Music Monday

Today is all about the songs that make me smile regardless of the genre.
In other words, it's quite the random bunch of tunes.
Enjoy.

(Warning: Contains Expletives, clearly..)

Does anyone else find this song hilarious?

"Funny how a melody sounds like a memory." What's not to love about that?

I think I love the music video the most.

I dare you to not dance to this song.

Not to go all #YOLO on ya, but this is one catchy mofo.

Happy Monday!

Awake & Unafraid

This is where I'd be. On a rooftop somewhere, with pretty lights, bright stars, chilly gusts of wind and a sweet poncho, with this playing in the background of my free, unfiltered thoughts. This uninhibited version of myself doesn't think twice about dangling her feet over the edge of this building, she is awake and unafraid. She might even smoke a cigarette or two and get a quirky tattoo on a whim. Her makeup is always smudged because it looks better that way, and she can't be bothered with brushing her hair. She loves being alone and needs nothing and no one, except this rooftop. And these stars. And this music. Nothing else matters. Not now, not to her. 

InstaFriday

Top Left Clockwise: Dan Dan Noodles from Pei Wei's in Davenport (nommmm) / My first time trying Menchie's froyo (which didn't hurt my stomach! Score!) / Watching The Big Lebowski with my brother and his freaky cat - The Dude abides / The closest thing to edible lactose-free cream cheese I've found so far: Farmer Cheese / WIWW Outtakes / I almost look like I have blue eyes! Who knew! / My cuddly puppy butt / Just trying out some curly Q's

I hate to admit this, but I have yet to run once this week.

I.Am.Such.A.Slacker.

I just have to get through next week (finals.. ugh) and get my butt in gear. 

I guess we'll see what happens.

But in the meantime.. I'm off to work.

Happy Friday!

What I Wore Wednesday

Romper: Macy's

Necklace: Gifted & INPink

Bracelet: ??

Shoes: Payless

(Excuse my neglected pedicure)

I'm a little lost without Picnik to effortlessly make sweet collages with, but I'm downloading Picasa right now and will soon be able to make my photos look less crazy. In the meantime, I have a question for you guys.

How do you feel about rompers? 

It's generally pretty hard for me to find ones that fit proportionally with my long torso and grande-sized bum, but once I find ones that fit I just love how easy and comfortable they are. Also, I got these fun yellow wedges a while ago for only $7, so I was pretty stoked about that. There's just something about yellow shoes that makes me all giddy.

Linking up with:

    

Happy Hump Day!

My Newest Obsession

Okay, first of all, if you haven't already you should check out the Google homepage. Apparently today is Gideon Sundback's birthday and this dude helped invent the zipper. Fun fact of the day. How flippin' cool are the people who design these Google homepages?!

Secondly, if you have an iPhone or like listening to music on your computer, you have to know about 8tracks. I know this is probably old news, but I'm completely and officially obsessed.

This website/app is completely free and it has a giant selection of playlists made by other users and some of them are majorly badass. A lot of the playlists are very heavy on the dubstep and remix variety, which I'm really not a fan of, but every mix that includes a song I completely forgot about for years that makes me smile no matter what is going on around me makes up for all the molly-poppin' wub wub music I had to sift through to get there.

All you have to do is scroll through the descriptions to decide what kind of music you're in the mood for. Yesterday I drove to the Orlando area to visit my brother and sister-in-law and listened to the "Indie Music For West Coast Kids" playlist and today while I was lying out by the pool I listened to the "Sittin' Pretty In Sun Tan City" playlist full of country-summer-feel-good songs. I've also listened to plenty of workout playlists just to get some element of surprise into my runs as well as silly, girly, singalong playlists that make me want to sing into my brush while jumping on my bed. There are even classical music playlists, intrumental covers or decade mixed. 

Needless to say, I'm a huge fan. I'm discovering all kinds of new music and not getting bored with my same ol' library. Here's one of the songs I knew all the words to but probably hadn't heard since 8th grade (From the "American Soundtrack"):

Do you use the 8tracks app? If so, tell me your favorite playlists!

Week In Photos

From top left clockwise: Epic sushi date with my sister; Cuddle time with Ziggy; New nail polish color; Oh hey, I actually got to wear my hair down once this week

Fashion show at work; My little pony, Bumblesweet, goofing around at Steak 'n Shake; Chocolate stilettos at a cute shop in Orlando where we went to pick out bridesmaid dresses today.

This whole week has been all about working and schooling. I apologize for my absence on here lately, but the truth is I haven't been doing a whole lot of blog-worthy stuff. I've been eating terribly (see Steak 'n Shake photo above), definitely not cooking, wearing black shirts, pants and shoes every day, sleeping whenever I can and hoping that the blog gods will bless me with some inspiration for interesting posts. But as it is, my heart hasn't been into it and my head has been elsewhere. Perhaps I'll be brave and write about it one day, but for now I'll have to settle for Instagram photos and cryptic text. 

The good news is today I got to spend my day off with several wonderful friends as I watched Jessica take one step closer to being married by ordering her gorgeous wedding gown. I am beyond grateful for friends, laughter and joyous occasions to look forward to. 

Damn the man! Save the Empire!

I'm really into movies, but I'm definitely not a trivia-packin' movie buff. I like to laugh and feel good when watching a movie. I like to relate and cry sometimes, but mostly I want a movie to make me laugh out loud even when I'm watching it all alone in my bedroom. I like to try to memorize the lines that are so brilliant and clever that they'd never actually happen in real life, but the characters in movies just have them at the tips of their tongues. I secretly fantasize about being that person writing the script that came up with such a perfect sentence, quip, joke, description of life. One of these movies that I watch over and over again (pretty much all of them have been introduced to me by my sister, Britni, who actually is a pop culture trivia genius) is Empire Records. I watched it on Netflix last night and remembered why I've been obsessed with it for so long (if you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed its quotes blowing up your feed last night).

If you haven't seen it, it's about a bunch of screwed up 17 to 23 year-old music lovers working at a record store who have to save it from being bought out by a huge chain of commercialized  Music Town stores. It's not so much the plot that I love as it is the characters' interactions with each other, their discussions about music, the soundtrack (duh) and their tendency to stop working and have random dance parties throughout the store.

AJ, on the left, is by far one of my biggest (and longest running) movie character crushes -- he's beautiful, loves music and he's an artist. Even with that hair, you can't help but love him. And Lucas, on the right, is definitely the best character in the movie -- after gambling away all of the manager's money within the first 5 minutes of the movie, he spends the rest of the day making philosophical statements and pondering the meaning of life.

Watch this and tell me it doesn't just look like an awesome time. Let me know how you feel about the movie if you've seen it, and if you haven't, I highly recommend you log on to Netflix right now and start watching.


Happy Tuesday, friends!

Music Monday Acoustic Edition

I love acoustic guitar. In fact, sometimes I even try to play mine. I'm not very good, but everything just sounds so wonderful when an acoustic guitar is involved. So that's my theme for today's Music Monday. Here are some of my favorite songs that utilize the acoustic guitar.

You can see the official video here.

If any of you have music related posts today, be sure to leave links to them in the comments. I'd love to check out your favorite music.

Also, watch this video if you like to laugh.

InstaFriday / Friday's Letters

Dear Readers, I have decided to make Friday work-out-brag-day. Partly because with my marathon vastly approaching I need to hold myself accountable for actually training and partly because I feel good about the fact that I ran 10 miles yesterday. (Just being honest!) I did it in 1:40 even though I walked half of mile seven. I also did a 3-mile run earlier this week and a 6-miler last week. Still not as hardcore as I should be, but I'm getting there. I'm hoping to get a good run in on Sunday too. Love, Hardcore Kens
Dear Ziggy, You are just the cutest. I love that you buried one of the Easter eggs in the backyard (we searched for it for SO long last Sunday too) just to dig it up and chow down on it the other morning. I'm guessing it tastes better once it's nice and stinky from basking in the sun for several days. Love, Yo Mama

Dear Veganomicon Cookbook, You are the BEST. This couscous rocks my world. Love, Big Mack

Dear Capers, You make everything taste amazing. I don't know how I used to enjoy food without knowing the wonder that is your tangy, salty, weird-textured self. Lemon (dairy-free) butter caper sauce is my go-to for fish and pasta. It's so easy and I love it. Love, Big Mack

Dear Butt, I'm sorry about all the cheap wine and massive amounts of potato chips I've been using to grow you. Just try to concentrate on the runs and ignore the carbs and trans fats. Thanks, Big Mack

(source)

Dear California, Please give me a job so I can live in you. Please, please, please. Love, Kensie

Linking up with:

 

 

PS: Feel free to follow me on InstaGram! My name is MacKensieG.

WIWW & Thoughts

My mind has been all over the place, you guys. 

Seriously.

I've been in a fairly constant state of pms (without out the p or m..). The kind where one minute you're going to move to California and make your dreams come true because you're an optimistic, successful woman and the next you're on the verge of tears because you heard a sad country song on the radio and you're a 12-year-old girl who's sensitive and weak.

My friend Mike (above) is in the Marines and deployed yesterday. He'll be gone for seven months and eventually I guess I'll be able to write him letters, but for now I've got one less awesome person to talk to every day.

I know he'll be back and it's going to be fine. I'm just going to miss him and I want him to be safe and happy and all that stuff you want for your friends.

There are pieces missing.

That's not to say I haven't been enjoying myself. I'm making new relationships, new connections, new pieces. It's new. It's different. It's exciting. It's scary.

Needless to say this instability has me frazzled, and therefore forgetting things like taking photos of the cute outfits I put together (although I've mostly been wearing my work clothes every day) or not training for my marathon that's vastly approaching in two months (insert freak out here).

The good news is I have these people to borrow clothes, drink cheap wine and cry from laughter with.

(Photo credit: Jenn)

Sweatpants: Borrowed from Mark.. Sexy, huh?

Dress And Belt: Borrowed from Hannah


I know I'll feel normal again eventually, but for now I'll just try to embrace my manic episodes and ignore the bouts of crazed, emotional blah-ness. And I'll take more pictures..

Linking up with:

    

  

Little Talks

Music Monday / Easter

Every year the Easter Bunny hides (super silly) clues all around our house that lead each of us to our baskets full of goodies. This year my basket was full of lactose-free treats, an Applebee's gift card (methinks the Easter bunny reads my blog ;) and a book I can't wait to read. We spent the rest of the day watching my nephews and pup hunt for Easter eggs and hanging out by the pool listening to some tunes. It was a beautiful, relaxing, wonderful Easter. I hope you all enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine. For Music Monday I put together a playlist full of songs I've been listening to obsessively for the past couple of weeks. I considered making it Easter/Spring themed, but the only song that came to mind was "Little Bunny Foo Foo," so I decided to pass.

What are some of your favorite songs lately? Please share! I love learning about new music.

Happy Easter!

Ziggy went Easter egg hunting today and I think she won the cuteness award. 

Happy Easter, friends!

InstaFriday

Guys, my hair is long enough now that I can do fun things with it besides frying it with the straightener every day! (Like frying it with a curling iron instead!)

Oh, whataya know. Hangin' out at Applebee's after work. Weird..

I am obsessed with avocados lately. I've been squeezing lemon and lime juice on them and sprinkling salt and cayenne pepper. It's so delicious. Besides that I've got a breakfast quesadilla, boca burger, some dairy-free Dunkin Donuts items that I customized once I got home (they REALLY need to add at least some soy milk to their menu!) and my mom's very own mulberries from her tree!

Apparently my favorite things to draw on Draw Something are music artists: Kanye, The Beatles and Nicki Minaj. And oh hey, there's me trying to catch my shadow Peter Pan-style!

Happy Friday, friends. Gotta run to work!

Linking up with:

Southwestern Skiller

I made this masterpiece for breakfast/lunch today and it was magnificent. I made a similar dish not too long ago with red potatoes, but today I had butternut squash so I decided to give it a try. Both  of my renditions were based off of Eat, Live, Run's recipe here.

Here's what I used:

(Oh, and about 1 T of garlic.. woops!)

First I chopped up the butternut squash, coated all the pieces in olive oil, salt and pepper, and baked them at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes and an additional five in broiling mode.

While the squash was gettin' its tan on, I combined the olive oil, onion and garlic in a skillet over medium high heat for about 6 minutes. Then I added the cumin and mixed thoroughly. Once the squash was done I added it to the skillet as well as the cayenne pepper, salt, jalapeno and cheese. Lastly I cracked the eggs on top of the mixture and threw it in the broiler for 3-5 minutes (whenever the eggs look donezo).

Then you proceed to eat waaay too much because no one is there to share it with.. (Oh, just me? Never mind. I'll just go cry into my southwestern skillet now. Which, by the way, I have spelled "skiller" every single time on the first attempt. What does this say about me..?)

Happy Thursday, friends.