5 Albums I Will Never Throw Away

Messy Messy Fail - Who knew that caramels could burn  so quickly?  I was melting four cubes of caramel in a coffee cup to drizzle over my beautiful turtle pie when all of a sudden smoke is BILLOWING out of the microwave oven.  Whoops!  Note to self - next time try only 15 seconds at a time.

Tidy Victory - With a little quick thinking and a jar of leftover caramel sauce in the fridge, the pie turned out beautifully.  It did not quite match the pictures in the post where I found the recipe - I thought it would turn out a little LIGHTER and FLUFFIER - but it was still good.  Kudos to the pecan crust, yum!

As I am sure many of you out there can relate, we are always trying to get rid of stuff.  Especially all of the stuff that has accumulated in our basement.  Especially the giant box of CD's (albums!) that we still have collected since those shiny disks first came out in the late 80's.  I still remember my first CD - I believe my dad (of course he was into all of the latest technology) brought me home the first NKOTB album from BJ's Wholesale Club.  I was astonished at this thing, no more listening to the radio with my tape ready to record when my favorite songs came on!

I've been slowly going through my giant box of CD's (albums!) and trying to downsize by copying disks with single songs that I really like to my hard drive so I can toss the disk.  However, there are some CD's (albums!) that I just absolutely CANNOT throw away.  I've made reference to some of these in Facebook posts, but now I'd like to share my official list.  The following is a list of 5 CD's (albums!) that I will NEVER throw away:

<One> Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album) - the single "Say It Ain't So" was my mid to late high school years anthem.  Pure rock and roll that still tugs at my heart whenever I hear it.

<Two> Radiohead - The Bends - I had one of those 12-disk CD players in my bedroom and this album never left the mix.  I really can't explain why I love this album so much, all I know is I can listen to the whole thing without skipping a track.  Perhaps it had something to do with the high school looking-for-my-corner-of-the-sky years, but this album just really spoke to me and still does to this day.

<Three> Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - received this for Christmas one year and it stayed it my Discman (whoa remember that contraption?) for several months.  I was so struck by the soul and emotion that dripped from her voice.  I just recently listened to the single "Zion" from the album about when she had her son and I cried.  What a beautiful song.

<Four> Madonna - Ray of Light - my dance album!  When I needed to lighten the mood, Madonna made it happen for me with this record.

<Five> Jay-Z - Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life - I did not typically listen to rap music, however, this was not typical rap music.  I loved the loops and samples he used (I thought using the music from Annie was pure genius) and his lyrics were so honest.  I had a friend from the youth symphony I was a member of in high school, two peas in a pod we were, and we would drive around BLASTING this album.  Boy did we think we were cool.

These are certainly not THE ONLY albums that will remain in my house - Ten by Pearl Jam, Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins, Aenima by Tool, Dookie by Greenday and Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette will never see the inside of a garbage bag as long as I'm living.  These albums are so solidly connected to moments and times in my life - that's the power of music.

Nothing else can bring back memories and emotions the way music can.  I often listen to our local classical radio station and the wave of happiness that comes over me when I hear a piece I had played previously in youth symphony or in college at music school is so unbelievably strong.  There is just nothing like the joy and emotion that music can bring, no matter the genre or style.

What are your CD's you cannot let go of?

Katie