a lost art

my birthday fell on father's day this year. ahem, correction--father's day fell on my birthday this year, thank you very much! in an effort to celebrate the grand feat of having raised my brother, sister and i for the past 25+ years, i made a concious decision to focus sunday's celebrations on my dad. after all, he IS the most incredible dad in the world, and i love the gosh darn heck out of him...

here's to you, dad...! nmw...

josh, being the ever-so-loving-and-thoughtful-guy-of-a-husband he is, thought it was important we still celebrate my birthday. i didn't push back. shocking--i know. fast forward to the following saturday, a 20-minute westward drive with a quick stop for fancy food-to-go, we pulled into newport harbor where we found a duffy boat waiting for us. yup, for US. josh and me. i didn't know you didn't need a captian on those things! better for us--it was PRIVATE. wink wink.

anywho, josh had planned the boat, the dinner, and obviously the drink selection, because he pulled 2 bottles of my favorite cabernet out of his backpack, along with (plastic) wine glasses and a bottle opener. because that's how we roll :-) i was SO IMPRESSED by his thoughtfulness, and i absolutely adored the surprise factor of it all, but it was what he popped into the cd player on the boat that really stole my heart. leave it up to josh, he made me a MIX TAPE for my birthday boat ride. I LOVE HIM!! :-)

josh is album centric. if you know him at all, or have done a decent job of keeping up with his blog posts, you'll know he is not a "shuffle songs" kind of guy. no way. because that entirely negates any effort put forth by an artist to consciously arrange their music as they wanted it to be heard--as a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. therefore, i can only imagine what a struggle it must have been for him to put multiple songs and artists on one disc, visciously tearing them away from the cozy, assigned spots on thier respective albums. it must have been heart wrenching.

unless.................. unless this was josh's way of creating his own album. and btw, whether it's true or not, this is the story i'm going with. because it's my birthday. and i can.

josh has a library of over 85 days worth of music. 85 DAYS OF MUSIC. we could be stranded on an island together for 2 full months plus a february, eating maggots and drinking salt water, and as long as we had his ipod (and a charger... oh, and speakers, too...) we'd be able to dance to a different song the whole time we were there. it's almost stupid...but it's mostly cute. :-) it also comes in handy when i'm ready for an ipod mix change. i just love that he sat down and intentionally pulled 16 different songs from 16 different albums and 16 different artists and placed them all side by side onto one, single cd. these were 16 carefully chosen songs that made him think of us as a couple, as a family, and as two crazies that love to have a good time. he thought about what songs we'd enjoy on a birthday boat ride at sunset down newport harbor over dinner and drinks, on a night full of cuddling and day dreaming :-) this mix tape was a piece of art--it was wonderful, and it melted my heart. i (un)secretly hope for another one someday (honey...) ;-)


here are a few of my favorite lyrics from the disc, for your artful reading pleasure.

...sailing around the world, please know that i'm yours to keep, my beautiful girl...

...but there ain't nobody that can sing like me, ain't nobody that can sing like me, way over yonder in the minor key....

...that i am, i am, i am the luckiest...

...i wonder everyday as i look upon your face, everything you gave and nothing you would take...

...and then when we get to the ocean, we're gonna take a boat to the end of the world...

...you and me together, we can do anything, baby, you and me together, yes, yes...

...watchin' the fire as we grow...

...ahhhuhh, ahhhuh, ahhhhhuhh...

...happy birthday, beautiful...

look for some of the birthday mix songs on our blog playlist, soon!