My Recent Music Obsessions!

Music has been one of the many ways I’ve been keeping sane aside from the Pinterest therapy that I posted about yesterday!

Its been a while since I’ve posted about my music obsessions. This week, I’ve been really in that phase where I’ve been listening on repeat and/or watching some Youtube vids!

I just feel like this has been way overdue, don’t you?

Ready to get musical with me? Lets go!

First up, we have the single from OneRepublic called Love Runs Out.

I haven’t been a huge fan of OneRepublic until I heard Counting Stars.  Not that I thought they had bad songs because they are all very catchy but they just get on my nerves after a while.  Try turning on the radio and hearing Apologize every single time.  That really does kill any song.  Either way, this song is awesome: nice beat, cool lyrics.  I just can’t help but get all energized! 🙂 No matter how tired I am, I’ll get up and start dancing in my silly way. But  my only audience is my cat so it doesn’t matter 😉

By the way, how cool is that piano? I love it!

Next, we have the very awesome Alex Goot who I love and has a new album Wake Up Call coming out.  I’m so excited! I have it pre-ordered so its just a matter of waiting for it to be released and getting it in the mail.  Maybe he’ll have another tour..who knows? He’s posted up two songs from the album and they have been so fun.  Here’s the headline one since its the same name as the album.

I’m not so much a fan of the video but Alex is really talented and I find him just so amazing.  I like a lot of his music and he rarely has any misses.  Plus, he plays like a ton of instruments and he can pretty much cover a song all by himself.  I hope one day to at least be able to add on guitar and drums to my list of talents.  But I’ve also learned that getting older and learning anything takes so much more time and patience.

After that is a cover by Tiffany Alvord and Alex G of Problem by Ariana Grande. I’m not very familiar with the original but this one is so cute. And they make it kind of friendship and its pretty cool that way.

This one is newer so its a growing obsession 😉 I’m noticing a pattern.  Everything is just so happy to listen to!

Finally, I know you probably don’t have time for a million songs so this one is the most meaningful one, I think.  I saw these two young boys on Ellen Show and then went to search out the actual performance on Britain’s Got Talent. They are called Bars & Melody and the message is awesome, not to mention they are both very talented.

It has a whole bunch of talking in the beginning which is pretty funny with the judges but if you want to just hear their performance, it actually starts at 2:35.

Wasn’t it impressive? Talent comes in all ages, right? Thats the perfect example that some kids are great because he’s so young but he knows how to change something negative and let it out in a positive creative way and finding a way to help himself.  Bullying is an issue thats been brought up very frequently in the last few years (I find) and to hear it from someone young and actually going through it makes this song very genuine. It kind of brought tears to my eyes.

Those are my current music obsessions! I’m still very much in love with Chromeo’s Jealous (I Ain’t With It) but I already shared that HERE! I’ve been thinking that these Pinterest therapy and music obsessions post deserve their own spot on the menu.  I’ll have to figure that out 😉

What are your current music obsessions? 

Family, Food and Fun Updates! :)

This weekend, my aunt and uncle dropped in from Toronto.  The last time they visited was for my graduation in 2009 to catch up and see how Montreal has changed.  I can’t say that Montreal would be very impressive with all the bad publicity but home is home, right? Still, spring is well on its way with an (over)abundance of rain.  The tulips are all out.  Just waiting for them to bud and bloom 😉 Seeing them keeps reminding me that I need to start my herb garden very soon.

Enough of my rambling! The past week was pretty cool. I survived my massive deadline with an impressively little amount of sleep and overtime hours.  Still, at least thats over so I can breathe and I have a ton of blogs ready to be drafted for the coming week. Although I haven’t written as much, I have thought about launching a long term movie project, just thinking up how to approach it.

Back on track, one of my many revelations that almost resulted in a very long rant post (which I might still do) sprouted from work and this quotes sums up how I am trying my very best to get over what happened.

So far, its been pretty unsuccessful which leads to a second point, where I’m thinking long and hard about making some changes in my life, especially in the work and career area.  Sure, I just bought a house so there’s discussion on the whole financial aspect of things.

Now that we’ve landed on that topic – my house.  Remember my bathroom that I talked about last week with that soothing blue.  Here’s what it looks like:

As for the house, we just managed to get the den painted also but we are held behind because one of the rooms has some bad plastering issues from the previous owner that my boyfriend and his dad are going to have to fix before painting more.  As random as it seems (but so me), I thought this picture was so cute which shows all the colors we’ve used so far.

Colorful Paint Rolls

Another really awesome thing this week was that I went to go see a movie all by myself.  Maybe, a bunch of you think its not a big deal BUT its my very first time and I experienced the power of a playoffs game in Montreal and an empty theatre.  I went to go see Brick Mansions (review will be up tomorrow) and I walked into an empty theatre 5 minutes before the movie started and a few people did file in afterwards. We’ll leave the rest of that story for later.

Friday was the day that my aunt and uncle arrived and on Saturday night, I took them out to my favorite restaurant that I’ve mentioned on various occasions, Mrs. Amigos.  With a bigger party this time, including my mom and my boyfriend as well, we all got to try different choices on the menu. We started with some mussels which I didn’t get a picture of but here’s the rest:

Vegetable Soup

Roasted Duck in Orange Sauce

Sirloin Steak with Portobello mushroom and fries

Souffle

Fried Sole Fillet

Garlic Shrimp with Salad and Rice

1/2 Lobster with Seafood Linguine

I had the Garlic Shrimps which was delicious.  I shouldn’t have but I tried a little bit of the souffle (which my stomach didn’t quite like afterwards) but my taste buds did 😉 Everyone enjoyed their meal a lot and that made me really happy.  If you ever come to Montreal, I highly suggest this restaurant

What do you think? Delicious? Feeling hungry yet? 

Generally, thats what my weekend consisted of but before I leave you and go nurse this ridiculous cold that came over me and I’m just sneezing and runny nose non stop for the past day, I’m going to share some music, a cool video movie/story and a quote 🙂

I’m going to start with the cool video from Wong Fu Productions called A World Away.  It has hints of Another Earth but in a narrative of love.

Its really awesome! The background music is nice and the dialogue is good. What do you think about it?

Now for some music! I love Boyce Avenue and they just had this Billboard article on them that I’m super happy for them because they deserve every bit of it.  They are just so talented.  I love the song Say Something.  The few that I actually really like the original but their cover is beautiful.

And then we have an original from Alex Goot, another very talented singer who has a new album to be released soon.

Listening to music always helps me clear up some of my thoughts and I think after hearing some news regarding my life and the ones around me. This quote that I read earlier today wraps up how I feel about life right now.

I always talk to my boyfriend about how a lot of the newer generation feel they are entitled to everything they have without really putting in the work and effort but if time and life experiences (in my short 28 years of life) has taught me, we aren’t entitled to anything.  I’m thankful for the people in my life, thankful that I have this space and that you all drop by and hang out and that I’ve “met” all of you.  I’m thankful that I have a job and even if its never the best, but it could also be a lot worse.  We have what we have and everything that happens has a reason and in the end, we all learn something from it. Maybe you interpret it the same way, but thats just my view on it!

Now that I’ve gone all preachy.  My nighttime cold meds are kicking in and my eyes are closing gradually so I will end this now.

Good night from us to you!

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

P.S. I may be sick but I’m back and I’m going to make up for my lack of movie reviews and baking 😉 It feels awesome to be able to sit down and write again. By the way, if you have time, check out my new blog, Days Nights and Daydreams because I have a new segment there and I should have another one coming up soon also 🙂 I’ve been trying to put more energy into building that one also. While I adjust, please stick with me!

This Week’s: Music Obsessions (plus a little update and some help)!

Its been a while since I’ve done a music obsessions session! I usually like these quite a bit.  Plus, it fills on the rather eventless week.

Unless you’d like to listen to me rant on about my ridiculously bad days and the crazy busy days that go too fast and well, that I’d really hope for all of you to wish for some miracle where I can pull off this deadline.  Today has embarked into 10 hour work day already, and as the end of the month inches closer, tomorrow looks pretty intense.  Not really looking forward to that so yes, my MP3 is loaded with new music to get me through and when in doubt, I have my trusty radio (although they haven’t been playing really good music).  I don’t know about your stations but every time I turn on mine, its either player Timber (*rolls eyes*) or some Rihanna song.  I’m not a huge fan to begin with as in I tolerated it when it first started but now, its just getting annoying.

Ah, the ranting started…I’m so sorry.  Let me get back on track!

I’d have to take back that this week was eventless.  It actually was pretty busy with hangouts with friends and house stuff.   Before we get to the music, lets give you a few updates on my house renovation progress 🙂

My boyfriend had a week off and he was mega awesome and while I found little bits of time here and there to start shifting my stuff over (such as winter clothes). He officially finished everything for the master bedroom and can sleep in there now.  We have a lovely shade of purplish-brown with trimmings of an off whitish-yellow.  It looks really awesome! Seriously, its way better than I had imagined.  Plus, my bathroom color was a guesstimate when we went to buy the paint and it was THIS COLOUR! Its still missing the trimmings but the bathroom is absolutely soothing to look at 🙂 I don’t know who showers and looks at the ceiling but I know I’ll be admiring it quite a bit and drifting off into my zone.

Nothing really beats how I really felt this quote represents my weekend.

This weekend, my best friend had some good news to share which actually makes me so happy for her.  Seeing the people I love happy really makes me feel great.  But, my best friend knows me well enough that she initiate a hangout in my busy time because she knew that I needed it to just breath and chat.  We ended up going for dinner then karaoke but nothing really replaces that feeling of her just being there for me and making sure I’m going to make it through this crazy time.  She doesn’t read the blog normally but she knows that I thank her so much for taking me out.

I’ve been really lacking on the movie reviews front and Netflix is joining forces to mess with me because I have 5 movies expiring on May 1st and only a few days to watch it.  So I need to make some choices.  What movie do you think is a must-see among these five?

• Less Than Zero (1987)
• Welcome to the Rileys (2010)
• From Paris with Love (2010)
• Anna and the King (1999)
• An Invisible Sign (2010)

Please tell me in the comments and tell me what you think? 

Now that all the business is out of the way, I’ve been listening on repeat these songs 🙂

 Crazy For You – Hedley

I’ve never been much of a Hedley fan but somehow this song is really addictive and catchy.  Plus, I just checked out the video this weekend and I think its pretty cool 🙂

We Are Stars – Virginia to Vegas (ft Alyssa Reid)

This song is inspiring and encouraging.  Its not about love but just a boost of energy to listen to. It matches what I need nowadays! 🙂

Story of My Life – One Direction (Alex Goot cover)

This one is the most recent one as this cover was only out this weekend, I believe. I really like Alex Goot a lot and I love it when he does videos where he does everything: guitar, drums, voice, piano. It shows how talented it is and I aspire to be like him one day. As much as I love his collab covers and original works, I like that he went back to this roots for this cover 🙂

What song(s) have you been listening to on repeat?

Now that I’ve taken a little break from work (that I brought home, yes) and written up some nice positive stuff, I’m feeling a lot more relaxed and ready to be focused and hopefully get into turbo mode 🙂

So yes, I’ll be waiting for your suggestions for which Netflix movie to start with.  It’ll be my companion tonight, haha!

Okay! Break over! Back to work!!

Fun Times at the Concert!

I love music! Its part of my life.

Some time 2-3 years ago (or maybe longer) I started falling in love with YouTube independent artists.  I believe the first person to spark my attention was Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Schneider.  I have shared some of their music before.  Due to my vacation week and not sure when I would be home, I had to also postpone getting the tickets to their first ever concert and it was along with Alex Goot (another very awesome independent artist) and a bunch of other great groups.

Last Friday, I finally decided that this was really something I wanted to do and there were still tickets left for last night’s show! My best friend came with me.  It was great of her to do so even if she wasn’t as into this as me.  I love the atmosphere of these standing concerts where we get to really move around and have fun with the artists on stage, scream and cheer them on with everybody else in the audience and just have a whole lot of fun! I’ve been to concerts like these at Metropolis and Cafe Campus but this one was called La Tulipe and it was a pretty good venue! 🙂

Somehow, I missed part of the first group that went on and didn’t even catch their group name but they did a really good job.

The group we went in that had started playing!

After that we had a local band go on called Perfect Sideline!

Perfect Sideline!

There are always treasures to be found in these gigs and this group was mine! They totally rocked it and was fantastic! When they were doing the transition, I went right ahead to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.  Ah..the wonders of having a smart phone, right? Do things before I forget! SCORE!

Next up, we were joined by King The Kid.  A group that I started following when they were another name, Wellington, before one of their team members left. I have been a bit slack on that so I wasn’t as up to date with their music.

King The Kid –> Lead Vocalist

However, this group is energetic and they have great band members.  Ricky plays the heck out of those drums for one!

Ricky –> is awesome on the drums and great on guitar!

I will strive to catch up with their music now! 🙂

After that, they were followed by Against the Current.  I’ve only followed this group when they do collab videos with other independent artists that I follow on YouTube.  They are pretty good as well! The lead singer is a very energetic girl and she teams up with 3 other guys to play the guitar, bass and drums (I think?)

Against the Current

Right when we thought the wait could be no more, FINALLY Kurt and Sam enter the stage and they start.

Sam Tsui and Kurt Schneider doing acoustic

The crowd goes even more wild than they were before! They hit it off to heat up the whole crowd and everyone is in love with their on stage appeal and charisma.  I can tell you right now! I LOVE THESE GUYS!

Sam Tsui

I supported their Kickstarter project and I’m waiting patiently for my copy of the CD to arrive in the mail.  I hope its soon because all those videos they’ve done on the new music is fantastic and I cannot wait to hear it all! Put it in my car and just drive around singing to their awesomeness!

After waiting and waiting and waiting alongside some great music, I was ready for Alex Goot to finally makes his appearance!

Alex Goot accompanied by another awesome artist Luke Conard on guitar!

This tour is in his name and he is the highlight! He did a lot of originals from his album In the Atmosphere (which I own and put in my MP3 to listen to all the time) and he also did some great covers! My favorite is always his rendition of A Thousand Miles originally by Vanessa Carlton.  Love it!

Unfortunately, my best friend had to leave halfway through the final act with Alex Goot but I stayed to enjoy the rest of the show and then ran outside afterwards to get pictures with these talented artists 🙂

King the Kid with their camera!

I didn’t get a picture with them mostly because I was intimidated by the constant crowd around them…I would’ve missed all the public transport to get home. Then guess who walks right out of the doors: PERFECT SIDELINE! The guys who is the keyboard and vocals and their drummer! They were so nice!

Perfect Sideline vocals and drummer

After that, Luke Conard had gotten out front also and I went to get a picture with him.  This guy is awesome! Its too bad he didn’t get to sing tonight.  He has an amazing voice!

Luke Conard Take#1

Luke Conard Take#2

So much fun! He actually took two shots with me.  Very awesome!

Right after, Sam Tsui emerges from the bus and I follow everyone and try to get my chance to get a picture with him.  Sam is totally cool!

Sam Tsui

After that, my final artist that I caught was Kurt Schneider! He’s super nice! I love his music and how creative he is! Love him so much! Plus, he doesn’t sing often but he has an awesome voice as well and plays tons of instruments! 🙂 My inspiration, I tell you!

Kurt Hugo Schneider

By that time, I had wanted to wait for Alex Goot to come out but it was already 11pm and I had to walk to the subway stop which was a good 10 minutes or so away and then catch the bus to get back home!

It was an amazing and fun night! I was so hyped up and it was worth almost losing my voice!

Seriously hope that they perform in Montreal again and if they don’t, in close enough cities that I can go away for the weekend (if it lands on the weekend)! Totally worth it 🙂 Check them out on YouTube if you get a chance! They seriously are amazing artists! 🙂

I might post some of the videos from the performances after I string them together and upload it to YouTube 🙂

Have a great weekend!!