Running Music, part 1

Good morning! Yay--I'm actually posting 2 days in a row! Thanks for all the recent comments by new readers! I really love getting them! It totally makes my day, so I just wanted to say thanks!

So I wanted to share some of my running/workout music with you and I would LOVE to hear your workout play lists! Please share them with me! Do you have separate lists for different activities (running, strength training, yoga, etc)? Any other themed play lists? Do you have any particular favorite artists or genres? Especially lesser known artists that I can familiarize myself with. I always enjoy discovering new music, so comment to your heart's content!

Here are some of my favorite songs/artists, specifically for running. I have blogged before about how I am working hard to improve my running (although right now my shin is in serious trouble and I'm staying off of it for the next 2 weeks to even have a shot at running my first half marathon on March 27th!) But ordinarily, I was trying to run 4 days a week between 3-5 miles, plus a long 10-ish mile run once a week. So that's a lot of time and good music makes it so much more fun! I thrive with good music and it really motivates me so much more than if I had to run without it. It also provides the energy to keep pushing through (all of my songs are quite upbeat) because at this early stage in my running, with my extremely limited abilities, I am pretty much dying after the first 1/2 mile and anything thereafter is simply a mental and physical battle.

So without further ado, this is my all-time favorite songs list (part 1):

-Viva La Vida by Coldplay As a violinist, I am immensely biased toward excellent songs with strings in them!

-Lose Yourself by Eminem Always inspiring. It gets me just angry enough to keep pushing!

-Kick Drum Heart by The Avett Brothers
A peppy piano-driven song!

-Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
And many other songs of theirs! I'm pretty sure I could do an entire long run of Flogging Molly songs! They are extremely upbeat Irish punk rock, for those not familiar! Other favorites include: Kilburn High Road, Rebels of the Sacred Heart, Requiem for a Dying Song, What's Left of the Flag, Tomorrow Comes a Day Too Soon, From the Back of a Broken Dream, and many more.

-Erasers on Pencils by Ceili Rain (a lesser known, but incredible artist) -These Things Have a Way of Workin' Out by Ceili Rain
Hard to find these songs, but worth buying the CD for. They are uplifting both lyrically and musically. I could loop these and be content for a long time. -Henrietta by The Fratellis
Another indie-punk band. I think maybe I have a large inner punk kid in me! :) Seriously, high energy and fun. Also recommended by them: Flathead, Chelsea Dagger, The Gutterati and Creepin' Up the Back Stairs.

-Plasti-Queens by Geoff Byrd
Nice and funky, with cool lyrics.

-Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous by Good Charlotte
This was popular when I was in high school, so I listened to it a lot. Good beat.

-The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
"It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride, everything is going to be alright." Great lyrics, great beat, so uplifting! One of my most comforting songs!
-Leave Me Alone by Hanna Pakarinen
Another artist who is harder to locate. But totally worth it. She's Finnish (I think) and has an excellent voice plus catchy almost rhyming music. Also check out Go Go and Stronger Without You by her.
-Jesus Loves You by Stellar Kart
I know it's a Christian song, and I don't want to offend anyone, but it's high energy and string-driven, so I love it! I can't say I'm a huge fan of the name, though!
-Fatima by K'Naan -Wavin' Flag by K'Naan
K'Naan has a cool voice and excellent instrumentation! I mean, a sampled trumpet riff? How many songs can boast of that? And his lyrics are great, but sad. Especially Fatima; you have been warned.
-Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
A very sad song that deals with domestic violence. But it handles it maturely and it helps me push through!

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I don't want to overwhelm anyone, so I will end this post here. While I was typing, I noticed how long it was getting and I decided to break it into two (or more) posts. There are many more artists on my running play list, so I'll try to post that in a few days.

Before I go, want to leave you with a few more snow pictures!

My street!

You can barely tell where the cars start!


Big foot. Or just me being silly. :)

My poor little car! I hope the poor thing starts when I need it to!


A cleared sidewalk.

Most of the city is still shut down and most of my evening students have canceled. So I'm just staying at home all day, practicing and blogging. I do need to get some major practicing in, due to that Missouri gig that is coming up!

I might try to walk to the gym again. I ventured there yesterday and got a decent 30 minutes on the SciFit machine + 60 minutes of strength training. (Trying to stay off my shin!) Plus the walk which should have been 20 minutes was 45 minutes each way!

In the meantime, if you're snowed in (or even if you're not) here are two CHOCOLATE giveaways! (Hook me up! You know how much I love my chocolate! Wheee!)

-The Voracious Vegan is giving away some awesome Sweet Earth organic vegan chocolates!
-Mambo Sprouts is giving away fair trade organic chocolate!

I hope everyone is staying safe and warm! Spring is almost here!

Slightly stressed

Sorry to be such a downer this morning, but I have a fairly big problem on my hands. Basically, a wedding client canceled a check he wrote to me because he claims that I was paid for overtime when we weren't kept overtime (we were in fact kept late and even verbally confirmed that it would be OK to receive the overtime pay THAT IS SPECIFIED IN THE CONTRACT HE SIGNED!) So now, I've paid the people that played with me (and I'm not going to drag them into this), and unless I receive the outstanding portion of the event fee, I essentially don't get paid. Additionally, he sent me a *very* nasty e-mail in return to the professional e-mail I sent him regarding the bounced check notification I had received from my bank. (At first I thought it was for insufficient funds, but he said he canceled it). I think I am have to take this to small claims court, because in addition to the money, his e-mail was threatening slander and warned me that he would do the horrible things he said if I try to contact him by phone or e-mail AT ALL, so there's no way that I can even contact him to try and sort this out.
DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT HOW TO GO TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT?
I'm just a young, probably naive, woman in my early 20s and I'm a little scared to go. But, I KNOW I'm in the right here, I HAVE a signed contract clearly laying out the terms for overtime payment, and I am not OK with the e-mail I received from him. I would like to pursue this further.

OK, thanks for listening, and I don't blame you if you skipped that. This is unquestionably the most scary thing I've ever had to deal with in my professional career thus far. I simply want to provide music to clients to make their special event happier and to make it easy on them. I want to be the best musician I can be, and the most friendly and professional person to work with. I want to make the world a better place with my music. But sometimes its so hard when things like this happen. Because at the same time, I do love to play music, and I feel very fortunate indeed to be able to do something I love for my career, but I also have to pay rent! Reality hits hard and it hits fast, and life is full of really expensive bills. People would never hire a plumber or a lawyer for something and then say "oh but didn't you have fun doing it, so do I have to pay you?" but that is frequently the attitude I encounter in music. I didn't spend 5 hours a day of my childhood practicing in order to only play as a volunteer. (I'm not talking about fundraisers, religious events that I support, and other such things--I still volunteer my time to things that are important to me--I don't want you to think that I'm only in this for the money, because I'm not!)

OK, really now, I'm moving on to...food, of course! :)

Breakfast this morning:

1/2 C oats (I always cook them in water)
1/3 C pumpkin
1/3 of Raw Foods & Whey bar (this is much better in oatmeal than plain!)

1 fig (which I took a picture of it because I thought it was beautiful. I see beauty in seemingly inane things)

1/2 C skim cottage cheese
1 TB PB from this new jar:


Altogether with coffee:



Close up:



Be sure to check out Simply Fabulous' giveaway for "Fit From Within" (which I'd love to read!) plus a yummy-looking carob bar.

Blue Sky World is giving away some bottles of herbs from HerbaSway.

I've got a lot to do today:

-Type up two different gig contracts and mail them.
-Pay rent!
-Gym (I hope I have time!)
-Teach from 3:30-9:00pm

I went to a Josh Ritter concert yesterday night and it was AMAZING! He is SOOOO cute! And great music! OMG, I'm drooling! Oops! I LOVED the concert and I'm rocking out to his music right now, while blogging and while doing the contracts here shortly. Anyone else a Josh Ritter fan? Who are your favorite artists? Any recommendations?

Have a great day!