My Bucket List

Inspired by the AMAZING giveaway going on over at Life is Too Short Not to Wear Red Shoes, I've decided to make a bucket list. I've been thinking about making one for ages, but never sat down and took the time to do it, so here is my chance to correct that ;). In no particular order:

Go to college.
Have a novel published.
Discover something no one ever knew(preferably in the biological field).
Develop a successful career that, directly or indirectly, changes and saves lives.
Rediscover my faith and build a stronger relationship with God.
Fall in love.
Get married.
Have a beach house.
Buy my mom a beach house.
Pursue photography.
Go to the west coast.
Go to Alaska.
Go to Ireland.
Go to Paris.
Go to Spain.
See the pyramids.
Bungee Jump.
Whitewater raft on a natural river.
Share God's love with someone.
Learn guitar.
Hang Glide.
Camp for REAL.
Get my masters degree in something practical that will advance my career.
Read the complete works of Shakespeare.
Get in a food fight.
Begin and maintain a healthy lifestyle--exercise, diet, everything.
Be a mother, when I'm good and ready to change the focus of my life off of my career.
Meet some of my blogger friends.
Ride an elephant ;).
See Cage the Elephant in concert.
See MUSE in concert*****MUST DO!
… I'd also list 'be in a movie', but I've actually checked that one off :). Though, a credited ROLE as opposed to background would be pretty awesome.

Anywho, this list is far from exhaustive--it is just what occurred to me right now, as I watch the Harry Potter movie event on ABC Family. They were so cute and little back in the first films! :D. People, the giveaway has tons of prizes, and entering is easy--click the button and check it out! And don't forget to comment here, with some of YOUR bucket list items! I'm curious ;).

A Music Lovers' Tag

Scroll no further!



This wonderful tag came from Bleah, and has 1 rule: List ten musical artists below, before reading the questions. If you read the questions it won't just ruin it for the readers, but for yourself too! Well, here I go...

1. Muse
2. Queen
3. Pink
4. Flyleaf
5. Emily Osment
6. Cage the Elephant
7. Florence and the Machine
8. Skillet
9. Owl City
10. And...Foreigner






what was the first song that you ever heard by number six?




Probably Ain't No Rest for the Wicked :).





what is your favorite song by number eight?




Oh wow… that is way too hard. Right now... Awake and Alive? Or maybe Fingernails (that's an older fav)! Yeah, Fingernails is great :).





what kind of impact has number one had on your life?




a;lsdkfjlaksjdf. Love. Love love love. I fell in love with number 1. Muse on my mp3 player helped me survive the insane drives with my dad during 10&11th grades. Beyond that, their songs are incredibly beautiful and really speak to my soul… they're really empowering!





"And how can we win,
When fools can be kings,
Don't waste your time,
Or time will waste you,..

No one's gonna take me alive,
The time has come to make things right,
You and I must fight for our rights,
You and I must fight to survive,"-Knights of Cydonia




And the love songs are the strongest most beautiful and encouraging love songs I've heard... here is part of Invincible:




"Follow through
Make your dreams come true
Don't give up the fight
You will be alright
'Cause there's no one like you in the universe

Don't be afraid
What your mind conceives
You should make a stand
Stand up for what you believe
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we're invincible"





what is your favorite lyric by number five?




"Little short skirt with a big attitude
She wants to be a model, wants to be on the tube
Yeah, it's one thing or another
She's trouble trouble
Watch out, if you're near
She could bring you to tears
She's got two boyfriends and three wannabe's
They follow her around like she's Aphrodite
She's number one rated but she's already jaded
She's following the trends in her Mercedes Benz
Everyone wants to know her name
Walking down the hall, she's every guy's dream

I hate the homecoming queen
I'm pretty damn sure she can't stand me
She thinks she's on the cover of a magazine
I hate the homecoming queen tonight, that's right" I Hate the Homecoming Queen-Emily Osment





how many times have you seen number four live in concert?





Never :/





what is your favourite song by number seven?




Ooh… Rabbit Heart, probably, but Kiss With a Fist gets stuck in my head most... I also love Cosmic Love (and pretty much Lungs in entirety), all thanks to Leanna :).





is there any song by number three that makes you sad?




I really love Family Portrait and Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self, because I can relate to them, and they are both on the sad side(Conversations made me cry the first time I really listened to it). I highly recommend listening to them, but if you don't want to, here are SOME of the lyrics (I majorly chopped up Family Portrait to get in certain parts without quoting the whole song):





"Mama please stop cryin'
I can't stand the sound
Your pain is painful
And it's tearin' me down
I hear glasses breakin'
As I sit up in my bed
I told Dad you didn't mean
Those nasty things you said
You fight about money
'Bout me and my brother
And this I come home to
This is my shelter

It ain't easy, growin' up in World War III
Never knowin' what love could be
You'll see, I don't want love to destroy me
Like it has done my family

Can we work it out?
Can we be a family?
I promise I'll be better
Mommy, I'll do anything
Daddy, please don't leave

Daddy please stop yelling
I can't stand the sound
Make Mama stop cryin'
'Cause I need you around

I ran away today
Ran from the noise, ran away
Don't wanna go back to that place
But don't have no choice, no way

In our family portrait
We look pretty happy
Let's play pretend
Act like it goes naturally" -Family Portrait







"You're angry
I know this
The world couldn't care less
You're lonely
I feel this
And you wish you were the best
No teachers
Or guidance
And you always walk alone
You're crying
At night when
Nobody else is home

Come over here and let me hold your hand and hug you darling
I promise you that it won't always feel this bad
There are so many things I want to say to you
You're the girl I used to be
You little heartbroken thirteen year old me"-Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self






what is your favourite song by number nine?




Fireflies and Saltwater Room are close, with Fireflies winning out (because of the meaning it holds for me-not all Owl City songs mean that much to me, they're just fun listening, but Fireflies made me cry at night a couple times… you probably won't get that, but try and look up different meanings and see what you think about it yourself-I'm in favor of the memories theory).





how did you first discover number two?




It's QUEEN! Like, I was born! Haha, my mom has always had awesome taste in music, and I learned the great artists pretty young. Always been a Queen fan, always will be :).





how did you first discover number three?




I honestly don't know… Stupid Girls* is the song that made me pay attention and want all of her music, which I did wind up with. She's just a really real talent, you know?





what is your favorite song by number four?




Breathe Today was my old favorite, but right now I think it is Tiny Heart.





is there a song by number eight that makes you sad? After re-listening to the two Pink songs listed above, I've had enough sad music. I might fill this back in later, but don't feel like thinking about it now.






how many times have you seen number six live?




I haven't.





what is your favorite song by number one?




Wow that's hard… Unnatural Selection is my main ringtone, because I LOVE it, but Uprising, Resistance, Assassin, Starlight, and New Born are all loves too. I love everything by them (except Take a Bow, which is just a little too negative for my taste, but they still rock it).





how did you become a fan of number ten?




Again, I was raised by a woman who loves music :). She introduced me to Foreigner, and Queen, and Styx, and ELO, and other awesome groups :).








I tag the 41 awesome people who follow my blog. Thank you Jane Doe for following! Please comment if you choose to do it-I'd love to see what you guys wind up with!

Live Music that Actually Moves Me

Unfortunately, in the music industry today you don't have to have talent in order to sound great in a studio recording-technology fills in the gaps. Which is why I normally hate albums that are live recordings of concerts, because they show how far the artist really falls short of their manipulated and enhanced and auto-tuned studio work. Even fairly talented bands can sound mediocre live, if the singer and/or other band mates don't have the best endurance, playing song after song. I'm not a fan of 'live' versions as a rule-but there are some bands that are too amazing to disappoint. The first concert I saw televised was Queen performing at Wembley in 1986. Obviously it wasn't brand new by the time I saw it, considering this was six years before I was born, but it was new to me when I finally did, and as a Queen fan I was completely blown away… I was absolutely glued to the TV. Freddie Mercury had the gift of moving a crowd with his charismatic personality, and in Queen's performance of Under Pressure (one of my favorites by them, along with I Want to Break Free) really displayed how he could control the crowd-before the song begins… well, just watch it ;) :

If you can do an amazing job live, then you actually have talent-which Queen, and other classic bands from that time, really did. I saw Linkin Park's concert in Madison Square Garden on TV a little while ago, and they actually did a great job-it wasn't quite as good as on their albums, but pretty darn close, and far better than I expected (and I'm a fan, believe it or not, but like I said-I don't have faith in live performances). The only current band I've heard lately and found downright amazing in their live concert recordings/videos is the one and only MUSE (INSERT FANGIRL SCREAM!)! I actually favorited their videos on YouTube-I favorited LIVE videos! Seriously though, if you haven't heard much Muse, check out this playlist of 7 of my favorite live performances and see how you like it OR this list, which is longer, and has the album versions of many of their songs. And whether you've heard them or not, check out this awesome live vid FROM…. Wembley again! The build from softer to loud, the crazy vocals and insane guitar work, followed by a beautiful piano solo, and the overall energy, COMBINED with some of my favorite lyrics ever… I love Butterflies and Hurricanes, what can I say :).

And this one is Knights of Cydonia-one of my favorite live performances, with the vocals, energy… this crowd was seriously moving, and the 'no one's going to take me alive...' part is epic :D

They aren't afraid to improvise and mix things up, and sometimes veer away from the recorded version, but it still sounds absolutely amazing and of studio quality, because they're just. that. good. I really could sit here and embed every single live video I can find, but I won't-instead, if you're interested, you can find all of my personal favorites, live and not live, Muse and not Muse, in one place-on my YouTube Channel.
Well, that's a couple of my favorite artists when it comes to live recordings-what are some of yours? Do you like live versions better, or do you avoid them? Let me know what you all think! And for those who commented on the Life is Sweet post-I have now replied in the comments section, so check it out :). A huge thanks to Angela for following-those of you who, unlike me, are capable of cooking, really should check out her blog, Recipes from my mom-it is a great cooking blog, and straightforward and easy to understand, so I have it marked as a favorite just in case I get brave someday soon and decide to try and cook something(I'm thinking about her Chicken Acapulco-it looks like something my mom would love). Thanks everyone for reading, and commenting, and being generally awesome people who I like to consider friends-you make blogging fun :D. Until next time,


´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨)*´¨)
(¸.·´¸.·*´¨) *
(¸.· Elizabeth *´¨)
¸.·´ ¸.·*´¨) *
(¸.·´*

Stolen: A Book Review (+Music That Moves Me)

"You saw me before I saw you.
A girl: Gemma, at the airport,
on her way to a family vacation.
You had that look in your eyes.
A guy: Ty, rugged, tan, too old,
oddly familiar, eyes blue as ice.
Like you wanted me.
She steps away. For just a second.
He pays for her drink. And drugs it.
Wanted me for a long time.
He takes her, before she
even knows what's happening.
To sand and heat.
To emptiness and isolation.
To nowhere.
And expects her to love him.

Written as a letter from a victim to her captor, this is Gemma's desperate story of survival. Ty has Stolen her body. Against every instinct screaming inside her, will he also steal Gemma's heart?" -taken from the jacket-Stolen, by Lucy Christopher

Gemma, Ty, and the beautiful land Ty takes Gemma to, are truly the three main characters. The descriptions of the desert bring it to life again and again, and Ty's relationship with the land is something truly beautiful. Gemma's first view of the desert transports you to that other world:

"I brought my hand up to shield my eyes and tried to stop squinting. I was blinded by all that whiteness. It was like I'd stepped out into an afterlife. Only there were no angels…
I made a sort of choking noise. As far as I could see, there was nothing. There was only flat, continuous brown land leading out to the horizon. Sand and more sand, with tussocks of small scrubby bushes standing up like surprises and the occasional leafless tree. The land was dead and thirsty. I was in nowhere… Just emptiness. Just heat and horizon. I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand, and waited for the pain that told me I wasn't in a nightmare. I knew as soon as I set off that it was hopeless. Where would I run to? Everywhere looked the same. I could see why you hadn't locked the doors, why you hadn't tied me up. There was nothing and no one out there.
Only us."

The situation that Gemma finds herself in is horrible-kidnapped, taken from all she knows, by a man who seems too familiar, into a place with no hope of escape… Stolen. Her terror in scenes made me want to scream, and the humor in others made me laugh aloud. Yes, humor… this is not a horror story, it is almost a poetic character sketch, one which slowly shows you the complicated natures of the two hearts at play. But beyond learning of the hearts of the characters, it is fascinating to peer into their minds. A much more appropriate label for this book is psychological thriller-and that label tells me why I love Stolen so much.

Many people have used the term Stockholm syndrome in reference to this book, partly because of the captor-captive relationship and the use of the term within the book itself, but I don't believe it fits. Stockholm syndrome is defined as "an emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival." Yes, Gemma begins to develop an emotional attachment to Ty, and yes she is dependent on him and needs to cooperate to survive in the desert-but a correlation in this case does not mean causality. Gemma beginning to fall for Ty, I believe, is not because he is her captor or a survival tactic-and she fights him repeatedly attempting to escape. Her beginning to fall for him is because of who he is, and I admit I came to love Ty's character much sooner than Gemma did.

Objectionable Content: One complaint I've heard in regard to this book is that it glorifies the nature of kidnapping-that young women will romanticize the horrible situation-that they will only see Ty as a hot Australian guy and hope they get kidnapped by one themselves. As a young woman, I can say that what makes this book work for me is that there is conflict, that things are not black and white at all. Yes, I grew to love Ty's character-but he still drugged a teenage girl in an airport, still took her against her will and refused to let her go. That is WRONG, no matter what his reasons. As long as the individual reading the book has the maturity to look beyond the surface, which I would find difficult NOT to do in a book that delves so deep beyond it, that should not be an issue. The only objectionable elements are some language (not very often, but it is the f-bomb-I hate the use of that word, but understood its use within context) and nudity (as in 'I'm walking in the desert about to die of heatstroke when I take my clothes off'-not in a sexual context). Gemma believes she is brought there for him to take advantage of, and expresses her fear of rape, but that subject is handled expertly-her fears are clear, but not described in graphic detail or dwelt upon. All in all, I thought that Stolen struck its balance extremely well, and the way that certain elements were handled was delicate and mature.

Bottom Line: Stolen is hauntingly beautiful, and one of the best books I've read in a very long time. I recommend it without hesitation to mature readers-if you love a quiet psychological thriller, it'll steal your heart. My rating:

5/5 Stolen Butterflies

I've decided to combine this review with music, because I was listening to a mix while reading and a couple songs played that couldn't have been more perfectly timed. Three which fit the story and characters all too well…

Always-This one reminds me of Gemma's feelings about Ty, and some of the lines seem more like his perspective… almost like the song is a conversation. From Stolen:

"I lashed out, catching your chin. I used all my strength to push you away.
"I hate you!" I screamed. "I...hate you!"
You moved your hand away immediately, as if I'd suddenly burned it.
"Maybe that'll change," you said quietly.
You took the lantern with you, leaving me huddled against a bookshelf in the dark."

Say You'll Haunt Me-I cannot hear this song without thinking of Ty. I've loved it for a while, but even more so now. Every word in every verse relates to him-the soft pulses in the dead of his beloved desert, the little souvenirs he once gave her… and of course he wants Gemma to stay with him forever. Completely and utterly perfect-the song which best embodies him.

Stockholm Syndrome-This song played as the book was coming to an end, and made me cry like an even bigger baby. If you've read it-you'd have cried too, right? Regardless of whether or not you've read it, this song is AMAZING (well, I think so ;) ).

Thanks for reading and listening-drop me a comment and let me know you think! Thanks a million,

´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨)*´¨)
(¸.·´¸.·*´¨) *
(¸.· Elizabeth *´¨)
¸.·´ ¸.·*´¨) *
(¸.·´*

Music that Moves Me: Exogenesis Symphony Part 3 (Redemption)

Exogenesis Symphony (Part Three) is so truly beautiful... it is primarily instrumental, with a slow start, but it changes directions a few times throughout. One of my favorite songs to just listen to and absorb and feel the emotion of. It is actually the third part of 'Exogenesis Symphony', and all three pieces are beautiful together.

You can listen to parts one and part two by following the links. Part One, Overture, speaks of feeling trapped by God's program, asks why, and states "I can't forgive you, and I can't forget". Part Two, Cross Pollination, cries out for rescue, and tells someone that everything is up to them. In Part Three, the struggle for resolution stops, and Mathew Bellamy (the singer and composer) tells us:

"Let's start over again
Why can't we start it over again
Just let us start it over again
And we'll be good
This time we'll get it, get it right
It's our last chance to forgive ourselves"

This final section is called Redemption. I hope you enjoy it :).

Any thoughts? Thanks for reading (and I hope, some of you, listening. I love how it starts to pick up pace and change theme at 1:30... how about you?) :)