Tag Archives: record player

Jan7

Sweet Surprises: New Record Edition

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Sweet Surprises: New Record Edition

Hello! My Johnny is not only an incredible musician but an avid lover of all music. He has an insane record collection, boasting over five hundred vinyls and it is his payday treat to hit up a few of his favorite haunts and pick up a new record or two. Despite his insistence on me purchasing records for myself, it is honestly something that doesn’t interest me. At the end of the day, you can wear a new pair of shoes but you can’t wear a new record lol. Because of this, Johnny makes it a point to surprise me with a new record every so often and he did so this weekend. While I was out with my nieces, Johnny placed one of my all time favorites under my pillow for me to return home to. I couldn’t contain myself when I saw that it was Sing the Sorrow by AFI:

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Johnny and I are elder emos through and through and were blessed to have been around for the surge of emo and alt bands in the early 2000s. While Johnny was a My Chemical Romance kind of guy, I was a total AFI gal. AFI became one of my favorite bands after one listen and Sing the Sorrow was actually the first album I bought with my own money. I am SO lucky to have seen them perform live twice with my sister and have the fondest memories of both shows as well as the top of our lungs sing alongs in her first car. AFI is a band that has been with me for such a long time, through the good and the bad, and will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Whenever I am out shopping, I love to look for “little treats” for Johnny and tend to go the clothing route. Buying records for me is truly his equivalent of this and it really is sweet. Of course, it’s nice to be thought of but his sheer excitement for it is the best. Little by little, he has made an effort to expand my record collection too and it is working! Just like Johnny, I tore my AFI record open and wanted to listen to it immediately. So we did. While we played video games and chatted away, one of my desert island records played too and It. Was. Glorious!

I felt spoiled rotten by my surprise from Johnny and it made our standing weekend date of records and games even better! He is just the best. ❤

What do you like to collect? Do you have any vinyl records? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul15

Johnny’s Record Shelf

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Johnny’s Record Shelf

Hello!! One of the gifts that I gave to Johnny for his birthday this past June was a new record player. Oddly enough, we had three in the apartment that were his old relics and none of them worked lol. It has been so nice to have a functional record player again and we have loved playing music and board games and hanging out in our game room. The only thing that wasn’t ideal was housing the records. Johnny’s collection is extensive and by that I mean, he has over three hundred vinyls! Thankfully, Johnny came up with an ingenious solution to this issue and he built it all by himself – and some help from his dad. 🙂 Check it out:

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Ever since our new record player arrived in the mail, Johnny got to work by organizing his collection and giving the game room a deep clean. We soon found that no amount of rearranging or condensing was going to give the records a true home, though. So Johnny turned his attention to the closet and decided that it would work perfectly. He definitely had big things in mind because rather than going to the store to buy some shelves, he thought he would make them instead. He took measurements, sketched a plan, bought all of the lumber and supplies, and dedicated a day during our staycation to build them with his dad. Johnny is a handy guy, but this was on a whole other level and I was very impressed!

Johnny’s dad has an amazing workshop and they spent an afternoon cutting, drilling, and doing what needed to be done so Johnny could take the parts home and assemble them with screws. When I returned home from my outing later that day, I found Johnny in the game room putting the final touches on his handiwork. I honestly couldn’t believe my own eyes when I saw it! The shelves were sturdy, fit just right in our closet, and turned the endless crates of records into an actual display. I know I was proud of the accomplishment, but it was even better to see Johnny so proud of it too. He put a lot of time and effort into this project and worked really hard to make it happen. Our game room is the best ever because of it. ❤

The record shelves Johnny built were a win in so many ways. He got to spend time with his dad, our game room looks awesome, and he found a new hobby too. Johnny enjoyed the build so much that he plans on trying his hand at cornhole boards next. I can’t wait!

Have you done any projects around the house recently? How did they turn out? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun12

30th Birthday Fun

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30th Birthday Fun

Howdy!! This past Friday was my dirty thirtieth birthday and it was absolutely fantastic. Am I particularly thrilled to enter into a new decade? Not especially lol. But, I had such a lovely weekend celebrating and that really helped make up for it. For my big day, I didn’t want anything major and requested a dinner at Olive Garden for a date night with Johnny. I was craving it something fierce and wanted to get my Middle Class Fancy on! I like to think we cleaned up pretty well and if you peep my hairy armpits – mind ya business haha:

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Before it was time for my birthday dinner, I had to work up an appetite! I worked in the morning getting my transport client to his job and doing the social media thing. Then, I spent the afternoon hanging out with my brother. We went on a fantastic hike and saw so much wild life – a snake, turtles, and two tiny baby bunnies. They were so precious and it took all of my willpower to not snatch them up and take them home. Of course, I would never but Johnny probably would have had a harder time saying no on my b-day lol. Work smarter, not harder amiright?!

Once Johnny and I were both home, we took some OOTD pics (See those later this week!) and made our way to the OG. We were famished and it was a good thing we left early. About a half hour after we were seated, the place was packed. We had a delicious meal of salad, bread sticks, cocktails, and fettuccine alfredo (Plain for me, with chicken for Johnny!). Dinner was simply divine and we had such a great time gorging ourselves lol. There was no room left for my free birthday dessert of strawberry cheesecake so we took it to go. It was perfect to have with our leftovers the following day and we definitely plan on going to the Olive Garden more often. 😀

After we returned home from dinner in our respective food comas, we decided to break out Johnny’s new record player (A prezzie from me) and play some games. I got to pick the very first record we listened to on it and I chose none other than the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. This was my first time hearing it because we didn’t have a functional record player until now. It was freaking dynamite and an ideal soundtrack to completely annihilate Johnny in Monopoly. To the birthday girl gets the spoils!

The rest of my birthday weekend was nice and chill. I was able to video chat with my best girl, Kate, of Live In The Nautical on Saturday and watch countless episodes of Degrassi. I’ll be looking forward to the last of my birthday hangouts with my sister and other bestie, Lea, later this week! ❤

What is your favorite Middle Class Fancy restaurant? How do you prefer to listen to music? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah