Sunsets, naps, yoga and Al Green

I'm way into this picture of the sunset I took on a Fourth of July backpacking trip to Cape Alava and Sand Point on the Olympic Coast. If you need directional help, I was in the remote part of Washington where Twilight is based, just north of Forks. See? Now you know where I was.

Such beauty inspires a lot of joy. Go Lauren!

The coast was the best place ever for coolly perfect naps in the sun.

The long drive to and from Ozette Lake also left a lot of time to listen to music and ruminate about playlists. I no longer suffer from panic attacks about my playlists, but I still obsess about trying to mix it up more in yoga class. When I'm fixated on a song, I'll play it on on repeat for months at a time. I'm afraid I've lulled my early morning class into an indie stupor with my repeats of Beach House, The Cave Singers, Belle & Sebastian and The xx.

I knew I needed change, but hadn't found anything that struck me as particularly novel. But after the backpacking trip, I was fiddling with my playlists and noticed one titled "an R'n'b flow." What's this? The playlist was unfinished, but it included gems like Ginuwine, B2K and Ja Rule. (Those are gems in my book!) Most importantly it featured Al Green. His mellow, soothing classic "Let's Stay Together" is hardly a new idea, but who can resist Al Green? No one! And he's never made an appearance in my class. I quickly elevated Al to a new playlist that may or may not also include Kylie Minogue. Let's groove.

Al Green, "Let's Stay Together."