Skyfactor Signal Strength CD giveaway!

I discovered the band Skyfactor back in 2010 basically because the guy I had a crush on at the time liked them and I wanted to see if we had similar taste in music so I of course went to check them out on iTunes.  I ended up downloading their whole album that night!  I even blogged about them and they sent me a CD and a t-shirt to giveaway!

Three years later and I no longer have a crush on that guy, but I still have a crush on this band!  A few weeks ago they emailed me to let me know they were coming out with a new album and asked if I wanted a copy and even offered to send a second copy so I could do a giveaway!

Their CD Signal Strength has been on repeat in my car the last few days and the more I listen to it, the more I love it.  It is so my style.  I love that I find myself singing along by the end of the song.  Their lyrics can be so sweet (and y'all know I am a hopeless romantic!)  Sometimes the guitar melodies remind me of Jack Johnson but with more of a rock vibe?  I'm not good in describing music so listen to one of my favorites from this album called Wake Up:

  

If you want to hear more, you can find the other tracks on iTunes.

My other favorites from this album are Signal Strength, Superstar, and In the Morning.  But really I liked them all!  It's the kind of CD you don't have to hit skip on any of the songs.

I have one copy to give away!  I'm not going to make this complicated (I could write a whole rant about how much I hate the "here are the 6 trillion ways to enter this giveaway...follow me here...share this...like that" posts that have been filling my feeds lately).  So here's how you can enter:

Leave me a comment on this post!  Say whatever you want.  Let me know if you like them too...or tell me who you've been listening to lately or just say hi!  I'll pick the winner Monday June 24!  Good luck!

The Lumineers at Koka Booth Ampitheater

Last Thursday I went to my first concert ever at Koka Booth Amphitheater:

Image from their Facebook page of a NC Symphony concert

I loved so much about this venue.  I think it is the best venue for concerts in the RDU area!

It isn't huge so it didn't feel crazy like other concert venues do.  Parking was free.  A man in a golf cart asked us if we wanted a ride and dropped us off right at the entrance.  You can bring your own lawn chairs.  They have pretty good sounding food options even though all I got was a pretzel.  You can buy a whole bottle of wine to take back to your seat with cups!  You didn't have to walk a mile to get to a bathroom and they were actually clean.  The sound was amazing even though we sat pretty far back and you can even still see the stage (as long as rude people aren't standing in front of you).

I also have to mention that there was a severe storm warning that night.  They were calling for really bad storms with hurricane force winds.  All day I kept an eye on their Facebook page and they did post updates throughout the day.  Finally they decided to push back the gate open time from 5:30 to 7pm and the concert would start at 8pm.  On my way home from work around 5:15 pm the storms hit pretty hard.  The wind was crazy, but by 6:30 pm everything was fine and the storm had actually cooled everything off quite a bit.  There was still a tiny bit of rain but not much.

J. Roddy Walston and The Business started out the show and even though I had never heard of them they were pretty good.  Next up were the Cold War Kids and they were fabulous as well.  Finally The Lumineers came on!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Lumineers.  They are probably the only band that I could sing all of the songs on their album by heart in the last year.  They played every song from their album and even some new stuff.  The crowd sang along to almost everything.  At one point they came out into the middle of the crowd and did a song or two from there!  It was probably the best concert I have ever been to!

I would have taken more pictures and video (I did upload one crappy Vine), but my phone was pretty much dead and at one point during "Ho Hey" Wesley, the lead singer, encouraged everyone to put away their phones and be in the moment.  I loved that.  I hate wasting time tagging, uploading, or making sure I document everything I do.  I mean I love it sometimes because I love documenting everything, sharing everything with all of you and I love seeing other's adventures, but he's right.  We do need to put away our phones and be in the moment with the people who we're with more often!

The only negative thing about this concert was the parking lot situation after the concert.  It was almost midnight and Kristin and I were anxious to get home because it was a school night after all.  But the traffic was just not flowing well out of the parking lot.  I don't know if they just weren't prepared for it or if someone was new on the job or what.  I do not do well in traffic and may have cussed out a few people for pulling out in front of me and threatened the lives of others if they even thought about pulling out in front of me.  Once we got out of the parking lot it was great, no traffic at all.  They really need to fix that situation.

So that's one thing off my Summer Bucket List- going to see an outdoor concert.  I'm going to see Matchbox Twenty in August and possibly some others before the summer is over.

Oh and I have another music update for y'all.  Back in 2010 I told y'all about a band I had fallen in love with called Skyfactor.  They saw my post and sent me a CD to giveaway to you guys!  Well last week they emailed me again to offer me a copy of their latest CD- Signal Strength!  I've been listening to it all weekend and I can't wait to tell you all about it and there might even be a giveaway for you!  So comeback later this week to see!

Summer Bucket List

After being inspired by the many Summer Bucket lists on everyone else's blogs, I decided to make my own Summer Bucket list.

Some of these activities I already have planned like a girl's beach trip and some outdoor concerts.  Some I have never done before like making a meal just from Farmer's Market stuff, seeing the symphony at Koka Booth, and watching an outdoor movie.  And some I just want to do again because they are fun!

What's on your summer bucket list?

Thoughts on Love

I've spent almost the last three years completely single.  Aside from a crush or two and one (i think) night of a drunken make out mistake, I have not dated, kissed, hugged, or held hands with a guy.  I miss it.  I really do.

Since I've gotten older, I see dating much differently that I did when I was younger.  When I was in college, I  wasted spent five-six years with a guy I knew I didn't want to marry.  But I liked him a lot and he was comforting and a great friend.  He just sucked to be in a relationship with and I knew I didn't want to deal with all that drama for the rest of my life.  But it was just easier to be with him than be alone.

Then I dated a guy that treated me better than any guy probably ever will.  He was so sweet, thoughtful, everything you want a guy to be.  But we just weren't right.  And I took him for granted and still had my eyes open for something better which killed the relationship because he could tell I wasn't putting him first when he most definitely was putting me first.

The I dated witty guy.  And we just weren't right either.  I think we both really tried to make it work, but it just didn't.  And then he met a 19 year old waitress and broke my heart and destroyed my self-esteem at the same time.  (Me bitter?  No way!)  So that took a while to get over.

And now I have spent so much time alone I am afraid of anything real ever happening.  I still have crushes and flirt and think guys are cute, but I am so scared to have anything real happen.  Even though I want it so bad.

I'm just afraid to let someone have my heart again and it not work out.  I'm afraid of integrating someone in to my life and becoming best friends with them and then everything falling apart and having to separate myself from them again.  So in theory I want the next one to be The One.

But that puts so much pressure on everything.  So I hate that.  I want to be able to get to know someone without thinking that far ahead.

I know I need to just let go and trust that God has a plan and anyone he brings in to my life, He does so for a purpose.  I need to let go of all this fear around relationships.  But it is easier said than done.

TV Junkie

A few weeks ago I suspended my Dish Network account.  This was in an effort to save money but more importantly gain some much needed time back.  I think I may have been slightly addicted to TV.  Probably still am.

I still watch some shows.  I have started watching Friday Night Lights on DVD while I'm on the treadmill again.  I also used the ABC, CW, A&E, and NBC apps to watch some of my favorites over the past couple weeks: Grey's Anatomy, Happy Endings, Duck Dynasty, Bates Motel, Heart of Dixie, and Saturday Night Live.  The apps all have ads you can't skip through and I am watching them on my tiny iPad mini, but it isn't bad! I watch them while I am on the elliptical at the gym or cooking in the kitchen.  So it's not like I am wasting time. (At least not on TV, but I may have just replaced that time waster with reading more books!)

It is a little weird not to be able to turn on the TV even just for some background noise, but I really think this is a good decision.  I lived without TV for one summer during college and it was the most productive summer of my life.

I don't know what I am going to do without Big Brother this summer though!  I love that show!

I'm going to give this a try for a few months and if it isn't bad I am going to cut the cord completely from cable and satellite.  I hate them all.  They start you out at the great introductory rate and a year later it feels like they are robbing you blind!

Have you ever cut the cord from TV?

Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers

I started this series back in December and even though it took me a long time to finish, it is one of the best series I have ever read!  It's The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers:

Let me tell you, I was really hesitant to start these books.  I gave in and read Redeeming Love by this same author a few years ago and loved it but for some reason I was still hesitant about Christian fiction.  I mean the covers do look a little romance novel-ish don't they?

Voice in the Wind is the first book in the series.  It is the story of Hadassah.  The story opens with her city Jerusalem being destroyed by the Roman army.  Her family is killed and she is captured and sold as a slave to the Valerian family.  So much happens in this book!  The first few chapters are a little slow but things quickly pick up.  Julia Valerian is so messed up and by the end of the book you will hate her.  Marcus too is very troubled but you root for him.  And Hadassah is remarkable.  She really shows you what it means to live out your faith in a world that does not agree with it.  Even though ancient Rome may seem very different than today's world, there are a lot of similarities.  This was probably my favorite book in the series!

Echo in the Darkness is the second book in the series.  And I'm telling you if you get close to the end of the first book, go ahead and have this one on hand because you will want to start it immediately after you finish the first one!  This book continues the main story from the first book.  I can't tell you much more without including spoilers.  I really enjoyed this book as well and loved finding out what happened to all the characters on their long twisted journey.

As Sure as the Dawn is the third and final book in the series.  This book is somewhat different from the other two because it focuses on one of the other main characters from the first book Atretes, a German warrior who was captured by Rome and forced to become a Gladiator (which is not something you want to be forced to become).  Artetes goes through a lot in the first book and this book picks up kind of where you left him in the first book.  New characters are introduced and you will fall in love with and hate some of them just as much as the others from the first two books.

I give this series 5 out of 5 stars and I'm sad this it is over.  These characters were so real to me and I learned so much from them and experienced the full range of emotions with them.  Even if you aren't a Christian I think you would love these stories.  It gives you a taste of what life was like in Ancient Rome.  It reminded me of the TV series Spartacus on Starz a little, but with a little less sex and violence (but not much!).  I highly recommend you add these to your must read list!!

Create a Match.com Summer Singles Event and Win

When I first saw the ads for the Match.com Stir events I thought it was an awesome concept.  You get to meet a lot of other singles and it isn't just forced awkward conversation because you are doing a fun activity together.  There's a wide range of events by Match.com offered to members all around the country ranging from large-scale happy hours at popular venues, to more intimate events like tequila tastings and DJ lessons!  In fact I have always wanted to go to a Stir event, but you have to be a Match.com member and my previous adventures in online dating have left a bad taste in my mouth so I'm a little gun-shy.

They've only been doing these singles events for a year, but in just one year they have hosted 2,850 events – broken down, that’s 14 events each day, 75 events a week, 320 events per month! Match has collaborated with over 1,200 venues and partners, including House of Blues, Banana Republic, Sur la Table and Warrior Dash, along with local gems in each city.

In celebration of the Stir anniversary, Match.com is offering the opportunity for singles to create their own Stir event, and if their event is chosen, to work with Match Stir event planners to bring it to life!  Think how cool that would be!  I was trying to think what I would want to do and here are some of my ideas:

• Cooking class
• Wine & Design
• Ropes Course or Zip Lining
• Bowling

I'm not too creative apparently.  But I bet you guys are!  Visit Match.com’s “What Stirs You?” Contest Page now through Tuesday May 28th, 2013 and tell Match.com what you think would make for the perfect singles event to be entered to win. Entries will be judged based on quality, creativity, uniqueness and geographical relevance.

The selected winner will have their idea re-created by the Match.com Stir Events team in their city, and will receive an invitation to attend the event along with ten of their single friends – all at no charge! (I hope I get an invite if you win!!)  In addition, the winner will also receive a free six-month Match.com subscription.

You better believe I am submitting an idea!  And if you are not single but have a great idea, send it to me!!  I need all the help I can get in finding Mr. Right.

* this post was sponsored but only because I love the idea and am willing to enter the contest myself! Don't worry I'm not selling out my blog quite yet!