Okay, so I bet you already know about The Roads Below if aren’t new here. In case you are, they are a very good Country band with a little bit of Pop roots. They released a new single just last Friday! Entitled “Can’t Teach That.”
Advertisements
Phil Evans of The Roads Below
This song doesn’t really need much explanation. Lyrics are pretty straight forward and catchy. The song was written by Chase Coy and Phil Evans
I don’t think Phil could write a bad song if he tried, if he has, I haven’t found it yet. From School Boy Humor to Beneath the Sun; I have been listening for years.
Make sure to download and stream “Can’t Teach That” today. Available on Apple Music and Spotify.
Yesterday I decided to quit using Facebook (except for blogging purposes.) I’m still keeping my Business pages. (Speaking of, have you “Liked” Life as Lauren Mikael on Facebook yet?) Having a personal Facebook is just too much of a distraction for me, I’ve wasted so much of my time over the years mindlessly scrolling through my newsfeed to see what friends are up to…time that I could have spent doing something productive, like writing or taking photos….or laundry. Ha!
On Wednesday I got my camera (Canon 5D Mark III) out of the camera bag for the first time in almost two years. It made me realize how much I really have missed photography.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Advertisements
I’ve had a Facebook account since 2006. It’s 2020 now, it’s time for a change. I’m tired of seeing negative news stories pop up in my feed, and of seeing the same meme over and over again. I’m ready for hanging out with friends in real life, where they can tell me what they have been up to, not reading about it on a status update. Granted, with Covid still around hanging out with people has pretty much come to a halt. When that is under control though I’m gonna be wanting to spend way more time with friends than I have in the past. I’ve never been good at that…I’m accidentally a loner.
Advertisements
I’m pretty much telling you all of this to hold myself accountable. If I tell you guys I’m off Facebook I won’t go back to it in a few days; I’ll stay off of it for good. Just like when I told you I wasn’t going to see Jonathon anymore. If I write about not doing something anymore it makes it much easier to stick to my decision.
Advertisements
If I wasn’t a writer I would quit social media and never look back, but since blogs are on the internet you pretty much have to share them to every social media account you have to get people to read what you wrote.
Earlier this year I took an online blogging course to help my blog get off the ground. The teachers of this course said something that stuck with me “You can own a sandwich shop and sell the best sandwiches around…but no one will come to it if you don’t tell them that you have a shop.” I may have paraphrased a little, I’m not sure…that was back in February a lot has gone on since then.
Advertisements
Oh and since it is Friday, I want to sneak in a little Fangirl Friday before I end this post. Remember a few months ago when I told you about The Roads Below? Well they released a new song not too long ago called “Where That Tattoo Ends” it’s so good! You guys…I have basically been listen to it on repeat ever since it came out at the beginning of this month.
Listen to it below:
You can find The Roads Below on all of your favorite music streaming services. If you don’t already have a favorite, click the banner below and you get 90 days of free listening.
Don’t forget to share this post if you liked it. That helps me out a lot.
I’ve added links to all of my social media profiles: let’s be friends!
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a tip of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your tip. (Example: Changing the number in the box below to 5, will result in a $5 tip.) Thank You!
I know it isn’t Friday, but today we are going to talk about music anyway. “Don’t You Worry” from the TV show Star.
Advertisements
You guys know I am a big believer in positive thinking Life has been throwing a lot of stuff at me lately. Between some things not happening as fast as I thought they would, my hormones (Yay for being a female…haha!) and things being more difficult lately than they usually are…toss social distancing into the mix and here we are; I’m trying really hard to not lose my S****.
Advertisements
I’ve been watching a lot of positive videos and sermons lately to help with all of this. Most, if not all of them have mentioned something similar to “The tougher the storm, the bigger the breakthrough.” Which is great, because that means I have something really amazing coming soon.
Advertisements
I have been listening to my positive playlist a lot that I made last year when I started getting into thinking positive. One of my favorite songs on there lately is “Don’t You Worry” by Queen Latifah and Luke James. I will leave it for you below; make sure you listen to it, it’s really good stuff (Obviously since it involves Queen Latifah…she’s amazing.)
Really good, isn’t it? This song always snaps me back into a positive mindset.
I really miss Star, it was a little a dramatic…but had a good plot and some great music. It’s on Hulu if you need a show to watch.
Advertisements
I had been kind of negative and worried about things…which is weird because since I started reading my affirmations list I hadn’t been worrying about anything. I still read it everyday; but some things just take time and I have to be patient (that is actually one of the things on my list.)
Advertisements
One of the sermons I watched was by Sophia Ruffin, she was talking about how chaos isn’t always from the Enemy; sometimes God gives us chaos before he takes us to the next level/season of our life…so, don’t rebuke the chaos; embrace the chaos and believe that better days and things are coming.
-laurenmikael
PS: As soon as I published this blog post this video by Sophia Ruffin popped up in my Facebook feed; Neat how God works…huh?
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a tip of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your tip. (Example: Changing the number in the box below to 5, will result in a $5 tip.) Thank You!
I’m so excited you guys, I finally got a Danby Countertop dishwasher.
Advertisements
The full size dishwasher that came with my apartment hasn’t been working since October (it never worked well, even when it was technically still working.) I have been telling the front office and maintenance men about it over and over again; still they never did anything about it…which isn’t a surprise really, seeing as I have been asking for my fridge to be fixed since the day I moved in (In the beginning of 2019.) Right now they get an easy out with Covid-19 going on, but I don’t understand why they couldn’t have fixed it way before?
I still don’t have the pretty fridge I want yet, but at least I took matters into my own hands and bought a small dishwasher. I’ll work on getting my own fridge soon.
I can’t reach the kitchen sink very well, which makes washing dishes really hard for me. I can’t wait to get my own house, that way everything will be wheelchair friendly like I need it to be.
Advertisements
Having a countertop dishwasher has already made things so much easier for me. I wish I would have gotten one of these a long time ago. For months I had just been eating frozen or really simple, mess free meals to make things easier on myself…which isn’t always healthy. Now I can get back to actually cooking; which is something I love to do. (Not to brag or anything, but I am really good at it!)
This little baby dishwasher is just as powerful as a full size dishwasher…honestly it is the most powerful dishwasher I have ever had. All of the apartments I have ever lived in have had pretty crappy cheap ones. It is really simple to set up, just connect the machine to your kitchen sink and it is good to go.
Isn’t it cute?! I love it! This little thing can hold quite a lot too. It can be a little bit of a challenge to get all of your pots/pans and dishes to fit at first; you get the hang of it eventually. (Obviously the bigger the item you put in the smaller the load will have to be.) Make sure you use a rinse agent along with the detergent…it will make a difference.
This little one is the perfect size for single people.
Which reminds me, I’m so tired of being single…as you can see my little dishwasher is on the kitchen floor right now; I kept thinking all day today about all of the ways my life is going to improve once I am not single anymore. For one: It’ll be nice to have him around so he can help me do all of the manly type stuff, you know…fixing things and heavy lifting, like: actually putting my countertop dishwasher on…um, the countertop.
Advertisements
If you are interested you can get one from Amazon by clicking the link below:
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
-laurenmikael
PS: Have you “liked” Life as Lauren Mikael on Facebook yet? If not, you totally should so you don’t miss any of my blog posts, just click here.
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a tip of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your tip. (Example: Changing the number in the box below to 5, will result in a $5 tip.) Thank You!
*This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn compensation when you make a purchase from the links provided. At no additional cost to you.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Advertisements
It’s been a while since I posted a Fangirl Friday, wasn’t intentional; life just gets busy sometimes, you know? Let’s get back at it. This week I want to tell you about an Arizona based Pop-Punk band, Love Like Fiction.
Advertisements
Remember how I was telling you not long ago about one of my favorite YouTubers, well Leesha is married to the Bassist of Love Like Fiction; that’s how I found out about them.
Advertisements
I love their music. Sometimes they add a little bit of Screamo in too…which if you know me well, you know that is right up my alley.
The first song I ever heard of theirs was “Bilingual? Baby, I’m Bipolar” Title gives off kind of a Fall Boy, or Panic! At The Disco vibe. You can give it a listen below:
Advertisements
See? They are awesome, right? Told you so!
They have a music video for another song of theirs “Summer Daze”:
A few weeks ago they came out with a new single “Misery Maintenance”:
Advertisements
Love Like Fiction has quite a few singles, and an EP out titled “Sounds of City Streets” which can be found wherever you like to stream music.
Honestly, I really don’t think I could pick a favorite song of theirs if I tried…so far I have loved them all!
Speaking of streaming services have you tried Amazon Prime music? Ad free music with all of the added benefits of Amazon Prime. Click the banner below to listen to Love Like Fiction and all of your favorite artists.
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a tip of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your tip. (Example: Changing the number in the box below to 5, will result in a $5 tip.) Thank You!
In October I decided I wanted a pixie haircut again; which always seems like a good idea at first, but then a few weeks go by and I find myself regretting cutting off my long hair. Thank God for Sugar Bear Hair.
Advertisements
This is my third time to have a pixie cut and each time I regret it after a while, but Pinterest has this way of making me think that cutting my long, pretty hair into a short boy-ish mess will be super cute. I always forget that I am bad at doing hair and just because it looks cute on the pretty girl on Pinterest, doesn’t mean it will look the same way on me, because those girls can actually style their hair. I am great at doing makeup, YouTube basically needs to give me my Cosmetology license for all the years I’ve spent watching xSparkage (now she just goes by Leesha) videos (Love her! Pretty sure we would be best friends if we knew each other in real life.) …but for some reason I can’t do hair to save my life.
Advertisements
A few years ago I found out about Sugar Bear Hair (probably through YouTube) and decided to give it a try. I’ve been taking them ever since, they really work, I have tried a few off brand hair vitamins in the past and none of them actually worked. These little blue bears really do though!
Advertisements
Sugar Bear Hair is a Hair, Skin and Nails vitamin, rich in biotin which is what helps your hair grow, including eyelashes and eyebrows. They are gummies and they taste delicious. They are even one of my favorite colors. These vitamins work really fast too! I’ll have my long hair back in no time.
Advertisements
When I was 10 years old I developed Trichotillomania…you know how people always joke that they are so stressed it makes them want to pull their hair out? I actually do that, it isn’t intentional; it just happens. Most of the time I don’t even realize that I am doing it. It happens rarely these days, but it was pretty much constant when I was younger. I never pull the hair on my head; eyelashes and eyebrows are my thing. That is a lot of the reason why I like chunky eyeliner , covers up the fact that most if not all my eyelashes were/are missing.
Advertisements
I’m so glad I found these vitamins, now I don’t have to be embarrassed by Trichotillomania and I can practically bypass the ugly mullet stage of growing out a pixie cut. You can try Sugar Bear Hair yourself here.
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a tip of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your tip. Thank you!
$1.00
PS: This post contains an affiliate link, meaning if you choose to make a purchase from the link provided in this post…I will make a profit, at no extra cost to you of course.
First off I gotta say I’m a little shocked at myself, that this blog has been up since Halloween 2019 and today is the first time I have ever mentioned Phil Houston on Life As Lauren Mikael.
It’s Friday after all so what better day to bring him up than now?
Advertisements
If you ever read my other blog Rockstars and Randomness, you know that I practically always found some kind of way to mention him or one of his bands. Why? Cause he’s awesome, and a very good friend of mine. If you are all sorts of lost and you have no idea who this is…well I’m gonna fix that.
Advertisements
Phil Houston is one of…if not the best, frontman of the Arkansas music scene. He has been in some of the greatest local bands; Se7en Sharp, The Revolutioners, and more recently The Resistance.
Advertisements
Basically anytime there is a big name band coming to Arkansas to perform, you can bet one of Phil’s bands is going to be playing on the bill of that show too. Buckcherry, Hinder, Bret Michaels, Fuel, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, Highly Suspect, and that’s just naming a few; the list goes on… The Revolutioners even went on tour with Saving Abel for awhile.
…and yes, I was at every single one of them. Front row of course. That’s my rule with going to shows: Front row or don’t go. For many reasons:
Everything is better in the front row- closer to the action, better photos, You up your chances of having some sort of personal interaction with the band and/or artist; and most important to me as a wheelchair user- You can actually see, because you don’t have some tall…or um, those who are how do I put this nicely? A rather large person in your way, blocking your view.
Advertisements
I first saw Phil Houston when his band Se7en Sharp opened for Aranda on March 23rd 2012. Which is when I took this photo:
I’m going to be real with you…this was back when I used to drink. I am very surprised that this photo even turned out as well as it did…my cranberry vodka was like, one tiny splash of cranberry juice and the other 16.8 ounces were vodka. Whoops!
Advertisements
Not long after this show Se7en Sharp played with The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I was sober for this one, so I actually was able to pay attention to how talented Phil is.
Below is a popular Se7en Sharp song “Kami”
See? I told you he was good!
Here is another really good one “Give Me a Chance”
If I had to pick a favorite, I think this would be it.
I feel like this is going to be a really long post already, so let’s go ahead and move on to The Revolutioners.
This band as far as the members go, and friends I’ve made because of The Revolutioners makes this band of his, probably my favorite out of all of the bands he has been in.
Pretty sure I only missed 3 shows The Revolultioners played out of the 5-ish? years they were together, which isn’t bad at all, considering how often they played (sometimes 3 times in one day! Yes, I was at all of those too!) Why? Cause they are/were really good and it was so much more entertaining than sitting in my apartment by myself all day.
Advertisements
I think this was at the Arkansas State Fair when they played with Everclear…fun times!
Below is the song they were most popular for “Pop Rocks”
…but my favorite is this one…”Razors and the World”
Although…”Glitter King VS. The Rock N’ Roller” is awesome too!
Advertisements
Now on to the newest one.
The Resistance:
The Resistance is made up of some very talented members.
They actually released a new song yesterday, which is why I thought today’s Fangirl Friday topic was very fitting.
it’s called “Push You Away” It’s a ballad. Really good. I love it! Push play, you’ll see.
Here is a link to their Youtube channel, because you need to listen to all of the other songs they have too, and I don’t want this to turn into the longest blog post in the world.
This is my favorite picture I’ve taken of him performing
You can see more of these pictures (and photos of other bands I have photographed) on my Facebook Photography page here.
To end this blog post here is a picture of the members of The Revolutioners and I on my 24th birthday. That was a really fun party!
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a donation of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your donation.
$1.00
PS: Phil has a blog too where he tells you all kinds of fun things you can do in Arkansas. Check it out here.
Today Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) released a new single “I Think We’re Alone Now” originally released by Tommy James & the Shondells in 1967; later released by Tiffany in 1987.
Advertisements
You can watch the video for the song below:
Billie recorded this in his bedroom a few weeks ago, to entertain us all during quarantine.
Advertisements
I listened to all 3 versions of this song that I mentioned, and this is probably no surprise…but I definitely like the Billie Joe Armstrong take on this song best. If you have been reading my blog for a while now I’m sure you know by now that Green Day is my all-time favorite band. If you or new here (I know I have gained quite a few new readers lately…thank you for that by the way! 🙂 Or if you just happened to miss it, check out this post about when I got to go see Green Day live. It was truly amazing! Below is a collage of photos I took of Billie Joe from that show:
Advertisements
You can also stream “I Think We’re Alone Now” on Apple Music and Spotify.
Today I watched Like Sunday, Like Rain, and Ordinary World. Both movies star Billie Joe.
Like Sunday, Like Rain also stars Leighton Meester (Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl) and Debra Messing (Grace from Will & Grace.) It’s a cute movie about a girl who takes on the job of being a live-in nanny for a wealthy family’s intellectually talented son. You can watch the trailer here, or buy the movie here.
Advertisements
In Ordinary World Billie stars alongside Selma Blair, Judy Greer and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin of The Office.) A guy who gives up his dream of being a musician to be a father spends his birthday living in the past wondering what might have been, as sort of a mid-life crisis. You can buy the movie here. The trailer is below:
Advertisements
Since Billie is basically the king of eyeliner he also collaborated on an eyeliner with Kat Von D. I love makeup, so when I found this out I had to have it. I bought multiples, because of the fact that my favorite way to wear eyeliner is chunky…I go through a lot of eyeliner, and the Basket Case packaging was limited edition.
Advertisements
You can still buy the eyeliner but it is in different packaging and is marketed as Anti-Precision now. You can get it on Sephora’s website.
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a donation of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your donation.
$1.00
PS: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning if you choose to buy something from one of the links I will make a profit…at no extra cost to you of course.
I found this video yesterday when a friend shared it on Facebook. I have always been a huge Paramore fan, so I was really excited to see this. Machine Gun Kelly cover of “Misery Business” with Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker.
Advertisements
Machine Gun Kelly can also be found behind the drums in Netflix’s take on Motley Crue’s The Dirt. He plays Tommy Lee. (What is it with me and The Dirt lately? I’ve been on a big Motley Crue kick.) You may also recognize him from his role on the popular Netflix movie Bird Box…where he played the part of Felix.
Advertisements
I saw Machine Gun Kelly live when he opened for Fall Out Boy in October of 2018. I have never been a fan of Rap to be honest. I went to that show as a FOB fan, so I didn’t really pay as much attention to MGK’s set as I should have; I regret that these days; since I am now a fan of his movies and I will admit now, a few of his songs.
“Bad Things”
and of course “The Dirt (Est. 1981)” which is a song he did with Motley Crue
Advertisements
I rewatched The Dirt on Netflix today, and I have to say I liked the movie better before I read the book. The whole time I was watch it, I kept getting frustrated…and thinking things like “That’s not how it happened in the book/real life!” I still love the movie, but the book is way better.
Here is the original version of “Misery Business” by Paramore
Advertisements
I actually really enjoy both; but…Paramore will always do it best in my opinion.
What version do you like best?
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a donation of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your donation.
$1.00
PS: The theme for my website is not very mobile friendly. I’m planning on getting a mobile friendly one soon. Until then, if you are on a cell phone and want to subscribe via e-mail, or follow my blog through WordPress…all of the links can be found at the bottom of my site. On a computer everything shows up on the right sidebar as it should.
With all of this social distancing lately. I have been reading a lot, but I have also been listening to Office Ladies podcast.
You guys probably already know I love The Office, and I have good ole Scott to thank for that. He convinced me to watch past the first few episodes, and even though he has since forgotten how to text me back, I will forever be grateful of him for showing me how amazing it is.
Advertisements
Office Ladies is a podcast done by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Also known as Pam Beasley and Angela Martin of The Office. They are best friends in real life, so they came up with the idea to start a podcast, reminiscing their days starring in The Office.
Advertisements
I started listening a few months ago when they first started doing the podcast; but unintentionally fell away from Office Ladies a few episodes in. I guess life got in the way or something.
Advertisements
Since I’ve been stuck in my apartment for a while due to social distancing, I’ve started it up again. Each week they feature a different episode of The Office; they go in order of which they aired on televison.
Advertisements
As of right now I am on episode 7 (The Dundies) of The Office Ladies podcast, out of the 19 they’ve done so far.
I love this podcast so far, and I’m not even a podcast person; this is the first one I’ve every really subscribed to.
Jenna and Angela breakdown the episode of the week and tell you behind the scenes facts about filming The Office. I’ve learned a lot of cool things I would have never known as an Office fan otherwise. They even call other cast members on air sometimes, so they can add in their two cents about the episode being discussed.
I really like listening to Office Ladies because it gives you a way to kind of get to know all of the actresses and actors a little better.
Advertisements
If you are also a fan of The Office you can listen to the podcast on your iPhone with the podcast app that comes preinstalled. Just open it and type Office Ladies into the search section, add their podcast to your library and you are good to go. You can also listen via your computer by clicking here.
Also, I bought the books by every star of The Office that has written one, and I am going to read them for Tuesday Starts with Tea, so be on the look out for those in the coming weeks!
-laurenmikael
🙂
If you liked this post (or my blog in general) a donation of any size would be greatly appreciated! Update the quantity in your cart to adjust the amount of your donation.
$1.00
PS: The theme for my website is not very mobile friendly. I’m planning on getting a mobile friendly one soon. Until then, if you are on a cell phone and want to subscribe via e-mail, or follow my blog through WordPress…all of the links can be found at the bottom of my site. On a computer everything shows up on the right sidebar as it should.
