Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days:
DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop 2015 is out, and I can’t stop looping it. It’s lush but EDM-y in such a fresh, interesting way…and definitely threw me back to some of my favorites from this year’s Top 40. Loving the combination of “Shut up and Dance,” “Sugar,” and “Sorry” in the first minute, and the combo of the violin arpeggio from “Love Me Like You Do” and the trumpet from Omi’s “Cheerleader” in the last minute or so.
I have a weird, completely nerdy sense of humor. Random, arcane, literature-and-history things like last month’s “How to tell if you are in a Jane Austen novel” reduce me to tears of laughter on the regular. This week it was “If George Washington Paintings Could Talk,” which, at first, made me smile quietly, then do that little silent laugh thing, then eventually laugh so loudly and uncontrollably that my bitchy neighbors banged on the wall to quiet me down. Oops. Check them out for yourself, Martha’s apparently quite the saucy minx.
I will always and forever stick to my Sunday morning fall tradition of cereal and the Notre Dame Band’s halftime show, specifically because it ensures I never miss total wins like the halftime against Wake Forest on November 14th. Um, hi, “Frozen?!” Excuse me while I jump up and down shrieking with excitement like a four year old in an Elsa costume. They also did “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” and my poor Backer-deprived heart almost exploded in nostalgia and happiness.
The vast majority of my friends are just as into small, local breweries as I am, and finding the newest has become an ongoing adventure for some of us. Thanks to Thrillist's updated list of best new breweries in the Twin Cities, I've got a few more on my agenda in the next several months. I'm particularly excited about Lakes and Legends, which is less than 100 yards from my apartment's front door and apparently is serving a cranberry saison...yes please!
Last but absolutely not least, Humans of New York is absolutely blowing my mind with their coverage of the Syrian-American refugee situation. I refresh my Facebook way more often than is respectable hoping to see updates on the stories that suck me in from the beginning with so much hardship and hope. What a beautiful and heartbreaking way to humanize a situation that, to many, is simply a reactionary numbers game.