Happy Hub: 20th Birthday, Civil War, Hamilton, and More!

May is always a big month for me and even having pushed some things into June, I've got a lot to cover. I've already postponed this blog post many times which probably worsened my time management. It's lulled me into a false sense of security. Now that the worst of it is over, it'll be easier to get back on schedule. There's more time for everything in summer.

Tunes:

At the beginning of the month, COIN released their new single, Talk Too Much. I hadn't been keeping up with their news but luckily, I subscribed to their YouTube channel. This song is so upbeat and fun -- perfect for summer. I can't help but dance whenever I listen to it. It gets me excited for their new album! It's only been about a year since their debut album came out but it feels like so much longer since we've had new music from them. Maybe I'm just spoiled...

A more mainstream favorite this month was Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake. I'm gonna be honest, I didn't listen to this one on repeat, but I always have such a good time when it's on the radio. I think the reason why I like it so much is because it reminds me of a lot of my favorite things. I can't put a finger on most of them, but the one I can identify is that it sounds like it could've been something off of Olly Murs' most recent album. It's a little generic, but who cares as long as you're having fun, right?

I wanted to give my full attention to the cultural phenomenon that is Hamilton and there was no better time than my busiest month of the year...? Yeah, that may not have been the smartest timing. I mean, it gave me something I could put on and let play for the entire time studied or packed or otherwise busied myself. I've listened to the entire thing all the way through more than a few times now and it's safe to say the finale makes me cry every single time. There are other parts that make me cry, but those are kinda obvious since they're sad parts. Anybody who's listened to Hamilton knows the songs I'm referring to. Those, however, aren't my favorite. I love the motifs that pop up throughout the story in the songs so I appreciate all of the songs where those are established. My absolute favorite songs, though, have to be Satisfied and Wait For It. It's so hard to narrow it down since I love listening to every single one of them. I think Satisfied is the one I seek out the most... Ugh it's impossible to choose. Every song is so great especially with the context. It's hard for me to play a song on repeat if I've started from the top because I get so caught up in the story. Obviously, I love Hamilton and so does everybody else. I'm currently on working on getting my brother on board so I'll update you with my progress. Musicals are something we can always bond over. Until then, I can work on learning the lyrics on my own. There are a lot. 

Films:

Captain America: Civil War (x)

May is when the summer movie season really kicks off (it starts earlier and earlier every year) and summer blockbusters means superhero films. Ohhh yeah. My most highly anticipated movies of each year are always Disney/Marvel/X-Men movies and two of those studios/franchises released movies this month. I only got around to Captain America: Civil War in May (we saved X-Men: Apocalypse for a post-finals treat) and we didn't even get to see it until the very last weekend, but boy was it worth the wait. I was impressed with the minimal spoilers I encountered leading up to my watching the film. It wasn't entirely spoiler-free, but I could manage. This movie was so good. I loved the entire cast of characters and felt that each one of them had their time to shine. Nobody was there just to be there. The introduction of new characters was fantastic and, as always, I loved the fight choreography. There are a lot of moving parts and me talking about all the things I enjoyed about the movie would take a lifetime. I really appreciated the complexity of the relationships between all the characters. Watching interviews with the directors, it's clear they put a lot of work into giving each character their moment and not making it obvious which team is "right." They leave it up to your own interpretation based on your beliefs. That being said, I'm not sure whose side I'm on. It's hard not to be blinded for my love for all the characters. Any side I choose feels like a betrayal. Can I just be Team Avengers?

Entertainment:

Since I appreciate the arts so much, I carved out a full day in the middle of the month dedicated to seeing as many shows as possible. Spring is an especially fun time because that's when most schools do musicals (Kentwood needs to step it up) and I was so excited to hear Kent-Meridian was doing Cinderella and Kentridge was doing Hairspray. Kentwood did Hairspray a few years back and I loved it so much, I was more than willing to see it a second time (if you don't count the movie). I recruited Steph and we went to the closing shows for both productions with a stop at Ivar's in between for an early dinner date. (Note: we should probably go for the cup next time.) 

Cinderella @ KM (x)

The last showing of Cinderella at Kent-Meridian was a 2pm matinee so Steph got there very early just in case. I'll call it "just in case" but it was mostly just poor time management. I had fun exploring a little and it was nice having time to chat about all the television news that had dropped earlier that week. I was excited to see this show because when I'm sad I look up Cinderella's costume change on Broadway and it lifts my mood every time. This performance, I'm sad to say, was not up to par with Broadway. Now, that's to be expected, but it was hardly a good performance for a high school either. The poor acting and off-key singing really took me out of it and I found myself itching to grab my phone so that I could text my friends about it. (I didn't because I'm a good person, but it was tempting.) I can definitely see this show being something great if it were done well. I enjoyed it for what it was, but there were definitely moments that I had a hard time getting through. I'm hoping it was just fatigue. That would've been a real painful run if every show was that cringe. 

Hairspray @ KR (x)

Steph and I left Ivar's for Kentridge when the sun began to set and we got there right in time to stand around for another half hour before they opened the door. It was all good though because with the soundtrack blasting and press of bodies in the foyer, it felt like we had gone out clubbing in the sixties. It sounds like I'm complaining, especially after all I had to say about Cinderella, but I'm really not. That wait was so worth it. I had so much fun at Hairspray! (Kentridge's production of Hairspray actually just recently won the Outstanding Overall Musical award at this year's 5th Avenue Awards!) I've been familiar with the soundtrack for years and it's one I gravitate towards every so often when I want something old school but also show tunes. The dance numbers were really fun and it was only amplified by the number of people on stage. Don't even get me started on the costumes! There was this one girl on the Corny Collins Show that looked about my size and her dress was to die for. I need to track that dress down somehow... Needless to say, I enjoyed this show a lot. From the minimalist set to the talented cast, I had a good time seeing Hairspray. Kentridge always puts on a good show.

Birthday:

Cookies n creme ice cream cake. Yum. (x)

I've survived for two decades! It's crazy to think I can say things like, "Well ten years ago..." and it would make sense because I was old enough to remember and process things. Major props to my parents for keeping me alive for this long. Couldn't have done it without them. I am very lucky to be born so close to a three-day weekend. It means that I have an extra day to party as much as I want, but even that won't stop me from cutting into the week before and the week following. I only have one birthday a year, after all. As per tradition, I had Family Day, which was a day spent with my family ending with dinner with family friends followed by cake (recently it's been ice cream cake); Friend Day, a movie with friends with cake and food and good conversation; and smaller celebrations with my roommates, among others, in the surrounding days. I spent my actual birthday doing calculus and working on a group project but that was all made up for by the time spent in great company on multiple other occasions. 

Miscellaneous:

Mother's Day breakfast. (x)

May is always a really busy month for me in terms of "holidays" what with both Mother's Day and my birthday (+ birthday weekend) on top of the quarter coming to a head (aka the start of summer!!!). This year I was a lot more involved in Mother's Day than I have been in the past so I actually had some insights to share on our celebration. I originally wasn't going to post anything Wednesday the week of because I had two midterms in the middle of the week, but I had to take the opportunity for a bonus Happy Hub. I elaborated the on how I came up with the idea for this year's breakfast in bed as well as the card that I made in my Mother's Day blog post.

Beautiful totchos. (x)

The end of May brings about Memorial Day weekend and, along with being my birthday celebration weekend, it's home to the new tradition Steph and I have. Established last year, we try to do turkey gravy and movies sometime during Memorial Day weekend. This year, a recipe for totchos caught our eye and we thought it'd be the perfect time to test it out. Steph wrote about it on her blog since we did technically bake it, so be sure to check that out. We had a really good time with it. It turned out to be delicious and it makes me drool just thinking about it. In addition to the totchos, we also had turkey gravy paired with the last three episodes of season three of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (I'm not crying, you're crying.), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (perfect timing since it was so close to its 30th anniversary), and most of X-Men: First Class. It was a fun day. Lots of memories were made and the sight of that cheesy goodness (as pictured in Steph's blog post) will stay with me for life. It was like watching the birth of my child. I think as long as you don't skip the fresh avocado, you're set.

Blogosphere:

It feels so good to finally have my Birthstone Book Tag out in the world. As I said in the post, I've been working on it since February and it's been on my mind a lot. I love the theme of this book tag. There's something about all the personalized birthday-type things that are so fascinating. The fact that I get to combine that with books is even better. Another great thing about this book tag is that it isn't seasonal so you can get it started then add books and characters to the list as you read them and put your completed book tag out into the world whenever you're ready. No need to feel pressured to put out something you slapped together for relevance's sake.

The contents of the "box." (x)

Another fun bookish thing that happened in May was my first subscription box! Since it's my first ever box, I thought I'd write a review to show off all the goodies. I've included just about everything in the box in my May Uppercase Box Review aside from the review of the book itself. I just finished reading it so it'll be included in the June Wrap Up at the end of this month! I hadn't heard of the book before I opened my box and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I'm happy to own it (and a signed copy, at that!) especially now since the warm colors are so summery. And an update on the rest of the goodies: I can't bear to use any of the postcards because they're just so cute and I have yet to try the tea but it still smells delicious. I'll have to get around to it before the weather gets too warm, not that that's been too much of a problem recently.

There was a lot of happy to cover in this post but most of it happened long enough ago that I'm afraid I may have missed something. It would've been smarter to write as the events occurred, but life gets busy. Oh well. Let me know if you can think of anything I missed! I'd love to hear about what made you happy in May in the comments below! I know it's been a minute since then (we're already halfway through June!) but I'm sure there's something that stands out.


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette