Tunesday -- mewithoutYou

I had heard snipets from mewithoutYou when I was younger, but one of my friends absolutely adores them. Through his love for them, I was given the opportunity to really appreciate them. I finally got to check them out in Richmond, VA back in August. I feel like they'd probably be really stellar, but the combination of an inexperienced sound tech and our location made it somewhat lackluster. The day I had was fantastic, and I do appreciate them a lot, so I can't complain too much. It's incentive to see them again!

Here's a song from their newest album Ten Stories (which is, you guessed it, stories!).

Here's a picture from the show we went to. You can see that we had an awesome view, but we were catching the bouncing sides of the sound and a lot of sound from the on-stage monitor speakers.

love,
Laina

Tunesday - The Lumineers

"The opposite of love is indifference."

I've been falling in love with this band for a while now. My life has been super hectic and a little stressful. This particular song is one that I can listen to and instantly feel calm. Not only does this folky band have a great sound (um, hello... violin!), but they're also lyrically gifted. Man, I would love to see them live.

Take a break from your day, stop whatever you're doing, and just listen to this. Really take it in.

Until next time.

love,
Laina

Tunesday - Kate Nash

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been super busy with school lately. I underestimated working full time and going to school too. Oh well. The good news is that my moodiness has lead me into the arms of some pretty fantastic music.

I really dig Kate Nash. I love that she has this angry and torn vibe going on. The first song is super relevant to my life.

I hope your week is fantastic! I'm going to try to post a new recipe by the end of the week.

love,
Laina

Crockpot Lemon Italian Chicken

This is one of my most coveted Pinterest finds for two reasons: 1. It's wicked good and 2. It's astonishingly easy. I can be a pretty lazy person, so I love a recipe that requires little effort. Not only that, but the main dish only requires 4 (yes, 4) ingredients. So here's the thing, this recipe varies around the web since the original post isn't available. The amounts are somewhat dubious, but here's what I did tonight. I liked this over pasta, but I'm thinking it'd be really good with rice too.

Note: I doubled the recipe that I originally found.

Ingredients:

About 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (I used 2 super big breasts that I halved.)
1 stick margarine/butter (I used about 1 1/4 stick of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
2 packets of ranch dressing mix
Lemon juice to taste (I used about 3 tbs)

Directions:

1. Let the butter melt in the crock pot. I do this on the High setting.
2. Add lemon juice and ranch packets. Stir until well blended.
3. Add chicken and make sure it's coated with the liquid.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I check on it every couple of hours and ladle the liquid over the chicken.