frontman friday: gavin jasper

hello, sunny friday! so glad you're here.
jumping right into today's lead-singer lovin' because i'm proctoring classes for my boss and have approximately 10 minutes to write this post while i shove food down my throat.

just b/c it's rushed it doesn't make him less special: gavin jasper

he's the lead vocals and co-founder of: saints of valory

the first song i heard of theirs was neon eyes. it was played  on a local radio station (shout out to Cities 97) and i was like, "okay, i'm into this." 

fun facts: the band is originally from rio de janeiro, brazil...now they call texas home. also, they are playing at the triple rock social club in minneapolis on february 20th. i wanna go. who wants to come with me?! 

back to the classroom,

xo

ideal body types.

this post will have little to do with music...which is weird, i know.
there is music in the video though! it's the song raindrops by SNBRN ft. kerli so that makes it completely appropriate to post here. i am so good at justifying.

so buzzfeed (aka the-biggest-time-suck-on-the-internet, you go from pictures of the best man-buns to a quiz on which friends character you would be to a list of 90's facts and then your night is gone but i can't stop myself!) recently released a video that showed women's ideal body types throughout history. it's fascinating.

you watched it, right? good. even at my young (okay, relatively young. young enough.) age i've been influenced by three of these standards. i was born in the mid-80's so that "supermodel" mindset was probably well-etched into the brains of my mom and aunts. the 90's were my formative years where the "heroin chic" look was plastered all over television and magazines, as a pre-teen and teen those were THE source of knowing what was fashionable (because not wearing the "right" clothes in middle school is the ultimate crime). and the 2000's ideal body standard is what girls (myself included) have been attempting to achieve since i was in high school. 

you'd think that by this point we would understand that the "it" body image is going to change as fast as flared-leg jeans are in one day and skinnies prevail the next and that maybe we should just be happy that we have a functioning body but that's easier said than done. 

as much as i would like to complain about the fashion industry folding to body image standards and only making clothes that fit the mold of the moment, or complain about how all of the models in advertisements and magazines look the same conditioning our brains to think that that's the perfect way to look i'd wager a guess that the answer to why we feel the need to look a certain way mostly lies within ourselves. 

we're self-absorbed and insecure. we feel that if we look a certain way we will be accepted and maybe even praised. we want our selfie to look the best and get the most likes. we disguise it as "being healthy" when it's actually an obsession. the digital age we live in is a blessing and a curse. we carry around devices in our pockets and purses that keep us connected to basically anything or anyone on the planet and can do so in an instant but those same devices can crush our self-worth. in an article jon foreman wrote (yes, i can find a way to fit him into literally every conversation, it's one of my spiritual gifts) he said, "if comparison is the thief of joy, then our culture is being robbed blind."  

maybe if we stopped being so focused on ourselves we'd stop caring so much what other people think. there are so many bigger issues than thigh gap...human trafficking, homelessness, hunger, genocide, and cyclical poverty to name a few. 

so stop chasing an ever-changing beauty ideal because you can't keep up with that crap anyway. maybe your natural thinness was perfect for 90's but now your booty just doesn't measure up. here's the thing: if you're basing your value on someone else's opinion of you, you will always come up short changed. 

you're beautiful and you're loved. instead of worrying about changing your pant size, work to change the world. 

and post a couple less selfies.

xo

my thoughts on katy perry's halftime show.

i'm not going to lie, i was skeptical that she was going to be able to hold a candle to bruno mars' performance last year (he kept it pretty much about the music and nailed his vocals, two things that solidify your artistry in my book) but ms. perry definitely brought her A game. (i promise that will be the only sports analogy in this whole post.)

she came out on a large animatronic lion. that thing was cool, i want one. and i need four friends willing to dress in black and walk with me wherever i go to move the legs in a realistic walking motion.

she had dancers in horse heads dancing on a stage of moving graphics. the aerial view was trippy.

lenny kravitz oozes cool. he's got a rock vibe and i'm into it. and you can't not love him after seeing him play cinna in the hunger games movie. i sorta got the feeling that he didn't actually want to be there seeing as he only played part of one song but at least it was one of my favorite katy perry songs...what can i say, i kinda liked trashy katy perry more than inspirational firework katy perry.

there were dancing sharks and palm trees and girls in high-waisted bikinis. super colorful, really fun, made me wish i was at the beach even though i'm not a california girl.

missy elliot came out and that was an unexpected surprise. i wasn't a huge missy fan growing up, in fact i'm pretty sure i still couldn't name any of her songs and she did multiple last night, but always an interesting choice when you mix genres.

and then there were fireworks and katy perry riding on a shooting star. it was all a huge thing. 

the whole show was entertaining and lighthearted and had so many different elements it was almost hard to keep up but none of those things were what i found most impressive. what i found most impressive were her vocals and her clothing choices.

when it came to her singing, she crushed it. i'm guessing there were a few layers of vocals that were recorded to help aid her live singing to fill a stadium that big but i got the impression that her mic was all the way up and she was actually doing what she's paid to do: sing. and if there were no assisting vocals to help her out then i'm even more impressed. she sounded strong and her voice was full and she hit her notes but it didn't sound "recorded in a studio and tweaked just a bit" perfect just "this girl can sing" perfect.

when it came to her clothing i was surprised at how tame it was. i mean, this was the girl who was essentially kicked off of seasame street for being too cleavage-y. i'm not saying the costumes she wore last night would have flown on seasame street but i thought she might push the envelope a bit more. her music videos have shown that she's not exactly afraid of showing a little skin. but maybe she didn't want the night to be about her boobs? maybe she wanted everyone to know that she can actually sing? that she's an entertainer? that she does have some sort of talent, she's not a just a pretty face and killer body?
if so, kudos, katy perry, you proved your point.

xo

ps. a quick google search showed no pictures for me to steal. bummer.

frontman friday: nate ruess

this week has been a very good week. there were warm temperatures, the complete line-up for the compadres tour was announced and it makes my insides so unbelievably happy, and yesterday i went shopping at the buy-the-pound salvation army which is basically my version retail therapy on steroids.

and now i get to dish about one of my favorite things, a man in a band.

today's de' jour: nate ruess

stole this picture straight from wikipedia...the source of all things true.

nate is the vocals behind: fun.

anyone with roommates knows the "share the bathroom mirror" 

game all too well. 

these fellas BLEW UP in 2012. you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing one of their songs. they were everywhere. this is the song that catapulted them to the top. 

i wrote a blog about a song of theirs that makes me sad. it makes me think and makes me wish i could make it better. it's one of those songs that i think are important for Christians to hear. i don't think he wrote it for Christians but i think we need to be the ones to hear it. maybe it will change us. you can read it here if you'd like. or don't. choice is yours. 

and to end on a lighter note, nate did this song with pink and it's one of my favorite duets. so absurdly good. 

ahhhh, the weekend.

xo

i never say this but...

i can't even.

switchfoot was just named as the 5th band on the compadres tour.

remember how less than a week ago i wrote about how killer the line-up already was and how i hoped that switchfoot was going to be the final band? remember? REMEMBER?

well it happened. switchfoot is on the tour.

unfortunately there are 2 legs of the tour; ben rector doing the first leg and then switchfoot taking ben's place for the second leg of the tour. so each show will have 4 acts, not 5.

stolen from needtobreathe's twitter.

but maybe that just means i will have to go to a show on each leg so i get to see them all.

does that make me a modern day dead head?

xo

cat with heart eyes emoji.

this picture popped up in my newsfeed this weekend and the only reaction i can muster is the cat with heart eyes emoji. these are my two favorite phils. in one picture. TOGETHER. BEING FRIENDS.

i most definitely stole this from philip zach's facebook.

so much perfect teeth and hair in this picture. 

my obsession with the phil on the left dates back to when i was 12 years old. it was the late 90's and he was my first "celebrity" crush. all of my friends were in love with devon sawa or jonathan taylor thomas but not me. nope, i loved the bassist with the new zealand accent and enviable hair. 

my crush on the phil on the right goes back to college. saw him play a show and was hooked. he also played bass and when i found out his name was phil i was sure it was a sign from God, i was destined to love him. 

i talked about both of them enough that when my friend made me cookies with all my favorite band boys' pictures on them for my birthday a couple of years back each of their pretty faces graced a cookie. 

i must say, i think both of them have gotten better with age ;)

xo

frontman friday: paused

i know, normally i gush over a frontman today but there have been announcements over the last couple of days and i just can't wait to write a blog post about it any longer. there is still another to be added to the docket but my patience has run out so i am foregoing frontman friday for just one week to talk about a tour that is hitting the road later this year.

needtobreathe has been sending out boxes inviting some of their friends (and some of my favorites) out on tour with them, these friends have been making video announcements to accept the call to participate in the comerades tour!

it is going to be so good. 

first colony house said they were in.

then drew holcomb & the neighbors jumped on the bandwagon.

and just this morning ben rector joined in.

my heart, you guys. i think my heart might explode.

is it too much to ask that switchfoot be the 5th band on the bill? i guess i'll have to wait and see. i swear to you, if this tour isn't coming through my city i will be driving to the closest (or most convenient) venue because there is no way on God's pretty green earth i am missing this show.

seriously, listen to all of these songs and then tell me that this show isn't going to be phenomenal.

i honestly don't know that i will sleep that well tonight waiting to hear who the final act will be. i know this sounds like a gross over-exaggeration but it's not. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS.

i also have hot tub club this weekend (yep, it's a club where my friends and i sit in a hot tub, play games, and eat snacks...we're the coolest) so i'm pretty jazzed on that too. 

may your weekend be filled with all the good things. 

xo