patrick watson

Musical Milestones

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

– Plato

It is commonly known that your sense of smell is one of the most powerful when it comes to evoking memory. While I am not challenging this notion (any whiff of aspen or pine trees sends me right back to my summer camp in Colorado), I believe that music can be just as powerful of a memory bank.

I’ve realized that over the years, I have collected a few “musical milestones” — a song that instantly transports you back to a point in your life, carries you away into nostalgia and recollection. A song can sometimes define certain turning points better than any other media — it captures emotion through chords and lyric and preserves it.

Here are some of the songs that make up my most notable “musical milestones” and the memories to which they are tied:

Moving to San Antonio, Texas (Fall 2008)

Montreal (Summer 2009)

Moving to Las Vegas (Summer 2010)

Freshman year fall (2010)

Sophomore year spring (2012)

Junior year fall (2012)

New York City (Summer 2013)

In just two days, I will be celebrating the one year anniversary of See. Like. Blog. In some ways, I cannot believe it has already been a year — time has flown thanks to a generous series of adventures, of which I could have never imagined when I started writing last August. I am different from where I began and this post is particularly significant because it gives me a chance to reflect on the big changes that have occurred thus far. These definitive shifts have been happy, sad, scary, exciting, joyful, awe-inspiring and, combined, have shaped me into the person writing all of these thoughts tonight. I hope you, my readers (and listeners), have enjoyed my musical milestones, as I hold these songs closest to my heart.

More adventures and celebration to come.

Surf’s Up… on the Interwebz

Hello readers! Or should I say aloha? As the temperatures stay well below my comfort zone and my first instinct is to hibernate under my covers for days, I have been using an alternative method of escapism to bring blue skys and sunshine into my life. While living vicariously through the internet 100% of the time can make me feel like a bit of a twitchy-eyed goblin creature, in small doses the internet can be quite the mood booster. So, here are some of my happiest discoveries from these past few weeks:

1. An epic pep talk from an unexpected source

2. A beautiful song for a grey day

3. My new favorite website for design inspiration

oh_beautiful_beer

4. A postcard that speaks volumes

Source: imgfave.com via Madeline on Pinterest

5. Planning meals for the newest addition to my kitchen

The best part about the start of a new month is the opportunity to hit life’s refresh button and get back on track — I have always preferred starting something at the beginning of a new week or month — February will be all about getting back to balance. I miss little habits that seem to have fallen through the cracks so far — carrying my camera around with me 24/7, baking for the hell of it, weekend render-vous in DC and seeing my family that lives here. So, with this post, I want to raise a virtual glass to the little steps. To the reminders and the efforts that come out of them that keep me moving forward. It’s hard to see the progress when life goes whizzing by you, sometimes you just have to stop, turn around and look at how far you’ve come. Then keep moving. That’s my plan at least.

A wish of sweet dreams to all of my night owl friends and a good morning to all of my early risers. More adventures to come.