speak to me: lyrical inspiration

This is a new weekly feature I'd like to bring to the blog called "speak to me."  I will highlight lyrics, poetry, a passage from a book, an inspiring quote, etc. that I find particularly striking.  They might be funny, sad, inspirational, whatever.  I'm a lyricist, a poet, and an avid reader so I'd like to document the words that are currently inspiring me and my writing.  Hopefully they'll inspire you too!  Enjoy.

this is my face
i've got a thousand opinions
and half the time i'm trying to explain

and this is my body
and no matter how you try and disable it
yes, i'll still be here

and this is my mind
and though you try to infringe
you cannot confine

and this is my brain

and even if you try and hold me back

there's nothing that you can gain

'cause i use mouthwash

sometimes i floss

i've got a family

and i drink cups of tea

i've got nostalgic pavements

i've got familiar faces

i've got mixed-up memories

and i've got favorite places

- "mouthwash" by kate nash

Lake Placid.

This past weekend Ryan and I drove up to Lake Placid, NY to meet my parents and my brother Nick.  Nick is 12 and a hockey player (you may remember him as co-writer/guitarist of our Harry Potter song) and had spent the previous week in Lake Placid's CAN/AM Hockey camp.  My parents had decided to stay up there for the week and use it as their vacation.  After much begging and pleading Ryan and I decided to take the long drive up and spend the weekend.  Boy am I glad we did.

Crossing the Mohawk River on I-87.

We drove up late on Friday night.

The view of Mirror Lake from my parent's hotel room balcony.  Sigh.

The phrase "purple mountain majesties" comes to mind.

Lake Placid and Mirror Lake are so breathtaking.  I live in a small city right off of a highway, so views like this are few and far between at home.  The air up there was so clear and the water was so clean.  It was definitely a little bit magical.  Plus I got to spend time with my brother Nick, who I missed so much!

Nick and I.  Isn't he handsome?

My brother is growing up so fast and let me tell you he is getting bigger by the day.  He's already got an inch or two on me (not that it's hard) and I think he'll be even taller by 2012.  There is actually a ten year age difference between Nick and I, but the way we get along you'd never know it.  Mostly I chalk it up to the fact that I also behave like a 12 year old boy in most situations.  Seriously though, he's an amazing guitarist and singer and a great hockey player.  The kid is going places fast.

All in all it was a great weekend.  I only wish we could have stayed longer!  So are there any other weekend warriors out there who are making up for a lack of vacation time by making weekend trips?  Got any more tricks up your sleeve before the summer comes to an end?


PS: I'd like to thank all the people who offered such great advice and kind words in response to my last post.  I really appreciated the support.  =)

where is my mind?

Confession time: I kind of feel like I'm running uphill with this blog right now.  There are so many things that I need to do and it seems like I don't have the time or the funds to do them.  I keep having setbacks and I was starting to get really discouraged, until I saw this photo on my friend Kaitlin's tumblr.

"order up." by flikr user danisoul

Sometimes I really just need to remind myself: I started this blog as a fun, creative outlet through which I could share my music and meet people.  I did not start it to add more pressure and stress to my life.  I'm not going for the best blog of the universe award or anything.  Yes, it sucks that I currently cannot find my digital camera, my video camera's battery charger, or any of their connecting wires.  But then I remind myself, I just moved in June.  There are still a few unpacked boxes that are probably hiding these items.  Yes, this means that all the videos and photos that I'd like to be posting here are trapped on their devices or are as of yet unrealized.  But that doesn't mean that I'm "failing" at this blog.  It just means I have to wait a little to post those things and I need to be a little creative with the content in the mean time.  No big deal.  Yes, it would be nice if I could afford a digital SLR camera (like the Nikon D3100 I've had my eye on), so I could take my blog photos to the next level. But I'm living the broke life, and it's better to be realistic and remind myself I have to use my money for things like food and rent and bills.  And isn't this a good incentive to work a little harder at finding paid gigs for the band to play?  Yes, it sucks that my blog's layout isn't as unique and beautiful as I'd like it to be.  But that doesn't mean I can't change it in the future.  Sure, I can't afford a web designer right now.  But that doesn't mean the blog will look like this forever.  I'll figure it out.  That's the thing I really need to remind myself.  I always figure it out.  I may suffer from anxiety.  Sometimes I let it get the best of me.  But then I remind myself, I always resurface on the other side.  Usually with a solution.  So this post is going to be my reminder to be at peace with the state of my blog.  There is no reason for these silly little problems to get me flustered.  It stops today.

This is what's important: I am putting myself out there.  I haven't put myself out there in a while and it can be kind of scary.  But I like myself, so it doesn't matter if other people don't.  I like my music and I have to play it, it's bursting out of me.  If people don't like it, who cares.  I'll play it anyway.

So how about you?  I'm sure you all have a million silly little problems that you let bother you, even when you know better.  How do you remind yourself of what's really important?