The Soundtrack

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about the music. I love it all. I tend to go through phases, when it comes to different genres. I'll become fascinated with a particular style or artist and I'll listen to it nonstop. My life seems to have a sound track for whatever I'm going through at the time. My current obsession is what you might refer to as "Americana." Some classic country, mixed with some mainstream country. There were two artists that I listened to nonstop while recovering from a break up a while back. Zac Brown Band's Colder spoke to me. I remember listening to it at the beach while trying to figure out what the heck happened. It soothed me. I listened to that album every waking minute that I wasn't working. Then a trip to Nashville turned me on to Travis Meadows. A wonderful writer. He performed a song, in a tiny venue in Nashville, that took my breath away. I immediately downloaded his album, "Killing Uncle Buzzy." And that album became the anthem to my recovery. I listened to it while running miles and miles on the treadmill. Now, typically, when you run you want something up tempo. But I didn't necessarily need up tempo at the time. I ran and listened to his gut wrenching lyrics and saw the face of my ex and ran harder and longer. I exchanged emails with Travis and he told me that he wrote the album while going through a hard time in his own life. He didn't have to tell me. I knew it by listening. His song "Learning to Live Alone" just blew me away. The song talks about his relationship with his little boy. Now, I don't have children. The things in his song were not really what I was going through...and yet I related so completely with it. Now THAT, my friend, is what makes a great song. I was talking to a friend the other day, who does not listen to country. He was giving me a hard time. I told him that I wasn't so in love with a style. I love good lyrics. I admire song writers so much...the truly good ones. I love great vocals. I'm a bit of purist when it comes to that. Simple. Barebones. Raw. That is what gets me somewhere between my gut and my heart. An acoustic set impresses me more than anything. A guy with a guitar or a girl behind a piano with great vocals and lyrics that connect me. That will make me a fan. All the other stuff is fun...but the simple stuff is the best!! I met a guy the other night, through a friend. His name is Nate Kipp. He seems to be a staple performer for the Dallas/Ft Worth area. He does all his own stuff. Pretty much Texas style country. He is, after all, 100% Texan and you feel it in every note. I only heard him perform a couple of songs but was impressed with his style and his comfortable presence. A confidence that only someone that has been singing in front of crowds for a long time can possess. When I got home I bought his latest project, The Holding Pattern. The humor in the songs and the style of the music, seemed to be so completely the guy that I met, that it made me smile. I think, if anything, an album should reflect the personality of the artist. And this certainly did. The vocals are smooth and soothing and seem effortless. If you like Texas country, give Nate a listen. A great guy doing what he loves. Gotta admire that ,

There Is Hope!

I took this picture a few months ago when I was going through one of the hardest times of my life.  A time when I felt hopeless.  I'd been betrayed by one that I trusted.  I looked in the sky and saw the most unbelievable rainbow I have ever seen.  It was huge and colorful and I could see it bow all the way from beginning to end.  So big, in fact, that I could not get the whole rainbow in the picture.  And the colors were so defined.  The picture does not do it any justice.   I honestly felt as though I could have taken a few steps and found the pot of gold.  The sun was shining brightly and glistening off the rain puddles and droplets in the grass.  The storm was passing over.  And I felt hope again.  Oh, that reminder!  That promise that He gave us so long ago was again reminding me that all was not lost.  There is hope!  Today, I thought of that betrayal again.  I felt the familiar sting.  The ache in my heart almost took my breath away.  I began flipping through the pictures on my phone to pass time away during my lunch, to try to take my mind off things, and there it was.  The rainbow.  The promise.  The hope.  So I post this picture today, not just for me, but for anyone else who reads this that may need a little reminder. All is not lost.  There is hope.  Cling to the promise.

How About A Blog?

Blog.  I should do a blog, I thought.  It's a way for me to be able to do something that I love, write.  Share a few ideas, my viewpoint, life experiences and...maybe cheap therapy?  Yes.  I should become a blogger.  So, me...being me.  I had to look some things up.  No lists were involved but I did do 5 minutes of research.  Several definitions came up when I googled.  But simply put, a blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts, web links, pictures and hyperlinks usually focused on a particular area of interest.  Typically, blogs use a conversational style of documentation.  It's like I was made for blogging.  Although, I'm not really sure I have a particular area of interest.  So my blog may be less specific.  More like "how life looks from where I'm sitting."  Is this breaking the rules...to have no specific topic in mind?   Will the blogger po-po come and shut me down while playing "Bad boys, whatchu gonna do?"  Perhaps some may consider me not having a particular topic to be the easy way out.  Well, they would be correct!  I'm no expert at anything.  I don't think I can advise  on how to bake a better cake, or how to sew a pillow sham out of dental floss, or how to make yourself more beautiful, thinner or happier by reading my words.  But I do have something unique to offer.  My outlook on life!  I can assure you that no one else has it.  You won't find it on any other blog!!  I have never been one to go about things the way that everyone else does.  This is not to say I'm a rule breaker.  Far from.  But I tend to live my life differently than most folks.  It's not something that I do on purpose, just for the sake of being different.  It just sorta always turns out that way.  I'm not sure why.  My values are very traditional, but my means to an end always seem slightly askew.  Odd?  Quirky?  Weird? I guess you can decide...but don't tell me your decision.  I'm probably better off not knowing.  My family is conservative.  Apostolic Pentecostal.  Now you know where the name "Life In a Skirt" comes from. It's how I've lived my life.  I'll be getting into that more in the future, I'm sure.  This blog is not really about that.  That would be too close to having a specific topic.  And we CANNOT have that!  No, this just gives my viewpoint on life a slightly different spin than most.  Now, I realize that this is my first post.  So...all this may turn out to just sound like the ravings of a mad woman.  My grammar may not be perfect.  Conversational in style, remember?  I will try to proofread but those pesky semicolons can be tricky.  And yes, I will use spellcheck.  But sometimes errors will sneak in.  Don't crucify me for any of that and I promise to keep it to a minimum.   I'll try to put in some useful information when I can.  Maybe I'll even learn that pillow sham from dental floss trick.