Playlist Mania: Melanie Gras 2012

As a child, the disadvantage to a late February birthday is that it often falls near mid-Winter Break. This is heartbreaking when you are 10 and you want all your friends to come to your party but they are going on vacation. When you are a grown-up, it is a blessing because this means your birthday falls near a federal holiday and you can go on vacation WITH all your friends.

And that’s exactly what we did.

We met up with a bunch of our favorite people and headed back to the lovely and fabulous William Smith Inn in Geneva, NY. We hired the same bus company from our honeymoon, Grapevine Country Tours. We ate delicious food, tried delicious wine and had more laughs than you can imagine. It was wonderful and a great kick-off to my birthday week and I desperately wish we could go back again soon.

And, here are the tunes to go along with it.

Melanie Gras 2012

1. Ni**as in Paris [Explicit] – Jay-Z and Kanye West
2. Heartbeat – Childish Gambino
3. Tonight (Best You Ever Had) featuring Ludacris – John Legend
4. Wild Ones featuring Sia – Flo Rida
5. Blackout – Breathe Carolina
6. No Diggity – Blackstreet
7. Heartbreaker featuring Jay-Z – Mariah Carey
8. Ray Charles – Chiddy Bang
9. Turn Me On featuring Nicki Minaj – David Guetta
10. Pass at Me featuring Pitbull – Timbaland
11. Play – Jennifer Lopez
12. We Found Love – Rihanna
13. Love You Like a Love Song – Selena Gomez & the Scene
14. Dance with Me Tonight – Olly Murs
15. True Fine Love – Steve Miller
16. She Drives Me Crazy – Fine Young Cannibals
17. The Heat is On – Glenn Frey
18. Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
19. Domino – Jessie J
20. We are Young featuring Janelle Monae – fun.

Playlist Mania: November 2010 Wine Tasting Trip

One of the biggest challenges of working on the Melanie Gras playlist every year is making sure I don’t repeat songs from previous lists. The playlist I made when we went wine tasting late last year  is still a strong family favorite but I realized I never shared it here. I hope it brings you as much fun and laughter as it has brought us!

A Look Back: Our Trip to Seattle

To say I’ve been lax in my blogging would be an understatement. Back in April, Tony and I went out to Seattle for Matt and Alisa’s wedding. The trip was our very first trip together. We took a day off to maximize our time and try to make the most of it.

Our last night in town, we hit Outback Steakhouse to start celebrating early, came home to finish packing and hit the hay because we had a ridiculously early flight out.

And that’s when the food poisoning kicked in. It was one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. I seriously considering not going. But missing Matt and Alisa’s wedding just didn’t seem like an option.

So, off to the airport we went. We stocked up on tums, Immodium, water and Vitamin Water for the flight. I hoarded any plastic bag we came across and checked for barf bags as soon as we boarded. Tony was an absolute trooper – he was so good to me, taking care of me, carrying everything, letting me rest on him.

I slept all of our short flight to DC, where we connected to Seattle. I slept most of the second flight and was definitely feeling better when I woke up.

We got off the flight and were confronted with this at baggage claim: