My Friday Five: The Voice, Jingle Bells, and Good Eating

So are you disappointed there was no Nashville this week so you don't have to get to read me go on about it? Me too... So I'll go on about other things instead:

1~ While Nashville was not on this week, The Voice finale was. And while I wasn't a massive fan of anyone this season, I just have to give my two cents on this week. Okay, when they announced weeks ago that the finialists would be performing original songs, I thought that meant they would be writing them themselves, which element has been missing from The Voice. Then it sounded like they were going to co-write, which was less exciting but still a step in the right direction.

Then the songs and music videos are debuted, and we find out all the "original songs" were written by other people. Really? They couldn't write their own?? I find that pretty sad--and they might not even have had a say in that decision, but either way--sad.

With that out of the way, the "original songs": In order from awful to amazing, in my opinion, Chris's was absoutely awful. The song itself was okay until the chorus and then I pretty much couldn't listen to it anymore. And the video was even worse. Awful. Awful. Craig Wayne Boyd's song, while I agree he can sing, was about as cliche as country music comes. And I am usually a country fan. It was pitiful. As was the video. Damian's sounded like it could absolutely be a hit on the radio. And he pretty much always sounds amazing. But the absolute best was Matt's. The song was deep, clever, exciting to listen to, and the video actually went somewhere (though very briefly) and told the story of the song. And I would have bet money he wrote it himself. And clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks so highly of it, as it made it to #1 on iTunes and stayed there for a good couple of days. For that reason, I was really hoping he'd pull out the win, as up until then it definitely looked like Craig Wayne Boyd (notice he's the only one I call by a full name ;) had it in the bag. Sigh. But Matt ended up in 2nd. Ah well. He definitely had the winning song though.

2~ Speaking of music, I saw this on Facebook the other day and just have to share it. While "Jingle Bells" is definitely on the list of Christmas songs I am sick of (and I do find such self-playing pianos rather creepy), I love this version! Courtesy of 1857.

3~ And speaking of Facebook, I also found this post there. A very encouraging look at 2014 if it was a hard year for you, as it was for me.

4~ So, I've shared before how healthy does not equal deprived, and I've also mentioned Brittany Angell's site as a great guide for such a notion. She has incredible recipes coming out her ears. Well, she's finally released a book, Every Last Crumb: Paleo Bread and Beyond, which I preordered forever ago, and it arrived recently. And let me tell you, it's definitely beyond.

From basic sandwich breads to bavarian pretzel sandwiches to extra moist triple-chocolate cake to open-faced beef stroganoff mushroom burgers. Oh, and condiments and "cream cheese" frosting too. This isn't a "health food" book--this is a freaking cookbook that happens to be healthy! It is huge and unbelievable! (Not to mention absolutely gorgeous, but that's beside the point.) And while I can't eat everything in it, I can still eat a big percentage of the recipes, and those alone are worth it. Highly recommend, whether you care about healthy eating or not. Hopefully the new year brings a lot of new foods around here!

5~ And since Christmas is (somehow) next week, I wanted to direct you to this post from a few weeks ago, in case you missed it. Find out why the holidays are so hard when you have a chronic illness and what you can do to help:

P.S. There's still time to order from Katya Valera in time for Christmas! Just message me on Etsy to request a shipping upgrade! (And see all my newest pieces in one place here!)

Happy weekend!