Posts Tagged ‘music’

Butter, Beer, and Sex

May 13th, 2010

My husband wrote the title to this blog… well, his original suggestion was actually Butter, Beer and Cock I hope I didn’t just offend or alienate anyone by saying cock, but I thought his suggestion was funny so I had to share.

Today we made our first batch of bread from my sourdough starter. When I tried the first piece I couldn’t help but think, this is good, but it would be so much better with butter. So, out came the butter. After smearing the bread with a generous pat of butter it went from good, to REALLY good. I was happy, very happy. “Butter is amazing” I thought to myself. Then I remembered how I didn’t like butter when Bryan and I first started dating. I never put it on toast or bread and rarely used it in cooking – until I met my husband. Bryan opened my eyes to the wonders of butter. And I’m so glad that he did.

Then I started to think about all the other things that my husband has taught me in past six and a half years of being together. So, here’s a little list of just a few of the things that I’ve learned from my husband. My life is so much better because of him!

  • Butter is Good! (As stated above)
  • Beer is Good! When I met Bryan I didn’t like beer. Bryan decided that he would get me to at least like Guinness if nothing else, so whenever he’d have a Guinness I’d have some for his sake. After a while I started to enjoy those sips and before I knew it I was sharing a beer with him, and not long after we moved to Prague (the beer capitol of the world) I was able to actually enjoy a whole beer on my own. When I got pregnant with Thaddeus I actually missed beer (well, not just any beer – I missed good Czech beer!)
  • Sex is Good! Hehe. I won’t go into details, but my husband was my first kiss, so I’ve learned all about this aspect of life from him.
  • Music is Good! Ok, I always liked music (I was a choreographer and dancer for a while even), but Bryan opened my eyes and taught me how much great music is really out there. He is always introducing me to new bands and artists and filling our home with music.
  • Soy is Bad! I talked about how Bryan taught me this in my post about our Food Philosophy.

Ok, so those are all just silly little things that I can say my husband has influenced in my life. But, the truth is that he has also taught me a lot of really important life lessons. Together we’ve gradually learned how to work through conflict, how to communicate more clearly, and slowly how to set aside our own desires on behalf of the other. Bryan has taught me through his example what it looks like to serve others as he has time and time again selflessly served me. Currently, through his gentle encouragement and steady support, he’s been slowly teaching me to believe in myself, my abilities, and my dreams.

I learn more and more about my husband every day, he is an amazing man with so many gifts and abilities and so much knowledge and insight. But, just as I learn more ABOUT him each day I also get to learn FROM him each day as we experience this life together. That is one of the truly beautiful things about marriage. As we go through life together his likes and dislikes slowly start to become my likes and dislikes, his knowledge and insight slowly starts to become my knowledge and insight. I get to learn from him and grow because of him. Ever so slowly we become one and it’s a beautiful, breath-taking transformation.

What are some things that you’ve learned from your spouse? Or what are some things that you like or dislike now because of your spouse’s influence?

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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Wednesday Reviews: Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs

July 23rd, 2008

Ok, so I’ve talked about my love of Death Cab before and I wrote here about an experience I had with the single from Narrow Stairs. But, I wanted to take today to recommend the whole album more thoroughly to you.

To be honest the first time Bryan and I heard Narrow Stairs we weren’t really sure about it. We have very high expectations from Death Cab and so we weren’t sure that it lived up to them. But, the more we have listened to this album the more we have come to LOVE it. I am tempted to say that it is my new favorite Death Cab album… but, yeah, I can’t really say that… I love the other one’s way too much to say that.

So, what is it about Narrow Stairs that I love so much? Well, if you haven’t picked this up already, I love words. And when I listen to music I really listen to the lyrics. Lyrics are important to me and it’s Ben Gibbard’s lyrical genius that first caused me to fall in love with Death Cab for Cutie. His songs are truly poetry to music. But, then they take it a step farther and have this wonderful way of making the lyrics come alive and produce feelings in the listener by creatively combining them with music. They have this ability to paint a picture with their words and then make you feel that picture through their music. And this album is no different – it takes the lyric genius and mixes it with musical skill and creativity and the result is AMAZING!

I highly recommend that you check out Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie! Here are the lyrics from one of my favorite songs on the album (although really I like it all so much it’s hard to really commit to a favorite):

Cath…
She stands with a well intentioned man.
But she can’t relax with his hands on the small of her back.
As the flashbulbs burst she holds a smile.
Like someone would hold a crying child.

Soon everybody will ask what became of you.
Your heart was dying fast and you didn’t know what to do.

Cath…
It seems that you live in someone else’s dream.
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
With the things that could have been are repressed.
But you said your vows and you closed the door
On so many men who would have loved you more.

Soon everybody will ask what became of you.
Your heart was dying fast and you didn’t know what to do.
The whispers that it won’t last roll up and down the pews.
And if our hearts were dying that fast, they would have done the same as you.
I’d have done the same as you

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany Stedman

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