Day 13: Fave artist

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist


Well well well....this isn't too tough. I have two all-time favorite artists though: Lauryn Hill (aka L Boogie) and John Legend. 




 So you see, my girl Lauryn has kind of fallen off.  I liked the fugees when I was little, then she released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill which probably got played 1,000 times on my panasonic no-skip cd player. Actually, TMLH takes up half of my top 25 most played on my ipod. Then.... she went into her rasta stage...married Ziggy Marley, had some kids and eventually released Lauryn Hill: Unplugged. I absolutely LOVED this album. It's pretty raw, very deep, kind of political and very emotional- and did I mention all acoustic. I don't know what it is but acoustic guitars make me cry, all the time, always, never fail. I feel like when I was growing up and I didn't have words to put to my feelings (and we all know I was very mature and over-dramatic for my age), Lauryn Hill said it for me.  I sang along. Cried. Healed (from high school and college break ups and the general woes of teenage-dom).  If you really know me well, you know that when I am listening to Lauryn Hill, mentioning her in my facebook statuses, etc then I am sad or upset. Her music is my go-to.

So, after that explanation and how LH bring back memories of things past....I will move onto my explanation of why John Legend has come into the mix.  Although there is a bit of sadness connected to Mr. Legend's music for me (ex: "Another Again"), he is more upbeat. Better memories. Happier times. The first song of his that I heard was "Save Room", like everyone else in America, but I went on to find his older album Get Lifted and fell in love with that. I then purchased Once and Again and have rounded out my collection with Evolver. I love his voice and find his music to be very soothing.  I love that he plays piano in a lot of his songs and I love the emotion he brings to his tracks. BONUS: he is still producing albums, unlike Lauryn Hill at the moment, so that is where I justify having 2 favorite artists. 






Sharing Time.....


here are my favorite songs of each artist


John Legend- "Ordinary People", Once and Again

Lauryn Hill- "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind", Lauryn Hill: Unplugged

day 12: something i l-o-v-e

Day 12 - A picture of something you love

the man who stole my heart and i don't even want it back

I almost didn't blog today...and then I checked today's challenge and I couldn't pass it up because it was something I loved! It really doesn't get any easier than that! Pretty sure everyone who knows me knows this by now, but I love Ramiro Ray Vela III.


Some quick facts about why I love him:
- he makes me laugh (he hasn't made me pee my pants yet haha)
- he has a TDF smile
- he is amazing with his words and can melt my heart with one sentence
- he's smokin hot (see picture)
- he likes to party
- he likes to drive (and i like to get in auto accidents...match made in heaven)


this list could go on for days but I am sure you get the picture! He has been the best thing to happen to my life and I can't wait for what the future holds for us- all good things I hope!
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Catching up

So I have decided that I like the blog challenge but I am not good at blogging every day.  But in an effort to catch up...here I go.


Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh

shirt writing on my 21st birthday

Ok so this picture makes me laugh because it was 21st birthday. I was probably about 20 or so shots deep and a guy I know told me he wanted to write on my shirt. For those of you who don't know, on 21st birthdays we get a bday shirt with a funny picture and message) and your friends carry around sharpies so that all your birthday messages stay in one place (on your tshirt). So this picture was taken before I fell on the dirty bentley's bar floor laughing because of the following event:


guy: what should I write on your shirt?
me: (drunken mumble) lax rules
guy: proceeds to write "blacks rule"


Yupp, common misunderstanding. Needless to say, I laughed for days and I still have the shirt with a big "blacks rule" on the side.

Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Jerry & Claud

It's a tie between these two lovely people. My mom and dad. I wouldn't be where I am without them. 

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with

galski

Yup that would be Gals, easily. She dares me to do stuff and I do it and that's a problem. And when I have bad ideas she tells me they are good ideas. Soooo yea, not gonna go into detail but she deserves day #10.

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate

I HATE scary movies. I have nightmares for days. It is terrible and I have gotten to a point where I can't even watch scary movie commercials without having to cover my eyes. The first (and last) scary movie I saw was Pet Semetary and I am still scared of a little kid jumping out from under the bed and slashing my achilles tendons so I can't run away. The worst is when I am watching previews in movie theaters and it's impossible to avoid the scary words, sudden flashes of light and eery music. You can't change the channel like at home either.  If I could I would do away with scary movies all together.

day 7: most treasured item

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item

Lola Collins

  

There you have it...the evolution of lola (for puppyhood in Arkansas, to her first day in CP, her life as an office lap top and her first visit to the vet in annapolis). I just couldn't help myself. It was impossible to post just one photo so I posted 5. She's just so darn cute.  

I know she isn't an 'object', per se, but she is the most treasured non-human part of my life. Lola's life is pretty much my ideal life set-up. She wakes up under the covers in my bed, I take her out, I give her breakfast, she goes back to sleep for the whole afternoon, humps a pillow here and there, goes on walks, does what ever she wants and gets away with it, smells like a dream because she has kiehl's dog conditioner and she gets a treat every time she poops and pees.

Lola is always there. The best part about her is that she has a legit personality.  She gets depressed when I leave and she lays on her side on the "sad couch", but the best part is that when I return she is so happy to see me. I don't think anybody has ever been as happy to see me as lola is when I come home.  She's the best. She's kind of like having a kid (but kids are probably much harder).

I wouldn't trade my little furry nugget for anything.

Day 06: Trading Places

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

I wish it was acceptable to be this outrageous.

I had to think about this one for a while. I couldn't think of one person that I would want to be for a day and then it hit me.....I would definitely want to be Nicki Minaj. Some of your are probably cringing and since she is a pretty extreme person you either lover her or hate her I guess, but I love her.


Here are some things I like about Nicki Minaj:
- She raps and she's good at it.
- She loves pink.
- She's party of young money
- She pulls off outrageous pink wigs
- She uses MAC make up and I love MAC makeup
- She says whatever she wants
- She has multiple personalities
- She's a baddd bitch
- She collaborates with weezy and drake
- Her facial expressions are awesome
- Her real name is Onika Tanya Maraj...but it is now Nicki Minaj. It takes balls to change your name.
- She claims she made up Harajuku Barbie, and she explains it as, "I liked Harajuku and I liked barbies so I put them together..."
- Her part in Monster is awesome...she dominates Jay and Kanye


And finally, I thought about being Oprah because she yells things all the time and it's acceptable for some reason (think: how she introduces every item on her favorite things show...) but Nicki does the low-voice, semi-yell 100x's better than Oprah.


There you have it. I want to be NM for a day. 


And for those of you who may have missed it, here is my attempt to be Jenny Minaj (it was a joke, so don't take it too seriously...Gals said I couldn't be Nicki so I tried to prove her wrong...I have a bad habit of always taking her up on her challenges)

another reason to love Nicki

Day 5:My favorite memory

Day 5- A picture of your favorite memory.

I'm back on the horse! And moving onto my favorite memory (see below).

So my favorite memory is winning a national championship. Obvi. Pretty much the best feeling ever. I tore my ACL my freshman year and after being a suzy sourpuss (up until Cinco de Mayo 2006) I ended up staying at Maryland for 5 years. At first I wasn't really sure if I wanted to stay for 5 years but it was the best decision I ever made. The 2010 season was incredible and to end in a nattty champ was the icing on the cake. Being at Maryland gave me the chance to be part of a family that was even bigger than the 2010 team. I chose this picture because it shows how much support and love we had from every player that had been through the program. I love looking at this photo and seeing that every terp on the field is just as happy and excited as every terp in the stands.

We always say, "Once a terp. Always a terp" and it couldn't have been more true in this moment. I love my terps!

I will not accept failure.....

So I just realized that I missed a day (day #3...to be made up at a later date). Sad news. I really thought I was going to be able to do this challenge....but our lax camp to Minnesota changed up my plans. This weekend has been crazy busy, but in a GREAT way. I think that MN- the families, the players, the adventures, can easily be one of my favorite places to have a lax clinic.

Right now it is technically day 5 but I figure if I post this before I go to bed it will still count for day 4.

Day 4 challenge: take a picture of your night.

I posted two pictures for today because the first one was blurry and didn't do the blog challenge justice since you can hardly make out the photo. Okay, os photo 1 is me on the field at the Minnesota Swarm game at halftime and photo 2 is a legit picture of the actual game of the Swarm vs. Boston Cannons. As you can tell already, I went to Minnesota this weekend and the purpose for my travels was to run a Step Up Clinic. Becky and I ran a clinic on Friday evening, learned to ski on Friday afternoon, hung out with some great families (what upppp Engels & Warners) and then had a clinic on the Swarm field at the Excel Center in downtown St. Paul today.

This evening I got interviewed at halftime of the game and it was pretty cool- which is why I posted the picture. although you may be thinking that I liked it because I was getting attention that wasn't exactly it. During the short interview I got to talk about women's sports and all of the positive influences it can have on your life , I got to promote the growth of lacrosse in Minnesota and I got to encourage young girls to put a stick in their hands and come out to our next camp in Minnesota.

Tonight made me so happy because it was everything I hope to do with my education/Step Up all wrapped into one. It was the beginning of a string of opportunities to draw attention to women's sports and help give back to the game that has given me so much. It seems like a lot of things are starting to come full circle for me in life and that is a great feeling. When I was walking after the interview a few young girls stopped me to talk about lacrosse, and a women stopped me to congratulate me on the Natty Champ, but the best part was a mom who stopped to thank me for encouraging her daughter to get out there and play and for making an effort to reach out to younger girls because it definitely makes a difference. That's what I love to hear.