Lately I am listening to a lot of popular music, but a lot of international music as well. Some of these artists have made it into the mainstream, but others… well, you may not have heard of them yet. Here are a few I have really enjoyed. (If anything, check out The Baseballs!)

Katzenjammer (Norway)

Blaring horns and catchy beat, A Bar in Amsterdam is a very energetic song. The animations are fun too. I ran into this while on Imeem, now just a sub site of Myspace.

Movits (Sweden)

Herr actually heard of this group first, I think while listening to NPR or something. I can’t recall exactly, but their Fel Del Av Garden is a great pseudo rap/big band/swing song, and their album title song Appelknyckarjazz is very entertaining as well.

The Baseballs (Germany)

I just found out about this group today. If you loved the sound of the 50s, look no farther! The Baseballs take modern lyrics and transform them into Elvis hip-swinging slicked-back grease-haired 50s rock. Very amusing if you are familiar with the popular songs they cover.

Emiliana Torrini (Iceland)

While I was flying back to the States for work, I heard this on their international music segment. Jungle Drum is cute and perky, although a tad weird… but hey, quirky is in, right?

Zee Avi (Malasia)

A ukelele is the main instrument with a fun but slower beat. I cannot recall how exactly I stumbled across Zee Avi, but it is good stuff nonetheless.

Little Boots (United Kingdom)

Found this artist on a 2010 upcoming artists to watch for list. The music itself is simplistic but really catchy, but as far as dance electronica music goes, that is par for the course. I have played Remedy several times, sometimes in a row, and it lifts the spirits a bit.

Xavier Naidoo (Germany)

I was in a hotel somewhere a few months ago when I saw this and really liked the message and beat. He has a great voice too. Plus, I liked how the video came together. I found out afterwards that he is a neighbor of one of my friends here. How cool, eh?

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This year I want to make my resolution more of a project for myself than just something I think I’ll do and don’t ever get around to it. I came up with some decent ideas, each being something I really need to do, but only one would be what I focus on. The suggested resolutions:

1. learn a new language (probably German but also French or Mandarin)
2. focus on music (singing, cello, piano, etc)
3. focus on writing (this, along with being cute, were my resolutions last year)
4. only think positively (a lot of negative thinking last year)
5. lead a more active life (not just physically speaking)

All are things I am trying very hard to obtain, and honestly, if I could keep myself to a routine, it would be something like this: wake up at 5 a.m. and exercise for an hour/hour and a half, be to work at 7 a.m., take lunch to walk the dogs, get home at 4 p.m. to practice instruments, eat a light healthy/organic dinner, study languages and read nonfiction (graphic design, history) until 8 or 9 p.m., then read for leisure until 10 p.m. to do it all over again. I’d alternate the study time with writing time because I really want to get my stories moving again. But I just can’t get myself to do all this! It’s so sad.

So, I asked Herr what of the resolutions I should make the official one. He decided leading a more active lifestyle would lead to the other ones (and honestly, I am getting the lethargic I-sit-at-a-desk-all-day body shape), so now I am supposed to be leading a more active lifestyle.

I started out walking the dogs right before we got major snow and ice problems and could not safely continue doing so (getting pulled by dogs on ice equals big ouchies). We are also performing in musicals, and that keeps us pretty busy. We are building a gym and music studio now, and we’ve both taken exercising very seriously. I do it right away in the morning so I can continue to sleep while I do stretches. Hey, it works well!

I am curious to find out what everyone else’s resolutions are, and how they are progressing. Herr’s is to stay fit, so that’s obviously going well with our new gym and my own goal.

I realize I never posted how I did with National Novel Writing Month in November. I finally got a good technique down for writing. I was hopeful to continue writing after November because I have a good plot going, but I got some major curveballs. I opened my Christmas gift a month early so I could perform in Oliver! the musical. Herr purchased a full electric drum set, and less than a week later I was playing for the opening. To say the least, it was extremely stressful. We start up with performances again this Friday.

At work I was also stressed with too many projects and no one around. That means even more work for me. So when I did have time off, I didn’t do much. I got fat though, oh boy… stress eating and holidays, not a good combination!

In any case, my story was much more successful than last year with nearly 11,000 words in one month! I am not certain of the title, but for now it is “The Sensitives: Case of the Unfortunate Daughter.” Think of it as a Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins meets paranormal ghost hunting, detective work, and mystery (for teens). Set in 1904 on the East Coast with a wide range of characters.

I will load what I have to the Web site, and I will hopefully continue writing soon, now that Oliver! performances end this month. Herr has a main part in the musical Cats! this March, and we may be playing in the orchestra for Little Shop of Horrors (at least I’ll get some good practice with the drums before then). However, we are hoping to make this a year of travel, and do have some plans starting to take shape.

We’ll see how it all goes.

Things I am thankful for:

• My husband, who is lighthearted and and lactose intolerant
• My job, which is once again stable, gives me great experiences, and the opportunity to live in Germany
• My family (including friends), who is always there even though I haven’t seen them in forever
• My dogs, who whine incessantly but in the most adorable way
• My health, and I am trying to cut back on sweets… really…
• Music, for the good times and the bad
• Books, for the needed escape
• My Playstation 3, for even more needed escape
• Everything cute, because there isn’t enough innocence in the world
• Everything fluffy, as long as it isn’t accompanied by sharp teeth and doesn’t like me
• Mother Earth, who puts up with our crap with too much tolerance (just don’t get angry and send a mile high tidal wave!)
• And so much more!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.