Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Shake it lately?

When I worked at the bank, there was a teller who would keep his iPod headphones in from the time he walked into the branch in the morning, right up until we opened. I made a comment to him one time and he responded that he felt life is better with a soundtrack. I remember thinking that was a pretty cool statement but haven't thought about it since... until this past week. One of my recent posts was about the ho-hum and monotony that I have been experiencing lately. It seems like life gets like that when it's filled with repetitive tasks like emptying the dishwasher, loading it, etc. One night last week, Adam was working late and I had to make two lasagnas and prepare things for Gavin's birthday party the next day. I was really frustrated because Olivia was crying and Gavin was being needy. I put some cartoons on for Gavin and set up Olivia in her carseat in the kitchen. I then got my iPod out, hooked it up to the Bose speaker, and hit shuffle. "Empire State of Mind" started playing and I picked Olivia up and started dancing around the kitchen. Gavin ran into the kitchen and joined in, saying, "I like this song!" We turned off the cartoons and proceeded to dance and cook. Gavin stayed in the kitchen all night with me and started playing with his little kitchen. When a good song came on, we would stop cooking and dance. It was... FUN!

When I walked downstairs this morning, I noticed a sink full of dishes and a dishwasher that needed to be emptied. I thought, "Here we go again..." and then I remembered our dance party from last week. I thought about my old friend Ryan's comment about life being better with a soundtrack. I hit "shuffle" and knocked out those morning chores. What a way to start the day! It inspired me to write this post and ask you, shake it lately? If not, I dare you to dance around your kitchen. At the very least, try turning off your t.v. and put on your favorite music instead. It will infinitely improve your day.

5 comments:

Michele said...

Awesome!! We do that quite frequently. It's an adrenaline booster.

Dielle said...

We do that, too. My kids are often laughing at my "shaking it!" Great post, Jenny!p

Missy said...

I so need to use this post for a Delilah email. :)

Emily said...

What a great post! I don't turn on good music often enough, but you're right, it does improve your mood and how fun to dance around the kitchen with your kids! Love you!

Eileen said...

my mom always was singing. sometimes it'd drive me nuts because if we john and i were arguing it'd be "love at home". my grandmother always sang too. i used to whistle a lot when i'd be out in the back yard...my neighbor told me how much she loved that. guess those are my ideas of a soundtrack, but yours is awesome--what fun you, gavin and olivia had!!