March flew so quickly that it’s actually the middle of April now. AH! But here is the best of it 🙂
As a kickoff for our Jogathon, we had a BMX show for the students, and some of us teachers got jumped! One of my students even hugged me after saying she was happy I was still alive. Meanwhile, another went “I thought, eh see you at the hospital I guess” HA!
An extra day in February gives me the extra wiggle room to help get a blog post out without feeling last minute. Phew. This month went by so fast. I blinked and now I have to change my classroom bulletin boards. (The worst moment of the month, yuck)
While it was a bit crazy I also got to spend a week with a college friend who I haven’t seen in almost two years so it was awesome! Yay to February break. Here are some of my favs from the month!
And just like that month 1 of 2024 is gone. A whirlwind of a month jumping back into another semester of teaching, the end of the holidays, and lots of SoCal rainy days. Let’s just say the first week after break having no outside time is NOT conducive to calm, attentive classroom behavior. Ha.
A new series I am adding this year is Monthly Favorites! (Thanks Melissa for the recommendation *waves*) Anything from random things I’ve bought that month to interesting trends on Social Media can be discussed. So tune in every month for something new!
2023 crawled and flew at the same time. Now I’ve blinked and we are in the middle of January 2024! How crazy is that? To start the year let’s take a look back at 2023 Highlights and talk about some goals for 2024!
and was surprised with a Downton Themed Birthday outing you can read all about it here
In honor of my Tio’s birthday I thought it would be a perfect day to discuss the latest San Diego Follow My Fork day! If you are new to the blog, my uncle runs an Instagram account called Follow.My.Fork (which you can find here) where he posts all about the really yummy food he eats, mostly around his home in San Diego. He always takes me and my brother on food outings and this last one was my belated birthday gift.
We always do at least a 3 course outing and this was no exception.
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Or as close to it as you can get in Southern California, which is apparently in Pasadena.
I turned 24 this weekend. A very strange feeling as I told my cousin, I still feel like it was just yesterday we were playing Hide the Wii remotes on my 13th birthday but here we are. My mother likes to say I have Peter Pan syndrome so the past few years of birthdays realizing I am, in fact, growing up have been very bittersweet.
Continue readingWhen Halloween sneaks up on you and you realize that you have yet to figure out a costume. No need to panic. Shop your closet. There are a ton of costumes you can put together if you just get a little creative.
So step right up and I will show you how I shop my own closet to put together 5 Last Minute Halloween Costumes.
RED (Taylor’s Version), or RED 2.0, as I have been calling it, came out today. I thought I would write my first impressions review as there is no way for me to have a full opinion of the album as a whole until I have listened to it a bazillion times for a week straight.
Before we get into it, the background context on my relationship to RED, the original.
It is my favorite Taylor Swift album. For sure, the one I have listened to the most. The one with my favorite Taylor Swift song. It was also the album for which I went to my very first concert at the start of my freshman year of high school. I have distinct moments attached to songs from when it came out my 8th-grade year. Thus, I am sure I will have a lot to say as the album is very near and dear to my heart. So here we go, a non-comprehensive first impressions reaction review, as I listen to the rerecorded songs for the first time.
Songs I Listened to First:
Here are the first 5 songs I listened to in the order I listened to them. In between each one, I then listened to the original version for comparison.
1 minute in, is the very subtle harmony voice new?
Upon review it is just more noticeable now.
The maturity of her voice now really changes the tonal quality of this song. The softness of the original isn’t there but there is a different depth to it. “This slope is treacherous and I I I like it”
Although I really miss the more airy quality of the original bridge, it sounds more full in this version which isn’t bad at all just different.
Short and sweet review. I still love this song.
Again the drums. Scale it back, this is too harsh.
This song had a lot more of the airy softness that is in the original album. Which when listening you can tell the main difference is just how much her voice has strengthened but hearing her purposely add it into this song was lovely.
This song so far has given me the most OG RED vibes. I really enjoyed it. “And I’ll never be the same”
With the new from the Vault songs the album is now 30 songs long totalling 2 hours and 10 minutes. The album came out for me at 9pm PST meaning I did the first five song listen and then went to sleep to prepare myself for a 2 hour intense listening session in the morning.
Red, the song, sounds exactly the same, so does I Knew You Were Trouble.
Opening of 22 sounds more pulled back, original her voice and the drums are on an even plane but now drums are in the background for that part.
I may like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together better now, while Stay Stay Stay is not as good on this version. I also don’t think I like Holy Ground 2.0 as much either… I can’t tell why yet.
Everything Has Changed Feat: Ed Sheeran 2.0 is slightly slower than the original and Ed’s vocal lines are also a bit different on his verse and some of his harmonies. I’ve seem them sing this live and I think the new version has more of that “live” quality versus the original recording.
Begin Again still perfection. The harmonies sound like they may be crisper too. It’s gorgeous.
Girl at Home is a completely different song. Now it sounds like it could have been on 1989 instead of RED. I like it. I love the original but this is fun.
I really liked Nothing New feat: Pheobe Bridgers.
Message in a Bottle felt like something I could see in a movie soundtrack.
Forever Winter and Run Feat: Ed Sheeran are beautiful. Will be playing on repeat for a while.
The Very First Night is a great song to have as the last one before All Too Well 10 min. It is incredibly catchy and is like a mix between Lucky One and Starlight. A song you can dance while doing your makeup too.
The original RED to me seems like a more raw scaled back version compared to the Taylor’s Version which has a more produced feel. There is a lot more added tonal qualities in the accompaniments coupled with a juiced up drum section that I am not sure I like better than how it sounded.
All of the songs have a fuller sound than before, much to do with her voice and how she sings the lines. There are fewer lines she throws away when she sings- a good adjustment, it helps with understanding the lines.
This album is still so so good. Dancing around my room, belting the lyrics alone in the car, adding songs to your party with your friends playlist good.
Alright that is all I have for you from my first impressions. This was a tad bit longer than a quick first glance post that I expected it to be… Hope you enjoyed. Do you have a favorite song from RED?
Let me know if you would like me to do more music reviews.
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