happy halloween

Here is a little Halloween themed Kpop video that my students were talking about, you know, other than the new BTS song (Blood, Sweat, and Tears) or PPAP.

TWICE(트와이스) - "TT"

listen to | broods

Broods | Taking You There

Robyn is more or less my own personal music guru (and mixed CD queen IMHO) and more often than not, when she tells me about a song or a band, I instantly fall in love. Over the years of friendship, we have found our tastes to be quite similar. She told me about this duo from New Zealand a little while ago but it wasn't until more recently that I gave them a regular listen.

Tonight, I have this one on repeat.

If scars are for the living
Then I could be forgiven
And everything you need
I could give you

hey rosetta!

Last night we got to take in Newfoundland's own, Hey Rosetta! at another festival downtown.  

Plants and Animals opened up for them, and I liked their sound too. Despite the massive amounts of second hand smoke inhaled, and damage inevitably done to my poor ear drums, it was a fun night!

listen to | gungor

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

listen to | he is we

Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know.
Oh, skip to the ending, who'd like to know, I'd like to know.
Author of the moment, can you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

labo(u)r day weekend

I had a pretty filled weekend! It's the busiest I've been since camp was over, really. Chandler and his band, The Decour had a show Thursday night in Boone which was a couple hours drive away. Our friend, Alexis Worthington opened up first, then the boys, then Jonas Sees In Color.

It was a really good night.

After everything was packed up we went out to eat at Boone Bagelry and enjoyed some good breakfast and hung out. We stayed overnight at our friend's houses who go to college there; Chandler with Hodge, me with Alexis. In the morning we met up again, joined by Marc Gmuca and ate at Our Daily Bread, a really relaxed spot downtown with great soups and sandwiches.

We said our goodbyes then drove another few hours to meet up with the rest of Chandler's family in Cherokee where we stayed at for the whole weekend. It was a hotel and casino, and it was loud and sparkly. haha.

The night we got there was the grand opening of the new music venue right next to (and part of) the hotel. Hank Williams Jr was the feature and as he played I recognized some songs.

I liked how he put on different hat for every song and when he got up and rocked the piano.

We watched the show from a VIP booth and were served some fancy h'ordeuvres. Anyway me, Chandler and his mom didn't stay for the whole show.

We went down to the casino got some burgers to eat (cause we were so hungry after those strange appetizers), and his mom showed us around. I can definitely see why it's addictive, the buttons are fun to push, but I also saw just how fast people can lose their money.

Saturday morning the men went golfing and the ladies to a little town not too far away called Dillsboro. It in its own way reminded me a bit of Newfoundland with it's small homes made with wood, sitting close together on the roads. It was filled with little shops and things in a one block radius.

 Later we got cleaned up and met at the venue for appetizers in the VIP box. They were much better this time with big chicken wings and egg rolls, so we didn't go hungry.

Then we saw Lady Antebellum!

I liked their music a bit before, and they were SO good live! I'm a fan now, for sure! We all had a good time at this show, especially all the ladies in the group.

This concert was definitely for the ladies. Chandler's mom kept talking about how cute Charles was from Lady Antebellum. After the show we went back to our room and watched Get Him to the Greek and finally went to bed since we had a big adventure to go on in the morning!

Sunday was like the "Sons + Their Girlfriends' trip. Chandler and I, Jordan (his bro) and his gf, Kristin, then Brandon (his cousin) and his wife, Ashley, met up at 10:30 to go white water rafting on the Nantahala!

It was such a blast and I couldn't have asked for a more entertaining group of people to go with.

Those boys say the most ridiculous stuff in the most hilarious ways, so when you put them all together you know it's going to be a good time. We didn't have time for breakfast before the trip, but after we registered at the rafting place, the only food available was an overpriced hotdog shop. We ate it anyway!

Rafting took about two hours, the water was very cold (not Atlantic cold though, thankfully!) and Brandon managed to fall into the river about 4 minutes into the trip!!

Luckily no one else fell in after that, though there were a couple of close calls. It probably wasn't a smart move to bring my digital camera, but everything was okay!  We kept getting stuck on rocks and spinning around but it was funny.

At one point another group of people got pushed towards us and as they bumped our raft, some weird red headed chick smiled at and flirtily touched Chandler on the shoulder. Everyone joked that I should have taken her out with my paddle! haha.

By the time we got back there was just enough time to shower before we piled in vans to go out for supper. We went back to Dillsboro to a place called the Jarrett House that was full of antiques and had traditional southern food. (I had me some chicken and dumplin's, comfort food at it's finest.) It was a house built in the 1800s that I wouldn't want to spend the night in. I could see it being haunted. :P

Monday we all packed up by 11, met up and went to the buffet in the hotel for breakfast. After that we packed up the cars and went our separate ways. Some went back to the little stores in Dillsboro.

Chandler and I drove to Asheville, however, and walked around a pretty place called Grove Park Inn before heading back to Charlotte.

 The inn had some pretty important guests stay there, like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

We walked around on the terrace and took in the view of the Smokey Mountains. There were rocking chairs everywhere and the majority of the population was over the age of 60, but we did see a few people our age wandering around too. I took pictures for a group of girls who had offered to take a picture of us.

On the inside of the main entrance there were some huge windows that were open like shutters and showed off the view of the mountains. There was a huge stone fireplace that you could pretty much stand in. Felt like Harry Potter. I was wondering where my Floo powder was!

I would honestly love to live up there near the mountains, or a least visit a ton. The view is gorgeous; the contant breeze is so refreshing. And I'm fairly certain that there's something magical in the water in Cherokee because my cold improved by the second day of the trip and my skin was clearing up fast.

It is an indian reserve, maybe there's healing powers in it? Wouldn't be surprised. I felt the difference because ever since we got back to Charlotte I've been all stuffed up again! I already miss being surrounded by the glories of nature and that fresh mountain air.

evolve

Also, last night I finally made time to put together the scrapbook page I’ve had in my head for the last couple of months. Its the lyrics to a song by Bosc called Evolve—one of the prettiest love songs I’ve ever heard.

one more, one more!

This has been a great weekend. Finally getting to see my boyfriend play a show with his band is a big reason why. They were amazing—the only band the whole night to really have people off their feet, crowded around the stage and enjoying themselves. Way to put on a good show boys!

we got t-shirts :)

robynmch:

We would like to thank The Dirt and the Flood for helping us look so awesome!

I’m a big fan of hot air balloons, and music. Since this shirt combines these two things I am a happy Emily. Robyn and I probably spent an hour making a silly thank-you video to send to our friend, Alex who ever so kindly gave us these shirts from his band. It is such beautiful soothing music, please do yourselves a favor and check them out.

jeremy larson

Make a sound, a tune you know
Don’t be silent now
Sing it quiet, sing it slow
And I will listen loud
———————————-

These lyrics are from one of my favourite songs by Jeremy Larson called Make Believe. He’s a talented musician from Missouri who creates beautiful songs with the rich sounds of piano and cello. He’s one of my favourite discoveries, one that I happily found a year or so ago of my own resources, rather than by a friend, which is usually how it goes.

Not only does he make lovely music that I enjoy painting to, I’ve learned that he’s a genuinely nice guy. I was slightly broken hearted when I found out that he was playing a show with Sleeping At Last in Greenville near my boyfriend and friends. Sad because I already have withdrawals for the South and my friends there, and this was just one more reason to want to be in that area, particularly yesterday, on October 29th.


So, after a wonderful week long visit in Canadaland, Chandler left me yesterday morning. It went far too quickly for my taste. Later in the evening he told me to call him, that I’d want to stay up and it’d be worth it. I took him at his word, called him and had a little chat. Next thing I know he passes the phone off to someone else who wanted to speak with me.

Yes. The voice of Jeremy Larson was on the line.

Turns out Chandler attended the show after all, and afterwards spoke with him and mentioned that I really wished I could be there, and said it would make my day if he wouldn’t mind saying hello. The fact that Jeremy willingly made that small gesture really says a lot about what a kind guy he is. He was very pleasant to speak with and it definitely made my day! And well, I gotta say that Chandler gets the best boyfriend award for making that happen. I want to hug him, then hit him for putting me on the spot like that. haha! It was also lovely to speak with Taylor too. I miss that pretty girl. For such a hard morning, it was a very good way to end the night.

Anyways, if you haven’t already, do yourselves a favor and check out Jeremy Larson’s music!
www.myspace.com/jeremylarson