Tag: Music

Awesome Nuggets: It’s Been a Minute Edition

by Angela Noel

March 13, 2018

I won’t blame you if you’ve forgotten what an Awesome Nugget is. Or, if you are one of the new subscribers to the You are Awesome blog (Hi!) you may have never heard the term before. Either way, I owe you an explanation.

Awesome Nuggets make the day better. Big or small, these things surprise and delight me. I’ve talked about moths before, or about my wonderful former co-workers who honored me with all kinds of tongue-in-cheek insults. By opening my eyes to the wonder of the moment, these little bits of awesome make me feel good. Sharing them makes me feel better. Knowing they might inspire others to see the wonder around us. . . well, that’s the best of all.

We all need some good. And it’s been a minute. (I just love that phrase.)

Without further ado:

Continue reading “Awesome Nuggets: It’s Been a Minute Edition”

A Handsome Stranger Becomes a Best Friend

A Love Letter by Lauren Elliot.

June 6,2017

Note: Luke and Lauren retreated to separate rooms and gave each other an hour to write their respective marriage vows in June 2015. The below is adapted from what she promised to her now-husband on their wedding day.

Dear Luke,

We first met during Fresher’s Week in 2008, on a little trip to Sainsbury’s. I was strolling along the road when I bumped into a tall, handsome stranger, who said he would come along for the ride. You were so friendly that I couldn’t resist. From them on we were inseparable! We spent countless nights talking on the benches, pretending to be Rose– ‘Jack, the boats, come back…’

I had fancied you since I met you. I was suddenly really shy around you, and scared of losing the friendship we had already built. You were too far out of my league! So when you finally kissed me at Sunday lunch, I couldn’t believe it! I had so many butterflies! By Christmas, I loved you all the world! I told my nan and grandad on Christmas Day that I’d met the man I was going to marry. Continue reading “A Handsome Stranger Becomes a Best Friend”

Who We Are

By Angela Noel

January 19, 2017

Seems like just yesterday we were dressing up in feather boas and funny hats together, but CK Sanders has been CEO of a successful New York business for sixteen years now. She once helped me catch crawdads in a pond, and now she helps New Yorkers experience the great outdoors through day trips to craft breweries, wineries, and other hot spots for agritourism.

Playing Dress Up
CK on the left, me, and and our cousin Michelle in 1980. Dressing up with Grandma Sue’s old boas and hats. (Did people actually wear this stuff?)

If owning her own business wasn’t enough, CK launched a music career as a side project. Her recently released single, “Who We Are,” feels like an anthem to everything I want 2017 to be: heartfelt, collaborative, creative, and true. 

Continue reading “Who We Are”

Music Review: M French’s Winding Road

By Angela Noel

November 17, 2016

Matthew French, whom you may remember from my very first blog post, recently released his second album, Winding Road. He asked me to listen to it, not because I’m a musician or qualified to critique his music the way a writer for Rolling Stone would, but because he was curious about how it would make me feel.

I think that’s the key to Matt’s music, actually. He’s not writing songs for those people OUT THERE. He’s writing for a few friends, who might be listening to his music sitting cross-legged on the carpet drinking wine from a mismatched set of tumblers someone found at a garage sale. In other words, me. And maybe you. Continue reading “Music Review: M French’s Winding Road”

Do it Anyway: Explore the Edge of Your Comfort Zone

by Angela Noel

May 30, 2016

“Snow is falling, winter’s calling. I am far from home.” Matthew French sat in a coffee shop on New Year’s Day and the words of a song, his song, whispered inside his mind. Would he listen?

Inspired to pick up a guitar by a youth minister years ago, Matthew composed songs with a purpose. He wrote for church services or youth group sessions, but never for himself. Not exactly. Much like a thriller writer assigned by a local newspaper to cover a band concert, Matt had the skills but the form and content were predetermined. Which was fine, nothing wrong with that. But then, the Big Bad happened. Continue reading “Do it Anyway: Explore the Edge of Your Comfort Zone”