mixmas backstory

folks ~ hopefully you've all received your mixmas 2007! if not, well i probably ran out of them, and no worries, you can listen online at my finetune site as long as your company doesn't have a policy prohibiting streaming radio stations like my company JUST rolled out last week (D'oh!!)

i am SO happy with the way this year's mix turned out, although this year more than ever before, i remixed and remixed it so much, that on the final day when i dropped them all in the mail, i couldn't even sleep that night without hearing the tracks - in order - in my head all night long which was definitely a tad maddening.

it's getting harder & harder every year to make and send all the discs, let alone write my cards, so this year i planned ahead and outsourced the production element (instead of burning cd's on my home computer one at a time) and also purchased a "mix kit" of stickers, labels, envelopes, etc. so that's why most of you should have a professional looking one and not a glue & crayons version (although a few last CD's got the glue & crayons treatment).

since late October i have been on a Complaint-Free Diet in an effort to lighten up and appreciate my privileges. most people wonder why anyone would ever put themselves through such a thing (or just look at me as if i've joined a cult) but i took the challenge after being inspired by The Four Hour Workweek blog and as much as i can't commit to a complaint free life (or even a full day) yet, there's something about trying to stop that i love, and it gets addictive. i'm totally sticking with it in the new year, and encourage each of you to try it, even for a week.

what i get asked the most is "what constitutes a complaint?"- well, technically the definition is "an expression of discontent" but the book A Complaint Free World allows that thoughts have a different effect than words, and only statements said out loud count as a complaint. moreover the book suggests that you aim to not complain, gossip, or criticize for 21 days. the criticize part is the hardest for me.

i've been at it for 2 months and like i said, i'm far from achieving a Complaint-Free Life, but i can tell my brain has adjusted a lot already and i don't find myself basing entire conversations on complaints anymore. unfortunately there are some things that happen and it's really hard to "let go" of, like for example, this week, a bunch of my Christmas cards were returned to me because they're square shaped, and who knew, square envelopes that are the size of a post-it note cost more to mail than one stamp. grumble.

i really hope most of you don't let the Christmas crowds and complainers get the best of you. hope you all have a fantastic 2008 and that the mix helps keep you going.

hard times come again no more

i just finished my final task of christmas shopping which was buying for 3 kids at the Denver Children's Home. there's nothing more rewarding and fun than buying for strangers who will appreciate your gifts beyond the depths of your own imagination. i've been shifting in these past couple years towards spending more on that and less on my own family, although i love shopping in general for everyone. now i just have to do the dreaded wrapping & waiting in line at the post office for the rest of my stuff.

for many different and some unknown reasons, this has been a difficult, trying year for a lot of my friends and yet a year of necessary transitions. it's not been easy to keep positive.

i am currently working on a "good mood" themed mixmas to try and shut out the bad ghosts of 2007, but nonetheless one song sticks with me whenever i think about the hard times this year, and it's true, it does come up in my ipod a lot on shuffle (even though i have 7,131 other songs in there). really nicely covered by eastmountainsouth on the Elizabethtown soundtrack, it's this lyric:

let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
while we all sup sorrow with the poor
there's a song that will linger forever in our ears
oh, hard times come again no more

'tis a song, a sigh of the weary
hard times, hard times come again no more
many days you have lingered around my cabin door
oh, hard times come again no more

while we seek mirth and beauty
and music light and gay
there are frail ones fainting at the door
though their voices are silent
their pleading looks will say
oh, hard times come again no more