tegan & sara {find beauty friday}

I have a bit of a confession to make today.  I enter giveaways on blogs.  I spend my Saturday mornings entering anything that someone is giving away that I deem worth my time, more than $25 and if it's something I would use.  It only takes me a few hours of my morning.  The husband works on Saturdays so it is not taking away from our time together.  That is what Sundays are for. phew, that felt good to get out. 

Anyway, about two weeks ago I got an email from Melyssa from The Nectar Collective letting me know I won the $130 to Amazon and $100 to Etsy giveaway she held on her blog.  I have won my fair share of these giveaways but it is always like Christmas morning when I get a notification saying that my time paid off.  Then while I was hanging out with my girlfriends, that same week, the husband sent me a message letting me know he won tickets to see Tegan & Sara through a local radio station WYEP.   The freebie gods were working in our favor. (he's not around to confirm it, but I think he played the lottery shortly after.) 

Despite WYEP forgetting to add us to their guest list, we had a great night in the city and listening to some live music.  Tegan & Sara put on one of hell of a show.  By far one of my favorite shows I have been to in a while.   

Do you enter giveaways?

If so, have you been lucky?

Are a Tegan & Sara fan?

Have you gone to any concerts lately?

and because my ears are still ringing (in a good way)...

Linking up with Aimee and Whitney today!

Music Monday

I love discovering new music.  One of my life's missions is to discover new music that no one I know knows and share with them the greatness of what I have discovered.  I have always enjoyed a good tune.  Growing up in the south, I first liked country then my taste turned to pop then again to country.  It was not until the Garden State OST that I was introduced to indie rock and my love for this genre truly began.  

Back when it was cool to have Myspace (yes, it was once cool) I loved browsing for different artists to play on my page.  I love the feeling as though I am the one to discover the artist.  My love for great and unique music has only gotten greater as I have gotten older.  Lucky for me, husband and I share the same taste.  

While I know they are more popular now, some of my favorites are Death Cab for Cutie, Florence & The Machine, The xx, Bon Iver, Adele, The Postal Service and Mumford & Sons.  

I am very lucky to live in a city that has a radio station (WYEP) that plays the type of music I have grown to so admire, love and have a passion for.  It was WYEP that recently introduced me to my 

(and now husbands) new favorite band.  Frightened Rabbit.  They are from Scotland with a frontman who fits the image of a Scottish man singing in an indie rock band perfectly and sounds very similar to everyone's favorite Grey's Anatomy circa 2006 Snow Patrol.  

Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital 

Since "discovering" them I have been playing their Pandora radio station all weekend and cannot get enough.  Seriously.  Every song is, in my humble opinion, amaze balls.   Yes, that good.  And what a better way to end your Monday and start your holiday week than with new music to help get you through.    

I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have and do pass on the good word if you do.  But please not too much because I really don't want have to pay more than $50 to see them in concert (I know how selfish of me).  Thanks in advance:)

Cheers to another Monday gone and one day closer to the long weekend ahead of us (at least in the US)! 

Music Love

I love good music and am always looking for new music to listen to and add to my iPod/iPhone.  My favorite station to listen to in Pittsburgh is  91.3 WYEP.  Plays great music (mostly Indie Rock) with few interruptions.  On my drive to work during the week around 7:15, Cindy (the Morning Mix DJ, for lack of a better word) announces the Daily Feedback.  The Daily Feedback is a list of three songs that are played every day at 4:20 (giggle giggle) chosen by the WYEP staff from a category named that morning.  Today's category: "Songs you hated as a child, but like as an adult."

Cindy introduced the topic by saying how common it is for us, as adults, to hear music we loved as a child but cringe when we hear it now.  For me personally, I love hearing songs from my childhood.  Popular music played in my house during childhood were Wilson Phillips, Bonnie Rait and Van Morrison.  I don't necessarily cringe when I hear them but laugh instead at my parents' taste in music and what was once popular.  My first concert was Hootie & The Blowfish... with my parents.  Go ahead and laugh (but chances are you had their CD).  Even though I may be embarrassed by parents' (mine by default) choice in music I can't help but feel nostalgic and smile from whatever memory that song brings.

This morning I literally laughed out loud when the first song Cindy played after announcing the Daily Feedback:

Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass

Holy flashback!  This song immediately took me back to driving with the fam to the Memphis Zoo in my parents' Suburban (so economical I know) circa 1992.  Amazing what a song can do.  

For those of you who are interested the three songs chosen for the Daily Feedback today were John Prine "Donald & Lydia," Joni Mitchell "The Last Time I Saw Richard," and Steely Dan "Green Earrings."  Any of those ring a bell for you?  Yeah, me either.  

With all that being said, what are your favorite songs from childhood?  Or are you too embarrassed to share;)???

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Friday Photo Dump:

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Heading to a concert tonight with Chris and some coworkers!  Hoping to have my camera with me to get some photos.  I'll be sure to share what I can with y'all later.  

Happy Weekend!