tuesday tunes - chris august.

ladies & gentlemen... please allow me to introduce you to a fabulous nashville singer-songwriter... chris august.

chris and i have a ton of mutual friends, so i had been hearing people talk about him a bunch over the last year, but didn't get a chance to see him play until about a month ago. and i was super impressed. he has been playing music for awhile (ie: he played with and opened for ashlee simpson!) but only recently got signed and released his debut record, no far away. chris writes about everything from his faith to heartache, and sings with passion.

here's the latest single "7 X 70"...

(and listen to "starry night" - it's one of my favs!)

also -- if you're in nashville tomorrow night, chris is playing in a writers round at the rutledge - part of tin pan south writers festival. i may also happen to be super excited about one of the other guys playing ;)

tuesday tunes - adele.

you guys. have you heard this new album from adele?

so. freaking. good.

i enjoyed her debut album, 19, (best known for single "chasing pavements")... "hometown glory" has been one of my favorites for the last couple of years, and her voice is so powerful and unique.

but this entire album is simply stellar... every song.

from the moment i heard the first single "rolling in the deep" (which was available a couple months before the album) i was anticipating 21. and i've been playing in nonstop since it came out a couple weeks ago. i think my favorite is track #2: "rumour has it". give the whole thing a listen over at itunes. and here is the first single...

what's goin' on.

here's a little photo recap of what i've been doin'...

one of my best friends, allie, came to visit!

here with laura, it was just like our old uga days...

mom came to visit for the weekend! we took a picnic out to arrington vineyards...

i took a weekend excursion down to 30-A -- aka my favorite beaches. a great southwest flight + friends letting us stay at their house + a rental minivan = 4 day wknd bliss.

(here we are at the red bar - my fav!)

the weather has become perfect in nashville... 70 and sunny? yes please.

this was at east park last weekend, just a few blocks from my house...

and last, but certainly not least... here's my sweet boyfriend, jeff. it has been a great few months getting to know each other and needless to say we have been spending a lot of time together.

here we are on valentine's day...

what's been goin' on with you?

trader joe's top 10 - part 4.

i know you all have been dying for part four of my little TJ's series. {check out parts one, two, & three.}

so here are my most recent 10 favorites from the best grocery store ever...

10. sprouted bread // i'm a new sprouted bread lover (you may have heard of ezekial bread) - i actually prefer sprouted now (higher in protein & lower in carbs than traditional bread made w/ refined flour). TJs carries ezekial, but also has their own brand, made with organic sprouted wheat berries.

9. sliced mango // my new favorite fruit. and they do all the work for you. perfect.

8. ice cream bon bons // heaven in your mouth. seriously. betcha can't eat just one. (frozen. duh.)

7. simply almonds, cashews, & cranberries // i've known that almonds are supposed to be this super healthy snack, but i just couldn't get myself to choose them over, say, any other salty treat. but then along came this little mix, and i really do love it. raw almonds for the win! and it's like a never-ending bag... it lasts forever!

6. honey goat cheese log // y'all. this stuff is ridiculous. and i don't even really like goat cheese. but with just the perfect amount of sweetness, i guarantee you'll keep coming back for more. great for parties and picnics, too!

5. powerberries // these little dark chocolate covered bite-size berries are loaded with anti-oxidants. (so you can eat more of them, right?) we always have a bag of them in our office.

4. quinoa / sweet potato / zucchini // (in the frozen section) i think it's technically called "quinoa duo" - for the red + white quinoa - amazing one-pot dish (aka super easy to prepare) loaded with protein and it's super tasty. (learn about quinoa if you don't know already!)

3. peppermint coffee // i'm usually not a flavored coffee kinda girl, but i loaded up on multiple canisters of this stuff around the holidays and could not get enough.

2. rice + bean chips // i seriously think this is my best new find. the perfect dipper for hummus or salsa, or just fine and delicious on their own. (gluten free, too!) yum, yum, yum.

1. sweet potato gnocchi // (in the frozen section) comes prepared in a sage butter sauce. yah, it's as good as it sounds.

happy shopping + eating, TJ darlings!!

tuesday tunes - francesca battistelli.

francesca battistelli. or, as her friends call her... franny. (and we're totes new pals) :)

jeff (my boyfriend) co-writes with her a bunch, and they're great friends, so i've tagged along to see her play a couple of times in the last 2 weeks. one - her cd release show, in which she played through her brand new album. then, she's on the winter jam tour, which we saw sunday night. (she's definitely a highlight of that show... read: christian concert sub-culture is... well... interesting.)

ok, back to francesca. her new album, hundred more years, is following her debut album, my crazy heart, which produced four major hits on christian radio, and her songs were played all over tv land. she had the longest-running #1 for a female artist in billboard christian album chart history. i mean, this girl has got some pipes.

so, she's got her own big shoes to fill with this second album. the first single, "this is the stuff" (listen to it here) is a fun, up-beat tune that kicks off the album well. my personal favorite is the title track, "hundred more years". head over to itunes to listen to the whole thing. i highly recommend the bonus track "something more"... i think the co-writer is kinda cute. ;)

and here's my favorite song from the first album... "beautiful beautiful"... (this is the official video - it won't let me embed)

apologize.

well. there's no excuse - the ol' blog has been neglected as of late, and i'm sorry.

i hope it's not too late to apologize...

i'll be back soon... i promise.

love ya. mean it.

(oh yah- and i'm seeing these guys live tonight at the ryman... so. pumped.)

tuesday tunes - matthew west.

it's only appropriate that i announce to you lovely blog readers about the boy in my life through the band he plays with... yup, the boy. i've been dating a guy named jeff for a couple of months, and he's pretty incredible. more on him at a later time. :)

so jeff plays keys with matthew west's band (they've been playing together as a band for a few years)... these guys are not only amazing musicians but super stellar guys. and matthew leads that charge with grace and humility.

i had known of matthew as an artist in the ccm world, but wasn't too familiar with his music until the last couple of months. but when i acquired his latest album, the story of your life, i was hooked. matthew asked his fans to write in their stories - and he received over 10,000 letters! he then spent the next 2 months in a cabin, writing songs that told these stories - "a spectacular body of work that tackles a diverse array of real life subject matter and finds West exploring tender territory rarely tapped in contemporary pop music."

this is his 4th studio album, but certainly the first of this nature. matthew discovered that the questions of "what was the defining moment in your life?" or "what has shaped you to become who you are today?" evoke answers that usually are not the happiest moments, but the trials and struggles that have brought us to our knees. matthew says that he feels redemption and hope in this album. and that's exactly what i felt as i've listened, too.

here's the trailer for the story of your life...

{then here's the first single: "my own little world"}