Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

Good morning! Happy Friday! How this week has flown...

And now...

1. One song that always takes me back to my youth is anything by N'Sync. I know, I know... but I was just the teeniest bit obsessed with them in middle school. It's sort of embarrassing now, but that's just how it was ... and when I hear one of their songs, I just can't help being transported back to that difficult, angsty, love-sick time in my life. So glad I never have to relive those years...

2. My first concert ever was I honestly don't remember. I think it might have possibly been Jacki Velasquez with my church youth group, but I'm not sure. I've never been much of a concert girl, even though I love music .

3. If I could create my dream music festival I'd want these bands to be there: The Avett Brothers, Coldplay, Ingrid Michaelson, John Mayer, Iron and Wine, and then we'd all dance to the best big-band swing music ever :) .

4. The best make-out/"boot knocking" song ever is Hmmm ... I guess, for me, totally sappy stuff (see Jack Johnson's "Better Together") or Frank Sinatra? I'm all about the romance :) .

5. The best concert I've ever been to was actually a very small, very intimate acoustic Songwriter's Round in Nashville at Exit/In. Elissa's friend Aaron Long (who is awesome live, btw) was there, as well as Levi Weaver, Kate Havnevik, and Matthew Ryan. Links to youtube videos of that concert can be found here and here and here and here . It was so, so good. You should watch those links - totally worth your time :) .

6. A memorable musical moment for me was participating in (and winning) my first-ever chamber choir competition during our choir competition my junior year in high school. We did several songs, mostly lovely and ethereal-sounding, but one was this lively Romanian folk song that had stomping and clapping and was extremely difficult and high-energy, and I remember being up there on those risers, sweating from the stage lights, and we were all singing and stomping and getting way, way ahead of the tempo we were supposed to be at just because we were all buzzing with the energy. And at the end of the song, with the very last stomp/clap/tam-pok we sang, we knew we'd KILLED it, and the audience erupted and we got a standing ovation :) It was one of the proudest moments of my life, actually, being a part of something like that.

7. The song on my iPod that's getting the most play these days is ... it depends on where I am, and where I'm going. When I iron, I pull up my playlists on the computer, and I listen to my chill music - my favorite currently is Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch. I'm listening mainly to Coldplay's Viva La Vida and The Avett Brothers' I and Love and You in the car, with a little bit of Glee thrown in the mix when I'm happy. And lately, when we eat outside on our patio for dinner, I'll drag the speakers outside (much to my husband's dismay) and fill the apartment complex with Frank Sinatra. It makes it feel like something out of a movie :) It makes me happy. .

Wow, my answers were long this week. I get a bit wordy sometimes... (not that you guys don't already know that...)

I'll try to do a decent update tonight, with some pictures and stuff. Then it's back to work this weekend, wahoo!