5 Reasons My Dad is the Best

So this post is a little late for Father's Day, but I figure it's never too late to celebrate my dad.

1. My dad and I may have our differences but he's never been pushy about his opinions. One characteristic both my parents exemplify is being kind and respectful of everyone, even when you argue or hold differing opinions on a subject. What great role models.

2. My dad has always been supportive of my dreams and aspirations. While my mom is the emotional and mental support my dad has always been the one to help me follow through, even if that means having to do it with me. When I wanted to run a 5K my dad ran the race next to me. When I wanted to go on a long distance bike ride my dad was the navigator, planner, and my training partner. My dad is always reminding me that I'm stronger than I think. He's helped me accomplish so much and I couldn't be more grateful.

3. He's resourceful. If my dad wants something done, he does it himself. He does his research and makes the item he wants instead of rushing out to buy one from the store. My dad has taught me the value in learning how to fix things or making something new out of the resources you already have. He is always fixing stuff like my car or the house (and teaching me something new in the process). 

4. Since my dad is always figuring out how to do things himself, he is a great wealth of practical knowledge. If I have a problem I usually call him and he's know exactly what to do. I think he's smarter than he believes.

5. Lastly, my dad knows exactly how to keep me calm. For a girl who has anxiety issues and gets easily stressed, having a dad who can make you feel at ease in certain situations is a big deal. My dad was the one who taught me how to drive (well besides my driving instructor). My mom gets anxious about other people driving in general so my dad was the one who got stuck with the copiloting duties in my early days of driving. There's just something about being around my dad that makes me less anxious. He's very rational and level headed. He's also a great spider killer. I once called my dad from three hours away screaming because a giant spider was running around the bedroom floor of my apartment and I was too afraid to kill it with my hands.

When I made this list for Mother's Day I kept trying to think of what I could write about my dad for Father's Day. Even though my parent's approach each characteristic in different ways, they are both creative, intelligent, hard working, great teachers, and supportive parents.

Happy Father's Day!Thanks for being so great Dad!

Love you
-S

Music I've Been Loving Lately 3

Hello Hello,

Time for another music update. I wanted to share with you some of the music I have been obsessing over lately.

My tastes have been all over the board recently. Swinging back and forth between older R&B, classical, and grunge rock. I know I listed a few of the rock sounds in my last links post, so if you're in the mood for that kind of music feel free to check that one out.

Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes: Since I've been playing they're Anthology records while editing videos recently, I've been completely hooked on this song. I spent an entire 6 hour shift quietly humming this to myself last week. Can't beat the classic Motown vibe.

And here's where we get to the songs I've been meaning to talk about since May and just haven't gotten around to it.

Ditmas by Mumford and Sons: I know people were surprised or upset that the band decided to make this album with electric guitars, but they really cemented their title as great musicians with this one (at least in my opinion). Musicians, as with all artists and people, evolve with time. Putting a band in a box, even if it's one they built themselves, never makes anyone happy. When I heard Believe for the first time I felt like they were almost trying too hard with random guitar heavy moments, but if you listen to the bands previous albums the songs are structured quite similarly. Same great band, same great musicianship and lyrical talent, only with a slightly different approach. It's nice to listen to interviews or watch sets now where the guys look revived by the new sound.

Fields of Gold cover by Joshua Davis: Talented musician and Traverse City native, Joshua Davis, made it all the way to the final four on this past season of The Voice. His sincere vibe and mellow voice is perfect for this song.

Have A Little Faith In Me cover by Will Chase and Maisy Stella: Along the lines of great covers, this song from the show Nashville had me singing along for weeks. Both Stella daughters have incredible voices but Maisy's really shines in this song. I can't even handle it. Also did you know that Will Chase played Roger in Rent?! I don't know how it took me this long to figure that out, but if you look at pictures he looks SO DIFFERENT.

One Night by Ed Sheeran: I will listen to anything Ed Sheeran releases because that little ginger has some serious power over me. Talented musicians are my weak spot. When I noticed 5, a group of projects he released on iTunes one day, I immediately started throwing money in his direction. I would gladly go broke as long as he never stopped releasing music.

Welp that's it. May and June have been pretty mainstream music months for me. None of these are too out of the box, but it doesn't hurt to keep. So what music have you been loving lately?

-S

May Wrap-Up and June TBR Videos

I uploaded two new videos to my Youtube channel, GetAKloo, this week. The first was my May Wrap-Up and the second was my June TBR. I finished editing them a little later than I was expecting, but they're finally up and ready to be seen. I've been having a ton of fun talking about books and making these videos. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for watching!!

-S

My Week In Links 3

Hey guys!

Have you seen the Suffragette trailer? I'm so excited for this movie. Just look at that cast of actresses. Hopefully the film is as good as it looks.

And of course we have the brave real life women who stood up and changed the world.

(source)

And if you were as in love with the cover of Landslide as I was, here's a link to The Mahogany Session video.

Speaking of music, I've been on a roll lately. The last couple of days has been a continuous playlist of Fugazi, Nirvana, The 1975, Sonic Youth, Arctic Monkeys, The Orwells, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, and others. It's been the perfect mixture of bands I love but haven't listened to in a while.

I finished The Last Little Blue Envelope on Saturday and have the worst book hangover from it. I tried starting Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides but I can't get Europe and cute little romances with British men off my mind. There's nothing I want more than to explore the world and see all it's wonderful art (natural and human made). Maybe I'll re-read Anna and The French Kiss instead.

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I started making iced coffee at home and it's the best decision I've made all week. Yay warmer weather! I honestly don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does.

These look so good. My mouth instantly started watering. Also this, and this.

Many hours were spent last week watching Plan With Me videos and checking out planner stickers on Etsy. I'm obsessed. The only good part about this planner obsession is that I'm actually getting stuff done. I've finally figured out a good system, although there's always room for improvement.

I started riding my bike to work recently and I've been trying to master the art of looking cute on a bike. My problem is the sweat. How do you bike somewhere and not melt once you get there? I mean it's not even summer yet. Showing up to work with makeup dripping down my face because I had to wear pants and sneakers in mid 70 degree weather is not going to cut it. Someone help. Teach me your ways of grace and stylishness.

This girl knows what's up. She's got the effortlessly cool style down.

(source)

In other fashion related news, I really want to try this.

A coworker recently shared this article about NYPL's #letmelibrarianthatforyou project. I giggled. I may not be an official librarian, but I get some pretty interesting questions in the computer lab. Just an FYI I had to use Google to find that article. I really don't know how people survived without the internet.... oh wait, they called the library.

Last but certainly not least, this young dancer blew me away. I can't watch her performance without getting a little teary eyed. Just a little reminder that dance and movement is a universal language, one that connects us all.

-S

The One Where I Lose Track Of Time

What the heck guys; how is it already June 4th? I feel like time keeps getting away from me. I meant to write this post almost a week ago, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. Typical.

So I sort of failed my challenge for the month of May. April's challenge went so well but I just knew when I missed May 1st that the following 30 days would be a struggle. If you didn't read my post about last month's challenge, my goal for May was to follow along with a yoga video once every day. The only thing that I can be proud of is that I never fully gave up. No matter how many days I missed my yoga practice, I always started the next day with the intention to follow through. Unfortunately intention and action are two different things. Kind of like me intending to write this post for a week and then never actually doing it until today.

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My main problem was being unprepared on busy days. Besides my regular job at the library, I also worked with my dad a few times last month. On days when I'd spend a couple hours cleaning up tiles or carrying big rolls of carpet around, I was too exhausted and sore to even think about yoga. In reality doing some relaxing/stretching yoga routines could have really helped, but I didn't think about that at the time. This is what I mean by being unprepared. If I had finished my practice earlier in the day, I wouldn't have had time to come up with so many excuses. Instead I'd wait until the last minute and go searching around for a video at 10 pm, or blow it off completely. The better plan would have been to choose the practice the night before, but everything is clearer in hindsight.

It was also really ambitious of me to expect a daily practice after such a long break from regular exercise. When my muscles were sore I used that as an excuse to take a few days off rather than find practices that were gentler or focused on different parts of my body. As I'm writing, I just keep thinking of all the things I'd do differently next time.

I'm not setting a specific goal for the month of June, but giving myself the month off. Maybe I'll spend June focusing on those practices I already tried to establish; checking back in with my bed making habits and continuing with yoga. I want to make sure I'm not jumping into another challenge without being prepared or dedicated. My goal for these monthly challenges was to increase habits I found useful, not to waste time half-assing those daily rituals. Hopefully taking the month of June to regroup will allow me to find a goal that I feel dedicated enough towards to actually stick with.

Are any of you doing monthly challenges? How are they going? What habits would you want to increase?

-S

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. This post is a little late, but I wanted to document all the fun that was had last week. I spent my weekend relaxing and drinking copious of Starbucks. On Friday afternoon my family, sans brother, drove down to Bloomington-Normal, IL for my cousin's graduation party. I love Normal because it has great record stores, lots of cute little shops, and my aunt and uncle have a pool we can never pass up.

We stopped in Grand Rapids on the way down to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales. I managed to find lots of pieces I loved at J. Crew (which I never go into because of the steep prices) and walked out with a couple shirts. I also went and ordered about four more items online the next day because I needed petites that weren't available in the store. I'm excited to finally have some new additions to my wardrobe. Now all I need are a pair of summer pants/capris for work and a good pair of sandals. While in Grand Rapids we also stopped into the Lush Cosmetics store. I've bought my mom a couple bath bombs, but she had never been in their actual store before. I think she was really impressed by the whole experience. Both my mom and I tried out their Mask of Magnaminty and I ended up buying a small pot of that for myself. I also got a sample of the Dark Angel face wash and the Vanishing Cream moisturizer. I love Lush products and was bummed we didn't have more time to spend in the store (we ended up taking a long time other places and my dad wanted to get back on the road). The rest of the night was spent driving, during which I got some reading done and started listening to More Than This by Patrick Ness once it got dark.

On Saturday my dad and I went to the record stores in Uptown where I found a used White Album from The Beatles. I've had my eye on one at our local record store in TC, but it was quite expensive. Luckily the stores down in IL tend to be more reasonably priced and this one was much more in line with my budget. I also grabbed a Diana Ross and the Supremes Anthology. Both are great records and I was excited to walk out of North Street Records with them in hand. If you're ever in the area I'd recommend a stop into North Street; they have a well rounded record selection that never disappoints.

After record shopping my dad and I had to make a stop at Starbucks for my cousins. I rarely drink Starbucks at home because I prefer the local coffee shops, but my cousins are HUGE Starbucks drinkers. When they suggest making a coffee run I am not one to turn down that opportunity, even if it's twice in one day. I don't even want to think about how much money was spent on coffee during that weekend alone. We also spent Saturday in the pool splashing around and playing volleyball games until we ripped a massive hole in the net and gave up.

The graduate and family

The graduate and Grandma

That evening the rest of the family went to Eric's graduation ceremony while I stayed home with the dogs. My grandma's dog gets anxious when she's alone and I didn't feel the need to sit through the ceremony, so things worked out quite well for the both of us.

Bailey (top), Jojo (left) and Me relaxing on the couch. 

Sunday was the day of the party. It's funny now thinking about my own high school graduation and party. Those events simultaneously feel like they happened yesterday and ten years ago (granted it has actually been seven years to be exact). Everyone getting together, seeing people you know but don't actually know, being asked the same questions over and over again. Little did I know that would be the beginning of a whole new part of life. People never stop asking you those questions, "what happens next, what's the plan, what do you want to do?" So much happens after high school but graduation and that whole time surrounding those events are equally significant. Take time to appreciate those friends that stopped by the party because that might be your final goodbye. Take time to think about those questions because even though you don't need to have all the answers at that very moment, they still need answers.

My uncle Dale, Eric, and my dad. I love this picture.

Despite a few patches of rain, Eric and his friend's party was a successful event and it's always nice to see family. There was lots of laughter and smiles to go around. Plus it's hard to beat a menu of fancy mini cupcakes and Moe's Southwest Grill. Congratulations again Eric and good luck in Utah!!

Monday was dedicated to the drive back to Michigan. Luckily for us we were heading in the opposite direction to most of the traffic. Sometimes it's difficult to remember why we celebrate Memorial Day. It's easy to think of the holiday as just another excuse for grilling out and drinking beer, but we wouldn't be able to have weekends like that without the sacrifice of so many service men, women, and families. One day out of the year just doesn't seem like enough. I am forever grateful to those individuals who serve and protect this country.

-S