Distant Lover is by far my favorite Marvin Gaye song. I can listen to it on repeat endlessly. Usually I actually listen to different versions back to back. I love the live versions. I love his asides to the audience and their roar of excitement in the beginning. It just gives me all the good feels. However I was trying to expand my Marvin listening experience at work yesterday and got Stubborn Kind of Fellow stuck in my head.

I will be painting over the holidays so I’m excited I found something upbeat to jam to. I have a lot of house to paint (Who repaints interior doors peach? Why?) so I’m looking for positive, upbeat songs/mixes to keep me awake and not so bored I start painting the ceiling.

I have my cd collection (and a boom box) at my house. When my dad’s over I try to stick to oldies because I’ve never seen him take much interest in my other musical preferences. When it’s just me though I’ve been pulling out My Chemical Romance, OK Go, Say Anything, soundtracks from the OC. I’m quite certain if my mom comes over there will be ABBA. Or Mamma Mia.

There is so much time and energy that goes into home buying that I did not expect. Doing it on my own was frightening and exciting and I’m so thankful for the team of people who helped me through each part of the process. Now that I’m at the manual labor stage I am extremely thankful for all that my dad has offered to do and for the patience it takes him to take twice as long so that I can learn and do parts on my own. I definitely didn’t think he was expecting me to do it in pigtail braids either. Although, I had actual pigtails for my 2016 move.

Anyway, thankful, I am thankful. I was not expecting kindness in so many places. I really am so grateful for my job and the people I work with and all the good we do as a company and as individuals. My work BFF and I have been living in different worlds lately (she recently got married and I just had a stressful work season), but her excitement to bring her dog over to play with mine made me so happy. I’ve been so focused on (and a little drained by) all my house projects that I forgot what my goals are for after. Maintaining social relationships will need to improve dramatically before my garden starts or I’ll never get back out there. Now I’m jazzed thinking of Tess’s dog pool and inviting her pup friends over for a backyard “dog beach.”