Weekend Collage

weekend collage by vanessanelson featuring lips makeup

A weekend collage update!!! 

Things I loved this weekend.....

for me it was all about cats and polka dots for some reason and I went for it.  I'm also obsessing over this Michael Kors handbag (are you dying right now???)  Flowerbomb perfume is my signature scent and so when I'm needing a boost of confidence or I know my outfit is on point and I want to add to my (ahem) allure it's definitely my go to.  I talked about Too Faced "Better Than Sex" mascara in my September Favorites video (which I'm sure you all watched) and it's definitely become a make up staple of mine.  And FINALLY Autumn is upon us which means I'm breaking out the dark nail polish like this Nars one and the burgundy lipsticks like my all time favorite Rouge Volupte #12 by YSL.
I've also decided that my wedding song will probably be "Tenerife Sea" by Ed Sheeran.  Have a listen.  It's lovely.

October is the best month of the year and I'm looking forward to this one!
How was your weekend?  Any new discoveries?  Did you see a rainbow, bask in the beautiful mountains, contemplate life by the sea, fall in love, make a wish....
share your amazing weekend adventures in the comments!
xoxo
V

Weekend Collage

My Weekend by vanessanelson featuring Clarins

Hello!  I had a very lazy weekend!  I was off work on Friday and Saturday and just hung around with friends....I know....super exciting!  Some things I LOVED this weekend....

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser: OMG LOVE.  It removes all your make up and then you use a muslin cloth to gentle wash it off and your skin feels so nice and soft and clean!  

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner: so so nice

Origins Mega Mushroom Skin Relief Lotion: LOVE for my redness/irritation prone skin

Bright orange nail polish like "Silly Billy" from Butter London

The music from "Nashville" is always a favorite go-to of mine

My best friend Jack got me the ONE DIRECTION MOVIE for Christmas which was verrrrryyy exciting!!!

and the BEST PART OF THE WHOLE WEEKEND........

THE BRONCOS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL

Ohhhh yes.  Very good indeed.

I hope you all had a splendid weekend!  Tell me anything particularly wonderful in the comments! 

xoxo

V

a different kind of Tuesday

Instead of posting a playlist today I'm going to post my top 5 favorite albums at the moment and my favorite songs from that album

1. Needtobreathe - The Reckoning

I absolutely LOVE Needtobreathe...their music is very different and yet familiar at the same time.  They have some great songs and this CD is just.....wonderful!  Favorites include
The Reckoning, White Fences, A Place Only You Can Go, Drive All Night

2. Demi Lovato - Unbroken

Like I've said before...I've never been a huge Demi fan...but this album will just blow you away.  Her song "For The Love of a Daughter"...goosebumps.  I have so much respect for her and her honesty and her openness about her struggles and her strength to come back from it all.  Other stand out songs for me are
Give Your Heart a Break, Skyscraper, Unbroken, Fix a Heart

3. Gavin DeGraw - Sweeter

I love Gavin DeGraw's voice.  It's so soothing and his music is fantastic.  I love this new album of his.  My favorites are
Sweeter, Run Every Time, Not Over You, Soldier

4. Augustana - Augustana

This is a great album.  Their lyrics and musicality are amazing.  Every song is just flawless but these are my personal favorites.
Steal Your Heart, On The Other Side, Shot In The Dark, Just Stay Here Tonight, You Were Made For Me

5. Adele - 21

Adele is just a once in a lifetime kind of voice.  It will completely pierce your heart and leave you craving for more.  Seriously one of the best albums released in the last 10 years.  Her lyrics are poetry and the music is brilliant.  I recommend every song but my personal favorites are
Someone Like You, Set Fire to the Rain,  Don't You Remember, Turning Tables

skyscraper

Ok it's Thursday and I have no idea what to blog about.  But I'm really trying to blog everyday so that I keep y'alls interest.... assuming that you have interest in the first place of course.  And then I heard this song "Skyscraper" by Demi Lovato.  Now I've never been a huge Demi fan but I really do admire her resilience.  She's had many personal struggles that have been made public.  I don't know what I'd do if every mistake or every bad day I had was made public.  Actually I'm going through something right now that is a bit similar to the extent that...something personal has been made public and it's a very very difficult thing.  That being said...I think that it's all about how we rise up after being brought down.  This song is just...beautiful.  There is no other word to describe it.  It's powerful but vulnerable at the same time.  Part of the lyrics...

As the smoke clears, I awaken and untangle you from me

Would it make you feel better to watch me while I bleed?

All my windows, still are broken

But I'm standing on my feet

You can take everything I have

You can break everything I am

Like I'm made of glass, like I'm made of paper

Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground

like a skyscraper....

 I think it's a song that everyone should listen to and everyone can relate to.  So this is my gift to you on this Thursday.  Remember...it's not about how you fall...it's how you pick yourself back up.

Just lovely.

Question of the Day

I posed this question today on Facebook -

What is the one CD that you could listen to beginning to end straight through over and over?  

I got so many different answers and surprisingly no repeats...isn't it funny how different music speaks to people?  No one asked me what mine was so I thought I would post it here

Patty Griffin - Living With Ghosts

From the very first day I listened to this album....I was smitten.  I fell completely and hopelessly in love.  It is flawless and no matter what mood I'm in....I could listen to this album.  The lyrics and Patty's voice just...do something to me.
You should check it out.  I guess the odds of the same album speaking the same way to 2 different people aren't very high.  I love that about music.  The way that it affects us all as human beings.  It's so incredible.

It's never rained like it has tonight before....

Lyrics from one of my favorite songs of ALL time "Rain" by Patty Griffin.  I absolutely love this video.  We don't get big rainstorms in Utah.  I miss them.  I used to sit upstairs in my room with the lights off and the windows open watching the big rainstorms move through Indiana.  I would listen to this song on repeat.  So beautiful.

I was reading through the comments on this video and one of them says "Patty Griffin's voice is the most gentle dagger to ever thrust its way through the heart.  If I'm going to have to hurt please let it be this way".

I could not have said it better myself.

I was recently introduced to this incredible musician Thao.  Her songs "Bag of Hammers" and "Body" are two of my favorites.  I was really excited to find out that Dianna Agron (who plays Quinn on my fave show "Glee") was directing the music video for "Body".  They gave exclusive rights to air the video to Oxfam who help those in poverty and they just do really great work.  I thought I would share the video with you.  I think the concept and the way it all came out is just...impeccable. 

I hope you enjoy it!

home

This song reminds me of all the best things in life…the people that you love and are lucky enough to dance in the company of. Despite “Home” being about a couple in love, I can break it into so many pieces and apply it to the individual people in my life that I share these feeling for.

“Moats and boats and waterfalls, alley-ways and pay phone calls…I’ve been everywhere with you. We laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night, nothing new is sweeter than with you…Home, let me go home. Home is whenever I’m with you.”

Best in Music 2008 (according to me)

I love music. I am constantly listening to it either actually or in my head. One of my biggest wishes is that I could walk around with a constant soundtrack to my life. Unfortunately that only happens in movies...but since I love music so much I am always keeping my eyes and ears out for new music and new artists. I frequently discover these amazing artists and then a year later EVERYONE starts listening to them (i.e. The Fray, Snow Patrol, Plain White T's just to name a few). I am known for making really great mixed CD's because I can find you new artists that you will like based on classic artists you like (I wish I got paid for that....)- I do it for Becky's clients all the time and we have fun doing it and when they come back loving the suggestions I made it just makes me feel good. Kind of like passing on a really amazing book that changed your life to a friend. Love it. So going back through 2008 I decided I would list my top 10 favorite albums of 2008 and some up-coming CD's and artists for you all to look out for...

10. Ok I kind of cheated and put 2 different albums for my number 10.

Leona Lewis: Spirit

Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree

2 totally different sounds but really great in their own ways...Leona Lewis has some powerhouse vocals!

9. P!nk: Funhouse

I think Pink is totally brilliant. She is beautiful, has an amazing voice, and an amazing ability to express herself through music. Her music is so personal and has such raw emotion. She sings about feelings that no one wants to talk about. I wish I was her.

8. Snow Patrol: A Hundred Million Suns

Snow Patrol's lyrics are poetry.

7. Rachel Yamagata: Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart

Strange title I know but I love Rachel. She has such a beautiful quiet type of voice. Perfect for a rainy day.

6. The Killers: Day & Age

I love The Killers. Sometimes their songs are really quirky but I love the way they set the scene in a song. They describe a situation in such a cool way really painting a picture for you. One of my favorites on the album is a song called "A Dustland Fairytale" and just to give you a little snippet of what I was talking about lyrics wise "Long brown hair, and foolish eyes. He'd look just like you'd want him to-Some kind of slick chrome American prince. Blue Jean serenade Moon river what you do to me. I don't believe you. Saw Cinderella in a party dress, but she was looking for a nightgown. I saw the devil wrapping up his hands, he's getting ready for the showdown."

I love it.

5. Sugarland: Love on the Inside

If you like country music, if you don't like country music...you will LOVE Sugarland. Some of their songs are very twangy (actually just 2) but the rest of them are brilliant. Once again I am a slave to great lyrics. Sugarland describes exactly what I'm feeling in a beautiful way and Jennifer Nettles has a beautiful voice.

4. Lady GaGa: The Fame

Such a fun dance album. Great for turning up loud while cleaning or working out.

3. Ray LaMontagne: Gossip in the Grain

I love Ray. His voice is beautiful, his songs are soulful, and he writes songs that will fill you with such emotion you will literally weep and the beauty and sadness of it all.

2. Adele: 19

I can not say enough about Adele. Her voice and her music are rare and wonderful. Listen to her album immediately.

1. Taylor Swift: Fearless

It was a close call between this and Adele but in the end I gave it to Taylor because I put her CD in, play it all the way through without skipping a single one and no matter what kind of a mood I'm in I listen to them all. Her songs are fun, sad, sweet, brave, heartbreaking, powerful, nostalgic, hopeful, and realistic. She sings about feelings we have all had. Relationships we have all had, wished we had, or wished we hadn't. Girls (and guys so I hear) of all ages will love this CD. Listen to it and love it.

And for some artists/albums to be looking forward to...

The Fray: "The Fray"

I love them. Once again their lyrics are so amazing they give me chills. Before you get this album make sure to get their first one "How to Save a Life" and listen to my favorite song "Look After You" and you'll be hooked. All their songs are SO good.

The Bird and the Bee: "Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future"

Their cover of "How Deep is Your Love" is so beautiful and all their songs are great. One to definitely check out is "My Love" and "Love Letter to Japan"

Cat Power: "Dark End of the Street"

CatPower takes songs we all know and re-arranges them so you feel like you are hearing them for the first time. 2 of my favorites are Frank Sinatra's "New York" and Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now). Check her out and hopefully you won't be disappointed.

Erin McCarly: "Love, Save the Empty"

I've been listening to her for about a year or so now and I have a feeling she is really going to take off. Some stand out tracks to me are "Pitter-Pat", "Pony (It's Ok), "Lovesick Mistake" and "Blue Suitcase"

I will update you as I come across good music. And if you want your own personalized mixed CD let me know- I'll give you the quiz.