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Sitting in Starbucks with my coffee in hand and my headphones in listening to some soul music, I think about this weeks word. Romance? Wow, we chose romance as our 2nd word? What am I going to say about romance? An interesting topic….Deep breath.

I sit and search my mind for the romance that fills my world. I look up the definition again and I see “a love affair”….and I lean back in my chair, stare out the window, and think about love. It’s actually pretty simple I think, as I listen to Mat Kearney sing “Ships in the night”…I have a love affair with music. It’s a part of my soul…part of what keeps me sane. What keeps my body moving, my mind dancing and my heart believing.

Since I was a little girl I have adored music. I have loved lyrics. I have been impacted by the way they both have molded me. I can remember so vividly dancing with my mom to the Carpenters in our basement watching the record spin around and around, while we did the same. I do that exact thing with my own daughters daily. Take them by the hands and we spin round and round. My girls ask me to dance everyday and they giggle hysterically as we move our way around the house…it is the best part of my day, I suspect it may be the best part of theirs too.

If you know me, you’ll know that my life’s timeline revolves around music. When I hear music I can tell you exactly where in was in my life when it impacted me. I’m fairly certain that most of my brain is consumed with musical lyrics. Lyrics that have not only taught me but helped me through countless times in my life. Music has become my therapy. A way for me to escape and got lost in a perfect combination of melody and poetry. I look forward to the times I can drive for hours just to get lost in the beautiful words of music. I anticipate my long runs so that my soul and body are in unison with the rhythm of the music and the  repetition of each step, pushing me to work harder. I’m grateful for the new string of lyrics that I am so certain were written just for me. And those moments of seeing music live, feeling the emotion pour from the artist, it’s almost so thick you can drink it in….perfect. These are the moments where I truly know I am alive. And I breath it in deep…

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite artists in concert. Mat Kearney. I’ve been waiting for months…had the tickets hanging on my fridge in anticipation…today they were gone. As I watched him perform, I thought to myself…enjoy this moment…it too will be gone soon. Just as all great things in life…they always goes by too fast.

Last night my heart was full. Thank you Mat for a perfect show.

Two of my favorite Mat Kearney songs…

It’s a very hard question for most people to answer. What is your favorite song? And for me, of course I have a list many miles long. But I do have one favorite. It’s “In your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. To many people it may seem cliche, but for me it’s been my favorite for years. It plays in one of my favorite movies “Say Anything”, in one of my favorite scenes of all times (the famous boom box scene). It has played loud in my room in high school, my college apartment, in every car I’ve ever driven, while I was giving birth to my second daughter, it’s playing in my house tonight. Not sure why it resonates so deeply with me. It just does. Every time I hear it, it brings me to many times in my life and to many emotions.

“and all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside”

Music is my constant…..always there waiting to feed my soul, ready to take my mind to wherever it is I need to go at that very moment. At the simple push of a triangle, I am where I need to be…To a place in the past, to a place of sympathy, a place of power, a place where I can relate, to a place happiness, a place of love. It is passionate, it is hopeful, it makes my heart sing.

Music is my romance, my love affair. What is your “romance”?

(this shoot took a total of 10 minutes, we drove 2 minutes down the street from Vanessa’s house and snapped a few. Just a reminder that you can grab some fun shots in a very minimal amount of time)

Daughters picture source: iPhone

taken by: Tiffany Burke

edited using: Instagram

Mat Kearney pictures source: iPhone

taken by: Tiffany Burke

edited using: Instagram

Portraits source: Nikon D700

24-70mm 2.8, 135mm 2.0

taken by: Vanessa Rae

edited by: Tiffany Burke

edited using:Photoshop

Coming tomorrow: In the know, a photography view.