Today the husband and I have been married for exactly 4 years. You know how people always talk about time flying? Yeah, this is one of those moments. The craziest part about this being our four-year anniversary is how much can change in only a matter of four years. To think of the two 23 year olds who got married in that church in, Evanston, IL four years ago, compared to the parents knocking on 30’s door year olds we are today…a lot has changed.Read More
Jesse Williams' BET Speech
This won’t be a long blog post with personal life lessons or confessions. It’s the second Thursday of Black History Month, and I felt it necessary to share Jesse William’s amazing speech he gave at the BET Awards last summer for today’s, Throwback Thursday.Read More
Mr. Sandman
Today is Monday, October 24th, which means we’re exactly a week away from Halloween. With all of the Halloween festivities and parties going on throughout this week and upcoming weekend I can’t help but to get excited for some Halloween movie themed movie nights. Read More
Happy Birthday, Billie!
Today, Billie Holiday a.k.a. Lady Day, would have been 101 years old. I have always liked Jazz music, but my love for Jazz music really bloomed about 5 years ago. Naturally, Billie became one of my favorite jazz singers, ever. There is something about her music where you can feel the passion and/or pain in her voice, but she makes it sound like the most beautiful sultry voiced passion and/or pain you have ever heard. I am only 27 years young so Lady Day was well before “my time” as the older folks like to say lol, but quality music knows no age. I wish I could say I got to see a legendary musician such as Billie perform live, but I thankfully have her collection of beautiful music to listen to until the end of time. I will share my favorite Billie Holiday song with you called, Good Morning Heartache, below. I’m sure I’ve probably shared this song before at some point in time of my blogging history, but you can never have too much Billie in your life, especially this song. 😉
Happy birthday, Lady Day! I hope you’re resting easy.
Brie <3
[04.07.16]
“So Beautiful”
Happy Wednesday, everybody! We’re slowly approaching the first official day of Spring, but here in Montana, we’ve been lucky enough to have Spring like temperatures for the last month or more. It’s been strange to not be freezing while walking outside, but I’m not complaining at all. The Spring season always gets me in the mood for many Spring related things, but no matter what I do regarding Spring time, it’s not right to do it without some music.
Musiq Soulchild’s song “So Beautiful” always reminds me of Spring time. It takes me right back to Spring of 2009 in college, which reminds me of the nicer weather and great memories with friends. However, you simply can’t complain about a Musiq Soulchild song, right?
So enjoy the song, as I enjoy the weather, and if the Spring weather hasn’t reached you yet, just know it’s almost here!
Happy (almost) Spring, folks! 🙂
Brie <3
[03.16.16]
Jazz Music Love
This Sunday is Valentine’s Day as I’m sure you all have noticed by now. My husband and I have dinner, family time, and gifts planned for this weekend. But if you ask me, what is a weekend of love without the greatest genre of love music? (Don’t debate me on this. Jazz music is every emotion but above all it’s LOVE). In addition to it being Valentine’s Day weekend it is still Black History Month. I decided I wanted to share a post with a few of my favorite jazz love ballads by some of my favorite Black jazz musicians. Prayerfully, one day soon, the majority of my fellow Black people will come back to appreciating real music again. Music sharing the beauty of love and beautifully explaining heartache. Music that uplifts our people and those around us. Music that expresses our grace and strength through the perfect match up of instruments and words.
Fellas, if you’re wanting to impress the lady in your life, play one (or all) of these beautiful songs for her, and watch her be impressed with your caring, impeccable, and sophisticated taste in music. 😉
I hope you all have a weekend filled with love. Always remember sharing and spreading love on Valentine’s Day is not limited to those who have a significant other. Whoever you chose to spend the weekend with I hope you all have a fun, love filled, and safe weekend.
Throwback (Music) Thursday
I didn’t realize Aaliyah and Sade share the same birthday until earlier this week. How I’ve never known this information before then I’m not sure, because Aaliyah and Sade, are two of my favorite artists. I’ve known for a while I wanted to share a throwback song for this Thursday’s blog post. Since their birthdays were less than a week ago it lined up perfectly for me to use one song from each of these ladies for timeless throwback music.
As a 90’s kid, Aaliyah was the definition of perfection so many girls like myself wanted to be. Her death is still one that hurts my heart all of these years later. Thankfully, as a musical artist, one thing that will remain forever is her music. On the other hand, I have always known who Sade was because my family listened to her music, but didn’t get into her music until I got older. I’ve heard the line “Sade makes music for grown folks” for many years, and it’s only since I have gotten older I understand what the adults meant. Sade makes music for people who are so deeply in love or have experienced deep love that it’s truly something a younger child wouldn’t grasp. In honor of their birthdays and throwback Thursday I will share my favorite song by each of these lovely ladies below.
P.S.- Apparently musical artists born on January 16th are drop dead GORGEOUS because…look at their faces!
Happy throwback Thursday, everyone! Enjoy the music and the rest of your evening.
Brie <3
[01.21.16]
My Old School “Man Crate”
If you are like 99.9% of the world, we love the nostalgic feeling of going down memory lane in our lives. Particularly, our childhood and what made it so special and different from other generational childhood memories. I was recently contacted by the community manager for a company called, “Man Crates“, after she read my blog post from a few months ago titled “90’s TV Show Theme Songs“, to contribute ideas towards an old school create idea. Man Crates is a company who specifically concentrates on putting together “out of the box” creative gifts for men. We all know how difficult it can be to think of an anniversary, birthday, or Father’s Day gift for the special men in our lives, and this company has made life a little easier for all of us. What is even more unique about their gifts is, instead of being wrapped up or put in a decorative bag like most presents, the gifts are shipped inside actual crates with a personal crowbar to open them. Which is where the name “Man Crates” comes from.
As a person who was born in the late 80’s, 1988 to be exact, I am extremely nostalgic about the 90’s. From the TV shows, to the popular toys and food, it takes me right back to my childhood. Some of the memories are so vivid I can even remember what I wearing and/or where I was at the exact moment. If I was able to get ahold of any items from the 1990’s and I had to build my own Old School Crate from scratch, I would put these items in the crate:
1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (movie)
I was quite the tomboy when I was younger so if there is one movie I know for sure would bring back a rush of great memories it is for sure this one. I mean what more could we want at our age that was better than turtles who happen to be ninjas, fighting bad guys in the city, who ate pizza all day long? Exactly. There is nothing better than this image when you’re a child. Not to mention they were all named after Renaissance artists, which means not only was the movie entertaining, but it was also partially educational in teaching us about artists’ names we would learn down the road in school. Go TMNT!
2) Power Rangers (seasons 1-5)
While on the topic of movies/television shows, Power Rangers was the all time classic TV show for our generation. Boys and girls rushed home after school to be sure we were in front of the TV to watch these amazing people transform into the greatest animals and dinosaurs, and kick butt to save Angel Grove from all of the bad guys. Especially those annoying putties! Okay, so I’m getting a little into it, but you get the point. The theme show music alone was enough to hype us up and want to jump off of our parents furniture doing kick splits and front flips.
3) Pokemon Cards
Fun fact: I have known my husband since before we were old enough to remember meeting each other. This information is relevant because I remember being younger and him collecting Pokemon cards in a binder to keep them organized. Or as I should say, my husband, and every other little boy in our age group. I was not a die-hard Pokemon fan as most other girls, but I did watch it here and there. However, Pokemon cards/trading sessions were seriously like a well constructed cult that demanded you know the secret password, know all 2 million names of the Pokemon off the top of your head, oh…and be a boy.
4) Surge
There were plenty of foods and drinks in the 90’s that were very specific to our generation. However, I believe Surge is the one drink nobody could forget if they tried. The advertisement for the drink alone was enough to scare parents to not buy this drink for their children. But we all know how it goes; we took a shopping trip to the grocery store with Mom, we saw Surge, we asked begged for it and we were told “NO”, we asked begged even louder (added some extra whining and borderline tears for special effects), and eventually drove Mom crazy enough for her to say “PUT IT IN THE CART ALREADY”! Once we were home and able to drink it, Mom quickly realized the mistake she had made. Ahhhh, yes, childhood memories.
5) Sock’em Boppers
I’m pretty sure ALL of my cousins and friends had these. I guarantee as soon as someone opened my crate the song from the commercial would get stuck in their head immediately. “Sock’em boppers! Sock’em boppers”! This was such a wonderful and terrible idea wrapped into one. Fighting wasn’t good unless you were fighting with big balloon like plastic bubbles wrapped around your fist as you threw several punches to someone’s stomach or possibly their eye. Either way, all that mattered was you had the time of your life while doing so. I wanted a pair very badly, but my Mother told me my Power Rangers gloves were enough. Now that I am a parent, I completely understand her thinking.
I hope this post has most of you going down memory lane and reminiscing about the 90’s. I know it definitely has me feeling quite nostalgic after thinking and typing it out. Maybe one day, if you or a loved one plans to send and/or receives an Old School Man Crate, some of these items will be in there to enjoy. If any of you order a Man Crate after reading this post, please leave a comment or send an email to me about your experience and if you recommend it to anyone else. I now know what I will be getting my husband for Christmas this year. Thanks to Alex for reaching out to me for my own personal ideas and sending me on a wonderful memory journey! 🙂
Brie <3
[07.21.15]
“Beauty”
I love R&B music. I specifically love 90’s R&B when male and female R&B groups were everywhere making great music. So you will see a lot of 90’s R&B music/groups on my page for music days. This song came on my Pandora station the other day, and you know that feeling you get when you hear one of your favorite songs? This song does it to me every time.
Enjoy the “Beauty” of today and enjoy some Dru Hill to make it even better 🙂
Brie <3
[05.20.15]
“Stand By Me”
Ironically, I had this blog post scheduled to post on Sunday. But I woke up this morning, and read Ben E. King passed away yesterday, and felt it was only right to post it today instead. A beautiful song to remember a beautiful man.
R.I.P. Ben E. King.
We’ve all seen the classic movie “Stand By Me,” but nothing quite compares to the song by Ben E. King. This is such a simple and beautiful song. All of these years later, and you can still find people from all generations and backgrounds who can sing this song to you word for word. If that isn’t the definition of timeless music and a great song, I don’t know what is. Enjoy this beautiful song and share it with someone you would love to have stand by you for the rest of time. I promise they will more than appreciate your loving gesture.
Have a beautiful first day of May!
Brie <3
[05.01.15]