The Happiness Challenge: Day 2

I love music. I have thousands of songs in my iTunes library, and my tastes are all over the place. It's also well known among my friends that I can't sing a lick, but it doesn't stop me from belting it out in the car, or singing into a hairbrush while dancing in front of the bathroom mirror. I've wasted many a free night propped up in bed getting lost inside my head while listening to the weirdest mix shuffle ever did produce.

Anyway, today's helping of happiness is a mish-mash of song titles with commentary by, well, me. Who else would be commentating on my blog? To compensate for this self-indulgent trot down memory lane, I included videos and pictures. Guarantee you'll be singing along by the end. (I was going to attempt a playlist so you could listen to all these songs here, but things got way too technical for me, plus a few of these are NSFW.)

You Can Do It (Ice Cube)
This song always reminds me of the first time I saw Save the Last Dance, one of my very favorite movies. And who doesn't love Save the Last Dance? Exactly. Hot. And one time a kindergartner in my sister's class told her, "It's easy Miss Gibson, you just have to put your back into it." Heh. Good stuff.

Borderline (Madonna)
Watch this video, and you'll never listen to Borderline without doing "the grocery store" again. Ever. (Sorry for the snorting. My friends make me laugh.)



Forever (Chris Brown)
This song makes me think about this video. Remember when it went viral? Oh happy day.



These Arms of Mine (Otis Redding) and Heard It In a Love Song (Marshall Tucker Band)
These songs always remind me of Jason, who I danced with a lot in college. And for awhile one night in Colorado in October 2010. Ahh, college. Ahh, dancing. Two of my favorite things. Doesn't he look like fun? He is. Don't worry about the blurry part of my back; my hot pink underwear were showing. And yeah, someone spilled a drink on my jeans. That's what we get for hanging out at the Walrus. PS: People in Boulder are mean and kinda violent, but that's not really happy so we don't have to talk about it.


I Found Love (The Party)
Now I know some of you are dancing like fools right now. Hello? The Party, formed of members from The New Mickey Mouse Club. Yes. An after-school snack and some MMC. Woo!



I'm Just Looking for a Good Time (Lady Antebellum)
Now see, Chico made me karaoke this with him one time in Chattanooga, but before that, these lyrics were used to describe a series of photographs from a wedding reception I crashed in Fairhope. That's really all I can say about that trip, but I assure you, lots and lots of stories and pictures came out of it. Fairhope is also the birthplace of Elevator Karaoke. You know you wanna play. Happy times.



Dancing on the Ceiling (Lionel Richie)
Ha. I love this song, but it reminds me of this sign at Bottletree, which Amy and I discovered at Laurey's surprise 40th birthday party. And now, every time I hear this song, I think about the party, and how it was a night of laughing till my stomach hurt with people I love dearly.



Fire Burning (Sean Kingston)
Lyrics from this song are actually the name of one of Todd's FB albums, which contains pictures from several girls' (including me) joint birthday party two years ago. Todd drove us all around in a 15-passenger Econoline van while we sipped gas station Champagne out of paper cups. The best thing about this whole night was getting Todd inside Nana Funk's. We're much too pretty for Nana's, but I love a good sweaty dance floor, and the Funk delivers. Plus there's the cheesecake cheese steak cart outside at 4 a.m. (I'm never out till 4 a.m., Mom.)


Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)
My friends in Georgia call me Uptown Girl, mainly because they love to make fun of me and also because of my penchant for drinking San Pellegrino. A little fancy never hurt anyone. This song reminds me that, in their own twisted and mentally exhausting way, those guys love me. Hey, I'm just looking for my downtown man.



Magic (Ben Folds Five)
Always on the Bubble Bath playlist when I lived in the Homewood condo. And everything about my time in that happy condo makes me smile. Lots of fresh starts and good memories there, plus the hardwoods were really good for my solo dance parties.

Mr. Brightside, Smile Like You Mean It, Somebody Told Me (The Killers)
Get Back (Ludacris)
The Killers concert at City Stages was one of the first things Sara P. (hi in New York!) and I ever did together, and that’s just special. These songs actually have nothing to do with each other, but I know how many of you feel about The Killers, so I found a little mashup with Ludacris. Everything’s better with a little Luda! Get Back is a pretty angry song, but it sure makes me feel good when I’m in a foul mood. (Look, I listened to this while doing about 80 other things, so I can't promise you want to play it in front of your 3-year-old or your mother-in-law. But, gosh, I do love a mashup.)



Speaking of making something better with a little Luda, how about Baby (Justin Bieber)? Haters gonna hate, but my soul mate Tiffany and I love the Biebster, and this wedding video is solid gold. Anything less at my own reception one day is going to be a total letdown. If this doesn't make you happy, it's possible that you're humorless. Just sayin'. I'm over here dancing around my living room.



Wanna Be a Balla (Lil' Troy)
All my memories of this song are vague, but it seems like I'm always listening to it when it's sunny, driving around with the windows down. And that makes everyone happy!

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
If you don't start dancing and feeling three-margaritas-in happy, there's something wrong with you. Plus, one time (in Fairhope) Tiff and I karaoked tried to sing this one.

OMG (Usher)
Tiff and I share a complete and total love for Usher. It’s one of the reasons she’s my soul mate. Below is a normal picture of the two of us. The one below that is what happens whenever we hear an Usher song, OMG being a favorite. We can’t help it—Usher makes us wear our sunglasses in the clubs, throw our hands in the air, and dance with our mouths open.



It's really not important to have sound while you watch Jamie karaoke OMG. Just pay close attention at the look of shock on his face around 44 seconds, and then again around two minutes, when he gets poked in the eye. Go! Watch it quickly! As soon as he sees this he's going to make me take down the link.



I Don't Want to Wait (Paula Cole)
Remember when James Van Der Beek wasn't creepy, Katie Holmes wasn't a zombie, and Michelle Williams wasn't such a sourpuss? Okay, yeah, James Van Der Beek was always creepy, but oh, Tuesday nights back in the day. My roommate April and I watched with a group of guys at their house. Jamie (he of the Big Beard) made muffins every week, we watched Dawson's Creek, and then we played Mario Kart and tried to balance ourselves in the bionic chair. (I apologize for the poor YouTube quality. Apparently DC isn't as relevant as it was in 1998, so the options for embedding are few.)




Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Elton John and Kiki Dee)
This is Tiff and Chico's karaoke jam, and if these two don't make you happy, then I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HELP YOU.


Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Dance remix)
Did you know there's a dance remix of this song? Neither did we. Till it started playing at tacky Christmas sweater karaoke last year. I think Rodney and Trixie did it justice, especially the oon-ts, oon-ts, oon-ts parts. (If you're not doing the beat noises and making that face, then you're not cool enough to relive this memory with me. Move along to the next song.)


Back Where I Come From (Kenny Chesney)
This is between me and my sister. We used to drive around in one of our white Honda Accords bopping up and down to the live version of this song recorded in Dallas (no, literally bopping up and down). Laurie knows every word to Kenny’s intro, and our favorite line is “tan legs in the broad daylight,” which we sing with exaggerated accents while pointing to our appendages. Seriously. Greatest memories ever.



Get It On Tonight (Montell Jordan)
Both this song and This Is How We Do It remind me of college, but Get It On Tonite (also featured on the Save The Last Dance soundtrack) was pretty popular in 1999, back when my college roommate Lisa and I would ride to our tennis class in her red Camaro with the T-tops removed. Oh yeah. Enjoy the cheesy movie scene and song below. Then practice your sultry dance moves.



Lucky (Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Caillat)
This song makes me hopeful for the future. That's right, I said it. Lap it up, cause I don't get sappy often. If When I get married again, I do believe this will be our first-dance song. I may not have cast all the roles yet, but I have written my happy ending. I hope this brings a smile to the faces of my best friends, ABL and LAK.



Happy Friday!