My Favorite Memories from 2019

2019 was a great year, definitely better than I ever would have expected or imagined. Some of my all-time favorite memories from my life so far happened last year. My best day ever happened in 2019, so it's honestly going to be hard to top 2019.

In 2019, I got to meet so many wonderful people. I got to see some amazing shows. I fell in love with the magic of live theater. I got a job that finally makes me feel needed, useful, and appreciated. I got to spend quality time with family for the first time in forever. I got to do new things and have new experiences and so much more. But here are my favorites from 2019:

Being a West Side Story Insider for Lyric Opera of Chicago

I wrote an entire blog post on my experience as a WSS Insider, so I won't go into too much detail about this, but it was truly a wonderful, amazing day and experience. In case you haven't read my blog post about this, I was chosen to attend the final dress rehearsal of Lyric Opera of Chicago's West Side Story and had the opportunity to live tweet the show and go on a backstage tour of the iconic Lyric Opera house at the start of May.

West Side Story has been one of my favorite movie musicals since I first watched it in high school, but I hadn't gotten the opportunity to watch a stage production until last year. Even though my first stage production of WSS was a dress rehearsal in which no one had to do the show full out, there was no evidence the cast wasn't performing at 100% (I saw the show a total of four times, so I'd know by now if someone was underperforming), and it was the best musical production I'd ever seen. Everything about the show was amazing, and what was even better was the opportunity to tweet all about it and then stand on such a big stage and see what it's like for the performers. Also, considering I've now been on Twitter for just about 10 years, being chosen to tweet a musical I love felt so cool, especially because there are very very very few opportunities to tweet in a theater!

My August Favorites

Last month was pretty eventful throughout, but some events (like my cousin's wedding) were more enjoyable than others (like getting my wisdom teeth removed). But my wisdom teeth removal wasn't terrible, and I still got to try some new food once I was back to (mostly) normal. Plus, last month I discovered even more new music ― right after my latest "What I'm Listening To" post, of course!

Jeni's Ice Cream

I love ice cream and most things sweet, so I'm always down to try new ice cream, places. I've known about Jeni's Ice Cream for a few years now. But I haven't had the chance to try any of Jeni's flavors that aren't sold in pints in stores because I don't often go to the areas of Chicago where they have shops. Luckily for me, a shop opened at one of my mom's favorite malls that I go to often, so I finally got to try some!

I got the trio, which is three half scoops. The flavors I got were milkiest chocolate, Texas sheet cake, and Boston cream pie. All three were delicious, but I think my favorite was probably Boston cream pie. The combination of vanilla custard, dark chocolate fudge, and yellow cake pieces is a nice and decadent treat. Texas sheet cake is unlike anything I've ever had before as it's chocolate ice cream with cake crumbles and fudge and is also dairy free and vegan, so it's not as creamy as ice cream normally is, but it was still good.

Desert Moon - Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud

If you didn't already know, Alan Menken and Pasek and Paul are musical geniuses. While all of the original Aladdin songs are great, they've done an outstanding job with the new ones for the live action remake, and "Desert Moon" is no exception. "Desert Moon" is a song that was cut from the live action film, but Disney has released it ahead of the DVD/Blu-ray release.

This duet from Jasmine and Aladdin is short, sweet, and simply beautiful. The song itself is supposed to be a song both Jasmine and Aladdin's moms taught them, which just adds some more beauty and emotion to the song. Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud also just sound really great together.

Rain - Ben Platt

I feel like it was just yesterday that Ben Platt released his debut album, and now he's out here with a brand new single just a few months later. It's more upbeat than most of the songs from his album, which is a nice change and shows he can sing more than just emotional ballads (and showtunes but those aren't on his albums).

What I'm Listening To: Summer 2019

It's been nearly two years since I've done one of these posts. I stopped doing them because I just ended up putting 99% of the music I'd been listening to in my monthly favorites posts, so doing one of these would seem repetitive. But this summer there have been quite a few songs that I've been listening to a lot that haven't been featured in any of my monthly favorites posts, so I thought now would be a good time to do another music post.

My playlist for this summer is probably the most diverse my go-to playlist has ever been, including music from three different movie soundtracks, covers, Broadway show tunes, and pop music. So I've definitely been influenced by the movies and entertainment news from this summer. I've embedded some of the music from YouTube below since some of these songs aren't on Spotify or any streaming services, but my full playlist can be found at the end of this post.

Rocketman (Music From the Motion Picture)

I've basically been listening to the Rocketman soundtrack on repeat since it was released last May, because Taron Egerton's voice is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard, and I cannot get enough of it. Like honestly, I didn't really listen to Elton John songs before Rocketman (other than Taron's cover of "I'm Still Standing" from Sing of course), but this movie and soundtrack has blessed the world with an entire album of Taron's singing, so there was no way I wasn't going to listen to it.

Plus, it's given a new generation an appreciation and love for Elton John and Bernie Taupin's music, which is amazing (even if I prefer Taron's version of literally every song). This soundtrack has been in my go-to playlist for four months and counting, and I don't see it leaving my go-to playlist ever. I like all of the songs, so I couldn't even give you my top three songs.



All I know is my favorite is "Your Song", so you should definitely listen to that one. Oh, and the credits song, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" is sung by both Egerton and John, and it is a bop! It's the only song new to the film and the only song with John's vocals. Plus, the music video is fantastic (pun intended). And one more thing: the Target version of the soundtrack has two exclusive tracks, one of which is a Taron only version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", and it is hauntingly beautiful.

My July Favorites

July was a more chill month for me, so I didn't discover too many new things. However, I added a bunch of new music to my current summer playlist and found my new favorite workout shorts!

Aerie Move High Waisted Bike Short - True Black

Bike shorts have been one of my favorite recent trends, and I've especially wanted ones to run in. I've gotten into a good rhythm with running this summer, but I've discovered that I don't like running in normal running shorts. Actually, I've discovered that I don't like running in non-high-waisted bottoms of any kind because they often just fall down at the top if they don't have a drawstring. And it's quite annoying to be pulling up your pants every minute while you're running.

So these Aerie bike shorts are great because they stay up and are nice and high-waisted. They don't budge when I run. They're super comfy and pretty durable and thick. These are a bit stretchy but not too much where it's like I'm running in compression shorts that move and bunch up at the leg whenever you move. I want like 10 more pairs of these for running and doing nothing at all.

"Something's Coming" from West Side Story - Aaron Tveit (The Radio in My Head)

I've actually known who Aaron Tveit is for probably like 10 years now since I know him and first watched him as Tripp van der Bilt on Gossip Girl. I didn't know he was a theater/Broadway actor for I don't even know how many years. But I found out he could sing and was on Broadway sometime in between him being on GG and him being cast in Grease Live, so I wasn't surprised or anything that he could sing. 

Anyway, because of the recent Broadway transfer of Moulin Rouge the Musical!, my interest in Tveit has piqued. So I've been watching a lot of videos of him on YouTube, watching and listening to all of this old content and music that I missed out on before. And if you know me, you'll know that West Side Story is one of my favorite ― actually, it is my favorite ― musical, and his cover of "Something's Coming" is one of the best I've ever heard.