What I'll be listening to this week.
You can listen to the playlist on Spotify by clicking here.
Music Monday - Half Term Edition
Here's what I'll be listening to this week.
You can listen to the playlist on Spotify by clicking here.
Jesusland - Ben Folds
How Come You Don't Call Me (Unplugged) - Alicia Keys
Run Every Time - Gavin De Graw
Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars
Calamity Jane - Bethany Joy Lenz
Take The Box - Amy Winehouse
Rosanna - Toto
Ta Douleur - Camille
The Heart Asks Pleasure First - Michael Nyman
Music Monday
What I'll be listening to this week.
You can listen to the playlist on Spotify by clicking here.
Destiny - Zero 7
Mr. Hurricane - Beast
Sussudio - The Phil Collins Big Band
Structure In Emotion - Avishai Cohen Trio
I Know Where I've Been - Queen Latifah
All In Your Mind - Mariah Carey
So Says I - The Shins
Les Fleurs - Minnie Riperton
Love Won't Let You Get Away - Seth Macfarlane and Sara Bareilles
Music Monday
What I'll be listening to this week.
You can listen to the playlist on Spotify by clicking here.
Time Is Running Out - Muse
F.M. - Steely Dan
Closed Hand, Full of Friends - Foy Vance
It's Love - Jill Scott
Multiply - Jamie Lidell
Summer, Highland Falls - Billy Joel
Shaker Song - The Manhattan Transfer
I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston
Kissing My Love - Bill Withers
January So Far...
Here are a few bits and pieces from my January so far. You can also follow me on Instagram - I'm @CastlemanSings.
What I've Been Wearing
My man got me this t-shirt because he knows how much I love Margaret Atwood and The Handmaid's Tale. The TV adaptation is so good. The book is even better.
What I've Been Reading
Keeping on the Margaret Atwood theme, I started my 52 in 52 challenge by reading her newest novel Hag-Seed. It's brilliant.
Where I've Been Singing
The Spitfire Sisters performed at the beautiful Hall For Cornwall at the beginning of January - it was our last date of the 2017/2018 tour season. We start again in February, and I can't wait.
Down For The Count had a sold out performance at Pizza Express Jazz Club and it was honestly a dream come true.
Where I've Been Visiting
I went to Spain on New Year's Day to take a break with my boyfriend; it was perfect to reflect on the year we just had and to think about the year ahead.
What I've Been Eating
At the start of this year I decided to do a 30 day vegan challenge. So far so good and pretty sure I'll be carrying on with it after the month is up. Louisa made this vegan noodle dish with Linda McCartney burgers to substitute the salmon the rest of the band were eating.
I've been enjoying how many vegan options there are at various restaurants - this was my dinner at Wagamamas a few days ago.
Hold Me Tight And Don't Let Go
This article originally appeared in Vintage Life Magazine
I'm wearing dungarees. My life is in boxes. I'm eating cereal straight out the packet because I packed all the bowls. I'm mildly stressed.
I'm also massively excited. My room was beyond the point of tidying, and the tidying was never going to happen, so I can just sweep it all up and tidy as I unpack at my next place. While moving isn't renowned as the easy way to get out of cleaning and tidying, it is regarded as a highly appropriate moment to get rid of some things. Throw some stuff away. Create a new start with less clutter. Go for a minimalist approach.
I'm ignoring that. My name is Hannah, and I can't throw anything away.
I like to collect things, and to keep things, and to find things again that remind me of the past. It can be my past or someone else's past, but I like the idea of time travelling via objects that I've kept for reasons I can't always remember. I've kept so many birthday cards, postcards and tickets that I have several shoe boxes full of the things. When I go into charity shops, the first things I search for are the old photo albums or loose photographs and letters. It breaks my heart to see things like that that aren't claimed. I want to look at the faces in the photograph, investigate the story behind them, and learn their history.
That's the reason I find it so hard to part with things; I can pick something up in my room and remember where I was and who I was with when I found it in the first place. I have books on my shelves that people recommended to me but I haven't got around to reading yet, and I have records that are waiting to be played that I purchased because their cover art was so beautiful. I have a problem with clothing as well; my wardrobe rails were buckling under the weight of knitwear, and yet I still think I'll wear every sweater I've ever owned this winter, even though everyone knows (including myself although I'm in denial about the whole situation) that I'll wear the old man charity shop sweater until December, and the 90s LL Bean fisherman's jumper until February, and all the others will wait patiently on their hangers just begging to be worn.
I'll try and be ruthless when I'm moving this time around, because the packing process is hugely delayed by my sentimentality. I think I am addicted to the feeling that I will have things in the future that will be able to transport me straight back to this moment and the moments that came before it, and I find that unbelievably comforting.
Four thousand jumpers, but I've packed the only two bowls I own. I reckon cereal tastes better straight out the packet anyway.