Blog @ Melilyn.com

Music Monday: Music to Sleep By

I confess: music is one of the things that can just about always get me to sleep. I remember being about eight years old, laying in the top bunk in our apartment in Reading, PA, and Dad would turn music on in the next room just to get me to sleep. I also remember being possibly even younger, listening to the Fantasia soundtrack for ever and ever. It put me to sleep every time.

Of course, now I’m just a wee bit older, but the concept is the same. When I want to sleep, there’s certain music I listen to.

• Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. This is the music Dad put on SO, so often to get me to sleep, and just listening to the end part in the video I’ve linked (the song itself is ridiculously long, but it’s the ending I like the best) makes me want to curl up and sleep.
• The album “O” by Damien Rice. All of his songs are so mellow and relaxing (Amie and Cannonball being my favorites) that if I were to listen to them in the car, I’d be in trouble.
• The soundtrack to Pirates of the Caribbean. Especially the third one. And if I fall asleep early enough, my dreams all have an epic quality to them. Avast!!
• The album “Jesus Freak” by dcTalk. I think I went to sleep to this album for three years straight as a kid. It’s upbeat, but it doesn’t matter; I’m still sleeping like a baby by track five.

Disaster Area

For once, I got up on time today. I was out of bed by 4:15 (yes, a.m., I’m slowly becoming a morning person) and didn’t spend too much time zombie-ing around the house.

But at 5:15, when my boss picks me up (they both have issues with me walking in the dark, even though I love it), I was still running around my room like a crazy person, looking for my belt, my keys, my card, my headphones (yes, these are necessary) and tape for my bandage.

My room, I have come to the conclusion, has reached disaster area proportions. It’s time to clean the room.

I wish I could take before/after photos, but the truth is… the before pictures are rather embarrassing. It’s just really really disorganized and I really need to put my clean laundry in the actual drawers, rather than leaving them in the laundry baskets, and all these papers here need to be filed or thrown away, and oh goodness, that’s a rather messy bunch of cords.

Wish me luck! I’m diving in!

Music Monday: Five Songs I’ll Never Skip

I love the idea of #MusicMonday on twitter, so I thought I’d bring it here. Each Monday, I’ll post some kind of music-related post. I’ll try to get creative with this.

I’m a huge iPod listener; I don’t go anywhere without it (and now that I have an iPhone, that is seriously compounded) and a set of headphones. My problem is that I’m a compulsive skipper. Even if I have a playlist called “My Absolute Favorites,” I still will skip through until I find the song I like. I noticed, though, that there are certain songs as of late that I just won’t skip.

• Human by The Killers – I don’t know what it is about this song, but it makes me want to get up and dance around and just be happy all of the time. Not only do I not skip it… I tend to go back and repeat it. – Give my regards to soul and romance; they always did the best they could.
• Get out Alive by Three Days Grace – I saw this on a youtube video and haven’t gotten over it. It has a catchy melody, and it helps that the video was really awesome and totally fit the TV show it was made for. – Don’t put your life in someone’s hands, they’re bound to steal it away.
• All Fall Down by OneRepublic – The first time I heard this song, I thought it was annoying. Pretty soon after that, I loved it. To me, it carries this really awesome message of hope, of someone that is always there. – Everyone’s the same, our fingers to our toes; we just can’t get it right but we’re on the road.
• Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay – I only recently got X&Y in its entirety, and I completely latched onto this song. I don’t know why; I just sort of really identify with it. - I need someone, someone who hears; for you I’ve waited all these years.
• Life in Technicolor II by Coldplay – Maybe it’s only because I was raised on Rich Mullins and his hammered dulcimer, but this song is AWESOME… and version II twice as much. It’s my ringtone and my absolute favorite. – Gravity release me, don’t ever hold me down; now my feet won’t touch the ground.

And there you have it. Five songs that I’ll never skip… until something else comes along. What about you? What are the songs you just don’t get tired of?

Yet Another Revamp

Surprise! What do you think? Not only did I completely overhaul the layout into something completely different (and more colorful, I’ll never go greyscale again), but I’ve done a lot of rearranging and rewriting. I’ve really been neglecting my site as of late, and I hate that! So I’ve got some plans, already have made some changes, and have some ready to go.

Anyhow, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve done this. In fact, before Enamored With Israel (which took me a ridiculously long time), it had been a year or two since I had really even touched a design project. For that reason, I would really like some feedback!