Dream Big

Over the past month, I've been giving the same monologue a lot:

Yeah, I'm from Salt Lake...

like, Salt Lake Salt Lake, in the avenues...

No, I'm not doing an internship, I'm nannying for the summer... 

Yeah, it's FUN!!! The kids are cute...

Well I'm going to back to BYU in the fall and I graduate in December....

Yeah it will be good to be done with school...

I'm studying Spanish!

...

Well I don't really want to teach...

...

It would be great to come back and live in D.C. 

and work for a bit, maybe do an internship 

before going back to school...

again...

I could study...

public policy 

...or something....

I think all of us have fallen into these monologues at some stage in our life. We try to sound responsible and like we have it all figured out. The more we repeat them, the more they become part of our life plan, and then they just sort of happen. And that's ok.

BUT.

You know what I think would be really fun to do?

You know what my dream job is?

WEDDING SINGER.

Except not like Ben Stiller. Maybe more like the mom in "What a Girl Wants". Isn't that a great movie? Remember this?

But really. Being a wedding singer would be the best job ever. It would be perfect for a mom, since you generally work on weekends. You get to dress up and look pretty; plenty of excuses for shopping. You get to have fun and eat and be part of the best day of someone's life. 

See?

Pretty great.

I've been dreaming about this for a while. 

Now, this is what inspired this post.

I went out jogging at dusk today. It's my favorite part of the day to go on a run: the light is perfect, the weather is cool; I love it. It's not helping my social life though. There have a been a few times where I've chosen a solitary run in place of more social activities. Everything in moderation I guess. 

Today's run was particularly brilliant though. I ran a little farther than usual. It started to rain. 

Then it started to pour. 

Everything was in cold, sepia, light. Kind of like this photo from last year:

As I was running, I listened to a long neglected mix I had made. It's titled "Potential Cover Tunes". This mix is the first step in my dream of becoming a wedding singer. You see, our band is only going to cover songs that we would listen to in real life. So you know, ABBA, the Beatles,  James Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Radiohead...they will all be well represented while such wedding staples (think Bootin' Scootin' Boogie and pretty much anything by Rascal Flats) will not be tolerated. Here is a look at some other songs that will be allowed.

In reading this list, you may wonder, "Who in their right mind would want these songs at their wedding?". I've been wondering that my self. I'm sure there are some folks that wouldn't mind a more eclectic wedding. So here's a sampling of some of the tunes I'm going to try and teach myself over the summer. Let's hope those years of piano lessons serve me well.

Elliott Smith - No Name #3

Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) + Bryce Dessner (Bob Dylan cover) - I Was Young When I Left Home

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Nick Drake - Which Will

Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm ( We would do a lounge/jazzy version of this one. JAJAJAJA)

Belle and Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

Bon Iver - Flume

Carla Morrison - Compartir

The Polyphonic Spree - Section 12 (Hold Me Now)

El Polaco - Porque Te Fuiste

Surfer Blood - Floating Vibes

Dream big, man. DREAM BIG.