Enter Mr. Garrels.

 This is a screenshot from his website, where you can listen to and buy his albums.

Number 3 on this album, “Farther Along” is, in my opinion, one of the most uplifting songs ever.  I seriously get chills every time I listen to it.  Which is a lot.

He’s a really talented musician and is walking the off-beat trail that many christian musicians don’t even know about.  His voice rocks.  His lyrics are stunning.  And you can tell, in each song, how he lives his life praising the God of the universe.  His love for God and God’s love for him is evident throughout each of his albums.

I encourage you to go listen.  You won’t be disappointed.

(Photo found via Google images)

I began listening to The Lumineers on Spotify a little while ago, mainly absent mindedly while I was cleaning or editing photos.  Then, as I was driving back home the other day, I thought…”Hmmm…I want to listen to The Lumineers.”  Welp, I bought the album (also called The Lumineers) on iTunes and haven’t given it a rest.

My favorite song is “Flowers in Your Hair” but the entire album is pure quality.
My only complaint is that “Flowers in Your Hair” is only 1:49 long.  I need it to be at least another minute or two longer.

Go on, give it a listen.  And try not to be happy while you’re doing so.
I’d just recommend buying the whole album.  I can’t get over it.

I also am fortunate enough to see them live come October at Austin City Limits.
AHHHH!! Excitement.

With love,
Rachel

]]> http://rachelphotographs.com/flowers-in-your-hair-current-favorite-song/feed/ 0 http://rachelphotographs.com/count-it-all-joy/ http://rachelphotographs.com/count-it-all-joy/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:01:50 +0000 rachel http://rachelphotographs.com/?p=385 As some of you may know, I struggle with self-esteem, stress, and creating happiness for myself.  It’s an ongoing process, and I am trying to get better.  I am getting better.

On Tuesday night, after feeling pretty lonely and a bit sad, I decided to get out of my bed (it was only about 7:45 at this point) and go to Cuppies and Joe with my Bible, iPod, journal, and book of poems by WS Merwin.

I started to listen to “Don’t Wait for Me” by Josh Garrels (which is my current favorite song.  I’ll share more of that shortly) and took a pen to paper and began to write without any limits or hesitations.  Without a page limit or word limit.  Without worrying about using an expansive vocabulary or trying to impress professors.  I just wrote down what was on my heart and mind and it felt so good. Such a release.

I wrote a bit on how to strengthen my relationships with others and how to better myself, so I made a Revised Resolution list.  Sort of like New Year’s resolutions, but more for my life than for a specific holiday.  Here they are:

- Exercise 3x weekly (at least).

- Journal often

-Blog 4+ times weekly

-Be kind to myself (this is a big one)

-Spend quality time with Ethan, away from distractions.

- Spend a lot less time on the computer doing mindless things

- Have a sit down dinner with Dad 2x weekly (if our schedules allow)

- Pray daily

- Give up negativity

-Be body-positive

- Be present with others and try to make new friends

- Learn about typography and calligraphy

- Be proud of who I am

- If and when I have something on my mind, I’ll speak up.

 I think and hope these things will help me develop a healthy and happy lifestyle.  I think they will.

As I was writing, I thought about all the stress I feel right now, so I looked up some Bible verses that deal with stress and I found some pretty great ones:

Philippians 4: 6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

My dad would often (and still does) recite the last part of that to me before I would go to bed.  It’s very comforting.

James 1: 2-4 talks about counting every trial or obstacle as joy.  I’m really thinking about getting a tattoo that says “Count it all Joy!”  It’s a hard thing to fathom, but I think counting everything as joy is a wonderful outlook on a seemingly broken world.

This post is pretty long, and I congratulate you if you’ve read this far.
Now, I leave you with this beautiful song by Josh Garrels (who can’t do any wrong, musically speaking).

I had another OU senior shoot last night.  I should have those edited soon and up on the blog.  Be looking out for them :)

With love,
Rachel

And I use the word “appreciation” to describe what I feel because “obsession” sounds creepy.  Heh.

But in all seriousness, before sounding like an ecstatic little fan girl (which in reality is probably what I consider myself) I am fully appreciative of his passion for music and for the remarkable ways he chooses to make it.

It was by an extremely happy accident that I got to meet him and talk with him for a solid 5-10 minutes before dancing around a field with my old roomie, Aubry.

It was also a happy accident that I’ve seen him perform live twice–once with GAYNGS and once with Bon Iver.

And another happy accident that lead him to start following me on the tweeter. It’s not too big of a deal that he RTs me and tells me which albums to listen to when I’m having a rough day (except I still think it’s a big deal and I freak out any time we communicate).

So many beautiful, happy, serendipitous moments in my life.  *sigh*

But let’s add one more to the list…I stumbled upon this song on Spotify a week or two ago.
Happy moment.

Go ahead, listen to it, I say!
But this isn’t an official video or anything, so prance around your house while you listen to it.
Because it’s not exciting to watch.
But it’s exciting to listen to.

The first time I listened to this,  I didn’t know what song I was listening to because it came on shuffle on Spotify.  And I was like “Oh, I don’t know if I like her voice.”  But I continued to listen and then Justin’s voice came in and I immediately liked the song more.  Anais’ voice is certainly growing on me quickly.  It’s quirky and different.

And both of them together…Oh goodness.

(Follow me on instagram! Username: deerrachel)

I hope you enjoyed the song.  If you didn’t, well, I guess that’s okay.
But you probably should try to be my friend anymore.
Kidding.

Oh, and I am officially on SPRING BREAK.
I can almost taste summer.

With love,
Rachel

Confession time: I bought the song this morning on my phone–this was about an hour and a half ago.  It’s all I’ve listened to today.  And at 3 minutes and 18 seconds, that calculates to a nonstop 3o timesish.  Whoa.