Without music, life would be a mistake.

Today is a GREAT day to share some of the things I’m loving in the world of music. Why? Because of this…

Last night I was reading and waiting for Mike to get home from work when I got a Facebook notification on my phone that he had tagged me in a picture. Mike only posts pictures of me when they’re embarrassing, so I was not looking forward to seeing what was now on Facebook. Instead of a pic of me sleeping in the car (which are his favorites to post apparently), I saw a pic of 2 tickets to see the Legends of the Summer tour with the caption “Taryn don’t make plans for August 13th.” I texted him immediately – “WTF” – and commented on the pic “WHAT?!” and then called his work when he didn’t respond within 30 seconds haha. Can you tell I’m excited?! Best. Boyfriend. Ever.

Moving on.. Hanson’s new album came out yesterday!

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Unfortunately, I’m just not really a big fan of Anthem so far. Their last album was so good because it was FUN. This one just sounds darker, and I don’t think it works for them. Doesn’t matter because I still love them, but I was hoping for something a little better. (I do like the first single from this album, though – “Get The Girl Back.”)

Mae Whitman (Parenthood, Arrested Development, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, etc.) posted this video on Twitter a couple days ago. If you don’t watch Parenthood, you might not enjoy it, but I thought it was awesome and kept laughing at the guys (especially Sam Jaeger.. aka hottie on the escalator). Also, I loved LFO when I was younger, so hearing this song made me happy (even if it’s not LFO singing it). “Shooby doo wop and Scooby snacks…”

Last, but most certainly not least, is The Postal Service. They are currently on tour and I am so sad I didn’t go to any of the shows. I heard the following song for the first time as a junior in high school and fell in love with it almost immediately. Give Up was definitely one of my top 5 most played albums through high school and college, and I’m so glad they decided to do a tour this year.. even if I didn’t get to see them.

What’s your favorite song at the moment? Any concerts coming up?

What a Weekend!

What a marvelous weekend!

Friday night was The Lumineers concert! So so good.
If you have the chance to see them live, you really should.

Keep your head up, keep your love.

The picture doesn’t do the concert any justice. I don’t really know what to say other than.. it was awesome. I love when the crowd gets SO into a song.. you can just tell how much everyone loves the band, or at least the song they’re singing. That’s how it was when they played “Ho Hey.” Watch this tour video for “Flowers in My Hair” and pay attention to the lead singer’s leg. I actually think his leg was my favorite part of the entire concert hahah.

I spent Saturday morning shopping. What’s more marvelous than that?

Marshall’s + Target + Bed Bath & Beyond =

Later that afternoon, Mike and I headed to Isle of Palms for a beach day. There are two parking lots at IOP, and both were closed because they were full (first time I’ve ever seen that). After 30 minutes of driving around, one of the lots started letting people in and we were able to park. It was way past lunchtime, so we went to Luke ‘n Ollie’s for food and drinks.

Strawberry Pina Colada.. perfect for a gorgeous beach day!

Then it was beach time! My beach read of the moment is Revenge Wears Prada, but I spent most of the time we were there napping – I guess the late bedtime and early wake-up call, followed by hours of running around town caught up with me.

Lazy beach day

It took us an hour to get home.. which is ridiculous because we live less than 6 miles from the beach. There had been accidents on both bridges, and it felt like we were sitting in a parking lot. We were so glad to get home and watch The OC hahaha.

Sunday was spent in Kiawah, the Happiest Seaside Town in America. We rented bikes with some friends and spent 2 1/2 hours just riding around Kiawah, taking it all in.

These signs were everywhere, but we didn’t see any alligators. :/

So close to a crane!

Prettiest trails to ride <3

We stopped at the Kiawah General Store for some cold beers and rode onto the beach for some rest and relaxation. The day ended with pizza and drinks at La Tela Pizzeria. It was truly a perfect day, which was just the end of a marvelously perfect weekend!

Happy Monday! What was marvelous about YOUR weekend?

High Five! It’s Friday!

 

1. WE’RE GOING TO SEE THE LUMINEERS TONIGHT!
I’m just a little bit excited

2. This coffee mug has been my best friend this week. Seriously.

3. I started reading Lean In last night, and I’m really glad I did.
“Ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it.”

4. Banana chips + peanut butter chips + white chocolate chunks = YES.

5. It was 84ºF at 10:30 last night. This is not a joke.
Apparently summer has rolled into the lowcountry ahead of schedule this year.

Linking up with Lauren for H54F

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What do you have going on this weekend?

Throwback Thursday: JJ the Jetta

I love the whole Throwback Thursday thing – the few times I’ve participated on Instagram, I’ve had so much fun taking a walk down memory lane to find the right picture to share, and I did my own throwback post about my One Tree Hill-inspired trip to Wilmington, NC a couple weeks ago. Bonnie at The Life of Bon has started a TBT link-up for the summer with a different topic each week.. I’m definitely playing along!

The first topic is “A memory of learning to drive, your first car or the early driving days.” So let me tell you about my first car.. a gray 1990 Ford Taurus. My parents gave it to me on my 17th birthday (which is when you can get your license in New Jersey), and I got in an accident that all but totaled it less than three months later. This is actually the reason I got my first job – to pay for the accident.

But this post isn’t about my first car.. it’s about my second car. The first car I found and decided I wanted, the car that got me through high school, the car that I will always think of as my first car: a blue 1989 VW Jetta that I named JJ.

Unfortunately, all of my pictures from high school are still at my mom’s house, so I can’t show you any that are actually of my car, but this ad shows what JJ would have looked like when he was brand new.

I bought JJ from a woman who lived across the street from one of my friends (her name was Melba – my friend mowed her lawn and always referred to her as “Melba Toast”). The car had belonged to her sister who had died a year or two before.. it had been sitting in a parking garage in NYC ever since. My dad and I had some work to do (read: had to drop it off at the shop for other people to work on it), but within a week the car was all mine.

The first time I remember driving in the car, I was with my best friend. We were just out driving around, no real destination in mind. It had to close to 90º outside that day. JJ did not have AC, but he did have an AWESOME sunroof. Not a single one of my friends had a sunroof in their newer cars, but I did! And it was super old school.. I actually had to crank the sunroof open. There was nothing automatic about JJ.

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JJ also did not come with a stereo of any kind. Because the previous owner had lived in NYC, she had a radio that could be removed from the car when she wasn’t in it (there was even a sticker on the back window to let any possible burglar know that there was nothing of value in the car haha). So on that super hot day, we were driving around with the sunroof open and a boombox in the back seat providing the music. This is obviously not a very safe solution to not having a radio, so as soon as I saved up enough money, I had a stereo system installed.

My most vivid memory of JJ occurred during my sophomore year of college. I went to school in Virginia and my boyfriend (at the time) was at college in NJ. I planned to make the 5-hour drive up to visit for the weekend. When I was about 10 minutes away from his school, I stopped at a gas station to pee. My thought process was that I wanted to be able to actually say hi to him and his roommate (who was, coincidentally, the friend who lived across the street from “Melba Toast”, JJ’s previous owner) without having to rush to the bathroom immediately. Well, this was a TERRIBLE idea, because when I got back in the car, JJ wouldn’t start. This wasn’t a new problem.. I should have known better than to turn the car off when I went inside.. but I didn’t. I sat at the gas station for 30 minutes, trying the ignition every 5-10 minutes. Finally, I knew I had to call my boyfriend. He and my friend came to pick me up because JJ still wasn’t starting. I ended up having to leave the car there overnight and it finally started in the morning. From then on, I left JJ running whenever I made a pit stop (I had 2 keys – one for the doors and one for the ignition, so this was actually possible).

What was your first car? Any funny/horrifying early driving stories to share? I’d love to hear them!

Currently…

Current Books:

At the moment, I’m reading Caught by Harlan Coben. According to Goodreads, “Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can’t trust her own instincts about this story-or the motives of the people around her.”

I also picked up Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg from the library yesterday.. I’ve had it reserved for awhile, and I’m really excited to read it.

Current Music:

The first time I heard “Blurred Lines” was on Ellen.. Mike and I fast-forwarded through Robin Thicke’s performance after listening to about 20 seconds of it. Well, yesterday, I caught myself bopping along to it (yes, I truly do “bop along” – not a whoooole lot of rhythm over here) in the car. Apparently I like it now.

Mike and I are going to see The Lumineers on Friday night!!! So I’m definitely including a song from them in here. Plus, I mean, it’s just an awesome song.

Current Guilty Pleasure:

Pretty Little Liars is back tonight! Who else is watching?!

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Current Nail Polish:

I pretty much never have my finger nails painted. I haven’t mastered the art of painting my own nails, and it’s not worth it to pay for a manicure very often because the polish always smudges within minutes of me leaving the salon. I DO always have my toenails painted though. I wanted a break from pink this week, so I’m currently wearing the one on the left, but I plan on changing that today for the one on the right.

Current Drink:

Donut Shop coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer (in my favorite coffee cup – Minnie Mouse!).. and a big cup of water.

Current Food:

Nothing at the moment. I had a new smoothie for breakfast though!

Pina Colada Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup coconut milk

Directions

1. Throw all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.

Current Favorite Show:

If you’ve been reading at all the last few weeks, you’ll know the answer to this.. The O.C. of course! We finished season 3 last night. For those of you who have seen the show before, you know how crazy the last episode of that season was.

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Current Wish List:

A crystal ball to look a couple months into the future. There are A LOT of things up in the air right now, and I’d love to have just a little guidance to ease my mind. A little more money wouldn’t hurt either. And dresses to wear to my friend’s bachelorette party and wedding – not having much luck with either of these at the moment.

Current Needs:

More caffeine apparently. I woke up early to work out, thinking that would get my blood flowing and help me stay alert all morning. I made a cup of coffee when that didn’t work as I planned. Why do I still feel like I could fall asleep at any moment?

Current Indulgence:

Lately, my indulgences have been laying in the sun, spending lots of time reading. And then at night, it’s been a glass of wine and a little dessert – last night I had banana chips with white chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips. So delicious, buuuutttt I didn’t take a picture.

Current Blessing:

Right now, I feel pretty blessed to have my job. Every day is different, and I have so much flexibility since I work from home. It doesn’t hurt that I see the fruits of my labor on a daily basis.

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Current Outfit:

Black tank and purple Nike running shorts. I wear a variation of this outfit every day. Just another perk of working from home!

Current Excitement:

I get to see my college girlfriends in a month! I haven’t seen them since Christmas.. that is way too long in my mind. We’ll be celebrating an upcoming wedding, and I honestly could not be more excited.

The last time I saw my girlfriends.. miss them like crazy!

Also, excited for Friday! Mike and I are going to see The Lumineers.. and he actually has the entire day off! That means we can do dinner/happy hour before the concert. Yay!

Any recommendations for where to shop for a dress?

What are your current blessings and indulgences?

MIMM: The Weekend

I love spending Monday morning thinking of marvelous things – it makes it much easier to ease into the work week. (Thanks, Katie, for hosting!)

Marvelous is.. a gorgeous weekend after a week of rain. We were supposed to get hit by Andrea, but she bypassed us and we ended up with sunshine and blue skies. As a result, I may have had this song stuck in my head for a good portion of the day yesterday.

Marvelous is.. The O.C. I know I keep mentioning it, but when Mike and I watch a TV show, we go all in. So we’ve been spending a lot of time with Seth, Ryan, Summer, and Marissa lately.

Marvelous is.. walking/running the bridge at sunset. (Mike and I wanted to go for a “leisurely” walk to watch the sun set but ended up running half of it.) It was a little cloudy last night, but it just made for different colors. Charleston is seriously gorgeous.

Marvelous is.. reading on the beach. And by the pool. And on my balcony. This was a weekend full of reading, and I loved every second of it.

Marvelous is.. Mike making dinner! He has dubbed Sundays “Steak Sunday” in our apartment.

Marvelous is.. feeling excited to get back into the gym. It’s been weeks since I had a real plan of any kind in terms of working out, and I have had absolutely no motivation to go to the gym (or do anything active, in general). I have my classes mapped out for this week though (lots of Zumba because my knee’s been acting up and I just don’t see myself doing all the squats and lunges in Body Pump), and I’m planning on hitting the bridge and the battery a few times. Yay!

What’s marvelous in your life this Monday?

The Moon and More

YA (young adult) literature is fiction written, published, or marketed to adolescents and young adults. But, according to Publishers Weekly, more than half of YA fiction is purchased by readers over the age of 18. That makes me happy. Because, even though I’m well into my 20s, I still read YA books on a regular basis.. and they’re honestly some of the best stories I read.

One of my favorite YA authors (I’ve been reading her stuff since middle school) is Sarah Dessen. You may have never heard of Sarah Dessen before, but have you seen the movie How to Deal with Mandy Moore?

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How to Deal was based on Sarah Dessen’s first two novels: That Summer and Someone Like You. I remember watching the movie (because I was obsessed with Mandy Moore – this was not too long after her pop princess phase), realizing I knew what was going to happen, and being so excited that these books I loved had been turned into a movie.

Anyway, this post is not about those books or that movie. Sarah Dessen just released a new book titled The Moon and More. I don’t usually buy books anymore.. not until after I’ve read them and know that I love them and will want to re-read them later. For that reason, I am a HUGE fan of the library (the Charleston library system is amazing – there are 16 branches and they shuttle books back and forth between them, which makes it really easy to get your hands on any book you could possibly want to read). But the library doesn’t have a copy of this book yet for some reason, so I actually went out and bought it. It was the perfect beach read.

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

I love the reviews other people have written (on Goodreads) about how this book is about nothing in particular.. and is therefore about EVERYTHING. The Moon and More is about growing up – one of those things that everyone does at some point, but is a different experience for every single person.

In the course of one summer (the summer between high school and college), a lot changes for Emaline. She questions her relationship with her high school boyfriend, faces reality about her relationship with her mostly absentee father, gets involved with the new boy in town (a New Yorker who is very clearly “Not From Here”), gets to know her little brother, and (most importantly) learns a lot about herself.

Life is long. Just because you don’t get your chance right when you want or expect it doesn’t mean it won’t come. Fate doesn’t punch a time clock or consult a schedule.

I. Love. This. It’s so true.. and something I honestly need to remind myself of on a regular basis.

Do you read YA fiction?
Have you ever read anything by Sarah Dessen?

National Doughnut Day

I had every intention of heading downtown to Glazed Gourmet to celebrate this “holiday” with their delicious doughnuts this morning, but I truly hate going anywhere near downtown Charleston when we have the kind of weather we have right now (read: Tropical Storm Andrea). Downtown floods so easily, and it’s just not worth the hassle. Knowing that’s how I would feel, I bought myself a doughnut pan last night and decided to make doughnuts for the first time today.

Peanut Butter Banana Doughnuts

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup xylitol (or sugar)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease doughnut pan.
2. Combine mashed bananas, xylitol/sugar, and Greek yogurt. Mix well.
3. Add eggs, butter, and vanilla. and mix.
4. Add flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Mix until incorporated.
5. Stir in peanut butter chips.
6. Fill each doughnut mold about 3/4 of the way, and bake for 12-15 minutes.

If you don’t like doughnuts or don’t have a doughnut pan, you can bake these as muffins instead – that’s actually what I did with about half of the batter. Bake at 350ºF for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Doughnut or donut? What’s your favorite flavor?

Rainy Day = Creative in the Kitchen

There’s something about rainy days that brings my creativity out. I had planned on making simple grilled chicken with a side salad for dinner tonight, but driving home from the library early today, I was struck with a desire to make something more exciting. So here’s what I made…

Cheesy Spinach & Artichoke Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 (8 oz.) can artichoke hearts
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
• shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Arrange chicken in 8×8 baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. While chicken is baking, combine spinach, artichoke, Greek yogurt, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder in a bowl and mix well.
4. Pour mixture over chicken. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for an additional 25 minutes.

After dinner, I decided to finally do something with the jar of sunflower seed butter I’ve had sitting in my pantry for the last two months.

Sunflower & Peanut Butter Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons sunflower seed butter
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• white chocolate chunks (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease an 8×8 pan.
2. Combine brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, sunflower seed butter, and peanut butter in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add flour mixture to nut butter mixture. Mix until well combined, but be careful not to overmix. Stir in chocolate chunks (optional).
5. Spread batter evenly into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

These were ridiculously good. I am officially a fan of sunflower seed butter.

I also want to give a shout-out to Erin for giving me the perfect recipe to make on a no-good-very-bad Monday: Loaded Chewy Peanut Butter Chip Brownies.

Anyone else find rainy weather to be a creative boost?

Sunflower seed butter: yay or nay? Favorite way to eat it?

MIMM: Weekend Recap

This past weekend was a little difficult. I agreed to test a real food cleanse we’re developing for work.. I’m glad I did because we figured out some things we need to change before releasing it, but it kept me from drinking, eating what I wanted, and working out. That made for a strange weekend in a tourist town like Charleston. So here’s how I made it a marvelous weekend despite the restrictions. Thanks, Katie, for hosting!

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We’re almost done with season 2 of The OC.. mainly because we did some serious binge-watching this weekend. I seriously cannot get enough of the Cohens. I hope my marriage (whenever that happens) is like Kirsten and Sandy’s. And I just cannot get enough of Seth’s one-liners (and his back-and-forths with Ryan).

Spent Saturday morning at the beach and came home with a nice sunburn. It looks like it’s turning to tan now though.. yay!

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My current read (recommended by Caitlin) is The Runaway Princess - a book about a “normal” girl who meets and falls in love with a modern-day prince. It’s made for a great beach read, which is perfect because the beach is really my favorite place to read a book.

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Mike and I saw The Hangover Part III on Saturday night and liked it a lot! It (obviously) wasn’t as good as the first one was, but I think I enjoyed it more than the second one. Definitely worth seeing if you’re a fan of these guys.

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It felt like movies were the only thing we could do this weekend, so when my friend asked to meet up on Sunday, we decided to see Now You See Me. This movie was so good. So many awesome actors and a great story. I would definitely recommend seeing it.

That was my weekend!
What was marvelous about your weekend?
Seen any good movies lately?
What are you reading right now?