songs

I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!  

I listen to it at home, in the car, at stores, and even while at work!  

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

Name that movie?!

ELF! :)

Recently, I am getting more into music.  

I'm actually listening to the lyrics.    

If you knew me growing up, this was not the case.  

All I would remember or really pay attention to would be the melody and rhythm.  

My sister and I always shared a room.  When we'd clean it, she would always want the music on.  I would not.  It was too distracting.  And what's funny is looking back, this makes perfect sense.  Carly is in love with music, being a music major and teacher.  And I cannot study or get anything done when with another person or even listening to music, as it distracts me and I cannot focus.  We even had "codes" that correlated with how many times we tapped our bunks.

1 tap =  No

2 = Yes

3 = Good night

4 = I'm mad at you 

...and so on.

I remember knocking 4 times a time or two, ha! ;)

I've recently purchased 2 CD's in the last few months, which is something I never do!  

I don't even know how to work itunes, let alone download anything.  

I know, I'm "out there" in that regards.  

Although I do have an ipod I listen to while running.

My bestie, Jenn, downloads everything on it for me (thanks Jenn!). 

 Getting back on track here.  

Songs have spoken to me in different life stages.  

I'm just excited for this Christmas season as well as thanking my Savior for His absolute incredible graciousness and love He has for me, and yes, for YOU!  COOL!
I am constantly blown away by His provision and pure faithfulness.  

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Romans 12:12

For the next few days I'll be posting some songs that have really spoken to me since studying abroad in Mauritius (yes, rhymes with delicious) back in 2008.  

Wow, I'm getting old!  

isu plates

Confession, true story ahead.

It has now been over one full year and 

I still do not know what I want my personalized ISU

plates to say.  I submitted a form back in July

and my idea was already in use, shame!  

So, I need help.  

Any thoughts and/or ideas 

would be greatly appreciated!  I just simply love ISU.  

Some thoughts:

HAY4ISU

HAYISU

HAY4CY

HAYCY

HAYALLN

HHALLIN

HUEWIN

Any keepers, yeah?!

LET'S GO STATE!

Maleeka (the sneaker) and I with Coach Hoiberg

press conference

FRIENDS!

BEAT IOWA!

INSIGHT.COM BOWL GAME!

FUN!

CY!

LOVE THIS!

TRADITION!

BCG!

GO ISU!

OUR BOYFRIENDS ;)

TRADITION

Punter: Kirby Van Der Kamp

MONEY!

ESPN! I spy with my little eye...

We love you Grandma Rhoads!

Sage Rosenfels (former Cyclone and now Pro QB)

check out those bangs!

FAM!

the chipmunks

It's funny really, the way my sisters and I can be compared to yes...the chipmunks!

From L to R: Simon, Alvin, & Theodore

Simon: Simon is the smart, studious, intellectual one - hence the glasses.  Very thought out, well organized,  goes by the rules.  This is Carly to the tee! :)  She can seriously accomplish more in one single day than most people do in an entire month!  This girl just goes and goes.  Now, I will say this comes in handy when she plans out your vacation. You get to see and do a lot!  Thank you Carly for planning our backpacking Europe adventure!  What's also comical about Simon/Carly is their "nerdyness" is actually quite funny.  

Alvin: Well, the picture with the hands up in the air is a pretty good description of my oldest sister Ashley.  Oh boy is she a vocal one (although I can be known to be pretty loud myself). To quote Ashley verbatim: "My philosophy are secrets are stupid". This means in our family that there are absolutely no secrets. We know everything about everyone because of this girl.  If she finds out something from you, she'll go to the next family member and say "Hey, did you hear Riley did this?".  She's like a mini Boppa in some ways.  We even all know each others passwords to accounts...I just started using Ryan's for a password at work, ha!  

Theodore: Described as the short, chubby, compact, impressionable one.  Yep, that's me! Does what the older two siblings tells him.  Always found eating something!  (And if you've ever lived with me you know that's true ;)  Story about how I was/am impressionable.  Go back to when we lived in Story City.  We had some good family friends over and my sisters thought it would be fun to literally jump off our first story roof onto some couch cushions on the ground.  I see my sisters and friends jump one by one on the cushions about 12-15 feet below.  So here comes little Haley (about 5 years old) and weeeee.....only to land right in the middle of two cushions and seriously sprain my ankle.  In fact, my ankle is still separated in 2 pieces to this day, weird! 

Standing of corse in appropriate order as the picture above: Carly, Ashley & myself

And another similarity, we all sing together as well! :)  

bells of iowa state

Green Hills for thy throne,

And for crown a golden melody,

Ringing in the hearts of all

Who bring thee love and loyalty.

Dear Alma Mater,

Make our spirits great,

True and valiant,

Like the Bells of Iowa State

The Bells of Iowa State is a *special* song to me and anyone that has been involved in an ISU Choir.  Not only do they play this at all home football games, but there is importance to this song.  Each year at the ISU Choral Christmas Concert, with all the choirs circled around CY Stephens, unified, sing this song.  It is beautiful! When they play it at games, all former choir members can be seen singing.  What is neat about this that both my sisters (Carly & Ashely), my Dad, and I can be seen singing...okay, well let's be honest, maybe not Ashley! ;)   I loved my time at ISU and involvement in choir.  It is just  a special song that is near and dear to my heart and has such a neat tradition behind it.

LET'S GO CYCLONES!!!!!

the sing-off

Truth: I am not much of a TV watcher, at all.
But, there is one show that I absolutely LOVE and will not miss:

the sing-off!  Monday 7-9 PM Central Time on NBC.  Quality Entertainment.

What: Incredibly talented music groups singing acapella (citing wikipedia, uh-oh reliability?).  Below is a clip of all the groups singing together.

Growing up Dad & Mom wanted us kids to be exposed to quality music.  They would take us to Iowa State Concerts (which my two sisters and I actually ended up singing in), musicals,  and piano lessons.  In fact, every Sunday afternoon us girls were allowed to watch one movie, and we always fought over which musical to watch.  There are some good ones out there!  Dad also could be heard belting "Nessun Dorma" or some other song of choice from his office at all hours! ;)

But seriously, boys that can sing...get me every time!  :)

This show is just so great - quality singing, fun choreogaphy, great entertainment.

The judges are also entertaining as well.  Here's my take on them:

Ben Folds: Ok, this guy is just FUNNY!  Funny in the sense kind of like my sister, Carly. My favorite thing is when he smiles this cheesy smile after he says his comments, makes me laugh every time! :)

Sara Bereilles: Potty mouth!  Good to have a girls perspective though.

Shawn Sotckman: He. be. rad!  You can tell when he really liked a group because he can't come up with words to speak.

And, to make things even better, Sam Tsui (whom I posted about earlier on my blog) is the correspondant for the show - lovely!  The only things that could be improved upon, the host, Mr. Nick Lachey ( a bit "fake" at times) in my opinion.

Seriously, next Monday, check out this show with the whole family!  Quality entertainment.  A must see!

...just an insight into how my family is COMPETITIVE and LOVES football!

Rhoads’ brother misses Cyclones’ stunning victory

11:25 AM, Oct 31, 2011 | by Dan Holm | 

Comments

A familiar face was missing from the Iowa State sideline during the Cyclones’ stunning 41-7 victory at Texas Tech on Saturday night.

Tony Rhoads, the brother of Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads, did not make the trip to Lubbock. It was the first game Tony has missed since Paul took over the Cyclones’ program in 2009, ending a streak of 32 straight games he had watched from the sidelines.

Tony attributed his absence to the high cost of airline tickets and his desire to avoid a 15-hour trip by car. He watched the game at his home in Ankeny with his wife Jana and their three kids.

“I was a nervous wreck,” Rhoads said. “I was yelling, high-fiving, pacing, you name it. I stated several times during the game that I would not (miss another game) again. It really didn’t have anything to do with winning or losing, just not being there was too stressful. It would have been great to be down there to help celebrate the win, but when it is family sometimes you feel more like you need to be there after a loss from a supportive standpoint.

“I must add that while I was watching the Vikings game on Sunday I was thinking I was glad I was at home instead of somewhere between Oklahoma City and Wichita,” he added.

Saturday’s win marked the third consecutive year that Iowa State has won a Big 12 road game during Week 8 of the regular season, following victories at Nebraska and Texas. Tony said he would rank the Texas Tech win third on his list of the Cyclones’ biggest victories in the last two-plus seasons.

Here is Tony’s top-five list, along with his comment about each of the wins:

1) ’09 win at Nebraska. “Just because of how banged up we were, all the turnovers and giving credibility to the program they are building.”

2) ’10 win at Texas. “Mostly because I had seen this team get rolled two weeks in a row by Utah and Oklahoma. It was an important win to keep the program moving forward.”

3) ’11 win at Texas Tech. “It was unexpected to see us dominate from start to finish.”

4) ’11 triple-overtime win over Iowa. “This was easily the most exciting of the games on this list. It was important to the program after being manhandled the previous two years.”

5) ’09 Insight Bowl win over Minnesota. “It was impressive from the standpoint that it capped a big turnaround from the previous season in which the team had been 2-10 including 10 straight losses.”

*Article courtesy of the Des Moines Register.

domestication

Yep, that's me, sewing!
Domestication in progress my fine friends! :)
Thanks to my neighbor Kate for hosting "craft night".
I was able to fix my favorite shirt that had missing buttons,
make flower hair pins,
and have my other neighbor hem some pants that were way too long.

side note: I've had these pants for a year and a half now
and never worn.  Oh golly.