Blues singing icon, Etta James, died this morning at 73 years old from complications from leukemia. James was best known for her love songs, especially "At Last," which is consistently ranked the number one song chosen for a bride and groom's first dance. It seemed appropriate to choose it as this weekend's Love Song.
We'll miss you Etta, and we'll keep on dancing.
Here's a link to the rest of The Knot's top 50 first dance songs.
TAMARA DURICKA JOHNSON ~ Author ~ Speaker ~ Journalist ~ Coach
Showing posts with label Love Songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love Songs. Show all posts
January 20, 2012
December 31, 2011
Love in 2012
Who really understands the words to Auld Lang Syne? We hear it every year when the ball drops at midnight, and all I can think about is this moment in "When Harry Met Sally."
Here are the original old Scottish words from Robert Burns and their translation into modern English:
So yes, as Sally says -- "It's about old friends."
Happy new year to you, friend.
In 2012, I resolve to be even more loving to friends and family. What about you? What are your resolutions? Do any of them involve dating? Maybe taking on a dating challenge?? Or buying a copy of your future favorite love story? May 2012 be filled with lots of love - and 31 dates!
Here are the original old Scottish words from Robert Burns and their translation into modern English:
Happy new year to you, friend.
In 2012, I resolve to be even more loving to friends and family. What about you? What are your resolutions? Do any of them involve dating? Maybe taking on a dating challenge?? Or buying a copy of your future favorite love story? May 2012 be filled with lots of love - and 31 dates!
December 30, 2011
Five Ways Your Hormones Trick You In Love
20/20 post-breakup hindsight usually makes me feel embarrassed about many of the decisions I made during my relationships. I fell for some guys even though I knew they were bad for me. And then I'd long for them when they were gone. And sometimes I'd even feel out of control.
For instance, I had a horribly painful breakup in college. We'd had one of those passionate relationships filled with life-altering dramas and figured our love would conquer all. In my 18-year-old mind, I had won the lottery in love. He was a handsome boy who I remember thinking was particularly unlikeable when we first met, but somehow he'd won me over. He sang beautifully. He wooed me. I loved his family. We'd considered ourselves engaged to one another and even opened a bank account to save money for a ring.
During the Summer, we regularly drove the five-hour return trip to see each other. One day I was nearly to his house when I stopped at a payphone (remember those?). He told me not to come anymore.
"Who is she?" I demanded.
So here was one of those moments when you say something and you wonder whose voice was talking or where the words were coming from. Because I'd never suspected before that my boyfriend was a cheater. He was a scoundrel in many, many other ways, but until that moment, I never thought he'd cheat. I figured those words were somehow given to me by providence, so I pursued them.
"WHO IS SHE?" I yelled, not caring if any of the passersby heard me or saw my frantic, tantrum-having state.
He was silent for a moment and I held my breath for his answer.
"Her name is Kristen."
I stood there in paralytic shock, unsure of what had happened. I hung up the phone and drove back home, two hours wailing through blurry tears. I'd eventually learn that my providential insight was right - that dude was apparently a major cheater the whole time we were together.
The next morning I even had my wisdom teeth removed. I remember laying on that doctor's table with dry tears in the corner of my puffy eyes. They put a huge piece of plastic in my mouth, forcing my mouth open before giving me an anesthetic and asked how I was. With a forced, widened jaw I drifted into teeth-removing medically-induced sleep uttering words no one understood, "My fiance just broke up with me."
The next while was lonely and pathetic. Picture me alone in my pink flannel pajamas after getting my wisdom teeth removed, refusing to take the pain pills because I figured I was dying of a broken heart. And then multiply that by a few weeks. Not a pretty sight. When my stitches healed, I got into my car and drove the two hours to his parents' house. It was one of those moments when I had lost a lot of weight from my non-eating and figured I'd get in a cute dress, look hot, and try to win my boyfriend back. The whole drive, I kept rehearsing my address to him. I kept debating whether I was doing the right thing. And I wondered what Kristen looked like.
No one was home.
I sat outside the driveway for a few hours. If he'd arrive, I'd just tell him that I just got there a few minutes ago. "What a coincidence" that we'd be there at the same time. I could tell him I was on my way somewhere south of him and they happened to be on the way. Instead I chose to write a note and paste it on the door:
Just stopped by to say, "Hi."
And then I drove home.
It was basically the worst breakup of my life. Okay, so those are words people throw around, but in reality, that was the trigger that led me to near-suicide in just a few weeks and kind of messed me up for a long time.
I tend to think my painful, passionate breakup isn't so uncommon. Like many relationships, my emotions, my loneliness, or my depression would rule my heart and my actions. And thus, would lead to lots and lots of mistakes.
Recently I ran across this article, called "The Stupid Things You Do When Dating (and How to Fix Them)." The article basically talks about how our hormones and emotions will play tricks on us, making us thinkwe love someone more than we probably really do. Or we push ourselves into relationships that might not be best for us. So, in the spirit of the "end of 2011 countdowns," I give you their top five stupid mistakes that we make based on how our hormones mislead our hearts:
#5. You believe the opposite sex should always understand what you're saying
#4. You choose the partner you're most likely to lose rather than the best one
#3. You try to hide the physical features you consider unattractive
#2. Wearing cologne, perfume, and body sprays inhibit others from finding you attractive
#1. You confuse heightened emotions for physical attraction
I love their "number one." It makes me think of those reality love shows and how people think they're in love in the end but really they're probably just sharing an intense experience that no one else understands and they confuse it for love.
In fact, after I did my 31 Dates in 31 Days and eventually became engaged to Date #31, I'm pretty sure people thought the same of me. They thought, "this chick is just hooking up with this dude because it's a pretty little ending to her story." There was even one time when I was on Oprah Radio and was asked, "What do you say to critics?"
Okay, so that is a CLASSIC ploy that those of us who regularly interview people use. It's basically the person saying, "I think you're full of crap, but that's not nice to say, so I'll pretend other people are thinking it."
Remember when Tom Cruise jumped on the couch proclaiming his love for Katie Holmes? All of us shook our heads and thought, "CuhRAZY." The next morning Matt Lauer asks, "What do you say to your critics who think, 'This guy is NUTS'?"
I loved having someone else pull that ploy on me.
Although now that I type that out, I do realize that I just compared myself to Tom Cruise on the Crazy Train.
And in further end of the year celebration, here's your New Year's Eve love song of the day, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Now I want to go watch "500 Days of Summer." Such a great movie - unless you're dealing with a recent broken heart and sitting in your pink flannel pajamas...
Happy New Year!
For instance, I had a horribly painful breakup in college. We'd had one of those passionate relationships filled with life-altering dramas and figured our love would conquer all. In my 18-year-old mind, I had won the lottery in love. He was a handsome boy who I remember thinking was particularly unlikeable when we first met, but somehow he'd won me over. He sang beautifully. He wooed me. I loved his family. We'd considered ourselves engaged to one another and even opened a bank account to save money for a ring.
During the Summer, we regularly drove the five-hour return trip to see each other. One day I was nearly to his house when I stopped at a payphone (remember those?). He told me not to come anymore.
"Who is she?" I demanded.
So here was one of those moments when you say something and you wonder whose voice was talking or where the words were coming from. Because I'd never suspected before that my boyfriend was a cheater. He was a scoundrel in many, many other ways, but until that moment, I never thought he'd cheat. I figured those words were somehow given to me by providence, so I pursued them.
"WHO IS SHE?" I yelled, not caring if any of the passersby heard me or saw my frantic, tantrum-having state.
He was silent for a moment and I held my breath for his answer.
"Her name is Kristen."
I stood there in paralytic shock, unsure of what had happened. I hung up the phone and drove back home, two hours wailing through blurry tears. I'd eventually learn that my providential insight was right - that dude was apparently a major cheater the whole time we were together.
The next morning I even had my wisdom teeth removed. I remember laying on that doctor's table with dry tears in the corner of my puffy eyes. They put a huge piece of plastic in my mouth, forcing my mouth open before giving me an anesthetic and asked how I was. With a forced, widened jaw I drifted into teeth-removing medically-induced sleep uttering words no one understood, "My fiance just broke up with me."
The next while was lonely and pathetic. Picture me alone in my pink flannel pajamas after getting my wisdom teeth removed, refusing to take the pain pills because I figured I was dying of a broken heart. And then multiply that by a few weeks. Not a pretty sight. When my stitches healed, I got into my car and drove the two hours to his parents' house. It was one of those moments when I had lost a lot of weight from my non-eating and figured I'd get in a cute dress, look hot, and try to win my boyfriend back. The whole drive, I kept rehearsing my address to him. I kept debating whether I was doing the right thing. And I wondered what Kristen looked like.
No one was home.
I sat outside the driveway for a few hours. If he'd arrive, I'd just tell him that I just got there a few minutes ago. "What a coincidence" that we'd be there at the same time. I could tell him I was on my way somewhere south of him and they happened to be on the way. Instead I chose to write a note and paste it on the door:
Just stopped by to say, "Hi."
And then I drove home.
It was basically the worst breakup of my life. Okay, so those are words people throw around, but in reality, that was the trigger that led me to near-suicide in just a few weeks and kind of messed me up for a long time.
I tend to think my painful, passionate breakup isn't so uncommon. Like many relationships, my emotions, my loneliness, or my depression would rule my heart and my actions. And thus, would lead to lots and lots of mistakes.
Recently I ran across this article, called "The Stupid Things You Do When Dating (and How to Fix Them)." The article basically talks about how our hormones and emotions will play tricks on us, making us thinkwe love someone more than we probably really do. Or we push ourselves into relationships that might not be best for us. So, in the spirit of the "end of 2011 countdowns," I give you their top five stupid mistakes that we make based on how our hormones mislead our hearts:
#5. You believe the opposite sex should always understand what you're saying
#4. You choose the partner you're most likely to lose rather than the best one
#3. You try to hide the physical features you consider unattractive
#2. Wearing cologne, perfume, and body sprays inhibit others from finding you attractive
#1. You confuse heightened emotions for physical attraction
I love their "number one." It makes me think of those reality love shows and how people think they're in love in the end but really they're probably just sharing an intense experience that no one else understands and they confuse it for love.
In fact, after I did my 31 Dates in 31 Days and eventually became engaged to Date #31, I'm pretty sure people thought the same of me. They thought, "this chick is just hooking up with this dude because it's a pretty little ending to her story." There was even one time when I was on Oprah Radio and was asked, "What do you say to critics?"
Remember when Tom Cruise jumped on the couch proclaiming his love for Katie Holmes? All of us shook our heads and thought, "CuhRAZY." The next morning Matt Lauer asks, "What do you say to your critics who think, 'This guy is NUTS'?"
I loved having someone else pull that ploy on me.
Although now that I type that out, I do realize that I just compared myself to Tom Cruise on the Crazy Train.
And in further end of the year celebration, here's your New Year's Eve love song of the day, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Now I want to go watch "500 Days of Summer." Such a great movie - unless you're dealing with a recent broken heart and sitting in your pink flannel pajamas...
Happy New Year!
November 9, 2011
How Many Friends Do You REALLY Have?
In the days of having hundreds of "friends" on Facebook, one study sought to discover how many tried-and-true, thick-and-thin friends most people truly have. I'm one of those people who keeps in touch with most of the people I've met. I still keep up with all my friends from elementary school, I somehow remember the life stories of people I've met briefly but managed to have some sort of strong connection with. But I still have just a small list of people who I would call in the midst of dire craziness.
How many people do you have?
Apparently most Americans say they have two true friends, confidantes with whom they've discussed their most important issues with in the last six months. And apparently, this number is down from 25 years ago, when Americans said they had three close friends. Around 4% said they have zero people in their lives they consider truly close friends. And women were more likely to list more confidantes than men.
So how many of your friends do you consider your most trusted confidantes? Click on the poll on this site!
And speaking of friends, here is today's love song, courtesy of my friend, "Akshan," who I grew up singing with and is an AMAZING artist. I'm lucky to have really cool, talented friends.
Credit: Free images from acobox.com
October 19, 2011
Wednesday Words of Wisdon
 |
| Marianne Williamson |
"Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here."
-Marianne Williamson
And here's today's love song for you. Feel free to dance at your desk.
If ever there were ever a video montage of my life, I think I'd want this song as its theme.
Ella Fitzgerald, "Do I Love You"
Ella Fitzgerald, "Do I Love You"
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