Crushed and Created

Ok, so as you may have figured out I love a variety of music. Music is a way of expressing myself and who I am. If I am depressed, I listen to depressing music just to know that someone else gets depressed too. If I feel empowered, I listen to something that feeds that empowerment. Lately I have been in the need of some new music, new artists, and something different but I just could put my finger on what my mood has been. Every once in a while Spotify (aka Pandora on steroids) will send me emails with artist suggestions so I picked one of those artists, started a radio station for them, and fell in love.

I'm sure you're curious as to what I fell in love with so here are some of the artists that I've found: Ryan Calhoun, Elise Lieberth, Jason Walker, Sara Haze Jon McLaughlin, and Caitlyn Smith. I was getting very tired of mainstream music so the new voices, EP albums, and covers are a wonderful change of pace.

The real purpose of this blog post is to share a song that I came across in my new music discovery; it's called Crushed and Created by Caitlyn Smith. Lately I have been feeling very crushed. I've been depressed, work is stressful and full of drama, I'm coming up on my 30th birthday in January and in some aspects I'm not where I thought I would be, and it's hard for me. This song talks about the fact that we are crushed and created the same way. Life is a cycle of things that die, so that something else can live.

The bridge talks about being stronger in the end. I don't think, ok I know, when it comes to my current situations I'm not strong BUT this song provides me hope. It serves as a reminder that I may feel crushed, discouraged, and out of place now, but it won't always be that way. At the end of these tests and trials, I know that I will come out freer, wiser, and stronger; everything will work out in the end, it always does.





Jessy <3

P.S. If you don't know about Spotify, you're missing out. Spotify gives you the chance to not only listen to random songs like Pandora, but you can also create your own playlists. You can Star songs to go back to later and it's perfect for music addicts like me. Check it out HERE!

Blogger's Block

Ok so I watched this vlog yesterday where the person was having vlogger's block so he just kept talking. It was kinda funny because he had a clown that he was talking to, but he was talking to them about the fact that he didn't have anything to talk about. (How about "Why the heck do you have a clown in your room?") LOL Well, I am really having blogger's block. I really want to blog because I've been missing it, but I can't think of anything interesting to blog about. So, instead I'm going to ramble. LOL Here are some totally random things that have been on my mind lately...

First, I haven't been doing very well with exercising. :( I guess it is true that exercising at home is harder than if you go to a gym or take a class. So, I am going to sign up for the gym at my work. They have this employee incentive that if you work out for 33 hours over the semester they will give you $25. I figure 2 hours a week wouldn't be too hard to accomplish. Plus I would be able to tone, make myself look like I've lost weight (cuz I still don't see the difference in myself) and maybe it will give me a little more confidence. I am also going to be taking English 102 this semester, simply because the instructor was my sub last semester and he was awesome! Thinking about taking a class makes me a little nervous because of all of the partial seizures that I had during English 101 last semester. I am on new meds now so hopefully my meds were the issue and I won't have any partial seizures during this class. We'll find out; in the meantime, I'm trying not to think about it. 

New topic, totally random. I love Spotify and I have really been enjoying the "Singer-Songwriter" radio station lately for three reasons. First, the music awesome. It's a little melancholy but I think the songs are exactly what I have been needing. Second, it is making me broaden my music horizons. There are some songs that come up that I am like "ummmm...dislike aka...skip", but then there are others that I absolutely LOVE! The last reason that I love the new radio feature, is because I don't have to upgrade my account in order to listen to it on my iPod, and I can listen to it as long as I want, unlike Pandora who now gives you a time limit unless you upgrade. That third reason kind of sounds like two reasons doesn't it?! O well. lol

Third random topic. Just so you know why I am letting everyone know when I am skipping to a new topic is because the topics aren't connected in my brain like at all, so I'm sure they're not connected in yours. LOL Anyway, as most of you know, I am in a book club. This month we are reading "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer. I don't know what it is but I can not seem to get into the book club books. So far I have finished all of them and I am very happy with the outcomes and have been so glad to have read the books.  But I just can't seem to get into them until the half way mark and this one is no different. Every time I try to read this book, I fall asleep. This month the book club is meeting at my house, I would be a horrible host if I didn't read "The Host." LOL!! I have two weeks until the meeting so I guess I'd better get reading eh?!

Fourth topic, this one is kind of connected - at least in my brain. I am really getting annoyed with my house. I am so very glad that we've caught up with the kitchen and the living room but now my bedroom is driving me batty. I have to do laundry and I really want to be organized. So the reason it is connected in my brain, is because it something that I SHOULD be doing - rather than just blogging about it. 

I think I have rambled long enough. Now I must get off  this computer, that would include not getting sucked into Pinterest or Facebook (which has been hard lately) and either read or accomplish something in my house!! We'll see how that turns out. LOL

Sincerely yours, even with blogger's block,

Jessy <3

Musical Monday 4/2/12

<a href="http://www.jessysjottedthoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n17/jbradford214/MusicalMondaysLogo2.jpg" alt="Musical Mondays" /></a>

Musical Mondays is a link-up specifically for music. I want to know what you are listening to this week (or what you listened to last week). I encourage you to have some fun with this. Write a blog post about what you are listening to, include my logo in your post and then post the link to your blog post in the link-up box below. I can't wait to read about what you are listening to!!

Btw if you're not a blogger, you can still join in the fun. Just post a comment about what you are listening to in the comment box below.


Last week I gave you a list of songs from my iPod when it was on shuffle. This week I am going to tell you about Spotify! Now, I have done at least one blog post about Spotify in the past, but I thought this is a fitting topic for this link-up.

If you haven't heard already, Spotify is a free downloadable program that you can put on your computers. You can pull in the music from your computer, find new music, create playlists, follow your friends and subscribe to other peoples playlists. You don't have to download any music and I have yet to find something that they don't have. The best part about it is that you can log-in on any computer that has the program and you have access to ALL of your playlists.

Spotify is free but of course they also have Spotify Premium that you can purchase. It's ad-free and you can take your music mobile, so you can listen to your playlists anywhere, anytime. I have not done this, but it is very tempting. LOL

Now that you know what Spotify is I can tell you what I listened to this week; I've been listening to one of my playlists, it's called "In a Funk". Now originally I created this playlist for when I was in a Funk and kinda depressed. However, now I have added so many great songs to it that I listen to it anytime, not just when I'm depressed. The majority of the music is done by artists that are out of the spotlight, well at least out of my spotlight.

Here are some of the artists on this playlist: Blue October, City and Colour, Damien Rice, Death Cab for a Cutie, Adele (now she's one of my loves but fairly new to my spotlight), and several others too.

Here is a taste of some of my favorite songs from the "In a Funk" playlist:

The Worry List - Blue October *
Breathe (2 am) - Anna Nalick
Collide - Howie Day
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
The Death of Me - City and Colour
Crashed - Daughtry
Misguided Ghosts - Paramore

*Explicit (only a couple cuss words)

If you want to download Spotify click HERE. Also, if you have an account and want to find me on Spotify just click HERE. I hope you all enjoy Spotify as much as I do, and I hope to have some new followers soon! :)

If you are a blogger, don't forget to link up in the box below!! Until next time ~ Jessy Ü

♫ Music makes my heart happy ♫

I had mentioned in one of my posts that I always have some sort of music playing. Well it is true! Music makes my heart happy. <3 I love all types of music, everything from Goth Rock to Pop, or from Classic Rock to yes even a little bit of Country. I'm not really into Country right now, I've have worn that one out a little bit. lol :)

I am amazed at how many different ways we can listen to our favorite songs. We have come a long way from just a few stations of talk radio haven't we?! Now we can listen to the actual radio or we can pick from a plethora of other options as well. We can listen online and pick whether we want to listen to our favorite station or have a website pick random songs based on what our favorite artist/song is. Isn't Pandora just awesome?! Heck we can take our music on the go with iPods & MP3 players.

Well the latest thing I have found is Spotify. It is brand-new to the USA and is in trial mode so you have to get an invite from someone. A lot of celebs have invites for people, I got my account by following Ashton Kutcher on Twitter (not something I am particularly proud of but what ya gunna do?!) Klout is also offering accounts too. Anyway...Spotify is an app that you put on your computer and it will let you listen to anything that your heart desires. You don't have to download any music and as long as you download the Spotify program on your computer you can listen to your playlists on any computer. You can also share songs with your friends by either posting songs to Facebook/Twitter or using Spotify social and sharing them that way too.

I think the thing I like most about Spotify is the "What's New" tab. It gives you a random list of new albums, I think I have found more favorite albums that way. I am always a sucker for trying some new music. I would love to hear what you guys like to listen to, maybe I'll find another "new" band or album. ;)

BTW, I am looking to start a Classic Rock playlist for my Spotify account. I would LOVE to hear what your favorite Classic Rock songs are. I'm looking for some good music to add to my list. :)