The Non-Definitive Guide To Life

If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with rain" - Dolly Parton

Posts for New Playlist

Best Songs of 2019 : Part 1

LISTEN - June 23, 2019

The melody in this song feels like the summer before my senior year of high school.

The summer solstice has come and gone, meaning we are officially in the second part of the year. Yes, half of 2019 is gone and we are barreling towards 2020. It’s the perfect time to be reflective and set out fresh intentions for the year. In the spirit of mid-year evaluations, I am sharing what I deem to be the best songs of 2019 thus far. The top 5 songs pulled from my Q1 and Q2 playlists, that must be added to your summer playlist for road trip listening or poolside chilling.

“Trouble on Central” -Buddy | A harsh reality weaved into a beautiful melody.

“Dance With Someone!!!”- Busty and the Bass | Love this insanely funky song, but I just saw a live performance of this song, and it’s a total Rick Astley like experience.

“Can’t Hardly Wait” – Justin Townes Earle | Sometimes a cover is just as good as the original. This rendition feels like a cool breeze on a hot day, salty skin and simple adventures.

“The Jangling Man” – The Cleaners from Venus | This song swirls up so much nostalgia, and I was only just introduced to The Cleaners from Venus, but the melody in this song feels like the summer before my senior year of high school.

“Lost on You” – LP  | I have a total crush on singer-songwriter Laura Pergolizzi and this song. The emotion in the delivery twists the echoing pain of unrequited love and rejection. I could roll around in the self-indulgent lamented pain that drips from every word. #obsessed

BONUS: “Viktor Borgia” – Stephan Malkmus | This song is awesome, but the comments on the music video, if read with love – are flipping AMAZING. My favorite: “When you need to make a Dadtronica video to embarrass your teenage daughters but don’t feel like changing out of your lawn mowing outfit.” – Luke Larsson on YouTube

Enjoy the above tunes and more on my Q1 & Q2 2019 Playlists. I’ll be back in December to share Q3 & Q4.

In the meantime, let me know who I should look up or listen to. I’m welcome to suggestions.

Q1 Playlist //

Q2 Playlist //

Follow me on Spotify for all my playlists – blanket_fort_adventures

Continue Reading

Spotify Playlist : Road Side

LISTEN - November 8, 2018

Q3 2018 Spotify Playlist| Road Side

Another playlist another life update… 

How is it already November? How are we already in the second month of Q4?

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately, ok let’s be honest, when am I not self-reflective.

I journal on a daily basis, and it’s interesting how the same frets, insecurities, anxieties, hopes, dreams, aspirations – they just cycle through the pages. To be super honest and transparent, I don’t feel like I’ve grown in the ways I’ve hoped to grow over the last few years. And yet I KNOW I’ve grown in different ways that I didn’t anticipate or plan. It’s like my life is one long road trip, and instead of getting to my desired destination, I discovered something different and interesting in a roadside attraction.

Now, what I need to come to terms with and accept is that although I didn’t get to my destination, I can’t regret the experiences and lessons I learned by the roadside. Life is the greatest adventure, the only thing linear about it is that there is a beginning and an end, but everything in between is filled with curves, roundabouts, peaks, and valleys. This year is almost over, and I think it’s fair to say that I’ve done the best I could with it. But it’s not over yet, and I’m not racing to the finish line. I’m back on the road, with a new map in hand, and ready to burn rubber!

(*ok I’m done with the road trip metaphors – for now 😉)

  Continue Reading

Continue Reading

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – DORMANT VOLCANO

LISTEN - August 2, 2018

Q2 2018 Spotify Playlist | Dormant Volcano

I’m practicing this radical truth thing which is incredibly uncomfortable and yet healing

I seem to always use playlist publications as a time to give a little life update. So, if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I’ve had a rocky Q2 of 2018.  At the end of March, a bunch of dirt was stirred up in my life and I had to start confronting a lot of pain and anger from my past. I’m practicing this radical truth thing which is incredibly uncomfortable and yet healing, so in the last few months, I’ve been supporting (with the help of my sister) my estranged father. Trust that the emotional and at times physical demands  (I’ve unloaded two large stuffed storage units in the last 2 months) of that relationship is incredibly draining.

But I’m sick and tired of being so god damn tired. I’m done with thinking and talking in circles. Yes, I don’t LOVE my life right now, and I feel so off track and removed from my center. Yet, I know I am the only one that can change things. I’m a firm believer in positive action yields and attracts positive results. I don’t know what exactly I’m searching for, but I know I want to be at a higher vibration – so here goes me sharing and putting some positivity out into the world with a fun new playlist.

Follow me on Spotify for all my playlist in one place! 
username : blanket_fort_adventures
 

Playlist: Dormant Volcano | duration 52+ mins
“Pretty Woman” – Lo Noom / “E.V.P.” – Blood Orange/ “My Offwhite Flag” – Dirty Projectors  / “Hope the High Road” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit / “Let Me Get There” – Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions/ “Jane Eyre” – Sur Back / “We Are Going to Be Friends” – Bright Eyes, First Aid Kit / “Baby” – Angharad Drake / “Something for you M.I.N.D. ” – Superorganism/ “Truly Madly Deeply” – Yoke Lore / “Seventeen” – Sjowgren/ “Brass in Pocket” –  Pretenders / “The Bus Song” – Jay Som / “God Only Knows” – JR JR / “Promises” – Aly & AJ

Continue Reading

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – J’AI NE PAS FRENCH FRIES

LISTEN - April 18, 2018

I just got out of my French class, but by the time you read this “just” will no longer be relevant.

I’m also currently craving french fries. By the time you read this, the sentence will still be relevant as I’m always craving french fries. Perhaps when you read this, I will have satiated my craving momentarily, or still be yearning for their salty goodness.

However, I created a playlist that I’ve aptly titled “French Fries” that has the songs that peaked my curiosity in Quarter 1 of 2018, and surprisingly has a lot of French tunes.

à la prochaine, prendre plaisir | see you, enjoy!

p.s. At the end of 2017 and start of 2018, I was also working on my “WAKE UP BEKKA” playlist that I thought I’d share as well. That playlist is always taking good “wake up” songs, so feel free to listen and leave a recommendation.

Continue Reading

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – FINALLY MARRIED

LISTEN - December 1, 2017

Once upon a time, I would publish monthly playlists on this here blog. Well since May, when wedding planning went into overdrive, I stopped posting playlists but didn’t stop creating them. Then in August when wedding planning went into hyperdrive, I stopped creating playlists because I was focused on creating the playlist of music that would be played at the wedding. So now that I’m finally married, I have an aptly named Finally Married Playlist. I’ve taken the two unpublished playlists, Dada Movement and Dusty Pages and compiled them into one 3 hours and 17 min long playlist with a few bonus tracks starting from God Only Knows – our first dance song.

 

Continue Reading

Continue Reading

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – Imperfect 10

LISTEN - May 15, 2017

Not feeling awesome today.

Decided publishing my very short April playlist, aptly titled Imperfect 10 would help me feel better.

Enjoy! 💕

Love & Light

 

Continue Reading

Continue Reading

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – CACTUS BLOOM

LISTEN, SNAIL MAIL - April 1, 2017

March was an insanely busy month. The digital marketing company I work with took on 3 new clients. I went to a natural products expo and volunteered at the LA Marathon while sick. Dan and I took amazing engagement photos in Long Beach, and we also managed to go on an adventure out to see the super blooms in Anza Borrego State Park. Also, in the last few weeks, I’ve started something new in my life, that I’m just not ready to fully share about – but it’s time-consuming and fun.

My new mantra is I am an abundance of energy and good health. It’s the only way I can look at my to-do list and not spiral out. Yet, the underlying stress of the month definitely manifested itself yesterday as in the middle of a dental filling I started to have a panic attack. I do have a fair level of dental anxiety, but I’ve never had a panic attack. So while my mouth is wide open, the dentist is doing his thing, and I’m listening to Hindustani music to drown out the drilling; I felt my jaw tremble, body start to shake, and I just went into “mind over matter” mode. Fortunately, I was able to get through the attack but not without a few tears.

Why am I sharing my dental panic attack? Basically, as a reminder that as much as one might think they are a machine we’re actually human. Stress will manifest in the most inconvenient ways, so maybe I should have done a yoga flow that morning knowing the anxiety I already have about the dentist. I’ve become more and more aware of my stress levels. Every unicorn hair on my head is a reminder of how my body reacts to stress. With the awareness, I’ve also learned tricks to help manage it. Like even though it was a stress inducing month, I also managed to balance it out with enough fun that I feel I’m not feeling completely burned out. I think I’m finally getting a grasp on how to manage work and play (said in the voice of Sarah from the Labyrinth).

So, I had a surge of creativity this last week that helped me build out my new playlist ‘cactus bloom’. I also gave Blanket Fort Adventures a little makeover with a new aesthetic on the blog, youtube, and twitter. I have felt a shift within and I want what I’m doing now to reflect that too. April is going to be equally non-stop. Dan and I are headed back to the Coachella record store, my client “50 objects / stories of the Japanese American Incarceration” will finally launch, and the wedding will only be 7 months away ( so I need to send out save the dates, start a wedding website, look into this and that).

I am an abundance of energy and good health!!

                                                                 

Continue Reading

Continue Reading