flavor. Unlike a lot a people I know, I do listen to a broad range of music so my tastes are very wide. I think 2011 has been the year of alternative music tastes for me. Here are my top 5 faves!!
1. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
This song is my ringtone right now, lol. Something about this tune just gets in your head and stays there!! I have been a Maroon 5 fan for a VERY long time....so the new album was a must grab for me. I'm not really feeling XTina in this song, though. I feel like she could've been left out. Oh well!
2. You & I - Lady Gaga
Anybody that knows me, knows that me and Lady Gaga do not get down, lol. However I realized it had more to do with her distracting image than anything else of substance. When I heard this song, I was hooked. I am a fan now.
3. If I Die Young - The Band Perry
The only reason that I love this song is because Delilah sung this song on this season of The Sing Off. I am not that big a fan of country music, but this song touches me.
4. Someone Like You - Adele
Do I even need to explain?!?!
5. Who You Are - Jessie J.
I am really feeling Jessie J. right now. Why? No idea...but I'm rolling with it.
What are your favorite songs outside of your main music genre?
Since my dad got married in July, I have decided that I would stay out of that situation. There is nothing that I can do or say....so I leave it alone. The fact that I was moving that next month as the perfect scenario for it all. They could have their rushed marriage and I wouldn't have to witness it. Seems like the more I try to stay out of it, the more I hear crap about it. I have more than a few gripes with her.
1. The honeymoon phase is over.
SERIOUSLY?!?!? These folks have been married for 5 months. This has got to be the shortest honeymoon phase that I have ever seen. It's not like they have been together for a long time. Hell they just met in January. This January. Of 2011. Every time I talk to my dad on the phone, he's in the doghouse for this, that, or the other thing. This just makes me sound like a genius when I asked what the rush was. She was all infatuated with his ass while they were dating, but now she apparently doesn't like the man that my dad is. *side eye* She doesn't like that he talks a lot to people. My dad will talk to a tree....that's the kinda guy he is. He never meets a stranger. Let me be the first to say that MY MOTHER loved him for who he was. Talking too damn much and all. She doesn't know why he likes to watch the news so much because that stuff doesn't have anything to do with him. *record scratch* Why the hell are you 44 years old saying stupid shit like that thinking that things that happen in the world around you don't impact you? She has GOT to be the simplest person I have ever met.
2. She is very insecure.
She doesn't like for my dad to have any interactions with people of the opposite sex. NONE. No women should call him on the phone for any reason. He shouldn't look at other women (as if he lived in a world where only she lived). My dad is a shade tree mechanic in his spare time. He can't even work on cars that are owned by women, unless they belong to her. *sighs*
3. She has a problem with him giving any financial help to his children.
Now THIS one is the one that grinds my gears. She is financially irresponsible.....a new development since they've been together. She has been used to taking care of all the bills for her own house (which he lives now). Apparently he's responsible for taking care of everything while she goes out to buy $300 Coach purses. He is also supposed to take care of her 2 children that live there too. But when his own children need something, that becomes a problem. She has said that I wasn't raised right because I live with a man who isn't married. I almost went to jail over that statement. This was spoken from a woman who has two children with two different fathers and my dad is her FIRST husband. *sighs* I'm a daddy's girl, even with all this mess. My dad has my back without me having to ask....so if I need help of any type, he will be there. She actually got snapped on for this comment.
For these reasons, that bitch is not my stepmother...she's my dad's wife. A stepmother gets in there and at least TRIES to get to know her stepchildren. She gets in there with my brother but she tries to isolate me. She knows that I am not down with the bullshit. I don't fake the funk with anybody, especially not with anybody that I don't think will stick around long. She doesn't think I know all of this stuff. I let her live Thanksgiving, but Christmas.....stay tuned. She has used all three of her strikes up with me.....I wonder if she knows it.....
I have not posted a lot.....well at all for the last couple weeks. I have been in the FOULEST of moods over the last couple weeks and I just decided not to infect my blog or my readers with any of that. I have even taken to staying off Twitter in my foul moods. The last thing I want are my virtual peeps to think I'm a bitch lol.
The recruiter for my job called me last week to confirm that I will be starting on January 23rd. Background check came back clear and so did the drug screen. She apologized for all the confusion that was going on on my original start date. This lifted my mood dramatically because in my mind, I didn't know if I was going to get to start at all. They say that "no news is good news"......but I have to know something. Boo Thang and I are definitely apartment hunting after the first of the year. Tentative move out date is the first of March. Hallelujah!! He's ready and I am too.
I have been Christmas shopping for the free. By this I mean, most of the gifts that I am buying people cost me nothing. I got Boo Thang and I new cell phones (Droid Incredible 2) on a Cyber Monday sale. They cost $Free.99. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have been threatening to blow FedEx up. These phones shipped Wednesday and have sat on the back of a FedEx truck since Friday morning. I know we live in the boonies right now.....but I need my phones ASAP. I also scored Boo Thang some celebrity swag. A friend of mine is an equipment manager for the Miami Dolphins. Those players get Reebox apparel for days that they don't want. They gave it to him and he's giving it to me for the cost of shipping. Is that winning or what?! Now as far as all the rest of my gifts......well I'll get to that as I can, lol.
Kathryn. 29. Leo. Law school graduate. In posession of a loudly ticking but heavily ignored biological clock. Moderate to slightly liberal independent leaning Democrat. (mouthful?) Job seeker. Girlfriend. Lover. Ranter. Lover of politics, irritated by the outcomes. Music fanatic. Lover of the creamy crack.
