I Love Music!

I don't play an instrument, although I always wanted to play the piano. I don't really sing, except for background in a choir. Nor do I read or write music. I just love to hear music. I love to hear the instruments, the beautiful voices, and the way that they all come together. I love all types of music, although I do have my favorites, which I will share in more detail.

I grew up in a family of music lovers. I have an Aunt that plays the keyboard; sister, brother, and cousins that sing; and a brother in law who is an awesome writer of music. My mom has always been an avid lover of music, and I can't re


member many times growing up when the radio, record player (back in the day :-) or CD player were not going in our house or car.

In growing up with a minister for a father, gospel was the primary music of choice in our house. I grew to absolutely love gospel music, and don't think that there is any music, that is more inspirational and motivating. Next would have to be R&B and Neo Soul, which kind of fall in similar categories. I can't get enough of songs about love, romance and just everyday life ups and downs. If the song is right, I can do Hip Hop, Country, Jazz, Rock, Opera, and just about any other genre out there. I like a lot of the new stuff, but when it comes to music, I am generally an old soul.  In my opinion, the artists seemed more like artist back in the day and took their craft more seriously than a lot of the performers that are popular today.

Because I love music so much, there are not many tasks that I don't complete without music playing in the background.  Here are some of my faves:

· I wake up to the song, Lord Help Me, Dave Hollister - I depend on the Lord's Help to make it through the day

· I get dressed to the song, It Just Gets Sweeter, Fred Hammond - Inspiration for my Blog Title

· I drive to work to Destiny, Fred Hammond - Every day I’m living to fulfill my Destiny

· I do my work usually to classic rock or jazz, Open Arms – Rachelle Ferrell – Very Soothing

· I work out to everything Zumba - It’s the most energizing & fun Latin inspired music that gets me moving

· I start my weekends to Friday Night (Just got Paid) – This song always gets me pumped for the weekend

· When I'm mad, it's Bust the Windows, Jazmine Sullivan – Depending on who I am mad at, it’s probably not the best song to listen to when you’re angry

· When I'm sad Brighter Day, Kirk Franklin – Always lifts my spirits

· When I'm happy it’s Happy,  Mary J Blige Or Moment in Time, Musiq Soulchild

· I cry to One Last Cry, Brian Mcknight

· I have romantic time with my husband to Never Felt this way, Brian McKnight

· When I’m grateful, I like Never Would Have Made It, Marvin Sapp

Music is timeless. I never get tired of hearing a good song, no matter how much time that goes past. These are just a few of the reasons that I love music so much and will always have it in my life.

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All I really want, is to be Happy

I'm not sure how many are familiar with my title, which is a line from a Mary J Blige classic song, Happy. I know my music topic is not until next week, but I relate so much of my life to music, that I can't help that songs generally come to mind, when I am thinking about most subjects.

This week's topic refers to one of the theories in the Happiness Project, regarding the thought that people are the happiest doing what we loved when we were kids, say age 10.  Now I did have to do a little more research just to try and understand more of what the concept of the Happiness Project was, and I learned that it is a book that has been written on different theories of what makes one happy, with a corresponding website:  http://happiness-project.com.  What I read really piqued my interest, and I'm sure that I will be downloading the book to my kindle to get more details for my own personal interest.

First I wanted to just comment on whether I even agree with the theory about the correlation of happiness to one's childhood.  I think that it is definitely a correlation not only between childhood happiness and adult happiness, but I also believe that the happiness of those who may have had a rough childhood, directly depends on how they choose to overcome unhappy moments.  I believe that Tyler Perry is a great example of one who had a really rough childhood, filled with all types of abuse, and how he leaned on his faith in God to overcome and fuel his drive to become a successful actor, writer, and producer.

I was blessed to have an extremely happy childhood and I believe that I am generally a happy adult.  I believe that age 10 is a great age to reflect on, because, you're still a kid, but you are very aware of what is going on in the world, and how it affects your life at that moment.  In looking back at when I was 10, I can remember being blessed to have both parents in my household and growing up in a very spiritual environment, with my father being a minister.  I can remember that we did not have a lot of money at that time, and myself and 4 siblings, would do really creative things to entertain ourselves for cheap. 

Although I grew up in Indiana, we lived in Houston, TX for a few years, and age 10, was one of the years that we were actually living in Houston.  Although we may not have had a lot of money, my father was an excellent provider, and we were always blessed with the necessities of food to eat, clothes and shoes to wear, and shelter over our heads.  I can remember not really feeling that we were going without, except in the instances where we wanted some of the extras, such as going to the movies, or getting the latest shoes or outfit.  Around age 10, I can remember us learning about the concept of recycling, as we had a recycling bin that paid cash for recycled cans, in our neighborhood.  I can remember us saving up all of the cans within our household, and going to a local racetrack that was within walking difference from our home, and getting tons of cans from that location. 

It took my mom a little while to figure out how we were coming up with extra cash, and she shook her head once she learned that we were getting these cans from the racetrack, as she said that people probably thought that we were homeless digging through the trash for cans.  As a kid, that thought did not even enter our minds, we just saw dollar signs, as we would usually collect enough cash from recycling to get some of the extras that we desired, like go o to the local dollar movie theaters, and even be able to get snacks to go along with it.

When I look back on that experience, we were not sad, but happy that we found a way to get ourselves some of the extra things that we desired.   This thought process followed me into my adulthood, in that to this day, I always find creative ways to come up with extra cash when needed.  I also have a much better appreciation for money now, and have such a giving heart.  I have so much compassion for those that I see that go without, and am grateful to God that I can do what I can to help whenever possible.  Being able to give, is one of the most fulfilling feelings, and I really believe my childhood had a great affect on my mindset. 

The other decision that I can remember making at age 10, which greatly impacted my life,  is that this is when I received God into my life for myself. As I mentioned before, my father was and still is a minister, so there was always a spiritual aspect in our life.  My parents never forced us to be saved, however, I could see how through the good and bad, they always looked to God for everything.  At age 10, I was able to come to the decision for myself that I definitely wanted and needed God in my life.  Although, I did not always hold to my commitment that I made to God, it was by far the best and happiest decision that I made.  I do think that I avoided a lot of pitfalls and bad decisions that I could have made throughout my teenage years, that could have had me on a very different path.  I can admit that I didn't really understand and build my relationship with God until my adult years.  I definitely believe my initial acceptance help me be on a better path in life and greatly contributed to my childhood happiness which spilled over to my adult happiness.

Dollars and Cents

This Together on Tuesday's topic is related to managing money.  This is actually a very important subject, especially if you are in a relationship, since I've heard many say that it is one of the top reasons for break-ups.   I can see how this could be, considering money issues can cause all types of added conflict and stress.

Fortunately, my household has a pretty good plan set up to budget finances.  It is definitely a team effort.  My husband and I are actually opposites when it comes to our style of budgeting, however we have found a way to make our differences compliment each other in this area.

I'm the spender and he is the saver.  We make this work by essentially having three accounts.  We each have individual accounts, as well as a joint account.  We have found several useful budgeting spreadsheets, and once we chose the best one for us,  we actually created three different tabs to coincide with the three accounts.  We use the joint account to pay for the household expenses, that we have calculated on a monthly basis, and contribute set amounts from each pay check to ensure all of these expenses are taken care of.   This works out because we know that there will always be a set amount of deposits in the joint, to coincide with the set amount of expenditures.  We do leave a little cushion for bills that have some type of fluctuation on a monthly basis.  We also take into account annual expenses such as vacations or  property taxes and include those in the monthly amounts that we contribute, so that the funds are there, when needed.  We then use our individual accounts to pay personal expenses, such as individual credits cards, or our day to day spending money. 

My husband takes care of day to day bills, since he pays more attention to details and I handle more of the longer term items, since I have more of a financial and investment background.  My husband and I have found it very useful to use our individual bank's bill pay option to schedule when bills are paid, and we find that this saves us lots of time each month, as well as cuts down on the possibility of missing something or being late.  We also find it important to budget splurge money, so that we don't feel like we are constantly depriving ourselves of extras.  Overall, I believe that our budgeting style works for us.  Since I am the spender, I honestly am still working on better management of my individual account, but I do have reassurance in knowing that my spending habits will not affect the household bills. 

Happy Budgeting!

The Grass is Always Greener

This week's Together on Tuesdays topic is The Grass is Always Greener: if by some twist of fate you had the option to move to some wonderful destination, would you take it-or would you stay where you live now?

I would have to say that my dream destination would be in Jamaica.  Just about any city would probably do, but if I had to narrow it down, it would be Montego Bay, Jamaica.  I have had the opportunity to visit this wonderful paradise several times and fall in love with it even more, with every visit.  First, the weather is perfect all of the time.  Not too hot and not too cold.  My home would be beachside next to the clear blue water and beautiful white sand.  I absolutely love the personalities of the Jamaicans, as it is very similar to mine, in that it is very laid back and calm.  Their favorite saying is "No Problem Mon".  They have this attitude about not sweating the small stuff, and just relaxing and having a good time.  The food is also wonderful.  My favorite Jamaican dish is the Jerk Chicken with plantains.  It is just the right amount of spice, mixed with sweetness.  

Another thing that I love about Jamaica is the music.  They are most known for their Caribbean style Reggae, with the live bands and melodic harmony.  I could listen to it all day.  It's real music in one of its purest forms.  I love how everyone still celebrates one of the most popular originators of Reggae music, Bob Marley.  You can't go many places without hearing "Every little thing, is going to be alright", which again references their carefree outlook on life.   

One of the drawbacks to Jamaica is the state of the local economy.  You have all of these beautiful resorts and landscapes, and then when you go into town where the locals live, you often times see such poverty and people struggling to bring up their standard of living.  This however does not affect the core of who they are.  I like that everyone seems so driven and determined to reach whatever goals that they have set for themselves.  They still maintain their carefree attitude, while working hard to go to the next level. If given the chance to live in Jamaica,  I would actually take this opportunity to offer the needed services to those who desired it, whether it was additional education, or more technical skills.  There are already so many talented Jamaicans, who just need the resources to sell many of the arts and crafts that they hand make and I would do what I could to make this happen.

I would realistically gladly take the option to live in Jamaica, as long as I had the financial resources to visit my family back in the States, at least once a month.  As much as I would love all of the wonderful things about living in Jamaica, I could not let too much time go past without being with my family, as we are very close.  Although I have a feeling that they may want to come visit me, more than I visit them, which could work as well.

The Taste

I am so excited to be joining the Together on Tuesdays Blog group. Although this is a little late, I wanted to get my feet wet, by starting with something.  This week's topic has to do with local events that have become traditions. While living in Southern Indiana for the last few years, I have had the fortune of experiencing Derby' at least from a far, and I think my fellow blogger, Charlotte, has done an excellent job giving a great description of just about everything Derby.

Being originally from Northwest Indiana, more specifically Gary, Indiana, I had the privilege of living in what we call, an Indiana suburb of Chicago, as we were less than a 30 minute drive.  Part of the appeal of moving to southern Indiana, was the fact that I was right over the bridge to Louisville, KY. I like the small city feel, with the option of a bigger city nearby, which was my experience living in Gary, and only being a short  train ride away from Chicago.

One of the most memorable events that I experienced growing up near Chicago, was The Taste Of Chicago. The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, which takes place in Grant Park in Chicago on an annual basis. There are usually tons of food vendors, along with a variety of music venues for everyone to enjoy.   It  typically was about a two week event, that occurred around the 4th of July each year. In recent times, it has been shortened to more like one week, but still draws millions every year, which, if you are adverse to crowds, may be the one drawback.  It is free to enter the event, and you just have to pay for what you decide to eat.

 I can remember catching the Southshore, which was the train from Northwest Indiana to Chicago. To me it was the best way to go, because you didn't have to worry about parking or traffic, which if you are from the Chicago area, you can really appreciate this advantage. I can remember my excitement building on the short train ride, in anticipation of all of the different varieties of food and entertainment that would be available.

With the vast amount of food options, everyone is sure to fine something that they like. My favorites, which just so happen to be some of the most popular food venues, are the Chicago style hotdogs, pizza and wings.

Favorite Hot Dogs - Gold Coast Dogs http://www.goldcoastdogs.net/
You have not had a hot dog, until you have had the delicious Vienna Beef hotdog with the sesame seed bun, onions, ketchup and relish, or whatever you like to add to your hotdogs.  

Favorite Pizza - Pizzeria Uno http://www.pizzeria-uno.com/
The Chicago style pizza is deep dished, with a buttery crust and loaded with tons of cheese and lots of toppings.

Favorite Wings - Harold's Chicken http://www.haroldschicken55.com/main.html?src=%2F
All time best wings in the world come from Harold's Chicken. They are crispy, with the best sweet barbeque sauce that you could have.

You can't leave the Taste of Chicago, affectionately known as "The Taste" without tasting some sweets. My favorites would have to be the cheesecake and anyone that knows me can guess the other favorite is Garrett's Popcorn.


Favorite Cheesecake - Eli's Cheesecake http://www.elicheesecake.com/
One of the best cheesecakes ever, so rich, creamy, and sweet, with such a variety of flavors. I really like the original with strawberries and the snicker cheesecake.

Favorite Popcorn - Garrett's Popcorn http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/
Many have tried to imitate, but I have found that Garrett's is truly the best gourmet popcorn and my favorite is the Chicago Style mixture of cheese and caramel. This popcorn is truly addictive.

These are just a few of the many delicious vendors that are available year after year. A big part of the fun is being able to try so many different types of food, and the live entertainment is another bonus. If you haven't been to the Taste of Chicago, I would suggest that you add it to your list of places to go. You will not be disappointed.