Soundtrack of My Life

“Music is what feelings sound like.”

“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.”

-Angela Monet

“Music speaks what words cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.”

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent.”

-Victor Hugo

“When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.”

-Edgar Watson Howe

“Music is love in search of a word.”

-Sidonie Gabrielle

“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes  you feel a thought.”

-E. Y. Harburg

“Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.”

-Virgil Thomson

“Music is the art of thinking with sounds.”

-Jules Combarieu

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and everything.”

-Plato

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

-Confucius

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.”

-Oscar Wilde

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

-Berthold Auerbach

“When words fail, music speaks.”

-Hans Christian Andersen

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

-Kahlil Gibran

“Ah music…a magic far beyond anything here.”

-J.K. Rowling

“Magical music never leaves the memory.”

-Sir Thomas Beecham

“Music is the medicine of the mind.”

-John Logan

“Music can name the unknowable and communicate the unknown.”
-Leonard Bernstein

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

-William Shakespeare

“Dear music, thank you for making me feel happy when no one else could, sincerely loneliness.”

“Great music lives in us. The instant a song plays that you heard many years ago, flashback starts, and for that moment you are there again.”
-Shelly Khalish

“We are children of the noisy age, with access to so much music from across time and space. We soak up the sounds…what comes out can be unpredictable, but it will be uniquely ours.”

-Kalmia Traver

“Music is life, that’s why our hearts have beats.”

     Music makes the world go round… or something close to that. Music makes life bearable and sweeter. I wish I had a soundtrack to my life playing always. Music has gotten me through the hardest times in life: breakups, trials, stress, sadness, frustration, and brought light to dark times. Music makes the good times better. We all may have different tastes in music but it all comes down to one thing we all have in common: music has touched our lives in one way or another. It’s a universal love. It brings us together. If I could have any talent I would choose to be a wonderful singer. I wish I could sing and be in musicals and not be confined to singing in the shower or with my friends in the car in the summertime with the windows rolled down.

     Music makes you dance. “Dancing makes you brave,” in the words of Cristina Yang from Grey’s Anatomy. I believe time and music helps healing and getting over tough times. Concerts make you feel alive, watching musicians and your favorite bands playing your favorite songs and dancing in a crowd of other fans is one of the experiences. Music gives me inspiration and improves my creativity. Music evokes feelings hidden deep inside… ones we thought we forgot and ones we might not know we had. It’s a form of time travel. I consider music to be a blessing. I love music! When everything around you can be falling apart, music is a constant that can hold you together.

     I could go on and on and on about music. I decided to write about it in this post because I’m always listening to it and it just hit me that since it’s such a vital need in my life I wanted to express that. I am going to post a list of some of my favorite songs ever and currently. Many of them are probably familiar and overplayed and cliché. I don’t listen to music because it’s “popular” or “not popular” or “unique”. I listen to watch sounds good and what reaches out and pulls me in wanting to put it on repeat. I recommend and love the songs I will share below. I hope you will find them and listen to them. I could always use new music so I’d love to hear your suggestions in my comments about music you’d recommend!

Charley’s List of Favorite Songs (Some of Them)

*”Save Your Heart” –Mayday Parade

*”Give” –Relient K

*”Crossfire” –Brandon Flowers

*”Chariot” –Gavin Degraw

*”Firework” –Boyce Avenue

*”Every Breath” –Boyce Avenue

*”Running” –David Archuleta

*”My Kind of Perfect” –David Archuleta

*”Moon” – The Swell Season

*”Somewhere a Clock is Ticking” –Snow Patrol

*Set The Fire to the Third Bar” –Snow Patrol

*”Chasing Cars” –Snow Patrol

*”Today Has Been Okay” –Emiliana Torrini

*”Ride” –Cary Brothers

*”The Fear You Won’t Fall” –Joshua Radin

*”Ordinary Girl” –Waz

*”Universe and U” –KT Tunstall

*”Speaking a Dead Language” –Joy Williams

*”Off I Go” –Greg Laswell

*”A Dustland Fairytale” –The Killers

*”Arms” –Christina Perri

*”Where The Road Meets The Sun” –Katie Herzig & Matthew Perryman Jones

*”Careful” –Paramore

*”Broken” –Paramore

*”Breathe” –Anna Nalick

*”In the Rough” –Anna Nalick

*”Keep Breathing” –Ingrid Michaelson

*”Rose” –James Horner

*”The Portrait” –James Horner

*”In My Veins” –Andrew Belle

*”Meteor Shower” –Owl City

*”If I Die Young” –The Band Perry

*”Sweet Disposition” –The Temper Trap

*”Fix You Up” –Tegan & Sara

*”Sparks Fly” –Taylor Swift

*”Mannequin” –Katy Perry

*”E.T.” –Katy Perry

*”Don’t Make Me Wait” –This World Fair

*”only You” –Josh Kelley

*”Amazing” –Josh Kelley

*”Love Song For No One” –John Mayer

*”Check Yes Juliet” –We The Kings

*”Goodnight Moon” –Go Radio

*”When I Look At You” –Miley Cyrus

*”Don’t Forget” –Demi Lovato

*”Catch Me” –Demi Lovato

*”Alive with the Glory of Love” –Say Anything

*”Nowhere Warm” –Kate Havnevik

*”Grace” –Kate Havnevik

*”The Story” –Brandi Carlile

*”Always You” –Amber Pacific

*”Jumper” –Third Eye Blind

*”Fighting” –Yellowcard

*”Middle of Nowhere” –Hot Hot Heat

*”Son is Gonna Rise” –Citizen Cope

*”linger” –The Cranberries

*”Fallen” –Sarah McLachlan

*”Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough” –New Radicals

*”When The Stars Go Blue” –Ryan Adams

*”Goodnight Rose”—Ryan Adams

*”Best Days” –Graham Colton

*”Life is Beautiful” –Vega 4

*”Icarus” –White Hinterland

*”Where I Stood” –Missy Higgins

*”Your Guardian Angel” –The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

*”Waiting” –The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

*”Cat and Mouse” –The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

*”Edge of the Ocean” –Ivy

*”Street Lights” –Kanye West

*”Fools Like Me” –Lisa Loeb

*”Unchained Melody” –Maurice Jarre

*”Lonely People” –Augustana

*”Anything But Ordinary” –Avril Lavigne

*”Nobody’s Fool” –Avril Lavigne

*”Bella’s Lullaby” –Carter Burwell

*”Age Six Racer” –Dashboard Confessional

*”Crazy for this Girl” –Evan & Jared

*”Sending Postcards from A Plane Crash (Wish yOU were Here) –Fall Out Boy

*”She Doesn’t Get It” –The Format

*”She Is” –The Fray

*”All At Once” –The Fray

*”Vienna” –The Fray

*”Let Go” –Frou Frou

*”Little House” –Amanda Seyfried

*”Falling or Flying” –Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

*”Runnin’” –Jesse McCartney (He was the Justin Bieber of my youth & I still love him haha… I met him with my best friend, I’ll never get over that)

*”She’s No You” –Jesse McCartney

*”Why Is Love So Hard To Find?” –Jesse McCartney

*”Just So You Know” –Jesse McCartney

*”Right Back In The Water” –Jesse McCartney

*”Worth The Wait” –Jordin Sparks

*”Don’t Mistake Me” –Keisha White

*”Oh Naïve” –The Kooks

*”Let It Rain” –Kris Allen

*”Send Me All Your Angels” –Kris Allen

*”Breathe In Breathe Out” –Mat Kearney

*”Reasons to Love You” –Meiko

*”Portion for Foxes” –Rilo Kiley

*”Given The Chance” –The Starting Line

*”Almost There Going Nowhere” –The Starting Line

*”The Best of Me” –The Starting Line

*”Cheek to Cheek” –The Starting Line

*”Hello Houston” –The Starting Line

*”Left Coast Envy” –The Starting Line

*”Into The Fire” –Thirteen Senses

*”You’ll Ask For Me” –Tyler Hilton

*”The World Spins Madly” –The Weepies

I Will Survive

     Today, actually this entire week to be exact, has been asdkhl;e as in totally random, making no sense, and I'm unable to put in words the terrible, painful, nearly unbearable, crushing feelings the events have caused me to feel... but I keep holding on and breathing because I believe that it will all be okay in the end and something amazing is coming my way. I just have to be patient. And I'm going on a family cruise to the Bahamas next week with my family which is something to look forward to :) However, I still feel like my heart is in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean without oxygen and ready to burst because of the intense pressure pushing all around it. 
     This quote describes how I respond to the trials I've dealt with in the past and what I am doing through right now:
     "It was sort of the pattern to my life--It'd never been strong enough to deal with the things outside my control, to attack the enemies or outrun them. To avoid the pain. Always human and weak, the only thing I'd ever been able to do was keep going. Endure. Survive."
     Sometimes it's all you can do. It's doing what it takes to get through each day. You have to set goals and have hopes and dreams and even when they seem impossible, you have to keep pushing and holding on and never give up. Being defeated is only temporary. Giving up is what makes it permanent. I hope each and every one of you knows how important you are. I pray for you all. Everyone has problems, trials, and challenges. Some are better at hiding them than others. Some don't like to discuss them. Just remember you are never ever alone even when it feels like it. Stay strong and fight for the life and happiness you deserve.
With love,
Charley Brooke

Unique (But Fun!) Date Ideas

Know That We All Fall Down

“One emotion can express a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words are unable to express one emotion.”

“If you want me in your life put me there. I shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.”

“Somewhere, someone is looking for someone exactly like you.”

“Being defeated is a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.”

“Don’t categorize yourself. Create a category.”

“You can’t be too careful anymore. When all that is waiting for you won’t come any closer. You’ve got to reach a little more.”

-Paramore

“Love without fear, trust without question, need without demand, want without restriction, and desire without inhibition.”

“Shifting your weight to throw off the pain. Well you can ignore it, but only for so long.”

-Paramore

“The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie.”

“Never in the world does hatred cease by hatred; hatred ceases by love.”
-Buddha

“Half of our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through our life trying to save.”

-Will Smith

“If you must say yes, say it with an open heart. If you must say no, say it without fear.”

-Paulo Coelho

“Anyone can catch your eyes; but it takes someone special to catch your heart.”

“Be kind to unkind people because they need it the most.”

“Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything inbetween.”

-Maya Angelou

“Behind the mask of ice that people wear, there beats a heart of fire.”

-Paulo Coelho

“Everyone thinks that bad things happen to ‘someone else’. Never forget we’re all ‘someone else’ to someone else.”

“Never burn a bridge you have to walk across.”

“The best kind of love is the one that makes you a better person without changing you into someone other than yourself.”

“Without bad days, you’d never know what a good one was.”

“The past may seem regrettable, the present unbearable, and the future bleak, but never lose hope. We have friends, family, and a loving Father to help us through this life’s journey. We are NEVER alone. May the past fill our hearts with loving memories, the present unimaginably, joyful, and the future awaiting to be conquered.”

-Ryan Bringhurst

“Do I turn left where nothing is right? Or do I turn right where nothing is left?”

“If your presence doesn’t make any difference, your absence won’t either.”

“Sometimes what holds you together and tears you apart are the same thing.”

“Live life so completely that when death comes to you like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal.”

“Sometimes there are no timeouts, no second chances, it’s now or never.”

“Most people don’t know who they are, that’s why they lie. They’re afraid someone will figure it out before they do.”

“Don’t ask a question if you can’t handle the answer.”

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls, to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

“You don’t know anything about me so before you start talking, listen.”

“I’m born to ‘express’ not to ‘impress’.”

“Our lives are defined by moments, especially the ones we never see coming.”

“Guys, if you really like a girl, you should tell her. If you really cared about her and thought she was worth it, you would tell her. Because how do you know she’s not lying in bed every night, wondering why she isn’t good enough?”

“Life has no remote, get up and change it yourself.”

“Dear life, when I said ‘can my day get any worse’ it was a rhetorical question not a challenge.”

“I don’t think you’re beautiful, I think you’re beyond it.”

-Lil Wayne

“I wish you were here… not sure who you are yet but… I want you here, with me.”

“Wanted by MANY… taken by NONE… looking at SOME… waiting for ONE.”

“If you can’t get someone out of your head, then maybe they’re supposed to be there.”

“It made me realize that even when everyone is doing the same thing, we all do it differently. Some faster, some slower. Some with ease, some with greater difficulty. But the thing is, you can’t compare yourself to how anyone else is doing. What matters is your race, not how everyone else is running it.”

-Sarah Dessen

“People say bad memories cause the most pain, but it’s the good ones that actually drive you insane.”

“We have all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the power we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”

-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

“Nobody wants to admit this, but bad things will keep on happening. Maybe that’s because it’s all a chain, and a long time ago someone did the first bad thing, and that led someone to do another bad thing, and so on. You know, like that game where you whisper a sentence into someone’s ear, and that person whispers it to someone else, and it all comes out wrong in the end. But then again, maybe bad things happen because it’s the only way we can keep remembering what good is supposed to look like.”

-Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes

“You change for two reasons. Either, you learn enough that you want to or you’ve been hurt enough to have to.”

“Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it’s enough.”

-Robert Heller

“The best thing about dreams is that one fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don’t know the difference between reality and fantasy, when just for that one moment, you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.”

“It’s the magic of risking everything, for a dream that nobody sees but you.”

-Million Dollar Baby

“Sometimes pain becomes such a huge part of your life that you expect it to always be there. Because you can’t remember a time in your life when it wasn’t but then one day you feel something else. Something that feels wrong, only because it’s so unfamiliar. Then in that moment you realize you’re happy.”

-One Tree Hill

“It’s hard to think about growing up when you’re right in the middle of doing it. It’s hard to know what you want. Sometimes there are so many voices in your head it’s difficult to know which one is yours.”

-Kevin Brooks

“If ever your world stars crashing down. Whenever your world stars crashing down. That’s where you’ll find me.”

“Lost till you’re found. Swim till you drown. Know that we all fall down. Love till you hate. Strong till you break. Know that we all fall down.”