DAY 23- A SONG I WANT PLAYED AT MY WEDDING

(which is in 98 days, by the way)

Here's a little story for ya. March 2004, T-ville Cheerleaders had just gotten back from Nationals in Florida and Jr. Prom was that weekend. I had a major crush on a certain geek named Nathan Morris, and he hadn't asked anyone to prom yet. During lunch, a bunch of friends, including Nathan and me, were hanging out in back of the choir room (which was the cool thing to do). Lynsie asked Nathan if he had asked anyone to prom, even though she knew he hadn't. Then she said, "why don't you ask Jamilyn." And then he did. Right there in front of everyone, he got down on one knee (foreshadowing the future a bit?) and asked me to go to prom with him. Of course I said yes!

This is us, looking super geeky and young, right before leaving for the dance.

And here is a very high school-ish quote from my journal entry after coming home that night.

"At the dance, he told me he liked me, and I told him I liked him too. We've never really talked like that before. It was cool. I really do like him best right now. The last song we danced to was 'It's Your Love' by Tim McGraw. It's going to make me think of Nathan Morris now, and our very first date. My last high school dance ever."

Ever since then, It's Your Love by Tim McGraw has kind of been our song. We dance to it in the kitchen when no one is watching. He learned how to play it on the guitar, and he sings it to me sometimes. When he was serving in Texas, for at least the first year and a half, it was on the list of songs I couldn't bring myself to listen to. And on the night he came home, it was one of the first songs that we listened to again together.

And now, in just a little over 3 months, we'll play it at our wedding. For our first dance as husband and wife.

DAY 22- A SONG I LISTEN TO WHEN I'M SAD

I have a lot of favorite songs on the mellow/sad side of things. Which I think is funny, cause I don't consider myself a particularly sad person. (maybe mellow, though.) I considered posting about The Chain, by Ingrid Michaelson, or Star Mile by Joshua Radin, or World Spins Madly On by The Weepies, Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight by Amos Lee, Let it Be Me by Ray Lamontagne, or Hard Times by Eastmountain South. (If you don't know any of those, I think you probably should.) But somehow Between The Bars by Elliot Smith connects to a deeper level of sad than the others. So if I'm really really devastatingly downcast, melancholy, forlorn, or utterly heartbroken, I'd seek comfort in the music of Elliot Smith.

DAY 21- A SONG THAT I LISTEN TO WHEN I'M HAPPY

This song is called Grace Kelly by MIKA. Doesn't it make you happy? I first heard MIKA in my creative arts class at Utah State. In a ginormous class with over 600 students, mostly freshmen, packed into Kent Concert Hall, we watched the music video for this song to point out his creative use of costume and lighting. I think our professor just really liked the song. And thanks to him, now I like it too.

I have exactly 100 days left of life as single Jamilyn. I bet it's gonna go fast!

DAY 20- A SONG I LISTEN TO WHEN I'M ANGRY

Any song by Apocalyptica. Some are more angry than others. But I think that listening to stuff without words helps me to be less distracted, sort through my thoughts, and get un-angry. Apocalyptica is so rad that it's easy to turn around a bad mood listening to them anyway.

We're headed to Park City for a little Labor Day overnighter! I'm definitely not angry.

DAY 19- A SONG FROM MY FAVORITE ALBUM

Which is 11:11 by Regina Spektor. Hands Down.

Above all of my many favorites, Regina stands alone. I love all of her stuff, from Songs to Far. But 11:11 feels more awesome than the rest. I vividly remember the first time I heard Regina, and it was the 11:11 album that I heard. I was with Nathan in his grandparent's basement, I'm guessing summer of 2006, and we were cleaning his room. He was excited to show me this awesome new singer he had discovered on myspace. And I had never heard anything like it ever before. A few months later we went to her Begin To Hope concert at The Venue, where she stopped and giggled at the sound of the train horn blowing in the middle of her song. And I was completely hooked.

Man, what song to choose from 11:11? They are all wonderful in a raw and simple way. Pavlov's Daughter has been a favorite for a while now. I love the scat stuff at the beginning, and her Regina-style rapping, and the contrasting slow, Russianesque middle section. And the random spurt of poetry that ends it all. I get this song stuck in my head a lot. :)

For some reason, the playlist version of Pavlov's Daughter isn't working very well. So I also added my newest favorite Regina song, which is Real Love from the Instant Karma album.

DAY 18- A SONG I WISH I HEARD ON THE RADIO

Ya know what? I wish that radio stations played more Imogen Heap. And by more Imogen, I mean any at all. A good one that they could start with is Hide And Seek. I don't know anyone who doesn't like that song. (well, I take that back. My dear Mom doesn't like it because it says "What the hell.")

Know what is lame? There is an annoying song that is a blatant ripoff of Hide and Seek that gets TONS of radio air time. I vote that every time a radio station is considering playing Jason Derulo's song "Whatcha Say," they bust that CD in half, and play some Imogen Heap instead.

DAYS 13-16

Apparently I skipped a few days in the music project. And then stopped blogging for a few days. But I'm back, and playing catch up. Man, the combination of doctoral school and fiance equal limited amounts of free time. ever. Luckily school and Nathan are two of my favorite things, huh?

DAY 13- A SONG THAT IS A GUILTY PLEASURE

How about WANNA BE by THE SPICE GIRLS. The song was cool in 5th grade. And maybe I feel a little silly for getting excited when it comes up in an itunes playlist.

DAY 14- A SONG THAT NO ONE WOULD EXPECT ME TO LOVE

Do people have expectations for songs that I love? I sort of feel like the songs that I love cover a wide spectrum. But maybe HATE ME by BLUE OCTOBER is a little un-Jamilyn-ish. But I still love it. Would you expect that? Tell me a song that you WOULDN'T expect.

DAY 15- A SONG THAT DESCRIBES YOU

Man, I feel like this is kind of a bold statement. As far as I know, no one has ever written a song about me. And I'm not quite like anyone else. So no song really describes me. But if someone were to write a song about me, I think it might be something like ALWAYS A WOMAN by BILLY JOEL. At lease I hope it would.

DAY 16- A SONG THAT I USED TO LOVE, BUT NOW HATE

Easy one. CANON IN D by PACHELBEL. Before I started playing the cello, when ever I heard this song, I used to think it was so so so wonderful. And beautiful. Nearly transcendent. I would imagine my future wedding (like little girls do) and I would see myself walking down a rose-petal laced isle while a string quartet passionately played this glorious song in the background. But now, after ten years of cello playing, and at least 50 performances of this song at wedding gigs, I now feel differently. The same 8 notes are repeated in the cello line no less than 50 times. After 2500 repetitions of the same ostinato in one's lifetime, I think any quartet cellist can tell you how they feel about this song. Even when it's all jazzed up, I'm still not a fan.