Musical Monday - 3/29/10

Happy Musical Monday! Today's tune is one of the better songs off of the latest album by Relient K, 'Candlelight'. It's a fun little tune with an awesome drum beat. The best part is during the 2nd and 3rd chorus'...pay attention for the drum breaks...they put a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Have a great Monday and I hope this fun, playful tune makes this week a little bit brighter.

Musical Monday - 3/22/10

Today we are going to make a tribute to the late Leonard Cohen with Damien Rice singing a cover of 'Hallelujah'. Man, what a great tune. Damien Rice is an amazing singer/songwriter that I would put up against any other singer/songwriter from any time period. He's definitely got the chops to hang with the best of them. Anyway, take a listen to this stirring rendition of 'Hallelujah' written by Leonard Cohen and performed by Damien Rice.

Musical Monday - 3/15/10

The first time I heard Phil Wickam was when he was on tour with Mercy Me and Audio Adrenaline. He opened for them and I was mesmerized by his voice and musical style. All of his albums are chock full of amazing songs that show how much God loves each and every one of us. 'You're Beautiful' is off of his sophomore album 'Cannons'. Today's selection has been played in our worship service by Matt Ware and he puts just as much emotion in the song as Phil does. I get chills every time I hear it. I pray that you listen to this song with open ears and an open heart. Enjoy!

Gardening 102: Seed Starting

My Windowsill Bio-Dome Seed Starter
We are really excited to start our garden this year because we thoroughly enjoyed planting, weeding, picking, and eating everything in our inaugural garden last year. This time around we are going to try to start a few things from seeds instead of just buying all plants this year. Since I work at Park Seed, I have access to lots of seed varieties, seed starting accessories, and tons of horticulture knowledge that I find invaluable in our quest to lessen our grocery bills and become just a little bit greener.

To start things off, I've thrown together a few seed starting systems, thanks to one of my coworkers' help. We combined a Park Seed Windowsill Bio-Dome Seed Starter with just a few plain ol' six-packs...nothing too glamorous. I have three six-packs started right now. Two of the six-packs are filled with tomatoes, but they aren't the same variety of tomatoes. One of the varieties of tomatoes I have is an Organic seed certified by Clemson which is named 'Mater Sandwich Hybrid'. This variety is an indeterminate tomato, which produces fruit throughout the season; most of your normal tomatoes are indeterminate. The other tomato variety is a determinate, which means it will produce all of it's fruit at once. This type of tomato is great for canning, juicing, or saucing, which is why we are trying both "type" of tomatoes. The name of that tomato is 'Fabulous Hybrid'. And to round out my first run of seeds is a sweet banana pepper.

Like I said earlier, the wealth of horticulture knowledge that roams around Park Seed is crazy! I've been working here for nearly four years now and I have only gained a small grain of sands' worth. Hopefully I will be picking up more and more now that spring is here and I want us to grow as many veggies and herbs as we can. I will keep you posted on my seed starting trials and any more tidbits of gardening info that I learn.

Musical Monday - 3/8/10

I have to say that this song(s) is a nice change of pace for Musical Monday. It's a cover song...I don't think I've ever had a cover song on Musical Monday. The original songs were performed by Taylor Swift and Coldplay, but this collaboration is by Jon Schimdt. At that end of the song he explains why he combined the two songs. I first heard this song when a group drove down to Columbia, SC to attend Midtown church. Hali Harrell told me to look it up on my iPhone and I was hooked on it from then.

Cook-ay Slots

Cook-ay Slots - OddTodd.com
I wanted to share with you a fun little game that I found back in 2003...wow, has it been that long? Anyway, Odd Todd made this game and it is so addicting. Cook-ay Slots is a classic Vegas style slot game, but with loads of hilarious twists. You'll have to play it to really get the entire effect. I love almost everything about this little gem. Especially the sound effects. They are hilarious! Another great easter egg is when you click on the little cook-ay that the guy is holding located on the top of the slot machine. Just listen...it's awesome! Oh, and you have to play until you get three lobsters. That is my favorite part. 'You got the lobster!' Classic.

Have fun playing Cook-ay Slots!

Musical Monday - 3/1/10

This week's selections is from the indie rock band, (I'm digging a bunch of indie rock music right now) Deas Vail. The band name, Deas Vail, is a combination of Latin and old French that roughly translates to 'Humble Servant of God'. They have been together since 2003 and have released five albums to date. Recently they signed to Mono vs. Stereo record label that is ran by Relient K. Their latest album is 'Birds & Cages' and it is a magnificent listen. It's a great album to put on in the background and just jam. It's filled with great piano licks and awesome vocals.

Take a listen to 'Birds' featuring Matt Thiessen from Relient K.