Reputation, Ranked

This is a post about Taylor Swift so if you don't like her (what's wrong with you), I may caution you the rest of this post might be a little boring and slightly weird as I'm about to fan girl out so hard.

Taylor Swift is kicking off her Reputation Stadium Tour here in Arizona on TUESDAY. TUESDAY. Like, the Tuesday that's only two days away. And I could not be more pumped. My friend Kayla and I have been to every one of her shows in AZ over the years AND I even saw her almost front row-ish back when she was opening up for Brad Paisley, and she waived at Nate. SHE WAIVED AT HIM.

I let him know real quick though that if anyone is gonna be best friends with Taylor it's gonna be me, so to not get any ideas. It's been a non-issue since so I think I got my point across.

So anyway, in anticipation of the Reputation Stadium Tour in a couple days I decided to rank all the songs on Reputation, my least favorite to favorite. Let's discuss.

15.) Look What you Made me Do
It kills me a little to have a pick a "worst" song on this album but, Look What You Made me Do, is that. Lyrics are bad ass, music video was even more bad ass and made me like the song a little bit better... but, just not super into this one.

Fav lyric: But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

14.) So it Goes
This one is just kind meh for me. Not sure how to put my finger on it...maybe too produced? Too techno-y?

Fav lyric: You did a number on me, but honestly baby who's counting?
Honorable mention: that whispered, "1 2 3" after this question is everything.

13.) Dress
I know everyone loves this song and I wish it was higher on my list but I think it's the breathy, soprano chorus that bugs me only ever so slightly.

Fav lyric: I'm spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we're both drunk. Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about...

12.) Dancing with our Hands Tied
This one has a super catchy beat and I like the sound of it. Just not as much as the next 11 songs on the album.

Fav lyric: People started talking, putting us through our paces. I knew there was no one in the world who could take it, I had a bad feeling.

11.) New Year's Day
Vintage Taylor. This is only #11 because after an entire album's worth of bangers, the tempo on this one always makes me feel like I want to skip it. Is that just me or does anyone else have that problem? I don't dislike the song at all in fact, lyrically, this is one of the better ones. What I like best about this song is the imagery she creates. Like, I can picture the glitter on the floor after the party and all the girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby. Vintage Tay, you know.

Fav lyric: But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

10.) Gorgeous 
I love the way she sings this song. It's playful. It's relatable. Like, I can't say anything to your face...cause look at your face was legit me, staring at Nate from across the Sunday School room circa 1997-99. Feel you, Tay.

Fav lyric: aaaaaaaaand I gotta boyfriend he's older than us, he's in the club doing I dunno what
Honorable mention: the baby at the beginning that says "Gorgeous." So presh.

9.) Don't Blame me
Super Hozier Take me to Church vibes on this one and I'm here for it.

Fav lyric: I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy

8.) I did Something Bad
The first time I heard this song I laughed. Because this is Taylor Swift being full on Taylor Swift, in your face, and she doesn't care what you think about it. The queen of self awareness. I wish I could be more like that.

Fav lyric: If he drops my name then I owe him nothing, and if he spends my change then he had it coming
Honorable mention: the "raaa da da da da da da da da da da dah" noise. I don't know what it is but I dig it.

7.) This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
I almost had this song as #1 for the sole reason that Taylor Swift wrote a song with the word "therein" in it.

Fav lyric: And therein lies the issue friends don't try to trick you, get you on the phone and mind-twist you
Honorable mention: that laugh before, "...I can't even say it with a straight face," I need to figure out a way to make that my ringtone. Or my voicemail greeting at work.

6.) King of My Heart
Out of all the songs on this album this one grew on me the most. I absolutely cannot wait to hear this live. Those drums in the chorus starting at :56 - so, so good.

Fav lyrics: Up on the roof with a school girl crush, drinking beer out of plastics cups, say you fancy me not fancy stuff

5.) Call it What You Want
Lyrically, this might be the best on the album. It's like, a sweet ode to her bf but she also finds a way to take some swipes where she needs.

Fav lyric: All my flowers grew back as thorns. Windows boarded up after the storm. He built a fire just to keep me warm

4.) Ready for it
This song is THE JAM and you know it. Put it on your workout playlist. Your running playlist. Your just-because playlist. Put it on all your playlists, people.

Fav lyric: He can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor

3.) Getaway Car
I am embarrassed to admit how much time I spent googling this song and trying to figure out its meaning. This whole entire song is a metaphor you guys, and my conclusion is that Tom Hiddleston IS the getaway car.

Fav lyric: He was running after us I was screaming, 'go go go!' but with three of us honey it's a side show, and a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry

2.) End Game
This song is THE JAM and you know it. Put it on your workout playlist. Your running playlist. Your just-because playlist. Put it on all your playlists, people. I think I already said this about a different song but that's just how Reputation goes (pun intended)...THEY'RE ALL SO GOOD. I can proudly announce I now know all the words to the Ed Sheeran verse, and I'm getting pretty damn close on the Future verse. I still have to look up some of the words though but that's all rap songs for me - I never know what they're saying.

Fav lyric: ... I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put 'em

1.) Delicate
I. LOVE. THIS. SONG. The groovy beat. The snaps. The bajillion amounts of times she asks isn't it? The fact that after all this time, after Fearless, Speak Now, 1989, and Red - of all albums, she finally begs the question, is it cool that I said all that? Yes, Taylor. It is. It's cool. I knew as soon as I heard this song it was my fav.

Fav lyric: This ain't for the best, my reputation's never been worse so, you must like me for me

How do you rank Reputation?!

It's Been Real, April

I'm trying to get better at not taking forever to write a blog post, so I told myself tonight after Nate left for work, I would sit down and crank out a blog post in an hour. The problem with that has been I keep hearing noise in the baseball game on tv, so I keep running out to the living room to see what's going on and Daniel Descalso just hit a triple and the Dbacks are now in the lead. Plus, one of my guilty pleasures is to cruise Dodgers twitter whenever they're losing and see all the LA fans melt down. I hate to use the word "fun" to describe it, buuuuuuut it's kind of fun (don't hate me Fleishman's, if you're reading this). So it's been well over an hour and so far all I have to show for this blog post is a folder full of photos I pulled and this paragraph. So I'm off to a good start, obvi.

So it's been a month since I last blogged and that's because April was an interesting month. There were high highs, and low lows. I had a lot of fun, but also cried a lot of tears. I picked out anniversary cards and sympathy cards, and I tried to gift the best bouquet of sunflowers in a brighter shade of yellow than the darkness of grief and the unknown. We celebrated birthdays - the beginning of life, but also the passing of life. I watched Nate carry the casket of one his best friends, and saw him grieve.

There were tears in April, but also laughter.

We took my in-laws out to the Angry Crab for my MIL's birthday.

Sherri ordered a bag of mussels (the seafood kind, not the human kind - this is the Angry Crab, not the black market mmk) and Carl ordered gator nuggets that surprisingly, were very tasty. Try as we may, we couldn't get Carl or Nate to wear the bibs. The bib is part of the Angry Crab experience if you ask me. Men.

Nate and I saw nine years of marriage come and go. NINE. Don't ask me how that happened I don't have a good answer for you.

I saw the Ocean in April.

It had been a while for the ocean and me. I came, I saw, I played a little air hockey on the Santa Monica Pier and enjoyed the peace and serenity brought to us by the sweaty, shirtless, over-tanned dude on the boardwalk performing what seemed to be a variety of jazzercise numbers to 80s one-hit wonders songs being played through a loud speaker.

We also made a stop at Dodgers Stadium. It had been a while since I'd been there too but contrarily, has in fact not been a while since I've watched the Dbacks beat the Dodgers. That happens often this year and it was just as enjoyable an experience watching it in real life, as it is on tv.

Sorry, I'll stop with the shit talking. I'm not a good shit talker. Actually the truth is I just can dish it out but I can't take it. Keepin' it real on that one.

K sorry I'm really done now.

I made my first visit of the year to Chase Field in April. Sarah and I waited in line for the Archie Bradley bobble head on a giveaway night. We love giveaways. And we love Archie. And we also don't mind standing in line for a high-demand bobble in April vs. the middle of July so thanks for lookin' out, Dbacks.

April was also the first camping trip of the year and a good one it was. It came at the perfect time; after a long month of riding an emotional rollercoaster we loaded up the boat, the side by side, and the dogs and drove north.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was both the dogs, and my niece and nephew got to take rides in the side by side for the first time.

I am happy to report that all children and all animals thoroughly enjoyed the side by side and no one tried to jump out (lookin' at you, Maycee and Gunther).

My nephew Noah is having more fun than he looks, his helmet just squishes his cheeks together which is both adorable and also kind of funny, but I know he's smiling on the inside. 

Also, I need to share the following photo sequence with you. Noah had a shirt on that said "Ladies, I'm single" and I said "Noah I like your shirt can you show it me?" And this is what I got:

If that doesn't beam you up and carry you through the whole month of May on a cloud I dunno what will.

April was good and bad. It was warm. It was eventful. 2018 keeps rolling on.

You Were Good to me, March

3:41pm on a Sunday is a socially acceptable time to drink wine right? I spent the last little while pulling and editing photos (and by editing I mean pushing the button that says "enhance" one time because that is the extent of my photo editing capabilities) for this post and I had hoped by the time I was done it would be cool to have some wine. Although Nate is napping which means he's not awake to judge how early I start drinking, so I think wine it is. Sometimes when I can't think of a good way to start out a blog post, I just put down the first thing that comes to my head and roll with it, so that's what happened there. Apologies.

But anyway, I'm here to talk about the month of March because it's over and done and in the history books and I'm not quite sure how that happened, really. March went by fast is that just me? But nonetheless, it was a good time. I'm not mad at March. Other than the fact that I had to finally cave and turn on my AC cause it's been warmmmm and I was really  hoping to make it to at least April but alas, the Arizona spring said nope! Not today! Turn on that air conditioner guuurl! We're starting early! That, I'm mad at.

So my birthday is at the end of February which means early March meant I got to take out my new toy Nate got for me for my birthday and give it a test run. He got me the Weatherby Camilla - a hunting rifle designed by, and made for women. Which means it's smaller, fits my frame better, and I can finally stop buying hunting rifles in youth models (short people probs, know what I mean?).

I had a meeting for work near downtown Phoenix one day last month that coincidentally happened to be down the street from where my dad works; so I got to go bug him for like, an hour in the middle of the work day. When I got to his floor there was no one at the reception desk so I walked straight back into his office and hid behind his book case. I think I scared him when he walked in but he won't admit it. He was incredulous when he asked me "how'd you get in here?" I was like listen bro, your reception desk was left unattended and I spent too many take-your-daughter-to-work-days here as a kid to forget where your office was. I'm kidding of course, I don't call my dad "bro." That'd be weird.

One of my goals for the month of March was to close all my activity rings on my Apple Watch every day. Apple's Activity tracker app has your day broken down into three categories: Move (calories burned), Exercise (minutes spent exercising), and Stand (have to stand at least once every hour). Closing all three rings is hard for me because 1.) I work an office job and often times sit in meetings all day long (missing out on stand hours), and 2.) I'm a lazy POS on the weekends (missing out on calories burned, exercise, and def stand hours). I am happy to report that I was a good girl and worked hard and sometimes had to pace my living room before bed in order to get the last of those calories burned but, I closed all my rings every day and look at this work of art:

We spent a lot of time out on the cat this month (remember side-by-side = Arctic Cat = "the cat") because as mentioned earlier, it's getting hot fast out here in AZ and in the summer time, a ride out on the cat can really start to feel like a hair dryer just being blown right in your face on high heat. So we made the most of the cool weather and ventured to a couple new parts of Arizona we'd never been before, Savannah Point (Savannah oh-na-na) and the Sierra Ancha Wilderness. Both equally vast, and awesome, and beautiful.

And it wouldn't be a day out in the back country without Nate finding, and playing with (and pretending to throw at me) an insect of some sort, so here's a scorpion Nate found that he just casually decided to pick up with his pliers:

Cool.

Arizona is just so bad ass, you guys.

In March I planted new house plants which, are already growing so fast I had to prop one up with a DIY wooden skewer and basically I feel like a full blown, professional horticulturist now.

I also started learning how to water color paint because my dear friend Jennica is so thoughtful and kind and knew this was on my to-do list for 2018 and she got me a beginner's kit for my birthday. I'm not good at it or anything and I'm just out here, following along with my instructional guide like a kindergartener, but it's fun, and relaxing, and makes me feel super artsy.

March was cool (like, temperature cool), fun, active, and full. 2018 is in full swing and I am ready for April!

Missed a post this month? Check them out here:
I'm a Hufflepuff and I think I'm OK With it
Thanks for the Memories
Things Winter Taught Me
An Opening Day Poem

An Opening Day Poem

Roses are red, baseball is back

Opening day is upon us, how do you feel about that?! (hint: it should be excited)
We waited all winter for America's pasttime to return,
And now my body is ready - I can already feel the burn!

Goldy, Peralta, Jake Lamb, and Zack Greinke,
AJ, and Archie, and Owings, and Robbie.
The Skipper is back, the reigning Manager of the Year,
Torey Lovullo, this Dbacks ship he will steer.

I can't wait to see baseball back on my TV,
and listen to Steve, Greg Schulte, Candiotti, and BB.

In 2018 we'll celebrate Generation Dbacks,
And count 20 years of home runs, splash downs, and comebacks.

Last year was Our Season and a fun one it was,

but as Opening Day gets closer, we can all feel the 2018 buzz.
The anticipation and excitement has mounted,
So get ready boys, 'cause the next one is counted.

Things Winter Taught Me

They say tomorrow is the first day of spring. We live in Arizona so we don't really go by seasons but nonetheless, I'm excited to see spring arrive. The sun is warm on my skin but there's also a nice cool breeze. The Acacia trees are in full blossom and smelling like something I'd bottle up and wear all year long if I could. There's baseball happening. What a time to be alive, spring time, know what I mean?!

So with spring here, that means winter has come and gone and it gives us a chance to look back and reflect on the season passed.

Winter reminded me that truly, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Hallmark Christmas movies do in fact come to an end - they don't air them all year. I was holding out a little bit of hope that I could come upon Christmas in Evergreen sometime in February. You can't. I didn't.

I learned to layer, this winter. It's freezing cold in the mornings and it's hard to picture your life ever warming up in the foreseeable future (dramatic, but accurate be honest) but you know what? You're probably not gonna need that scarf come 1pm. In fact, you're probably gonna turn on your AC when you get in your car after work. But dammit, it's so cold in the morning. Layer your clothes, people. This is particularly true if you're gonna spend time outside. Perhaps in an off-road vehicle. Possibly traveling at high rates of speed. It feels nice and chilly and dandy when you're standing still and your hooded sweatshirt is like, I got this. And then you take off and suddenly your hooded sweatshirt is like, gimme the windbreaker! Gimmie the heavy coat you stuffed in the hood of the machine! SOS!
This is me wearing a long sleeve shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, a jacket, and a neck gaiter that doubles as a scarf (life hack).

Bees don't hibernate in the winter. I don't know why I thought maybe they did, or that like, they just didn't really like the cold and wouldn't come buzzing around chasing you but they do.
This is me cautiously approaching my camera because there was a bee flying around it, and everyone laughing at me.

I don't even care I don't play with bees.

I was reminded over the winter, that my wardrobe is still not winter appropriate - I wear the same gray cardigan and black flats to everything because I'm too cheap to buy boots and never think the cold will last long enough to warrant spending more money on cardigans. We celebrated my friend Sarah's birthday in January and we basically all showed up in the same thing. We made a deal that we have to take each other shopping next winter for appropriate footwear and cardigan diversity. At 31 perhaps it's time to invest in a(n) (Arizona) winter wardrobe (or not, jury's still out).

It's been a good time, winter but I'm ready for daylight past 5pm, pastel's, and for baseball games to start counting.

Let's do this, spring.