Today I am here to share with you one of the apps I adore…SoundHound! SoundHound is in my music area and it’s a favorite for the simple reason it is a song namer (my personal term). Meaning I can find out the name of the song that is on the radio or even in my head.  As you scratch your head trying to figure out how in the world it can figure out what I am thinking let me be clear….it can’t.  However it can take the song in your head and tell you what it is simply by listening to you sing it or hum it after you press the big orange SoundHound button.  How cool is that!  Yours truly here can not carry a tune to save her life but this app can even tell what I am humming (if I know the tune but can’t think of the words) or singing (glad it doesn’t judge me like Simon Cowell).

Not only can it tell you all that by listening but it also has another button called Hound which is a spoken voice search.  You simply say the name of the artist or band and you will have info galore pulled up.  Everything from the artists albums to their bio, tour dates and so much more.  So no worries if you don’t know the song, simply say the name of the artist using the Hound button and let it work it’s magic.  It also had an iPod symbold so you can pull up what you are listening to currently from your playlist.  Obviously you will know the song name from your own playlist but the upcoming functions come in handy for it (as well as all the other ways to get songs/artists) listed above.

Now this is where I really get excited.  When you get a song pulled up through one of the above mentioned ways, you can share what you are listening to on your social networks, through messaging or email.  It’s a fun way to let others know what music is getting you through the day.  For instance, as of the writing of this post I am listening to “Into The Groove” so I had SoundHound listen and it auto shared to my networks.  It also (for all the songs so far for me) shows you the lyrics in real time.   As the song goes on the lyrics move up so you can sing along and see if you have been singing the lyrics right all this time.  If you are like me you might realize you have been singing “Dance Marigold Dance” for year when it is really “Raspberry Beret”.  I’m telling you SoundHound is going to help us all quit looking like dummies and actually sing the correct lyrics.

Check out this how to video:

Not only does it give you all the options I have listed to make your music listening experience just a little better it also has all these options as well:

• Buy on iTunes
• Bookmark
• Play on Spotify (requires premium spotify)
• Launch a Pandora station
• See videos (of the artist or song depending on which you are highlighting)
• Give you reccommended songs
• Take you to the artist page
• If you have the song you tagged in your iTunes you can play it again (which comes in handy if you are tagging from the radio)
• Hottest Songs area
• Your search history

SoundHound has definitely made my music listening experience much more interactive and schooled me in some lyrics.  I have the SoundHound ? version which is the paid version but you can also get the regular SoundHound which has several of the options listed here, but will have ads. Don’t forget to check out @SoundHound on twitter and like SoundHound on facebook. You know I already do! Do you have SoundHound?

*I was not asked to write this post, I simply shared this app because of my love for it.  I am telling you….IT’S AWESOME!

9 Years on Wednesday 2/15/2012.  I am a VERY LUCKY lady.  That is all!  Link up below if you like!

Me and My Honey, I love him more than I could ever express! He completes me!

Link up your WW posts below so I can head over and check them out!

These are the sweetest moments! Don’t forget to link up your Wordless Wednesday in the linky Below.

To The Love of My Life:

Still unsure of how I snagged you 7 years and 5 months ago but I thank God everyday for letting me do whatever it was that I did to allow me to snag you.  A mere 5 months after our “first date & kiss” we were married.  I came into your life as a broken hearted single mother.  You would have had every right to think to yourself ” I can’t get into this, this lady has too much baggage”.  Not talking about the having a child but rather the past, that you had to deal with for so long even into the first few years of our marriage.

Instead of me dealing with the heartbreak and people from my past before we married, we married and I dealt with them all during our marriage which was not fair to you.  I put you through more in our first 2 years of marriage than a lot of married couples ever have to go through.  Things were said, actions were done that assure me in every way I don’t deserve you but for some reason despite everything you stayed.

Then one day my eyes were opened and instead of pushing you away as I had been, I realized “He really does love me”.  He isn’t like the others, the ones who were there just when it was convenient but he is here because he loves me. Not only me but my son, you were a father to him from the moment you first met him and you didn’t have to be.

Every moment that passes I love you more and more.  As time passed not only did we add to our family by bringing another son and a daughter into our lives, you “officially” became my sons father adopting him.  Not that I ever needed the “official” part, you were always the father he was meant to have.  I have watched you grow as a man, husband and father.  Every day I look at you and you take my breath away (even if I don’t always act like it or say it).

You have truly taught me what love is.  I have told others I loved them before and heard the words back but looking back there was no love, feelings yes but I never knew love until you came into my life.  With others there were conditions, with you it’s been unconditional.  If you didn’t love me I know you would not have stayed through some of the things I put you through.  For that I thank you, I thank you for loving me despite the wrongs I have done, the words I may have spoken to you that hurt you.  I thank you for loving me for me and for making me a better person.

I know I am not always the easiest to put up with and sometimes I let my prima donna come out.  I know I am not perfect and yet you love me still.  I can’t begin to even put into words just how special you make me feel.  Whether it is seeing the love in your eyes for me or just the way you hold me when I am upset.  How you let me escape when you can see I am “wiggin out” to save at least a part of my sanity.  I love you not only for who you are but for who you help me to be.

7 years and we have made it through things that some couples never have to go through, if we made it through those things the rest of our lives will be a breeze.  If I could do it all over again I would choose you again and again and again.  I am comfortable with you, I am comfortable being myself with you.  I love that nothing is too silly or embarrassing to talk about.   I love that you have an awesome family, I don’t think I could have gotten any luckier in the in law department.

We have shared so many memories, sadness, happiness, laughter, hard times and I know there are much more of each of those to come.  But I also know that I want you there by my side through each and every one of the memories for the rest of my life.  Now a little diddy from the night we married, our first dance song that really does say it all:

From the first moment on, I love you babe!  Happy Anniversary!

Yours Eternally,

Toni

Valentines Day is fast approaching so I wanted to share the loves of my daily life. I am one lucky gal. Go ahead and link up your WW below and I will head over and check it out.

I have to say it, I definitely hit the jackpot ladies.  I am just so sorry I took him off the market from you all *snicker*.  Love you babe!

Go ahead, say it…AWWWWW!

Life would have been much easier if he had been in Florida with me and I dated him in high school and after but you live and learn right.  He is the biggest blessing along with my kids and I hope every single day he knows that. Our marriage hasn’t been without some VERY hard times and situations but we weathered it all and because of that we are stronger and I am more in love with him every passing day. When I am down he can make me laugh and when I need to be comforted he holds me.

He and I have 3 beautiful children together and he is a wonderful father and that is one of the things I love most about him. He does everything he can to provide for our family and puts up with me. Trust me that is a big feat in and of itself LOL. Anyways I wanted to make a picture video of him and just share with my readers how much I love this man.

Handsome, Kind, Caring, Loving, Forgiving, Wonderful father, Best Friend, are just a few of the things I could say to describe my wonderful husband. If I listed every single thing I love about him I would go on forever. I am truly blessed to call him mine.  I can’t wait for the memories we still have yet to experience.   I love you babe!

I am a mom, wife and daughter
I am ashamed and I am proud
I am a friend and companion
I am someone who listens and someone who talks
I am someone who cries and someone who laughs
I want to be loved and I want to give love
I want to have friends who are trustworthy and friends who trust me
I forgive and I am forgiven
I have learned from my mistakes and learned from the things I did right
I love seafood but don’t really like the ocean
I am compassionate and when needs be I am stern
I not a nature kind of girl unless it’s the beach, that’s nature at it’s best
I hate my body most days but occasionally I will feel good in my skin
I have days where I feel like a bad mom and days where I know I am the best mom
I can dance. I can’t sing.

I am thankful for my family, my kids and my friends who have stood by me.

I am thankful for a husband who despite the difficult times, more difficult than most weather, has stood by me. I am thankful he loved me enough to stick it out even when I didn’t deserve it. I am thankful he loved me enough to forgive me for the way I treated him. I am thankful that’s what marriage is, it is fighting, it is loving, it is sticking by someone even when you may not want to. Marriage is not easy but when it’s real it’s worth fighting for and for that I am thankful. I am thankful that my husband and I had some very hard times we had to deal with, situations most couples would crumble under, and yet this man I married loved me enough to work it out and I loved him enough to fight for us and it has made us stronger. I am thankful that we made it through those hard times and now have a marriage that is perfect 99% of the time, the other 1% I let him be right LOL. For real though, I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am to have him, not many would have stood by what I put him through emotionally, but he did and for that I will forever be thankful. I hit the jackpot with him and I try to let him know it every single day.

I am thankful for my mom who knows everything about me and loved me through mistakes I don’t feel I should have been loved through. I am thankful she was there for me when I had my heart broken to just hold me and tell me I would get over this too. I am thankful for the example her life is to me. I am thankful she is healed. I am thankful she loved me enough to discipline me when I was wrong and to praise me when I was right. I am thankful she loved me enough to teach me about God and raise me to believe in him. I am thankful she cared enough about me to provide a home full of love. I am thankful she allowed me to dance even when times where hard for us. I am thankful for the sacrifices she made for me, because it is what instilled in me the parenting values I want to have. I am thankful she is happy!

I am thankful for my kids, who drive me crazy everyday but without them I could not exist. I am thankful that they run up and love on me even after I have raised my voice to them. I am thankful that they call my name when they get hurt. I am thankful for their personalities. I am thankful for the adoration they have for their parents and thankful that even when we mess up they love us just the same. I am thankful for the ways their eyes light up when they wake up ready to start a new day. I am thankful for their innocence and child like faith, attributes we should all work hard to regain. I am thankful that watching them run and play and pretend make me feel young. I am thankful even when mommy is being goofy they are being goofy right beside me.

I am thankful for my friends. Friends who despite hard times I know I can confide in and they aren’t going to go and break that trust. Friends who are willing to work on a friendship and confront me about things rather than believe lies that are told. I am thankful for friends that are there to comfort me when I cry and even hurt for me, crying in sync. I am thankful for friends who are there to make me laugh when I need to laugh and to support me when I need support. I am thankful for friends who are there to tell be it is going to be okay when I am scared or that it’s okay to be pissed when I am pissed. I am thankful for the friends who lift me and my family up in prayer. I am thankful for friends who laugh at my jokes even when I myself know they aren’t hysterical. I am thankful for friends who accept me for who I am and know that despite the mistakes I made in the past I am a better person having learned from them. I am thankful that they are there to pull me back on the right path when I have started to veer. I am thankful they can just sit with me and say nothing and there is nothing uncomfortable about that silence.

I am thankful for the person who I am. I am thankful that despite all the mistakes I have made, I have learned from them, been forgiven for them, and become a better person. I am thankful that even when someone has treated me horribly I can forgive them and still wish the best for them. I am thankful that I am not judging, it’s not my place to judge, that is only God’s place. I am thankful that I give everyone a chance even if they are the exact opposite of me because I have some of the best people in my life that truly are my opposites. I am thankful I have a God who is forgiving, that he forgives the mistakes I have made and allows me to learn from them. I am thankful that my past is my past and that I can learn from it, let go and move on. I am thankful that I can think for myself and even when a group is doing one thing I can choose to do another. I am thankful I have morals so I can stand up for what is right even when it’s not easy and even when that means I have to say I was wrong. I am thankful I am not a bitter person because life would be miserable for myself and those around me.

I am thankful for this song from Point of Grace especially this one line…

It’s Not who you were and it’s not what you did, it’s how you live

because it is absolutely speaks so much. It’s not about the mistakes we have made, it’s about how you live now. People can either forgive you and move on or hold onto that anger and be bitter. What really matters is that you forgive yourself and remember that it’s not who you were, it’s not what you did, it’s how you live.

Thank you to my friends, family, kids and most of all my husband who has stuck by me through so much I love you all more than you will even know, but I will spend every day forever showing you as best I can how thankful I am for you and how much I love you.

So it’s your turn now, tell me some things/people you are thankful for and why? And what are you thankful about yourself over??

My mom who I have been talking to about the more recent situations with these very un-nice people said she heard this song on the radio one night after we finished talking and she said it made her think of me.

And I could not agree more this song is perfect. Especially these lines:

“The Struggles I’m Facing, The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down, but no I’m not breaking”

They ring so true. Despite what is done to me, despite the attacks that people try to hit me with, despite how many times people try to tear me down I will keep on going. It doesn’t matter that bad people with bad hearts are out to attack me for no reason, I will push on and they will end up being the ones that fall all because they could not just let others alone. They will have no one but themselves to blame and I will keep on keeping on, I will continue my climb even if I have to dust myself off a few times from being knocked down.

On another note, one more song that always lifts my spirits is When I Call on Jesus by Nicole C Mullen.

I was actually driving home praying blessings for the exact people I mentioned above and that God would just bless their families and lives (strange I know to pray for blessing for people who are attacking you but I wish no harm on anyone only blessings, even those who are not the nicest to me). And just praying for myself and my family and just crying out to God and then this song came (the Nicole C Mullen version) on right as I finished. It just made me smile and know that no matter who or what comes my way, I just have to call out to Jesus and I will be taken care of.

The madness around me doesn’t matter. The people who attack me don’t matter. What matters is that I hold my head high, I have a Savior that is there for me all the time.

To lift me up when I am down.
To forgive me when I have messed up.
To give me hope when I feel hopeless.
To give me strength when I am tired.
To comfort me when I am hurt.
To remind me it doesn’t matter what people say, as long as I know what’s true.
To show me that regardless of people that attack I have many many more family and friends that are loving, true and real.

I am so blessed to have the people in my life that are loving and caring. I thank God everyday for my husband, my wonderful children, and the friends that I have made through my life, in person or online. My BlogHer girls (especially Sara, Miranda and Jen) have shown me what it is like to have real friends, friends who when times may get tough are not going to turn on you and for that I will be eternally grateful.

I hope that all my readers know that no matter if people attack you or sitautions come that may knock you down, remember that there are many more people and situations that will lift you up and encourage you. The bad seems worse because we tend to focus on it but when we focus on the good in our lives it makes the bad seem so trivial.

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.”
~Arthur Rubinstein