Organizing Music with Moodify

I suck at organizing and labeling things; this includes music. I just dump everything everywhere and forget what playlists are for what. I’ve been on a mission to organize a lot of things in my life this summer. Along with organizing music, I have wanted to expand my music library with the same music tastes. 

I came across this app online that works like a charm. It’s called Moodify and is fun to play with and listen to new artists based on a certain song. Spotify does the same thing, but sometimes it’s not as accurate when it creates a playlist based on a song or when you go to the song radio. This app gives me all of the good creative vibes with a simple interface based on music selected by mood. 

Moodify Music

Happy listening!

Turning 30 is Weird

Turning 30 is such an odd time in your life. It’s the expectation for a few things: you should have your life together, buy a house, thrive in your career, and have a few kids by then. When I turned 30 in April, I kept feeling reminded I couldn’t check off all of those boxes and felt like I was failing in some sense. Social media has us comparing ourselves to everyone else’s lives. I would look at people who were my age and see they had built a brand new house, had a beautiful baby, and had the family portraits where everyone wore white outfits and looked absolutely perfectly content with life. Comparison is the thief of joy. 

You wake up one morning, and nothing fits anymore like it used to. I’m no longer wearing the same size I wore in High School. Those cool t-shirts that were a size extra small and small are now in the trash because I’m aware I do not have a flat stomach anymore. How are these 30 something year olds wearing crop tops and still eating…food? I couldn’t give up carbs to look like a plastic barbie doll. 

In your 20s, you still feel like a youthful teenager. You can pull all nighters and still run a marathon the next day. You can’t really afford much though and your credit is mediocre at best. Decision making skills are not all the way there, so poor choices are still made. Millennials, how are ya'll doing? Apparently, we need to put retinol under our eyes and keep Tylenol on hand according to TikTok. Since when are we not forever young?

Since turning 30, I can’t say I’ve bought a house or had a baby yet. That would be cool. I can say that I’ve been married for 10 years, graduated college twice, taught for 3 years, have 4 cats, and have good credit. I’ve learned it’s okay that my goals take a little longer than when I wrote them all down in a notebook when I was 20. I’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, I will continue staying up late with my husband watching funny movies with our cats eating his amazing concoctions.

My 30th birthday cake my husband bought me! It looks like my cat Peanut. 

Feeling Nostalgic

Nostalgic-a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past

I remember when there was only one computer in the house. It was in the living room which was right next to our small kitchen. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had an awesome home computer. Other families had family portraits out to look at when you walked in, but we had epic screensavers. Here is a stock photo similar to our setup. 

Programs were basic but as a kid they were absolutely magical. Anyone remember Poser? There was a cheetah print rolly chair we got to sit in when my brother and I played on the computer. Pop a bag of popcorn and we were all set living the life. Oh, the joy of the 2000’s. Things seemed so much more simple back then.  

The coolest thing ever to watch was the background graphics for Winamp when music was playing. It seemed to sync with the music and was mesmerizing; all the colorful patterns going into one another in a majestic way. When my dad would have a song to let me listen to, I remember the Winamp logo and the visualizations. It was epic to an eight year old. Shoot, it’s still epic and I’m 30. Why did this ever go out of style? 

Watch the Cool Winamp Visualization Here   

I turned it on today while listening to my playlist on Spotify called “Songs that make you think” and it instantly brought me back to 2002, a time when I had no responsibilities and could watch this for hours as a kid. The classics will always be magical in my mind of memories. 

Spotify "Songs that make you think" 

Speaking of Nostalgic... 

It's Been 4 Years!

It's 2024! It has been a whopping four years since I have made a blog post! So much life has happened in that time. 

Since 2020, I graduated college, became a teacher, and changed schools a few times. I love teaching kiddos! Now, my husband is a RN and works full time.

I took my creative side to TikTok for a while. I posted funny videos, silly trends, videos of my cats being cats, and memories. When videos started to go viral, I fell into the trap of becoming a little obsessed with the app; especially around the time of Covid. I still post them for fun, but now I am not as into it for the "likes." 

Now, I drink my coffee and swim around in my ADHD of hobbies in my office thinking what my next creative thing will be. I fight through creative block and my inner critique with listening to Spotify playlists looking for inspiration. It's summer time, so there are teacher things in every nook and cranny cluttered in my office. 

Anyone else decide to take everything out and attempt to organize it? In the middle of the process, you're laying in the floor staring at all of their "junk" questioning "Why did I do this?" I'm not a hoarder, but becoming a teacher means you'll have paper everywhere and things of possibility: "I could probably use that." What did I do instead? I wrote a blog post! 

I wish I could go back to the time period of the 60s. Their music and fashion is swell. I wouldn't make a great traditional house wife though. I would be one of the women who went on strike and probably would end up on a billboard. Cooking and cleaning isn't the life for me.

No wonder the women back then were severely depressed and relied on the wonder drug "Valium" to get through every day life. 

Hey 2020, What's up?

On New Year's Eve, my husband and I went to a New Year's Party with my friend and her husband along with a few friends of theirs. It was the first year that my husband and I actually went somewhere for New Year's Eve since we have been married. It was a fun night that I am happy to have as a memory. 

I started the year off in late January by getting a Deva Cut for the first time ever. It was such an amazing experience for this curly haired girl. I've been on a curly hair journey ever since. It's fun to learn new ways and methods to take care of my hair in a natural way that results in my curls looking better than ever. When I was a little girl, I had no idea how to deal with it, so I would just brush it out dry and put it in a pony tail. When I got into 6th grade, I straightened it every day to look like the other girls.

Since Thanksgiving of last year, my mom has joined me on my Zumba journey. I was so excited because I was trying to get her to come with me for months! I've been going off and on for about two years now. She has joined me and now we are officially weekly Zumba buddies! What better Zumba buddy than your mom? Yep, she's pretty awesome! We got Fit-bits as well, so we are on a healthy journey together! 

My Zumba Instructor is the coolest most hip lady that taught us many cool hip hop moves. I am thankful for meeting new people in my area and for the fun experiences. I am not a gym person but I sure do love to dance! It doesn't feel like "exercise" when you get to shake it with other cool peeps. 

Goddess Luna Myth

The Goddess Luna

A long time ago, in the early eighteen hundred, lived a mythical creature who was half woman and half fish. She had long golden hair that was as curly as untamed and free spirited as a bird. Locks of charms with tiny seashells were strung from the middle of her hair following braids around her face. There was an anchor tattooed on her left wrist. She had blue-green hues of iridescent scales that would shimmer in the sun. She appeared so young she looked like the fountain of youth with never-ending eternal life.

She was sometimes seen by a red lighthouse off the coast in Ireland with birds surrounded by her. She was known as Goddess Luna; who loved the ocean and often felt as the anchor of the sea. She was compassionate and viewed life as beautiful and sacred. She searched for love and found sand dollars. She would blow into her conch shell when the sun would set, and it sounded so peaceful. She wasn’t always seen, but she was always heard. She had a beautiful powerful voice that sounded like a choir. When she sang enchanted songs across the ocean, that was a sign that there was rain coming.

The rush of winds and water was often controlled by her. In the distance of the storm, you could hear her singing as she protected the coast by calming the storm. She was a lover, not a fighter as one would say. She began taking an interest in a bearded sailor with deep brown eyes. He heard her blowing into the conch shell and couldn’t take his eyes off her. He took his boat out at the same time every day to catch fish for the locals and they would secretly meet up. They shared the love for the sea and creative arts including instruments and singing together. They both had different lifestyles, but they shared true love that was held together at their heart. Until one day, she noticed that there was a young woman in the boat with him at the usual time he comes out to sea. His arms were around her as they shared a hug.

She began to rock back and forth underwater when she became livid in a repressed rage. The waves were being pushed and pulled by her in a way that has never happened before. The force was too much. The wind was gaining energy and there were cold chills. All she wanted was someone to call her own; someone to love forever. The massive waves were coming over houses as you could hear people running for help screaming. In the distance of the storm, you could hear her singing while sobbing softly. She felt stabbed in the back like a dagger in your heart.  She became the destroyer when she created the first ever big tsunami. She blamed herself with her insecurities as she let the storm go wild. She saw his boat flipping over and over in the waves. He was barely hanging on when he yelled, “My daughter is drowning! HELP! She was on the boat with me and now she’s gone!”

Audibles for Kids

Audibles have been around for a few decades on cassette tapes, CDs, and other formats. I can remember riding around when I was seven years old listening to a cassette tape of a book with my mom on the way to the grocery store. It’s perfect for busy families, people who are on the go a lot, and for some it is easier than making time to sit down and read a book. Who doesn’t love listening to a story? With technology evolving, we have advantages to using it for the love of literacy development.

What about kids who struggle with reading and do not meet the AR points for every 6 weeks? Most people have access to a computer or a smart phone in a household. Why not use it for education? Why not make it fun and interesting? More teachers in the school system should have this for an alternative if one is not doing so well. Let’s find what works for every student; not just the majority.

Audibles for kids are here. Kids love it! I have seen my co-teacher use this website in class and every student is interested and holds on to every word the reader says. This website I am sharing is called Storyline Online. It’s neat because someone usually famous or well know will read the story with great expression and enthusiasm while showing clips of the pictures in the book.

This website is geared towards levels Kindergarten through 3^rd Grade. It’s awesome because kids can listen or they can watch. They love it! Most of the books are half a point in AR, so that could also help the ones who struggle to reach their AR goals.

https://www.storylineonline.net/library/