Pickups

When I titled this post I was thinking of the word "pickup" as a play on a musical pickup (as in, "from the pickup to bar 32") and the notion of a pick-me-up. But then I realized just how many different word plays I could do with it, and, being from Alberta, I felt it was only appropriate to work in a pickup truck. Especially if it could be an old farm truck. Mission accomplished.

I've been writing a paper lately. Or, rather, I've been wrestling with a paper. And quite frankly, it has been kicking my butt. Seriously. Every time I think I've gotten the best of it, it throws a nasty left hook my way and catches me completely off guard. Oh well. It has to be handed in in only a few hours, so it will be done with soon enough. Normally while I'm writing I am big on folky singer/songwriter music. Or jazz. Or classical. But today I needed something upbeat and catchy. Something I could dance in my seat to. So I put together a little play list and thought I would share it with all of you. Just in case you need a pickup while you're working on end of the semester projects, or studying for exams. Or, if you are one of the lucky ones, celebrating the end of classes. I thought about doing this on Grooveshark or 8Tracks or something, but then I realized that a lot of these songs have awesome videos, so I just stuck with good old YouTube.

Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
This song never fails to get me dancing.

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen 
It's. Just. So. Catchy. And the video is pretty funny.

Don't Let Your Feet Touch Ground - Ash Koley 
I dare you not to feel happier after listening to this song.

Stadium Love - Metric
You can't go wrong with Metric. I've had the Fantasies album has been on repeat today.

Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
Just enough country twang for me to love it.

Here It Goes Again - OK Go
An oldie, but a goodie. Plus, dancing on treadmills. (This might be what I imagine doing every time I'm at the gym.)

Hush Hush - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
Another never-fails-to-make-me-dance-like-a-fool song.

Slow Motion Machine Gun - Pearl and the Beard
The ending to this song is such fun.

Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
I will always love this song.

Come Back Down - Greg Laswell (feat. Sara Bareilles)
I might be slightly obsessed with this song. And I might sing along to it every time it comes on.

Angels - The Wooden Sky
Love the foot-stomping opening. Love the tempo change.

King of Anything - Sara Bareilles
This is basically my theme song.

Trucking Through

So we have reached the point in the semester when students begin to realize that 24 hours in a day is simply not enough time to get everything done. Particularly if you want to do small things like sleep or grocery shop (although if you take the time to grocery shop, you probably don't have time to eat...). And if you decide that you should really continue to have some semblance of a social life in order to maintain your sanity you can just forget about accomplishing anything. I've been learning recently that I have to take time for myself and need to make sure to interact with people and take the time to hang out with them. It's the only way to maintain my mental and physical health. Unfortunately I am having a rather hard time balancing full-time school, part-time work and a social life. As a result, the last few weeks of this semester are going to be absolutely crazy. I will get through though. Just have to keep trucking through. Sadly, many days I feel like my truck looks like this one: buried under stuff and in a general state of disrepair.

Speaking of trucking through...I just got back from a whirlwind roadtrip. Friday morning Gabby, Sinead and I set out for La Crete (which, for those of you who are not up and up on your Alberta small towns, is way up north) to go to Rosi and Joe's wedding. It was a whirlwind trip - we left around 10:00 a.m. on Friday and arrived back at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday - but was totally worth it. It was such a beautiful wedding and I am so happy for them. Plus it was just nice to get out of the city for a while. Anyway, the drive back was long (somewhere around 10 hours) and since it was straight through the middle of the night there were definitely some crazy moments. We just pushed through though and made it back safe and sound. I slept from like 7:00 until 12:30 this morning though, so now my internal clock is all wonky. Fortunately this means I can get some more work done.

The picture is from a trip a couple years ago down to Sinead's family farm in Champion. I like how it is such a mess, but can make such a great picture. Beautiful mess. That's often what I look for in photos. Possibly because that is how I feel a lot of the time.

Just a housekeeping note: I'm taking the advice of one of my friends and starting to assign pseudonyms to the people in my life. That way I can tell stories without them getting really complicated. If I post photos of actual people I'll always put their real names (and make sure to ask their permission, obviously) and in cases like Rosi and Joe's wedding I will probably use real names (although, often nicknames that I use in real life). Just thought I would let you know in case you are reading this thinking "I know Bree and her friends, but I don't know a [insert name here]". That's why. You are not going crazy.